Perspective

Last night when we got home from Baby Prep Class our house was hot.  At first I thought it was just because JMS had turned down the AC and then come to find out the unit outside was not working.  Lately I have been thinking a lot about how lucky we are, and things are really starting to gain a whole new perspective for me as I get closer to giving birth to our first baby.  While I am a person that takes time at least once a day to look around and appreciate what I have no AC, 8 months pregnant, in the middle of a Florida summer got me a little grumpy.
 
For five hours we had no AC, but thank the lord we were able to fix the problem and get cooled off.  I will admit that I complained and got irritated with the situation at first .  But then took a deep breath and thought to myself why am I being like this?  At least I, A. Have the option of AC in the first place B. Have planned for emergencies and  to be able to pay for something like this if it did ever happen.  C. Had Kevin the AC man was on call.  When I snapped out of my little frustration is when I started thinking.  There are people out there that do not have AC,  there are children starving in Africa, there are soldiers in the dessert fighting for my safety in 130 degree heat with combat gear on, you know where I am going.  The point is that those five hours reminded me about the importance of putting things in perspective.  No matter what in life little things will happen that are not convenient, are uncomfortable, are challenging, etc but at the end of the day everything in life happens for a reason, and there is always someone that is going through something harder.

My belief has been if you are a good person, work hard, make a difference then good things will come to you.  I don't believe in entitlements if they are not deserved, and believe that by proper planning and being smart with your decisions that you put yourself in a position to be "ok" if a challenge in life may arise.  I think a challenge in our society today is that too many people expect to be given things, rather than planning and finding a way to work hard to get through things on their own. In two months we are going to have our first baby and each day I day think about the important values and wishes that John and I have for our child.  That is another blog post for another day.  But it is important to me to make sure that as our child grows that he/she understands the importance of perspective and reflecting on the little things they will be so fortunate to have.  It is about appreciation, understanding, hard work, and not taking things for granted.  I think that not enough people sit back on a given day and think about how fortunate they are for those little things such as air conditioning, food on the table, and good health. 

This article attached is another thing that made me once again think about how lucky I am this week.  When I thought up this idea to raise money for Make A Wish during my time on the NCAA Division II SAAC, I never in my wildest dreams thought it would turn into what it has today.  But it has, and I am so proud of the NCAA and Division II student athletes for continuing these fundraising efforts to make such a huge, impact, and difference in so many lives on an annual basis.  While the story brings tears to my eyes for sadness in what this little girl and her family have gone through, but they tears of happiness for the work that has been done to make a difference for families and children like this. 

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/july/make-a-wish+family+thankful+for+dii+efforts?&utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NCAA%20News%20Direct


It is truly inspiring.  As the weekend draws to a close I urge everyone to take the time this week to reflect on the little things, put things in perspective on your own, and enjoy each day because we can.

Two Of My New Favorite Recipes

Well....I guess some could say the nesting instinct has started to kick in for Nicole.  I always enjoy cooking, but over the past week I have been scouring cook books, and organizing pretty much everything in our house.  Therefore I believe I am nesting.  Today I wanted to share the recipe for my favorite Chocoloate Peanut Butter Chunk Cookies and my Southwest Chicken Chopped Salad.  I am trying to perfect the art of cookie making before our child enters this world.  My mom is great at many things, but it is a running joke in our family that she is not a baker.  What matters is the effort, and she will read this so I will reminisce on the time she wanted to make sugar cookies with pink sprinkles for my birthday in  kindergarten.  To say the least they were very good, but the sprinkles had trouble sticking and the shape was a little off.  They were made with love so in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter :) Love you mom

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Stolen from Ina Garten herself: (My intention was to put a pretty picture of the freshly baked cookies, on a nice dish....well as you can see there is one left after two days so I guess that is a good sign)

1/2 Lb. Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
1 1/2 Cups Light Brown Suger, Packed
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Lb. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (This weekend I used half chocolate/half white chocolate)

Preheat over to 350 degrees

Mix butter and sugars until light and fluffy in electric mixer
Add the eggs, one at a time
Add the vanilla, peanut butter, and mix
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add to the batter mixing only until combined
Fold in Chocolate Chips

Bake for exactly 17 minutes, I typically use an ice cream scoop to lay the cookies on the cookie sheet and they make a medium sized cookie.

Southwest Chopped Salad

This is the perfect salad for a hot summer night!  I paired this with a Simi Cuvee we got in Sonoma last December for my husband to enjoy :).  Any riesling or slighter sweeter wine compliments nicely

1 Head of Iceberg lettuce chopped into small pieces

1/2 Red Onion chopped into small pieces

1 Small Can Black Beans, Drained and washed

1 Small Can Shoepeg Corn, Drained and washed

1 Small Red Pepper

1/2 Pint of Cherry Tomatos cut in half

1 Large Avocado

2 Breasts of chicken chopped into pieces, cook on the stove with cumin/paprika seasoning

1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro

1/2 Fresh Squeezed Lime

Sprinkle With Mexican Cheese

Top with Tortilla Strips

Dressing: Any Chipotle Ranch you find that you like!  I feel like everyone has different tastes for dressing!

