Pinterest: food successes.

I'm notorious for pinning tons of things and never doing anything with them. Until recently.

I'm also notorious for never making a meal plan for the week, and J is always asking, "what's for dinner". Until recently.

I've decided that it's high time I put my incessant pinning to good use.

I haven't made too many new Pinterest recipes since I just made this decision, but I'm 3 for 3 so far.

Source: aisletoaloha.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

I made these a long time ago, and they were delish. A perfect appetizer!

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Emily on Pinterest

We made this a couple weeks ago and it was soooo good! I thought the mustard cream sauce would be like the one at Charleston's, but it was a little thinner consistency and more savory than sweet. But, so good.

Source: kalynskitchen.com via Emily on Pinterest

We made these tonight. I used regular flour tortillas and shredded lettuce instead of green onions. I'm also not a huge fan of tomatoes or olives, so I left those off. Either way, these were also a big hit. I think next time I might make some taco meat to add to it. 

Here's to more Pinterest successes!

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friday finds.

I got mostly money for my birthday last weekend, and now, all I can do with my spare time is scour the internets for cute clothes to spend said money on. So, what have I found?

Take a looksee...

Zara Fine-Pleated shirt

Love21 Zippered Colorblock top

J. Crew Keeper Chambray Shirt

I have my eye on several things, but my online shopping has been so all over the place that these are the only ones I actually remember...

how rude!

In the last few days, I've experienced extreme rudeness!

As I've already mentioned, Saturday night J and I went out to dinner for my birthday. The first place we tried to go to was closed due to electrical problems/no power. So we tried somewhere new instead. When we walked into the restaurant and I told the host that we needed a table for two, he pretty much laughed in my face and told me it wouldn't be until 9:30 that they would have a table for us.

The restaurant had a private party on their outside deck which pushed other patrons inside. That's no problem, but don't laugh in my face when I tell you I would like a table for two. I have no idea that you're having a private party. And, I really don't care.

All the guy had to say was, "I'm so sorry, but due to a private party outside, inside seating is taking longer to seat." I would have understood {and I did at that moment that night!} and would have ended up in the exact same place we were that night; eating a nice dinner at the bar while watching basketball.

Either way, remember that I'm a customer. I don't have to spend my money here, but your boss sure would like it if I did. So ... BE NICE!

And, my other encounter.

Last Friday I sent an email to a photographer asking about a potential mini session for my almost one year old. I'd really like to do some pics of our little guy before his birthday, but I don't want to pay a $300 sitting fee. So, I found a photographer's facebook page and her website {her pictures are great!}. I didn't see any pricing/date information on mini sessions so I shot her an email.

She replied yesterday {well someone did, not sure if it was the actual photographer or not}. But ... whoever it was didn't so much as say, "hi" or "thanks for your interest." All they did was copy and paste the pricing information and send the email. Thanks for the email, I guess, but next time could you actually answer my question?

I do not understand people's rudeness sometimes. How hard is it to show a little common courtesy or simply be nice?

I held my tongue {so far} in both instances, but if I were Stephanie Tanner, you can bet I'd tell them like it is.

officially 29.

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. Maybe even my inaugural 29th birthday...I don't know. Only time will tell if next year I'm celebrating the first anniversary of my 29th birthday or if I've fully embraced 30.

Anyway, I had a great birthday weekend.

Saturday we were supposed to have a fun little playdate with some friends, but Jack had a fever and threw up {on me :(} so we canceled it. Boo! Jack was feeling MUCH better by Saturday morning, but we didn't want to chance it. No one like a sick baby.

Most of Saturday was lazy {but we were all dressed in green}. J and I went out to dinner that night. We were turned away from our first choice due to electrical problems, but ended up at a super yummy steak restaurant. Even though we had to sit at the bar {and watch basketball}, I had such a great time! Good food and good company ... not much more you can ask for.

Yesterday was my actual birthday and it was perfectly chill. We went to church and had brunch afterward and I opened presents from all my peeps. Thanks, everyone!

And, last night, after no afternoon nap, the monster slept great!

It was a great way to spend the last year in my twenties. Bring on 30 {i think...}!

happy st. patrick's day!

