A Paula Deen Christmas, ya’ll.

So, I haven’t been baking much. In fact, just this week I used my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer for the first time since moving (8 months ago) to our new house. Sad. But, I’m starting to get the hang of this parenting thing (ha!) and learning how to better use my time. So, we invited our sweet friends Erin and Reed over for dinner one night and looked through my cookbooks for an easy dessert recipe. I found this one and it was DELICIOUS. It reminded me of a dessert we had at FIG in Charleston, so instead of the butterscotch whipped cream that Paula makes, I made a salted caramel sauce for it. Holy yum. So amazing.

Paula Deen’s Chocolate Custard

• 1 cup (6-ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, I used Ghirardelli
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch salt, I used sea salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Put the chocolate chips in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring the cream and milk to a light boil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Whisking constantly, temper the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Stain the custard through a fine mesh sieve and divide it among the ramekins.

Put the ramekins in a large roasting pan. Carefully pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan tightly with foil; poke a few small holes in the foil for steam to escape. Bake on the center rack of the oven until the edges of the custard are slightly set but the center still jiggles (the center will set as the pudding cools), about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and allow them to cool completely. Cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Just follow this link and have your computer up while making it. It’s awesome. And so easy.

I topped them with a sprinkle of extra sea salt and holy cow. Delicious. Sorry I don’t have any pictures. In exchange, you can have this…

I made the custards again for our family Christmas dinner at my parent’s house. Little did I know that it would turn into a wonderful dinner with family and dear friends…and three bottles of Silver Oak. It was a great night.

Like the past several years,we’ve eat a prime rib, which Lane cooks. This year’s recipe (Thomas Keller’s) called for a blow torch. (Just an excuse for Lane to buy one, I think!) but it was super yummy.

So, this Christmas, I am beyond blessed with an incredible husband, happy baby, generous parents and the best friends a girl could ask for. Merry, merry to everyone.

…..

there’s not a title for this post. it’s just one I need to write for myself. a journal entry, if you will.

my heart literally aches. I’ve always considered myself a compassionate person. even before having wright. I don’t think you can be a junior high teacher without compassion. however, when you become a parent, it seems that your level of compassion exponentially grows. you now see everyone as someone’s child. you see the innocence of children so much more clearly.

as I had the TV on the news today, watching the tragedy in Connecticut unfold, I bawled. there were parents that rushed to their child’s school to pick them up because of this horrible tragedy. And one by one, classes were released. I can’t imagine waiting to see your child walk through a door after something like this. the panic, fear, and anticipation would be enough to send me into a nervous breakdown. except, there are some parents that will never see their child again.

as I rocked wright to sleep tonight, I again bawled. even though today was tough to be his mom…he was fussy, woke up screaming after we put him to sleep, and cried during our entire trip to the mall, I praised God. I will take a fussy day every. single. day. if it means I get to hold my child. my sweet innocent child.

lane and I are currently watching the disney channel. we can’t take watching the news. it is heart breaking. all I can do is pray. pray for every single person involved in this. the parents, grandparents, siblings, husbands, wives, children of those who lost their lives. for the first responders who will have images in their heads of a horrific scene that will probably haunt them for the rest of their lives. for children everywhere who are scared to go to school. for our political leaders as tough conversations are about to be had. for my sweet child, that he never, ever, ever experiences the fear or sadness that surrounds the Newtown community after this tragic event.

Santa?!? I know him!

This was a moment I was waiting a long time for. I built it up in my head to probably be bigger than it actually was, but we LOVE Christmas around here. I did lots of research on which Santa would be best for us. Galleria? Northpark? Stonebriar? We ended up going to Neiman Marcus downtown. I just love that place. Well, I love any Neimans, but the one downtown is especially my favorite.

There was no line and, even though it was nap time, Wright was super cute. Our pediatrician looks a little like Santa with a white beard and W always cries when he holds him, so I was worried about Santa. But, as you can see, Wright LOVED him!

He was just in awe of him. Which I love. Santa will  be a tradition in our family and I want Wright to have the same affection for him that we do.

While this year is special because it’s W’s first Christmas, I’m really excited about the future times when he can understand not only about Santa, but about God’s love for us that he sent Jesus to live and die for us.

