On the weekend we went back to Maryland for Teri’s bridal shower and Little Monkey’s baby shower, we were lucky enough to squeeze in this maternity photo session with the lovely Marisa Crider of Misa*Me Photography. I was looking for a sun drenched romantic setting with tall grass for the backdrop of this shoot, and Marisa found the perfect location! The sun more or less cooperated for some of the time, and we were able to get the beautiful field shots I wanted as well as some surprise shots on a nearby beach. Marisa never fails to impress with her talents, and she truly captured our excitement for our arriving baby boy. We cannot wait to meet him and share these photos with him one day.
Outfit 1:On Me – Dress: Target Maternity / Necklace: Cheerfully Charmed (similar) / Watch: Michael Kors / Bracelet: Baublebar / Lip: MAC Venomous Villains Heartless / Baby Shoes: Luvable Friends — On Zack – Button Down and Linen Pants: H&M
Outfit 2: On Me – Dress: Ella Moss via Gilt / Watch: Michael Kors / Bracelets: Henri Bendel and Baublebar / Earrings: Borrowed from Misa*Me / Lip: MAC Venomous Villains Heartless — On Zack – Shirt: H&M / Shorts: Target / Shoes: Sanuk – similar here, here, and here
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Thank you so much to my amazing cousin, Marisa, for taking these photos for our little family. We really appreciate it, and cannot wait for our little man to get here!
If you’d like to see more photos from the shoot, then please head on over to Misa*Me Photography to see the rest.
It’s that time of the year! The time when our tomatoes are coming up in the garden, and more importantly…time for fresh pasta sauce! I typically make my own homemade sauce (carrying on the family tradition) all year long using cans of tomatoes, but there is something about those fresh tomatoes that really make the world go ’round. I have tried both all fresh and all canned versions of this recipe, but my preference is actually a 50/50 method of half fresh, half canned. For some reason, that packs the best punch of flavor in my book, and it’s just the perfect combo for an amazing sauce.
The recipe is quite simple. Most of it is all about taste and preference. I hardly measure anything, and I kind of pinch and throw in as I go.
What you need:
4-6 cloves of garlic chopped (or whole, but I chop mine)
chopped yellow onion (or white or spanish) – I use about 1/4 of a medium size onion
extra virgin olive oil
fresh tomatoes from the garden (I used about 12)
canned tomatoes (my favorite brand is the Sclafani crushed, I used 1 can for this batch, because that was about how many fresh tomatoes I had, and I wanted it to be a 50/50 mix)
fresh basil from the garden to taste (I used about 10 leaves)
salt
pepper
dried italian herbs (if you have more fresh, the better!)
sugar (my secret ingredient)
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How to Make it Happen:
First prep the fresh tomatoes by dicing them up to remove all the seeds (the more seeds you have the more bitter the sauce is, so I remove them all from the fresh tomatoes). Then, you can either put them in a food processor to blend or keep them as is (again your preference of texture!) and put them aside.
Saute the garlic and onions in the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat for a couple minutes or until the onions are translucent.
Add the fresh tomatoes and the can of tomatoes to the pot and stir, stir, stir. Lower heat so it’s not popping bubbles of sauce all over the kitchen.
Next, stir in the basil, salt, pepper, extra Italian herbs, and sugar to taste.
Let it sit, stirring frequently, and tasting frequently. You may find you want to add a few herbs, a little more sugar, etc. as it cooks. You can really cook it as long as you want. The flavors will change a bit as time wears on, and you may want to add more to it. I am all about the quickness, so unless I have a very large pot of sauce, I don’t really cook mine for more than 20-30 minutes. I am usually just cooking for two, so it can cook pretty quickly.
Boil up your favorite type of pasta while you are waiting for the sauce. Once the pasta is ready, drain it, and coat it with a few large scoops of sauce so that it doesn’t dry out and stick together. Serve it up in bowls, and add as much extra sauce as you like! I top mine with grated Locatelli Romano cheese as well, and voila! Dinner is served.
Got an ever-growing baby bump, and can’t really wear sweats and a t-shirt to the office? No problem…skirt the issue! Luckily, I can pretty much wear whatever I want to work on a daily basis. However, when I have meetings or lunches with clients or advertising creatives, I do like to look presentable! This particular day, we were having a birthday lunch at the Mandarin Hotel for my boss and I, who both have our birthdays around the same time. The meal was delicious, and the view overlooking Central Park was even better. I scored this outfit at Motherhood Maternity, and both top and skirt are quite comfortable, yet presentable for the workplace.
My husband and I had a BUSY weekend. Unfortunately, we never made it to that Hester Street Fair (don’t worry girls, we will make it before August is through!). However, we made LOADS of progress on our little boy’s nursery. I completed all of my thank you cards, Zack installed the carseat and built the stroller. We figured out how to use all the stroller seats and attachments. We built the bassinet stand, swing, rock and play, and activity gym. We cleaned out the entire living room (so we can now sit on the couch), and found a place for almost everything, set up his dressers and started decorating the room. We decorated his name in wooden letters, adorned an entire wall in monkey and tree decals. We built a crib…loaded up shelves…I think there is actually more we completed if you can believe it, but my brain is too tired to think straight anymore! Not to mention my body. All this while 8 months prego, and a husband running a fever. I have to say, we were pretty proud of ourselves.
