Concerts may not just be a thing from my past!

I tell you, whether to go to a friend's benefit concert was a real struggle for me. I have not gone to a concert since David and I got engaged. For two years prior to marrying him, I went to every concert that was within reasonable driving distance (reasonability subject to likability ;-) ). In 2009 I remember 3 months strait of concerts! It was a blast! I had a concert buddy and everything, I was SO cool!

I picture myself a little differently now... or I did. A little less endurance maybe? A little less ambition for "fun"? I just tire out too easily! Man, am I getting old or is this another passing phase of pregnancy... like my bump, for instance? Or peeing every five minutes...

The fun actually began Thursday night when I was invited to go with a group to do some last minute shopping with the bride to be and lasted through Saturday night.

One week from today this girl is getting married!!! Whoa! I so remember the final stretch before my wedding, such anticipation, such excitement, such longing to FINALLY be with my one and only for the rest of our lives!!! Other people getting married makes me sappy about when I got married ;-)

Thursday night at Kohl's, Bride and sisters looking at shoes, dresses, and ties, shirts and jackets for the guys!

Love how she'll "tie" everything together and bring out the colors of her wedding with her shoes!

These girls are the loveliest sisters ever! So awesome how they're so there for one another!

Just laughin' it up like girls do!

So glad I got to hang out with former college roomie and bridesmaid Sarah!

Oh these girls!

The busy bride, shopping, getting gifts, and running everything from her cell!

Yea... took a minute out for me... My current bras which got me through almost 2 trimesters had to go! It was the end of the 1st trimester all over again, things were falling out of places they didn't need to fall out of, and getting pinched where its not pleasant to be pinched. Up another cup size I go. Girls, I was so not prepared for this! Did not think that big 'ole D cup would really fit... imagine my surprise!

YAY time for food! Love us some Panera ya'll ;-)

No, I did not order two drinks! The Mocha Frappe is for hubs. Ya'll know how much he digs a mocha frappe ;-) The low-fat mango smoothie was for me and baby bear! Though I was kinda lusting after anything resembling and iced coffee! I indulged and got the turkey bacon, avocado sandwhich... just a half, just a taste. So yummy!

That was our wild Thursday night! I had to ditch early so I didn't get to go to Hobby Lobby for all the fun with crafts, hubs kinda needed transportation for work ;-) But it was totally a blast!

Friday night I reserved exclusively for the Opening Ceremonies. Who in the world doesn't know Olympics are going on right now? I grabbed a pizza and bread sticks for dinner, there was no way I could fathom cooking that night. Unfortunately, hubs was not as excited as he usually is about the pizza. Apparently he wanted our "fun money" for this week to go towards the Batman movie. Oops. So sorry honey :-(

My girl Sarah came over in time to watch opening ceremonies with me. It was awesome! Hanging with her and seeing the creativity and talents of our neighbors across the pond!

 I cannot believe that next Summer Olympics I will have a 3.5 year old!!!! SOO crazy. I'll always be able to tell baby bear that we watched Olympics together from the time he was in my tummy :-)

FINALLY concert day! It was kind of a fun start. Hubs and I still got to do our Farmer's Market routine, though for the first time ever, we were a little disappointed with the produce. After that I had barely an hour to make food, pack food and water for the road, and fix myself up to go. The girls were ready to make a day of it! First stop mall, then brunch ;-)

Lacey got these SCRUMP-TIOUS-looking and tasting, chocolate chip pancakes. The girls kept downing the coffee.... I was sooooo jealous!

Oh yea! That golden stack of yummy would put a smile on my face too!

Ah yay! More time with the bride-to-be! I'm so glad I got to hang out with her these last few days! I'm going to miss her soo much! It's her fiance we're going to support at the benefit concert.

Chillin' at the raffle stand.

Gotta protect my fair skin from the sun with my floppy hat!

Funny story... We stopped at a gas station about 10 miles from the venue. I would have used the restroom, but I couldn't even stand the smell of the hallway. I was told the church providing the field for the event would be unlocked... no such luck. Nor was the firehouse next door. I had made a joke that at this point I could go in the woods, that became my reality. Soon everyone there knew the big pregnant chick had a big full bladder and they were rushing to find a solution. This one nice older couple, parishioners of the church, happened to have some toilet paper in their trunk. Oh joy! I called Lacey in the meantime on her cell (she was across the field from me), to see if she or Mer could be a guard. They both came, and the wife of the gent who had dragged me all over trying to find an unlocked facility. I really would have been fine with just Lacey or Mer, or both, but all three? And this lady, though sweet as she could be, I didn't know! A little much for my shy bladder issues ;-) So... this lady picks a big 'ole tree. I was totally thinking the whole woods... from this tree I could still see everyone up on the hill and thought surely they could see me, I could see the band setting up on stage, and the road. I knew people from the road would have a view. There was NO WAY! Finally I convinced the lady to let me go in the woods, her husband, close enough to holler at us, said "Watch out for ticks!" Great, thanks. The lady proceeds to go in with me, and stands, back to me (praise the Lord), less than 3 feet away! Seriously! I think there is more room between stalls!!! LOL. Well, finally went, then 20 minutes later the preacher showed up and unlocked the church building. Great timing.

