Oh Baby!

Well hello there! First, let me wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I have missed blogging oh so much! I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post. Let me catch you up real quick...

Besides the chaos of all the holidays and raising a family of three boys (not to mention we are in the middle of selling our home), I found out in September that I am expecting baby #4!!! While this is very exciting news, it brings with it months and months of sickness for me. I (unfortunately) am not one of those women that feels fantastic while pregnant, and I actually struggle with what I call "all-day sickness" for 5-9 months during my pregnancies. Hence my absence!

The good news is that my fifth month is here, and I am finally getting some relief. Hopefully I will be back to my usual blogging self soon as I sort through life and reestablish my schedule.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2011 brings with it many blessings in your life! God bless and take care! I'll be back soon.

Recipe: Amber's Pasta Salad

Happy Labor Day! I hope you have fun plans to celebrate. My family is heading over to a friend's house for a BBQ. It is pot-luck style, so I signed up to bring a yummy pasta salad.

Pasta salad is so easy to make and there are a million different recipes out there. Today I'm going to share my own personal recipe. It's fast, easy and we usually have all the ingredients on hand at our house to whip up this tasty colorful salad. Hope you like it!

Amber's Pasta Salad

1 lb. Mini-Farfalle (Bowtie) Pasta (You can also use colorful rotini, small shells or mini penne)
1 cup of Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (I use Newman's Own Light Balsamic)
1 Cucumber chopped
2 Large Bell Peppers (1 yellow and 1 orange) chopped
2 Stalks of Celery chopped
1 Cup of Tomatoes chopped (I use cherry or any small tomatoes)
4 oz. of Feta Cheese

Boil pasta as directed and drain. In a large bowl mix pasta and vinaigrette dressing. Put in refrigerator to cool. Once cooled add cucumber, bell pepper, celery and tomato. Toss salad together until evenly mixed. Add feta cheese and toss lightly. Cover and chill for 30 minutes before serving.

Serve and enjoy!

P.S.-This is a great recipe to make ahead of time (even the day before). My only recommendation if making ahead is to not add the tomatoes (they will get mushy), and stir the feta in right before serving (or you can serve the feta to the side as a topping).

Commercial Fun!

You've heard me say this before, but if you haven't joined some sort of local moms group, you really should! I have the joy of being a part of the leadership "steering" team of my local MOPS group this year, and it is an absolute blast! I have met so many amazing women who encourage my heart on a daily basis. New friendships are blooming, older friendships are becoming stronger, and I am becoming a better woman by having these incredible ladies in my life!

My role this year in MOPS is Publicity. Basically, my job is to get the word out marketing our group and keep up our communication through Facebook pages and our monthly newsletter.

My first project was creating a promo commercial for our church to attract new moms to our MOPS group. This was SO MUCH FUN! My husband happens to be the Director of Communications at our church, so he has the much needed skills we used to film and edit the video. I wrote and directed the piece, and my husband worked his magic to bring us the finished product. We filmed all of the video on my handy dandy camera that I mentioned in my previous blog post. I know...it does video too!!! So cool! I have always had an interest in film (yet another creative outlet for me!), so this is something I am planning to learn a lot more about. My husband is up to the challenge of teaching me his mad skills, so we have decided to start working on more projects together. It's been fun sharing something that we both have a love for, and it turns out that we make a great team!

I also have to point out that the super great music on this commercial was written and produced by T.J. Hill of Future of Forestry who is by far the most talented musician I have ever met! Check out his blog/music here.

Here is the commercial that we produced. Hope you like it!

Finally, Photography!

First off, OH MY GOODNESS! Did I seriously let a whole month go by without blogging?! So sorry for my absence. Between my son starting kindergarten and me taking on the role of Room Rep, my responsibilities as Publicity girl for my local MOPS group, and of course, the daily grind of raising three crazy little boys, I guess I got a little busy!

The good news is I am SO excited about life right now! I finally saved up enough money to buy my camera, a Canon Rebel T1i. Wu-hoo! I absolutely love it and have been practicing on anyone I can get my lens on.

I have an engagement session, some family/kid sessions and a wedding (as a second shooter) coming up, so I will be sure to post things as I go. There is so much information out there to learn, and I am a sponge right now trying to suck it all up.

I recently was able to go along on a family session with my very talented photographer friend, Stephanie Morgan, who has been teaching me so many amazing tricks and tips. Thanks Steph! This is one of the sweetest families I know. These little kiddos also go to one of the schools I substitute teach at, so I get to see their fun little faces fairly often. Here are some of my favorites from the session...

I still have a long way to go, but if there is one thing I've learned so far in photography it's that lighting is everything!!! I love working with kids because they are so fun and exciting, and let's be honest, they are just plain CUTE! I also love vibrant colors which I'm learning is part of my personality coming through in my photos.

