Hat

I'm in love with Elle's new hat. My sweet friend Julie made it for her...I love talented and creative people. Homemade gifts are just the best!

swing

This is the best invention! We didn't use this with our son but our girl loves it!! Highly recommend it!

wharf

We spent the day on the SC Wharf on Sunday, having lunch and pretending to be a tourists...gorgeous day, here a few pic's!

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fact of the day

Americans consume 3 million pounds of antibiotics per year....how many pounds of year do we feed our live stock? 28 MILLION pounds!!!
(insane...and another reason to turn vegetarian, can I do it?)

mom entrepreneurs

I'm always facinated by moms who create successful businesses and love reading about them. Here's one I discovered today, heelarious which seems to be getting a lot of coverage..and what a cute idea for those of you who have baby girls and love heels!

money tree

Does anyone have a money tree? I have a wish list that is growing:
Diamond initial "E" pendant for Elle

King bed frame

Mac laptop (I've been taking a lot of pictures and LOVE my husbands Mac and the clarity that the pictures have on his computer) I've always been a PC user.

I promised myself I wouldn't buy anything until we paid off my car....ugg reality! Wish list will have to wait for a while....boring!

dairy, chocolate, spicy = baby spit up

The last few days Elle has been spitting up...I think I need to limit what I'm eating Booo hooo! Not sure what is irritating her but maybe the spicy soup I've been eating, or the charleston chews or my left over toffee from the holidays. The one good thing is maybe I'll lose my baby weight faster????

Chicken Tortilla Soup

With the birth of our little girl Elle lots of friends have been bringing us dinner as we settle into our new family of 4 now. Our friends Ben and Katie brought us this awesome Chicken Tortilla Soup (sorry vegans) which is just amazing! I made it last night and it is so easy and delish! The recipe actually came from an old co-worker (thanks Nini) of mine and she has amazing recipes on her website. Everyone should make this...especially during this weather!

Nini's Tortilla Soup*
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed*
1 Cup carrots, diced*
1 Cup celery, diced*
1 white onion, diced*
1/2 tsp. garlic powder*
1 tsp. salt*
1 tsp. black pepper*
2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil*
40 ozs. chicken broth (I use low sodium - 1 1/2 boxes, amount can vary upon how runny you like your soup)*
1 can whole kernel corn, drained*
1 can black beans, drained*
1 can diced tomatoes*
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilies (I use mild)*
1 1.25 oz. packet of normal taco seasoning*
5-6 corn tortillas, cut into small squares*
1 Cup of milk*
8 ozs. Monterey Jack cheese

Directions: Cook chicken, (either bake in oven for 35 minutes or boil for 10 minutes) and cube.In large soup pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Saute onion, carrots, celery, garlic powder, salt and pepper until tender (approx. 3-4 minutes).

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes, corn, black beans, taco seasoning and chicken.Cut corn tortillas into little squares and add to pot. Let boil/simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until tortillas are completely incorporated into soup (they will melt into the soup and thicken it up a bit). Stir occasionally to avoid sticking to the bottom. *For thicker soup add more tortillas*Reduce heat and add shredded cheese. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add milk and simmer for additional 10 minutes.Serve with sour cream, avocados, shredded cheese or broken up tortilla chips on top! ENJOY!

storage

For months now I've been thinking I need to buy a back drive for my computer because I would absolutely die if it crashed and I lost every picture, document and email that I keep. I've finally bit the bullet and after reading reviews bought the Seagate Go Drive...it's on the way! Can't wait because I still have my old computer from about 5 years ago with lots of pictures that I need to transfer also, then I can oficically get rid of it...finally!

Elle Emre

Here's a little pic of Elle on our pink paisley medallion blanket and her leg warmers :).

