My aerobics classes start back up again tonight.
Twice a week–a step class on Mondays, and a kickboxing class on Thursdays. They don’t offer them throughout the summer, so my last class was actually the Monday before my wedding back in June.
This summer? I’ve been lazy in terms of exercise. Busy, but otherwise lazy.
So I am scared. My instructor is going to kick my ass tonight; I just know it.
I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to walk correctly (or without pain) for the rest of the week. Ahhh… the joys of exercise.
I still can’t believe one of my best friends is having a baby. So weird.
This morning, we left my friend Megan’s house and traveled another hour to go to Bethany’s baby shower (total of 2.5 hours from my home). This is the baby shower I made the invitations for.
I can’t believe how many gifts she received. It was insane. Little girl (who is still nameless) definitely has everything she needs, I think.
All the rest of us girls from college–six of us–threw money in to get group gifts. I was lucky enough to get to go shopping with all of that cash, and I think I did a pretty good job at getting a lot of good stuff for the money!
Here are a few photos of Bethany opening her presents from us:
Diaper bag
Goodies inside the diaper bag — burp cloths, receiving blankets
Bottles and pacifiers
The big gift from us
Her Pack ‘n’ Play!
Only four of the seven of us were actually at the shower. It was a busy day! Lacey, Bethany, me, and Megan
It was a good day. The drive home actually was not terrible. My only complaint is that I had to miss the Bills season opener. What a good friend I am, right? And it was a GOOD game, too. :( But friends and family definitely come before football, so that’s just the way it is!
I listened to the 4th quarter and then the post-game show on the radio for the entire 2.5 hour ride home, and then Michael watched highlights with me on NFL.com. Now I’m just hoping they put on as good a show next week in Jacksonville. GO BILLS!
AKA “Heaven” in my book.
This stuff is delicious. And addicting. Consider this your warning.
I was first introduced to this recipe at my baby cousin’s 1st birthday party in July. My aunt made it as her contribution to the seemingly endless buffet of deliciousness. I was waiting for a good opportunity to make it, and it finally came.
Girls’ night. Hell yes.
Tomorrow, I am driving 1.5 hours to go spend a night with a bunch of my girlfriends from college. We have Bethany’s baby shower on Sunday, so we decided to make a night of it and get together, just the group of us, tomorrow so we can catch up. Also, it’s probably our last hoorah as a group (with no children!) before Bethany has her baby. Sort of the end of an era, if you will. :(
I’m guessing that with a room full of women, this will be a hit.
I apologize in advance for the crappy photos. I only had my cell phone camera accessible. I figure crappy photos are still better than no photos. If I make this again someday soon, I’ll update with better ones.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
Ingredients:
– 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light)
– 1/3 cup brown sugar
– 1 tsp. vanilla extra
– 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened (I used light cream cheese)
– 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
– 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir continuously until the brown sugar dissolves.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.
3. Beat the softened cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar for 1 minute.
4. Slowly beat in the cooled butter/brown sugar mixture. Beat for an additional minute.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour mixture into serving bowl and refrigerate. (Note: The mixture will be very liquid-like at first. Refrigeration is necessary to make it a better consistency. If you are running short on time, you can also throw the mixture into the freezer for a little bit.)
7. Garnish with additional chips (optional). (I used a spoon to scoop and position extra chips on the top of the dip. This is what my aunt did and I think it makes for better presentation.)
Serve with vanilla wafers or graham crackers.
(Another note: After refrigeration for an extended period of time, your dip will be very solid and un-dippable–your wafers or graham crackers will break! To achieve the best consistency, remove from the refrigerator 15-30 minutes prior to serving.)
UPDATE: All of the ladies loved this. I wanted to add that a little bit of dip goes a long way. When I first made this, it looked like NOTHING at the bottom of my KitchenAid bowl. For a second, I thought maybe I should have doubled the recipe. Once I poured it into my serving dish, however, I saw that it filled the dip bowl right to the top. At Girls’ Night, we only had 6 people… we barely even made a dent in this dip! Granted, we had a ton of other snacks, but when eating the dip, a little bit is enough for each cookie. It’s very sweet!
Wow, I did such a good job posting really regularly throughout August. In September? I’m not off to such a great start.
This week has been interesting. A short week, yet packed with stuff. Just happens to be mostly boring stuff that’s not worth blogging about.