Pregnancy Favorites

Once again I find myself constantly thinking about all the blog topics I want to write about each day and my struggle to find the time to do it.  It has been a crazy few months and we are in the final stretch before we meet our little munchkin.  To say the least I am getting really, really, excited to meet our little munhckin.  As I have said in previous posts I have had a great pregnancy, and feel very blessed for this.  I have been eating healthy the majority of the time, and working out everyday to keep my energy levels up.  I haven't had any super weird cravings with the exception of the (mushroom, meatball, and pickle pizza one night) but have certainly developed a list of favorites in my diet.  We just came off a three week trip up North where to say the least I indulged in some fabulous New England eats.  The ice cream in New England is like nowhere else, Florida does not have any homemade Ice Cream places like my hometown fave Carter's in Bradford. I figured I would share some of my pregnancy favorites from food to miscallaneous items.  I will try to keep the list at bay!

1. Terra Blue Potato Chips: Amazing, Jetblue serves these on their flights and that is where I became addicted.  You can find them at pretty much any grocery store and they are better then real potato chips!

2. Fruit Salad: easy enough, my favorite mix is strawberries, bananas, razzies, bananas, kiwi, peaches, grapes, and cantaloupes

3. Simply Lemonade:  This is actually a big pregnancy craving as I typically don't drink sugary fruity drinks and I need this everyday.  I usually do half water half lemonade.

4. Summer Sanders Prental Work Out:  I tried a half a dozen prenatal DVD's and finally stumbled across this one.  The challenge is many pre natal DVD's don't make you sweat or make you feel like you have worked out.  Yes you are suppose to keep your heart rate under 150 but if you are in shape you want something more and this does it!  I usually add in a couple of cardio boosting moves in between sets to get the heart rate up a bit.

5. Crocs Adrina Jelly Slippers:  Traveling through airports in heels has not been working for me these days!  I discovered these great shoes that are super comfy!  I have always been a fan of Crocs Mary Janes, but these are just kind of fun, and I get a lot of compliments on them!

6. Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches:  This is my way of trying to control the ice cream craving, they work the majority of the time. 

7. Belly Buds:  I just bought a pair of these babies, and I love how they stick on your stomach and allow the baby to hear music without you having to hold headphones to your tummy. 

8.  Erin and Timmy:  Erin is my massage therapist at SB Spa in Tampa and I love her.  Timmy is my pedicure guy at Venetian Nails and the man gives the BEST foot massage in the entire world (besides my husband of course) This is going to be a hard one for people to get unless you visit Tampa.

9. Dear Baby Blog:  I have a whole list of baby blogs I follow but Dear Baby is one of my favorites.  Melissa also just started blogging on Babble which is another great blog I follow.

http://dearbabyblog.com/

10. Dad's Pregnant Too Book: John and I had a date to Barnes and Nobles early on in my pregnancy to pick up some books to start reading to the baby, and for us to read as well.  John had gotten some great books on preparing to be a dad from others but this is hands down the best one and a gift I will certainly start handing down to friends that become pregnant for their husbands to read.  It is hysterical!

11. PopCorners: I am obsessed with this snack as well! The thing that stinks is I can not find them in grocery stores.  I am going to order direct from the website this week.

12. Whole Foods Chicken Salad:  We were up in Boston and the Whole Foods there did not have the same chicken salad as the Whole Foods in Tampa which was a major bummer because it is my favorite.  The whole foods classic chicken salad is delicious.  These are the ingredients I can tell are in it: Scallions, Cilantro, Red Onions, Chicken, Mayo,Basil, Lime and I don't know what else but sssssssoooooo good!

13. Snoogle: This is a ginormo body pillow that keeps me in place at night considering I am always flipping on my back. 

14. Guacamole: See previous post, but avocados and guac have been my favorite. I actually got into a disagreement with a woman at Whole Foods about avocados being healthy for your baby.  Too say the least this woman had the nerve to say to me that eating to much avocado each week was bad for the baby and that she was a nutrionist.  My response was "Actually they on the top ten best foods for your baby while pregnant, and I am going to eat as much as I want." Then walked away with a bag of six avocados.

15. Pirates Booty: Yum! Enough said!

16.  Last but not least my husband......I am the lucky one to only have him but my favorite part of being pregnant has been John singing to our baby, dancing with my stomach, reading books to the baby, kissing my stomach, and doing so many wonderful things to make this easier for me.  I am truly blessed and feel so fortunate to have him.  I also love how he is not afraid to show outward affection to the bump.  One of my favorite moments was him dropping me off at the airport, getting out of the car to give me a kiss, and kissing my belly in front of about 50 people in the baggage line and having the steward say how sweet it was.  He is truly the best!