After all our hard work, we decided to treat ourselves to a little dinner out last night at a new restaurant in the neighborhood called Wheated. They boast fresh Neapolitan pizza. Let’s just say we will be returning! This whole area on Church Avenue is actually booming with new businesses and restaurants, so we discovered a whole slew of places that we need to try in the near future.
It’s a gorgeous day in NYC. If every day in August is like this for the rest of my pregnancy, I promise to never complain! It’s amazing. Hope you all had an awesome weekend, and wishing you a very wonderful week ahead!
reading Just finished The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby’s First Yearby Dawn Dais. I’m not sure whether or not it was a good idea or a bad idea to read this book. It was quite terrifying, although I suppose I am grateful for the dose of reality and preparations. Just started reading Maineby J. Courtney Sullivan. Stumbled across it last week while browsing at Barnes and Noble and figured I would read it since I went to Maine this summer. It’s more of a beach read about family summer drama.
writing Well technically, I haven’t started yet, because my apartment has been a disaster zone since the baby shower, and I haven’t even been able to sit on the couch. HOWEVER, I plan on starting to write out some thank you notes this weekend for all of the lovely gifts we received from our family and friends.
listeningI think I am late on this song, but I heard it a few weeks ago, and honestly it reminds me of my grandfather who always used to say, “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.” Ain’t that the truth, Grandpa. The song is Cups by Anna Kendrick from the movie Pitch Perfect.
thinking That every time I think my belly can’t possibly get any bigger…I wake up, and it’s bigger.
watchingThe Challenge: Rivals II. I know it’s ridiculous that I still follow these shows, but I just can’t get enough of the drama that unfolds with every new season of a challenge. I also constantly wonder how I would measure up in these challenges. Something tells me I would give those girls a run for their money.
wishingThat I could fly out to Missouri to celebrate my friend’s Cris and Kate’s big day this weekend! This is the second big wedding we have missed this year, and it’s definitely a bummer to not be there, even though I know it’s for a good reason. Wishing Cris and Kate a magical day and lots of love!
hoping To make a lot of progress on our little boy’s room this weekend. I’m really excited for my vision of how it will look when it’s finished, but it’s a long process to get there! I’m hoping we can get a good chunk done this weekend. Am I in nesting mode perhaps?
wearing Mint green shorts and a gray and orange striped top (different color here), both from Motherhood Maternity.
loving The maternity session photos that Misa*Me Photography took for us! She gave us a little sneak peek, and I am so excited to share them with you all in the next couple of weeks. She did a wonderful job, as always. Stay tuned!
laughing At this rendition of Ice Ice Baby that my co-worker shared with me earlier this week. Props to the editor for stringing together 280 movies worth of clips to create this.
needing Water, water, water. Hydration is key for this prego mama.
feeling Alien-like movements coming from my belly. He’s kicking and squirming more and more every day. I swear, it’s the weirdest feeling ever that something is alive and moving inside of you! But it’s also pretty cool.
craving Watermelon. Nothing like this delicious fresh fruit on a hot summer day.
clicking Through resume after resume. Trying to find someone to fill in for me at work while I’m away. I think we are getting close to making a decision!
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What have you been up to lately?
Happy Friday! Hope you all have a great weekend!
Love,
Gina
***I was inspired by Tina of Like Ordinary Life to create this post, and she was inspired by Lauren of siddathornton, who started The Sunday Currently.
When we came up with the name “Little Monkey” for our future babe, we never realized how much this name would take off! When we started using the name, we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl. Once we found out, we decided we wanted to keep his name a surprise until his arrival, so again the nickname, Little Monkey, stuck. It seems that is has stuck with everyone else as well! My mom, sister, and aunt threw us a beautiful monkey themed baby shower for our little boy, and I swear, I didn’t know this much monkey stuff existed! Monkey cake, monkey diaper tower, monkey onesies (for many different months and hardly any duplicates!), monkey sheets, monkey towels, monkey blankets, monkey backpacks, monkey toys, and the list goes on and on. At this point, it literally looks like a monkey exploded all over our living room. Our family and friends have spoiled us with many wonderful gifts for our little guy. We are so grateful and appreciative to have so many great people supporting us and loving us and our little one on the way. And one thing is for sure…he is either going to really love or really hate monkeys at the end of his first year! Here are a few photos from the shower. Hope you enjoy!
The ladies behind it all! Thank you so much!
We had our second prenatal pediatrician consult this morning, and still have one more to go before we decide on a doctor for our little guy. Had a good doc appointment yesterday, and it looks like he is growing strong! Still working on “project nursery”, and think it’s going to take quite some time before it’s complete, so hopefully he continues to hang out inside for a little while before making his grand entrance.
