Jamie and Josh's Maternity Photo Shoot

Seeing how I have now shown you all of the photos from Jamie's baby shower I thought I would share some of the photos I took of her and Josh a few weeks ago after a fresh snow! And based on the purple color scheme of the shower I think we gave away the fact that she is expecting a girl. She is due to arrive in less than two months and we all cannot wait to meet her. 

 

In the background right above Jamie's head you can see the church steeple where Jamie and Josh (and Jon and I and my parents as well) got married and over to the right you can see the town hall where our receptions were held.

 

 

I don't know if you can tell in the pictures above or not but it was FREEZING. It was about 17 degrees and WINDY! You can see in the picture below a little better just how windy it was! 

We had a good laugh as we were looking through all the pictures once we transferred them onto my computer and saw this one with Josh yawning in the background. I think he'd had enough of picture taking at this point!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! (It's almost the weekend, right?)

Better Homes and Garden's Shoot and Hot Chocolate Bar

 

A couple of months ago we got an e-mail from Better Homes and Gardens asking if we would be interested in having our home photographed for their Christmas Ideas Issue. It seemed too good to be true and to be honest I kept thinking it might fall through but the last two days we had a stylist from Better Homes and Gardens here and today we had a photographer and a second stylist here as well! It was so exciting getting to watch such talented people work their magic and they were incredibly sweet and easy going and so wonderful with the girls. I had feared that Lillie would not want to have her photo taken when it was time but instead she hopped right up in her window seat and smiled and posed and did everything the photographer asked - he was so good with her! At one point she even had him sliding down our stairs "on his bum-bum" like her and he pushed her around on his cart once he was done! I can't thank them enough for making it such an easy and enjoyable experience. Now for the hard part - we have to wait 8 or 9 months for the magazine to come out!

Now that it is over, I have to say I am exhausted. It has been so crazy trying to get everything finished up in time. Once they left yesterday I started taking down all of the Christmas decorations. I am just about done and then I can start figuring out what to do to fill all the bare holes. In some ways it is such a good feeling to have it all down and to get everything clean and organized but it also does make all of the rooms seem so empty and cold now.

I didn't take any photos while they were here yesterday but I did take some photos last week of the hot cocoa station I added in our dining room.

 

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Gratitude for the true beauty of the soul.....

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how are you, dear friends? winter is sometimes so difficult. i miss spring and summer so much......just the sunshine and the chance to walk outside more. it's very cold here and it snowed a little as well. i have been looking for work but have not found anything yet. i would love to find a job in a preschool or working with children somehow. children make me so happy; just to be with them is wonderful! i hope your week is going well. i would love to hear from anyone.....mike and i have been spending so much time at home lately. he is looking for a job as well. it is very difficult to not get discouraged because jobs are so hard to find. i know many people are in the same situation, so that makes it a little easier to cope with this, but i hope we can find something soon. have a good day......thank you for visiting my blog. i appreciate those who do......

A Beefy Stew kind of Monday

Beef stew is definitely a winter food. It is warm, hearty, and helps to melt the soul from the cold hard winter. Living in California is not so cold, the winters are very mild (I'm not complaining!), but I still feel the need to pile up on winter foods. Having lived on the East Coast, Virginia area, for the last 16 or so years (on and off) I get into the winter mentality. The mentality that I need to eat hearty warm foods, drink lots of hot chocolate, walk around the house bundled in a blanket, watch lots of movies, you know- a hibernation of sorts.

So being in California where the days are 50-60 degrees and the nights only about 40 degrees, I have some adjusting to do. The first week here I bundled up every time I went outside. I quickly regretted the hat, scarf, and large coat. Over a few days I learned to ditch those items and just wear a warm sweater. Now I am a much less sweaty person when I go out.

The winter foods are not as easy to ditch though. I love hot soups and cocoa in the evenings. I must say though, eating these things while the palm trees wave outside my window is interesting. It messes with my head only slightly.

Despite the warmer temperatures and palm trees I am still going to eat my winter favorites. Beef stew is one of them. And when I say beef STEW, I mean a brothy one. I am a huge fan of brothy soups over creamy ones.

After looking at a variety of beef stew recipes and realizing how many calories were in them (yes, I am cutting calories, read about it here) I decided to make my own recipe with some healthier options and less calories.

Beef Stew (about 10 servings)

-3 pounds beef chuck (cubed)
-2 onions
-5 carrots
-5 stalks celery
-2 small sweet potatoes (or 1 large)
-1 Tablespoon worchestershire sauce
-2 teaspoons paprika
-1 teaspoon black pepper
-1 teaspoon garlic salt (add more to taste)
-3 cups broth (I used chicken broth to keep it healthier, you can also use beef)

Chop and measure everything and throw it into a slow cooker. Fill the rest of the slow cooker with water. Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 10-12 hours. If you don't have a slow cooker you can always just simmer it in a large pot. So easy!

I looked up the calories and each serving (a moderate bowl full) is about 300 calories, with 34 grams of protein per serving.

Bridge into Winter

Protip: In Paris, all the national museums (i.e. the Louvre) are free on the first Sunday of the month.  The only problem is that everyone knows about it, so you've got to get there early and queue like you mean it.  



Unfortunately, as much as we wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay, it was FREEZING on Sunday and we were trying to go to mass (hello knee-length pencil skirt!) at 6 p.m.