Nursery Update

Yesterday our crib arrived! Naturally, being as excited as I was, we had to put it up that evening. But thankfully the crib came with very simple instructions and it was very easy to put together. Here's a picture of Joel working on it.



And then of course there was Whiskey who volunteered to help.



But was easily tired out.


And here I am in front of it at 29 1/2 weeks!



Baby did lots of wriggling while we were putting the crib together so I imagine she's quite excited for her new bed. And her new Ikea blanket which is hanging on the crib. After the excitement of getting the crib set up mom and I couldn't help ourselves and popped over to Jo-Anns to get fabric for the rocking chair seat cushion. Today was my day off so I sewed the seat cushion together, but I'm not quite done with the finishing hand-stitches so I'll save that for another post.

A big thank-you to Tio Benjamin and Aunt Lisa for helping us out with the crib expense! We love it!

Fake Flowers

I think I made a promise to my young, naive-in-the-ways-of-house-decor self that I would never buy fake flowers. But then two things happened. I grew up, and fake flowers became a lot less fake looking. Oh, and I realized how expensive it was to keep your house constantly stocked with real flowers. As you might recall I had no idea what to do with my tabletop after putting the new rug in. Well, a trip to Michael's with the invaluable input of my mother produced these beautiful fake flowers that match nicely with my rug. I'd show you a picture of the whole shebang, but we realized that we now need to raise the light hanging over the table for the flowers to be in the right place. So for now you can just admire the flowers in all their fake glory.

28 Weeks

Another exciting milestone: We're in the third trimester! I'm definitely beginning to feel it, and strangers are definitely beginning to comment.



I'm very grateful for two things right now: an air-conditioned house and an air-conditioned workplace. Oh, and that my workplace has an air-conditioned exercise room that I can use. We're slowly starting to consolidate our guest room and office into one room so that we have a nursery, I'll post pictures as soon as things start coming together!

Delicious Pulled Pork Tacos

I wish I could remember what website I pulled this recipe off of... but it escapes me. But since the gal who posted it said that she had adapted it from Real Simple's recipe, I don't feel too bad. I made this dish for dinner tonight and it was the perfect dish to serve after an 8-hour work day! All I did was pop it in the crockpot in the morning and then chop up some condiments right before serving.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos

Ingredients

2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
salt
1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat- I halved this for just the two of us.
flour tortillas

Serve with:
cilantro
lemon/lime
cabbage or lettuce
cheese
avocado
black beans

Directions

1.In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.
2.Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours (or 9.5 in my case).
3.Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350° F.
4.Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
5.Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid.
6. Serve with whatever you love best on tacos!

Thrifting and Blogging

I was thinking about things that I've loved getting at yard sales and I remembered this table-runner that I found this summer, and this green tray that I found last year. Combined with my Pottery Barn candles they make our coffee table very cheery and summery.



I think my recent (almost) obsession with yard-sales and thrift-store finds has a lot to do with all the home decor blog reading I've been doing. There are so many fabulous blogs out there, and I get inspired to try new things each time I visit them. But trying new things usually involves buying new things. And it's a fun challenge to find beautiful things at very low prices. Here are some of the blogs I've been following (most of them introduced to me by my friend Kathryn)

Eat Drink Pretty

Little Lovely

ISLY

The City Sage

Thrifting Paradise

Today was my day off work (hurrah!) so I took the opportunity to go thrift-store shopping with my friend Morgan. We hit stores in both Moscow and Pullman. Morgan made off with some fabulously adorable shoes, which I do not have a picture of. And I was very pleased to find this rug for a mere $10 at Palouse Treasures in Pullman!



Don't look too closely or you'll notice a few stains, and granted the woven ends are a little ragged, and there was one ripped corner of the rug. But in my part of the decorating world that's all known as "shabby chic". Besides, it was $10, and Joel and I had wanted a floor rug like this since we got married, but were unwilling to cough up the hundreds of dollars that they cost new. Now I just need to find a proper centerpiece for the table since those flowers do not match at all. But I can't think of what would look good on the table that would tie in the rug! Hmmm... time to start scouring the home decor blogs.

Someone else has really taken a shine to this rug, so you'll get a close-up on her as well.



And then for dinner I successfully made a very yummy French bread, after fabulously bombing my first attempt at Challah Bread a few weeks ago (recipe said 3/4 stick of butter, I translated as 3/4 cup of butter).



Now, I was brave and took a picture, even though I somehow managed to get a square/misshapen loaf instead of the beautifully round loaf that the original poster's picture shows. So no laughing. It was my first try. And square or round, it still turned out delicious! You can find the recipe here:

http://ivoryhut.com/2010/01/baking-bread-made-easy/

Joel loves the bread too. I served it with baked pesto chicken and corn on the cob. Delicious!

We love Saturdays!

We had a fabulous Saturday yesterday, in part because of the glorious summer weather we're finally getting! I went yard-saling in the morning and found these lovely items:



The pumpkins were 75 cents for all four, and I just love fall decor so I couldn't resist them. The yarn was 25 cents a skein (to build up my new yarn collection now that I've discovered that I love crocheting), the lamp was 50 cents (it'll need a lampshade but I usually end up taking off old ones anyway!) and the burlap sacks were 50 cents each. I adore those burlap bags, I've always wanted some and these ones are so colorful and cute! I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with them.... some sort of a colorful rug or room decor is what I'm thinking... but if all else fails I plan on hanging them in our garage (the next time we have a garage) to hide whatever unsightly things are out there. I've always thought they helped make garages look a lot less cluttered. I'll keep you posted!

While I was on my thrifting spree I stopped by the storm cellar and found an adorable maternity skirt, also for very cheap. Here I am modeling it for my 27 week photo!




And then to top it off we got to go boating with the Church's!

Here are Laura and Rachel, very excited to go inner-tubing:


Kathryn and Asa:



Mike:



And the hubby and me:



I didn't go inner-tubing, but here's a picture of Joel and Laura, pausing for a moment to wave to the camera as they were being whipped around on the waves. How fun!!