Trader Joe's Pizza Hack

I posted a picture on my Instagram a couple of weeks ago showing a cheese pizza from Trader Joe's topped with yummy ingredients from our fridge (and herb garden). Someone suggested I write a cookbook on my pizza hacks and I thought about it, but writing books is too much work for someone like me who could have easily majored in "procrastination" in college. So I thought, "why not blog about my recipes/food hacks/vegetarianism? So maybe I will feature a new food related post once a week (on Fridays) starting with this one.

What I bought: one Trader Joe's Organic Cheese Pizza
                       
What I had on hand: Fresh basil from my front yard, golden grape tomatoes

Other yummy options: Fresh pineapple, cilantro and jalapeño
                                    Spinach and tomato
                                    Garlic, tomato, arugula and basil

What I did: Added fresh ingredients to the pizza and cooked for the specified time.

My Instagram photo taken right before that bad boy went into the oven:

This is an easy way to add some flavor to an inexpensive dinner idea!

Pair the pizza with a simple green salad and you have a quick and delicious dinner!

Kids these days.

Filed under: Did I Just Post All of That?

I've been carrying these words in my heart for some time. There has been a great debate within my being over whether I should type any of this at all. In the end, the very reason I write is to de-stress and so why wouldn't I write about something heavy on my heart? No emotion is exclusive. I am quite sure this inner struggle I am facing is felt by many women far and wide. So here goes...

This story starts a few years ago. After Remy (now 6) turned 2, we talked about having one more child. It was a brief conversation while we were talking in bed one night. A few weeks later, my husband lost his job and for a couple weeks our financial security was in question. Then, quickly he found a new job but money was tight and so it was decided three children would be it for us. And I was perfectly happy with that decision for years. I was looking forward to all that awesome sleep I would get from here on out and we slowly sold or gave away all of our baby things. That made it final in my book. No more baby clothes, strollers, car seats, blankets, etc... But then last June, I got this crazy feeling in my heart. I was at a friend's baby shower. I've been to so many baby showers and never has being at one made me feel so passionate about adding to our family. In fact, usually I am the one at baby showers offering all of my wisdom and in the back of my mind celebrating that I made it through early childhood unscathed. So when I had these strong urges for a baby, I casually mentioned to my husband and he shared many thoughts with me on the subject. One of them being that he was willing to think about it. I think I gave him all of five minutes (or maybe ten) but right there it was decided we would make a plan and try for baby number 4 when we thought it was the right time.

In my experience with trying to conceive, I have always been pregnant within a month or two. I've never had to agonize for months over questions of why aren't we getting pregnant? I realize now how lucky we were to conceive quickly. We only had one early miscarriage and even after that incident we were pregnant the next month. I am very impatient. This does not bode well for couples trying to get pregnant. So for the past four months we have been trying and... nothing. It is severely depressing for a couple days and then I get hopeful again and await the next opportunity. I have been so humbled my this experience. I am not sure when or even if it will happen for us but I am not ready to give up yet. Statistically, time is still on our side. I am 34, in fairly good health and eating a balanced diet. I just don't understand how couples who are doing everything right can have such a difficult time trying to conceive.

Now I have entered strange territory as I begin charting my temperatures and other things I'd prefer not to mention. I always thought that having a baby was pretty simple.
Step 1. Have sex. Repeat as necessary.

So I am going through these emotions and at the same time, feeling completely terrible for friends I know who have never been able to conceive once. I am so grateful for my beautiful children and I realize that I have been blessed. I still continue to say prayers for those friends and I will not forget their struggles. I'm not sure how this will end for us. It could be several more months before we succeed or it could just not be in the cards. I'm trying to stay focused on the happy stuff. I may update to this post in a few months. Maybe I can start joking about it soon to keep my sanity. Either way, I couldn't leave this very important part of my life tucked away.

For the nerds.

I grew up with an Atari and a 19 inch black and white TV in the bedroom I shared with my older sister.
While I wasn't quite as interested in video games as my sister was, I did enjoy playing a little. We never did own a Nintendo. I think we borrowed our cousin's for about a year and it was then that I became familiar with that silly plumber and his shroom addiction. As a teenager I was barely entertained by an hour at the arcade. Maybe a couple games of Pac-Man or a zombie fight but that was all I could take.
It wasn't until I started dating my now husband, that I became reacquainted with "gaming" and although it still isn't something I do very often, I can appreciate its value.

