A few things I made this week....

This week I actually remembered to take some pics of a few dishes that I made.  On Monday night I made a smoked trout pasta salad for our work lunches.  It was farfalle pasta tossed with a dressing made of light sour cream, some whole milk to thin it out, a little horseradish, salt and pepper.  I tossed in some fresh dill and fresh oregano.  Then 2 cans of smoked trout from Trader Joe's, grape tomatoes and capers.  Oh, yeah, the zest of one lemon and some of the juice.  It turned out great.

This morning I made chai muffins with pistachios.  This was a recipe from Cooking Light magazine.  I made it partly because it sounded good, and partly because I already had everything and could make it first thing in the morning.  They turned out so good - there are actually 2 chai tea bags in the batter.  You top them with the chopped pistachios and make a glaze to go over the top.  I'll make them again for sure - they'd be perfect for the fall, too, with all of the spices and nuts.

Nursery ideas

This will be my first of many posts about the baby's room/nursery.  I hate that word "nursery".  It's like "fiance".  Anyway, I shall get past that.  Our theme is going to be vintage kid's books.  Lots of colors, mostly primary.  We decided this before we found out the sex of our baby, and loved it for either a boy or a girl.  The walls are already painted a nice, soft green (more on the pastel side), but it'll be a good palette.  Julian is going to paint some murals/pictures on the walls - this I cannot wait for!  I was a huge Richard Scarry fan as a kid, and we both love his artwork.  So lots of Richard Scarry on the walls!  We're trying to buy as much used/vintage as possible - so far we bought an old bookcase, a vintage wall shelving unit and we already have an old rocking chair - all to be refinished.  We also have the crib.  That's about it.  Here are my fabric ideas for curtains - there are 2 windows in the main baby room and one in the smaller room that will be the "playroom" or flow-over room.  I plan to have the curtains made by Hubbard's Drapery on Foster - they made our kitchen curtains and did a really fabulous job.  The top one is a Little Golden Book fabric that I plan to use for the 2 windows in the main room.  The lower is of The Saggy Baggy Elephant that will probably go on the one window in the playroom.  Cute!

Starting to feel pregnant!

So most of you know that I'm pregnant and if you don't then we might not know each other.  I'm 20 weeks pregnant now (per baby measurements), 5 months!  I thought this day would never get here!  You probably also know that we're having a baby boy.  We just found out the sex last Thursday.  I'm just starting to kind of look pregnant now, as of this week.  Last week I could still wear my work slacks pretty comfortably (and buttoned).  As of just this week they no longer button comfortably.  I still don't look visibly pregnant and you probably wouldn't guess I was unless you knew.  But I now know that day is fast approaching!  Keep checking back for more baby stuff - I'll try to post some pictures (ultrasound pics and nursery pics).  Then someday I'll be able to post baby pics.....Yeah!

Monte Carlo bowling mania

Last Saturday night we did our annual Pietro's pizza and Monte Carlo bowling night.  We've done this for a few years now and it's super fun.  We have a big group: all my brothers and sisters (and their significant others & kids), a few friends (and their kids), my Mom, my Aunt Joanne and her husband Dave come (with their son Ashton and he brought a friend too this year), and Julian's parents Jo and Edith.

We start at the Milwaukie Pietro's and eat lots of pizza (gift certificates are thanks to my Aunt Joanne's xmas gift to us all).  Then we walk over to the bowling alley for the Monte Carlo bowling.  This year we had 3 lanes - some that came were spectators and some bowled.  Our friend Sue won $75 getting a strike during the Monte Carlo part (that you buy tickets for).  Very fun night!

My sister, Mary, bro, JK w/ his son James and my sister, Anne.

My Aunt Joanne, sister, Emily, Julian's Mom (Edith), Julian and my sister, Mary.