the fam.

sorry for the creepy red-eye reduction situation.  i don't have the original of this photo, so i just did the best i could.  anyway - my family is awesome.  this is about 10 minutes post-graduation, but enough time to take my cap off....

it's over!

school, that is.  officially.  this weekend was a whirlwind of activity and excitement, and it was completely awesome.

thursday night, mom and dad came into town and the four of us got to spend some down time before all the festivities started.  jb braised some beef deliciousness and i made veggies from the farmer's market.  smothered new potatoes with dill recipe is below - yum.

friday we ran around in the morning until we picked my brother up from the airport.  we were able to have lunch just the nuclear hesterly fam, which never happens and was super fun.  marilyn, jb's mom, came in as well, which was awesome.  friday night was the actual commencement ceremony.  that was pretty lackluster, but helped to make everything feel final and done.  we went to a reception for just my class afterwards that was ok, but by that point i was SO tired, i was just ready to get some sleep.

saturday we woke up early and got the house and yard ready.  all the parental units worked SO hard to make sure everything looked perfect, and it really turned out nice.  it  made jb and i want to spend more time/energy on the yard in the future because i feel like it's so much easier to enjoy it when it's cleaned up.

anyway...about 40-50 people showed up at our house and there were piles of delicious food brought in from louisiana, kansas, and austin.  it was incredible.  everyone was so supportive and it was just phenomenal to have the vast majority of the people i know and love all in one spot.  the weather, though hot, was pretty good, and everyone was able to spread out a bit so our house didn't seem quite as teensy.  jb and i agree it was the best party we've ever thrown.  such a blast.

yesterday was a day of recuperation and farewells and today we're back to the grind at work!  fortunately, this is a 3-day work week, so we just have to get through this, get packed and organized, and then we're OFF to st. thomas!

**new potatoes smothered with fresh dill:
- about 1 pound of fresh new potatoes, skins on
- about half an onion, sliced or chopped
- a few tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- about 2-3 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste

wash potatoes and chop into fourths (the goal is roughly bite-size pieces).  in a big saucepan (that has a lid), put a dab of butter and sautee the onions until translucent.  add the potatoes over a med-high heat until lightly brown and kinda sticking to the bottom of the pan.  pour in about half a cup of water, cover, and simmer over lower heat for about 10 minutes.  check potatoes and stir, adding more water if necessary.  add salt, pepper, remainder of butter, and dill and stir.  re-cover and simmer until water is mostly drained.  you'll probably have to add about 1-1.5 cups of water in half cup increments, and this whole process should take about 30 minutes.  make sure potatoes are fork-tender and that the water is all evaporated.  serve.

update on the little a.

just a quick update that little arlo seinfeld hesterly is a-ok.  turns out he had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE).  yikes!  fortunately, my parents got him to the vet in time and the prognosis is good.  he's back there today and hooked up to an iv again for fluids and monitoring and whatnot.  we're so grateful that my family's vets are awesome and that all this stuff went down on a weekday so that he could be tended to immediately.

in other news, jb and i went to our 16 week appointment today and the little bug is sounding great!  heartbeat was 148 (jb will say 145 but the midwife told me 148), so it's a little slower than last time but perfectly normal.  we have the "big" ultrasound on june 16, my dad's birthday.  we're still planning to keep it a surprise, though jb is convinced that this slower heartbeat is a telltale sign that it's a boy.

anyway...i'm still feeling great and hungry.  haha. this weekend is graduation with family friends and lots of delicious eats, i'm sure.  then, we head to st. thomas for a week.  lots of exciting things coming down the pike!  i'll post garden pics and other stuff soon.

little arlo.

i got a very distressing call from my mom this morning - their dog, arlo, is in critical condition at the vet right now.  apparently, all was well when he went for a walk this morning, but when he got home things started going downhill very fast.  the vet my family has been seeing for the past 30 years or so is incredible, and i do trust that they are doing everything they can for the little dude.  just please say a little prayer for him - he's not even a year old yet, and he's a sweetheart.  here's a picture from a few months ago of him with duck on top of my dad's shoes.

tasty treats.

food is on my mind a lot these days.  i've always loved meal time, but it's taken on new meaning between being pregnant and being done with classes and thus having time to spend in the kitchen again.

