small fry's diet

so, we're 21 weeks now, going strong on 22. the halfway point, y'see. I definitely look more pregnant and less like I have a beer belly :)

 

and for posterity, here's 19 (blue stripe) and 20 (brown stripe)

this week we registered. and small fry visited two durham breweries (no worries, I drank boylan soda one place and tea from a mason jar at the other!). and met uncle sterling. who henceforth shall be known as drunkle sterling! I also bought small fry some baby books--a bunch of them for 10 cents a piece at our nearby thrift store and also one about pant0ne colors. I feel like it is VERY important for kiddos to see that there are many colors that can be classified as green or yellow or purple. And, let's be honest, it looks pretty. perhaps I will take photos.

also, people have been telling me that I am small, small, SMALL for 21 weeks. I have literally gained two or three pounds. (our bathroom scale is analog. mostly to prevent any level of obsession about, say, 0.4 lbs or something) I asked my doctor about it and she said not to worry--for one I would definitely gain it, but for two I was doing just fine.

during this same appointment I asked a question I NEVER thought I would say. first, a photo:

I asked my nice doctor--"Is it possible to get too many servings of fruits and vegetables in a day?! [pause] because I think I'm getting like 8 or 9."

She laughed. And then said no. But seriously y'all...today I had some orange juice when I got up, then a green smoothie with breakfast. I had pineapple, cantaloupe and strawberries. And carrots and bell peppers. And a spinach salad (with eggs, artichokes, almonds, red onion et al) for lunch. And I'm about to have that chocolate milk with an apple for a snack. LOTS of fruits and veggies. LOTS. I had banana in my green smoothie and will probably have one later today. We'll see if I have the v8.

I definitely get enough protein. When I was feeling crappy I was having a protein shake in the morning (a doctor-approved one) just to make sure I was getting it. Now I don't have to try so hard--but I've learned that even things like goldfish and raisin bran have enough of it to really "count." We're having meat most days, too. Chicken tacos (leftovers) yesterday, corned beef the day before (and some bacon), tonight we're having fish, etc. Anyway, Matt told me how impressed he is with my eating during pregnancy. (though let's qualify that with a so far.) I've been enjoying some nutella and mamba chews and fruit snacks, too. And other not-so-wholesome choices too. But overall, I just really want fruits and veggies. :)

popcorn popping + bubbles + leaves rustling

what do they all have in common? they describe what it feels like when the small fry moves!

I would give you my Girl Scout's honor that at almost 15 weeks I felt the baby move. It felt like leaves rustling and felt like it was happening very, very low in my body. My good friend g00gle told me this was unlikely.

But now that I KNOW what I'm feeling is the baby moving about, I'm quite certain that's what I felt before. I've felt the small fry move at least once a day for the past few days. And it is FUN. I am sure that later I will not think this is fun. I imagine my ribs and innards will all be kind of annoyed by the whole situation. But for now, I shall enjoy it!

I am also really super glad that our news is OUT. Tomorrow I officially announce it at work, though my boss and some coworkers know. But other than that, our proverbial cat is out of the bag!

We've also started taking the weekly-ish photos. We waited until 17 weeks to do this! Not totally by choice, but still. The solid green is the 17 weeks (it was St Patty's Day and my awesome in-laws got me that necklace to wear, and one for Matt too!). The one on the right is 18 weeks. You might think I look a little smaller at 18 weeks--and this is probably true because of the time of day. It is CRAZY how much smaller my little belly bump looks in the AM than it does at night. And we took the 17 week one right before it was time for pajamas! Plus, the ruched maternity shirts make you look bigger, I think!

Soon I'll tell about Disney. And probably recap Tennessee even though that's old news. I should probably make a list. :)

the post where I tell you I'm having a baby!

howdy.

so, I maybe should've buried the lead to make this a bit more interesting, huh? oh well, this is way more fun. and besides, we have been hiding this info long enough. it's time to share.

in the interest of full disclosure and sharing some things I wish I had known, I'll be giving details that some of you might not really want to know. and it's okay that you don't want to know. just skip those parts, or pretend like you didn't read them, or whatever.

so. we are having a baby. we are due on august 25th. I've a sneaking suspicion that it's a boy, but only a 50% chance of being right. One morning while drinking my orange juice I suddenly said, aloud and to only Gobi, Hazel, the baby in my belly and myself, "oh, you're a little boy, aren't you?" Hence, my sneaking suspicion. We shall see.

we are currently 17 weeks and 5 days pregnant. but we've only been "officially" having a baby since Thursday, since that's when I shared the news on the book of the face.

I know that 17 weeks is a kind of ridiculous amount of time to wait to share news like this. And I'm okay with that. In the interest of that whole things-I-wish-I'd-known part of this process...

