Chillaxin'

Happy Friday! We hope you get to put your feet up over this holiday weekend.

Recipe and Randomness

Hey team,

Sorry I haven't posted all week. I guess I got busy and left you all high and dry. My apologies.

We had a little family barbecue this weekend, and I tried a new recipe.
Chilled Asparagus Salad (click here for the recipe)

Of course here is a picture during the process and by the time it was pretty and all ready to serve I forgot to snap a final shot. I used my lovely, white asparagus platter that they used to sell at Crate and Barrel, but I can no longer find it. What a shame...it allows for a beautiful presentation for asparagus and especially this recipe with the dressing drizzled across the top. Anyhow, it was a lovely, fresh, new recipe that turned out great. Give it a shot!

These two guys love each other. Uncle Clint is the only one allowed to call Henry "Hankers". They're buddies and it's all pretty cute to see. Red heads look cute in green, huh?

In baby news...Julia looked great at her 22 week sonogram! She weighs 1 lb, 1 oz. Not sure what that says for the additional xx lbs I have put on, but we'll just assume all is well! We caught a shot of her yawning, which was pretty cute if I may say so!

The chief couldn't make the appointment not because he didn't want to, but because he was being awarded a big, special award and couldn't swing both. I convinced him that this achievement might pay for Jules to go to college or her wedding in the long run (okay, so probably not, but it made him feel better). We decided the sacrifice was worthwhile. In his absence my mom attended the appointments. She didn't have a sonogram with my brother or with me, so this was a whole new experience. I think she was overwhelmed and it didn't quite hit her until she got home that evening. It was a pretty special moment to hear how excited she was and that it's all becoming very real. I guess it's time to get on board...I'll be 6 months pregnant on Sunday! How the time is flying.

In house news...we're quitting the game on Tuesday. Pulling it off, calling it quits, staying another day...whatever you want to call it. About 1,000 people have informed me that "it will all work out just fine". I trust they're right! We're about to start making some adjustments and getting the guest bedroom set for the princess herself.
Maybe we'll get to see this one more time...


Sorry for the lack of pictures...I haven't scanned the sonogram pictures yet, but it's on my list of things to do.

I hope you all are having a good week. The little red-headed man in my life has a virus today. Big time fever and not feeling so hot. Pray he's on the mend. This isn't fun for anyone involved.

Peace.

Oh the fun we had!

Saturday was our first baby shower! There were a lot of reasons this was exciting. 1. A BABY SHOWER...that's just fun! 2. A baby shower for a baby that will belong to us...very exciting! 3. We've been involved in hosting and throwing a lot of showers over the years. They've been for weddings and babies alike and we've loved each one because we love each couple they've honored. We've been married for five years, so it's been a long time since the party was for us. What a special, special treat to be the guest of honor!

The shower was held at our dear friends' and neighbors' home, Ray and Jana. Or as better known, The Ranas. It makes the travel plans very easy.


This was the darling gift given to us from the hosts/hostesses. A bathtub full of necessities for the little one. How cute are those "Julia" burp clothes?


Jaime and Amy sure know us well...a bottle of champagne to celebrate the little one!


Jana has just completed a perfect re-do on the living space in their home. Everything was placed to perfection and the face-lift makes their home the happiest, freshest place to be. It's darling! GREAT JOB, JAN!


How cute are the yellow and white poms hanging from the ceiling?! So happy for Miss Julia's shower!


The details were everywhere!


The party is in full-swing. Jana and I are enjoying every minute!


Meredith gave me this cute koozie way back in the early pregnancy days. The yellow and white was too perfect not to use!


I've loved these cookies for a long time. I have used them for countless parties and showers. I had no idea I could love them even more with my child's name adorning the front! Not to mention, my new cookie fetish was really happy with this sweet treat.



PRECIOUS outfits given by Jennie and Charles and Wendy.



The proud dad-to-be popped in at the end to check out the loot. Apparently the guys don't really care much to see baby gifts. I can't imagine why...the squeals and exciting cheers as a reaction to girl clothing is probably out of their participation level.

What a great, great shower! Thank you to Ray and Jana, Nic and Christie, Greg and Wendi, Mark and Lori and Michael and Kendra for hosting such a special night! You guys out did yourselves and we are so thankful. Miss Julia will be delighted to meet all of her "aunts and uncles" in the fall!

Team Spirit

Who's ready for football season? It's Jules.
Keep in mind this whole outfit is much smaller than it appears. I can't wait to see the little pea pod in it!

Onesie by Smitten & Co.
Tutu by Jackie Wall. Contact me for information.

