We're having a baby?

Yes, as I’m sure all of you know, since anyone who reads this is a friend or family member of mine, Dave and I are having a baby in July (this is news is partially to blame for my general lack of blogging over the past two months).  Baby Yar is due July 27^th and probably, at 12 weeks, already measuring more like the size of 20.  Dave and I’s favorite game is to joke about the abnormally large size our child will be born at.  Maybe even record breaking.  Who knows?  Get excited.

We found out November 17^th that after just a couple months of trying, we were expecting a little one. 

Side Note:  NEVER take a pregnancy test before you go to work and expect to do anything but stare at your monitor all day if it’s positive.  Stare at the screen AND/OR look up what the margaritas you drank the weekend before did to your poppy seed sized child (don’t worry – the answer is nothing!).

Yikes.  Don’t get me wrong, we are incredibly excited about this little one, but it is just HUGE.  HUGE life change, HUGE commitment, HUGE.  We have spent the past several months getting used to the idea that there will be a third person in our household this summer (four including Dexter, clearly).  It’s fun, exciting and terrifying all at once.

There are all sorts of questions like, how will Dave and I handle this?  Will it change our relationship?  Will he love the baby more than me?  Will I be bitchy and mean to everyone because of the severe lack of sleep that comes with a newborn?  Where are we going to put all the baby’s stuff?  Could I be more excited about 12 weeks off of work???  Holy shit, what are we going to do with a baby, and toddler, and teenager?? And the list goes on and on and on and on.  Mostly irrational pregnant craziness.  But, please note, if any first time pregnant person tries to  tell you they haven’t had lots of scary, crazy thoughts (on top of all the great, exciting ones) they are TOTALLY lying to you.

Health-wise, I have been incredibly lucky this whole first trimester, no morning sickness AT ALL, no weird cravings or aversions to food or smells, nothing except a few cramps and total exhaustion.  The baby’s heart beat is good and strong and both ultrasounds (at 6.5 and 8.5 weeks) have shown that it’s right where its supposed to be and growing just like it’s supposed to!  We’ll find out around the first of March if it’s a little chica or chico hanging out in there.  We cannot wait!  Well; mostly I cannot wait, since as all of you know, I have major patience issues.

So there you have it.  A brief summary of the life and times of Baby Yar to date.  Dave and I are totally thrilled to be adding a member to our family and can’t wait to see what this year holds for us!  Thank you so much to all of you for all of your happiness, support, love, prayers, gifts and advice.  It has been overwhelming, and you people have only known for 3 weeks!  We are so lucky and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends.  Look for more Baby Yar news soon!

WCC

WCC = white chicken chili.  A FAVE in our house.  Probably 3 years ago or so, my office had a chili cook-off themed beer cart.  One of my co-workers at the time brought this white chicken chili in, and I have been in love ever since.  It is SO good.  Very cream based and super rich, with so much flavor, but not spicy.  My mouth is actually watering right now thinking about it.  It's one of our go to recipes for a fall pitch-in or dinner.  It doesn't require TOO many ingredients, and after you've made it a few times, it's a pretty quick process.

But, back to the most recent WCC consumption.  Every fall we have our "first fire" where we light the first fire of the year in our fireplace.  We always buy a large, cheap bottle of wine, drink, eat dinner, and hang out by the fire all night.  Fire nights are some of my absolute favorites, because Dave and I just catch up, talk and enjoy being with each other.  Definitely necessary every once in a while and much better than bad TV reruns.

So, because I heart all of you and fires and WCC make me feel warm and fuzzy, I want share the love.  Get excited.  It is seriously SO good.  Hope it brings you warm, cozy evenings and schmoopy, wonderful memories.

WHITE CHICKEN CHILI

16 oz (1 can) of canned white beans
1 Large Onion, chopped
1 Stick unsalted butter
1/4 c All-purpose flour
3/4 c Chicken broth
2 cups Half and Half
1 tsp Tabasco (or more, if you like spicy)
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder (or more, if you like spicy)
1 tsp ground cumin (I usually put in more)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I usually put in more)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Two 4-oz cans whole mild green chilies, drained and chopped
5 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
Some extra butter and oil to cook them in
1 1/2 c grated Monterey Jack
1/2 c sour cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat a large skillet over moderately high heat and put in some butter and oil. Meanwhile, coat your chicken with salt and pepper and some chili powder. Throw them in the skillet. Leave them for five to seven minutes, or until nicely browned, then flip them. Leave it there until browned and then flip them every few minutes until they are done.

2. Remove the chicken from the pan. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it with your fingers (or slice it up if you want to save some time) and set aside.

3. While waiting for chicken to cool, cook the onion in the same pan with 2 Tbs of butter until softened.

4. In a heavy pot, large enough to hold the whole batch, melt remaining 6 Tbs of butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, for three minutes. 

