Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Camdyn's first Halloween! She dressed up as a black kitty cat - too cute!

Cami and my mom

We went over to my parent's house to sit in the front yard, eat pizza, and hand out candy. I made sure we left by 8ish so we could get Camdyn home for bed. Speaking of...

She has not been sleeping AT ALL at night lately. This makes for a very cranky me. I've always been a very light sleeper, so when she wakes up every two hours, I have just barely fallen asleep before she's up again. John's been incredible, though. He's been helping me get up with her at night even though he's been working a ton, and yesterday he surprised me with a card and some gift cards. Best husband ever :)

Sleep is a funny thing - you don't really "miss" it until it's gone. For those of you who don't have kids yet, take advantage of sleeping! If you feel like sleeping til noon on a Saturday, DO IT! I'm thinking sleeping in won't happen again until Camdyn's moved out, and by that point John and I will be old and probably getting up at 5am willingly, haha.

So since I haven't posted in awhile here are some more photos of what we've been up to (pictures explain it best, in my opinion):

Romantic dinner from John (i've been spoiled lately)

John after work...he doesn't normally dress like this lol :)

LOVE this pic of us!

During the day Halloween outfit

Camdyn sleeping, it's a miracle!!

I also baked a delicious apple pie the other day.  It was my first one so I was kinda nervous, but it turned out amazing! I'll share the recipe soon :)

Now it's off to cleaning and working. I took on another freelance job (now I have THREE! Woo-hoo!) so that explains the lack of blog posts. Hope everyone's having a good day!

Life lately and my love language

Things have been very busy around here! Cami and I have had errands to run every day this week, so between that and working I haven't had time to blog :( Trust me, I'm desperately trying to get into the habit of blogging 5-6 times per week.  For those of you that are able to do that (plus work FT as I know most of you do)...I totally admire you! Blogging is so much fun, but it definitely takes time!

what i've been up to at work:

SheKnows.com: 10 Best ski resorts for the upcoming season
                        Holidays and breaking bread with Soleil Moon Frye
                        How to be a successful business owner

Rant Finance: The cost of having a baby
                    Halloween on a budget
                    Earn money from home
                    Is a joint checking account for you?

what i've been up to at home:

Nothing too interesting...cooking, cleaning, playing with Cami, etc. John and I got Mad Med season 5 in the mail through Netflix! So that's exciting. Mad Med is one of my all-time favorite shows. It's so witty and the characters are great. 

John and I started reading "The 5 Languages of Love." Has anyone read that? It's great, and I recommend it for all couples even though we're only on chapter 3. You first take a quiz to determine what your "love language" is, and then the book goes over how to meet the needs of your spouse's love language, which ultimately leads to a happier, healthier marriage. My love language is quality time, which didn't surprise me in the least. Quality time to me, though, isn't watching a movie together, it's more about actually talking to each other and having his full attention (no sports allowed during quality time!!). Anyways, it's a great book and I'm excited to dive further in.

And Camdyn is crying...so I leave you with some photos:

love this little bald chic!

oh ya know, just relaxin'

"mom, quit blinding me with the flash"

Cami LOVES her daddy!

To my high school friends...

The weekend is here - boy, this week sure flew by. Tonight for dinner I'm making bread and pasta, and John and I will probably just watch a movie. Tomorrow, I'm going to a high school friends baby shower!  She's having a little girl and I'm just so excited for her and her husband!

I was thinking yesterday just how lucky I am to still be good friends with a great group of girls I went to high school with. Kendra is one of my besties - we met in 9th grade and have been best friends ever since (that's like 13 years...ay ay ay we're getting old!). I'm also MOH in her wedding! The other's in the group are Michelle, Megan, Vanessa, and Holly. Michelle, Megan and I all live close, so we try and hang out every now and then. Vanessa is the one who's baby shower I'm attending - she lives in California along with Holly and we want them back!! haha :)

We always said in high school how we'd be friends for life. No matter where we ended up, our friendship would remain (we actually compared this to a rubber band stretching as far as we went, but never breaking, lol). It makes me cry thinking that this has remained true for us. Though we may not all see each other often (the group gets together about once a year), we are always there for each other. Knowing that God has blessed me with such amazing friendships makes me so thankful, and I hope these ladies know just how much they mean to me.

