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Here are a few books that I'm re-reading. They are just so fun, and totally put me in a state of mind that I love. After reading them I feel so motivated and fun and pretty and kicky. Haha. I can't explain it.









So, I guess that's it for the Post a Day in May! It was fun! Thanks for putting up with me. :) I'm going to try to keep up the posting more often...I will hopefully have plenty of content as I get things ready to open my etsy store! Pray for me. :D

Have You Read This Yet?

The first chapter of Breaking Dawn!! August 2nd can't come soon enough!

I Just Can't Get Enough

I spend probably an hour or more per day on etsy. I just can't stop!

These are from Robin's Egg Pink's store. Too cute!!




I've posted some artwork from this girl before, Elsie of Love, Elsie (she designs scrapbooking products. Her shop is elsiecake).



That just cracks me up. My favorites would be the red ones, too.

Cutting It Close

A bottle of berry flavored sparkling water just exploded all over me. It was extraordinarily annoying.

I finally joined Goodreads! But, as a warning to those of you who are also on there, I really suck at like, writing about books I read. First, because my brain like, can't translate information going in into information coming back out. Second, it's WAY too much like school and writing for school is the equivalent to flipping the off switch on my brain. Maybe I need a new brain.

How come when I feel especially fat I just want to eat more? It's incredibly annoying. I'm having to use every ounce of self-control I have to not just go eat myself to death right now.

Remember this little lemon? Well, I finally just picked it! It didn't get very yellow, but it is very yummy. Maybe I'll get another one by next summer! Haha. That poor tree has had a hard life...I'm not expecting much.



So bear with me here...I have three more blogs to do in order to have one for every day of May. Hehe.

One of The Best Things I've Ever Seen. Ever.

Crap. Okay. I am filled with an overwhelming desire. Like, I have butterflies in my stomach and I kind of feel like crying. Overdramatic, you say? Look at this and then come talk to me.



The only problem is deciding which one to get...





And which one to get for William...




This is the bike my brother Trevor got. He named it The Barron. More like The Sexy Barron, I say. Is it weird that I think my brother's bike is hot?



These are all from beachbikes.net but there are some even more incredible ones from The Dutch Bicycle Company. Like this one...



Sigh...

A Screen Porch Summer

So the "post a day in May" didn't work out completely...but I am trying to do 31 posts in May, even if it's cheating. So don't mind me. :)

Okay, so I'm incredibly excited because my very best online friend (that sounds so creepy and weird, but we haven't met in person, so I guess that's what we are!) just started her new blog! I'm so happy to have her back, I missed her dearly. Christen's new blog is called A Screen Porch Summer. How adorable is that?? She is adorable, that's why. We are crafty soulmates. Welcome back, Christen!

10 Years

One of our first photos together.
Wow. 10 years. It's been 10 years since John and I first met. 10 years since we started on this journey together. And now here we are, more in love than ever, and with a little baby, too.

I spent part of this evening re-reading emails we exchanged back at the beginning of our relationship. It's interesting to see how immediate it was. How we instantly knew that we were just sticking together. It makes me so happy. And I love that back then we never could have imagined what we'd be doing in 10 years, and how much more we'd love each other. We were just meant to be. I feel so incredibly lucky to have found my perfect partner.

I love you, John, always.

So to celebrate we stayed at Four Seasons (Woot! Corporate discount!) and had dinner while Ruth watched William. We picked him up later and then we all three spent the night. In the morning we walked around the grounds and then went out to lunch. It was incredibly fun and John spoiled me to a ridiculous extent -- not that I'm complaining ;). And we were cracking up that William's first hotel stay was at a Four Seasons. He's so posh. And the hotel was amazing. It was so much fun.

These photos are clearly from the Four Seasons website





And I don't want to be brag-y, so I won't list all the many surprises John showered upon me, but I will say I'm extremely spoiled. And John, you're way too generous and sweet. Here is a photo of my Mother's Day necklace that arrived in time for our anniversary, though.

Amazing custom necklace by Kathryn Riechert!
Thanks again, John, for an unforgettable anniversary! Here's to 100 more! (Whoa, we'd be insanely old.)

A Tag

I love these earrings!

-Post these rules to your blog.
-Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.


My Joys:
1- My family
2- Rainy days
3- Traveling


My Fears:
1- Losing a loved one
2- Not getting off the baby weight
3- People I love making bad decisions


My Goals:
1- Open my etsy shop
2- Get down to pre-preg weight
3- Run another 5K


My Current Obsessions/Collections:
1- Owls
2- Books on child development
3- Chai Lattes


Random Surprising Facts About Me:
1- Both of my little toes are sideways and gimpy
2- I can not whistle
3- I automatically read everything I see that has text


I'm tagging:
1- Kelly
2- Aurora
3- Morgan
4- Lisa
5- Ruth

My mommy left today. We had a very fun weekend playing with the baby, talking, sight-seeing and window shopping. We miss her very much already,and she's only been gone for 4 hours. I miss my family.

Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day!