we harvested our first tomato yesterday!  we haven't eaten it yet - probably tomorrow - but it is beautiful!  i have to give jb full credit for all his hard work with watering and fertilizing and feeding.  we've got tons more on the vine, so i'm sure we'll be taking lots of pictures as the full bounty comes to fruition.  that is...provided it doesn't get too hot in the next week or two....

also, this weekend while driving back from lafayette, jb and i decided to challenge ourselves to get more creative with meals.  we're each taking one day a week to cook something we've never cooked before (or, at the very least, something we hardly ever cook....).  super fun!  my night was monday of this week, so i made black bean soup (recipe from the joy of cooking) and chicken enchiladas (recipe was sort of a weird hodge podge of my brain and the joy of cooking).  the soup could have used some extra pizzazz (i didn't have a ham bone or salt pork to cook with), but the enchiladas were pretty good.  i shredded chicken and mixed it with salsa verde combined with some cream cheese for the insides and then enchilada sauce and grated sharp cheddar on top.  not bad.

jb, though, in typical fashion, totally showed my efforts up last night.  it didn't hurt that everything we ate was super duper fresh - the fish had been fileted less than 2 hours before we were eating it, the lettuce and onions from the salad and dill for the fish were in the ground yesterday morning (gotta love farmers market days).  and the bread was fresh baked from the farmers market as well.  tasty!  anyway...menu was: baked butterfish with sauteed dill and garlic; bibb lettuce salad with toasted pecans, purple onion, goat cheese, avocado, and mandarins; and freshly baked ciabatta.  doesn't get much better than that, so i took a picture.  and no, that whole chunk of bread wasn't just for me....i promise!

mother's day.

happy (one day late) mother's day!  this weekend, jb and i loaded up the pups and drove to louisiana to visit my parents.  it was a great weekend.  friday night, we had dinner at marcello's just the four of us.  yummy.  though i couldn't partake in the tasty cabernet, we had calamari and ciabatta with olives marinated in garlic to start, and i had huge shrimp with pasta and pine nuts and some other goodness.  man, i love to eat.

saturday we ran around getting errands and stuff done, including eating lunch at judice inn at 10 in the morning - hilarious.  i seriously want to franchise that place in my backyard.  i could eat like 20 cheeseburgers a day (ok, so maybe like 2, but they are so so so good).  saturday night was a close family friend's 60th birthday shindig and what a blast!  joe douglas, the bayou boss, who played at our wedding a few years ago, rocked the house.  it was awesome to get to be at a party, dancing and listening to him, and to get to see him play live when we could really pay attention and enjoy the show.  super fun.  we cut a rug the whole evening.

yesterday, we had a great lunch with family (mom cooked pork roast, rice and gravy upon my request) before hitting the road.  we also celebrated my first (almost) mother's day, which was a really nice surprise and very touching.  the dogs wore themselves out completely with arlo, my parents' brussels griffon.  this is the two of them in the car on the way to lafayette.  on the ride back, they were snuggled up in the far back with the seats up, so i didn't get a picture.

special congrats to our friends a&p whose baby girl amelia was born last monday, and to my cousin l and her family who welcomed baby #4, also amelia, last tuesday.  both little ladies are gorgeous and have been born into wonderful families.  

another gaff.

even though i was moderately offended at first about the "pregnant face" comment, i've decided that any commentary about my pregnancy should be taken with a grain of salt, and it's much more fun to laugh at the comfort people have with saying stuff to me.
so, today at a work lunch, the same person who made the pregnant face comment decided to inform me i was having a girl.  first, she just glanced at me and said "oh, it's a boy, definitely".  then, she looked a little closer (i guess?) and said "wait, no, it's a girl.  your skin is bad".
hilarious.  the irony here is that my skin has been better than it has been my entire life until this week, when i've randomly sort of broken out.  but even this break out is nothing compared to the normal state of affairs of my non-pregnant self.  i wasn't wearing make up, so maybe that made it look rougher than usual, but in any case, i am SO amused.  can't wait for the next one!

yummy.

