In a nutshell

Hey there

How was your weekend?

Mine went by lightning fast, thanks to a packed agenda.  Friday I met up with my lovely friend Shayla — it had been far too long and we had a great time gabbing while shopping.  She bought some adorable gifts for Bean that I will have to show when he wears them.  Thank you Shayla!

Friday night, I finally acquiesced to Zach and watched the Hunger Games.  I haven’t read the books and really have/had no desire to.  I’m not big on that genre of books.  So I agreed to watch the movie, since I heard it was well done.  I hated it.  HATED it.  What a sick, sick premise.  I really had no idea that I’d be watching a plot of masterminds pitting children against one another to fight to the death.  I had to stop watching about an hour in.  I’m rather shocked that so many people have enjoyed these books and this movie.  This seems crazy for me to say since I love reading True Crime, psychological thrillers, etc, but for some reason, this really disturbed me.  Am I the only one???

Saturday we had the honor of attending our friend’s baby’s first birthday!  Yes it is already that time.  One of the little boys in my mommy group has officially become a toddler.  She did a fabulous job of creating a fun kid and adult party full of amazing food, vino, toys, etc.  It gave me some great ideas for Bean’s upcoming 1st bday

Sunday was more busy-ness as we had plans to meet our friends and there little 4 month old at Green’s Restaurant in SF.

(Yes that is a bloody mary)
Bean was feeling very serious as we waited for our table:

I have to wonder, how have I never been here?  It was fabulous.  An all vegetarian restaurant right in the Marina with fabulous views.  We ordered some buttermilk biscuits, a lemon blackberry scone, and walnut banana bread to start. I kept it light with the minestrone soup as my meal and am sort of regretting not getting Zach’s dish of ciabatta French toast with warm maple syrup.  I must return here.

We walked off our meal afterward and was treated to a pretty damn good view:

That was my weekend in a nutshell.  Mostly pretty great, minus that horrid movie

Here’s to a busy work week!

Bean’s Baptism and Baked Goods

…because those things go together right?

I just got back from an awesome, much needed Spin class.  Why much needed?  Well it may have to do with some dark chocolate covered raisins dipped in PB straight from the jar that I had last night.  Oye, fat kid moment.

It’s been sort of a fat kid week.  Over last weekend, we had a lot of family in town for Bean’s Baptism and I definitely ate more than my fair share.  I’m pretty sure my stomach is twice the size and needs a little shrinkage so I can eat normal people portion’s.

Zach and I decided several months ago that we would baptize Bean.  It was just a matter of where and when.  We are not overly religious nor do we belong to a church.  After some deliberation, we discovered we could baptize Bean at Stanford Memorial Church:

 

Since Stanford is where Zach and I met, it felt like it had sweet sentiment.

We were so fortunate to have so many people partake in this moment.  My Mom and Greg (Obbie and Grandpa G) came in last Tuesday night and babysat on Wed and Thurs for Bean.  My Dad (Grandpa) arrived Thursday evening and got some 1-on-1 time with our big boy, who has changed quite a bit since he last saw him in January.  My in-laws (Cookie and Poppy) arrived Friday afternoon.  By then we were getting a pretty full house.  My bestie (one of the Godmothers) arrived Friday night and Carly (SIL, and the other Godmother (yes we have two Godmothers)) arrived Saturday afternoon.  It was chaos; it was loud; it was festive; it was exhausting; and it was wonderful.

Luckily Bean doesn’t have an anxiety around new people, and despite his cold/runny nose and his first tooth, he had nothing but smiles for everyone.

Rather than have a fancy dinner out pre/post Baptism, we chose to do a picnic at Cuesta Park in Mountain View — 70* and sunny.  Perfect.  We ordered sandwiches from one of our favorite cafes and brought along plenty of other snacks and baked goods.  And we also may have brought some wine/beer

 

Below are some pics of the Baptism day, which went off without a hitch.  Bean thought he should sing and dance with the choir and talk during the sermons, which was highly amusing.  The priest that baptized Bean definitely drenched his head and slathered his head in oil — he even spiked his hair at the end.   The ceremony had a wonderful vibe and we were so happy with how everything turned out.  Below are a few pics of the day:

 

 

 

 

Okay, now on to the goods.  Baked goods.  I made three different items — all delicious.  All highly recommended.

First up, Pumpkin Oat Bread and Candy Corn M&M Cookies:

 

I used this recipe for the Pumpkin Bread.  It is quite possibly one of the best breads I’ve ever made and eaten.  Since I made 4 mini-loafs, I baked for about 45 minutes.  Oh and totally Bean approved

And I used this recipe for the Candy Corn M&M Cookies.  They had such a sweet sugar-cookie like flavor — the almond extract really made these cookies. I will most certainly be making variations of these come Christmas time.

And for the celebratory Baptism dessert, I made this Maple Pecan Cake:

 

The bestie and I made this a few years ago for a Friendsgiving and it blew our mind.  You can find the Cooking Light recipe for it here.  Oh and you can also use the leftover (if there is any) maple frosting to coat a slice of pumpkin bread.

So there you have it.  A weekend that was pretty darn perfect: family, friends, good eats, vino, sunny days, a special occasion, delicious treats, and a lot of laughs and love.

Since I seem to be on a baking spree, let me know if you’ve tried any new (Fall) recipes that are worth baking!

Tackling my lists

Good morning my friends!

It’s officially the countdown to Christmas!  But first, I hope you had a fabulous food-coma filled Thanksgiving! 

Today marks my 36th week of pregnancy and I have used the last few days to tackle my to-do lists.  I think Zach is actually concerned how crazy I’m getting

I tackled Thanksgiving (oh yes, it’s possible to tackle a holiday if you consider how much food I ate):

I tackled the cupboards: rearranged tupperware cabinet, baking cabinet, spice/baking goods cabinet, pantry, misc cabinet….and yes this required my big bellied self climbing on counters and tall stools to make things just right.  I can see my Mom cringing at this right now

I tackled a hike!  All of the places in NorCal are pretty hilly and a bit too tough for me at this point, but we remembered a rolling hill place (Arastradero Preserve) that suited both Naava and me! 

I tackled our baby registry (thanks to coupons and some gift cards, we paid only $170 for over $800 worth of goodies – WIN!)

I tackled Sawyer’s closet.  This may be round 3 of doing so, but I swear it’s the last time.  With all the rearranging and moving and cleaning, the closet became a dumping ground and I wanted to make it more organized and a dedicated space to our little man.  It looks great!

Now if you’ll excuse me I have errands to run and a glorious prenatal massage awaiting me

Happy Monday!

What are you tackling lately?

Best thing you ate over Thanksgiving?  For me, it was probably the bourbon brown sugar sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows.  Mmmm…..