Catch Up....Aaaaand I'm Pregnant

Hello hello hellooooo! It has truly been a while since I've posted and I never intended to go this long without blogging. It's something I started last year and always looked forward to. But as life does, things got busy and I found myself slacking in this area. Well, now I'm back and figured I'd recap with a life update since it has been quite some time.

Since my last post (I don't even want to look back at the date because I know it's been too long!) I have received a promotion! I'm so excited to be in position I worked so hard for. As if that wasn't exciting news enough, shortly after Benson and I received some other very exciting news ......I'M PREGNANT! :) I honestly still don't believe the words yet when I tell people, or feel the kicks in my belly, or get nauseous every time I'm around red meat or tacos. It's so surreal and so exciting at the same time. Time is already flying by and before we know it our baby boy (Evan James to be exact!) will be here in no time!

Let me fill you in on the back story of finding out we're expecting a baby...

I found out I was pregnant VERY early (thanks Clearblue!). I bought a pack of tests and it was a Friday morning in the end of March that I woke up and figured I'd take one (expecting it to be negative). As I did what I had to do for the test I then washed my face while waiting for the test to read me my result. A couple minutes later my life had changed - PREGNANT! My mouth dropped and I'm sure it's no surprise that I was mentally freaking out and speechless all while Benson was still asleep. I then thought to myself if I should tell him right then and there or wait until after work so we could have the whole weekend to process this great news. Of course being as impatient as I am there was no way I could last a whole day at work without telling him. I grabbed the test, and then went into the kitchen where I still have wine bottles from our "Basket of First's" and pulled out the "First Baby" sparkling apple cider bottle (thanks Camille!). I went into the bedroom and woke Benson up with the bottle right in his face. His first reaction was "What did I miss!" Thinking that it was a birthday or anniversary he forgot about. Once he was able to open his eyes and actually read what the bottle said I then showed him the test. His face was priceless and I'm pretty sure mine looked the same way when I read the results of the test to myself. It was such a joyous moment and also scary as shit. I mean....we're really having a baby!! Needless to say that day at work I don't think I got nearly as much done as I usually do. Benson and I were emailing each other all day still in shock and thinking of the road ahead trying to sort everything out and plan.

The next week we were planning on telling our families. It was perfect timing because we were heading to Baltimore to see my dad's bell ringing ceremony for completing his proton therapy for prostate cancer. It was so hard to see everyone that weekend and wait until Saturday night when we got home to then tell them! We presented a onesie in a gift bag to my parents saying that it was  a welcome home present for the both of them. We did the same thing with Benson's parents the following day and the reactions everyone had to our good news was incredible.

We announced our news publicly towards the end of May and had a gender reveal party in the beginning of July. I have to be honest, when we popped the balloon I was totally expecting pink confetti because I just had a feeling it was going to be a girl. I was completely surprised but so excited to know that we are going to have a little boy! My due date is December 2nd and while that still now may seem as though we have plenty of time to prepare, I know it's going to be here in the blink of an eye.

*Knocks on wood* So far my pregnancy has been great. I really didn't have too many symptoms aside from being tired....but let's be honest, that was me even before I was pregnant! I had absolutely no morning sickness either. I crave sweets like crazy and would much rather eat snacks or breakfast food than an actual meal, tacos make me want to vomit and so does red meat. My appetite changes at the drop of a hat. I could be at Wegmans and pick something up that I want in that moment but by the time I get home I'd rather eat cereal for dinner....pregnancy is VERY strange! The exciting part is that I can now feel baby Evan's kicks and punches. Talk about a weird sensation! But it is so cool and fascinating. I am also very thankful that so far I have had healthy and smooth pregnancy. Benson hasn't had to endure too much of any requests except a few ice cream runs now and then ;)

Tomorrow I am officially 22 weeks and I feel as though I'm already behind on things! I know everyone says that time flies by when you have kids and the fact that our first isn't even born yet but I'm already more than halfway through my pregnancy blows my mind. I suppose we should start our baby registry now!

And there you have it! A little life catch up since my last post with big news! I definitely want to get back into blogging because I love documenting these kinds of things as well as sharing things that interest me such as recipes, tips, reviews and so on. I remember I was nervous at first to start a blog because I didn't know if people would think I was silly for doing it but it's what I like and I want to stick with it. Not to mention I actually received some awesome feedback from my posts and it made me so happy to know that people were taking an interest! I don't expect to be a full-time blogger but I enjoy doing it and here's to keep on typing on! Thanks for reading!

