recap of 2012 - and what we hope 2013 brings

2012 is almost over and it has been one exciting year for us and for everyone in our life. So many new and exciting things have come our way this year - hopefully I can remember them all! There is so much to be thankful for, yet still room for improvement, and this post will encompass both - so we can remember the old times...and remember what Seth and I have said that we will do to make our life together even better than it is now.

We plan on celebrating New Year's Eve the same way we have for the last few years - with our closest friends. This year will be interesting as there are a few new additions to the group (but more on those cuties in a bit). Although life has been hectic lately (with those cuties I just mentioned), we always make time to celebrate the end of the last year and the beginning of a new year with our friends (more like family) and we cherish those moments. I hope that this is a tradition that can continue in years to come!

So here's my recap of our wonderful, exciting, surprise-filled year:

On this day last year, we found out that our good friends, Ashley and Trevor, were expecting their first baby! It was a moment I will never forget as we were at mine and Seth's house celebrating the new year - Ashley and Trevor were the first close friends that had become pregnant, and it started a whirlwind of hoping, wishing, and dreaming for us (and I think our other close friends too) that likely led to where we are now (expecting a little one of our own!).

(of course I don't have any photos from that night, so just imagine - Ashley pulls out a bottle of sparkling juice, girly screaming ensues, and man-shoulder-punching commences)

Even though Seth and I got married in October of 2011, we took our honeymoon in February of 2012 to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - with our good friends, Erich and Michelle. It was a blast! Seth and I are not the type of couple to spend the entire vacation in our room, we like to DO stuff, and we are VERY different people, so most of time doing stuff includes a struggle, as we don't want to do the same things (I know, I know - how do you guys even make it work blah blah blah - but it does work, better than anything, and our differences are what make us better for one another). So to solve this little problem, we took our friends with us and had the best vacation ever! While I love laying by the pool, sun-bathing and Seth would rather play in the pool or try his hand at beach volleyball, we now had a solution - personalized friends that could do our chosen activities with us (Michelle and I vegging out and drinking and the boys frolicking around the grounds, meeting new people, playing games and well, drinking). 

 

One of the best days was when Michelle and I got a couples' massage (on the beach - it was glorious) while the boys drove a dune buggy through the mountain villages. Although we spent a bit of time apart on our honeymoon, we also spent a lot of time together - Seth's first vacation (yes, I know!) was hopefully a memorable one.

Our vacation not only brought us a bit of sunshine during the cold month of February, it also brought us another little ray of sunshine - Michelle and Erich's exciting news - they were expecting a baby too (conceived on OUR honeymoon, funnily enough)! So many exciting things happening - and only in the first 3 months of the year! I remember when Michelle found out they were expecting too - it was St. Patrick's day and again, we were out with our closest friends - Ashley and Trevor and Erich and Michelle - and Michelle had mentioned that she wasn't really sure, but that her period might be late. Of course Ashley (the ever-prepared) had a lifetime supply of pregnancy tests left over and handed a bunch to Michelle...who called us in the morning with her exciting news! From what I hear, Ashley was screaming and excited at 7 in the morning. I, on the otherhand, was not expecting a 7 am phone call (and I wasn't really expecting Michelle to be pregnant) so my reaction was probably a little less than excited - if you call me at 7 am, I automatically assume there is a problem. But I WAS excited, even though my 7 am self did not seem so.

Earlier that same month, our friend Jackie and her fiance, Matt welcomed their first child into the world - Cameron! I was lucky enough to meet him when he was just 5 days old - and oh my is he a cutie! He will surely be a heartbreaker in a few years!

 

(Practicing being a mommy with my best girls - oddly enough, I don't have a photo of Jackie holding her own child...awkward)

Seth graduated with his Bachelor's degree in elementary education in the Spring - I am so proud of him! I don't have any photos of him walking because he would rather work (yes, I married a work-a-holic) - but believe me you - when he gets his Master's degree, he WILL be walking across that stage proudly. He is now (and has been) a substitute teacher at an elementary school that he loves - and is building connections daily, so we are hoping for a job opportunity to show up within the next year (fingers crossed).

At the end of July, Seth and I went on a family camping trip with the Ash side, up to my uncle's cabin on Lake Huron - it's a lovely little town with a beautiful view of the lake. We spent a long weekend there just hanging out with my family, riding the motorcycle around town, and playing drinking games with my sister and her boyfriend. 

 

And, of course, the week after drinking that entire bottle of delicious red moscato you see above, Seth and I got our own good news: WE ARE EXPECTING A BABY TOO!

 

We were both overwhelmed and ecstatic to find out that we would be holding our own little baby in April 2013! Right away, we started saving more money and preparing our small home to make room for baby. We couldn't be more excited to be parents - and to share the experience with our closest friends!

 On September 11, Jack - Ashley and Trevor's son - was born! We went to visit them in the hospital and couldn't be more happy for their little family! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit with them as much as I would like - busy schedules just don't seem to sync up too well - but that is one of my resolutions - to see my friends more often!

