Chevy's Bathroom Signs

Earlier this week, Brian, Noah and I ate out at Chevy's.

Well, to be more precise, Brian and I ate, while Noah, our nearly 3-month-old, slept in his car seat. 

Now, I know eating at Chevy's might not sound too exciting to you, but bear in mind that dining out since Noah's arrival has become a rare occurrence for us. (We've eaten out a total of 3 times in 3 months.)

Don't get me wrong: I am enjoying cooking at home.

But there's something special about eating in a restaurant and feasting on food prepared by a professional chef.

But this post isn't about the food, the service, or the ambience at Chevy's.
It's about the bathrooms.
Well, technically, about the signs in the bathrooms. 

Let me explain...
After dinner, I frequented the women's bathroom, whereupon I read this sign:























And then I proceeded to laugh...and snap a picture with my iPhone.

When I returned to the table, I showed the picture to Brian.  He laughed as well and then headed off to the men's bathroom. 

A few minutes later, Brian reappeared, holding his iPhone out to show me this picture:

We both laughed again, this time a little harder.

Hope this bathroom humor brings you a little chuckle, too. 

J

Cheesy Chicken Rotini

Cheesy Chicken Rotini

I'd be the first to tell you that I am not a good cook.

Sure, I can crank out a batch of spaghetti (with a jar of store-bought sauce), whip up some burritos, or throw together a dish of potatoes au gratin with ham, but beyond that I'm pretty clueless in the kitchen.

In the past year, I've briefly considered trying to learn to cook.  But, as you know, thinking about something and actually doing it are altogether different.

I've never had a real desire to cook...

...that is, until now.   

The way I see it, I need to learn to cook for several reasons: 

1) For too long, my husband has done most ALL of the cooking in our house. 

2) I don't want our son to go hungry in future years.  (Just kidding!)  

3) I get bored with the same meals over and over again.

4) I really like to eat. 

So, what am I doing to become a better cook?

First off, I'm reading The I Don't Know How to Cook book, which contains 300+ easy recipes designed for novices like me.

I've never been a big television viewer, but when I feed our son, I watch recorded shows from our DVR.  More and more, I'm finding myself drawn to cooking shows like Pioneer Woman, Paula Deen, and Iron Chef. 

I'm also keeping my eyes open for new recipes on Pinterest.

In addition, I've been ripping out recipes from magazines like Real Simple, Parents, Woman's Day, and Sunset.  Last week, I made a recipe from Parents magazine called Cheesy Chicken Rotini.
It was easy and delicious!  As I was making the rotini dish, I thought about my cooking goals and expectations.

Here's what I'm going to keep in mind the next time I'm cooking in the kitchen.  (Please note: I am writing these thoughts to myself, so the "you" I refer to is actually me!)   

1) Be reasonable about your expectations.  Chances are, you're not going to become a kitchen superstar.  Remember, you just want to be able to make healthy and delicious meals for you and your family.

2) Don't expect to make a new recipe every day.  Cook 2 dinner meals a week, preferably with one of them being a new recipe.

3) If a recipe says it takes 40 minutes to prepare, it will probably take you an hour or so.  Plan accordingly!

4) Cooking is messy, and you don't do messy.  You're a neat freak, but in cooking, you have to accept that the counters might be sprinkled with food particles, the pans will get dirty, the stove top may have drippings on it...and that's just how it goes.

5) Wear your apron; it makes you feel like a real chef.  Plus, it gives you a place to put your iPhone, so it's within easy reach.

6) Play music on your iPhone as you whip up dinner.  Music puts you in a great mood and makes cooking more fun.  The soundtrack from The Notebook is one of your favorites.

7) Profanity is not an option; you gave it up for Lent.  Instead, say "Darn it!" when you completely screw something up...and then move on.

8) If you completely foul up a recipe, all is not lost.  There is always peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese.  And you can try again another night.    

9) Laugh at yourself sometimes, remembering that you have to start somewhere.

Speaking of starting out in cooking, have you seen the show Worst Cooks in America?  It's hilarious, especially for a novice cook like me.  No joke; I could be on that show.  I crack up at the things the newbie cooks do, but deep down, I know I'd have probably done the same things.  Just for the record, if I ever get to be on the show, I want to be on Bobby Flay's team; Anne Burrell just plain scares me.

So, I'm curious...what's cooking in your kitchen?  Do you have an easy dinner recipe that you love?  Please feel free to share your favorite dinner recipes in the comment section. 

Just make sure that they don't contain words like brunoise, blanching or barding because I haven't a clue what any of those culinary terms mean.

J

P.S. Do you?!  Click HERE for their definitions.

Noah's Nursery

As you may have heard, my husband and I recently adopted a newborn baby boy!!

For years...5+ years...we'd been yearning to become parents.  During all that time, though, I never really gave much thought to how I wanted to decorate a baby nursery.  I just wouldn't let myself get swept up in thinking about baby stuff. 

However, a few weeks after we "matched" with the birth mother, we found out she was having a BOY.  It was then, in late August, that I got right to work on planning the nursery. 

I had so much FUN decorating Noah's nursery!  I may not have carried Noah in my womb, but I certainly carried him in my heart as I decorated the nursery and prepared for his arrival.

