Forshizz Up the Spout. Honest to blog.

I was doing so well with posting on this thing until about two months ago when I was suddenly EXHAUSTED all of the time. All I wanted to do when I came home was collapse on the couch, so that's pretty much what I did. Of course, it made a lot more sense when I found out this little bean was amongst us!

I'm already in love with its nose <3

So while the thought of posting on here has crossed my mind many many times since we found out the big news, I've simply been too drop dead tired to do anything other than work and come home. I'm just now entering the second trimester (14th week), which I've heard is the golden age of pregnancy - no more nausea (though that only really hit me for about two weeks early on), a lot more energy and of course that "glow" :) I'm looking forward to this next stage, where I can get things done and hopefully have a little more motivation to do anything other than lie pitifully like a sack of potatoes.

Via

Now that I've gotten the ball rolling, hopefully I'll make a point to post on here more often and pick back up where I left off. On a side note, am I the only one who loves Juno? Hi-lar-ious.

Lindsey's Senior Pictures

When my in-laws came into town last month for a visit, we (me, the husband, my brother-in-law William and my sister-in-law Lindsey) escaped for a day downtown to take Lindsey's senior pictures. We first hit up Zilker Gardens and then made our way over near South Congress to sneak walk around the alleyways and whatnot to find some cool spots. Lindsey is, for lack of a better word, crazy. But the awesome kind. She's hardcore into basketball (she plays on her HS varsity team) but can't leave the house unless her hair looks perfect (you know it's true, Linz). Not to mention she's a ridiculous ball of energy. We love her to death and her silliness made the photoshoot all that more fun. She was a trooper, too - we walked around for about 4 hours in the middle of the day and in this summer weather, that means 100+ degree temps. Now that they have the final images on disc, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites. Including some outtakes at the end... :)

Um, yeah. Apparently playing basketball gives you killer legs. Sign me up! Also, if you're a boy, look away.

And now may I present to you: "Gangsta" Lindsey and Overly-Giddy Lindsey. She hearts haterz.

This last picture on the right is quite possibly my favorite of all of them. Classic Lindsey.

She might kill me for posting these last couple, but deep down she loves them too :)

This is Coming

...to my bedroom.

Yes, that is newspaper on my wall. No, it's not staying, but something else will be in its place. It's still in conception but I'm hoping to start on the project soon. I can tell you that 1. I can't decide between white and a color, 2. they won't be photographs, and 3. I need 64 total, but currently there are only actually 59 in existence.

I know that doesn't make much sense, but what fun is it to tell you ahead of time? :) Stay tuned...

My New Best Friend

Okay well "new" is a relatively loose term, I suppose, since I've had this particular product for seven or eight months now, but it is still very much my bff in the kitchen. When the husband and I got married last October, we received a new cookware set that we had registered for from his wonderful family as a wedding gift. I was super psyched to get them since I had been sporting a $20 set from Ross since sophomore year in college and I was done with that cheapness! *

One thing I didn't count on was my new pots and pans looking anything other than beautiful and right-out-of-the-box shiny forever and ever. I quickly realized that without a non-stick coating things tend to, well, stick to the pans. This is largely combated by generous amounts of butter and oil, but even if you prevent things from getting stuck, after awhile the pan starts to look like this....

Mmmmmm!

Pleasant, isn't it? Yeah, it looks like a layer of gunk, but we do wash our pans, thank you very much, and this is as clean as it gets! That is, unless you know my good friend.

Super cheap on Amazon

Yes, this aptly named can of powder is pure magic (though I suppose Harry Potter might argue that "scourgify" is a bit faster). In fact, if you visit that link I put up there in the first paragraph to our cookware on Amazon, the one thing it tells you that most customers "frequently bought together" along with the pots and pans set is this stuff. Easy to use? Why yes, yes it is. Are these visuals necessary? Probably not, but ignore that point and enjoy the pictures.

STEP 1: Wet the pan and dump out any excess water.

STEP 2: Put a generous amount of the powder on the surface that you want to tackle.

STEP 3: Start scrubbing with a cloth that you don't particularly care much about. Make sure it's wet as well so that the powder starts to make a paste. Depending on the severity of the surface, you might be doing this for awhile.

 STEP 4: Realize that the back of your pan has foreign markings on it as well and scrub some more.

 STEP 5: Rinse well and hand wash to remove any remaining residue.

Already looking better...

And now for a before and after, because those are my favorite things ever:

I don't use this stuff every day, but when I notice a pot or pan looking a little worn, I like to bust it out and make them look nice and shiny again. This powder will get out pretty much everything. If it can be removed, it will be, as long as you're persistent enough. This one pan only took me about 2 minutes. So if you have stainless steel cookware that needs a pick me up, I highly recommend it!