From weeks 4-8 I was experiencing some slight bleeding. Nothing to worry about, they said, we'll check you out at your first appointment. I thought that when you went to your 8 week appointment you had two primary possibilities. 1. yay, baby has a heartbeat! 2. I am sorry to inform you [insert medical sad thing here]. I knew that there might be a complication or ect0pic pregnancy or whatever. But I really thought it was kind of cut and dry at that point. And since miscarriages run in my family, I thought I was going to get to breathe a huge sigh of relief after that appointment, as long as I experienced option 1.

I was terribly, terribly wrong. We had something that happens in 1% of pregnancies. this.

I won't be showing you pictures (pictures of my innards aren't for public consumption--but I'll email you one if you like). But I will tell you that the hemorrhage blob was bigger than the baby blob. Good news: strong, steady, appropriately placed heartbeat. Bad news: I was told they don't know why it happens, don't know what to do to fix it, that my risk of everything that wasn't a birth defect was increased, and that I needed to do everything I could to reduce stress and just be a princess (no exercise other than walking, no lifting, sit still as much as possible and be calm). riiiiiight. oh, and I was under strict orders not to g00gle. I gave my doctor my Girl Scout's honor and everything.

At 10 weeks, the baby was bigger and the hemorrhage was smaller, thank goodness! They told me it could resolve on its own, or that it could be there for my entire pregnancy and cause more bleeding, a later-in-term miscarriage, preterm labor and all sorts of freak-you-out kind of stuff.

But at 12 weeks, it was gone. I fully 100% believe in the power of prayer. I also believe in the power of acupuncture. And in the power of letting your body heal itself. And they combined together to make for a happy Carrie. :)

I wrote some posts in the interim and saved them in my email. Perhaps I will share soon.

But for now: surprise, we are having a baby! :)

a whole month without a post.

and now I come back and post about medical stuff? yeesh!

so, yesterday I was discussing my medical history and said "yeah, plus I always have weird medical problems." the gal asked me to elaborate. let's list a few, shall we?

-I have had the chicken pox twice. Two years ago they tested my immunity for said chicken pox. I was "equivocal." They vaccinated me last spring. I am still not immune.

-when I had allergy testing done in early 2010 I had a few bumps show up--nothing exciting, just stuff to take note of. two days later I have huge welts on my arms in some of the spots. I had a delayed reaction they had never seen before. I almost had to wear arm makeup on my wedding day. I am now a cautionary tale at my allergist's/ENT's office.

-when I was little something strange happened with one of my fillings. I ended up having some weird nerve something-of-other that traveled up my cheek. It was so rare that the doctor paraded me around spr!nger cl!nic to show the other doctors.

-I had to have sinus surgery twice. Normal people only have this once if they have it at all.

there's more. but yeah. strangeness.

also, sorry for the february hiatus. I guess it meant that I wasn't going to be moping around about it being february! and on the plus side, it's now march!

"and everybody probably thinks I'm crazy..."

~the belle brigade

hoooooooooboy. I have no idea how it's only tuesday afternoon because this week feels like molasses flows. maybe it was the busy weekend. maybe it's the photos that I still need to edit. maybe it's the way that the unseasonably warm weather (cough*cough*climate*change) is beckoning me to go outside. but something is making it drag.

so, I totally failed at actually getting photos prepped to include in this post. so instead I'll introduce you to the youtube video with which I am obsessed. It showed up on our g00gleTV one day and it looked cool so we watched it. and now we are hooked!

tomorrow marks the beginning of february. which I've decided this year has too much potential good going on for me to really hate it. ready for the positive?

-we get to see our friends Kristin & Adam in Maryland and meet their little kiddo Jacob!
-we get to see Jessica, Cody and Caroline in Tennessee
-it's the month o' the work photo contest (entry possibilities comin' up soon!)
-and it's NOT already all filled up. which brings me GREAT joy!

the guessing game.

Since last year I have been telling people (typically guys, but sometimes ladies) how inconsiderate it is to play the guessing game. You know the one--she did/didn't do this/that, she must/must not be expecting. I've told my brother about 17 times--this guessing game goes one of two ways. One-the gal isn't actually expecting and you made her feel self-conscious, and if you REALLY hit the mark, you also made her want to cry by reminding her. Two-it's too soon to tell, either because of where she is in her cycle or because it's still early in the pregnancy. Again, awkward-ness, making people self-conscious and a reminder of how things don't go as planned. Also, yet another time you might make the girl cry.

Seriously, people, STOP IT.

Anyhoo--this is not the guessing game I actually meant to write about. Sorry for the tangent.

I meant to talk about the guessing game of what to/not to eat. And use to clean your house. Or to clean your hair/face/body. My friends Jennifer and Christy and I have been talking about it a lot and it. is. complicated. I've mentioned this awesome website before--it's a great resource for many cosmetic products. But it doesn't tell you about everything, and even if you're someone highly educated in organic chemistry (org I and II and four years of research in it), it still doesn't all make sense.

Take, for instance, Polyethylene Glycol. Reading about it makes me nervous even though the ratings aren't complete. And if you google elsewhere, you find out it's not awesome stuff. But what happens when it's a polymer? (and there are MANY versions of it that are polymers) I know that changes the chemical makeup--but how much?