Oh, and that day after St. Patrick's Day? Yep. My birthday. I'd probably eat lucky charms in my underwear on my birthday even if it wasn't always the day after St. Patrick's Day.

incident reports.

Yesterday when I picked up the monster from daycare, as I was signing him out, I heard one of the girls tell the "teacher" in his room that I was there to get him. Then I heard her say, "aww, his poor eye." Or something along those lines.

Uhhh....what?

When I got to his room, he was in his teacher's arms and his little eye was scratched. She handed me not one, but two incident reports!

Another kid in his class had scratched him around his eye.

And while walking {or something} around the room, he tripped on a little mat and fell head first into a table leg. Poor guy had a knot on his forehead between the eyes, and a bruise!

Luckily, he's no worse for wear and he's taken it all in stride. You'd never know he'd had two incidents at daycare.

I just love that squinty smile!

Such a boy.

I'm excited about him starting to walk, but these kinds of things make so nervous for him to be too mobile!

10 month pics.

We finally had time yesterday evening to take Jack's 10 month pics. He was hamming it up for us!

He looks just like my brother Jason here.

One of his newest things is to smile and then really cheese it up and squint really hard while still smiling. I love it!

The colors on these pics are a little weird because when John took them it was super dark. Oh well, they're darn cute!

Jack: 10 months

Jack is 10 months. TEN. So crazy. The countdown is on for his first birthday!

Jack is definitely on the move these days. He's gone from crawling everywhere to "cruising" along the furniture to taking steps here and there. Yep ... steps! J and I both witnessed his very first 1.5 steps a couple weeks ago and we've each seen a few since then. He still isn't quite steady or sure enough to really take off, but he's working on it every day. My guess is that he'll be walking by 11 months, but I'll keep the blogosphere posted.

At our 9 month appointment, Dr. S gave us the go ahead to start finger foods. We've tried lots so far, and his favorites are hot dogs, toast with butter or yogurt, saltines, graham crackers, nilla wafers {the boy already loves carbs...}, steamed carrots, peas, green beans, asparagus, corn, cheese, mac and cheese. We've tried fruits {watermelon, cantaloupe, apple and blueberries} and pickles, but he hasn't liked any of those.

Jack has a few tricks up his sleeve these days, too. He can pretty much wave and clap on command. If you clap and say "yay!!" {or just say "yay"} he'll clap and smile. And, if you say "hi daddy" or "hi mommy" or hi to most anyone, he'll wave. And, his wave is super cute. He tucks in his thumb and wags his whole hand up and down. So cute!

We're pretty sure he's said a couple of words. Nothing specific to anyone or anything specific, but we think he's said Daddy and doggy. Even though we can't always understand everything he says, he's babbling and "talking" a lot. Also, we'll hear him babble something and then chuckle at whatever he said. He's a comedian!

So far, this has been the most fun age. But, that doesn't mean we haven't had our trials. We've definitely seen a rise in "tantrums". Though they're not full blown tantrums {can't wait to get to that phase!}, he'll throw a little fit if you take something from him, or don't put him on the floor when he wants down. He knows what he wants and if you don't give it to him, he'll let you know he doesn't like it.

Right now, Jack:

•still has 6 teeth, no new ones since his 9 month update, but I kind of think number 7 is on it's way because the drooling has returned with full force.
•still takes 2 naps a day, but only one on daycare days
•has minimal separation anxiety. He goes to the teachers at daycare just fine. It's the times when he knows I'm getting ready to go somewhere and then leave the room that he really gets upset.
•sticks his tongue out while concentrating. He definitely got that from the Montgomery side of the family.
•loves to bang everything together and crawl while dragging a toy and yelling "ahhhh".
•is in desperate need of a second haircut.
•has started choosing Daddy over Mommy a lot more.

Like I said, this has been my favorite age so far. He seems so much more content and I just love his curiosity. I'm really looking forward to when the weather stays warmer {not that we've had any semblance of a winter} so we can spend lots of time outside and take the monster to see all of our favorite places

10 month stats:

•definitely over 19 lbs., but not sure of the exact weight

•21-24 oz. of formula/day + 3 meals of baby food and finger foods

•mostly 9 month clothes, some 6-9 month {if they're long enough} 

•size 3 diapers, 4s at night