We also have a tradition of decorating our house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. We put our tree up and watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This year was especially wonderful. We’ve had to be really tight with our budget the past couple years as Lane has started his business, and while this year we still are definitely on a budget, we were able to celebrate Lane’s hard work and just the year that we’ve had. We celebrated with two bottles of our favorite wine, Silver Oak. Unfortunately, when you celebrate with two bottles of wine and decorate your tree at the same time, things are sacrificed. The bottom of the tree looks FABULOUS as far as lights are concerned. Sadly, I ran out of lights and literally threw the remaining strand of 50 on the top portion of the tree. Oops.

I love the reflection of tree in our french doors. Love our house. Love Christmas. Love my little boy and my amazing husband.

Merry Christmas from the Allens!

(Thanks to Joe Berry for taking our pictures. We are so thankful for friends with amazing talents!)

a looooonnng post.

don’t say you weren’t warned.

Today is Thanksgiving and I’ll be the cliché and just make this post about what I’m thankful for…which will also tell you what we’ve been up to for the past 6 months…

I am thankful for Wright Truman Allen.

So, I have a kid now. I know, right? Not only do I have a kid, but I have a 5 1/2 month old chub of baby! He’s the most wonderful thing in the world as far as I’m concerned! We are smitten beyond belief. I don’t really know what I did with my time before having him, but give me an hour now, and I’ll get some major things accomplished.

The Birth Story

I’ll try to give you the cliff’s notes version…On Wednesday, June 6th, I was chilling on the couch. I was having contractions, but that was fairly normal and didn’t think much about it until they started getting pretty close together and I started having to breathe through them. I figured I was just having Braxton Hicks, and knew if I called they would tell me to drink water and lay down, but went ahead and called anyway. When the on-call Dr. called me back I explained what was happening and he advised me to come on in. Holy crap. Are you kidding me? I hadn’t planned for this. If you know me, you know I’m a planner and going into labor wasn’t part of the plan. My c-section was scheduled for the following Tuesday, darn it! So, I tell Lane, who had a few cocktails and was grilling burgers. He scarfed down his burger and threw a bunch of random things in a bag (clearly my bag was packed and the check-list was completed).

So, we hopped in the car and drove the 30 minutes to the hospital and I was apologizing the whole way. I knew they were going to take one look at me and send me home. When we arrived I was shaking because I was so scared. I apologized to the nurses for wasting their time. We got into a room and they hooked me up to confirm that I was indeed having contractions and had begun to dilate. Holy crap. I’m having a baby. Sweet Lane prayed for us and we decided not to tell our parents until we knew what was really going on. So, fast forward about 4 hours….My labor had stopped progressing, however, my blood pressure had a different idea. Every time it took my pressure, the alarm went off. It just kept rising and rising. Thus, we were stuck in the hospital. I was kept over night for observation with the intention of delivering the next day, Thursday. Well, wouldn’t you know that my OB/GYN (whom I’m obsessed with, by the way) is off on Thursdays. AND, the on-call Dr. is the one dr. in the practice that we just didn’t like. So, being the huge brat that I am, I begged for them to let me go home on bed rest and come back the next day, when my dr. was available. Somehow, they agreed. (There were some WONDERFUL L&D nurses that night whom I can thank for taking my side…they didn’t like the on-call dr. either!) So, home we went, where I stayed in bed and prepared my mind for having a baby the next day. It’s amazing how that 24 hours really helped us get things settled, including our heads and hearts.

38 weeks, 6 days pregnant. Headed to the hospital!

Our last picture as a family of two.

So, Friday morning, I waltz into L&D feeling great. We were prepared and all was going according to plan. My parents met us in the OR triage room, where again my blood pressure was sky rocketing. The triage nurse looked at me and said, “We gotta go!” So off we went. It was a little scary being rolled into the OR. Actually, I walked into the OR. I met the anesthesiologist and joked around with the assisting surgeon. The entire atmosphere, while utterly sterile, was fun. Yep. I said it was fun.  The anesthesiologist was one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. She was so nice and sweet and described everything she was doing. I was more scared about the epidural than the surgery, to be honest. Since Lane couldn’t be in there during this, I was thankful to have a sweet nurse to hold on to. Soon enough, my Dr. came in, and we all sang “I’m sexy and I know it!” and Lane was brought in soon after. Before we knew it, the surgery had begun. The entire time, we were all laughing and telling stories and jokes, which, oddly enough, was exactly what I needed. If it had been a quiet, dull, typical operating room, I would have panicked.