And here it is:

BEDDING
I started with the bedding.  I scoured the internet looking for baby bedding that I liked.  The search took awhile because I'm pretty particular.  I didn't want anything too cutesy, too kid-like.  Rather, I was looking for something simple and elegant, with stripes or polka dots or both.  And I was drawn to the colors: baby blue, cream and chocolate brown.

















When I found this bedding, I fell in love with it.  It was more green than blue, but I loved the swirls, the dots, the stripes.  I hemmed and hawed over it for a couple of weeks, though, because it was pricey, but ultimately, I bought it.  And I'm really glad I did. 

WALLS
With the bedding colors in mind, Brian and I selected the paint: Behr's Contemplation.  We bought the bead board at Home Depot.  I can't take credit for the painting or installation; it was all Brian's effort. 

 
















CRIB
We found the espresso crib at Loved Again, a delightful children's boutique in Auburn.

ABOVE THE CRIB
We purchased the wooden "Welcome" sign from Jo-Ann's and painted it white.  The wooden espresso letters were bought on Amazon.  


















CHAIR
Our good friend, Brian, gave us a glider/rocker chair and ottoman.  As of late, I've been spending a lot of time in it, and it's so comfy.  This bear, resting comfortably in the chair, is quite special to me.  It was mine growing up (thanks for saving it mom and dad!), and now I get to pass it onto Noah.























BOOKS
I plan to read, read, read to our son, so I've placed a basket of books right next to the chair.  More books can be found in the closet.  And downstairs in storage.  There will be no shortage of reading material here in our house.  In fact, one of the things I can't wait to do with Noah is to take him to the library, so we can check out MORE books.  :-)























SIDE TABLE
We needed somewhere to put a small lamp and an iPhone for music.  Enter this table.  Brian made the wooden fire engine sitting next to the lamp. 
















MUSIC
Yep, it's true: Little Noah has his own iPhone.  Just kidding!  It's actually Brian's old iPhone that we're using to play music in the nursery.  We added a few playlists to the phone (mainly classical music for now--thanks to my in-laws for buying us a few new CDs) and placed it in an iPhone speaker dock.  We also downloaded Sleep Machine Lite from iTunes (it's free!).  This application plays soothing sounds for Noah as he falls asleep in his bassinet. 

CHANGING TABLE
Originally, we had planned to put a dresser in the nursery, but I wanted something that matched the crib (and wasn't too expensive), so we purchased this changing table instead.

CHANGING PAD COVER
I bought the changing pad cover from this Etsy seller.  It's so soft and fuzzy, and I adore the raised dots on it. 
















BURP CLOTHS
During my Thanksgiving break, I sewed a dozen burp cloths using this tutorial.  For now, they are stashed in the changing table baskets.  















ABOVE THE CHANGING TABLE

The idea for the white shelves came from this blog post.  On the left shelf sits a white teddy bear (one of three in the room) and a framed 4D ultrasound picture.  Below the shelf, there are two special items.  I wore the sleeper on the left; Brian wore the sweater on the right.  On the right shelf, I placed a piggy bank (well, technically it's a sheep), so we can start saving for Noah's college education now.  Next to that sits a framed piece of white card stock which reads "For this child, I prayed..."  We're going to put Noah's footprints below the quote.  (This idea came from Pinterest.)

 















BULLETIN BOARD
Walking into the nursery, the first thing you see is this bulletin board.  The idea for this board came from an old issue of Real Simple and a blog post (which I can't locate right now).  With my help, Brian transformed an ordinary cork board into this framed bulletin board.  I LOVE it!  It will hold Polaroid-type pictures of family and friends who come to visit us!  Above the bulletin board, I applied this wall decal.

All in all, I'm really pleased with the way Noah's nursery turned out.  A BIG thanks to my husband for letting me dream BIG and helping me to transform my vision into reality. 

THE FINAL FRONTIER
I have one more wall to conquer--the wall stretching from the door to the crib.  My plan is to showcase several black-and-white or sepia pictures of Noah in a grouping of espresso frames.

Thanks for letting me share!
J (aka Noah's mom)

Five Favorite Things

Happy Thursday!

It's STAR testing week at school, which means I have less prepping and grading to do and a bit more time to "play" at home.

I'm working on a few crafty projects, but all of them are still in progress, so I thought I would share my five favorite things right now.


1- Fresh flowers on the dining room table (Thanks, Babe!)


2- My newly organized closet, which is sorted into three main categories: 1) workout clothes; 2) pants/shorts/skirts; 3) tops (shirts/sweaters/sweatshirts). After reading this blog post, I decided to organize my tops by color. This new system is helping me select outfits faster! (That's definitely a good thing because at 5:30 a.m. my eyes are only halfway open!)

3-The Happiness Project. I'm only two chapters into this memoir/self-help book, but I'm finding Gretchen Rubin's thoughts on how to be a happier person both thought-provoking and inspiring.



4-A fellow crafter and blogger, Dawn McVey, turned me onto Pinterest a few weeks ago.
It's so fun to browse this website, which is brimming with eye candy. I've added "create a pinboard" to my spring break to-do list.


5-I saved the best for last. Today, I switched from AT&T to Verizon Wireless and bought an iPhone 4. Yippee! I can now receive phone calls and text messages at home.

Life is good. Really good.

Hope you're having a splendid week!

J

P.S. Speaking of cell phones, this blog post by Brene Brown--about none other than cell phone habits--really resonated with me.