I mean, I'm going to have to admit that there's no way I'm going whole hog and ditching everything that isn't made from, like, water, vinegar, baking soda and essential oils. That just isn't happening any time soon--primarily because I would be ditching an awful lot of stuff that cost good money. So instead I'm trying to re-evaluate what I have, look for huge no-nos and also identify the things that are good and I should keep. And buy more stuff from Burt's Bees since they are local and awesome and even though some people complain that they are owned by a big scary corporate giant, I still think it's putting my money where my mouth is. :)

Next post will have pictures, for sure!

and more to the point

(pardon the pun. sort of. it was totally intentional!)

so, here's how acupuncture works where I go. I have never been anywhere else, so I have no idea if this is the norm. but I got a question about it. sooooo....

the first time I visited I filled out a little health form and then talked with the acupuncturist. He asked me questions about my health, what brought me to them, what I had as concerns, my stress, etc. He also checked my pulse and looked at my tongue. (as soon as he looked he said "are you highly educated?" apparently I have a "scholar's tongue"--he said the best he could describe it was that my tongue is puffy from thinking so much.)

then, it was to the treatment room, which had two tables similar to a massage table and one chair that reclined (but not a full on recliner). he told me to take off my socks and shoes, push up my sleeves to my elbows and to roll up my jeans to above my knees.

I saw him open up a pack of the little acupuncture needles, closed my eyes and then felt pressure as he began to place them. And then I rested for an hour--just kind of laid there, not exactly sleeping, kind of relaxing/meditating. It was just wonderful, clearly. :) He has since mentioned that the typical time for the rest is ~30 minutes, but that if time allows he lets people rest longer.

some advice:

-go pee right before your session. not really knowing what to expect/ how it worked/ how long it took/ etc, and since I was nervous, I didn't. It meant that I spent the last 20 minutes (I'm guessing here, there's not a clock) trying not to think about needing to pee.

-wear comfy clothes. I've yet to wear yoga pants there, but I always make sure to wear my bootcut jeans instead of my skinny jeans (easier to roll up, and also more comfy) and a shirt that's comfy too.

-if they offer you a blanket and you think there's even the remotest chance you'll need it, take it.

-be open-minded and be prepared to just experience whatever happens. this probably sounds a bit granola-hippie-over-the-top but it's true. trust me. :)

it's been a long time now I'm coming back home.

~the beatles.

the song is stuck in my head. and it must come from somewhere very very random, as I haven't listened to the beatles in a good long while.

I have tales to tell of our fun in Georgia for the holidays, and of our NYE festivities with our favorite travel buddies, but those will have to wait for another day. y'know, a day where I didn't forget to bring my external hard drive with me to work. :) I am tempted to run home and get it, but right now I'm just going to go without.

instead, I shall tell you about acupuncture, my new hero.

I'd been considering going to acupuncture for months and months. I found a place near Duke that seemed like my cup of tea and started following them on the book o' the face. I even entered a contest on their page and won a free session! So, alls I had to do was get over my pesky fear of needles, right?

[insert maniacal laughter here]

right, like it would be so easy. ha!

so, then my dear friend Christy (who convinced me to look into it in the first place) insisted I call. and reminded me to. so I did. and I am SO GLAD.

I had my first appointment on the 8th of December. And I have gone weekly since. I've had a couple of needles hurt a bit (sometimes you just kind of feel pressure but not pain, sometimes it hurts a little and dissipates and sometimes it hurts and hurts and you ask the nice person to please remove that right now!) and I bruised once (but I have super fair, super sensitive skin so this also isn't surprising). Those are the only negatives.

I led with those so I could gush--because it's gush-worthy.

I love, love LOVE it. I love it because it is relaxing. Like, relaxing in the kind of way where you're in a wee bit of a haze afterward. I love that it can be used to address like 90% of ailments--my acupuncturist basically said that, in general, as long as it isn't a structural issue (his example was calcification of bone) it can likely be helped by acupuncture. It was an excellent choice for me because my obgyn told me to focus on "destressing" since the vast majority of my stress isn't something I can eliminate. And I feel waaaaaay better after.

I also love that it's pretty inexpensive. Even with my massage package dealio (which I am going to use up and cancel!) a massage is like $70-75 with the tip. They are a community acupuncture place (which means there are two tables and a reclining chair in the treatment room, and others may be having the treatment and/or rest time while you are in there). The cool thing about this is it means less cost to the people--they want acupuncture to be affordable for anyone--so you get to choose if you'd prefer to pay anywhere from $15-$40 per session. In short--I get 2.5 one hour acupuncture treatments for the same cost as a single massage. :) My pocket likes this. It doesn't totally replace massage, of course, but it's totally awesome in a completely different way.

I encourage you to try it!

oink, oink.

I get emails from a website called Feed The Pig. I can't remember who referred me to it, but I find some of its little tricks helpful. And clever. And of course it helps me keep up to date on some tax law changes and the like.

