20% off J. Crew

The shopping gods were on my side. It seems every time I put sale items in my shopping cart at J. Crew and wait for them to have a 20% off sale, the items sell out before I have a chance to nab them. Not today [insert evil laugh]! So, now I can share with you. Use the code EXTRA20 and receive 20% off all sale items. You can also use codes E531CL or HRR-970 for free shipping on orders of $150+ (I am an idiot and was in such a hurry to order my items, I didn't use the free shipping code... dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb). Hurry and get the goods while they last!

Up North Preppy Giveaway

Fellow blogger, AEO is hosting a giveaway! Not only do I like her because she has awesome initials (mine are KEO), but she just introduced me to the gorgeous (and affordable) jewelry designed by Stella. I hope I win her giveaway, but either way, I'm so happy to learn of this gorgeous jewelry for future gifts for myself, oh... I mean for others! I wasn't sure I wanted to spread the word, because it will reduce my odds of winning, but since I'm such a giving person, go enter for yourself! :)

Making her world debut...

Weighing in at 8 pounds, 4.8 ounces and measuring 20 and 1/2 inches

MADELYN GRACE

Little Miss was supposed to be born via c-section yesterday morning, but she had other plans. She was born on 4/22 at 11:16 pm (via c-section), because she just couldn't wait another 8-9 hours. I told Jenn that she better watch out... she's already exhibiting her stubborn Taurus-ness, and she wasn't about to let anyone tell her when she was going to celebrate her birthday.

Mom, Dad and baby are all doing great! It is so crazy to see your best friend become a MOTHER. I am so proud of her, and I know that she and Matt are going to be wonderful parents and that my little "niece" is one lucky (and spoiled) little girl!

P.S. Of course, I took a ton of pictures, but my internet wasn't cooperating last night and I wasn't able to upload them or get on blogger to post some. I will definitely add a few later, but here are a couple camera phone picture of the little princess.

Right after she was born... about midnight.

Napping comfortably at about 12 hours old.

Going Green

In honor of Earth Day, I'm not going to post the million things you can do to be a little more friendly to Mother Earth (just read some other blogs, watch the news, or pick up a newspaper if you want that). Instead, here's a green recipe, thanks to Momma Kath (my amazing cook of a MIL - Momma Kath, I altered the recipe just a teensy bit, hope you try it next time and enjoy!).

So, as much as I despise the fact that Matt is working in Tifton (at the same time, we're very thankful he has the opportunity to work, trust me), there is one perk: FARM FRESH PRODUCE! Last week, a farmer left a bunch of farm fresh broccoli at his jobsite. YUM. I'm hoping we get some strawberries this week. I LURVE broccoli. It's green and it looks like trees, so here's your Earth Day green, one-pot recipe that is easy, healthy and delicious.

Broccoli Soup

1-2 heads of broccoli, chopped into florets and peel some of the stalk to include (the stalk is the most nutritious part)
4-5 cups of low-sodium chicken stock (or enough to cover the broccoli)
1-2 tbsp butter
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/3 sweet onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
milk, as needed
1-2 cups shredded cheese of your choice (something sharp like cheddar is best)
grated nutmeg to taste
salt to taste

In a soup pot (Le Creuset or similar is great if you have it), saute the carrot, onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is translucent (about 5 minutes). Add broccoli and enough broth to cover. Up the heat to medium-high and lightly boil until all veggies are very tender. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup (if you don't have an immersion blender, go get one... or use a regular blender and add the soup in batches, but be careful because it can explode (sort of) while hot). If the soup needs some watering down (mine didn't), add milk. Add desired amount of cheese, stirring to incorporate. Add nutmeg and salt.

This soup would be great with a panini or even just some crusty bread. I hope you enjoy as much as we did! I made this for Matt to bring down to Tifton with him, along with leftovers from Sunday's dinner. He texted me while he was eating it last night just to say yum. :) Oh, and I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to share, but frankly, it's not very pretty... just tastes good!

How to plant a garden on a balcony

Step 1 - go to Home Depot and spend a lot of money. [Insert joke from Old School here.]

Step 2 - have a hot husband who worked at a nursery in high school. This step is optional, but makes it more fun (and probably more successful).


Step 3 - Play in the dirt.


Step 4 - Water and enjoy the herbs, flowers and fruits (yes, tomatoes are fruits) of your labor (in about 70 days for the tomatoes).

