I have a stroller!

Not that I have a baby to put in it but I got a stroller today. I went to BuyBuyBaby thinking that I wanted either the BOB Revolution or the Phil and Ted sport buggy. I ended up with the Baby Jogger Summit XC. I liked it a lot better than the other two. It seems more durable and had more padding. I still need to buy the kit to attach the car seat. Now I'll have no excuse to not get back in shape after he's born (yeah right I bet I think of a few)!


By the way, if you haven't been to Buy Buy Baby I suggest you check it out. It's huge. It's owned by Bed Bath and Beyond and is set up pretty similarly. They have everything for babies and a huge selection to choose from. Today was my first time there but I think I'll be frequenting more often, plus they send out coupons like Bed Bath and Beyond does so you can save $5 off one item or sometimes 20% off one item.

Our Christmas card

Peppermint Dots Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

coolest thing since sliced bread

What could it be, you ask. Why it's Shutterfly, which is basically my favorite invention ever. I have loved Shutterfly for years. You can just share pictures if you want or you can order prints to be delivered to your house or a local Target. You can make photobooks, which I am obsessed with. I made one for our wedding and then duplicated it in a smaller size and gave them to people as gifts. I seriously have about 10 photo books from Shutterfly. I also used Shutterfly to make our Save the Dates for the wedding. It was so easy and they turned out really pretty.

You can also make really cool personalized calendars to give as gifts or keep for yourself. I am already planning to make baby Jackson a calendar model next year :)

Well the folks over at Shutterfly have decided to bless bloggers with 50 free holiday cards. I am planning to send out our holiday cards soon. This year they will also be serving as mementos of our pregnancy for family and friends who haven't gotten to see the bump grow. I am really excited about them. I am planning to use this design, because pregnant ladies are supposed to "glow":But there are so many fabulous ones to choose from on the website that you can find one to fit any style.

I also really like this design
which you can find here.

So if you are a fellow blogger who also loves Shutterfly or you just want to give it a try now is the perfect time! For more details about the 50 free cards visit the Shutterfly site here.

Couples' shower

Not the best picture of me but I guess at 8 months you get what you get!

On Friday my three best friends threw an awesome couples' shower for Keith and me. Candace, Kristin, and Amy worked really hard and made it a very special evening for us. We had about 15 people there and we got some great gifts.

Candace's daughter, Lizzy, snuck herself into our girl photo. She's so cute, so I guess she can stay.

Lizzy posing with Keith.

The girls suggested baby photos of Keith and me as well as a sonogram for a center piece. It turned out really cute.

I could have eaten that whole pan of mac and cheese myself!

The cute cake my mom made.

The diaper cake made by Kristin.
Opening presents

my first mommy project

I wanted a sewing machine for my birthday, in August. This is my first project, it's October. In any case I think it went well. I still have a few things to do but since the bad dog ate my red thread I'll have to wait until I get more red thread to finish them.

Now Jackson can spit up in style with his Georgia Bulldog and green monkey burp cloths!

Fabulous Fall Dinner

I have been wanting to make cabbage rolls for a while but I thought they would be really hard, I was wrong. These were delicious and fairly easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 head cabbage
3/4 pound ground beef (I used Morning Star meatless crumbles)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/3 cup long grain rice ( I used brown rice)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or oregano (I used Italian Seasoning)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Start boiling a pot of water and preheat oven to 350
Brown the meat and chopped onion and drain.
Since I used the meatless crumbles I added some water,
and garlic to the "meat" to give it some flavor.

After the meat is done add the can of tomatoes, don't drain, 1/2 cup water,
uncooked rice, Worcestershire sauce (I added a little extra to give the crumbles more flavor), 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring this mixture to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender. Stir in 1/4 cup cheese.

While the meat and rice is cooking cut the big vein out of about 10 cabbage leaves.
Leave the leaf whole just take off the big, hard part of the vein at the bottom. When the water is boiling, put about 4 or 5 cabbage leaves in and boil until they are limp, about 3 minutes. Drain and then rinse with cold water. Repeat for the other leaves.


When the meat mixture is done, scoop about 1/3 cup into a cabbage leaf and roll up like a burrito. I wasn't really particular about it, just try to keep the meat inside.




Put a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of Italian seasoning into the can of tomato sauce and stir it up. Pour half the can into the bottom of your casserole dish or 9x13 cake pan.
Lay the cabbage rolls in the pan with the flat side up, so that they don't unroll. Then pour the other half of the can of sauce evenly over the cabbage rolls. Bake, covered, at 350 for 30 minutes. When they are done sprinkle the rest of the cheddar cheese over them. I did half with cheese and half without, both were really good.



If you give this a try let me know what you think and if you make any creative substitutions.

New Camera

We ordered a new camera to take pictures of the baby when he comes. We don't have a car seat, a baby tub, or diapers but we have a camera. Clearly we have our priorities in line. The new camera is pretty cool. It has a special setting for child portraits, which is great because I am a point and shoot kind of girl. Since we don't have a baby yet we have been trying out the other settings.

The food setting:
These cupcakes were voted the best cupcakes in Atlanta. I bought 12 for $29. I do not know who voted in this contest. I make cupcakes that are 100 times better. So if you're in Atlanta don't stop at Sweet Pockets for overpriced cupcakes.

This is another really exciting thing to take a picture of: homemade pizza. It was good but I wouldn't normally take a picture unless I wanted to try out a new camera setting.

The pet portrait setting:
Caesar the chihuahua. He was good for the first 7 pictures I took.
Then he started ignoring me and eventually hid behind the couch.
This is Brewster the mutt we got when someone found him wandering in a campground.
This is the strangest face I've ever seen a dog make.

I'm hoping to borrow some kids this week from my friends and try out the child setting on them :)