Stir in the onion and gradually add the broth and half and half, whisking the whole time. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until thickened. (It will be nicely and obviously thick.) 

Stir in Tabasco, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add beans, chilies, chicken and cheese, and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Add sour cream. May be served immediately.

5. Serve with the usual chili garnishes--cilantro, cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes, etc. Noodles are great too.

Recipe credit goes to the fabulous Jeff Watson.  Just in case you ever read this JNeighb, you know I gave you props.

Also, as a warning, you may look like this after consuming too much chili.  Be prepared.

Friday Funday

Since my last post title featured the day of the week it was written, I figured I may as well keep the theme going for the rest of the week.  Today is Friday.  Finally.  Minus a fun little $200 charge at the car dealership for new brake pads, it has been a great day.

Blessed to have the money to pay the $200 charge at the car dealership.  Chance to study for my test while my car was getting fixed.  Busy, but not too busy at work.  Beer cart day.  GORGEOUS weather.  Sold our Colts tickets for this weekend's game (we'll get to one eventually).  Wine and white chicken chilli tomorrow with Deej.  Wine and white chicken chilli tonight with the girls.  Dexter snuggle time.  Church on Sunday.  Visiting a great friend and her little one. 

So many good things about today.  Hope you all have lovely Fridays as well. 

Tuesday...Two Day

Anyone know that great quote from Friends?  "Monday, one day.  Tuesday, two day.  Wednesday, what day?  Thursday...it's the third day!"

That quote popped into my head this afternoon when I was thinking about how much I like Tuesdays.  Not sure why it was associated with my Tuesday thought, since it is really about Thursdays, but whatev.  

Back to Tuesdays.  Neither of us have class on Tuesdays, and always make sure we get home from work on time.  We get to cook dinner before 9 p.m., catch up on our inevitably HUGE piles of laundry, and maybe have a glass of wine or two (while watching Glee...and other thought provoking television programming).

Since today happened to be not only a Tuesday, but also the most beautiful fall day of all time, I decided to take my camera on my walk with Dex.  As a side note, I only got a FEW creeped out looks from people who thought I was trying to take pictures of them walking their dogs. Always a positive. 

So for your viewing pleasure, here's a little snapshot of this GORGEOUS Tuesday, two day.

I should have had this fabulous idea yesterday, before they turned off our neighborhood fountains.  One of  my favorite parts about where we live.

Dexter taking it all in.  He is not a huge fan of photo walks, they cramp his style (i.e. he can't pull and drag me all over the place while I'm stopped taking a picture).

LOVE the new Eagle Creek Trail.  No one would ever know its 6 feet from 71st Street.

Bathroom = DONE

So, one of the reasons we bought our house was because there was not much we had to do to it.  New carpet, fresh neutral paint, ceramic tile in the kitchen and bathrooms.  We're both super busy and did not want our first house to be a fixer-upper.  However, after one of my husband's infamous Rock Band nights I came home to a giant hole in the plaster of our downstairs bathroom and a towel rack on the floor.

Six months and Dave's first drywall job later, we had new fixtures (towel rack, toilet paper holder etc.) but still no fresh paint.  We were hosting a get together for Dave's sister and her friends (because she lives out of state) on the Monday of a long weekend, and on Friday night we decided it DEFINITELY had to be painted by the time they all came over.

We hurriedly went to Lowes, got all the painting supplies we needed and picked out a color we thought would be just a BIT brighter than the very neutral yellow it was currently.  Were we ever wrong.  It turned out to be crayon/mustard/AWFUL yellow - and with the harsh lights in there, it was blinding.  See below.

YIKES.  Also, for reference, this quick paint job took place in the summer of 2010.  We swore to each other we would re-paint the room as soon as we could, and apparently that was not until October of 2011.  Whatev.

Once my Pinterest obsession began, one of the first things I looked for was color palettes for the bathroom that would go with our bronze fixtures (see above) so we didn't need to replace those...again.  I found my inspiration a few weeks ago (image below from here)

And so the process began.  This time, I went to Lowe's for color swatches to put up on the wall BEFORE making a color selection.  I was NOT going to make the same mistake and have to paint the bathroom yet AGAIN.

So, I made a fun swatch wall and Dave and I picked out our faves.  Out of all of those, I ended up getting 4 small color samples, two were blue-ish shades and two were more grey.  Then we painted those on the wall to see what we thought.

I liked the two that were more grey, Dave liked the light blue.  Go figure.  But then, we thought, is this really even close to what these colors are going to look like??? Clearly the base color they were painted on MAY have had an effect on their final color.  

So we went ahead and primed the walls before making our final color choice.  Just so we could make SURE we were not making a color mistake (we were a little scarred from the first time).  Also, after I primed, I changed the light bulbs to a "soft white" version so that any remaining blinding effect would be gone and we could see the colors under the new, final light.

We went with the top left option - the darker of the grey shades we tried.  I thought it would go great with the bronze fixtures (below) and still allow us to use our light blue towels/rug.