Super Jam Packed Weekend!

Welcome Back!

It's been a while since I've done a little recap of my weekend..I think since summer!? I figured this was a good weekend to recap since it was jam packed and a fun and eventful one.

 My cousin Kelsey came up for the weekend to visit from Penn State. She'll also be back up next month for her spring break aaaaaaand.....21ST BIRTHDAY! I can't wait to celebrate with her for that. The fact that she's almost 21 blows my mind...really where does the time go!?

Let's jump into the recap...

Friday night:

I started the night continuing to watch Shameless on Netflix (thanks, Alecia) and drank wine...duh. Kelsey came over a little later and we played with the VR. I was able to catch a few videos of Kelsey in another world. She punched our chandelier she was so into the game!

After playing some VR, we played Fibbage and then Just Dance. Preeetty sure we haven't played Just Dance in a couple years. I forgot that after each song there is a video recap of us. How on earth Benson always scored higher than me, I'll never know. It's safe to say however that Kelsey was the Just Dance queen.


Saturday:

I woke up and went to the gym and then came home to shower and get ready. We had plans to go to Lovin Cup for lunch with Chelsea and Kelsey. I'll be the first to admit that once I find something I love at a restaurant, it's almost impossible for me to get something different. I stuck with my usual "Hot For Teacher" panini and it did not disappoint.

After lunch we stopped by Barnes and Noble quick so I could buy Chrissy Teigen's cookbook Cravings. I am SO excited about this cookbook! There are a ton of delicious recipes that I'm having trouble deciding what to make first. If anyone has any recommendations, send them my way!

Later in the day we all went to my grandma and grandpa's for dinner with my mom, aunt and uncle, and Kelsey (Benson too of course! He's just automatically included in everything). If there's one thing you should know about my family, it's that there is never a dull moment with us. I'm a very family oriented person so I always enjoy dinner with them. We even called my dad after dinner so he could talk to all of us. Miss you dad!

The night ended with us playing the game "Basket Head" - which is as simple as it sounds. You wear a basket on your head and everyone else throw ping pong balls at you to make it in the basket. Like I said - my family is far from boring!

Sunday:

Who doesn't love starting  off the morning with donuts!? On Sunday morning Kelsey and I ventured out to Ridge Donut Cafe to get a half dozen donuts as well as one for each of us to eat there to do a little taste testing for Alecia's bridal shower. Hey, if she wants donuts I need to make sure that they're top notch. Kelsey and I each got a red velvet donut which was very good. In my half dozen, I also picked coconut, PB&J, glaze, red velvet, cream, and apple crunch. PSA - I took a bite of the PB&J one.....DELICIOUS!

After our donut run we went out with Benson to get ingredients for his super bowl dish which was Shakshuka. We originally had this recipe in one of our Blue Apron boxes and it was a hit. One of the things I love about Benson is that he is a very good cook! He likes working with out of the box ingredients and stepping out of his comfort zone when it comes to cooking. It came out great!

Before the Super Bowl, my grandma, Kelsey and I went to the movies to see "Hidden Figures". If you're deciding which movie to see next, go see that one! We all loved it!

Of course the weekend ended with my family at Aunt Susie & Uncle Tom's to watch the Super Bowl....and eat...a lot! There was sushi, guac, soup, sandwiches, wings, cheese, wine, ice cream and cookies. Why oh why I decided to schedule my annual physical the morning after is beyond me.

P.S - If you're local and watched the Super Bowl, Benson worked on those U of R commercials that aired! #proudwife. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Bachelorette and Showers, Oh My!

Happy hump day!  Today's post is going to be a little insight on my take of the planning so far of my best friend's shower and bachelorette.

Alecia and I have been best friends since middle school. She is honestly more like a sister to me than a best friend. We have been in each others lives for so many years and I could not be more honored to be her matron of honor on her wedding day! She and Nick are absolutely perfect for each other so needless to say, she deserves a more than perfect shower and bachelorette!

I have not been in this full-force planning mode since my own wedding. There are so many fun things to be happening in 2017 that I thought I would share in a blog post of the things I'm most excited about for Alecia's shower and bachelorette party. Don't worry Alecia, I won't be confessing all my detailed plans since I do want this to be a surprise for you, but I figured I would share some of my thoughts and maybe get some more inspiration from others since I want things to be absolutely perfect!