since i don't have class anymore (YAY!), and my energy level is slllllloooooooowwwwwwllllyyyyyy starting to show its face again, i decided to be a tad bit domestic last night.  i made whole wheat bread in our bread maker, which has been sadly neglected for far too long now.  homemade fresh bread is one of my most favorite things of all time, and i am totally vowing to make at least 1 loaf a week now that i have more free time to focus on such things.  anyway...i set the timer on the machine so i didn't have to stay up past 11, and i awoke at 5:40 before my run to the smell of warm toasty fresh bread.  holy goodness.  i had about 20 more minutes i could sleep, but my tummy immediately started growling, so i sliced some up with some all natural peanut butter and honey from my friend d's dad's bee farm.  i recommend this as the way to start every morning.  if you have a bread machine, here is the recipe i used.  i am going to be trying out lots of different whole wheat recipes over the next few weeks, so i'll post the ones i like the best.  this one was a little dense, and i think they were a little short on the yeast (the top didn't poof out the way it usually does).  


100% whole wheat bread
makes 1 1/2 to 2 lb loaf - i used the 1.5 lb setting for whole wheat, light crust
* 1 1/2 cups water plus 2 tablespoons water 
* 3 3/4 cups wheat flour
* 2 tablespoons dry milk
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 1/2 tablespoons gluten
* 1 tablespoon molasses
* 2 1/8 teaspoons fast rise yeast
(or 3 tspns active dry yeast) 


this weekend, before justin's big ride on saturday, he asked me to make him the homemade granola bars my cousin posted on her blog a few months ago.  he says they are the best energy boosters on a long ride, and they are super delicious.  this is the original recipe, but i usually do about half the amount of brown sugar (i think they're too sweet with the full load) and add pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries or pineapple, and chocolate and peanut butter chips.  yum!  anyway...jb did GREAT on his ride - finished 100 miles in just over 5 hours - beating his last year's time by over 2 hours.  shiner was super fun and i am looking forward to going out there again next year with some pups and a kiddo in tow for music, beer, and brats.  fun!  


Granola Bars Basic Recipe
 * 2 Cup Oats
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 Cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1/2 Cup honey
* Any dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, etc.
 Mix all ingredients and press into greased pan, 9 X 13. Dough will be very dry and crumbly, but press until dough forms with pan.. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until edges are browned. Take out and let cool entirely. Cut into strips and store in snack size bags.
 **The dough was very dry. I added a couple of tablespoon of water to help mix it all together and you might need to use your hands to get it mixed up and pressed into the pan.

fruits of our labor

well, we harvested the first fruit from our garden a couple days ago - a cucumber.  we ate it last night on toast with a little cream cheese....deliciousness.  it was so crispy and fresh!  nothing like produce straight from the garden.

we also randomly have tons of rose bushes around our yard.  i kind of hate roses - they are beautiful, but growing them is a huge pain and i end up slicing my hands and arms open on the thorns every time i deal with them.  but, whoever lived here before us planted them around, and despite not taking care of them in ANY capacity, every year around this time, we get mega blooms.  this year has been especially fruitful, so i cut some and put them in a vase.  they're not looking as great anymore, but i am sure i can just go cut some more and replenish the arrangement.  we have some hot pink ones and some weird mottled pink and white ones that don't do as well when they're cut.  

i guess that's all for now.  this is the first weekend i don't have to think about school at all and it's SO WEIRD.  jb will be rocking his 100-mile bike ride tomorrow.  more to come.  

things to not say to a newly pregnant woman

me: "i'm pregnant!"
person: "ahh, i was wondering because, you know, your face looks pregnant."
me: "thank you?"

how is "your face looks pregnant" ever a compliment?

finito.

after 33 long months, my graduate career has come to a close.  finally.  in all honesty, it doesn't feel real yet.  i took my last final last night, financial statement analysis.  it was hard but i think i should still graduate.  woohoo!  in about 4 weeks, we will celebrate in earnest with the graduation ceremony, parties, etc etc.  by then, i'm thinking it will probably feel more legit.  for now, i'm just hoping i don't receive a random phone call telling me they can't find my transcript or some giant component of a grade.  bring on the free time!