13 minutes in, I remember seeing my body pulled around (My Dr. told the assisting surgeon that his grandmother could pull harder and to keep pulling!) and a few second later I heard the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard…Wright’s wailing cry! He was perfect. He had so much hair that Dr. G gave him a mokawk. We were able to see him and very quickly hold him. It was such a wonderful time in our lives.

Our first picture as a family of three!

His sweet SCREAM and the mohawk. My perfect baby.

I’ll fast forward to say that I am beyond blessed to have had such an easy recovery and a wonderful experience. Plano Presbyterian Hospital is incredible and the nurses were wonderful. We were there for 3 nights and having nothing but amazing things to say about our experience.

So, life at home with a newborn was a little crazy. I cried every day for the first 2 weeks. Most of the time I was crying about absolutely nothing. My sweet husband put up with it and was wonderful. He deserves and extra jewel in his crown for those two weeks! But, something kicked in at 2 weeks and it was all ok. I guess it was that motherly instinct. I don’t know. Of course I still question things and freak out, but we just take it all in stride and learn as we go. We are also incredibly blessed with a very, very good baby. He really only cries if he’s sleepy or hungry. Which, Mr. Chubs, as I like to call him, is hungry quite a lot! My sweet boy is growing and growing. We are beyond obsessed with him. I’m pretty sure he’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen…and I’m not biased at all. I do, however, understand what all of my mom friends have said…Time flies. Literally. I can’t believe he’ll be 6 months old in a few weeks. SLOOOOOWWWW DOOOOWWWWWNNN.

 

I am thankful for my new job.

I am beyond thankful that I am able to stay at home with Wright. After a lot of thought and prayer, Lane and I made the decision that I should be home with the baby, but I still needed some sort of income. Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to work as an account executive at a small, yet incredibly amazing, promotional products company. I am so, so thankful for my best friend Erin’s dad for connecting me with this opportunity. My bosses are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and they have invested in me and I hope I can be successful for them. So, if you know anyone needing any branded items, I’m your girl!! (wink, wink!)I am still trying to figure it all out and learning something new every day, but I love it. I love that I can be creative and meet with people. I love that every day is different. And I especially love that I work from home. It’s hard. Don’t get me wrong. I am full time mommy, full time wife, and full-ish time employee, but I love it. I love experiencing every second of Wright’s day with him…and Lane! We both work from home and value the chance to see him learn and grow every single day.

www.ideasnmotion.com

I am thankful for our new house.

Yay! Freaking finally. Our old house, while quaint and charming for the three years we lived there, got very small and old when we were expecting a child. There was no way we were going to make  a 70 year old, 1200 sq. ft, no dishwasher, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom house work with a newborn. That little house was great to us for the first part of our marriage and we certainly loved the location, but it was time to move on. The perk of your husband being a realtor is that we looked at LOTS of houses and did LOTS of research on what areas we wanted to live in. After one failed contract on a house that needed complete renovation in the 6 weeks before the baby came (Amen to that falling through!!!!), we found our current home and fell in love. Well, it wasn’t really love at first sight… we went into the house planning all of the things we would do to change it. But, we loved the neighborhood, the quiet street and the huge lot. While the progress to change the house has been slow, we truly love it. We love that it’s ours and that we have TWO bathrooms and..wait for it.. A BUILT IN DISHWASHER! It’s life-changing. We’re positive our marriage will last because we made it three years in our old house.

No pictures yet. It still needs lots of love…

I am thankful for my late father-in-law.

Four weeks after Wright was born, we got a phone call that I’ll never forget. Lane’s dad had died suddenly. It was devastating. My heart aches every day over his loss. But, as heartbroken as we are, it’s incredible to see God’s faithfulness and love through his death. We were able to spend several weeks with Roger before Wright was born (which we wouldn’t been able to do had we not just moved and had I not been pregnant). He came to our new house before we moved in and did lots of projects for us. It’s fun to see a little bit of him around our house as we live our daily lives. My favorite thing in the nursery is a giant wooden monogram that Roger made. He also got to meet Wright, which was one of his biggest “goals”…to have a grandchild. I praise God for the time we got to spend with him. He truly was one of the best, most loving, genuine, smartest men I knew. I can still hear his chuckle and it makes me chuckle. I am thankful that Lane has SO many of his father’s qualities. He is an incredible father and I know it’s because of the example his father set before him.

