The first few months

Hello!

It's been a while.  It's been a tiring week for everyone in my home.  Little C's top four teeth are all coming in AT THE SAME TIME.  Big C's school work is finally catching up with him.  So I've been trying to maintain the sanity in the home for the both of them, which is gratifying even if it is ridiculously exhausting.

I hope everyone has been doing well! I can't believe it's already Thursday.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was jumping for joy from finding out that Big C had a three day weekend.  Where has the time gone?

So I figured I would finish up on all my blunt ranting about becoming a mother.  Just click the link if you're interested to read what I have to say...

The Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad

I don't diet.  I'm not a health fanatic.  Let me just mention that there's nothing wrong with dieting or choosing to eat a certain way.  It's just not for me.  Sure, I know that I could certainly improve my eating habits, get fit, feel healthier, but I don't really believe that depriving myself of the food I enjoy is the proper way for me to do that.  It just seems to be a little tortuous.  I'd rather practice portion control (eventually) and still enjoy what I eat.  That being said, I would rather prepare my own food and use as many fresh ingredients as I can because I do love fresh food.  Also, I sleep better at night knowing that I know exactly what goes into the food that I'm eating.  It's difficult to do all the time, but I do try to do it on a consistent basis.

That's why I love The Pioneer Woman.  She is amazing.  Have you seen her kitchen from her cooking show? Absolutely fabulous.  I enjoy her "homemade" recipes.  Yes I know they aren't the healthiest, but my tastebuds like to be entertained.  She can make something ordinary taste extraordinary.  And again, she makes most things herself like salad dressings and I love that.

The Foil Method

This has been blogged about a lot I'm sure, but I still want to write about it.

I love glitter polishes.  They're sparkly, gorgeous and entrancing.  However, have you tried to take them off with a cotton swab and some polish? A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G.  I would generally wait until I could peel it off to avoid the frustration of the removal process.  Thanks to the blogging world and my wonderful friend, Jenny, I was able to enjoy glitter polish without dreading removing it when time came.

Oh the pain

Happy Friday everyone!  I love the weekends because Big C is around so much more.

My last post was about the last week or so of pregnancy and my delivery.  It was quite the experience.  I was fortunate enough to have one of my sisters there who ended up photographing every moment in the room while I was delivering and after.  We have some amazing photos and I actually made a photo book with them.  Thanks sister!

Here's a forewarning: I'm going to be brutally honest.

Reflections on the final weeks of pregnancy

I've only been a mom for nine months.  No, I like to believe I was a mom from the day I knew I was pregnant.  So I've been a mom for well over a year now.  That's so strange to me.  Looking back, there are things I wish could have transpired differently, but overall I'm just grateful for the amazing learning experience motherhood has been so far.  I look forward to what I learn during the rest of my life.

i have a good friend who is giving birth in a few weeks.  I know a lot of women my age who are going to be holding their newborns very soon.  It feels like a lifetime ago that this happened for me.  I feel like I'm reliving my moments when I speak to my friend about her daily thoughts during the last weeks of her pregnancy.

This discussion led me to want to write something about my own story.

Quick swatch: China Glaze Water You Waiting For

Hello. I hope everyone's weekend is going well!

I just wanted to post a quick overview about a new polish I tried today.

It's called Water You Waiting For. It's from the Cirque du Soleil collection by China Glaze. It's composed of a blue-green micro glitter and a dark blue almost purple glitter as well. I was attracted to it immediately in the store. It sparkles and definitely reminds me of the ocean. I am trying to be more expansive and forcing myself to like deep blue colors and this color is gorgeous. The pictures don't do the polish justice.

My nail polish obsession

Besides my love for food, cooking, feeding others, I LOVE NAIL POLISH.

My collection is slowly but surely growing even though I shouldn't keep adding more to my loot.  Most of it is unused, but I think I'm going to make a goal to try as many of my "untried" ones as I can this year.

I think I may have close to 300 polishes, but I doubt that the amount I have tried on is anywhere near the triple digit mark.

Here are a couple of manicures and reviews...

This is "To Buy or Not to Buy" from Essie.  I LOVE ESSIE.  If you look closely, you can see the subtle shimmer of this gorgeous lilac.  The shimmer is why I bought the polish.  It's extremely subtle once on the nails.  I can't really tell, which is slightly disappointing.  Wear time was excellent and application was splendid.  Like always.  Purchased at Target.

Pinterest recipe & review: Portillo's chopped salad

So I love Portillo's.  Who doesn't? I don't know if I could handle knowing that someone doesn't so let's not go there.

Being the frugal (cheap) person I am, I find it difficult to justify spending $8 on a salad sometimes.  Honestly, I always end up buying the salad and justifying it, but I do feel guilty and that's enough right?

I figured I would go ahead and try the copycat recipe I found on Pinterest for this perfect salad.

Menu Planning Continued..with Visuals!

Hello.

Today was a rough day to say the least, but that's a part of being a mom, right?  I'm so accustomed to keeping a routine and following a schedule, so days like today are still difficult to get used to.

I'm glad some people benefited from the previous post of how I menu plan.  I wanted to include pictures this time.  These are just sample menus from the past couple of months.  I keep most of them in case I need to jog my memory for recipes.

I wanted to say another reason why I only do a week at a time.  I like to use as many fresh products in my meals as possible.  I purchase a lot of produce and since I don't want it to go bad, I give myself a week to use as much of it as I can.

Menu Planning

I've been asked by a couple of friends about how to menu plan.

Let's be honest...menu planning isn't the most exciting thing.  I'd rather be playing with my little guy (little C), or spending time with the old ball and chain (big C), or even doing dishes.  I love preparing food, testing out new recipes and spontaneously putting together some sort of culinary masterpiece (by big C's standards), but having to sit down and meticulously plan what I'm going to prepare each day? B-O-R-I-N-G.

Now that I've completely discouraged you, let me discuss in detail how I go about doing this task.

A Speedy Introduction

Ahh...hello.

I've finally done it. I've finally stepped foot into the blogger world.  This is a big deal for me as I've been contemplating doing this for a while.  Before I get to blogging about actual topics, let me just give you a slight idea of what I'll be writing about.  You've been warned.

My mind is always running.  My thoughts aren't always organized or cohesive, but sometimes they're useful.  I'm going to be discussing my passion: cooking.  I'll delve into topics like being a new mom.  You'll see pictures of nail polish and my attempts at being creative with them.  Reviews of Pinterest recipes and/or crafts will happen, too.

I'm opinionated, but open-minded.  Sometimes what I say may be uncomfortable, but that's what the truth is sometimes, right? All that's written here is my opinion.  No one else's.  I'll always tell my truth and be honest about how I feel.  I'm not one for sugar coating, but I'm not one for perpetuating any sort of negativity.

I'm curious to see where this takes me.  How long I can stick with this.  Writing has always been therapeutic, so I look forward to this journey.  This is mainly for my amusement, but if that means that at some point along the way my writing can be some sort of entertainment for someone, well, that'll be pretty cool too.

If you have any suggestions about what I should write about, please let me know!

Thanks for reading.  I look forward to seeing what this can become.

Until next time.