Do you have any "must haves" around the house?



* I realize this makes me sound like a horrible person, but you would agree, had you used those terrible pots and pans for so long.

Pot Roast Monday

Pot Roast has become somewhat of a tradition around here on Mondays and I never get tired of it! We don't do a whole lot of variation (why mess with a good thing?!) but it still lets us have melt-in-your-mouth meat once a week with deliciously season potatoes and broccoli. It was always one of my favorite things my mom made growing up and ever since I invested (okay, it was $20) in a good crock pot, I've been a happy camper :) It's a good "meat and potatoes" dish (literally) - warm, comforting and best of all, easy to make. And as crazy as Mondays can be, that's a good thing.

QUICK AND EASY POT ROAST
- One rump roast or similar cut of meat, roughly 3/4 lb per person
- Beef or Chicken broth, enough to nearly cover your meat (we've used both with equally good results)
- Vegetables 
- Seasonings (I use garlic powder, pepper, onion powder and red pepper flakes)
- Flour

Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix the flour with seasonings of your choice (for this step I use pepper and garlic powder) and cover both sides of the meat. Place meat in the skillet to brown, two minutes per side. Remove from heat and transfer to crock pot.

Cover meat with the beef or chicken broth and add the rest of your seasonings (I reapply pepper and garlic powder and add in the flakes and onion powder. Because the broth already contains a massive amount of sodium, I never add additional salt). Cover and cook on high for 7-9 hours.

Optional: Add in vegetables during the last hour or two of cooking, depending on the type of veggie. I use red potatoes - one per person - and put them in for at least two hours. They are delicious by the end. I also throw in broccoli about 15 minutes before we sit down to eat so that it doesn't get soggy but that it has a chance to absorb the flavors.

Yum!

What about you? Do you have a staple dish that you keep coming back to?

A Trip to the (Hillside) Theatre!

Yesterday Charles and I, my mom, stepdad, two brothers and close family friends took a trip to Zilker Park for our annual tradition of swimming in Barton Springs before settling down for the musical of the year. Zilker Hillside Theatre has been putting on productions for the last 53 years and we've been coming for the last ten. This year's show?

The theatre is literally on a hillside - if you don't brace yourself correctly, you slowly start to slide down in your seat (which is usually your butt on a blanket, unless you bring a chair), which only adds to the charm. Everyone comes and starts putting down blankets around 5:00 and the show starts around 8:30, when it starts to get dark.

The cast warming up for the show

You're not supposed to take pictures during the show, but I was a rebel and snuck in a few shots for this post. Don't worry, no flash! I did it all ninja like.

End of Act I

End of Act II - The Finale

I had actually never seen any form of Footloose before, though I did recently see the trailer for the new remake of the movie, so I had a general idea of the plot going into it. For those who don't know, from the Zilker website...

Dancing is not a crime!

When Ren [MacCormack] and his mother move from Chicago to a small farming town, he is prepared for the inevitable adjustment period at his new high school. But, what he isn't prepared for is the town's ban on dancing... instituted by the local preacher. When the reverend's rebellious daughter sets her sights on Ren, her roughneck boyfriend tries to sabotage Ren's reputation, and many of the locals are more than eager to believe the worst about the new kid.
The heartfelt story that emerges centers on a father longing for the son he lost, a young man aching for the father who walked out on him, and celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people... with a warm heart and an open mind.

While is wasn't my favorite musical of all time, it was definitely good fun. What I can't wait for is next year's show - The Sound of Music!

Speaking of Mason Jars...

I recently stumbled upon this post from one of the blogs I follow called Young House Love that chronicles the adventures of Sherry, John and their adorable daughter Clara. I am continually jealous of all of their awesome home improvement projects since most of them I can't yet implement while in an apartment, but they really have some great and inspirational stuff.

One thing I CAN do, however, is this idea that Sherry came up with after seeing something similar in a Pottery Barn catalog. Observe:

Pottery Barn via Young House Love

See those jars over there on the right? They're filled with all sorts of goodies from what we can only assume are far off exotic lands, judging by the labels (you can't see them from this distance, but they're there). So Sherry took that idea and applied it to her own vacations that were, as she admits, a little less exotic but still fun nonetheless. So here is her take on the keepsake jars:

via

Fun, right? I have a habit of saving every little thing from a trip but it all ends up in a box somewhere and I don't see it again until I'm rummaging for something else and I happen upon a trip down memory lane. But I love this idea - putting small but memorable items into these (insanely cheap) jars to have a visual reminder of all of the places you've been.

In fact, I have a huge bag of stuff that I've been holding onto from our semester in Italy that I originally planned to scrapbook, but maybe I'll try this out instead....Read Sherry's full post here and be sure to poke around the rest of their blog as it is fantabulous.

What would you put in these jars?