The one game I will always cherish is Animal Crossing and I will tell you why.

My husband bought it while we were dating. Actually, right after we started living together. He knew I'd enjoy it because no one dies and the whole point of the game is to have fun, run around a forest and catch bugs. My kind of game. I was so addicted to this game! It is played in real time so when you play the game at night, it is night in the game. If it was the 4th of July, you could stay up late (in the game) and watch for fireworks. Well, on Christmas morning in 2002, my husband proposed to me in this game. His character wrote a note to my character and sent me on a goose-chase to where I would eventually hoist a flag with an engagement ring drawn on it. Super nerdy? Yes. Super romantic? Of course!

Over the years I played here and there. Eventually motherhood duties and housecleaning (and yes, Facebook) took time and energy away from playing games. But that is all about to change...
A new Animal Crossing game is out and it just arrived in my mailbox! I'm super excited to start playing again. This time, I'll let my kids watch me play and hopefully they'll get into the fun too!
So, what were/are some of your favorite games? Any childhood gaming memories? Share them with me!

Oh Snap!

Please forgive the super cheesy title today.
I am so terrible with titles. Sometimes cheesy is the only option.

One of the things I enjoy most is photography. Having a DSLR has allowed me to experience photography in a new way and I have been working hard to get better (and understand how all of those buttons on my camera work).
This morning I had the pleasure of taking pictures for a former co-worker, her fiance and their sweet baby boy. I like to think I have a pretty good eye for how to frame a photo and I appreciate the beauty  of natural light. Today I snapped quite a few photos and thanks to the early morning sunlight and some tricks I learned over the last few days, the photos turned out so good! I had a hard time picking favorites to display here! But here are some that made the cut...

I am by no means an expert but I have fun and I am always trying to improve. That poor baby hung in there for a long time while we changed locations and poses. By the last shot he was done and shorty after he was crying plenty of tears. Fortunately I had already gotten a lot of great shots! Not a bad way to start my morning! 

Grand Visions...

We've lived in our house for nearly seven years. Although it is rather cozy, we are happy and I can easily look at it as having less space to clean. See? I am always looking on the bright side...
We've come a long way both inside and outside of our house. I'm ashamed to admit though that a lot of wall space is still bare and although I have the pictures and frames to fix that problem, I am indecisive and afraid of hammers. Well, my husband likes to control where we put holes in the wall. I can appreciate that. He is the expert when it comes to measuring and I happily leave those jobs up to him. But back to the house...

I have trouble deciding which part of our home is more important. Our front and side yard are my priority currently. I'm working hard on getting the side prepared for my grand vision of a path to cover the dirt and heavily weeded area. I have a raised garden on the side and have enough room for one more (which I could really use). I would also love to put a dwarf lemon tree nearby and maybe a bench for seating. The space is very tiny but I'd love to be able to enjoy whatever space we do have.
So my grand master plan has began. This week I spent a few hours digging up weeds to prep the ground for some sort of covering.
I'm looking at something similar to these:

I am still undecided and I am sure my husband would like a say since he'll probably be doing the hard work. 

Another thing worth noting...

I have major ADD when it comes to projects and I have trouble seeing a project through before wanting to start or work on something else. I am vowing to see this through at least by August when I have to return to work. I plan on posting our progress throughout Summer. It'll be fun to see the before and after and really be able to appreciate the work put into it. I guess all of those pictures that need to be framed and put up on the walls will have to wait! 

So to make it all official for the blog, here are some "before" photos...

 






It is definitely a small space but I see so much potential!
Hopefully it isn't a nightmare to complete and even if it is, at least it will be a small nightmare!
Happy Saturday!

One

This will be a work in progress, but I'm happy to say that this will be home to my new blog!
I mulled over what to do with my previous blog and in the end pushed the delete button with no regrets. The new title reflects some parts of my personality. Lemonade stands for my ability to find happiness even when things seem bleak (making lemonade out of lemons...) and starfish signifies an ability to regenerate when damaged. I found myself holding back often and it came to the point that I was not happy and had pretty much neglected my blog. Sometimes starting over is the only way to get back on track, so here I am.
I'm in the process of defining what this blog will be about and what things I will avoid. I'd like to have some themes that encompass who I am and what I enjoy. Some of those themes will include: my children, music and photography. I do hope you will enjoy what you see here, and please don't be a stranger!