63 Days To Go!

Today I am 31 weeks; only 9 more weeks to go!

However, when most people hear how far along I am, they say something really stupid/annoying such as: "Wow, you still have a long way to go."

Yes, the middle of October SEEMS like a long time, but it's actually only 63 days. That's not very long at all! I can remember counting down for our wedding, and the last 100 days FLEW by ... which, I am suspecting will be the same with these last 63 days before my boy makes his appearance. Yes, I'm sure the end will drag due to increasing uncomfort, but luckily, I have so much on my plate in these next 63 days, I know it'll be a quick wait in the end.

The Babycenter.com 31 week update:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

It's crazy that he is so big in there. I feel movements a lot (and some just feel plain WEIRD), but it doesn't "seem like" he takes up THAT much room inside me! I still can't even believe there is a baby in there! It's going to be so crazy when he is born and I'm holding a little human being.

So much to look forward to!

Are Moms Allowed To Have Wish Lists?

I'm already starting to get that feeling of ... "Well, maybe I shouldn't spend money on _____, I really should put the money towards the baby's _____."

Example: I had Kohl's Cash to use up the other day, and instead of buying something "fun for me" with it, I stocked up on some summer clothes for the baby for next year. Which, okay, that WAS fun to buy baby stuff, but I am wondering:

Is it okay to for me want fun things for me, too? Without feeling super guilty that it might take out moola from his college fund, etc, etc some day?

Am I nuts for already having these thoughts, while I am still pregnant!?

What exactly am I itching for, you ask?

A new lens. Maybe new lensES.

Which, I guess technically isn't "just for fun."

I own and operate a business that happens to, um, NEED good equipment to thrive.

So, that should equal to, yes, it's okay to spend your hard earned dollars on that!

And I need big tax expense write offs.

But, for some reason, the "Mom" in me sort of feels guilty.

Goes back to the same old: "But I have gotten by without it so far. So I do really need it?"

Here are the beauties I have my eyes on (that I would love to have my HANDS on!):

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L

-I am looking to get a new 70-200, since I dropped mine a few weeks ago. Just not sure if I should upgrade or just get the same version of the one I have.

Canon 100mm f/2.8L

-This macro lens would be fabulous for wedding details and newborn shots. I have heard it also makes a spectacular portrait lens.

Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro

-The non-L Series version. It has good reviews ... and about half the price of the L Series version. I love my L Series lenses so much, I'm almost afraid I'd regret not just getting the L Series of this one.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L

-I've just heard awesome things about this lens in general. I think I like the idea of not having to walk around so much at weddings because of the zoom feature.

So, I don't know. Hopefully after writing this post, I'll have clearer thoughts on all of this.

Will keep you posted if I decide to purchase any! That would be a very exciting day!

Enjoying Summer

These are pretty much the only personal pictures I have taken all of summer 2011. We just haven't had much going on ... at all.

One Sunday morning I took these just because I was testing out my 70-200mm f/4.0L lens, as I had dropped it the previous day at a wedding. It works halfway. As in, only when it's zoomed in at 200mm. Otherwise, it won't focus.

Boo.

Anyway, here's Maddie and Chris playing with her FAVORITE.TOY.OF.ALL.TIME. Her frisbee. We go through quite a few toys around here - most dog toys aren't made to last! So, we decided to spend $16 and get her a good frisbee! We've had it for about a month now, and no signs of wear and tear yet!

After playing, she gets exhausted and walks herself over to the hose. She LOVES catching the water and getting sprayed, lol!

She plays and plays until she physically can't stand up anymore ... she plunks down in the grass to rest ... and then in about 1 minute, she's back and ready to play some more!

Crazy Dog!

Freezer Meals

So I like saving time. And I like saving money.

So when I saw this website about freezer meals via Pinterest, I decided to give it a try.

Website: http://aturtleslifeforme.blogspot.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html

(This picture is from the website, featuring LOTS of different freezer meal ideas)

I only made the ground beef - just to try bulk cooking and freezing to see how I liked the results before spending a lot of money and time making the food. I've heard of freezer meals before, but have always been kind of weirded out about cooking and THEN freezing ... usually I just buy fresh meat, freeze, and defrost, THEN cook.

But, this idea of saving time sounded SO nice.

When I say that I made these "Freezer Meals," I didn't actually make an entire meal and freeze it. Just the ground beef portion that would end up going into making spaghetti sauce, tacos, casseroles, etc when it comes time to actually put the meal together. What a breeze it'll be just to have the thawed meat ready to add to whatever ... no mess of defrosting in the micro when I get home, waiting around, cooking, or cooking up the cooking pan and utensil.

