Culinary Skills

For the past few months, I've been making dinner a lot more often in our house. Which is really saying something from the woman who used to hardly ever cook. Most nights I don't totally hate it, and some nights I even enjoy it! I'm definitely the type of person who needs to plan it out though. I don't like coming home and needing to make dinner in 45 minutes with no idea of what's in the fridge or pantry, with no plan. I do not roll that way.

I've also gotten into putting vegetable purees in our food. Last year (or was it the year before), I got Deceptively Delicious for Christmas and after a year (or two?) now, I'm still doing it. Some favorite simple sneaks are cauliflower puree in mashed potatoes or scrambled eggs, sweet potato or squash puree in mac and cheese and carrot or any orange veggie puree in spaghetti sauce. I've also gotten in the habit of putting flax seed meal in our foods too (especially spaghetti sauce). A bunch of the recipes from DD are really good, especially the muffin recipes. And we all like the coconut chicken fingers too. Yum!

Sickness

Over the past week, Mr. P had a nasty cold (runny nose and cough) along with getting roseola. After staying home with him Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and of course the weekend, he is finally feeling better. And after missing work for two days, a good-bye party for friends Saturday night and our nephew's baptism on Sunday, I'm thrilled that I am now sick with an upper respiratory cold. Ugh. These are the times when it's not so fun being a mom.

No.

Mr. P has learned the word, "No."

And not just mimicking his parents saying, "No, no!" which, for a while, was actually pretty cute. No, now he has fully grasped the meaning of the word and figured out that he can say it to state his independence.

Me: "Did you poop? Ok, come here, it's time to change your diaper."
Mr. P: "No." [with sly smile across his face]
Me: ...

Joy of all joys.

Bridesmaid Attire

As just mentioned, I have the privilege of being the Matron-of-Honor in one of my best-girlfriend's wedding. I'm excited because I've already got my attire for the event! The bride found a STEAL at jcrew.com, which us bridesmaids were lucky enough to benefit from. Here's a pic of the beautiful dress:

And this past weekend, I found the shoes! The bride requested that we get silver shoes, but that we could pick out whatever style we wanted. I, of course, cleared them with her first and luckily she gave the thumbs up. Here's a pic of them I took with my phone in the store:

Summer of Weddings

A couple years ago we had a couple of summers full of weddings. You know, the usual couple of years out of college and your friends start getting married thing. The last year or two have been pretty slow on the wedding-tip, but now it looks like we're going to have another round of fun weddings to attend this year.

March - Wedding in Chicago for HH's good friend (and ex-girlfriend) from high school
May - Wedding in Iowa for my Homegirl (for which I am lucky enough to be Matron-of-Honor)
May - Wedding in Maine for my second cousin
September - Wedding in Maryland for my friend from grad school

Looks like it's going to be a busy spring/summer/fall!