Wedding Wednesday - Telling our Families

After LP proposed, we had to sit through about two hours of Meet the Teacher night for my then 5th grader.

Let me tell you...that was not an easy thing to do, but it did give us time where only the two of us (and the three kids) knew about this amazing, life changing surprise. We relished in that and kept exchanging loving & knowing glances all night.

When got got home, we set to calling our families and closest friends to let them in on the good news.

Of course everyone was very excited & thrilled. Everyone wanted to see The Ring. 11 months later, I still cannot believe he designed the perfect ring. It is so beautiful!

I was on cloud nine for about a month. Well, I'm still on cloud 9, but that first month of our engagement I was just so excited and amazed that I was going to spend forever with my Mr. Right! 

I'll admit, I walked around for a month feeling like a princess and the world was mine for the taking!

We let the engagement sink in for a little before we really started planning.

Wedding Wednesday - The Proposal!

First edition of Wedding Wednesday! I’m going to go back over the past 11 months of wedding planning and postdate my blogs. Maybe someone will find this useful one day! So here is where it all begins!

LP sent me an email asking if he could pick up the kids from the Nanny we hired for the last few weeks of summer. Being that he was going to be in that part of town already for an eye appointment and we had “Meet the Teacher Night” for the kids’ school that night, close to my office, I figured “Why Not?” It saves me time and makes perfect sense. He suggested we meet in City Park (all normal to let the kids burn some energy). So I drove to City Park Avenue and pulled over about a block past Ralph’s On the Park towards Carrollton. I was on the phone with my step-mom discussing my dad’s cancer diagnosis when I saw LP’s truck pass. I finished my conversation and pulled behind him and followed him (not knowing I was “ruining” the surprise…but really that’s so me anyway).  I let him know that I was behind him and followed him to a parking spot not too far from NOMA.

The kids get out of LP’s truck and start running around playing. AD kept asking “Why are we here?”  I didn’t know, I assumed to kill time. Then LP started looking very ill.  I asked him why he looked sick and he said, “I’m nervous.” I was thinking it was some work deal (he had been super busy with work).

I then turned around to check on the kids to make sure they weren’t running over cyclists, and turned back around and the most amazing man was on one knee with a stunning ring…in fact, unbeknownst to LP, the very same design that I had “pinned” as my favorite. After his sweet, thoughtful, sentimental words, he asked me to marry him. I was not even able to speak at that moment and was only nodding my head up and down when he said, “Does that mean yes?” Well of course, it did and here we are now. We couldn’t be happier and more excited to live life together.

Meatless Monday

We are currently in a quest to get healthier for the wedding…and for good, really.

Not that we are terrible eaters to begin with, but there can definitely be improvements. Being more prepared food-wise is our biggest challenge. We both work full time, somewhat stressful jobs and by the time we get him after picking the kids up, some days we are just plain tired. So we make quesadillas or PB&Js, and on the rare occasion…fast food.

But now that summer sports are over and the kids are all at one location for summer camp, planning dinner is a bit easier.

So tonight I made Eggplant Parmesan and Ratatouille. I typically will make one meal, but I’m trying to make Pure Barre classes the rest of the week, so I want to be on top of dinner.

A meatless dish is a rarity for us, mainly because LP is a manly man who likes protein in the form of some kind of animal with dinner.

Dinner was Eggplant Parm and it came out really, really good. I think I will work on ways to make it healthier, but so far, I’m pleased with it. The Ratatouille, which I taste-tested, was good, not great…so I added cheese and it’s much better. I think I’m going to try another recipe for that dish sometime in the Fall.

The kids went to bed early so they will be trying out these dishes tomorrow. Wish me luck! They tend to be a bit more difficult to win over when trying new foods.

Maybe Meatless Monday will become a thing for us and we can keep experimenting with various veggie dishes.

Mix up the kitchen a bit. Cooking alway relaxes me, so maybe this can be my Monday therapy.

Cheers! Time for wine & The Bachelorette!

I'm back!

Here's a little update/background info :-)

I’m a 31 year old mother to three wonderful kids. I work full time as a paralegal at a personal injury law firm in New Orleans. I have two dogs and a turtle. i am engaged to be married to the most amazing, supportive man I have ever met.