Miss USA... and Miss CA USA vs. Perez Hilton on the subject of gay marriage

So, last night was the 2009 Miss USA pageant, and for those of you who know my obsession with pageantry, you know it was one of my favorite TV nights of the year! I had my favorites... some of them made the top 15, some didn't (notably Florida, who is so gorgeous and smart and well-spoken... I just don't get it). Matt laughed and commented as I began to watch the pageant that I am the only girl he's ever dated that liked pageants, and not only do I like them, I love them. I reminded him that we are married. ;) I realize he's never been married before, so saying that I was the only girl he'd ever married would have been silly. Anyway, I digress.

So, it comes down to the top 5 questions. The contestants choose a judge from a bowl, and that judge poses the question to that contestant. All do a passable job of answering their questions, some better than others. However, California draws Perez Hilton and is asked, "Vermont just became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. Do you think all states should follow suit?" She came back with something along the lines of, "I think it's great that we have the right to choose... blah blah blah... but in my country and in my family, I believe that marriage is between and man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there, but that's what I believe." This poor girl is being CRUCIFIED! She ended up finishing 1st RU. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and as Americans, we have the right to speak freely. Do I agree with her? No (well, not fully, but that's a topic previously addressed in a political post). Do I think she may have cost herself the title? Possibly (I think NC would have won anyway). But kudos to her for standing up on a pageant stage (with a lot of gay fans) and answering a question posed by a gay man honestly. I just can't believe the uproar this has caused, but I know Donald Trump is loving it.

Anyway, congratulations to Miss USA 2009, Kristen Dalton from North Carolina!

Bloomie's Spring Sale

Bloomingdale's is having a Spring Sale, and you can get 25% off select merchandise. Go check it out!

Oh, and clearly, I was very off on my predictions last night... no one went home! I don't think they would have saved Lil. I think they still had one more week to save someone, and I do think they would have saved the others (maybe not Anoop), but Lil just hasn't been as great recently as she was in the beginning. Two going home next week!

Ahhhh, my ears!

Watching the AI results show, and if Simon could, he would tear Miley Cyrus apart! (She's not horrible, but she's not exactly good either.) Holler for Kris, Anoop, Danny, Alison, and Adam all being safe! I predict Lil goes. I know the odds are in my favor now that it's down to two, but I predicted sweet Scott would go last week and I predicted before now Lil is gone this week. She was one of my faves, but she just hasn't held up against the others these past few weeks.

Cha-Ching!

That's the sound of cash in my pocket thanks in part to Savin Sistas. I am a coupon/sale shopper convert. I've always been fairly thrifty, but during my weekly shopping trip to Publix yesterday, I spent $26.19 and saved $28.21! As a run down, here's what I bought:
-2 boxes of Cheerios (BOGO + coupon = $1.77 each)
-2 boxes of Quaker Chewy Bars (BOGO + coupon = $1 each)
-2 Lean Cuisine pizzas (on sale)
-skinless boneless chicken breast (on sale)
-tilapia filets (on sale)
-grapes (on sale)
-bagged salad (on sale)
-Arnold bread (BOGO)
-Sargento shredded cheese (BOGO)
-Egglands Best eggs (on sale)
-Toufayan wheat wraps (BOGO)
-pack of Stride gum ($.50 off thanks to Target coupon that prints with your receipt - Publix accepts competitor coupons)
-red onion
+$5 off Rite Aid coupon (again, Publix accepts competitor's coupons)

LOVE IT! And, as you can see, I didn't skimp. I already stocked up on milk last week while it was on sale plus I had a coupon, and I have a few other things in the fridge to put toward the week. I have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for under $30 for the whole week!

Husband said I need to post this on my blog...

... so I am. I didn't realize he knew I had a blog. ;)

So, we went to dinner at Roy's Friday night thanks to a wedding gift. We sat down, ordered a bottle of wine, an appetizer and a salad to share. As we're enjoying our first course, the (pregnant) lady next to us is served her lamb chops, which she requested medium rare. She cuts them open, and they were well done. Rightfully so (and very politely, I might add), she asks if the server thought they were medium rare, and he agreed they weren't and said they'd replace them. Of course, the manager came up and said her meal would be on the house. Meanwhile, we finish our appetizer and salad (both were great) and are waiting for our entrees. The server brings out the lady's new lamb chops. She cuts them open, and they were rarer than rare. She attempted to eat around them, but she was pregnant and that's just not healthy. She ended up just eating her the sides and packaging up the chops to go. Needless to say, she didn't pay for anything. In the meantime, we STILL haven't gotten our entrees. Matt calls over the manager and explains that we haven't received our entrees nor any communication from our waiter as to the hold up, and it'd been over 30 minutes since we'd finished our appetizer and salad. Additionally, we were now out of wine. The manager brought us each a new glass of wine. The waiter comes over and jokingly says something about lamb chops messing up the kitchen while the lady was still there. We all gave him a hard time. Apparently, someone was fired from the kitchen though. After another 10 minutes or so, we get our entrees, and it was worth the wait. Our waiter offered dessert, and we accepted. It was also delicious. Now we get our check. Grand total - $44 plus tax. They comped EVERYTHING but our bottle of wine. This would have been a $140 dinner otherwise. So, we still have money left on our gift card (only enough for a couple drinks, but that's neither here nor there). Some people have all the luck. :)