Mushrooms, Gasoline, Airlines, A Visitor, A Will

Well look-y here! I've finally finished the valance for William's window. This fabric is one of the first things I bought for Will's room before we moved in and alas, it's the last thing to actually make it into the room. I'm really happy with how these turned out, seeing as how I've never made a valance and what attempts I've made at curtains in the past left something to be desired. I just read through a couple patterns online and then went for it. They're even lined. And have mitered corners. Fancy, aye? I was impressed.



Next up, it's official. Gasoline is now over $4 here.


And because of the gasoline shenanigans, airlines are being lame and doing things like charging for checked baggage. And, in saddest news of the week news, JetBlue just discontinued all flights from Burbank to Salt Lake City. We are in a serious state of mourning over here. First, because JetBlue has awesome planes. Second, Burbank is seriously convenient. Third, the flights were only $59-$69 each way. Way cheaper than like the wack Delta Connection flights on the toy airplanes. So, we're bummed. We now have to drive to Long Beach to pick up/drop off my siblings when they visit this summer since their flights to BUR are now cancelled. And what the heck flight are we going to take now?? Wiggity-wack.

But, in best news of the week, my mommy is coming to visit for the weekend! She gets here tomorrow morning and we're all very excited. So, I won't be back until like, Monday night cause I'll be party-ing too hard to blog. You know how it is.

And because I know you won't make it through the weekend without seeing a new photo of William...

Fell asleep watching a Muse concert

Honest to Blog?

Tomorrow I'm working and then going to see this lady


at her signing for this book



so I will not be at home all day. Which is why I am doing tomorrow's post today. See?

It's amazing how productive I was today for not having gotten out of bed until 10am. It was a pretty sweet day. I got some deep cleaning done, some organization, some playing with the baby, dinner and dessert and watching Teen Girl Squads with my two best friends.

If you haven't seen TGS yet, you need to. Go here. (I identify with What's-Her-Face)

It's Probably Just a Food Baby. Did You Have a Big Lunch?

We had chicken salad croissant sandwiches for dinner. Yum. They were good. I could eat them all day. I don't remember where I got this recipe. I've had it forever but only made it a couple times. I will be making it more often, however. I have changed a few things from the original recipe and have it for you here. Did I mention, yum?

Chicken Salad

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
2 apples, peeled and chopped (or, about 1/2 cup red grapes, halved)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon green onion, chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
a couple grinds fresh black pepper

In a large skillet, pour 1 inch deep water and bring to
a bare simmer. Add chicken breasts. Gently poach until
internal temperature reaches 170 degrees, 8-10 minutes.
Remove chicken, let cool 5 minutes. Cut chicken into
small pieces.

In large bowl toss apples, celery and green onion. In a
small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, salt and
pepper until well blended.

In a small skillet, toast curry powder over high heat,
about 2 minutes. Stir curry into mayonnaise mixture.
Add chicken and mayonnaise mixture to apples, celery
and green onions. Fold together with a rubber spatula.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to chill
and allow flavors to blend.

Serve on a bed of lettuce or on croissants as a sandwich.



Also, one of my best friends from Back In The Day, Kaja, just posted this recipe for No-Bake Cookies on her blog today. Heavens I hadn't had them in many a year, so of course I had to make some. I wonder if they're just like, a Utah thing. No one I've talked to here has ever heard of them.

No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick oats

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan, for one minute.
Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla. Fold in oats.
Scoop out onto wax paper and allow to set.

I like to put mine in the freezer! Yum! And kind of weird!

Jaune Boutons Numéro Deux

Remember this sweater that I made while on bed rest back in September/October? Well here it is on the babe! It's still quite a bit too big, which is hilarious since I made the 3-6 month size. Oh well.

Actually, I'm glad it doesn't fit right now because he wouldn't be wearing it anyway in this 90+ degree heat. I'm hoping it'll fit perfect in November or whenever it's going to get cool again. We'll see.

Anyway, love it on him! He's such a vintage car coat kind of guy.

2 Down -- 3 To Go

Well I've finished another baby blanket. This one is for Rob & Gina (who also do not read this blog), who are due next week or so? Not sure. But soon. I'm also making a little shirt but that's not ready yet.

I love these fabrics! Which is weird cause they're just from JoAnn.



Also, I finally made a drawstring bag for William's blocks. It's so nice not to have these falling all over the place now!

The plan for today includes getting dressed (I worked out and took a shower and then lost motivation), dusting, putting the rest of the laundry away, grocery shopping, buying fabric paint, doing a bit of design, hopefully starting another blanket, making dinner and going on a walk. Yikes. Wish me luck! Haha.

One More Etsy Visit

I've got pictures to show you tomorrow of what I finished today!

I'm heading to bed but first had to show you these...


Talk about adorable. They are from Fantastic Toys. I'd want the raspberry one, I think. It'd be too hard to decide.

See ya in the morning!

Oh. Yikes. Bags.

I'm a little bit obsessed with bags. I have many. I get in trouble for buying more (in fact, John just walked by and told me to "get your mind off them". But LOOK AT THESE!








Oh heavens I love etsy. It's like, a gift from heaven. I'm saving up for one of these bags. I just don't know how I'll decide which one to get.

