Hungry Lady: Eating for Two Edition

Well, I've been doing quite a bit of cooking and trying out new recipes. I'm not sure if I'm trying to compensate for the fact that I didn't get off the couch for my entire first trimester or looking ahead to much of the same for the third, but while I have the energy and appetite, I thought, why not cook?!

You may or may not have seen these before on Pinterest, but thought I'd give you the run-down on two new recipes that are definitely worth trying.

Skinny Spinach Lasagna Rolls
On a scale of Lazy to Julia Child, I award this a solid Betty Crocker. It was delicious, made enough for plenty of leftovers and was relatively easy. It took about 30 minutes of prep and about 30 minutes to bake. Here's the full recipe, but note that I subbed regular lasagna noodles for whole grain and added more spaghetti sauce than it called for because "I like things saucy."

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Crawfish & Rice Casserole
Considering Greg and I both lived in Louisiana for several years of our life, it should come as no surprise that we both love seafood. So, when I stumbled upon this recipe, I knew I had to give it a whirl. My gem of a husband took the lead on this one and honestly, it was kind of a lot of work. We also did 1/2 crawfish (frozen from Kroger) and 1/2 shrimp and opted for instant microwave rice because we're lazy like that. It was delicious. Despite it being a huge pain to cook, we'll definitely be cooking again! (Recipe here!)

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(our photo - it was much more appetizing than it looks!)

Oh, and after only a little over two years, I finally put on my big girl panties and decided to get real place settings for our dinner table. Yay for being an adult!

(Don't mind the Joe's cup...  :-)

Let me know if you give these recipes a try! And follow my appropriately named "Mmmmm" board on Pinterest!

Pregnancy: Week 18-21 in Review

Well I feel like I've definitely gotten in the swing of this whole pregnancy thing. Here's a quick look at the first few weeks of my second trimester:

Feeling? I feel fantastic! I'm definitely growing, but I'm still comfortable and feeling good overall. So, I'm trying to do as much now while I feel good!

Weight Gain? About 8 pounds as of today.

Baby Size? We've graduated from a bell pepper to the length of a carrot. According to my all-knowing BabyCenter app, he weighs about 3/4 pound and is about 10 1/2 inches long.

Maternity Clothes? Yes, my normal wardrobe has shrunk in size... But I've found some cute maternity tops and I finally broke down and bought some maternity jeans. I'm still rocking the belly band with my work dress pants, but those days are numbered. My favorite thing to wear is my maternity leggings (they are from H&M and they have a full belly built in - most maternity leggings I've found sit below the bump). If only those were considered "business casual"...

Cravings? Nothing specific, but I still love anything salty and fruit. I'm eating lots of pineapple, strawberries, apples and bananas. I still think about french onion dip quite often, but I've cut back (for the sake of maintaining a not huge ass).

What I Miss? Every once in a while, I miss being able to drink a nice adult beverage (especially on a really nice day on a patio). But other than that, I'm just really enjoying this part of pregnancy.

Fears? Why yes, I have a mountain of them, but I try to focus on the small ones such as the fact that my belly button is getting shallower. I don't know if I'm destined for a maternity "outie" but my fingers are crossed that I'm not.

What I'm Looking Forward To? We've painted the nursery (pics to come!) and now we're getting started on some other nursery projects, which should be fun. Baby registry day is coming up this week, too.

Best Moment? The baby has started moving so much. I feel him every day and I absolutely love it! Greg even got to feel a kick for the first time this weekend. :-)

Breaking my cardinal rule of no iPhone in the mirror pics, but Greg was out of town!

It was Halloween. I couldn't help myself...

Nursery Prepping

Well, the time has finally come for us to start on our baby's nursery! We were waiting on our ultrasound (which happened a couple of weeks ago) to confirm that it was a boy (it is!) before we started anything.

Our sweetie!

But now, it's full speed ahead! The hubby's busy season starts in January and while the vision for the nursery is clearly mine, Greg is definitely the man who's making the vision come alive. So let's get to my master plan:

The Idea:
Well, really the look I'm going for is theme-less; nothing against nurseries with themes, I just want this room to be classic. We're shooting for neutral and not too baby-ish. We can add wall art and of course, toys, to make it look like a nursery, but I like that he can grow into it.

The Color Scheme:
Gray & Navy with shots of Kelly Green - The walls will be gray with lots of gray accents, but we'll add navy and throw in a pop or two of bright green to liven up the space. (I'm still finalizing paint swatches for the green color!)

When I fell into my Etsy vortex a few weeks ago, I came across this throw pillow that so perfectly fits my color scheme. Of course, I had to order it. Where it will live? I'm not sure yet, but I love the J.Crew-esque design. (It's by Jillian Rene Decor and all of her stuff is gorgeous/high quality!)

The Furniture:
I think we'll go with white furniture (crib), but I've been wanting to get a great dresser for the changing table that we could re-do and paint in a bright color. Lucky for me, I have an awesome husband and Connor has a great future daddy because when I found a dresser on Craigslist weekend before last, Greg agreed to drive me to a tiny town east of Dallas (about an 85-90 mile round trip!) to pick up this gorgeous dresser from an antique shop.

We're both so in love with the shape. It's a vintage French Provincial dresser and it's in amazing condition; it's so beautiful in person that I think it's going to be hard to paint over the beautiful wood, but that's still the plan. We also love that if we decide to take it out of his room, we could strip it, refinish or repaint it and it could live in a guest bedroom or even as a buffet table in a dining room.

Well that's as far as we've gotten, but we'll be sure to update you along the way!