Monday, February 27, 2012

the plan

i like to have a plan. always. i live out of the green planner i carry around with me. i'm never without it. i have it every sunday, when i'm planning out the week and what meals we'll have. i have it with me every time i leave the house, plan a social event, or need to remember a birthday. in it i make grocery lists, to do lists and every other kind of list. i count down to things i'm excited for. i look back in it and remember fun things we did.


i'm kind of crazy, basically.


but i always have a plan. most of the time, that's a good thing. it's nice to know when we'll have free time and when we won't (it seems to be more often the latter, lately). it's nice to have our meals planned out for the week and know what we need to get used, what i need to purchase, etc. it's great to be able to remember birthdays, anniversaries and plans with friends. especially now that i'm pregnant and my memory is growing increasingly worse.


however, i've often been foiled in my plans and had to make adjustments and arrangements. i'm getting better at that. i don't freak out if nick has to work later or if something i had planned just doesn't happen. i'm getting better at going-with-the-flow, as it were. this is probably a good thing, since we'll soon be throwing a newborn into the mix. i've learned that even the best planned schemes can sometimes go astray. so i plan, cross my fingers, and then make whatever changes i need to.


that said, i don't like to go into things without a plan. so it probably seemed a little out of character when i gave two weeks notice to my job without another lined up. i don't do things like that. but we prayed and prayed and prayed. i knew i wasn't supposed to work here anymore, for so many reasons. finally, not knowing what i was going to do after the two weeks, i submitted a two weeks notice. i felt confident that the Lord would take care of us.


so imagine my delight when, after applying for multiple jobs, i received a call for a job interview. this was ideal. the job was nearby. it was a great company. they knew that i was pregnant, and were okay with that. everything lined up. the interview went really well and i was already creating some imaginary plan in my head.  i was pleased that everything was still going according to that "plan".


so then when i find out today that i didn't get a job? like someone threw a wrench into the tire of my fast-moving bicycle.


you'd think i'd have learned by now, right? that anyone would have. five years ago, i would have lovingly told you of my plan to marry my missionary when he returned home & graduate in journalism. then nick came along. :) that was a much more pleasant wrench.


i feel like i can see Heavenly Father smiling down at me and slowly shaking his head. i see that image in my head more often than i'd like to admit. :)


here i am, the last week of my job and nothing lined up. nothing even close. don't get me wrong, i'm definitely still applying, and working as hard as i can to find another job. and i'm stressed. and scared. and worried. the minute i got the e-mail telling me i didn't get the job, i jumped onto lds.org looking for an article or something that would help me feel better.


Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.
God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.
May we ever believe, trust, and align our lives so that we will understand our true eternal worth and potential. May we be worthy of the precious blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us is my prayer in the name of His Son, even Jesus Christ, amen. (you matter to him, dieter f. uchtdorf)
always works, right? :) that president uchtdorf knows his stuff.
so yeah, i'm terrified. we need two incomes, at least for right now. we can survive on one, but that's not "the plan". but do i feel like i made a mistake quitting this job? not even slightly. do i feel like Heavenly Father is going to leave us hanging? no way. it's weird to feel so concerned, but so calm at the same time. must be a hormonal pregnant woman thing ;) poor nick is working twelve hour + days, and i don't get to talk to him until later tonight, so i needed somewhere to let go of everything. if you made it this far, thanks for "listening" to me vent.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

awww...

cute, huh?






i swear, i'm not turning into a cat person...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

nick's dream chicken sandwich

whew, two blog posts in one day!! what a treat!

robyn told me i should post more recipes, so this is for you robyn :) i should have taken photos of the sandwiches, but i was hungry and tired and i just wanted to eat, dangit!

here's the story behind these sandwiches... every sunday i do a meal plan for the week & then monday i do all the grocery shopping. i always ask nick what dinners he wants--we only do two or three meals and then do leftovers or eat with family the other days--and he always tells me he doesn't know. this last monday he told me about a dream he had... about a chicken sandwich. haha. yeah, that's my husband. here was the sandwich:

- foccacia bread (yeah, he even knew what bread it was on...)
- grilled chicken breasts (marinade recipe below) thinly sliced
- mozzarella, feta & parmesan
- sliced tomatoes ("recipe" below)
- garlic aioli (recipe below)

italian marinade:
(when i make marinades, i just kind of throw stuff in, so i will try to make this as accurate as i can!)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup white cooking wine
- small handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- salt and pepper
i'm pretty sure that's all i put in. i put it all in a ziploc, shook it up, and then threw in two chicken breasts and marinated them overnight. then i grilled the chicken on our george foreman and sliced it really thin. yum!

oven roasted tomatoes:
for these i just sliced the tomatoes (really thin for me, because i'm not a big tomato fan--and then a little fatter for nick), put them in a pan, drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper on top.

garlic aioli:
- 1/3 cup olive oil mayo
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- salt and pepper
- 2 tsp lemon juice

ta da! here's how we assembled them:

- slice open bread and toast in oven
- melt mozzarella on bottom slice
- layer thinly sliced chicken on top
- layer tomato slices on top
- sprinkle with feta and shredded parmesan
- spread aioli on top half
- low broil in oven for a few minutes
- and bam! eat!

i don't know if ANYONE will care about this. i hate recipes when they don't have photos. but it was delicious, cheap & easy. good deal, right?

happiness with a camera phone

i'm a really lame photographer lately. well, i'm still doing lots of sessions, but as far as my own life is concerned... cell phone photos only. it's embarrassing, but it's SO much more convenient to just whip out my phone.


last night for dinner we made delicious black bean quesadillas. i've started being cool and freezing leftovers/bulk/etc. i want to get in the habit now, because i'm pretty sure in 5-ish months i won't feel like cooking :) i'm feeling pretty awesome having so many dinners and other such happiness in our freezer.


i had one quesadilla, nick had two, and here were the leftovers we froze:



don't they look happy? nick thought so too. here's what i found in the morning:


here are other things that make me happy:

next week is my last week where i'm working (thank heavens!) and i went in for a job interview today at shelf reliance. my aunt kathy works there and was the one that helped me find the job. include us in your prayers, because that job would be beyond wonderful :)

when i got there, here is the note the secretary gave me, from a very loving aunt. i LOVE her :)


i discovered i'm not a huge fan of greek yogurt... but when it's combined with fruit, it's amazing! i've been gorging on fruit lately! can you gorge on healthy foods? i have been.


... and not so healthy foods! honestly, i've only had one of these per week. and even though they don't have caffeine, they make me happy :)


went here with mom... they do sliders. does anyone else think sliders are cute? they are! they are a cute food. they're cute because they're little. little is cute.

(yeah, that was a lot of cute...)


i love nick's ability to make a healthy side dish into a delicious completely unhealthy one! freshly slice strawberries. how good of me, right? then nick decided they un-cut ones needed to be filled with chocolate syrup. okay, then they all needed chocolate syrup. then maybe some whipped cream. or maybe a gallon of whipped cream!

don't judge.



umm... i love my "little" brothers. i love that jake wore a pink tie and sweater vest to church. i love that nick always makes old man facial expressions. i love love love them! and they're funny. i love that, too.



PS- according to the whole world, we're having a girl. that's what everyone has told me. except eva, who insists we can only have a boy. and kimber, who consulted her chinese calendars. 2 1/2 weeks 'til we find out... what do you think?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

valentine

nick surprised me w/ five guys, cactus cooler, snuggling, how i met your mother, and this:



yeah, i'll keep him :)

spool-ed!

so nick and i talk several times on the phone every day while we're at work. here was a conversation we had last week (to the best of my pregnant memory):


nick: so, would you ever want a spool?


erica: like one of those giant ones the electricians at your work use???


[we'd obviously had this conversation before... or i spend a lot of time at construction sites]


nick: yeah, i asked them what they do with them when they're done, and they just throw them out. they said i could take a few if i wanted.


erica: uhhhh... yeah! what size?


nick: they're pretty varied. i can bring home a few and anything you don't like we can get rid of.


see? i have a COOL husband! so yesterday i was driving home from work, again on the phone with nick... 'cuz that's how we roll. and he said he had a surprise for me...




oh how i love him!!!


sorry, i pretty much only take photos on my phone now. 


but really! cool, huh? here's our plan: take it down six inches (so it's more level w/ the couch), stain it, weather/sand it to make it look a little more vintage-ish, do some light stenciling, wrap some rope around it.


and ta da! i'm SO excited! :) i promise, if you're not already as excited as i am, you will be!