I forget just how much I spent all together on the fresh ground beef, but I waited for it to be on sale for $2.19 a pound (down from the regular $3.19 a pound). It's the 80/20 ground beef, so no, not the healthiest, but we are on a budget (and I don't feel like waiting for ground chuck to go on sale ... for over $3/lb at the sale price - no thanks!) We also don't eat very much ground beef - maybe once a week - so oh well!

At the store, I found packs that were about 2 days away from the sell by date for $1.99 a pound, so I just got those. I only get my meat from a certain store (locally owned grocery store with an award winning meat department), so I was confident the meat would be just fine. I often times buy "Today's Special" meats with the sell by date the same as the date I buy, and they're always fine!

So all together, I'd say I got around 9-10 pounds of ground beef for roughly $18.50.

I also had to buy some green peppers, carrots, and onions to cook along with the beef to add in some extra bulk, moisture for freezing, flavor, and of course, nutrients!

$1.49 total: 3 lbs white onions

$0.75 total: 3 very nicely sized green peppers

$1.29 total: 2 lb bag of carrots

--------------------

= $3.53 for the veggies

However, I only used 2 onions + all the peppers + half of the carrots, so I am estimating out of the $3.53 for the veggies, I only spent around $1.75 (maybe even less) on the veggie portion.

The Bottom Line:

• Money Spent: In total, I think I got around 12-14 bags of ground beef meals out of the $20.25 spent on the supplies (roughly $1.55 for the "meat" portion of each freezer meal ... the veggies really help save $ and add bulk)

• Time Spent: About 1 hour: chopping and grating veggies, cooking the meat, letting cool, putting into freezer bags, etc. Not bad!

• Taste: My first bag I used, I let the bag unthaw over night in the fridge before using it the next day. I used it to make tacos. All I had to do is let the meat heat up in the pan, then add the taco seasoning and water, and I was DONE! I understand I am still using a pan I'll have to wash, but taking out the whole cooking of the meat time, I literally had dinner from the fridge to table in under 10 mins. YAY! And the best part? It tasted really good! It didn't taste like it had been frozen or anything. I think the veggies really add a lot of flavor and moisture. My hubby hates green peppers ... and he couldn't even tell there were ANY veggies in the meat. SCORE.

I can't wait for bone-in chicken breasts to go on sale for 99 cents (or less) a pound so I can try making the shredded chicken freezer meals, too!

Funny!

Ok, so this is kind of funny.

I hate the new Facebook chat. However, tonight I was messaging my dad, and I saw this picture pop up in the chat from over a year ago that I sent to him. And here I thought I had gotten rid of all pictures of this beautiful ring!

Background Story:

So, I think everyone knows I am obsessed with diamonds. Large ones. In rings. For the left hand. On the ring finger. Last May, I purchased this ring on a whim from Kesslers Diamonds. My mom (also a diamond fanatic) and I went in "just to look," and I walked out with this beauty. A 1.12 carat center stone, with 12 side stones each at 1/8 carat. I had about 18 weddings ahead of me at this point, and I thought I deserved this ring to replace my engagement ring. (For the price tag of $6,500).

So, to make a long story short, I ended up returning this ring about 2 weeks later. Reasoning? Did my husband get MAD?! No, that wasn't the reason. He knows I work hard, and it was okay with me spending my business funds on something I really loved.

The reason was because we had found mold in the bathroom, and decided to renovate it. AND, this is going to sound weird, but I seriously missed wearing my original engagement ring! It meant a lot, a LOT more to me than I ever realized. I figured if I felt that way, I should probably not keep it (and use the money for something more useful, like our house!).

Thank goodness Kessler's has such an amazing return policy! (I'm sure the salesman wasn't too happy, however!)

So anyway, just made me giggle that this photo popped up, and reminded me of my silly ring experience! I had deleted all photos of the ring, because I was sad that I took it bad, because it was so big and gorgeous and sparkly and amazing.

Will I ever get an upgrade from my original engagement ring? Probably. But I've turned into a SUPER saver in the past year, and there are physical things I want more in life than a huge ring. Like my kids' college fully paid for. Money invested for our retirement. A house in the country with a natural light studio.

Until then, I'll just enjoy the good stuff I have! :)

My original engagement ring

Long Time, No Blog!

Well, HELLO to anyone who is reading this!

This blog has been dead for quite some time ... but with Baby Filip arriving in around 11 weeks ... things are bound to get a little more exciting around here!