Elle Emre

Announcing the birth of Elle Emre...our newest Bundle employee :). Elle Emre came into the world on January 6th, 2010 at 2:07 am weighing 6lbs 3oz. Elle came really quick! My water broke at Midnight and she was born 2 hours later. We've had a bit of a rough start (she was in the NICU for 7 days) but now we are home and settling in! We are beyond excited and feel really lucky to have two kids now! Here are some pictures...more to come!

2010

Happy New Year Everyone!
Looking forward to a great year ahead and welcoming our baby girl soon..she should be arriving anyday now! Official due date is Jan 5th but she will probably be fashionably late like our first.

new office

The bundle is officially getting an office space! With our pending arrival (baby girl due on Jan 5th) and limited space in our little house we decided to build an office in our backyard. Most of my stock is in the garage right now so it will be so nice to have it all in one place...and a place where I can leave the sewing machine out and not have to put it away each time I use it....yeah! I have 3 really big windows to look out and I can't wait to set it up! Here is our work in progress.

no turkey

It's the first time I'll be hosting T-day and we've decided to have a non-traditional meal. It's unfortunate for tradition but I've never really liked the turkey meal. And after reading the latest information on Turkey it's probably a good thing (see below).

I've think I've come up with some good replacements, the verdict will be in tomorrow:

Cheese platter appetizer (smoked gouda, goat cheese, havarti with figs, pears & grapes)
Butternut Squash Lasagna (Squash from our garden)
Spinach salad w/red onions and pomegrante
Baked mashed potatoes (too sinful to divulge ingredients)
BBQ'd Tri-tip

Turkey Facts: More than 273 million turkeys are raised for food every year in the U.S.; about 79 million of them are slaughtered and eaten for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.(8,9) Before ending up as holiday centerpieces, these gentle birds spend five to six months on factory farms, where thousands of turkeys are packed into dark sheds with no more than 3.5 square feet of space per bird.(10) To keep the extremely crowded birds from scratching and pecking each other to death, workers cut off portions of the birds’ toes and upper beaks with hot blades and desnood the males (the snood is the flap of skin that runs from the beak to the chest).(11) No painkillers are used during these procedures.

Genetic manipulation and antibiotics enable farmers to produce heavily muscled birds who can weigh 35 pounds in as little as five months, and “their internal organs are noticeably crammed together in the little bit of space remaining for the body cavity,” according to The Washington Post.(12) An industry magazine said, “[T]urkey breeders have created birds with huge, unnatural, outsized breasts, since white breast meat is where the money is.”(13) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirms that the average turkey destined for today’s dinner table weighs a whopping 57 percent more than his or her peers did in 1965.(14) Factory-farmed turkeys are so large that they can barely walk, are unable to fly like their wild cousins, and cannot even engage in normal reproductive behavior, so all turkeys raised for food are conceived by artificial insemination.(15)
Millions of turkeys don’t even make it past their first few weeks before succumbing to “starve-out,” a stress-induced condition that causes young birds to simply stop eating.(16) Catching and transportation are particularly stressful processes for birds, yet they are repeatedly moved during their short lives—from the hatchery to the brooding area to the growing area and finally to the slaughterhouse.(17)
At the slaughterhouse, turkeys are hung upside down by their weak and crippled legs before their heads are dragged through an electrified “stunning tank,” which immobilizes the animals but does not kill them. Many birds dodge the tank and, therefore, are still conscious when their throats are cut. If the knife fails to properly cut the birds’ throats, they are scalded to death in boiling-hot defeathering tanks.
Investigations Reveal Intentional Cruelty
In 2006, undercover PETA investigators worked at a Butterball plant in Arkansas and observed that live birds were being slammed against transport trucks and walls, punched and kicked, hung by their broken legs, used as a punching bag, and even sexually assaulted. One worker was seen crushing a live turkey’s head under his shoe until her skull exploded, and another swung a bird against a handrail so hard that her spine was exposed. For more information about this investigation, please visit ButterballCruelty.com.