Added another friend! Candace is awesome! She was our ride home. That makes her double-awesome!

The speaker and director of this organization is also an author. She was great at keeping the message upbeat and effective!

Meredith and fiance Jessie, co-coordinators of this wonderful event, taking a moment to just enjoy the scene!

Meredith and friends enjoying the show and showing support for Jesse's (drummer) band, A New Day!

I love that this is a band that really stands for such a wonderful cause, that together they worked to put together a fundraiser to help mom's in crisis and precious little babies. Their music definitely rocks! Check out the links above for samples and see what they're up to now!

I got plenty of people-watching time in. I loved this scene with father and son. Need a great idea for a father-son outing? Go to a Christian Rock concert together!

This is great, Mom joins Dad and Son down front! This dad was so thrilled to have them there, he just kept giving them big bear hugs!

I also loved this mom and son interaction! Pure joy right here! Made me so anxious to have my own little boy in my arms! Cool fact... this is the drummer's sister and the one who recommended our midwife to us through Meredith!

FINALLY!!! Long over-due bump pix! We're 30 weeks folks (65 days to go today)! Our little guy is super-active! And so much bigger! His movements can be hard, fast punches and kicks, to very strong, but steady movements that appear as bulges all around my belly. I love this connection with him right now. Sometimes, it can get a little crazy, and occasionally hurt a little bit. This dude now has grip strength! Hair, finger nails and toe nails, eye lashes, and fuller features. His brain has the little squigglies now so he can store knowledge one day!

And of course! Have to show at least one weekend meal! Sunday we had big plans for burgers, unfortunately we discovered our meat had gone bad. Good thing I had already prepared chicken on standby... We just changed it to chicken sandwiches ;-) Nuking the chicken wasn't as exciting David said "so in the end we end up microwaving lunch any way" however, I reminded him that at least we cooked all the sides and fixings ;-)

mmmmm! My very own roasted red peppers (which ended up also serving as a great add-in for the humus I made Monday)

Hubby made a deluxe chicken sandwich, loaded down with caramelized onions, cheese, 3 pieces of chicken and four slices of bacon, and smothered in BBQ sauce! That's my man ;-)

I'm soo glad he let me take this picture! I just couldn't imagine him eating this... doesn't that look painful??

This is from tonight... I'm getting ready to work on my blog. Snack of choice? Two peaches from Farmer's Market, organic/natural ginger ale (I only drink half because its still not an ideal beverage for pregnancy), and of course, have to get in that water!

This is from the other night... I wish the picture showed this more clearly, where you see the arrow and line, baby bear was making a crazy "doggie bone" shape on the right side of my tummy. He was all raised up and firm, it must have been his head and butt making the round shapes. It was CRAZY! He just hung out there for a while. It was pretty cool. He's getting sooo BIG!

That's my weekend+ folks. Have a great week!

Best,

M~

A little bit of Random

We all need some random sometimes, right? This is mostly a picture post, not in any specific order :-)

More yummy variations with couscous. Farm fresh cherry toms and zucchini, farm fresh beef, and goat cheese! I was SO FULL after all these delicious ingredients and flavors entered my body :-)

So hubs really fell for mocha frappes, especially with cookie crumbles... Ever since we've been on the search for other options to see what is the best... BK LOST! BIG. Little to no flavor, hardly any whipped cream, and what's with the chocolate turd topper??? He was a good sport, better than me, and drank it... but seriously, EWW. He did fall hard for the new oreo coolata however at Dunkin.

YAY! He finally got a grill :-) It was fun watching him do his manly thing of assembling all the parts.

Then getting the fire going.

Love watchin my man work the burgers ;-)

And I always find it sexy to see my man cooking in the kitchen ;-) he manned the onions, as usual.