So. I read today's--and found out that FS@ amounts are being capped in 2013.

Last month Matt and I upped my FS@. (if you don't know what a flexible spending @ccount is, google it) We realized that he was eligible to spend money from it, and that we could use it for his teeth/eyes/whatever, in addition to my medical expenses, in the event that we aren't graced with a small fry in 2012. We did the math and will be covered either way. I am a HUGE FAN of FS@s. They are simple, pre-tax $$$ and I don't have to worry about it because it's already taken out of my paycheck. It's easy-peasy. AND before I ever signed up for it, one particularly terrible-for-my-health year I was like $450 away from being eligible to deduct my medical expenses on my taxes--and since I hadn't put anything in flex spending, I just got to pay with all of that with post-tax dollars. yeehaw.

But now? Should-worry-less Carrie just found herself thinking "huh. if it takes us more than X more cycles, not only will we not get to use that $$$ for a small fry, but we also will be limited by what we can contribute in 2013. stupid money. stupid system.

up next? acupuncture. it's kind of really stinkin' awesome. :)

more of the dreams.

last week I had a dream that a little red bug was biting the palm of my right hand.

last night I had a dream that I pulled a piece of hair out of my eye.

I read about them. I'm not sure what they mean. But I think they are strange.

anyhoodle.

I am ready for the weekend. Jessica and Cody and little bitty Caroline are coming to visit! And I get to take pictures of three really amazing groups this week--all people that I really love to hang out with! :D The three I just mentioned, Emily & Dave and Evan, and Lisa and Richard (and the bump!). It's the best kind of weekend when all of my photography is for people that I call my friends--it always means the best pics!

And, I did something a little crazy. I bought a new lens. A crazy expensive investment of a lens. It's an upgrade of my 50mm that Melissa encouraged me to get years ago. And I KNOW I will love having it! I am super excited to do the sessions!

I swear I have more interesting things to blog about! I will get there some day, I promise. :)

"spring green is much too yellow, sea green is much too pale..."

~crayola doesn't make a color for your eyes.

oh, kat. she put this song in her little girl's slideshow (go check out her blog for more info) and now it's been stuck in my head.

today is a hot peppermint tea, skinny jeans, ipod kind of day. I spent all day yesterday at a workshop (more on that later). it was AWESOME. lots of new ideas, new motivation and some changes a'comin your way. :)

also, I never know if I want to share these kind of things, but...I went to the lady-parts doctor earlier this week for my annual visit, and we discussed how the main thing I need to do right now is do whatever I can to de-stress.

you'll notice an important thing in the way that is phrased--she didn't tell me to eliminate sources of stress. clearly, I will still have my family, my kaydee responsibilities, my job, my photography, my life. I do not need to live like a hermit, quit traveling, ostracize my family or anything else.

instead, I need to find an effective way to deal with it better. (sorry that sentence sounds awkward. I'm avoiding split infinitives!)

so.

I need suggestions. please help me add to the list.

current plans:
-start using those massages again
-maybe visit an acupuncturist (I've been thinking about this for a long time)
-de-clutter our home (when I am finally done with my to-do list I still feel like I have to clean. and less clutter=less cleaning. we HAVE been making progress, but listing it as a goal helps)
-listen to music more. particularly of the upbeat variety.
-take a relaxing vacation. not an adventure. not with others. just us. :)

any other ideas?

oh delta, oh delta, I hate you, you stink.

we went to celebrate Christmas with my family this past weekend.

that part? It was grand. We made chili, ate Braum's cookies, enjoyed an assortment of cheeses, had delicious brewskies, giggled a lot, had Tammy's cheesy bread, etc. And peanut butter and banana waffles beforehand for breakfast. It was just delightful!

but.

we flew out of Raleigh on Thursday night. Our plane was 20 minutes late leaving, which made us late getting to ATL. So despite running and huffing and puffing--we missed our plane. Matt even pushed open the shuttles doors so he could get on. It was nuts.

we tried to get the nice airline people (who really were quite nice) to send us to little rock that night so we could drive to t-town and get there at, like, 4am. we were only in town for 2.5 days and I had a 4pm photo shoot, plus we had lunch plans with Adam & Tammy, so that flight getting in around 3 wasn't going to cut it.  there was another couple in the same boat--newlyweds heading back from their honeymoon--and we offered to take them with us. all was well, or so we thought.

turns out the nice airline people couldn't make it happen. there's some imaginary 100 mile radius of appropriate re-routing, apparently.

so.

the couple took the later flight to tulsa. we took an early morning flight to OKC which would, theoretically, allow us to drive to tulsa, eat lunch at Big Al's w/ my brother and sister-in-law, go to the bookstore, and return the car and get our actual rental before my 4pm shoot.  we had been assured the entire time that our checked suitcase had already been routed to tulsa and would be on the first flight of the morning, so we'd need to go pick it up.

