what i wore wednesday

Did ya miss this last week? I did. But, let it be known, that we were traveling last Wednesday and I was in no shape, form or fashion for a picture to share with the world. Today, I got dressed.

And I posed. Ok, ok, not really. I'm actually placing the last ornament on our tree. No, really. And pardon those blue lights on our tree... They're real attention hogs.

Henley top: The Gap

Lacey undershirt: Old Navy

Skinny jeans: Old Navy (noticing a trend here?)

Boots: Not gonna lie, F'Uggs from Target (a girl's gotta be savvy too, right??)

Perfume: Republic of Women, Banana Republic

You're probably thinking, this girl likes Gap, Inc... And you'd be correct! I worked my way through nursing school by working at Banana Republic. One of my all-time favorite jobs. I met my hubby working there. I spent a lot of paychecks there. I made a lot of friends working there. So, the Gap, Inc brand is very near and dear to my heart.

Did you get out of bed and get dressed today? I hope so! Link up over at the Pleated Poppy and share your outfit with the rest of us!

Fall/Christmas Wreath

About a month ago I crafted a very cool wreath for fall. It ended up looking pretty Christmas-y, but, it's super cute!

Where did I get my idea? Pinterest! From Ellen's Creative Passage blog.

See? It's a little Christmas-y, but I'm glad now, because I can leave it out for longer than November!

So here's what you need:

grapevine wreath (Hobby Lobby)

wool felt (JoAnn's)

hot glue and gun

scissors

bowls of varying sizes

marker

Pick your colors! Any colors! Match any decor!

Trace your circle.

Cut out your circle.

Spiral cut your circle. Stop when you have a small circle in the middlel As you practice and get better, you can vary the width of your spiral, depending on the type of rose you want.

Start with the outside point.

Begin rolling it up, making a flat bottom out of the edge the scissors touched.

Keep on rolling! Keep it tight and straighten as you go.

This is what it should look like.

Spread hot glue all over the rolled edges, like so.

Fold the leftover circle onto hot glue, making sure to cover all those edges.

Trim of the excess of that circle you just hot glued down.

Voila! How pretty! 

Then change up your bowls to make different sizes. Or, like I mentioned, cut a wider spiral. Even cut your spiral a little uneven to get a more "natural" looking rose. 

Once you finish as many as you want, lay them out on your grapevine wreath. Then, one at a time, hot glue them down. You can fill your wreath with way more, I chose to do an uneven look. Afterwards you can add bling if you want! The blog creator (who created this first) added some glittery snowflakes to her wreath after finishing it. 

Have fun!! Be creative!

Hosting Thanksgiving

This year, we got the special opportunity to host Thanksgiving Dinner for my Mom and Dad and brother. We were just thrilled! I started planning for decorations and menu about a month ago.

I'm very in to free printables from the internet. It is thanks to free printables that I was able to do a lot of my Thanksgiving decor! I'll start with pictures.

 The Table

My handmade "Give Thanks" banner!

Letters: Font from dafont, printed via Microsoft Word

Paper: Hobby Lobby

Twine: Hobby Lobby

Plates and Napkins: Hobby Lobby

Printable Napkin Rings: Paper&Cake

Printable Napkin Rings: Paper&Cake

*can also be used to wrap water bottles or candles*

Simple centerpiece.

Beaded charger/mat: Target

Candlesticks: Hobby Lobby (already had)

Mercury glass piece: our treetopper from Hobby Lobby

Pumpkin salt and pepper shakers: gift

candles are simply covered with scrapbooking paper and embellished with twine

Printable Napkin Rings: Paper&Cake, just another version 

Place card/food labels: Paper&Cake

Potato and Sweet Potato Gratin: recipe here, found on pinterest

Green Bean Casserole: recipe here, found on pinterest

Mashed Potatoes: made by my Momma, recipe: secret

*why two potato dishes? Mom pointed out that I had wanted traditional mashed potatoes with turkey gravy when I first talked about hosting, then I went and made a menu including only the gratin potatoes. She fixed my dilemma!*

Thankful Subway Art Poster: I can no longer find this! So sorry!

Frame: Hobby Lobby

Roasted Turkey Roulade: recipe here, from the Barefoot Contessa

check out the first time we made this turkey and hosted Thanksgiving 

My handsome Hubby carving the turkey!

So, dinner was a smashing success! The turkey was beautiful and delicious, and all the sides were to die for!

After dinner we had to lay back and play games for a while before setting up the dessert table. We were TOO full! 

Pecan Pie: made by my Momma, recipe: secret

Pumpkin Parfaits: recipe here, found on pinterest

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows: Central Market

Brownie Bites: Ghirardelli 

Food flags: handmade by me from scrapbook paper and toothpicks

Cohen with his uncle Josh, watching the game :)

Remember this?

From March 5, 2011, Cohen was about 7 weeks old. LOVE this picture!

The handsome big brother and me. Here we are, 27 and 25 years old!

I didn't get any other pictures. :( I was busy running around the kitchen and taking pictures of tables and food! ;) I hope you enjoyed, and I hope all of your Thanksgiving celebrations were memorable ones! Please feel free to share!