 

This was a fun Sunday afternoon lunch. It had been MONTHS, like since before I got pregnant, that I made a big, traditional Sunday meal. This was fun though! My VERY FIRST roast! Came up with my own marinade of olive oil, lime juice, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, pepper, salt, maybe some other seasonings, scallions; let all that sit over night in the fridge in a covered dish. Popped it in the crock pot Sunday morning with 8 .oz of water. When we got home from church I did my version of my families go-to Parmesan potatoes, farm fresh squash sauteed, and hubs made the biscuits! My recipe and he made them better than me!!! I was so impressed :-) And farm fresh peaches!! (did I already talk about hub's biscuit skills? sometimes i think about what i want on a post for awhile and then i can't remember if i already published it or if i was still thinking about it? ;-) )

Our church's VBS was on "Walking and Talking with Paul." On the last day they let everyone take a tour of the kid's classes. The teachers did such an AWESOME, creative job!!!

We took turns posing at the entrance of a class room.

I was a little more reluctant ;-)

They even had an interactive Eutychus (Acts 20) falling from the window after Paul had preached all night and the poor guy fell asleep from exhaustion.

And a real jail cell like Paul had to sit in a couple times. All for the work of the Lord!

This picture may not show it well, on the left is a store bought egg... even though it is supposed to be organic and cage free... It is paler and smaller than the farm fresh egg on the left from the farmer's market. Crazy!

This is my healthy breakfast! I have a funny story. This is a microwaved, banana oat cake. SOO yummy! I got the recipe via http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.com/ and the specific recipe from http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/02/microwave-blueberry-banana-oat-cakes.html

The first time I made this I was heading to work early to notarize some dna tests. One lady came in with her daughter and granddaughter and noticed my container of cake slices. She asked if I had brought in brownies. I said "no, this is blueberry oat cake." She kept staring and asking more questions so I felt obliged to ask "Would you like to try some?" Thinking there is no way a stranger would want to eat someone else's mid morning snack... I thought wrong. This lady said "PLEASE!" Like she had been sitting there waiting the whole time for me to offer, as if it it was the only decent thing to do. I tried to recover my shock, glanced at the dna collector who tried to avoid my gaze, and I made my over to the lady and extended my dish. SHE.BROKE.OFF.HALF a PIECE! Her hand touched the rest of the pieces and she left the other half just sitting in my dish. Gross-out moment! I don't know where people's hands have been. Apparently have the population doesn't even wash after wiping! Soo... I tried to encourage her to take the rest "Are you sure you don't want the whole piece? Have another for your daughter" (my appetite is obviously gone, thanks.) She said "Oh no honey, I can see your pregnant, that's fine!" Awesome.

 This is the oat cake with the half farm fresh eggs and yummy farm fresh cherry toms!



And yea, I've started the count down on my calendar at work :-) 70 days today!

I ran out of couscous. Had to switch to brown rice. I used hubbys rice maker for the first time on my own. It worked out well! Seasoned it with sea salt and lime juice, mixed some chicken up in it with farm fresh squash and cheddar cheese. YUMMY! As long as I didn't look at the rice or think about the texture, I was good ;-) Seriously, I only like rice on a Chipoltle or Qdoba burrioto... or on a chimichanga or fajita plate at a Mexican restaurant! lol

AAAnnndd lately when hubby thinks I'm cute or something he runs and grabs the camera to take a picture. He's a sweetie! I am glad he got this outfit though... I was trying one of the popular ideas I've seen for re purposing a maxi skirt. The day before I had worn this skirt as a skirt... the waist band was getting a little tight under the belly so I pulled it up over my boobs and wore it the next day as a dress ;-) It needed some work to re-create the waistline, so I belted the cardi. David thinks I look like a princess here... lol!

Skirt/kohls; cardi/Old Navy; skinny belt/Shade Clothing; Headband/gifted; Hoop earrings/Charlotte Ruse

 I cannot neglect to mention how much i LOVE wearing this old pair of hubby's old basket ball shorts. I get really depressed when they're in dirty laundry. I'm still rocking my honey moon tank though that says "Just Married." David thinks it might be inappropriate to wear since I'm so prego... LOL

I got in a creative mood... I've been wanting to make sharpie-art mugs like I saw over here: http://www.irocksowhat.com/ Just get a porcelain mug, sharpies, color like crazy, then bake in the over for 30 mins at 350! Don't wash in the dishwasher or you're lose your design!

Hubby patiently modeling his mug for me ;-)

That's about all folks! I cannot believe its Thursday! So glad this week is going faster than last week. Tonight I go look for wedding decor with Mer and maybe some other girls for Mer's big day (in just about 1 week), tomorrow we attempt to secure a pediatrician for our son, and Saturday I may go hear Mer's fiance rock a benefit for a crisis pregnancy center. YAY!

Best,

M~