The past eleven years of my life have been the most difficult, wonderful, self-defining and testing times ever! I was married from 2004 – 2012…probably, no, definitely, the most trying times in my short life so far. I was blessed with three children from that marriage Kk (10), Ad (7) & Abi (4). Their father and I were separated sometime in 2011 and heading full steam to divorce, when he was in a fatal motorcycle accident in February 2012.

On the same night of my first date with my fiancé, LP.

He’s been my rock ever since.

We have been engaged since August 2014 and have been spending the past 11 months working, parenting, loving life and planning a wedding. It’s a busy and full life.

Stay tuned for posts on how wedding planning has been going thus far!

Two + Years Later

Where do I begin....

It's been a little more than two years since my last blog post. To say a lot has changed would be the understatement of the past two years.

As I wrote in my last blog post, 2012 was supposed to be the year for me.  The year that I was going to make changes and make 2012 the best year ever.  Apparently 2011 was the "worst year ever." Looking back now, I don't even recall what happened to give 2011 that title.  Sure my marriage was done (though not officially) and it was tough to come to terms with that.  Yes, there were a lot of bad things that came that happened that I wish wouldn't have.

But 2011 had nothing on 2012...

A lot of good happened in 2012 and had the good not been there, I am not sure where I would be right now or who I would be.  I am certain that it wouldn't be pretty.

2012 started off nice enough.  I was finally secure with who I was and what I need that I was going to finally go through with the divorce.  It was a few years coming (the marriage was already over, just not "on paper"...we weren't even living together), but I was not strong enough to actually go deal with it.  The security in knowing who I was and what I needed in life (and what I did not need) was very empowering.  I found my groove...my identity and I was ready to take it and run with it.

I even met someone.  Someone who liked me.  ME of all people.  Me, the mom with three kids and a failed marriage.  I felt so lucky.  After completely writing off wanting any type of romantic relationship, I was liked.  Funny how it works out, right?!

New Years Resolutions

What a year 2011 was....probably the most difficult and terrible year of my life...but it is over and I'm so ready for a fresh start.

This year I am definitely going to put more focus on myself.  Of course, only second to my kids...but I need to rediscover who I am as a woman and a mother and I think that in true, that will help me be a better person and mom.

So my goals for 2012 are (in not particular order)

1. Read a book a month....
2. Exercise more patience with the kids....
3. Do something for myself that makes me feel good at least twice per month...
4. Create a study plan...
5. BECOME ORGANIZED AT HOME
6. Blog/write more...
7. Save more money...
8. Spend more quality time with the kids....
9. Be better at showing my gratitude (Thank You notes, etc.)...
10. No more dwelling on the past, I can't change it, but look to make my (and my children's) future the best I possibly can....

I'm sure there are more things I'd like to accomplish, but Abigail has woken up and work comes early tomorrow....

So I'll leave you with this and hopefully I'll make the time to blog a little more tomorrow.

What's Cookin'?

Tonight for dinner we are having a healthy version of fried chicken strips.  I googled some recipes, but with a crying baby who needed to be nursed and already being short on time, I just glanced over a few and threw my own recipe together.

1-2 lbs chicken tenderloins

1/4c flour

1/2 sleeve crushed Ritz

sea salt & pepper to taste

2 medium eggs

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350. (Next time I’ll preheat to 400).

What I should have done was whip the eggs in one bowl and mix the dry ingredients in another.  I'll blame the baby for my distraction, but I mixed the eggs, flour and salt & pepper together and dipped the chicken in and then covered the tenderloins with crushed Ritz.

Bake about 15-30 minutes J

Next time I’ll dip in the whipped egg, then dip in the dry mixture and then bake the chicken.

They don’t taste too bad.   But I guess the ultimate verdict will come in a little bit when I sever them for dinner. I think my modifications for next time will produce much tastier chicken.

Along with the chicken, we are having rice with mixed veggies from those Bird’s Eye steam-able bags.

What are you eating?

Welcome Cupcake (a few weeks later)