Happy Birthday Mike!

Mike's birthday was on October 23, but better late than never to post about it, right! Mike is seven months older than me and I LOVE to remind him of that every year around this time. This year we decided to combine his birthday weekend with a visit to his brothers in Cleveland, which is also only a 2-hour drive for his parents from Pittsburgh. We also knew when we planned the trip that we'd be able to share the news about Baby Kelly with everyone in person, so it was perfect.

We drove up Saturday morning, had lunch at the Great Lakes Brewery with his brothers, checked out the West Side Market and then hit up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the entire family. We only had about an hour and a half at "The Rock," but that was perfect with our combined ADD. If you ever find yourself in Cleveland, it's a neat stop; they have standing exhibits as well as featured exhibits, The Boss was featured during our visit.

Mike begrudgingly posed for this picture on our way out (no cameras allowed inside).

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The rest of the day was spent with family at dinner and sharing our news. Mike's brother picked an awesome place, Pier W, I save up all of my fish "allowance" for the week to enjoy dinner here and it was totally worth it. Of course everyone was thrilled with their "tickets" to the big event and the homemade Apple and Chocolate Cream pies Mike's Mom brought with her were the literal icing on the cake of a great weekend.

Friday Funny: How to Wrap a Cat for Christmas

Megan's Mom posted this on Facebook yesterday and I couldn't help but post here ... hilarious ... and also a great way to start getting into the Holiday spirit!

Go Big Blue!

Mike and I lucked into the most beautiful weather for a November football game that I can remember. Way back in the summer I purchased tickets through the Alumni Association for the Vandy game thinking "it'll probably be cold and miserable, but at least we'll have a good shot at winning" ... boy was I wrong (about the weather, luckily not the winning!). We popped down Saturday morning, parked at a friend's house that lives within 10 minutes walking distance and had great seats. Also through the Alumni Association, we were able to get two sets of lower level seats for this coming basketball season.

Go Big Blue!

As an added bonus, we found naming inspiration should Baby Kelly be a boy (we aren't finding out the gender, btw) ... In case you can't read above, Shipwreck Kelly played for UK 1929-31 ... I think it has a nice ring to it : )

World Premiere

During October we were out of town several weekends in a row ... it was tiring, but all for a great reason. We wanted to invite our parents to the "Event of 2011" happening in Cincinnati next May:
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That's right, I have a bun in the oven and we are thrilled!

We found out just as I had returned from my girl's trip to San Francisco and the longest three and a half weeks of my life occurred between then and my first OB appointment. Luckily everything looked great during the visit, but they wanted to take a peek at Baby Kelly before I headed across the pond to London ... fine by me if it meant to get to see our little peanut earlier than usual. Seeing the little gummy bear below was just amazing and hearing the heartbeat put us both over the edge.

We had decided to wait to tell our parents until after my first appointment and were lucky enough to do so in person. Needless to say, they are thrilled as well. The rouse that we were giving them tickets to show in Cincinnati provided quite the double-takes ("who is Baby Kelly? is that a new artist?"), which added to the level of surprise and was perfect.

First Photo - Baby Kelly at 9 weeks

I went for my second OB appointment this past week and again all of my labs looked great. Baby Kelly, however decided not to be cooperative when the doctor went to hear the heartbeat. Although the doctor wasn't worried, he knew I would be and ordered an ultrasound. Again, it was amazing to see the little fig bouncing around the heartbeat was music to my ears.

Baby Kelly at 12 weeks

Unless Baby Kelly is uncooperative at my next appointment, we won't see our little peanut again until early January when I'm about 18 -20 weeks. Speaking of weeks, I'm 12 weeks today and after the measurements from the first scan, my due date was moved up a few days to May 28, aka my birthday. I know that only a small percent of babies are born on their due date, but for now it's fun to have a birthday buddy : ) And, so help Mike for the next 60 or so years in the month of May as our anniversary is the 23rd ... I figure that makes it easy to remember, right?

Still Kickin' ...

Yikes, it's been almost a month since my last post??!! I was really on a roll ...

I made it back from London, had a great time, but brought a lovely souvenir called a "cold with a nasty cough" back. The time change didn't get me, it was the hacking up a lung the day after I landed that wasn't so pleasant. Before the trip we hired a couple new gals at work and they're doing great, but I had to spend significant time transitioning; now that they're a few weeks in, I'm reaping the benefits of four extra hands on our team. And during all of this, we were out of town several weekends. OK, enough excuses ... look for some posts with fun pictures coming soon!

