The Importance of Curb Appeal

I did it in the rain, with a baby monitor in a plastic bag clipped to my shorts, between three failed attempts at a nap but by God I planted a flower garden.

Before:

After:

And these two lazy bums didn't do a thing:

Note: After three nap attempts I brought the baby outside in his bouncy. I know you're thinking, "but I thought you said it was raining." Under that big tree he barely got wet. But still I see your point. "A baby in the rain" just sounds bad.

I will cook dinner. I will cook dinner. I will...

Ok, so I prefer the NYC/London/Paris way of shopping where you stop by the tiny, overpriced grocery store on your walk home from the subway and just buy the ingredients for that night's dinner. Sure, it costs a lot and it's time consuming, but you look so cute walking home with a baguette sticking out of your tiny shopping bag.

However, when I shopped like that I had one less 10-week old baby and one more job. So here's my first stab at meal planning (i.e. making the most meals with the least hassle).

It all started with a whopping 15 chicken and veggie kabobs....

(Marinated in a combo of tex-mex chix marinade, olive oil, & beer and served with roasted rosemary sweet potatoes.)

The next day I pulled my chicken and veggies off the skewers and made chicken fajita tacos for lunch. I even tossed in the leftover sweet potatoes which is probably wrong but it tasted very, very right.

And last but according to Brian not at all least...Taco Salad!

(I did buy a fresh ear of corn, cut it off the cob, and saute it in butter before adding my chicken and veggies to the pan which made it feel less like leftovers.)

I really channelled my Grandmom this week. (She's the one who taught me how to cook. We literally had lessons one summer.) She told me she wore a dress and full make up everyday when she was a stay-at-home mom. Amazing, huh? Yesterday, I changed out of my PJs at 6:50pm and put on a dress 10 minutes before Brian got home. Don't tell Grandmom...

Baby Day Show, Here I come

I've known that Tuesdays are Baby Day at Alamo Drafthouse for years but I was always missing a key element: a baby. Now I have one and I'm so tired of watching movies on HBO. This week I saw Jane Eyre. I really enjoyed the movie. It was like a dark, moody, and sexy version of Pride & Prejudice. Right up my alley.

What's more, it was my first time to nurse in public. I was nervous but the dark theater helped my confidence (along with my fancy new nursing cover that Brian calls an overpriced poncho). The only problem was that every time something scary made me jump, I yanked the poor guy's lunch right out of his mouth.

Next week I'm either going to see The Lincoln Lawyer (Can I tolerate McConaughey as a lawyer again? A Time to Kill bugged.) or Source Code (Supposed to be good- but really, another "I'm in someone else's body movie"?) I'll let you know what I decide!

Getting a head start on story time

Thanks to my lovely children's book-themed baby shower, Rankin has an amazing library for a 4-week old. I've been reading to him because I'm not sure what else to do with him. But reading to a newborn is really just reading to yourself. I wish they made a version of the Girl Who Played with Fire with brightly-colored pictures so we could both enjoy story time.

Dining Alfresco

Thank you to Robby & Kristy for the Home Slice pizza.

Thank you to Mom for planting the garden so we can pick a fresh salad each night.

Thank you to Shiner for creating a new light beer that I actually like.

And thank you to the little monkey for letting me eat these for dessert:

SRV & RRJ

The banks of auditorium shores were calling our name (again). The dog went swimming. Rankin went napping. And I pretended like standing on the trail is as much exercise as running around it.

You're never too young to meet a guitar legend.

Beverages and Babies

This week my breast milk has been full of uppers and downers:

The boy and i sat outside at Jo's to enjoy the amazing weather and stare at hippies...

...and we went to Curra's for my first margarita in 10 months!
As you can see it put him to sleep right away.

Note: I only drank about half the cappuccino and 3/4ths of the margarita.
Not because I felt bad but because I'm out of practice.