because they were so frustrated with the policy holdup, the nice airline people gave us and the other couple hotel vouchers, two dinner vouchers, two breakfast vouchers and also ended up giving us drink tickets. :) we also got little overnight bags from delta with an XL shirt, razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.

we went to eat at the sweetwater in the airport, tried to remain calm and attempt to secure a car for the am drive from okc-tulsa. we knew it would be tres expensive to keep that same car all weekend and had no idea what had happened with our other reservation (which had been booked on h0twire) so everything was kind of up in the air.


we took the shuttle to our hotel and found out, first, that they only had smoking rooms left.

then, the gentleman in front of me got the last room. they had nine more rooms in the place, but they were allegedly dirty and there weren't enough people to go check them. I waited in that like for ~45 minutes, total.

they took us to another hotel which, blissfully, had us in a room in about 3 seconds. I handed the voucher, she said "room 101," I secured us a spot on the 645am shuttle and off to our room we went.

we went to sleep almost immediately. I set an alarm for 545. with only one other shirt and one pair of underwear, there weren't going to be any decisions to make, so getting ready would be easy. I woke up MANY times during the night though. My phone kept dinging (the third time it happened I realized it was my delta app alerting me about my flight) and right when I'd get to sleep Matt would start snoring. It was a sight.

and then the 530am wakeup call came. the one I didn't ask for. but whatever.

we got to the airport, had our breakfast, got to the gate and, while there, learned that when you prepay for a car companies will usually hold it for 48 hours. so it would be waiting for us when we got there.

there were only 19 people on the flight. we slept the whole time.

we got there, got the car, went on our merry way. we made it to tulsa in an hour and a half, checked out a park for my photo shoot and made it to lunch. mmmm big al's. love that place. we went to the bookstore and then to the airport. Matt commented on how the tides had changed since the day before.

we had a little episode o' forgetfulness and had to turn around to go fill our tank. no big deal.

we went inside and matt dealt with the car while I got our bag. divide and conquer, right? and mind you, we have all of our carry-on luggage still, because we hadn't been to my mom's house yet and had changed cars.

I finally get to talk to someone and guesssssss what? OUR BAG IS IN OKLAHOMA CITY. They inform us we can have it rerouted, which should only take 24 hours but it might not get here until Sunday (aka the day we are leaving!). I ask if someone can pick it up. They say it's up to the baggage agent's discretion, we should have gotten it when we were in OKC though. I remind them we were assured it would be in Tulsa. They are kind of annoyed at the whole thing and give me the number.

Blissfully, the people agree to let Harvey pick it up if he's there by 6. Harvey agrees to get it.

We go to target, do the shoot, go to my mom's house and run errands. At 609 Harvey calls. His phone fails. I get a call from a 405 number. It's a new baggage agent. I have to re-tell my story, provide all four of Harvey's names and plead a little. The woman agrees to let him take the suitcase. Hallelujah!

When Harvey arrives we have ~40 hours left in Tulsa. We all go to Chimis. We hang out at home. I help my mom make chili. The next day we celebrate and then I have photo shoot. It went REALLY well--see? Then we went to dinner with Renee and Mike. And I learned all about 203k loans. :)

On Sunday we stop by to see my friend Laura and to visit my Granny and then we pack up and head to the airport. And the fun begins.

Although I have attempted FOUR times to check in online, I've yet to be able to do it. Also, our flight is delayed 20 minutes and we have a 46 minute layover. Deja vu anyone? Oh AND we don't have seat assignments anymore (though we did previously, I made damn certain of that) and they won't print out our second boarding pass.

We go up to the line at the gate (bypassing the draft b0ulevard wheat that I'd been looking forward to--we get one at the airport every time while we wait for our flight) and are informed we will "have to wait." I kind of freak out at this. I freak out about our very brief layover. I freak out about not having seats when we reserved them. When I learn it's due to a) the class of ticket we bought and b) that I hadn't checked in earlier, I kind of lose it. I tell him it's ridiculous, and that I will not be spending the night in Atlanta. So we had better have seats as far forward as possible, that Delta had already interrupted my entire trip. He tells me that flight attendants usually announce that folks who don't have a connecting seat should stay seated so the others can get by. Matt and I both inform him how well that went last time. I begin to tell him (in short form) and how we already stayed the night in Atlanta, drove two hours, rented another car and then had our baggage go to the wrong place, blah blah blah, and he tells me he will "see what he can do."

Good news: we get row 24.
Better news: it turns out our arrival gate and departure gate at ATL are one and the same.
Even better news: (sort of) we thank our lucky stars that we were in the same terminal for both flights because the trains in Atlanta? yep, they weren't working that sunday. If we had been in another terminal we never would have made it before the doors shut.

Our bags even made it in one piece.

Moral of the story? I am so aggravated that Delta put such a HUGE damper on my weekend. If it had just been the first flight--meh, those things happened, the gate agent was awesome and they ended up comping us (even though they were not required to do so). But when our bag went to OKC and the agent in Tulsa was lippy? Pretty dang annoyed. And then when the seat assignment crap happened? Unacceptable.

