Lemon Garlic Chicken

My father-in-law and Andy's paternal grandmother stayed with us last night. This was the very first time his grandmother had been to our house, so I knew dinner had to be special. The only problem was that I had a late work meeting and Andy would be in charge of making dinner. Now to be fair, Andy is an excellent cook and I totally trust him to come up with something, but I wanted the dinner to nice and thought out.

So I looked in the freezer over the weekend and found a whole cut chicken. I was really inspired by this recipe I found on Pinterest. After thawing the chicken I threw it in a gallon bag with the zest and juice of one lemon, two minced cloves of garlic, some olive oil, parsley, rosemary, salt, and pepper. I let it marinate all day and gave Andy instructions to put the chicken in the oven at 375 degrees and cook for 45 minutes to an hour with an extra squeeze of lemon.

Holy smokes, this was good. Tons of flavor and easy to throw together. I love that the original recipe suggests freezing the bag of chicken and marinade and then using it when you need it. I need more meals like that in my life. Plus the flavors are totally customizable.

Five on Friday

Yay for the weekend! I'm happily linking up with these lovely ladies Darci, April, Natasha, and Christina.

ONE
Did anyone else watch the first episode of the Bachelor on Monday? I think Farmer Chris is so sweet and the producers really brought out the crazy train of girls for him to choose from. I realize they want to create drama, but seriously? Unless Chris has a weird streak we don’t know about almost none of the girls seem right for him in my opinion.

TWO

Raise your hand if you are excited about Lilly Pulitzer and Target joining up? Me too!!!! Not that I needed another reason to blow a ton of money at Target.

THREE

It’s freezing in South Carolina and I don’t like it. Even our pup, who has Swiss blood, wanted nothing but to snuggle up to us on the couch this morning to warm up. (That made it even more painful to get myself up and ready for work.) I have the usual SC natives view of cold weather, if it’s this cold, it should snow. Right?

FOUR

Andy has to work most of Saturday so I’m going to try and be productive and pick up some paint samples for Baby Girl’s nursery. I definitely want a neutral, warm wall. I’ve got Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White (which is more beige than white) or Olympic Toasted Almond in mind. I’m totally open to suggestions is anyone has a great neutral paint.

FIVE

I was walking through Target the other day, shocker I know, and saw that they had Special K on sale. I picked up the Vanilla Almond flavor and went about my business. I’ve gone through the entire box in two/three days. Is it me or is that stuff crazy good? 

16 Weeks

How Far Along? 16 weeks

Size of Baby:  Avocado (4-5 in, 5 oz)

Gender: We are so excited to announce that we will be welcoming a DAUGHTER!

Maternity Clothes: Still rocking the flowy tops and pants held together with the hair tie trick.

Nursery: Can’t wait to get a couple paint samples up on the wall.

Movement: Nope, and in the interest of TMI, it doesn’t look like I’ll be feeling anything any time soon because my placenta is sitting on top of my stomach and blocking all the good baby kicks. Ok, over-sharing time is over.  

Symptoms: A couple headaches this week and the usual everyday heartburn. Not loving either.

Sleep: I’ve tossed and turned a bit the last couple of nights, hoping that stops. I do love my sleep.

Cravings:  Still loving the potato chips. The other day I was so proud because I had a lovely fresh salad for lunch, but then promptly went home after work and ate half a can of Pringles. Oops.

What I Miss: Not much at the moment. I'm on a baby girl cloud nine.

Best Moment This Week: Hands down, finding out the gender of our baby. We were thrilled to find out we were having a girl and it’s been so fun sharing the news with all our friends and family. I love that I’ll be able to save most people’s responses from text messaging and social media.

Looking Forward To: Let the hair bow and smocked dress buying, sweet decorating, and monogramming begin. Thank God for little girls!

Blue or Pink

My husband and I go in for our 16 week appointment tomorrow and the doctor asked if we would like to find out the gender of our baby? Umm, let me think......YES! It's crazy to me that we can find out so early. Did anyone else find out at 16 weeks? Where you nervous that they would tell you the wrong gender? I don't think I can handle flip flopping.

Oddly enough, neither Andy or I have a strong feeling either way about the gender. Honestly! I thought I would be the mom who would say "I just know it's a _____, I just know it." But I have no idea, it's kind of weirding me out. So like all modern day girls I Googled gender prediction methods and came up with the fun chart that is ever so popular right now.

So any predictions or thoughts on the old wives tales? As my mom keeps reminding me, you will have either a girl or a boy, either is a blessing and I couldn't agree more.

Five on Friday

Happy New Year everyone!