The most exciting thing this week…
Yesterday morning, I called my 9-months-pregnant friend, Theresa, for something random. She didn’t answer her phone at her office, and I jokingly left a voicemail, “Well, I hope you’re not–or actually, I should say, I hope you ARE!–at the hospital in labor!” I laughed it off, because there have been a few times in the last few weeks when she hasn’t answered her phone and I automatically convinced myself she was in labor. Of course, she never was.
I went about my morning normally.
Around 1:00 p.m., my cell phone rang and it was her. She sounded a little funny, but she was calling, so I didn’t think too much about it. Casually, and as usual, I said, “Hey! What’s going on?” Her response?
Voice slightly strained, “Oh, nothing. Just in labor.” Leave it to Theresa to be joking, even when experiencing contractions. After a very short conversation, I told her I was going to let her go to concentrate on laboring. She had gone to the hospital but was sent back home because her contractions weren’t strong enough.
So, the whole day, I’m anxiously awaiting news… any news.
Around 9:00 p.m., I signed onto Facebook and noticed that her husband, Greg, had changed his Facebook status only 4 minutes before. I thought maybe he was still signed on, so I sent him a message to get an update. A little while later, he did get back to me, telling me they were in the hospital and things were moving along. We communicated back and forth in the time between then and when I went to bed. I thought for sure I would wake up this morning to baby news.
But there was nothing.
I thought for sure they must’ve had the baby, but were just too busy to send out an announcement. Understandable, sure, but come on! I was so anxious for them, I just wanted to know what was going on. I eventually sent Greg another message through Facebook and waited to hear back.
Finally, around 12:35 p.m., a response… STILL no baby, she’s being prepped for a c-section. A c-section after 38+ hours of labor. This woman is a saint.
Around 3:00, another message: “Baby accomplished. Details to follow.” (Isn’t he funny?)
I was so relieved that it was over, and so happy for them. But there was one little detail I was still DYING to know. The baby’s NAME. Theresa and Greg found out several months ago that they were expecting a boy, and shared that news with everybody. However, they remained adament that they would not be sharing his name before his birth.
So I continued to wait patiently (OK, or maybe I was a bit impatient!) to hear ALL of the details. At last, around 4:30 p.m., a text message with a picture (he is sooo cute), and a name.
Rowan.
Awwwwww. I can’t wait to meet him, and am so excited for Theresa and Greg.
And I still can’t believe so many of our friends are starting to have babies. Holy crap.
*sigh* Another reason I love fall… good TV comes back.
Oh, Grey’s Anatomy, how I love thee. I was disappointed and kinda “over” the show all last season, but with the finale, Shonda Rhimes redeemed herself and I am now back to being a fan.
So, with that said… have we all seen this new promo?
I should have seen the Rose pregnancy thing coming. I’m pissed at myself for that one. There was no way he was going to be able to get rid of her that easily. Meh, I hate her.
The person that put this up on YouTube was kind enough to slow-mo (at the end of the clip) some of the more important snippets that we were shown. That guy on the gurney, bleeding? That is most definitely DEREK.
More evidence? My interpretation:
The chief yelling at Meredith, “You’re here because I ALLOW you to be here!!” is not about her working there, no, no. It’s because Derek is the patient and he’s not shuffling her off to the waiting room. He’s allowing her to stay outside his room.
And depressed-looking Mark? He’s worried for his dear friend.
Meredith screaming? I think we get the picture.
I’m not dumb enough to believe that Patrick Dempsey could be leaving and that they’ll actually kill off Derek. Especially not in the first episode of a season. And I’m mildly annoyed that they already did this “near death” thing with Meredith and Derek in season 3, only it was Meredith who nearly kicked the bucket.
But you know, it makes for some good drama, and it should ultimately give me some nice lovey-dovey moments between the couple I have so wanted to be together for so long. And from what I read at the end of last season, Shonda Rhimes plans to let Meredith and Derek be happy this time around.
So what do you think?
As a side note… Tonight, I realized I won’t be able to watch the premiere when it airs. At that time, Michael and I will be heading down to the Poconos for a long weekend with my family and some family friends. Since I’ll be in the mountains and out of touch with reality anyway, this is totally fine with me. I’ll just be setting my DVR and watching on Sunday night when we return.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