(side note: since there's a two inch hole in the middle, nick's going to put in a little console that will be flush with the wood. you'll be able to raise it up and it will be wired with an outlet or two. ummmm... cool! i like that guy!)

Monday, February 13, 2012

the big question

boy or girl?

we will find out on 12 march 2012.

(yay!!!!!!)

on a semi-related note...

can't feel the baby move yet, but i can tell which side of me the baby is on (as we discovered when we found the heartbeat today)

haven't had any cravings until this weekend... i think i've eaten my weight in sour candies. not good. but really, when i put them in my mouth, it's as if i'm satisfying this drug-like craving. 

had a fun weekend... i will post photos tomorrow :)

Saturday, February 11, 2012

the closet: part one

i feel like i should show people that we actually are doing things to our new house. so let me start with the entry-way closet. it looked like this when we first moved in:



well, after we took off the door and did some mudding and sanding and such. my dream was for it to look like this:




(source here). found on pinterest... most of the projects in my house will come from my pinterest boards, i'm quite certain :)


so first we needed to take out the shelf. eventually we'll put in another one, but i wanted it higher so that coats don't hit people in the head when they sit down. and we wanted to paint. here we are (nick, erin and myself) ripping out the shelf. i was less successful than my husband.. go figure! excuse the quality of the photos, it was late at night and pretty dark.





i guess that was after the shelf was out... we were pulling out nails. i just loosened them for everyone, that's why they made it look so much easier... yeah. that's it.

then i painted. here's the result (i took it far away so you can't see how messed up one of the lines is :)). we still want to add a bench w/ baskets underneath and a few other cute embellishments! so there will be a part two.


it's the same kind of grey we're going to do in the baby's room. it's much lighter than it looks in the photograph, but i'm pretty pleased with it :) we still have lots of other projects, but now at least you can see one of them. ta da!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

different & the same

ways we're different...


- he eats healthy cereal, i like the sugary stuff
- he likes crunchy peanut butter, i like smooth
- he loses himself in computer games, i lose myself in books
- he's a boy, i'm a girl
- i love spaghettios, he... does not
- he gets up at a normal time, i could sleep.. forever, i think
- i'm usually on time, he's usually not
- he has a hairy face (currently), i have a smooth one
- pokey licks me, pokey bites him
- he gets really cranky when he's hungry, i get really cranky when i'm tired


ways we're the same...
- we both break into random and off-key song
- i sleep on my side of the bed, he sleeps on my side of the bed
- we both have weird color-changing eyes
- we both like each other
- we like the same people
- we both have weird families that we're rather fond of ;)
- we are both excellent kissers...
- we both LOVE food... a lot. all the time
- we both like action movies
- he thinks he's the best at mario karts, i think know i'm the best at mario karts...


yeah, i think that's it for now. sometimes it's just nice to make random lists :)


(me trying to involve nick:
"okay, in what ways are we different?"
"...besides the obvious, huh?")


:)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

dear baby...

dear baby,


i like you a lot. i'm really baby hungry. i don't know if that's allowed when you're pregnant, but i really want you out of me and into my arms. and i'm not even that far along with you yet. but i'm also not very patient, sooo...


in a month and a week we get to find out if you're a boy or a girl. if you're a grey or a liz. those are our names of choice... unless you come out and look like something different. but you'll probably look like a red, wrinkly alien, so probably not :)


i hope you are chubby. i hope you have lots of hair like me & black hair like your dad. i hope you laugh with us and don't think we're too weird. i hope you're a hard worker like your dad and not a lazy person like your mom ;) i hope you don't mind that you will ALWAYS have a camera in your face. i hope you're okay with all the weird nicknames we'll call you... and already do call you...


we love you lots and think about you all the time, even though you're just a tiny thing right now. you're still pretty good at making mom's insides squished... especially her bladder. not appreciating that right now. but thank you for choosing to like food. LOVING that.


sincerely,
mom & dad