TGIF peeps!

Technology

This is a random posting. I admit it up front, but it's on my mind.

Do you remember the days when we didn't check email and text messages 185,000 times a day? Remember when you would wake up, take a shower, get dressed, drive all the way to work and not have a clue about what was sitting in your inbox? Now you can't board an airplane without the internet. Are we expected to work 100% of the time? Wow, how things have changed.



My dear friend, whom I will let remain anonymous, responded to an email from the elliptical machine the other day. I gave her hell for it and she said if she doesn't keep up she'll have so many things piled up she won't remember to respond. Is it such that our lives are so busy we can't go to the gym without our blackberry, iphone or droid attached? No solitude to be found?

As soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning are you checking emails, facebook, blogs, texts? Or are you the kind that's oblivious that the world is running at a rapid pace and you don't need or want to jump on the hamster wheel?

Here is my latest irritation. I get frustrated if someone doesn't respond quickly. Does that irritate you? You know 90% of the world sits with their phone in their lap, on the table while at dinner, in their hand while they sleep...is there excuse for a lag time in response? Do you assume they are avoiding what you're asking if they don't respond? Is that going past the line? Isn't it ridiculous to be irritated at such a thought?

On the flipside, I saw a small child reach across the table at a restaurant on Sunday grabbing for his mom's iphone. He wasn't even old enough to talk. He already knew the capability of such a phone. The mom attempted for about 10 seconds to not let him have it, but she caved and within seconds that child was face first into that phone while the parents talked over their breakfast.
I immediately told Clint that we obviously have to start early (much earlier than I thought) to enforce the rule of no phones on the table, no texting and no emailing. Is that far-fetched? Is there such a thing as a family dinner without today's technology staring us in the face? Nothing drives me more batty than to see a teenager with his head in his phone texting during an entire dinner. Hell, drives me crazy to be with an adult doing the same thing. Have you seen Jerry Seinfeld talk about Blackberry etiquette? It's hilarious and so true. There needs to be a class on this in high school.

Does this make me a hypocrite? I want immediate responses, but I'm not willing to provide the same.

I read a friend's blog where she said her husband had to get a new iphone and so their 2-year old inherited the old one. She watches movies and plays games with her hand-me-down. Is this the norm these days? I guess there is no longer the car ride fighting with your siblings or playing games based on billboards? It's all about the head-rest DVD players, iphones and PSPs (or whatever they're called).


Is this a good thing that we've advanced so quickly or does this make us a society incapable to communicate verbally and socialize with each other in person? I'm a bit torn. I love the convenience, but sometimes I get sick of having a phone attached to my husband's hands or face ALL THE TIME. Panic sets in if a phone is forgotten around our house. Isn't that crazy!

So readers....post your comments! I'd love to know your thoughts.

Happy Hump Day. May you enjoy some "leisure" on this day, if you will, without the blinking lights, chimes, rings and dings of your chosen portable device.

*All images are courtesy of Google Images

The Name

The little princess was officially named on Mother's Day. We had several contenders, and I was leaning on the chief to make the final call. He robustly entered the den on Sunday with his cup of coffee in hand and declared he'd like her to be named

JULIA GRACE ENCINIAS

I like it. Actually, I love it. You might wonder why Aleen disappeared. Well, as it turns out my grandmother's name was Grace Aleen. So it still holds the same sentimental value to me AND it appears it's much easier to say and understand. Not to mention, my aunt and God mother is Grace. Win, win.

Have you seen something so cute?

Happy Weekend, readers! I hope the sun is shining on your face...wherever you are. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. You deserve a day of pampering and fun!

Shout-outs to My Momma

Does your mom cook? Is she a baker, maybe? Do you depend on her for help with recipes or did she teach you to cook?

My mom is a fabulous cook. She's not a chef and she's not a baker, but she's a damn good, everyday cook. She can cook just about anything. My fondest memories as a kid are of her and then inevitably, the whole family in the kitchen. When she's in there the scene is music, beers, wines, bourbons, laughter and happy, chatty family members. It creates a contagious buzz. She's happy there and she does some of her very best work in the kitchen. She certainly rubbed off on my brother. He is a wonderful cook. More on the chef side than my mom. A bit more gourmet, but nonetheless, I think he got it from her. Me on the other hand, I try, but it doesn't come as easily to me. It's more of a chore. I have to lean on her a lot for ideas, help and tricks to make it all come together.

I called her today for help with dinner. I wanted something pretty basic, light, healthy and full of veggies and chicken. I had a craving for some pasta, so I gave her the must-haves and asked her to make-up something for me. She did and the email went like this.