Quickly following Jack's birth came Dylan - Rob and Kelly's son. Then Grace was born - Erich and Michelle's little girl - on November 21. We saw them in the hospital too and we were thrilled to welcome her into the world - the little Mexican vacation souvenir haha. 

The week after Grace was born, Seth and I were in store for some more good news - my anatomy scan was coming up and we got to find out if our little baby was a boy or a girl!

And...

 

Much to my excitement (and Seth's guarded-excitement) we are expecting a little girl of our own! We couldn't be more excited, and since the hospital that my scan was at is directly across the street from Erich and Michelle's house, we went there first to visit and try our hands at being mommy and daddy to a girl.

Needless to say, we cannot wait to welcome Avery Rozz Stern into the world - she is already so loved that we cannot even imagine what it will be like when she is finally here to share our life with us. Her nursery is painted and she has a rocking start to her wardrobe, but there is still so much work to do. 

And this is where our new year's resolutions come in...

We would like to well, finish our daughter's nursery. Preferably BEFORE she arrives.

Organize our home to better accomodate our new life with baby.

Get rid of/donate as much as possible - we have a tendency to hang on to unneeded items for far too long. 

Start updating our own wardrobes to include less "stuff" - have less things by buying better quality items that will last longer.

Eat healthier.

Start walking and working out more often (hopefully on my maternity leave).

Do more things together - we need to get out more.

Spend more quality time together.

Keep the house cleaned and organized.

I'm sure there are many more things that we need to start doing - I just can't think of them right now. But, in proper wannabe fashion, I will most likely come up with 9,000,000,000 other things that I would like to do in 2013 (more crafty things, make more home cooked meals, bake more, make my own laundry detergent - see, I've already come up with some!).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  

 

 

the easiest damn truffle recipe ever. kinda.

Since I have yet another long weekend coming up (no-strings-attached, paid holidays, hell yes!), I thought I would slowly share our Christmas weekend activities with all y'all. 

Of course a nice long weekend doesn't come without a price, right? Even though my last post started off all "happy-happy-I'm-not-feeling-the-plague-that-wreaks-havoc-over-half-the-world-at-this-time-of-year," that was only Saturday morning. It's now the following Friday and I'm just starting to feel a tiny bit better after spending my holiday blowing my nose until there was no skin left on it and nearly coughing up my unborn child. Yeah, no fun.

So, sickness aside, our Christmas weekend was relaxing and filled with good food and laughs (except when the hubster left to go plow on Christmas eve and I had a hormone-induced breakdown...but that's a story better saved for another post).

Last Friday night, I went to my parents house (which is pretty much what I do every Friday, as the hubby works all night) and the ladies of the family baked and created some delicious treats that may or may not have been a good idea in the health department (by this I mean it was very, very bad in that department).

My mom made some yummy chocolate-covered pretzel sticks:

And my sister (advanced baker that she is) made sugar cookies, from a refrigerated roll:

That being said, I of course have a recipe for you!! Now, I'm sure that if you are a Pinterest fiend like myself, you have already seen and/or made this recipe yourself. But for the sake of documentation (and the fact that I have photos), I will now entertain you with the easiest, most devilishly delicious recipe ever created...

Oreo Truffles

1 pack cream cheese (we used that neufatchel cheese, or whatever its called, because it has like 1/3 of the fat content, but that doesn't make these any healthier, so don't kid yourselves, homies)

1 pack Oreos (we tried one batch with mint and one with regular...both were ah-maz-zing...so do what you want)

1 pack Baker's milk chocolate

Pretty little sprinkles (we used peppermint) for the topping

 

This is where my recipe begins to differ from all those simple ones out there - even though it seems simple enough, its not. Or maybe I'm just lacking in the truffling department.

1. Put the whole pack of Oreos in a gallon ziploc bag and crush up your cookies. I made my dad do this because he was there. And I'm lazy. Don't use a meat tenderizer mallet because it will rip the plastic bag and cookie crumbs will get all over. Trust me.

2. Use a food processor to further crumble the cookies. This I did and was really happy with the results...and fine dirt-like texture is what you are going for, not chunks of Oreo. 

3. This is where it gets...interesting. All of the original recipes say "oh, just throw the cream cheese and cookies together in the food processor and voila! you have truffles!" No. This is not true. I tried this and ended up with a block if cream cheese with cookie crumbs stuck to it. The solution: get your hands dirty! I poured all my shit in a bowl and kneaded that sum-bitch cream cheese with my cookie crumbs until everything was completely mixed together. Take that, truffles!

4. Next, you wanna get a baking pan (don't worry, you won't be using that oven!) and line it with wax or parchment paper. Roll that mofo mixture you just made into balls. Then pop 'em in the fridge for like 20 minutes I guess (obviously I took one glance at the recipe then never looked at it again, so if you were looking for a very detailed and accurate recipe, you should probably look elsewhere).

5. While your truffles are chillaxin', melt your chocolate. Don't use a microwave because that's lazy and you will burn your chocolate. Get your mom to put a pot of water on the stove and boil it with another pot resting on top that has the chocolate in it. Still lazy, but you won't burn that damn chocolate (did I mention that I love my parents?). 