And, in the meantime, to prove I actually crossed the pond, here is a phone picture of Buckingham Palace right before I saw the changing of the guards (very cool, btw!).
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Going Global

Better late than never ... at 31 I'm finally making my first trek across the pond. I'm heading to London for work in two weeks and am super excited! I have a conference to attend for a few days and am staying an extra few days to enjoy the city. I'm the luckiest gal in the world as my jet-setting cousin that currently lives in Brussels and most recently lived in London for 2 years is meeting me in The Big Smoke (apparently London is known for it's fog and this is it's nickname ... ) for the weekend.

So, bring on any suggestions you have for what I "must" see in my two days of free time. In return I promise to make you insanely jealous with a post on my grand adventures : )

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What's Cookin': Chicken & Dumplings

This past weekend I wanted to make comfort food and went straight for my Big Book of Casseroles Cookbook, I first came to a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie and immediately began to reminisce about the many, many times my Mom made this for me as a child. I mentioned the dish to Mike, and just like many other Northern things that come out of his mouth, was shocked to hear "I'm not really a fan, although I've only ever had the individual frozen ones." Oh my. I figured we needed to start with a basic chicken and dough dish and opted for Chicken and Dumplings, one of his favorite Cracker Barrel dishes (I find this and Ramsey's are the perfect places to introduce him to some of the South's finest). This recipe did not dissapoint! Although it takes a while to cook, the hands on time isn't as extensive and I had chopped the veggies and chicken the night before, making it much faster. Enjoy!!


Classic Chicken & Dumplings

1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 t salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

1 chicken (about 3 lbs), cut into serving pieces (I used only breast meat)
1 T butter
2 T vegatable oil
1 chopped yellow onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I omitted ... can't handle the texture)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
4 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 t dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, 1/2 t salt and pepper in a small bowl. Using a zip-top bag, toss the chicken in about half the flour mixture, reserving the rest for later.

In a large Dutch oven, over medium heat, melt the butter with 1 T oil. Brown chicken in two batches, cooking pieces about 5 minutes on each side. Add oil as needed. Remove chicken to a plate.

Add remaining oil to the Dutch oven and add veggies. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining flour mixture. Add stock and bring to a boil, whisking until smooth. Add the bay leaf, thyme and remaining salt. Return chicken to the Dutch oven.

Cover and bake until chicken is no longer pink in the center, 45 minutes to one hour. In the meantime make the dumplings.

Remove the lid and discard the bay leaf. Place dumplings on top using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and bake for 10 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a dumpling comes out clean.

Parlied Buttermilk Dumplings

2 c all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c fresh chopped parsley
1 c buttermilk

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and parsley. With a fork, stir in the buttermilk until the dough is just blended.

New Ride

Well, we've done and gone totally suburban now, y'all ... we traded in Mike's 2005 Chevy (complete with 228,519 miles, and no that is not a typo) and purchased a 2010 Ford Edge this past weekend. I am in love!! I love the four doors and sitting up higher and the amenities like auto-connect Bluetooth, heated seats and a panoramic sunroof don't hurt either. I never thought I'd drive an American car, but thanks to Toyota's little brake snafu earlier this year, my eyes were opened. Mike is now driving the Solara, which with only 77,000 miles on it is like a new car for him as well.

Running Fool: Nashville Women's Half Marathon

After returning from a wonderful weekend with my gal pals in San Francisco and enjoying a few days at home, I trekked to Nashville and ran my fifth long-distance run and fourth half marathon (13.1 miles) since 2008, the Women's Half Marathon. My friend Whitney and I decided we'd both run in the early summer and kept each other motivated to train from afar as she lives in Music City.

We had perfect weather and the course was interesting ... a bit hillier than I anticipated and with hills at miles 11 and 12 (who does that when planning?!?!). The medal is by far the neatest of the five I've earned ... the pendant in the middle is removable and can be put on a separate chain. We started the weekend with dinner with an old college friend and a comedy show with Chelsea Handler (hilarious and I highly recommend!). So, if running 13.1 miles means I get to have this much fun around the race, sign me up for another : )

Friday Funny: Mean Moms Rule

A friend posted this on her Facebook page yesterday and I have been dying laughing as I browse through ... Rules by the Meanest Mommy in the Whole Wide World ...

My favorites are ...

Rule #390: Claiming a stomach ache might get you out of eating dinner, but you may not have ice cream to make it feel better.

Rule #386: Don’t lick the cat. She cleans herself.

Rule #382: Do not tear the UPC codes off all the boxes and labels before we pay for the items at the grocery store.

Rule #379: Licking a pickle does not count as dinner, and therefore, does not make you eligible for dessert.