"Okay, let me think on this a minute. I make a pasta salad by the seat of my pants, so it's never the same two times. Try this, I think you'll like it.


Small Pasta Salad


Pasta of choice, I suggest Penne

1 small yellow squash

1 small zucchini

Grape Tomatoes

Small can of sliced black olives

Small red onion thinly sliced (as much or as little as you want)

Chopped Asparagus

Salt and Pepper

A touch of Garlic Powder

Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing

Grilled Chicken marinated in the above Dressing

Chop the zucchini, squash and asparagus as you please and blanch for a few minutes. Then dunk in an ice water bath for a few minutes. You can put whatever you want in there, but this is just how I like it. Cook the pasta, drain and add all above ingredients minus the chicken in a large mixing bowl. Chill. Grill the chicken and add to the cold pasta salad. Voila.

What I love about this kind of pasta is that it will last forever. Not at my house though, Doug will eat Pasta Salad practically for breakfast."

I followed this pretty closely. I did forget the purple onion and the garlic powder. The first on purpose and the latter just because I forgot. Purple onion gives me outrageous indigestion. Pass.

It came out looking like this. Exactly what I wanted.

The dressing looked like this.
It was a hit around here. Most people could probably come up with this on their own, it wasn't a hard or complicated dish. I just needed a little help from the moms. So, thank you mom. You saved the day!

In other Cinco de Mayo Eve News, it's my fabulous friend's, Meredith, birthday! Happy 29th Mere Mere! I hope it's a great one...live it up in the last year of the 20's!

I don't want to show ya, but I gotta show ya

Hello lovies-
Get your coffee ready, this is a long post. And it's a post entirely about the nursery. I'm sorry, it's just all consuming these days.

I apologize for my long delay. It's been quite a week and it was rounded off with a horrible viral infection/cold/severe allergies/pain in my a*s. Of course this all happens while Clint's enjoying himself on a guys' trip to Vegas and our house needs to be shown. Which, at this point, is likely a waste of time so cleaning it and having it look like it's about to walk out on a first date is a total waste of time. Friday night as I scrubbed toilets, blew my nose and cleaned out the fridge Clint called to tell me about his afternoon by the pool. I just about came unglued. Okay, moving on!

I picked myself up and went out for a little shopping on Saturday afternoon. Jana and I took an excursion to our favorite antique shop, and we hit jackpot. Yahtzee!
Check out this little delight for Julia's room. Jana and I spied this chandelier right as we walked in.
MUST. HAVE. THAT.





And here's the final verdict on crib fabric. Of course, there is another story to go along with it. About a week ago, I was more or less fired by the girl I had hired to help me put it all together. {Seems odd that I HIRED her and she kinda FIRED me, but whatevs.} She was about as useless as my husband in helping me. So really, the split was mutual. Still bugged that she bailed. But, I have found a dream come true in the world of sewing. If you live in Dallas and need curtains, bedding, pillows, shower curtains, sink skirts, skirts for roundtables, etc., etc. please let me know. I found a peach, Lesley, and she is FANTASTIC. She's a mom of two, a pre-school teacher and just a delight to be around. Oh and did I mention she is saving me about half of the cost? Can't beat it!


Here's what we're doing.

This Imperial Trellis (that I literally want to cuddle with every time I look at) is going to be the inside of the bumper. I know, I should use it on the outside, but I want to be able to see it in all its glory. Plus, the geometric pattern might allow Julia to increase to genius status with all the stimulation. Okay, probably not, but I can dream!
The white Minkee Dot is going to be the outside of the bumper. Again, I know it should be on the inside, but get with my visual and you'll be on board.
This pink and white will be a bias-cut (I just learned this fancy sewing term). This will be used as the ruffle along the top of the bumper and for the BOWS on the bumper. I must admit, I'm pretty excited to have BIG BOWS on the bumper.
This is almost a big, abstract paisley. It will be the gathered skirt.
What do you think? Are you laughing that I almost went neutral and didn't find out the sex? It is rather funny...now it's turned into flower chandeliers, pink bows and ALL GIRL. It's okay, I'm laughing too.

Here's the last little treasure I will show you from the shopping trip. Isn't he cute? Isn't he even cuter under the new dome? I can't wait for it to all come together!

Sorry for the long, drawn-out episode. And the fact that it's another post entirely about the nursery. It's 7:30 am and I'm awake while the rest of my crew is tightly tucked into bed. I'm cozied up with my Pandora, my chandelier dimly lit and a candle beside me, which entails a long post. Enjoy your Sunday and get to shoppin for your momma. You got a week!