congratulations, it's a baby

dear internet,

today i heard the heartbeat of my unborn son. pretty solid stuff. we are already at 12 weeks, which is much too early to actually determine the sex of the baby, but i'm absolutely convinced it's a boy. how do i know this? because the heartbeat sounded like the 4th led zeppelin album. our doctor was thrown against the wall when the heartbeat came through the doppler, due to the sheer power of this man-babies heartbeat. there isn't a girls heartbeat i know of that would have the same effects... piper would argue that at 165bpm, we are totally having a girl. what she didn't realize was that our son was simply doing push-ups, incidentally raising the heartbeat at the time. another indicating factor of masculinity was the ultrasound. our doctor determined that what we were looking at on screen was indeed 100% penis. apparently the first trimester of a boy's life in the womb is spent developing his most important organ. our next visit is at 16 weeks - more to come at that point.

xoxo

justin

expectations.

today, for the second time in a little over five weeks, jb and i heard the heartbeat of our child.  wow.  i have been pregnant, officially, according to the books and websites and doctors, for exactly 12 weeks.  we've known about it for about eight.  i must say, i am still trying to wrap my head completely around the whole thing.

though we knew we wanted kids, this was not a planned pregnancy, per se.  i have been finishing my last semester of grad school while trying to finish my first trimester of pregnancy, which wasn't *exactly* the plan.  but, the older (and hopefully wiser) i get, the more i feel like plans are kind of for the birds.  so, ready or not, planned or not, here we are, about to finish the first third of this exciting new adventure.

so far, i have felt remarkably good.  i'm sleepy a lot and try to fit a nap in every day.  but, no throwing up, no other crazy weird or scary symptoms.  in fact, if i hadn't seen the little nubbin at the 7 week ultrasound and heard her (him) again this morning, i don't know that i'd be entirely convinced i was actually knocked up.

anyway...that's all the news we have so far.  due date is november 5.  we're not planning to find out the sex (despite the groans i hear EVERY TIME i tell people that).  the heartbeat was 165 this morning, and that just supports my confidence in the fact that it's a girl.  we're stoked.  we're staying in austin, staying in our house.  we're going to wait a few more weeks/months to break the news to the dogs.

8 days, people.

that's 8 calendar days.  as in, one week plus one day.  and then, i will officially be an MBA.  but even more importantly than that, i will be freeeeeee....i cannot wait.

this weekend was awesome, as usual.  they never are long enough, and i never get tired of saying that, however trite.  we managed to do lots of yard work and even some house work.  cooked some delicious food, including butternut squash soup that was super tasty.  saw kick-ass with some friends.  it was ok - pretty hilarious, but wildly inappropriate and violent, with lots of language i wouldn't even want a 17 year-old to use (hello, pot, i'm the potty-mouthed kettle).  the highlight of the whole weekend for me was watching jb get into a fist fight with our weed eater.  pretty hilarious.  he was victorious, though, so take that, yard equipment.

we've got lots of exciting stuff coming up on the weekends, so i'm sure pictures and stories will be forthcoming.  trip back to louisiana, trip to st. thomas, trip to vegas.  plus, graduation and all the joviality that will ensue in its wake.  i almost need a nap just thinking about it....

one final thought - now that school is over (ish), i am looking for book recommendations.  that's right, REAL books that i WANT to read.  bring 'em on.

promotion for a friend.

my friend (and my mom's boss) jasmine has a precious son named Finn (well, his nickname is Finn, and he's the Fifth generation of his name, awesomeness).  anyway...he's in a photo contest with his cute little mug, so if you'd like, please visit this site and vote for his cute little cheeks on monday.  i will try to remember to re-post this then.  i will promote other peoples' children in the future, just send me your propaganda :)

more bluebonnets and dogs.

i'm sorry i just cannot seem to get enough of this lovely spring weather and our sweet pups having a field day in it.  we took them to walnut creek again this weekend, with a camera this time.  if possible, this weekend was even prettier.  they did not want to behave and sit calmly for any portraits, but i think we got some pretty hilarious action shots that capture our little adventure.  

i'm also posting a couple pictures of the chickens in a planter.  we have a long, skinny window-box type planter with nothing planted in it right now.  the chickens think flinging the dirt in there around is a great time.  

garden update #1

so, things in the spring garden are really growing, so far.  i think it's a combination of fresh rain water (jb is so diligent, and it is because of him that the plants are all still alive....), functional temperatures (nights in the 50s, days in the 70s = perfection), and chicken poop.  jb dressed everything with a healthy amount of chicken business last weekend, and we've really seen some great growth since then.  i really hope the weather stays spring-ish (as opposed to summer-ish) for a while longer so we can actually reap the benefits of all this work.  here are some pics from this afternoon:

(valley girl tomato plant - one of eight tomato plants we're growing this year....)