2012. You’ve rocked our world in so many ways. But I am so thankful. So, so, so thankful.

emotional roller coaster

annnnnnnnnndddddddddddd here we are. 11 days from the birth of our child. I’ve been overcome with lots of different emotions in the past two weeks. Extreme joy, overwhelming love, gratitude, frustration, scared sh*tless, unbelievable excitement…. sometimes all of these emotions come in a matter of minutes of each other. Aren’t I a ball of fun??

Let’s start with the extreme joy and overwhelming love…. This is what I feel when I think of Lane. I could not be luckier to call him my husband, best friend and father of my child. He is the most selfless, dedicated, hard working, thoughtful and incredible person I know. He always puts me first. Hell, he even puts the needs of our dogs before his own, as evidenced by his strange sleep positions to be able to accommodate my 394 pillows (clearly all necessary when you’re 9 months pregnant!) and the two dogs who find it impossible to sleep anywhere except in our bed.

Here’s example A: Lucy. Asleep with her head on my pillow, her body half under the comforter, between me and Lane…

I am so excited to share this new adventure of parenthood with Lane and can’t imagine doing it with anyone else. He is going to be one unbelievable father and our son is already so lucky because of who his daddy is.

I keep watching this slideshow that I made for Lane for our anniversary and the tears keep flowing. I’m overcome with joy and love because of the man that chose to spend his life with me.

Gratitude has come in the form of our parents and friends helping us get moved into our new house. We are so excited to finally have two bathrooms. I know, right? It’s the small things in life that really make a difference. We were sad to leave our old neighborhood behind (my Kroger especially), but absolutely love our new neighborhood and how everyone has welcomed us. We’ve met more neighbors in the 3 weeks we’ve been here than in the 3 years we were at the old house.

Lane’s parents came for a few weeks and really helped get things started at the house...painting, constructing, cleaning. It was amazing. We are so thankful that they are retired and are able to pick up and go anytime they’d please… Especially when it’s to come perform manual labor for us!

My parents, who are renovating their lake house, helping out a friend in a highly competitive political race and running a business that is beyond crazy busy, have spent their last two weekends (their only “free” time) in Dallas with us helping unpack, organize and get ready for the baby.  My best friend, Mary C., a mother of two who leads a very busy life, even took time out of her schedule to come unpack boxes with me. I just can’t help but think how lucky we are to have incredible parents and friends who are willing to put their lives on hold to help us do tedious tasks and annoying housework.

One of my main priorities was to get the nursery complete. While the rest of the house is in complete disarray (see: Frustrated) the nursery is done, thanks to all of our helpers! It’s better than I imagined it would be and I’m so excited for Wright to be here in it!

The monogram over the crib is probably my favorite thing… Lane’s good friend, Brandon, designed it for us and my super talented father-in-law made it. I love it so much!

Aside from all the joy and excitement of a new house and new baby, I also get so frustrated. Frustrated that I can’t do much when there’s so much to do. The last few weeks have been really tough for me physically. I just can’t move around like I used to and my feet look like elephant feet at the end of the day. All I want to do when I come home from work is put my feet up and take a nap. So, I say this for those of you that plan to visit us. Please know that our house is a disaster. Truly. Whatever image you have in your head, make it ten times worse and that might compare. We still have boxes to unpack, furniture to buy and arrange (our coffee table is currently serving as our TV stand and our dining room is currently serving as the box black hole) and lots of organization to do. I have high hopes that I can get a lot accomplished in the next 11 days, but I’m not superwoman. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Finally, the scared sh*tless and unbelievable excitement come when I think of being a mommy in 11 days. I am going to go from being pregnant to not in a matter of minutes. I still can’t wrap my brain around it. All I can think about is how I want to snuggle with him. I’m afraid I won’t let anyone else hold him. I know it’s going to be the most challenging thing we’ve ever done, but I am so excited. I pray constantly for a safe delivery, healthy baby and quick recovery so that I can spend every precious second getting to know my son. My son. I’m going to have a son. See? It’s crazy. Here come the tears again.

scratch one off the ‘ol bucket list…

Two weeks ago, Lane and I had the opportunity to scratch an item off of our bucket lists… We were able to go to Augusta National for the Masters. It was beyond incredible. Even if you don’t like golf, there’s something to be said about being at this magical place during such a renowned sports event.

