looking forward to a low key weekend, just me and my girl, while B is on a canoe trip

craving all things Fall, hence buying & dressing in sweaters for freezing office temperatures

reading about The Fertility Diet. it's not too different to how I currently eat, so it can't hurt right? if it doesn't happen this month I may give this a shot...

1. Since B was off yesterday, he cooked me dinner! We had zucchini noodle pad thai and he made it extra spicy for me. I should relish control more often in the kitchen ;) 

2. We also booked our all of our flights for our anniversary trip in October. We haven't been on a "big" vacation (week long, out of state, not family-related, JUST US) since our honeymoon so I cannot wait! We already had Dallas on the roster for a family wedding so we tacked on Nashville the week prior. It was between Nashville and New Orleans but depending on the state of pregnancy (or not) we chose to go with the more mellow city. Plus, his Uncle has a house and spare car in Nashville so free room and travel!

Time to make my Pinterest travel board...

Where to start? It's July 13th, we're in our third month of trying and Hell, if it isn't emotionally draining. July 4th marked a meltdown of sorts. My pregnant sister-in-law, best friend and confidant consoling me as I threw the pregnancy tests back into my bag and reached for a tampon. This was going to be the month! We could have told everyone while we were all together!  I tend to do this - build things up in my head. She, like everyone else, doesn't know what to say and knows even better to not say the cliche things. Since then, I've regrouped, as I've done every month since we started, telling myself to relax and enjoy the process.

This month feels really good so far. I made a pact with myself to abstain from coffee and alcohol until my birthday (possibly indefinitely...?) and it's been helping with my sleep and mood tremendously. It's also been forcing me to deal with my emotions a lot more and not just rush through the days and weeks. I've been finding myself feeling grateful for little things every day and I've had a lot more energy. I guess I didn't realize how much I was relying on coffee to wake me up and get me through the day and then a drink to help me unwind after. It feels good to just flow through the days naturally and did I mention -- sleep has been amazing? A big thing that spurred this decision was knowing that when I do get pregnant I'm going to have to completely cut out alcohol and limit caffeine. Being an all or nothing person, I'd rather not be suffering from caffeine withdrawal when I'm trying to enjoy the news of being pregnant and I also feel like getting used to booze free socializing earlier on will help too. 

This week we don't have a ton going on. Ben was off work at a golf tournament with his brother and dad today so he got to get some things done around the house this morning, including prepping dinner, so I'm looking forward to getting some household stuff done around the house tonight. I've been playing around with the idea of turning our spare room into a makeshift art/craft room for myself. Nothing permanent like bookshelves and painting, but just a space I can hang out in on the weekends when I get the DIY bug. 

It's technically our Thursday because we have off on Friday, which sort of makes this even lazier of me, but I wanted to post some pictures of our time down at the shore last weekend. It was just me, B, Ivy and his dad and despite the insane storms we had, we were still able to get out on the boat for a little, if only to fuel up for this upcoming holiday weekend. It's going to be a full house with all us kids and dogs going down this upcoming weekend but it's always such a blast when we're all together. I can't wait! How is it already July?!

This is a recipe from the author of my current cookbook obsession: A Kitchen in France (recipe here on her blog). Her book is organized by season, which I love, because I try and cook as in season as possible. The window for zucchini blossoms is short and with the storm that rolled in last night, I rushed to pluck these off the plants before they got demolished by the wind and rain. See my modified recipe below!

not the most appetizing picture in the world...but so delicious! and I had to taste-test one of course ;)

Ingredients: 

• 5 zucchini flowers, stamens removed 
• 1-1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp each salt and pepper 
• 1 can of cold beer (add in 1/2 cup increments)
• 5 pieces of cheese, cut to size (I used local Farmer's cheese)
• 5 pieces of sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• oil for frying

Directions: 

• Heat oil in a fry pan
• While the oil is getting hot, remove the stamens from the flowers, rinse and pat dry
• Mix together the flour and seasonings and then add in the beer, 1/2 cup at a time until it forms a sticky batter.
• Stuff the flowers with the cheese and tomato, dip into the batter and then carefully drop into the oil. Cook, turning over, until golden brown.
• Rest on a paper towel to remove excess oil and serve immediately.

Our herbs, zucchini and pickling cucumbers are already coming in fast so I'm thinking of doing a garden recipe series featuring what's in season and how we're incorporating them into our meals. How is it almost July already?!

One of my favorite traditions at the beginning of summer is our annual mother's day brunch and father's day picnic. I've said this before, but I'm so lucky to have married into such a big family. I get not one, but two sets of in-laws and our best friends also happen to be our brother and sister-in-law.

Kulp get togethers wouldn't be right without our forced pictures haha it's become another tradition of Jen and mine to make everyone take nice family pictures ;) Happy Father's Day!

Oh my gosh, we made it to Friday! I don't know why or how but we stayed up late like every night this week and by the time yesterday rolled around I was so exhausted. This meal put me into bed at an early hour last night and now I'm ready for our super busy weekend! Happy Friday!

Ingredients (~4 servings):

• 25-30 scallops
• 4 T butter, divided  
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup clam juice 
• 2-3 T cornstarch 
• juice of 1 lemon, plus more for garnish 
• 10 oz whole wheat angel hair pasta
• 2 T capers
• handful of parsley, chopped  

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 250 degrees,
• Boil your pasta as directed. Drain and set aside once done cooking.
• Melt 2 T butter in a cast iron pan. Toss in your scallops and cook on all sides, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Once seared, take them out and put in the oven to keep warm.
• Add in additional butter and garlic to pan. Cook garlic until fragrant (2 minutes)
• Whisk in corn starch to make a roux. 
• Whisk in clam juice, lemon juice and white wine.
• Mix in pasta, continuously stirring to coat.
• Once all the liquid is absorbed, dish out pasta, top with scallops, capers and parsley and serve!