I totally get that in the grand scheme of things this is small potatoes--I mean, I have food, shelter, clothing and love, I have a nice job and constant internet access, I have plenty of clean water and medicine, etc. I know, I know. But still. This airline was MUCH better when we went to Italy (though they botched our return flight, too) but I'll definitely be avoiding them whenever I can from here on out. Yeesh.

where'd the fall go?

every year I am bothered by this.
every year it gets worse.
but this year seem extra bad.

it is not the yuletide season yet, folks. we've got thanksgiving to celebrate first.

now, maybe it's easier for me to stave off the christmas crazy because I'm in the church choir, and we start preparing anthems for the holidays in, like, august. but still.

it makes me batty. please, please, PLEASE wait. please. let's celebrate thanksgiving first, mmmkay?

chicken tortilla soup! (aka sneaky additional veggies)

This recipe started as something toooootally different, so this is my updated version. I make it often and it's one of the few things that I can eat and eat and eat. I usually get tired of food (like, I can handle it for dinner and then lunch and then I'm good) but this I could eat for lunch for a week straight!

the players:
-2 yellow onions chopped
-3 cloves garlic chopped (or more if you like garlic.)
-1 tbsp olive oil
-2tsp chili powder
-1tsp oregano
-1 can crushed tomatoes (sometimes I use two. or one and then a r0tel. especially if I want to make it stretch
-1 can chicken broth (or veggie broth. or my homemade veggie broth. I esp like bullion cubes instead of cans!)
-1 1/4 cup water
-1 can corn
-1 can hominy
-1 can green chile peppers (I only sometimes add this)
-1 can black beans--sometimes more. or sometimes frozen prepared ones
-1 cooked chicken breast--let cool and pull into small pieces. I usually put some adobo seasoning on mine and stick them in the microwave!
-tortilla chips, avocado and sour cream if you like them, and monterey jack cheese





oooh AND the sneaky additional veggies part. recently I've been taking whatever veggies I have on hand, chopping them up, sauteing or steaming them, letting them cool a smidge and then using my handy dandy magic bullet to blend 'em up (with a little water). No one has complained yet. :) Most recently I added some yellow squash, zucchini and lima beans!

what to do:
-prepare all ingredients (cut everything, get the chicken thawing, etc)
-in a big pot heat oil and saute onion and garlic
-stir in chile powder and oregano
-then stir in tomatoes, broth and water (sometimes I chop up the tomatoes more w/ kitchen scissors)
-while it heats, if you haven't yet, cook the chicken
-bring to a boil
-then stir in hominy, corn, chiles, beans, cilantro and chicken
-let boil for ten minutes

serve w/ chips, avocado and cheese. if you like. sour cream and chives are also options! makes about 10 servings, I would say, especially with the additional veggies and water.

and although it's not amazingly amazing for you, it's also not horrible! you could go a LONG way toward improving it by using baked chips and less/no/reduced fat cheese. but even with those things it's still not crazy at all. I estimated the fixins nutritional value with 1.5 oz of chips, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (which is an over-estimate!) and 2 oz of avocado. The left is for the soup and the right is for the fixins! these are without the additional veggies, so the caloric value would increase a little, but I'm sure you'd also get more vitamins! :)

we live in a beautiful world (yeah we do, yeah we do.)

~coldplay

It is a gray day in North Carolina. And I friggin love it. I must admit that I wish I were wearing shoes with socks instead of my flats, and I regret not choosing to wear my wool coat, but overall, this weather is RIGHT up my alley and it makes me smile.

PLUS as my amazing friend Courtney pointed out, this gray day makes the trees look that much more amazing. Matt said it made him think of our roadtrip to the Northeast. It's good stuff, people. Good, good stuff.

Thank you, fall, for arriving. I'm going to enjoy some more hot tea now, thanks!

breads

Nearly every morning I have a green smoothie with an english muffin and egg white sandwich. I often add avocado, red onions or both to the sandwich. I always wait for english muffins to go on sale--and I had to look for a while before I found one that was nutritionally good and didn't contain HFCS, which I loathe.

I really want to try making my own though. I was thinking this recipe....save money, control ingredients..yes, please!

And while I'm at it, I want to make some of my own bread. I LOVE the bread from the farmer's market, but I want to make it myself so I don't feel like we can only have paninis on Sundays and Mondays (before the bread goes stale). I do not have a bread machine (and won't be buying one)--I was thinking I might try this recipe...or does someone have a better one?

Anything else y'all make at your house instead of buying? I'd love recommendations!

stuff. and things.

lookie, lookie, a picture!

this is our recently-made-over shelf. okay, well I just redecorated the top, but whatever. it was a clutter collector, so this is a huge improvement.

fun things: lacquer boxes holding (randomly) our vitamins which lived on that shelf, other odds and ends. the other box, which is cork (with the pumpkin) has the items that had accumulated there--some bobby pins, a bottle opener, bandaids, I'm not sure what else.

the F was driven allll the way from Augusta. Although the F is my second last name, I am kind of obsessed with it. Matt says no more "F" things in the house any time soon. (I think we are up to four!)