(one of our heirloom varieties - i think we have three total, out of the eight tomatoes)

(eggplant - you can see the pole beans in the background)

(squash)

(habanero pepper - we're growing like 6 different types of peppers, too)

(tomatillo, one of two)

(pumpkins!  from seed....)

(watermelon, one of three)

(bluebonnets - these aren't in our garden, but they're in our yard)

happy weekend!

hoppy easter....

for the record, i have always hated the phrase "hoppy easter".  i think it's ridiculous.  but somehow, i also now find it hilarious and like to use it in jest.

this is obviously a few days late, but we had a great day for easter, and an awesome weekend in general.  friday, we had w&d over for steaks and got to sit on the back porch for dinner.  the back porch dinner is the thing i love the most about austin, and this time of year is the most exceptional for it.  saturday, jb did a long bike ride.  he's training for the shiner ride - a 100 mile bike ride to shiner, texas.  he did it last year, and i think he's kind of crazy, but also awesome.  anyway...last year there was not a lot of training but he still made it.  this year, despite every single one of our friends bailing on doing it with him, he's put in lots of training rides and been doing strength training.  i'm quite proud.

anyway...when he got back from his ride, we took the pups to walnut creek park for a hike and a picnic.  it was, yet again, absolutely gorgeous out.  the bluebonnets are in full bloom everywhere right now, which is gorgeous.  the dogs got to romp through fields of flowers and cool off in the creek.  it was etta's first time swimming, and she's not quite sure about it yet.  she's also not sure about bikers, and she let them all know by standing behind me and barking at them.  she's quite ferocious.  i can't take credit for this picture since we forgot the camera, but this is a good representation (and it's from walnut creek, this year).

on easter sunday, we went to mass with several friends at st. austin's on campus.  it was a really good service, and the priest there is full of energy and really nice.  then, we all went to brunch at z tejas.  always delicious.  i spent the afternoon working on a paper for school (less than 3 weeks left!), and then we went to c&r's for gumbo.  all in all, the only downside was not having a few extra days to hang out and relax.  it's time for a real vacation....

the virtue of happiness.

i came across this editorial yesterday, and i was super intrigued by it.  the gist of it is the sandra bullock conundrum.  if you could have the pinnacle of professional success, only to find out a week or so later that your significant other has been philandering with 11 different other women (that we know about), would you make that trade?


of course, my answer, and the consensus of the studies cited in the article is a resounding no.  i've always felt, i guess on a gut level, that you can't quantify (monetarily) domestic contentedness.  i mean, it would always be nice to make a little more cash, to have a little more breathing room.  but never at the expense of my marriage, family, and home life.


a couple of interesting factoids from the article: "joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income....being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year."  


anyway...as you go on about your day, think about the areas where you really are fortunate, and realize that even though money may stress you out, you're much happier than you might even realize.  

how does your garden grow?

warning: picture overload of garden delights.  we (let's face it, really jb) have worked super hard the last several weeks getting the yard and garden ready for planting our spring treats.  though we're not totally done, it's well on its way.  have i mentioned how excited i am to be done with school so i can play in the yard all the time?  super excited.  anyway...i don't have pictures of everything, but below are just some of the things growing in the yard right now.

what edible items we're growing (so far):
cucumbers
tomatoes (lots of types)
tomatillo
peppers (lots of types)
watermelon
squash
pole beans
bush beans
eggplant
about a million types of herbs, including a jb vs. me contest on who's herb pot is the cutest

still leftover from winter garden:
swiss chard
lettuce
onions
green garlic

(last of the broccoli)

(lettuce/chard)

(mustard greens)

(head of lettuce bigger than jb's head)

(the new beds - better growth shots coming soon)

(jb's chicken coop masterpiece - i don't think i'd ever posted a pic of this)

(rain barrels and gutters make watering fun)

(happy pansies - we have LOTS of flowers right now and i love all the color)

(one of our little helpers....)