Summer Musings

Summer, for me, has not yet been underway for a whole week. Even in such a short time I've formulated some musings that I want to share.

1. Visiting a neighborhood pool, in the middle of the day, without children places you in one of three scenarios: a) solitude among soccer moms - read, tan, dunk in pool, talk to no one, repeat,  b) a lover of adult swim and, dually, enemy of all under 10 (they will splash you), or  c) just plain creepy.

2. Weighted squats are apparently great preparation for the birthing process, just not such great preparation or walking the next day.

3. Torrential rain is not a good time to drive without functioning windshield wipers. However, 77 is manageable sans wipers, just keep a modest 50 mph and you're fine. 

4. The Today Show is the best way to spend the hours between 7 - 9 AM.

5. Charlotte is slowly being taken over by wildlife. The proof exists in what we've nicknamed "psycho robin" who enjoys dive bombing Koda, the nest of bunnies in our garden who are now exploring our entire backyard, and the herd of field mice (I swear they were rats) that crossed our path during our evening walk last night.

6. Nesting is not only productive, but fun. 

Today is a very special day for our growing family as we find out if this little one is a baby boy or girl! Stay tuned for the news.

Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Okay, so I don't know if I can actually put this endeavor under the label of "summer food series" since it didn't really involve cooking anything. Rather, I chopped, and, darn it, I'm one good chopper.

As promised, this idea came from one of my recent pins to my Pinterest "Grub" board. This salad doesn't really have a name other than its descriptors: corn, avocado and tomato salad with honey lime dressing. This was so simple and light, perfect for a hot summer evening. (The hubs approved.)

So this was the process...

I collected my ingredients. The beauty of this recipe is that you probably have most of what you need in your refrigerator or pantry. What you don't have is cheap and any extra is easily used for other items on your menus.  

Here's what I gathered for the salad:

1 can of corn (I was making this quickly and didn't want to grill corn on the cob like the recipe detailed)

grape tomatoes (halved)

1 ripe avocado (I bought another for guacamole later)

fresh cilantro (1 tbsp chopped)

Here's what I gathered for the dressing:

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp honey

dashes of salt and pepper to taste

1 garlic clove minced

1 dash of cayenne pepper (which I forgot, but will try in the future)

1 lime's juice

It took me all of five minutes to put together the entire concoction. Here's what the finished, dressed product looked like: 

We paired the salad with Trader Joe's spicy jalapeño chicken sausage and chips and salsa. A summery southwestern inspired meal, yum!

Banana Walnut Bread

The secret has long been out: I am not much of a cook or baker. In fact, when Chad was recently gone for a week on business he called to ask me if I've eaten anything cooked while he'd been away. My only response was a shamefully muttered "Chick-fil-A".  I can follow recipes and do, on occasion, cook or bake something people don't immediately spit out of their mouths in disgust.

Nevertheless, this is an area I wish to change. So I've decided, with some more free time during the summer months, to tackle a few new recipes with the guidance of my Pinterest "grub" board. Every week-if not more frequently when the urge arises-I plan to try a new recipe and share it with readers.

Disclaimer: Be forewarned these attempts may be far from revolutionary. They exist as a simple endeavor to expand my foodie repertoire and build my self-confidence. Seasoned kitchen-goers may not by wowed. 

First in the line-up is banana walnut bread, which happens to be one of my favorite treats. It helps I have some overripe bananas begging to not be wasted. After taking inventory of ingredients I realized that we were out of butter. Mindful not to stifle my ambitions, Chad graciously went to the store. Another minor setback occurred when I discovered we do not own a bread pan, but Chad picked one up for me as well. 

I decided to follow this recipe, but with a few minor changes that I'll let you know about.

The ingredients, although I took this photo before deciding to scratch the chocolate chips.

I used four medium-sized bananas.

I only used half of the sugar the recipe called for and replaced the other half with brown sugar.

After reading a few reviews of the recipe I decided to add a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Rather than chocolate chips I included some chopped walnuts (roughly 1/2 cup).

And my creation heads into the oven (350 degrees) for one hour. 

Voila! Banana walnut bread! 