Here's the link to Charmdesign. She is amazing!!!

It Certainly Is Summer-y

Well, dinner last night was good...but not mind-blowing or anything. I expected more from Martha. She really let me down this time. The menu consisted of Hamburgers topped with pancetta and fontina cheese; balsamic mushrooms; bean, basil and tomato salad; and fruit. It was fun though, as always!

I have another recipe for ya'll. This is, in my opinion, the best guacamole in the land. It's my version of a recipe from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. It's the perfect blend of flavors with a tiny hint of spicy.

Cara's Favorite Guacamole

2 jalapeno peppers
2 large, ripe avocados
2 T lemon juice, fresh squeezed
2 T cilantro, extremely finely chopped
1/2 t salt
dash of freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1/4 of a red onion, very finely chopped

Remove stem, seeds and membranes from peppers; chop.
Mash avocados. Mix all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate
1 hour to blend flavors

I hadn't even eaten avocado in my life before like 2 years ago (they don't have such things in UT). And now I'm addicted to avocado and guacamole.

Today we put William in the pool for the first time. He was very unsure about it at first but once I showed him that he could splash like in the bathtub he was stoked.

It's too hot to do anything.

I've eaten about 12 cookies today.

7 Month Will

This Mr. Baby is 7 months old now. Didn't I like just post about how he was 6 months old? Where did the last month go???

William can go from sitting up to all fours.
He likes to get on his hands and feet like he's doing push-ups.
He's got the leg part of crawling down but not the arms, so he ends up face planting a lot.
He loves drinking out of glasses and water bottles.
He sneezes 3 or 4 times everytime we go outside.
His favorite toys are a little plastic Ziggy doll from Gma W and a stuffed puppy from Nana Colleen.
His favorite foods are raspberries, blackberries and crackers (or any bread product).
He loves riding around in his Mei Hip carrier so he can see all the haps up close.

Dag Yo

Babies certainly cut into one's blogging time. As does making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning up dinner, doing laundry, working, grocery shopping, sleeping and working out. I need to get my priorities in order here. :P

So, I'm stoked that ya'll are digging the banana bread! I'm glad it's turning out so well for you! When I made it I didn't mash up the bananas very well (okay, I didn't actually mash them up at all, I just broke them into chunks) cause I was in a hurry and also I'm lazy. So my bread had little pockets of mushy banana. Which wasn't bad necessarily, but was also a little freaky. I knew that if I had mashed up the banana up properly it would be perfect. So anyway...yay!



So that picture up there is of my new necklace. Isn't it the cutest??? I got it at Urban Outfitters for $10! I finally found something on clearance worth buying! I love necklaces and earrings but have a hard time bringing myself to buy a necklace for $24 when I could be using that money to buy actual clothing. So I love it when I find something good on sale. Also, I got some pine cone earrings for $5! They look just like the necklace but they are silver. Love it!

Also, that shirt is one of my new shirts from Anthropologie -- also on sale! And I had a million gift cards. Sa-weet!

After William wakes up we're going to Whole Foods and to the farmer's market. However, it's 92 degrees out right now. Kill me. By 3 o'clock (when the market opens) it'll be even hotter. I hate the heat. But I am really stoked that there is a market so close now.

Tonight we're having friends over for dinner. I'm making this whole summer dinner menu from a Martha Stewart I've been saving for a million years. I'm really excited -- it all looks so yummy. I'll let you know how it all turns out...

Applesauce Banana Bread

This looks nothing like the bread I made.
I've been looking for the perfect banana bread recipe for awhile now. It seems I never have enough over-ripe bananas for most recipes -- they usually call for 4 and I usually only have 2. Which was the case today. I figured it must be possible to substitute applesauce for the remaining banana so I just looked around online.

I found this recipe which calls for only 2 bananas so I was stoked. The guy says he doesn't know how he survived for 30 years without ever having tasted this bread, so I figured it was the right recipe to try.

It had some serious trouble coming out of the pan (I never let things cool enough before trying to take them out of their pans. I'm too excited I guess) so I didn't take photos. It looks like a pile. But...it takes SO good! And is super moist. It really is great. I rewrote the recipe for you here (it was out of order and stuff on the website):

Applesauce Banana Bread

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 large, over-ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs and beat well. Mix in
flour. Add bananas and the remaining
ingredients. Bake in greased loaf pan
for about 1 hour.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from
pan and finish cooling on wire rack.


A note: this made a bit too
much batter for my glass loaf pan -- it
ended up overflowing a tiny bit. So you
probably want to watch that. Don't put
it all in or something.

A Very Nice Day

Today has been a lovely first Mothers Day. We slept in and then John took me out to brunch at one of my favorite places, Champagne French Bakery.



John gave me a gift card for Anthropologie (yay!) and a necklace which isn't here yet. I can't wait to show it to you when it arrives!


Then I got my nails done for the first time since William was born. Scary. I'm so happy to have pretty toes again.



Now I'm just hanging out with William, making banana bread and copying some recipes into my new recipe book (I'll show it to you later -- it's so cute!)

This kid is 30 weeks old today! Yikes!

Thank you, John, for such a wonderful day!