A PETA investigation of Minnesota-based Crestview Farm revealed that the farm’s manager repeatedly used a metal pipe to bludgeon 12-week-old turkeys who were lame, injured, ill, or otherwise unsuitable for slaughter and consumption. Injured birds were thrown onto piles of dead and dying birds, then tossed into a wheelbarrow for disposal. Birds who were overlooked were kicked or beaten with pliers or had their necks wrung—all in full view of other terrified birds. When the Minnesota Turkey Growers came to the defense of the farmer, the local district attorney refused to prosecute. More details and photos from this case are available at www.peta.org/feat/nc/case.html.

trunk show

On December 3rd I'm doing a trunk show at a friends house and decided that it's a good time to experiment with some new goods! I'm pregnant with a girl that will be arriving in about 6 weeks so I had some good inspiration. Here's a little sample..I have these in lots of different colors.

New Fabrics.....will be up on the site soon!

I've finally got it together and sent off my updates to my favorite web gal so hopefully you'll be seeing the new fabrics on the site soon! Below is a sneak peak!

new blanket fabrics

Alrighty people...my fabulous mom who helps me sew practically ALL of my blankets just made 25 new blankets and the GREAT news is most of them are new fabrics! My goal this weekend (even if it's halloween and the MIL is coming into town) is to take some pictures of them and get them posted on Facebook and my blog and also send them off to my favorite web gal to update my site! Happy Halloween!!!

science experiment

In light of my previous post I'm going to try and think positive about my health issues right now but it may be hard. Today I am 29 weeks pregnant, very excited about that but not so excited about the kidney stones and yeast that I've been passing through my system from my kidney. Very painful and not very pleasant while pregnant.

I had an ultrasound of my kidney and bladder today and they discovered that I have large amounts of yeast blocking my left kidney function. Fluid goes into the kidney then goes to the ureter which then goes to the bladder and out. As a result my kidney is inflamed and could stop the production of my kidney function....not good. So...next Tuesday I will be going in for them to put a stint in so the stones and yeast can pass through my system and not create blockage. Is that too much info? Not looking forwad to that but I'll do anything to break up my relationship with the heating pad I sit on every night. wish me luck..

food for thought

Growing Day by DayBecoming a Better Person:
At some point in our lives, many of us find ourselves overcome with the desire to become better people. While we are all uniquely capable of navigating this world, we may nonetheless feel driven to grow, expand, and change. This innate need for personal expansion can lead us down many paths as we develop within the context of our individual lives. Yet the initial steps that can put us on the road to evolution are not always clear. We understand that we want to be better but have no clear definition of “better.” To ease this often frustrating uncertainty, we can take small steps, keeping our own concept of growth in mind rather than allowing others to direct the course of our journey. And we should accept that change won’t happen overnight—we may not recognize the transformations taking place within us at first. Becoming a better person in your own eyes is a whole-life project, and thus you should focus your step-by-step efforts on multiple areas of your existence. Since you likely know innately which qualities you consider good, growing as an individual is simply a matter of making an effort to do good whenever possible. Respect should be a key element of your efforts. When you acknowledge that all people are deserving of compassion, consideration, and dignity, you are naturally more apt to treat them in the manner you yourself wish to be treated. You will intuitively become a more active listener, universally helpful, and truthful. Going the extra mile in all you do can also facilitate evolution. Approaching your everyday duties with an upbeat attitude and positive expectations can help you make the world a brighter, more cheerful place. Finally, coming to terms with your values and then abiding by them will enable you to introduce a new degree of integrity and dignity into your l! ife. As you endeavor to develop yourself further, you can take pride not only in your successes, but also in the fact that you are cultivating consciousness within yourself through your choices, actions, and behaviors. While you may never feel you have reached the pinnacles of awareness you hope to achieve, you can make the most of this creative process of transformation. Becoming a better person is your choice and is a natural progression in your journey of self-awareness.

piggy paint

I'm always facinated by reading about moms who come up with a great product and filling a need! Check out piggy paint! Enviromentally friendly and so fun for girls!