However, like I said before, nothing ever comes out exactly like I think it's going to.  Once the room was painted and dry, the paint was much lighter and bluer than expected (even after ALL the testing we did), and the towels we were too close to the wall shade.

Oh well, we like it, and it's MUCH better than the yellow.   

So, here is everything, all painted.  This is before I took the tape off (obviously) which was a whole other fiasco.  Let me add in here that I am the MOST impatient person in the entire world and doing the touch-up painting (after the tape removal) just about killed me.

After the painting came the decorations (my fave part of the project).  My mom is "de-cluttering" to try and put her house on the market, so I came into a few wood shelves, one of which I thought work perfectly over the toilet.  We needed something to fill the space of the huge painting we had in there before.  

It was a light wood color, so to make is usable in the bathroom I just sanded and primed the shelf, and then sanded it again to give it a nice used look.  I LOVE the whole antique white wood thing and I think it came out pretty well. I had Dave help me anchor it into the drywall and then set it up with some mirrors I got at Goodwill ($3...YES) and some frames from T.J. Maxx.  I LOVE how it came out.

I also replaced the candles on the sink with some white roses I had in another room of the house.

I'm not quite happy with the candle side yet, but I'll keep working on that.  

Since our blue towels ended up being too close to the wall color we used a tan rug and towel we had from one of Dave's old apartments (for the time being) but those will be replaced eventually with something a bit nicer, and a bit lighter.

So there you have it!  Much better downstairs bathroom.  My first true completed Pinterest inspired project.  Next projects are closet organization (on my side - Dave happens to be very organized) and built-ins around the fireplace.  

Get excited!  Dexter tried, but he just can't handle it.  All the work on the bathroom really wore him out.

Puppy Love

There is nothing better than a sweet, loving little puppy to make you feel better after a rough day.  Or even a good day for that matter (except maybe a baby, but clearly I don't have one of those).  Although our loveable Dexter-bub (as we like to call him) is no longer really a puppy, he is still the BEST guy to come home to every day.

He is so loving, laid back and wonderful.  No matter how long he's been home alone, he is still unbelievably excited to see us when we get back.  Every time.  It's awesome. 

Sorry for the puppy schmoopiness.  Just feeling a little Dexter love today.  Have a great Thursday!

101 Things In 1001 Days. Part II.

I removed a couple of numbers in this section (don't worry, I do know how to count to 50).  Not to cheat and make my list shorter; they just didn’t really make much sense and are really not worth your time reading about.  Again, side effect of the wine when writing these.

26. Visit wine country.  Visited Santa Barbara for a wedding, but no wine country yet!

27. Dress up/do my hair every day for a week.  Clearly not.

28. Buy a "Y" for my entry way.  I looked for an appropriate sized Y that would look good in our large entry space for MONTHS.  I gave up and framed an 11 x 14 print from our wedding day in that space.  Looks great!

29. Buy a fabulous way too expensive pair of shoes.  Nope.

30. Take another trip to a beach with my husband.  Santa Barbara could count for this! 

31. Have a great girl’s weekend get away.  Not yet…

32. Write thank you notes to my family for their help with our wedding - and the 24.5 years before.  I did this for my family last Christmas, but need to make sure Dave’s family gets theirs as well.

33. Buy a real Christmas tree for our living room.  THIS year.  For sure.

34. Send out family Christmas cards to our family and friends.  Did it.  It was so much fun taking the picture for it and writing notes for everyone.  Doing it again this year for sure.

35. Buy a REALLY nice bra - if you saw mine you would understand.  Bought one.  Loved it.  Wore it out.  Need another new one.

38. Be a role model to my little brothers - in some small way.  Always trying.

39. Complete a creative project around my house (i.e. paint the kitchen chairs)  AHH thank you Pinterest for so many new ideas!  Bathroom will be finished tonight.  Pictures to come!

40. Go skydiving.  Not yet!

41. Finish the YarMac :)  Blah.  No way.

42. Pass a Rockband song on hard.  Totally did it.  Singing Mr. Brightside.  Drunk Kara has a much better voice than sober Kara.

43. Go to Vegas and enjoy it now that I am well over 21.  Planned and cancelled for this fall.  Long story.  We’ll keep trying!

45. Get on the board of a charitable organization.  At this point, I at least volunteer for one!  Getting closer.

46. Take some sort of college class (marketing, photography, whatever).  I have taken six college classes.  All my nursing school pre-reqs.  AND a photography class. 

47. Make a smoothie at home.  Yes!  With our new blender.  Very delish.  Need to make more of them.

48. Go to a metal concert with Dave, and enjoy it :)  Went to one, drank a little too much.  I’ll have to have a redo on that one.

49. Donate to my mom's nonprofit.  Yes!

50. Go to a black tie event.  Not quite.  Been to some very fabulous weddings over the past few years though.