ONE

Over the holiday break Andy and I saw two movies in the theater, which is honestly such a treat. We saw the last Hobbit movie, which was exactly what you expect, and Exodus, which I liked a lot more than I thought.

 

TWO

With lots of friends in town and stopping by I ran to Trader Joe’s to stock up on snacky things. I got the usual pita chips and hummus, but I also took the opportunity to try out the frozen macarons. They were awesome! They defrost in 30 minutes, come in a bunch of flavors, and are the perfect addition to a tray of snacks. I can’t wait for another reason to pick them up.

THREE

I had a couple days at the house by myself this week to veg, I just love those kind of days, don’t you? I did laundry in my pajamas, caught up on some blogs, and watch the entire season of House of DVF on Demand. It’s about a group of girls who try out to become a spokesperson for the Diane Von Furstenberg fashion line. It’s catty and girly and OMG the clothes. DVF creates such beautiful clothes. I highly recommend you check it out the next time you have control of the remote.

FOUR

I know I’m super behind the times, but I got a cute quilted vest for Christmas and I’m obsessed. I’ve weirdly be cold this whole pregnancy so the vest has been providing some warmth, while also giving me a little coverage during my “fluffy middle” stage that I’m going through.

FIVE

Happy New Year to everyone! It’s crazy to think about all the things that happened last year: both my husband and I got new jobs, we went to Disney World, I visited Texas for the first time, we saw countless friends and relatives, and we got the biggest news of our married lives. 2014 went by so fast and I can’t wait to see what 2015 brings. 

Remember to link up with the fabulous ladies of Five on Friday:  Darci, April, Natasha, and Christina.

15 Weeks Bumpdate - The First One

I thought I would end the 2014 year with a bang and do my first bumpdate. I honestly have always loved reading other’s weekly updates and it’s a little surreal doing my own. I think this will be a great way to keep family and friends in the loop, as well as a way to document these special memories for later. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, Andy and I could not be happier about our newest addition.

How Far Along? 15 weeks

Size of Baby: A navel orange (4.0 inches)

Gender: I have no idea, but we find out next week!!!!! I’m a little nervous to find out so early mostly because I’m scared they will tell me one thing and it’ll be wrong. Does anyone else think like this, or am I crazy?

Maternity Clothes: I just firmed up a shopping date with my mom to go pick up some maternity clothes. My pants situation is getting a little dire; I’m down to two pairs of pants that still fit.

Nursery: Still a guest room, but I’m starting to get antsy to at least get a new paint color on the wall.

Movement: Nothing yet. I read that I could feel something anywhere between 14 to 22 weeks. I’m really hoping it won’t take that long.

Symptoms: I had a couple headaches this week. Not sure what is causing them, could be the dramatic weather changes, fatigue, or just pregnancy in general.

Sleep: I can officially no longer sleep on my stomach, which is a hard adjustment. I think a body pillow purchase will be in order by the end of the week. Snoogle here I come.

Cravings:  My salty tooth is still around however not as strong as last week. While I like the taste of melted cheese the thought of it grosses me out. The Velveeta commercials send me into fits.  

What I Miss: We had some friends over to watch South Carolina play in the Bowl game on Saturday and then watched a movie after. I had to head to bed halfway through because I was exhausted. I’m waiting patiently for the second trimester energy boost.

Best Moment This Week: Christmas at home with the family and receiving our first couple  of baby gifts of books and onesies.

Looking Forward To: I’m so excited about our 16 week appointment next week. I’m always thrilled to see how Baby S is developing and hopefully the baby’s gender will be very obvious.

Merry Christmas 2014

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas time. We had a great season this year.

We flew to Maryland the weekend before Christmas to visit Andy’s whole family and to share our good news. If you missed it check it out here. After telling Andy’s parents and grandparents in person we could relax and we actually had some time to play tourist on this trip. We walked down 34^th Street in downtown Baltimore. The whole block decks their houses out in lights and people are selling hot chocolate and the street is packed with families. It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

On our last day in Maryland we had lunch at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, which I recently saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and had an amazing meal of crab cakes and a Maryland specialty of Smith Island cake.

P.S. They have the coolest wall with a design created out of oyster shells.

Then, finally we knocked something off my Maryland bucket list and visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was a great experience and I highly recommend it.

We then flew back to South Carolina and spent Christmas at home and with my family.

Andy shocked me with wonderful gifts. I got a pair of duck boots, a monogrammed bathrobe, and the big surprise a Nikon DLSR camera!!!!!! Especially with a little one on the way a new camera was at the top of my list. I’ve had a blast playing with it and will hopefully be able to step my blog photos up a little bit.

I wish you all of fabulous end to 2014 and all the best for the upcoming year.