Since getting the camera yesterday, I've been wanting to try out another recipe from the cookbook my mom compiled. My goal is to make and photograph as many of these recipes as possible because I'm hoping to reformat the recipe book with juicy photos. I have taken some photos, but they were with my old camera, and some of them didn't turn out as great or as appetizing as I had hoped. So, I think I may have to make/photograph some of the recipes twice. I'm pretty sure Chris won't mind. This afternoon I decided, at the last minute while grabbing groceries for something else, to make Asian Lettuce Wraps. I love this recipe because it's so filling, and yet so refreshing, a perfect summer food. In fact, I don't think my mom makes this in the winter, so I really only have summer memories of this food. It has something to do with the crisp, cool iceberg lettuce. Maybe I like it so much because last weekend it got up to 90 degrees in our apartment, and I was craving nothing but iceberg lettuce. Strange, I know. Basically this is the PF Chang's lettuce wraps recipe, I believe. I think my mom found it somewhere in the Deseret News a while ago. It's really easy, fairly fast, and a fabulous finger food. By the time we finished eating them last night, my plate, face and belly were covered with food. I'm a messy eater I guess! Here's the recipe. . .

SPICY ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed 1 lb. pkg Green Giant Frozen LoMein Stir Fry 2 T. chili-garlic sauce 2 T. soy sauce 3 T. oil                                          1/3 c. peanuts, chopped 2 garlic cloves, miced                1/4 c. green onions, chopped 1 T. sugar                                     2 T. finely chopped cilantro 2 T. peanut butter 2 T. water 8 lg. leaves Bibb lettuce 1 1/2 c. grated carrots Cook chicken in oil, add stir fry, then sauces, garlic, sugar, peanut butter and water. Mix remaining ingredients and place in lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.

YAY!!! It finally came! Chris and I got our new camera this afternoon! Waiting for it to come in the mail was like waiting for Christmas; it seemed to take forever!!!! I was really anxious to start using it as soon as I got it out of the box. Here are a couple photos that I took just messing around with the automatic setting. .  .  . .  .  . I didn't waste any time this afternoon and read the user's guide. I have figured out how to use the aperture and shutter priority settings as well as the manual settings. I'm really excited to start playing around with depth of field and exposure times. Chris and I have had a lot of fun this evening just playing around with our new toy. It's getting me really excited to have a cute little subject to photograph in a couple weeks!! There's just no comparing this camera to my old one. I just can't even begin to describe the bliss of using a nice digital SLR! I didn't even have to spend any time (other than downsizing the large file) in Photoshop to touch up the photos!! Oh, this just gets me so excited to go out and take pictures of everything and anything.

Recently I've been obsessed with the Design*Sponge website. I seriously read it as often as I can, it is such a great website for DIY ideas and Before & After Projects. Once a week the website highlights one or two homes that have incredible design. I like it a lot, mostly because I can relate to the style of the decor and because it links to various projects to beautify your home. This morning while I was browsing the website, I noticed that Grace had posted several Before & After chair projects. They are all so inspiring, and many of them (the wing-back chairs especially) are above my skill level. Maybe someday I'll be good at reupholstering complicated furniture, but for now I will stick to the simple stuff. It's kind of funny that Grace decided to post all of the chair ideas today, because yesterday I did my own little Before & After chair project. I guess chair reupholstering is in the air. Here is my Before and After....

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I like how the after picture turned out more than the before picture (obviously). The reason why I reupholstered this perfectly functional ikea desk chair is because it's too hard. I'm sitting on the computer (pathetically enough) a large part of the day, and my pregnant behind aches after sitting in it for 15 minutes. So, I just added on some high density foam–left over from Nelly P's crib mattress–and stapled on a new cover. The fabric was found at the Fabrix and More distribution a couple of months ago. So, this project was very 'green', I recycled fabric and high density foam that otherwise would have been thrown away. No more sore behind for this pregnant girl!!

NESTING!! I'm going crazy with nesting! So many things to do and so little time. Seriously, who knows if she'll make her debut in a week, or in 3?!? AH! OH well, if stuff just doesn't get done, it doesn't get done! We move on, right? Maybe you could say I'm just going a little crazy. Chris will agree with that, I know. He's just been so patient with me during the whole pregnancy, he should get an award or something. Well, I've got a few projects stewing in our basement (aka garage). Only a few of which have had the privilege to see completion. A couple of months ago, my friend Carrie sent me a link to a really awesome tutorial. I've been meaning to try out Brooklyn Bean's smocked dress tutorial for ages now, and finally I got around to doing it!! YAY! So, I didn't know what the term smocking was until 5 or 6 months ago (embarrassing? yes) and I didn't know until just a couple of months ago that you can do it on a standard sewing machine. Hand sewing can be a little tedious sometimes. The totally cute dress you see below, took me a total of 40 minutes, thank goodness for electric sewing machines. I think it would've taken me less time if my sewing machine didn't keep breaking the thread.

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Now that I am comfortable with machine smocking, I've been daydreaming non-stop about the different ways I could incorporate machine smocking. All of my ideas involve some sort of outfit where I'd have to have a waist instead of a large belly. It might be a few months before any of those projects happen. here are a couple of dress drawings...

Just recently we had a party for one of our friends, who has now moved away. It was really so sad to see Jen and her family leave. They're going on to do bigger and better things. So everyone thought it a great idea to make a book and have everybody sign it, write a little note etc. It turned out really cute. I've had the cover paper for over a year, and haven't known what to do with it. I just love the birds mixed with the postage, it just screams Jen. We're all going to miss her terribly.

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