Before we made it to Augusta, we spent some time in Charleston and Columbia. We were shown around by such great hosts, Amy and Aaron Dupree, and are sooo thankful for their hospitality. They are expecting their fourth child and so it was really great to not only be the only pregnant girl, but also getting Amy’s advice and input was wonderful. 

Charleston was such a great town. There’s so much history and charm…and food. So much great food. When we arrived, we walked from our hotel and were told to go to Market Pavilion for  drinks and appetizers on their rooftop patio. Even though it was kind of rainy, we enjoyed seeing the city and being on vacation. Afterwards, we walked around Charleston and Aaron was a great tour guide! (PS. This became the start of the sausage feet!)

 

Just one of the many beautiful churches in Charleston.

 

Who knew a whole store devoted to moon pies existed!?

Precious street in downtown Charleston.

I loved all the history and architecture. I felt like I was stepping back in time.

That evening, we started our food filled trip with a visit to FIG.

It’s kind of an unassuming little restaurant in an older corner building in Charleston. It was not pretentious at all, yet the food was unbelievable. The wait staff was so friendly and knowledgeable. They made us feel like regulars, but at the same time providing 5 star service. We had the most amazing gnocchi as an appetizer. I could have had a giant plate of it for my entree and been perfectly happy for the night. But we didn’t stop there. Amy and I both had the flounder, which was so light and delicate and Lane and Aaron had the soft shell crab. All were ridiculously good. Amy and I also had a fancy mocktail made with “drinking vinegars”. It was so tasty. I am craving one now. For dessert I had a salted chocolate and caramel mousse-type dessert. It could have fallen on the floor and I would have liked the floor clean. I’m salivating just thinking of it. mmmm. Oh how the thought of a good meal makes this fat girl so happy!

The next morning we woke up and headed to our brunch reservations at Husk.

Aaron called three months ahead for this reservation! Husk was recently voted America’s Best New Restaurant, so we certainly were excited about the meal ahead of us! The waiter kind of gave us the side eye when we ordered 3 appetizers (including a cheeseburger!) just for the four of us, but was beyond impressed when we downed them all!

Our appetizers included a cheeseburger (which is apparently the chef’s favorite menu item), black pepper biscuits and jowl gravy, and crispy pig ear lettuce wraps. All were beyond delicious. We continued our gluttony by ordering four entrees, which were all glorious and eaten entirely!

Outside of Husk after our gluttonous meal.

After that meal, there was no way we were going to be able to walk our way around Charleston, so we hopped on a horse drawn carriage tour!

Ike was our tour guide. He did a great job! His driver, Mike, however, had the personality of a brick, but it made for some fun commentary from us heathens in the back row! This tour was a great way to see a lot of Charleston in a little bit of time.

Rainbow Row

The bridge to Charleston

Perfection

Alright, I realize this post is getting a little long, so I’ll skip ahead to the pièce de résistance…First I do have to give a huge shout out to Amy’s family. Every Sunday night they have their entire family and even some neighbors over for “Sunday Night Dinner”. They welcomed us into their home and we are beyond grateful!

The Masters

Augusta National is everything you’ve heard about it and more. The grounds are impeccable, it seems like there are 3 workers/volunteers for every guest and it’s every bit as charming in person as it seems on TV. Even though we only had tickets to Monday’s practice round, we didn’t want to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. (Although now we’re trying to figure out how to make it an annual trip!) Once you step on the property, the air feels a little different. It’s an air of greatness. We first got there and walked around a bit, but the two preggos needed to sit. So, we are now the proud owners of a Masters emblazoned camping chair!

   

Amy and I posted up at Amen Corner and the boys were able to walk around. It was great to talk with Amy about babies and life and really get to know her. The guys would bring back water and pimento cheese sandwiches, which was glorious. Around noon, we picked up and moved locations to the 16th hole and watched the players skip balls over the water. It was really fun and relaxing. We were able to get up close and personal with several players, which was fun. Lane told me that if I lifted up my shirt to expose my pregnant belly and asked Miguel Angel Jimenez to sign it, he would immediately buy my the new purse I’ve been wanting. While it was tempting, I am afraid I would have gotten kicked out of Augusta National!

We are so, so thankful that we had this opportunity before baby Wright came. I felt great for the entire trip (minus some wicked cankles after a day at the Masters and a day of flying) and we really enjoyed the time spent together.

Hopefully one day we’ll take Wright back and he’ll appreciate it (and appreciate me carrying his large body around a golf course!!).