Andrew Weekend

We spent Monday-Thursday acting like it was Friday night so by the time the weekend actually rolled around we were plum tired. 

I had been wanting to take some time to have an Andrew weekend where he got to pick everything we did and I would cook him anything he wanted or take him anywhere he wanted to go. I just thought it would be fun to celebrate what a great husband and soon to be dad he is. And let's face it... every weekend is Charlotte weekend and the boy deserves a break once in a while.

Late Friday afternoon we decided this would be a good weekend to do it since he didn't have to work Saturday so we headed to the grocery store to get all the things to fulfill his requests. He chose Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese (say that 5 times fast) for Friday and steak, twice baked potatoes, Caesar salad and homemade brownies for Saturday. Man food.

We came home and I got to cooking and he got to sanding a piece of furniture that we had been putting off painting for a good six weeks. He got a coat of primer on it and we sat down to eat and I honestly can't remember what happened after that. I guess we went to bed.

Andrew got up ridiculously early Saturday and I slept until 9. We had coffee and he finished a big research paper. We continued working on the piece of furniture and confirmed the fact that I can't paint anything in less than 9000 very thin coats of paint. And it's still not finished.

He decided he wanted leftover Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese for lunch and to go to City Park. So we did. When we got there, there were about 2 billion other people there because someone decided to get married and someone else decided to have a barbecue competition. 

We spent 15 minutes finding a parking spot and 10 walking around before we decided it was windy and cold and not close enough for me to get to a bathroom easily. So we went back home.

We hung out and painted and got going on cooking dinner. Andrew decided he wanted to rent Skyfall so after we enjoyed our steaks (which by the way were cooked by Andrew and by far the best he has ever grilled) we sat down to watch the movie and have brownies.  

And since we are approximately 83 years old in our hearts, around 8:30 we decided it was getting late and we'd better go to bed and finish the movie the next day. 

Sunday was pretty normal. We went to church, ate more leftover BCM&C (he loves the stuff) and I grocery shopped while Andrew helped a friend move. I also got to stop by the hospital and visit with my friend Stasia who just had a baby girl! 

We cleaned up the apartment in mad dash like always and hosted Lifegroup. Then we finished Skyfall and went to bed early. Again.

And that is the story of how Andrew chose to spend his special weekend!

And how I gained three pounds.  

34 Weeks and a Giveaway!

Well technically 34.5714.

Also known as 34 weeks and 4 days.

And believe me, every. day. counts. 

This has been a pretty fun week. Andrew is on spring break and even though we are both working this week, everything feels a little more relaxed.

Monday night we went to dinner at Dat Dog. It was delicious. What pregnant woman doesn't love an enormous Guiness dog with chilli, cheese, ketchup, mustard, and onion? Oh, with a side of cheddar, bacon, ranch fries please. 

We went with our friends Leah and Adrian who also have fun blogs. (Leah is hosting an awesome giveaway right now, scroll to the bottom to check it out!) They are practically professional runners but they still eat crazy hot dogs which I think is awesome. I somehow didn't get a pic of Adrian... sorry Adrian!

Tuesday I had my first New Orleans snowball with my OTHER friend named Leah. It was green apple flavored and it was heaven. I told Andrew he needed to work an extra $40 into the budget because I would be requiring a snowball every day until James comes. 

Also, we are house sitting for a family on campus who have a real live, stand-alone home, with central AC and a jacuzzi tub and a king sized bed. So basically I feel like we are on our honeymoon again except we have to go to work everyday and feed the dog. Miss Laura even left a tray for breakfast in bed! I love it and I don't want it to be over. 

Lastly, our friends Matt and Leigh Anna from Georgia are here with their beautiful baby girl. Matt is taking a workshop on campus so Leigh Anna and I are getting to spend time hanging out with James' future wife, Maddie Claire. 

Week 34 of pregnancy has been really good to me so far. I'm sleeping really well and loving peanut butter banana protein shakes among all other food known to man. Seems like that is all I can talk about these days.

See that real jacuzzi tub in the background? Pretty awesome! Have a great day before Friday!

Also...

The first Leah I mentioned, the running one, is hosting her first ever giveaway on her blog!! She is giving away an Endorphin Warrior bracelet. These are awesome bracelets that can be worn while working out and have motivating and inspirational phrases on them. I totally want the conquer one to get my mind set for getting back in shape after James comes!! 

Go enter to win HERE!!!

No More Google Reader

If you peruse blogs you might have heard that come July, Google will no longer provide the Google Reader service. 

I didn't even know what Google Reader or any RSS reader was until about a year ago. When I realized that I could "follow" other blogs and they could all be compiled in my "reader" it was like a whole new world opened up to me.

Suddenly I didn't have to bookmark my favorite blogs in my browser or try to remember which ones I liked to read and search for them. They were all seamlessly compiled in my Google Reader where I could scroll through one by one. Google Reader told me which blogs had new posts so I could easily browse through the newest content on all my favorites. 

Going through my reader pretty much became my favorite way to procrastinate at work everyday. 

Kidding.

I was pretty disappointed to find out that there will no longer be Google Reader in July and I am still holding on to hope that they may change their minds, but in the meantime...

There are a couple alternative readers that I am trying to figure out in case Google doesn't read my blog and comply with my wishes. 

They are Bloglovin and Feedly. Here are some screen shots because this post would be boring without some pictures. 

If you have Google Reader, or are like I was not long ago and don't have any way to compile your favorite blogs, I would encourage you to try these.  