6. Ok. Now here's the trickiest step of all. Again, I used my mom for this. If you were smart, you would get someone to do it for you too. Dip your cooled truffles into that hot, melty chocolate, then place them back on the pan to harden. 

 

 

7. Sprinkle those tasty devils with your choice of topping! I did this part because it was easy and fun. 

And now that I've made myself seem like a lazy, dumbass adult-child who uses her parents for food and completing simple tasks, I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it! 

bulking up baby

Last night, I went to bed feeling like absolute shit. I slathered Vicks Vapor Rub all over myself, took some Tylenol Cold, ate some gummy vitamin C's, and took some of this handy dandy stuff (recipe is on my instagram @heatherstern, or right in the photo if you can read it, and I may include it in a future post):   

always eat dessert first

I woke up this morning to not-so-nasty-second-day hair and a seemingly growing pile of snow outside so I decided, "what better way to start my morning than to not wash my hair, make a smoothie, and leave early for work so no dumbasses hit my car?"

 

So I didn't wash my hair.

 

And I made a smoothie.

 

And I left my house 5 minutes early.

 

But the point of this post is not my hair (which looks fab, by the way, in my voluminous messy bun) or my uneventful drive to work. Oh no. The point of this post is the fabulousness that was my smoothie.

 

So, not to toot my own horn, but I can make a mean smoothie. Well, a pretty nice and agreeable one. I post photos of my best ones on my Instagram (which is @heatherstern if you are at all interested), but I usually don't include an actual recipe...ingredients, yes. Measurements, no. Because I don't measure. But I'm going to work on this because I have a few friends that would love to replicate my blended cups of deliciousness.

 

Lately I've had a pretty intense sweet tooth, maybe because I'm pregnant, maybe because I just love things that have the potential to make me fat. Either way, sweet it is right now. So in order to satisfy the little dessert-loving demon inside me (yes, I sometimes call my unborn child a demon, and no, I do not feel bad. You gotta admit, a moving parasitic entity inside your belly is pretty demon-like, but I love her all the same), I created a healthy dessert-ish breakfast smoothie to end my tummy grumbles.

 

Totally Oats 'n Choco-Raspberry-licious Protein Smoothie

 

1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs vanilla protein powder
1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you prefer. I like unsweetened nut milks because otherwise I find my smoothies too sweet, and that's no good)

 

1. Grind up your oats in the blender first (or else you will give yourself a headache trying to suck giant oat clumps up a straw...trust me, no fun).

 

 

2. Add the raspberries to your ground oats. Sometimes I like to microwave my frozen fruit for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just so they will blend better...and because I'm too lazy to wait. So do what you want there, and blend those babies together!

 

 

3. Next, add your cocoa powder, protein powder, and milk. And blend, duh.

 

 

And you're done with your super-filling deliciously dessert-like breakfast smoothie.

Oh and if you don't have a cute, awesome single-serve blender like mine, you should totes get one!

 

confessions of a wannabe

i am a wannabe.

this is the first time i'm admitting this. to a computer. to the internet world. to myself. 

and this is the beginning of my account of being a wannabe...and being ok with that.

i wannabe:

super mom

a health nut

a work-out fiend

vegan/vegetarian

a people person

thrify...er

an extreme coupon user

a cook

a photographer

an archaeologist

a student

an organizing queen

a diy-er

a traveler

a trophy wife

a blogger

and so many other things.

sometimes i look at my friends and i wannabe them:

the crunchy/thrifty/informed super mom

the laid back home improving girl-next-door

the shopaholic traveler

the super-fit, single partier

the money-saving nurse

these women in my life are amazing...and as i look, i see myself in them, not in every part, but in some of the parts. the parts that fit into my life, the parts that make up who i am. but i'm not any of these women, i am:

a mom-to-be

a sometimes-health-conscious-but-extreme-junk-food-and-carb-lover

a run-three-days-in-a-row-then-give-upper

a 3 month vegan

an introvert

kinda thrifty...sometimes...if i try

a use-them-only-if-they-are-sent-to-me-in-the-mail coupon user

a cook-sometimes-if-i-feel-like-it-er

a pre-amateur photographer

a BS in anthropology with archaeological experience but no job in archaeology and no grad degree

a love-to-learner

an organizer of some things

an i-have-all-these-ideas-for-diy-er

a never-been-out-of-the-country-except-for-mexico-not-even-canada traveler

a wife

a blogger (with only one blog post)

and so many other things.

my life is clearly not perfect in any way...and that's what i love about it. i love being a wannabe - it makes me constantly try to better my life and learn things every day. it makes me feel like i have a hobby - even if it is only for a few months, weeks, or days.

so here is my account of being a wannabe. my take-it-as-it-comes life. the only one i have. 

i want this blog to be a record of the things i find that i am good at, bad at, the things i am proud of, my family, my friends, what i had for lunch. i want to be able to have people like me (the wannabe's) look at this blog and know that you don't need to be an all-around crafty/crunchy/fit/pro-photographer/traveler queen to have a full and happy life. 

you just gotta wannabe something.