Ten Months!

Cohen turned 10 months old on the 13th of November... um, that was 15 days ago. I really, really fell down on the monthly update and the Tonka picture.

Well, he is progressing nicely. :) Too fast, but nicely. I'm not gonna do the regular update since 11 months is right around the corner. He got his first tooth on Halloween! At ten months old, he's still not walking. He will stand alone, and stumble a step or two toward the couch or us. He cruises everywhere (walking by holding on to furniture) and crawls really fast. He still drinks formula, but he's on soy formula now. Because of a nasty stomach bug he got, his pedi recommended soy. And he likes it! And his stomach is cleared up! We figure we'll just keep him on the soy formula, rather than flip-flopping, since he'll start cow's milk after he turns one. (hallelujah!!) I don't make a whole lot of pureed food for him anymore, he eats chunks of chicken, turkey, banana, apple, carrot, broccoli, cheese and other things, without it being mushy. (hallelujah!!)

He's already in size 12 month clothes and jammies.  I didn't weigh or measure him. :( I promise hope I will get better.

Anyways, I was at work on Saturday (the 26th) and texted Hector and asked him to please take his Tonka picture, since it was 13 days late. I know, did I not learn from last time? Apparently not.

I got home and saw Cohen still in his sleep shirt.. and thought, "Surely he changed him earlier and got the pictures"... This was the best picture Daddy captured.

But, ya know? I kind of love it. I think it personifies exactly what happens in their time together. No one comes out of jammies, baby don't need no pants and one sock is always enough. :) There may be no sweeter time than Daddy-Coco time. 

Some of the runners-up?

always checking out the wheels!

coming to attack the camera, I'm sure...

flipping it back over after Daddy right sided it again, I bet!

I'm already working feverishly on his first birthday party.. and it's a month and a half away! Is it too early? OR panic time? I can't tell anymore. But it's going to be precious. 

Please know, that 11 months will be on time and a thorough update. Thanks so much for checking in!

Preview of Thanksgiving!

We're hosting Thanksgiving at our place this year, so I was looking for some cute invites and printables online. I found these. More on these later, but here's a preview!

I'm very excited for what's going down in 2 weeks! :)

what i wore wednesday: embracing fall!

True to my word, it's Wednesday again and I'm digging in the closet for something cute to wear!
Best of all? I'm sharing it with you guys, in hopes you'll do the same!

The challenge? Open those eyes, put both feet on the floor, open the blinds and dive into your closet! Find something in there (I know you've got fabulous clothes in there!) and put it on! Start your day feeling put together. Get stuff done! Carpe diem!

Ok, enough motivation.. here's what i wore wednesday!

Tank: Banana Republic

Cardigan: Ann Taylor

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Andrew Geller, DSW

Necklace: Kohl's

Perfume: "Cozumel", from my parent's trip to Cozumel

Hello fall and bring on the cardigans and boots!!!

So, I tried harder this week! Can you tell? 

So, you do the same, then link it up over at The Pleated Poppy so others can see what you're wearing! 

Adventures in baby food making: Pasta with hidden veggies

You've probably been wondering, "Did Emily quit feeding Cohen?" "Why haven't I seen a post about making his baby food in a while??"

Well, I have been making his baby food, but it got pretty basic for a while, what with traveling, working a little extra, Halloween, etc. And I didn't want to bore you with those details. Basic as in, peach & mango puree, sweet potato/carrot/butternut squash puree, grilled chicken breast, scrambled eggs and our go-to, oatmeal with bananas. You didn't need to see those, right?

But, yesterday, I made him Pasta with hidden vegetables. This was pretty involved, I might as well have made us some with some salt in it. ;)

ingredients:
2 T EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 small carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium zucchini, trimmed and chopped
3/4 cup wiped and chopped button mushrooms
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 T unsalted butter
(1) 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 t brown sugar
1 T torn fresh basil leaves
freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces of pasta shapes
3 to 4 T mascarpone cheese (optional)


Heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic, saute for 3 minutes. Add carrots and saute 4-5 minutes. Add zucchini and saute 2 minutes, followed by mushrooms for another 2 minutes. 


Add the fresh tomatoes and the butter and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in the can of tomatoes and half of the juice. Finally add the stock, sugar and basil, and season with pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, then blend to a puree.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package instructions until tender. (Don't add salt.) Toss the cooked pasta with the veggie puree and mascarpone (if using).


So, there's the instructions. I doubled this entire recipe because it said this would make 4 servings. Well, they lied. I doubled it and got 40 - 1 oz portions, or 20 Cohen sized portions. So, yea, my freezer is packed.

Let's see. I substituted leeks for onions. I used star shaped pasta. I used on-the-vine tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes. I did use the mascarpone cheese.

[I do not personally eat mushrooms.]

Saute leeks and garlic.

Add carrots.

Add zucchini.

Add mushrooms.

Add everything else. 

Add the pureed veggie mixture to the pasta stars (already cooked).

Stir together and add the mascarpone cheese. 

Mmmm first bite!!

Pretty sure he likes this one!

Reaching for more! 

Well, I'm glad he likes it, since we have a months worth of it. ;)