Just sign up, search for, and add all your favorite blogs (kind of like following friends on Twitter or Facebook). You can even import your Google Reader blogs into both of these services.

And if Yellow Brick Life happens to be one of the blogs you like, you can click on the tab at the top on my page that says "Bloglovin" or the one on the sidebar to follow there! 

I hope that didn't sound too in your face. I want you to like me but I would never try to tell you what to do. 

Anywho, happy reading! I'd better get back to work now...

Friday Five

I haven't even blogged this week but I'm still here and life is still moving forward. I thought I would do a little Friday five recap of this week and since I am a little behind on updating, I'm going to start with last weekend.

{Mama coming to NOLA} Last weekend my mama and her best friend, Miss Ann, came for a long weekend in New Orleans. We had a great time going to the doctor, shopping, relaxing, and eating. We got all the baby stuff washed and ate an amazing brunch at Elizabeth's. We had praline bacon as an appetizer which was basically bacon covered in a butter/brown sugar glaze. I had the bananas foster french toast as my meal. It was scrumdidiliumptious. 

{Parenthood} Andrew and I have really been into the show Parenthood and have basically blown through all four seasons in about 3 or 4 weeks. I know it sounds silly but I think it has been a good conversation starter for us on parenting dilemmas we might never talk about. I'll pause the show and be like, "If that were James what would we do?" I know it's impossible to know but it's kind of good chatting about it. We will be wrapping up season 4 tonight. I haven't handled everything going on with Kristina this season very well, and I'm pretty glad we will finish it before I'm 39 million weeks pregnant and a basket case. That might be too much.

{City Park} Andrew surprised me on Tuesday afternoon by telling me to get in the car because we were going to walk around City Park. I was SO excited to spend a beautiful spring afternoon with him on a Tuesday, which happens to be my least favorite day. It was great even though I had to go to the bathroom 3 times in 30 minutes. 

{The Bachelor} All I gotta say is, I'm glad it's over. I'm part of the .0002% of the world who is not swooning over Sean. I kind of suspect he is not all he is cracked up to be. I know the only other person in this galaxy who agrees is my sister-in-law.. but we are cool with that. 

{Date night} This hasn't technically happened yet but it is happening come 4:30 this afternoon. Some of our sweetest friends gave us a gift card that is good for two awesome New Orleans restaurants. One is Juan's Flying Burrito... a fave of ours. The other is a really neat looking pizza place called Slice Pizzeria. Not sure what we will pick but I'm pretty sure it will go something like this: 

I'll want to try Slice because I have something in my DNA that makes me want to try new things even if the alternative is something that I know I love. 

Andrew will want to go to Juan's because he has something in his DNA that makes him want to always stick with what he knows he loves and not risk disappointment by trying new things. (And he is recently into spicy everything.) 

We will end up at one of the two and just enjoy the fact that we don't have to cook, clean, or pay. And since we went at 4:30 we beat the crowd and can be in bed by 7, finish Parenthood, and be asleep by 8:30. It will be a glorious Friday night and everyone will come out a winner. 

I realize 99% of this post was about percentages (weird), food, and T.V. but that's life right now! 

Have a GREAT weekend!

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The Weekend I Felt Like a Tired Whale

This weekend pregnancy fatigue and discomfort really started setting in. I was having a hard time accepting the fact that I probably needed to slow down and rest, especially on the weekends. In my initial denial I committed myself  to baking 4 dozen muffins, completing 3 major nursery projects, taking a friend's maternity pictures, cooking 2 labor intensive meals, going to breastfeeding class, going to Sunday school and church, and hosting Lifegroup. 

By Saturday at 1:00PM I found myself so tired that I wanted to lay down on the carpet at the breastfeeding class and take a nap. It was clear in the first 10 minutes that babies have an innate ability to find the boob and Andrew was there to take notes, so what was the harm? I made the choice to exercise my social graces and not lay down in the middle of the floor but my exhaustion resulted in a little meltdown later that afternoon. I felt like I just couldn't be all I could be anymore and it was driving me crazy and making me feel behind in life. 

The good news is, Andrew and I ended up having a really helpful conversation about priorities and resting and making the most of the next few weeks together and not over-committing and avoiding run on sentences. Not really about that last part.  

I didn't get everything done that I had planned, but I think I got the important things done. The others can wait. Or be forgotten altogether. It helped that the city of New Orleans went under a boil water advisory on Sunday which meant I couldn't wash my dishes. Oh darn. 

I did complete a couple of nursery things that I am pretty happy with. 

I bought the wooden letters at Hobby Lobby for about $10 and painted them. The stripes were an afterthought. I may do a little tutorial about it because it got a little confusing and there might be at least one other person in cyber space as remedial as me when it comes to crafts. 

I covered this lamp shade with a $3.50 fabric scrap, also from Hobby Lobby, and painted the base of the lamp. 

If it weren't for my stellar photography, you would be able to see that the fabric is not perfectly smooth and flat on the shade. But it's OK. The weird part faces the wall and no one can see it. And I doubt anyone cares if it's a little bumpy. James certainly doesn't. 

And for kicks, this is me 32 weeks pregnant and tired. That's the outfit I wore to Lifegroup. Paint-stained sweatpants, non-maternity shirt that almost doesn't cover my stomach, and bedroom slippers. That's what I call doing life together. 

It's getting increasingly harder to angle my head in a way that disguises my 3-7 chins. But here's to trying!

Linking up!