Megan, Michelle, Kendra, and pregnant me. This was at Vanessa's wedding back in March. Can't wait to see you girls tomorrow!! :)

Wedded Bliss Wednesdays

Linking up with Kay and Allie

If you could give one piece of advice to any married (or soon to be married) couple, what would it be?

The obvious one is to communicate, but that's probably the most common answer (it's THAT important). My husband wants to meet my needs, and me his, but unless we tell each other what they are they most likely are not going to get met since neither of us are mind readers! Another good piece of advice is to always give each other your best. Husbands go all day giving their employees, coworkers, clients, friends, etc their best, and come home wiped out.  Same for wives - we give our jobs or our kids our best all day and feel there's nothing left for our husbands. Don't do this!! When you were dating you always gave each other your best, so keep that up. Make a conscious decision to do this and you will have a MUCH better relationship - trust me!!

What is an absolute MUST for any marriage/relationship?

To be best friends and have fun together. My husband and I do get into fights, but at the end of the day (or end of the fight which is sometimes more than a day haha) it boils down to us being each others absolute best friends. We like to go on walks every night and we catch up on each other's days, our goals, weekend plans, and just life in general. John is my best friend beyond a shadow of a doubt.

What is the #1 no-no in a marriage?

I would have to say cheating. That is the ultimate form of breaking your spouses' trust, and once that trust is gone it's extremely hard if not impossible to gain it back. Just don't do it!! We all have different definitions of "cheating" - emotional cheating? flirting? hanging out with opposite sex one on one? strip clubs? physical cheating only? - discuss these boundaries with your partner and be respectful to each other's wishes. *btw for me and John all of the above would not be ok!

What is the biggest lesson you have learned from marriage?

That some days it's a LOT harder than I expected, but most days it's better than I ever could have imagined. I guess I never thought marriage could be so fun and loving. It's the little things - yesterday we got a chocolate dipped cone from McDonald's (as always), walked Camdyn around with my mom, and watched a movie - simple, yet loving and the best part of all of this was having John by my side. I can't imagine not sharing my life with him.  Love you, John! *assuming you're reading this, haha :)

Big news, and some recipes

I have some big news to share with everyone: My baby girl is eating. Specifically, she's eating sweet potatoes, and I have the pictures to prove it:

Messy messy baby

She's in sweet potato heaven here

I know this may not seem like a big deal, but it means my baby girl is growing up. I want her to stay a baby forever!! Seriously.

I'm a pretty tidy person - I hate germs and clean obsessively, actually - but Camdyn and the sweet potatoes win every time. I always thought I would never let my child eat messily and get food everywhere. HA! There's no such thing. She flails her arms like a crazy person and spits her food out more than she takes it in. Last time I fed her, I found sweet potatoes in her hair. 

In other news, John and I have been eating pretty good around here (in other words, I've actually been cooking).  Easy recipes, of course.  The crock pot is my new best friend.

Last night, I made spicy mexican shredded chicken tacos. So simple.

Spicy Mexican Shredded Tacos

• Frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or not frozen lol)
• 1 packet taco seasoning (I used the spicy kind)
• 1 can of Rotel

Place in crock pot and cook on low for about 4 hours.  Shred and continue cooking another hour (it will be a little watery looking from the Rotel but if you cook it more after shredding, the chicken will absorb most of this).  Serve in soft or hard tacos with cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa etc.  I also made mexican rice from a box to go with this. 