I hope you like these! I am still in learning mode and am looking for people to practice on, so if you live in the Bay Area and are interested in being in front of the lens just let me know!

Recipe: Easy Chicken Tetrazzini

I'm always looking for easy meals to throw together that are filling and easy on the budget. I used to use Giada De Laurentiis recipe which is delicious if you want to try it, but it takes too much time if you're in a pinch, and the ingredients for the sauce can be pricey. I revised the recipe to fit my hectic and budget friendly lifestyle, so here is my version.

Recipe: Easy Chicken Tetrazzini

12 oz. of pasta (I use rotini)

8 chicken tenderloins or 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch slices

8 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms

1/2 small onion chopped

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup frozen peas

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

bread crumbs (optional)

salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta as directed. Drain and place in a large bowl. Lightly season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add olive oil to a frying pan and cook chicken over medium heat until cooked through turning once. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to pasta. Add butter to frying pan. Once melted, add onions and mushrooms and saute until they give off their liquid (they should be a golden brown). Add white wine and peas to pan. Simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add mushroom mixture to pasta. Pour alfredo sauce over pasta. Add milk to sauce jar and place lid back on jar. Give it a good shake to get all of the leftover sauce mixed in with the milk then add to pasta. Add cheese and parsley to pasta and mix everything together. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Pour pasta mix into a large glass pyrex dish (9x13 works fine). Sprinkle top with bread crumbs. Bake for 15-20 minutes until heated through.

Hope you enjoy!

Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me

It's rare that I read a book that literally changes the way I see the world and in turn changes my life. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore did just that. A true story of two men and a woman who's lives weave together in a beautiful braid strong with unconditional love, strength, faith and friendship, this story brings both laughter and many tears (don't forget your tissues).

Denver Moore, a modern-day slave, grew up on a cotton plantation in Louisiana, unaware of the modern world of civil rights swirling just outside his grasp. The phonetical writing of his deep Southern accent dance off the pages as you hear his voice telling the story of his childhood, loss, loneliness, homelessness, faith and his encounter with Ron and Debbie Hall which results in a life-changing friendship.

Ron Hall, an extremely wealthy international art dealer, grew up in a lower-middle class section of Fort Worth, Texas, and spent many summers on his grandparents farm in Corsicana during the 1950's. He often worked the fields on the farm with "colored folks" and noticed that they were treated differently, but never gave it much thought. During his college years he set out to find a gorgeous "rich girl," but instead fell in love with his friend, Debbie, a very pretty brunette on an academic scholarship.

Debbie Hall grew up in a small town in West Texas. A shy bookworm next to her two gorgeous sisters, Debbie had a good sense of humor and a spunky determined spirit. Her faith and desire to do God's will strikes passion into your heart as you hear her story of compassion and love told by these two men who are forever changed by her.

Their three lives collide at The Union Gospel Mission where this amazing story of unconditional love, friendship, faith and Divine intervention takes place. Lives are changed, hope and passion are set ablaze and God is glorified.

This book is full of wisdom and makes you look hard at your own life to break down prejudices of all kinds, insecurities, judgements and fears you may have, and in the end helps you to see people as God sees them and love them where they're at.

I highly recommend reading this book! You'll be glad you did.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review.

Woodland Theme Baby Shower

Sweet little Levi is a beautiful miracle! Without going into too many details, we'll just say that the pregnancy and delivery of this cute little guy had both his and his mother's lives at risk. Prayers of thousands wrapped around their sweet family, and I'm happy to say that mother and son are happy and healthy!

I was so honored to be a part of their baby shower celebrating a glowing new mom and her healthy premie boy.

His mommy, Melissa, loves the outdoors and chose a woodland themed nursery. The shower was a beautiful representation of the great outdoors with pine trees, bird houses, pine cones and woodland creatures peeking through little details here and there. I had so much fun making a cake to match the fun decor!

This cake took forever, but was worth all the effort. Unfortunately my bottom tier dowels gave way (one of a baker's worst nightmares), but it actually worked with the cake. Because of the woodland theme, the bottom layer took on a mountainous look. Though the bottom cake was "condensed" it still tasted yummy!

I used homemade marshmallow fondant for most of the cake except for the grass which is buttercream. The brown fondant is chocolate and was achieved by adding cocoa powder to the melted marshmallows before kneading in the powdered sugar.

A circle of pine trees adorned the middle tier along with some fun woodland creatures...a bunny, bear and raccoon. The top tier featured "LEVI" in fun lettering cutouts and was topped with a baby boy in a pom-pom beanie with pacifier and blanket featuring a little turtle on top.

I'm so excited for my dear friends Tyler and Melissa as they are adjusting to life as parents. And, of course, I love holding little Levi to get my "baby fix." I love you guys! Congratulations!

Photography by Stephanie Morgan Photography.