Baby's name will be Bennett. Did I ever mention that here? I don't remember. Anyway, yep, Bennett Allen Filip. Allen is Chris' middle name. I'm lukewarm on the middle name, but it's important to Chris, so I am just going to be okay with it! :)

As you can see, I am 29 weeks now and very much looking forward to meeting baby! Around 72 more days to go! At this point, I am more anxious than uncomfortable ... but I am sure the uncomfortable stage will be making its entry in the next few weeks! (One can only hope that it won't happen ... but it's bound to, right!?)

Hmmm ... what else is new?

Work - School Job:

I have about a week and a half before work begins again. I have some trainings and meetings and such here and there before then, but "work" officially begins again on August 25! Then only two months of work, and I'll be off for another two months being a Mom! If the timing of everything works out with Baby being born, I plan to take my maternity leave from approximately Oct 22-Dec 16. Then, I'll go back to work for four days, and then have off for another 10 days over Winter Break, and then really come back full time after the 1st of the year. I hope my little plan works out ... where I'll get to "try" work for 4 days and then get a little break again ... so I can ease into "doing it all" full time. One can only hope it turns out this way!

Work - Kayla Richards Photography:

Ah, the joy of being a pregnant photographer! (Not.So.Much!) Wedding season really hasn't been terrible as I originally thought it would be - I just tire so easy and it's hard to stay motivated while shooting a wedding on your feet all day long. I luckily booked myself lighter (by my choice) than I have been the past couple years. I have shot 6 weddings this year, and I have only 4 to go! My last wedding will be at 36 weeks, on September 24! It's not really the weddings that are causing me most of the stress, it's the idea of upcoming sessions AND weddings filling up my weekends (which means very, very few days off until maternity leave once school starts again). My summer has been fairly quiet, and now it seems everything is coming together at once: home stretch of pregnancy + going back to work + most of my sessions happening at this time up until the end of the pregnancy. (I must plan all of this better with the next pregnancy!)

In Other News:

Something that's been keeping me entertained while editing business photos has been Pinterest! Yeah. I'm obsessed. It's awwwwwesome! I'm sure I'd get more editing done if I just didn't open this website up while working! Ah, oh well! What's the quote again ... "It wasn't wasted time if you were doing something you enjoyed?" Something like that!

Here are a few Pins of things I'd like to try:

Obviously, for when we are closer to Halloween! (I should have a newborn by Oct 31st this year!) I think it will be cute to get a small, medium, and large pumpkin - and paint our first name initial on each (C -Chris, K-Kayla, & B-Bennett) and put 'em on the front steps!

Another Halloween idea ... not sure if I will REALLY make this or not, but how cute would it be to have some newborn shots of my little guy dressed up in a candy corn costume for his 1st Halloween? LOL.

I love this simple idea! I wonder though, does anyone know if the dry erase marker really comes off of glass as easily as it does from a white board? Another question...now where does one find frames in that shape? So cute! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!

Yes, I know, it's just a card. However, I have done ZERO crafting in the past year or so (maybe more). A reminder that crafting is easy ... and that having a stock of cute handmade birthday cards on hand is never a bad idea!

These letters are an idea for Bennett's room ... I like how cozy and soft they look. I have a white wooden "B" in his room right now ... but I could wrap it with yarn like this. If I ever wanted to it just be white again, I could just take the yarn off.

OH and the FOOD! Pinterest really, really, really makes me hungry sometimes! And this cocktail? Is it bad that I admit my pregnancy craving has been COCKTAILS!??! I've been thirsting for magaritas, wine, and other fruity concoctions!

I was never a lush before pregnancy, but any means ... but a nice cocktail sounds so wonderful! However, who knows how long it will be before I can have one! I know they say you can have ONE drink right after nursing ... and then letting it settle in your system for a few hours before nursing again ... but I don't know how I feel about consuming alcohol at all while nursing ... ah, another topic to ponder some other time!

For now, I'll just enjoy my glass of iced splashed with virgin pomegranate syrup and caffeine free Sierra Mist, lol!

Two handprint ideas for baby ... his room is ocean themed, and I think making his newborn handprints and doing the crab thing would make a cute little framed art piece for his room. However, I'm thinking something a bit more simple than that example! Maybe just the hands, and then decorate the crab's face and have a white background.

I also LOVE the black and white handprints ... where baby's hand is inside the parent's hand ... aww!

Okay, that's all for today!

Hopefully I'll have more stuff to post soon!