To Babymoon or Not To Babymoon

The recent trend of babymoons has grown quite popular and has undoubtedly stimulated the travel industry. The lure of such a trip is understandable; a final escape with the hubs before your party of two becomes a party of three. I have to say I'm enticed and have entertained a fair share of Google travel searches. We haven't solidified a decision to babymoon or not to babymoon quite yet as a large part of me screams "save the money!" Nevertheless, here are a few locales that have tickled my pre-baby fancy.

Boston, MA, possibly my favorite city in the States

An enticing deal from Living Social for a stay at a historic Charleston plantation resort.

The Outerbanks

Moms, have you taken a babymoon? To those not yet mothers, would you take a babymoon? Where did/would you go?

Charleston photos from The Inn at Middleton Place website

Pasta Fagioli to the Rescue

I'm going to talk about pregnancy.

Honestly, I didn't intend to let this blog take a pregnancy focus, but as I think about it, I wanted this blog to chronicle my journey through life. So since this is such a large part of my life right now it seems relevant to share every now and then.

Hormones make all things seem larger than life. Last night I lost it over burnt vegetables and, presumably, undercooked chicken. It wasn't about any inefficiency to cook food, but rather I was overwhelmed by all things pregnancy related. Now that school is nearly over I have more time to read and think about preparations for life with a baby. I was fretting over how to establish a schedule, how to negotiate the first few weeks of a newborn present in the house, during flu season, with eager family wanting to visit, and how and with who to schedule child care when I return to work.

Thankfully Chad was there to rescue me with a generous guitar lesson patron's homemade pasta fagioli and a comforting smile. Since I know these hormones aren't calming down anytime soon, here's hoping I can get my hands on that soup recipe.

In other news, as temperatures are rising and pools are opening, I've been reading a lot about the benefits and concerns surrounding sunscreen both here and here.

Are you a faithful sunscreen user? If so, what is your tried and true product of choice?

Happy Summer

Good grief, it has been too long since my last post and I have much to share.

As most of you know by now, we are expecting our first little one this November! All is well with baby, all is well with me, and Chad and I are absolutely over the moon. The pregnancy has been relatively tame; no morning sickness other than the occasional nausea, some fatigue during the first trimester (but I think working as I did contributed to that), and so far-at 16 weeks-I'm healthy and thankful.

{ It's teeny tiny, but I'm pointing to a pregnancy test that boasts the fun news! This was taken the day we found out. }

Summer is so close! I have a week and two days remaining and they are, mostly, workdays. The move to Community School of Davidson this year was definitely a blessing. Being in an environment where administrators put kids, not bureaucracy, first and honor and encourage me as a professional is so refreshing. I've made some amazing, brilliant friends who have been such great listeners and life savers. My excitement for teaching has definitely been rejuvenated. So much so that this summer I will be participating in the National Writing Project's Summer Institute at UNCC. The course focuses on various theories and best practices for teaching writing and will run for the first three weeks of July.

Before I, shamelessly, get my nerd on in July, I will be traveling to my hometown of Utica, New York in just a few short weeks to visit family and friends. So far my mom has planned a trip for us to a her favorite antique shop, a fabric store to help me with some new curtains (and maybe baby goodies), dinner out to a few local grub spots, and pool time that is not shared with the entire neighborhood-yippee!

Between trips, class, and planning for next school year, Chad and I hope to get a move on the baby's nursery before August rolls around. Plans will commence on June 13 when we find out if our little is a she or he.

Happy summer ya'll!

The Ugly Cry

My classes are currently reading a Tim O'Brien novel titled The Things They Carried. During our study of one of the chapters, we analyzed the importance in the change of a character's cry: pretty to ugly. Everyone knows a pretty cry. It is the cry that movie stars do. The cry when they still look good while crying. Then, in our story, the character, as his struggle intensifies, cries an ugly cry. He describes his body shaking, convulsing even. This is the cry when you don't look good. Your breathing more resembles gasping in strange bursts, mascara runs down your face as it turns an odd shade of red, you reach for a tissue and realize: this, right here, is an ugly cry.

This week I cried ugly.

In the end it wasn't the cry that got to me, it was what made me cry. I was overwhelmed and stressed as a result of my worry. I was worrying about things that may or may not happen in the future. I was mentally fighting a battle that hadn't even started yet.

Then I saw my desktop image that quotes Exodus 14:14, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still."

I decided to lose ugly and, instead, be still.