I'll start with shower planning....

We rented a space which is sort of like a community center to have the shower at. I highly recommend looking at booking a shower at one of these types of locations because you can't beat the prices, and you usually get the building for a whole day. Plus where we are having the shower, there is a HUGE kitchen so we can store food, ice, and drinks.

Donuts. Do I really need to even explain more than that? For the shower (and yes, she already knows this) we are doing donuts as the dessert. There are so many Pinterest pictures that give me inspiration on how to go about with this and I'm super excited to see how things turn out. I've already contacted some bakeries to get quotes and I have a feeling this donut display is going to be a hit!

Catering. Wegmans does GREAT catering. For my own bridal shower, we had salads, wraps, and snacks all catered by Wegmans. Even at my job for events that we want to book out of house we always go with Wegmans. There are so many different options to choose from that they literally have anything you could want. Plus they have a quick turn around so booking is never an issue.

BACHELORETTE.

This is going to be fun ;)

Many of the girls are out of town. Ok, well really all of them except for me. Even Alecia is out of town! So we decided to make it a bachelorette weekend.

For this bachelorette weekend, we're renting a house that will fit all of us for a fun filled and memorable "last fling before the ring". There will probably be around 10-12 of us so we needed a space to hold all of us that had enough beds, bathrooms (duh), and general space so we can all hang out together.

If you haven't been on a pedal tour yet, I HIGHLY suggest changing that ASAP. I went on one in Buffalo for my friend Camille's birthday and it was a blast. Although I have to admit, I'm not sure if I'm biased because I ended up in the lucky seat in the back that had no pedals so I didn't have to even lift a finger to get our cart moving ;) But needless to say, we are booking one for the Saturday of the bachelorette weekend. Fun fact: I'm not a beer person....which you can probably already tell from the title of my blog but I always find something to drink on these tours. Whether it be cider, mixed drinks, or a fruit flavored beer, it's always good and always a fun time.

Of course there are other surprises up my sleeve, but that's the beginning of what is planned. I still have a few months to get the details ready such as favors, games, and things like that. If you have experience planning a shower or bachelorette, I'd love to hear your ideas! I'm so excited to plan these events and I cannot wait to have the best weekend ever because let's be honest....#ITSGOINGBROWNFORREAL.

New Year New Resolutions

I honestly cannot believe that it's already 2017. 2016 came and went in a flash I feel like! 2016 was a good year for me and 2017 has some fun things in store as well.

For today's post I thought I'd share my resolutions. I've never been a resolution kind of person but this year I figured why not. These resolutions have been "goals" I've been wanting to work on but never really put the effort into. Since it's the start of a new year I feel like it's the perfect time to stop making excuses. Here are my 4 resolutions for 2017:



1.) Drink more water

I am HORRIBLE at this. I only drink when I'm thirsty and by that point I hear you're already screwed because it means you're dehydrated. My mom got me a super cute tumbler to keep drinks cold throughout the day so I'm putting that to good use as I type this. Plus drinking water throughout the day has so many benefits that I feel like I'm neglecting my body by not doing this simple task. Only downfall = peeing 3894738 times a day.

2.) Read more

I actually enjoy reading! My favorite genre are mysteries and thrillers. I would like to set a goal to read at least one book per month. My other goal in this one is to not have late fees on my books too...oopsies ;) If you have any good book recommendations, send them my way!

3.) Use my phone less

I'll be the first to admit that I'm addicted to my phone. I was thinking the other day how now everyone is so glued to their phones and I catch myself scrolling through Facebook or Instagram more times a day than I can count. I feel like I'm missing on what's going on right in front of me! I know this one will be hard especially since my music, recipes, shopping accounts and more are used everyday as well. Hopefully I can lure myself away from "mindless" phone usage!

4.) Be more organized

I am kind of a slob to live with (sorry, Benson!). My last goal is to take a few extra minutes each day and tidy up an area whether it be the bathroom counter to clean up the fur ball of hair that's left everyday, kitchen sink, coffee table or bedroom. If anyone has any good cleaning/organizing hacks let me know. I know this goal will be a constant battle for me.

There you go! Now that I have typed out my resolutions I'm hoping it holds me even more accountable.