Frozen chicken, seasoning and Rotel

Voila! Delicious spicy, shredded chicken

I LOVE making meals in the crock pot because it's so easy and always tastes so good. Plus, I'm never sure when John's going to be home so it's nice that we can eat a home-cooked meal whenever he arrives :)

Tonight for dinner I made pasta salad. I got this recipe from some family friends. It doesn't involve the crock pot, but it's really easy nonetheless.

Basil Tomato Pasta Salad

• 1 box bowties pasta (I used mini bowties)
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• fresh basil, cut thinly
• olive oil
• shredded mozzerella cheese (I used finely shredded)
• salt and pepper

Make pasta according to package. Rinse with cold water. Add in diced tomatoes, basil, some olive oil, cheese, and salt and pepper. Mix well and refrigerate a few hours. Delicious!

That's all for today. I'll leave you with some more photos of Camdyn and my most recent finance blog: Is a joint checking account for you?

Work lately

I've been really busy with work lately, and I love it!  Camdyn's been taking a morning and an afternoon nap so it's allowed me plenty of time to get everything done that I've needed to.

I love reading about other peoples' jobs on blogs, so I'd like to share some of the stuff I've been up to recently:

Rant Finance Blog: Dining out versus eating in

SheKnows Articles: How to make a silhouette painting
                            In a pickle: What to do with overripe bananas
                            What to do in Helen, Georgia

I'm so blessed to be able to work from home and share my work with my readers! I have a lot of fun with my job, and love that every day provides something different and challenges me in a different way.

I recently interviewed Soleil Moon Frye.  That article should be live soon, so I'll make sure to post the link once it's up!  Soleil is SO sweet, and really loves her two daughters, Poet and Jagger.  I was really nervous since I've never interviewed before, but am happy to have that under my belt.  I've always been one to ask way too many questions, so interviewing is seriously right up my alley and I love it! 

Speaking of interviewing, guess who I get to do next?!  Country singer Trisha Yearwood! I almost had a heart attack when I found that out.  I'm a huge country fan and Trisha Yearwood has always been a favorite of mine (her song "She's in love with the boy" is my fave!).  She has two cookbooks and a cooking show (new season premieres on Oct 20th on Food Network), so it'll be great to ask her about some of her cooking secrets!

Hope everyone is having a good Friday!  The weekend is upon us - woo hoo!  John and I are playing Bingo tomorrow and I'm super excited.  We used to play all the time before having Cami, so we like to go every few months or so as a date night!

Homemade bread... sort of

Tomorrow I'm interviewing Soleil Moon Frye, otherwise known as Punky Brewster!  She also was on Sabrina the Teenage Witch for a few years and guest-starred on Friends (a favorite show of mine).  

She's promoting Fleischmann's Simply Homemade No Knead Bread, so I figured I'd try this out tonight for dinner.  

I've never made bread before, so I was excited to try this out.  I made the Italian Herb flavor and it is amazing.  I've already consumed almost half the loaf!  *Don't worry John, I'm saving the rest for you :)

As an inexperienced bread maker, I did run into one problem:  the directions say to place on a baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 25 minutes.  They didn't say what to cover it with, though.  I flipped the bowl I mixed everything in over and used that, haha.  About halfway through it's "rising", a friend of mine texted me that normally you cover bread with a damp towel...oops!  I quickly switched out the bowl for the towel, in hopes my error wouldn't ruin my bread.

It didn't - the bread turned out perfectly!  It's easy to make and at only $2.69 per box, it's cheaper than a regular loaf of bread.  This is definitely something I'll be baking more often (tonight's dinner - bread and spicy sausage spaghetti).  I'm a huge fan of any dinner items I can make quickly and, even better, in advance.  I never know if Camdyn will be fussy when I cook, so I try and plan easy meals that I can make anytime during the day when she's napping (mostly crock pot meals lately).

Seriously, mom's or anyone out there with no time to cook should give this a try. Another bonus is you just need the box and 1 cup of warm tap water.  

You're welcome in advance :)