Happy Monday

It's Monday, and I am back from Orlando. A recap will come tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving week ya'll!

Hump Day/Bump Day

Its my Friday of sorts today since I leave for Orlando and our firm retreat tomorrow. But today, its another day, another dollar, but lots of sunshine!

And its time for a little bump update.

ignore my work bathroom

How far along: 18 1/2 weeks!

Baby size: Sweet potato

Weight gain: 7-8 pounds, I think

Stretch marks: Nothing yet

Sleep: No. I cannot get comfortable for the life of me.

Gender: Girl. Evelyn Ray

Movement: Not unless you count digestion

Looking forward to: The wedding being over so I can move on to baby,

Food cravings: Not really hungry as of late. Although I feel the need to drink milk more these days.

What I miss: Real Clothes that fit.

Workouts: Still trying to get in 4 a week. I am not running on the treadmill anymore, just do not have the energy, but 30 minutes of elliptical or uphill walking followed my weight training.

Things that suck: Too big for regular clothes, not big enough for maternity clothes.... and trying to pack for a firmwide retreat that requires numerous outfit changes. I'm just in that awkward in-between stage. Also, tights. I love them, but man I had to get some maternity ones and just let them be big because my regs were cutting off my circulation.

Things that don't suck: Having a group of girlfriends pregnant with you all at the same time and having friends who have just been there. They are my rock, go-to and support.

How Do You Fight?

One of things le  guy and I are doing to prepare for marriage is to go through pre-marital counseling. We choose to do it through our church and we are paired with a mentor couple. We just happen to love this couple, so the process has been fun. This week we discussed fighting. Ok, communication more precisely,  but really it was how do you fight?

Le guy and I could not be more polar opposite when it comes to this topic. I mean I blog... I communicate. I am one with the words of my soul. I'm mad, you know it, sad you see it, stressed you feel it. He, on the other hand, is not so umm extroverted.

He is quiet, reserved, holds things in and internalizes them. In an argument, we becomes turtle man, kid you not his words not mine. I become the lioness hear my roar. As you can imagine this not bode well for resolving things in our world.

But what we learned is that we both want to accomplish the same goal, to resolve the conflict, but what drives our methods stems from learned traits. I learned to fight as kid to get what you want. He learned to think things through. I think I need to be louder to be heard and he wants to avoid saying the wrong things so he takes time to put his thoughts in order.

I'm sure so man of you can relate to one side or the other. However, the important thing to see is that neither of us is right or wrong. We are simply reacting how we feel will accomplish the end goal most effectively.

I realize I need to take a chill pill and he learned I just want to be heard and know that he is not blowing me off. Crazy how that works, huh?

We also learned I have a minor trust issue. No, I do not think he has lied to me, but I have a quest for the truth, I can sense when something is off with him and just have this need to know what that is. Wrong, eh, selfish, duh!

Yes, its my own selfish desire to be in control and know all that often leads to an argument, or my nagging tendency. I just want to know what is going on with him so I am not in the dark. Whereas, he is just protecting me from the junk that he deems unimportant to bring home to our relationship.

Point is, how do you fight and do you fight fair? Its something worth talking about with your spouse, significant other, heck your friends. We all communicate differently, but as long as you both know its coming from a place of love, itll be alright.

Top Hat or Tiara?

Well, its officially official, we are having a girl. Ballerinas, bows and tiaras, oh my!

In other news, it snowed in Texas, albeit rather briefly. So what did I do? Stand outside in a wedding dress and take bridal pics! Here is a sneak peak

I then proceeded to snuggle for the rest of the weekend underneath copious blankets and puppies. This is a short week for me, as I head to Orlando Thursday for our firmwide retreat. I am excited to meet more lawyers from our firm, learn a lot and perhaps catch a few warm rays of sunshine. Happy Monday ya'll!

Confessional Friday

It's Friday, its gender reveal day and well its freezing cold, but who cares! So let's get to confessing.

I confess....

• I 80% know the gender of the baby, but wait til after 5:30 today and check facebook and instagram for the announcement. If not see ya back here Monday for the blog reveal.
• I may never go back to normal jeans after maternity jeans.
• Three weeks to the wedding!
• Baby W likes Starbuck's cookies at 3pm during the day.
• The next couple weeks will fly by since I am in Orlando next week for the firm retreat and then Turkey Day and then Wedding Day!!
• I cannot decide if I want a wedding program. Thoughts?
• I have no clue what jewelry I am going to wear for said wedding.
• I wish we had eloped.
• Puppies in sweaters are the best thing ever.
• Scandel rocked my socks last night.
• HTGAWM did not rock so much said socks from above.
• Document review has grown on me.
• I have the cutest gender reveal planned ever... it will be.... legendary!

Happy Friday ya'll!

Hamburger Soup

So, its called hamburger soup, but its not really hamburger per se... I think it got the name from the fact that you use "hamburger meat." But alas, it warm, hardy, and super easy.

Ingredients

2-1/2 pounds Ground Chuck ( I use ground turkey)

1/2  Large Onion, Diced

2 stalks Celery, Diced

3 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 can (14.5 Ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes

3 cups Beef Stock Or Beef Broth, Plus More As Needed

3 whole Bell Peppers, Seeded And Diced (can use different colors, and I often omit these and  squash and zucchini)

4 whole Carrots, Peeled And Sliced On The Diagonal

5 whole Red Potatoes, Cut Into Chunks

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, More To Taste

2 teaspoons Dried Parsley Flakes

1/2 teaspoon Ground Oregano

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (more To Taste)

Put all this stuff in the crockpot and set on low for 8-10 hours. If it looks dry add in more broth or for thicker stew like quality add in corn starch.

Super easy, super yummy!

The Weather Outside

It's not frightful per se, but what happened to Fall? It went from Fall to Winter here in .1 seconds. As in went to bed in the 70's woke up to a wind chill of 29! Yikes!

However, I do enjoy the addition of tights to my wardrobe, Yes I love a dress with tights and boots, Just, tights with a small baby bump is interesting. I tried to just size up, but then the rest of the tights  bunched at my ankles and knee. And the maternity ones are just too big at the top right now. So i'll take bunched over saggy bottoms.

I also love that addition of the scarf into my everyday attire. I love them in all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns. I would much rather wear a scarf than a necklace, plus it keeps my a tad warmer in the office chill. I am  huge fan of the large infinity scarf and the blanket scarf (as soon as I find a good one).

No bump update this week, as not much has changed around these bump parts. 17 weeks and feeling fine. We will finally reveal the sex of our little onion (yes the size of an onion this week, thank you bump.com) this weekend. It's been killing me not to tell you all!

Well, that's all around these parts for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a wonderful and hearty fall crock pot meal.