The brass swans will soon be painted. The place where we got married had two swans on the lake on the property. Swans mate for life, y'know, and they are beautiful. They share duties in life (they both take care of building the nest and sitting on eggs) and they work as a team. I'm trying to decide what color they should be (suggestions welcome) but I'm leaning toward yellow. I hope you didn't just faint in surprise. :)

The vase is full of beer bottle caps. We collect them. I think they look pretty, and I've always wanted them to be visible.

The little multicolored thing in front is a solar-powered lantern we got at G@rden Ridge a few months ago. I LOVE it. I'm a sucker for colored glass and a sucker for solar power. Woohoo!

The copper frame is just pretty. I need to print a picture for it. It also pulls in the copper from the item above it (which I recently painted--it originally looked like this) and the copper in my sunflower painting. Basically since this is one huge space I'm trying to pull yellow, green and copper in all over. I also really really want to paint our big piece of furniture copper or a metallic brown and use it for our TV stand. Matt might even go for it!

Oh, and the yellow pitcher is from my sweet sister in law, Tonya. I just love it. And of course that pumpkin? Seasonal. :)

And those bears on a bench are from our honeymoon in Sevierville, TN!

"carbonated water, natural flavor."

I appreciate that those are the only two ingredients listed on the seltzer water I just drank. Sometimes I want a cold, fizzy beverage without the calories, sugar or artificial sweetener. And that fits the bill. :)

I am having one of those days where I feel pulled in eleven directions at once. So. here's-a-what-I'm-a-gonna-do. Let's list it out to make me feel better. Ready? This is probably going to be mostly boring, but maybe you will have insight. And the last one will be fun, I promise.

being responsible:

-make time to get added onto the account matt opened at secu
-make a dinner menu and STICK TO IT (I am good about making it, not so good about sticking to it)
-talk to an accountant in oklahoma and an accountant in nc to figure out the legality of all of the money stuff. post haste.
-find out more about my options for short term d!sability. I am hopeful that I'll have to use that next year and we just got word that work changed it--we now have to take 2 weeks of vacay, not 1, before it kicks in AND we get 60% instead of 66% pay. While I'm thankful to get maternity coverage at all, I still think this is craptastic. Especially doubling the time before it kicks in.

workload:

-I will be working furiously to finish up all of my outstanding photography work. I have two weddings to finish, plus multiple sessions. And I have more coming up. Must. Make. Time.
-I will also be working on some photography blogs. My goal is to get at least six completed at then prepare them to be posted on a schedule. We'll see how this goes.
-Update ye olde website. This keeps getting back-burner-ed.

home:

-For the love of all that is holy, I MUST put some clothes away. My overflowing laundry basket of clean clothes is ridiculous.
-there's a long list here, for sure, but another priority for me is getting the living room finalized. I think we are about 70% of the way there. I'm having a heck of a time trying to slipcover the chairs (I may resort to the staple gun on the underneath of the back of the chair and just hope no one notices--but now I've told you my secret!). I just made the top of our shelf all pretty on Saturday, and I'm working on it.

money:

-confession--Matt and I are still working on a budget. We are actively spending less, saving more and paying down debt, but stupid walk-all-over-ya and the merger and all made things messy. hence the getting on the account he opened thing. we are working on it.

And I know that plenty of people love D@ve R@msey, but I gotta be honest--we are still reeling from that stupid book of his where it took us a zillion pages to get to anything remotely resembling instruction only to find out we had already done the first step. And, what I really want, in this age of digital awesome, is for someone to say--here you go, Carrie--here's an easy-to-follow, comprehensive spreadsheet that will help you and Matt assess your income, expenses and see how nicely your amount of debt is lowering each month, and when you will hit the point of zero debt. I want to plug in some numbers and run with it. We have a spreadsheet but I find it clumsy and complicated.

anyway, moving on.

-also, a few of my clients have paid me in cash recently (thank you!) and instead of depositing that, we are playing the see-how-long-it-can-stretch game.

FUN!:

-crafts are fun, right? This weekend's goal is a fall wreath! I love love LOVE the one from Renee last year but since it hung on our front door for like eight months, I feel like I need something else for now. :) I have some burlap and some yarn and I want to get some felt too.

I have some inspiration here.

-it's halloween weekend! Matt and I have our costumes all figured out, but I have to make them. hint: it involves, amongst other things, freezer paper stenciling and a trip to the liquor store. :)

-figuring out what to wear for work's halloween party on monday

-and going to the KD Initiati0n at Bet@Ch! will be fun too. Or, um, I hope so. Mostly that has been want-to-pull-out-my-hair-feeling-inducing, but oh well!

and the rest? well, it can wait. for now. :)

buon compleanno. or "...and I'm a big fan of bartering!"