Elusive

I have been coveting a pair of Christian Louboutins for some time, but I just can't bring myself to pay $600+ for a pair of shoes (side note: the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever purchased were probably $150-160). It's not a lack of funds issue, but rather a there are so many other things to put $600 toward issue. However, I've always told myself if I could find them on sale for $300 or less, I'd buy them (and resole and restore them many times). So, imagine my excitement when Gilt Group advertised their Christian Louboutin sale! I put it in my Outlook and got on their website five minutes before the sale began. I clicked reload several times, and I was in the sale the second it started. I immediately began clicking on the various beauties that caught my eye and trying to put size 6.5 in my cart. I got on the waiting list for four or five different pairs, but to no avail. I am still Louboutin-less. Sigh.

Savin Sistas - The New Blog on the Block

My good friend Jenny is the couponing queen, so I am so excited that she just started her very own blog to share all of her coupon glory with the rest of us! Go check out Savin Sistas and save yourself some moola! I went to the grocery store yesterday - spent $46 and saved $20! Much of that savings was due to Publix's BOGO, because I couldn't download the coupon printer at work (will definitely be doing that at home), but I did save $6 thanks to Jenny's blog. And, I really had NO IDEA about some of this - like using two coupons if you BOGO free and that Publix accepts competitor's coupons! She also posts coupons and codes for clothing, restaurants, and other fun things besides groceries.

Brody Shane

Disclaimer: I really have no idea how to use my camera yet. If you have any good tutorials, let me know. I'm sure it's just going to take time and a lot of practice (and much steadier hands... pardon the camera shake in the pics without flash).

Happy Mommy!

Pizza party in Mommy's hospital room.

I love my nephew/Godson!

The best nephews in the world. Yes, I'm biased.

I interrupt this regularly scheduled program...

...to tell you that want to lick my TV right now because Gilles just danced on DWTS, and he is so dang yummy. I'm not even generally a fan of the tall, dark and handsome type, but HELLO! I'm sure glad he danced before the NCAA Championship! Hoping to get pictures of little man up tonight... stay tuned.

Fairy Godmother

Matt and I are GODPARENTS! Steve and Christine asked us to be the Godparents for Brody as the four of us drove to the hospital to visit the little man in the NICU on Friday night. We feel so honored. Only two people could be in the NICU at one time, and one has to be a parent, so I didn't get to see Matt hold his Godson, but Christine said he did well... a little stiff, but that's okay. :) In even more exciting news, little man finally got to go HOME yesterday! James was so excited to finally get to meet his little brother and had lots of kisses to share. It was so great to just hold him and love on him. He is such a happy baby. He doesn't cry unless he's hungry or naked, and he's not a fan of getting his diaper changed (probably due to the nudity that comes with the process). Otherwise, he's just happy and content looking around and trying to soak in the world.

I will upload pictures tonight and get some posted of the handsome little man. He is such a beautiful baby!

God is GOOD!

How stinkin' cute is he? Seriously!

Brody is doing dramatically better over the past few days. He got his CPAC mask off on Wednesday afternoon and was just receiving oxygen through his nose. Then, they were able to eliminate the oxygen completely and just supplement with normal air through his nose. He also had a feeding tube and an IV, and today... ALL ARE GONE!!!! No IV, no air, no feeding tube! He had his first bottle feed today and did well. He is jaundiced, so he is in the glow bed for a few days. During this time, he can be monitored for all of the milestones he needs to achieve before he can go home. He has to bottle feed and keep his respiration normal, sit in a car seat for 90 minutes while keeping his respiration normal and a few other things.

Please continue to pray for him and the other NICU babies. There is a little baby girl, Hannah, who is next to Brody and has been having a rough time. Please keep her in your prayers. There are also babies there that are "Baby Doe" and others who we've never seen anyone visit. This breaks my heart, and I pray that they have someone that will love them like they deserve to be loved.

"O Lord, you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things..."

-Isaiah 25:1