I now write to you as a thirty-one year old. :)

this birthday weekend was pretty wonderful, I must say. despite the universe seeing fit to give me a sinus infection for my birthday, and although I am not super happy with my hair color--my birthday was still a success. YAY!

thursday: food truck k!ng in raleigh. DISASTER-ish. The premise was amazing (food truck sales benefitting meals on wheels? awesome!) but the execution was sorely lasting. We bought the special get-a-taste-from-all-trucks-and-two-beers tickets, but their crowd control was terrible and we only got to taste food from 5 trucks. Bummer. Plus, my fave place only got second!

friday: I stayed home. I planned on sleeping in. Instead I went to my ENT and ended up with two prescriptions. Stupid sinus infection. BUT I am feeling much better, so I can only complain a little. Then I went to get my hair cut and colored and then took birthday nap #1. We had dinner at the fabulous N@ntucket Grill, I enjoyed some carrot cake, we ran a few errands and came home to hang out. Loved it!

saturday: farmer's market followed by Bruegger's and a trip to 0x and R@bbit to get a malt, because it made me happy. I also got a cool Durham mug (I will add in pictures later!) and some post cards. We came home and Matt gave me my birthday present early so I could enjoy them--I got some gold T0ms! Then Matt went to soccer while I went to the mall. I got some birthday goodies (and local folks, if you like scarves L!festyles in S0uthp0int has some cute inexpensive ones!), came home and got ready for Courtney and Derek's party.

I went there for about an hour, then we had sushi with Christy and her son Jack (who has been at all of my bdays since he was a baby in the belly!) and then went to Fullste@m. The fabulous Kl@usie's Pizza was there, and I got free birthday pizza. :) I also gave them some of my cupcakes, and I think I might be taking their baby pictures once their little girl arrives (they just found out the gender last week!). I gave them my card and they said they'll be calling me, but I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch! Matt teased me because when I gave my card I said "...and I'm a big fan of bartering!" Ha.

I also LOVED giving out the cupcakes. There was the singing and the blowing out of candles, and then when my friends had gotten their cupcakes I went to the food truck, the bartenders and then to some of the people in the bar sharing my cupcakes. I enjoyed it, for sure. And some people were SUPER happy to have gotten cupcakes. :)

It was WONDERFUL to have so many friends with me, phone calls, text messages and facebook posts on my wall on Saturday and Sunday. I felt very loved!!

sunday: church, brunch at Tyler's, a birthday nap and then I went to do a photoshoot. I normally wouldn't do a session on my birthday, BUT these folks are from Denver, their two-year-old son and I share the same birthday, and they were in town for a wedding on Saturday, so it was truly the only chance. I am SO glad I did it though. And I brought the little boy a birthday present--a small green plush dinosaur--and he LOVED it. It was super cute, and the parents were thrilled, too. Yay for birthday-sharing!

for dinner we went to PF Ch@ngs. Well, back up--we were going to go to one of the R0cky T0p restaurants because they give free dinners for birthday-folk on their actual bday. But, the closest one is 25 minutes away, so I nixed that idea. We were going to get PF Ch@ngs to go--but when we called at 7:25 they told us our food would be ready at 9:10. SERIOUSLY. It turns out they were doing some amazing to-go special, but whoa. Crazy.

so...after not finding a suitable substitute we decide to call and see what the wait was--and it was zero minutes. We ended up eating there, got an upgraded dessert for my birthday and were back home before 9pm. It worked out wonderfully, and now we know how to find out about the to-go specials (and call in our order early enough that we won't eat at 930!)

I do have some pictures--and I'm hoping to add them later. Just wanted to chronicle my birthday festivities! And I am excited because they aren't even over yet--I have more friends with whom to celebrate! I think my Aunt Candi hit the nail on the head--it's like the older I get the longer my birthday lasts, because I have more friends and family to celebrate with every year. Which makes me super lucky indeed. :)

oh, oh, oh, for the longest time

~billy joel

yesterday I had 3400 unread emails in my inbox. THIRTY-FOUR-HUNDRED. seriously.

it's my gmail I use for all sorts of things--I still get some photography emails there, personal stuff, logins for amazon and jcrew and everything else. you name it, I probably get it there (or used to, anyway!)

so, yesterday I cleaned that puppy out. turns out the oldest unread message was from EARLY JULY. Are you kidding me? It had been more than a HUNDRED DAYS.

right.

so. tomorrow I am taking the day off. despite trying to limit my PTO usage, I have declared tomorrow a "Carrie Day." I think I'm going to get my hair did, get allergy drop refills and try to get caught up on some aspects of my life that have been ignored. (laundry. cat litter. sewing projects. etc.) While this may not sound super-refreshing, I can guarantee that having a more put-together reality will TOTALLY help.

am I right?

hopefully.

today I am also leaving work early to go to F00d Truck K!ng. It should be fun. Pictures forthcoming, I am sure!