who said pregnancy clothes are expen$ive?

wooooooooo!

My mom and sister visited this weekend and I got nearly ALL of the necessary maternity clothes for under $150! I'm on cloud nine right now and I just wore jeans for the first time in 3-4 weeks. JEANS! Because these puppies are maternity, oooo ya! All of the clothes I got were ones I would totally wear if I weren't pregnant. Some of them were even not maternity but were just the perfect type of fit (i.e. SUPER long in the front and stretchy).

THE GOODS:

OLD NAVY...$82
Old Navy was great because this weekend they had their whole store at 30% off. Plus most of the maternity clothes I bought with the exception of the dresses were way marked down already, so we're talking 40% off of $6.95 in some cases!

• 2 cute floral blouses (one yellow, one blue), one dressy black blouse (all blouses are short sleeve or 3/4 length), 1 orange tank top, 2 cute knee-length jersey cotton dresses (one black, the other white with grey stripes), 2 head bands (because they were ADORABLE....one had a tiny bow, the other 2 roses)

BANANA REPUBLIC...$15 (BUT TECHNICALLY FREE B/C MOM PICKED UP THE TAB FOR THIS ONE)
This was actually all non-maternity stuff but they has a deal going where you get 25% off if you spend $100 or more. With me, Lisa, and my mom, this was not hard.

• one pink tank with attached scarf in the front, size large and perfectly stretchy and long, 2 pairs of cashmere socks, and one pair of opaque cranberry tights (ok most of this isn't necessarily "needed" except the tank, but the deals were enormous so I got some "pregnancy socks" which Brad laughs at along with my pregnancy shoes from Aldo for $15 - but to my defense, the shoes are slip on so I won't have to bend over making prego life much easier!)

THYME MATERNITY...$51
This was the store I was paranoid to enter as I've heard time and time again, it's "soooo expensive!". Um, no it's NOT. You just need to buy at the right time and buy NOTHING at full price (which has always been my motto)

• one pair of glamorous prego-jeans that fit perfectly and make me feel like a million bucks (this pair I tried on in Toronto while boxing-day shopping and was sad to hear they weren't on sale at all, and $70 was too much for me. Yesterday in Montreal the SAME pair was marked down to $39 with an additional 30% off!), and one 3/4 length dark purple shirt with a great neck line and pulling in all the right places!
  

I'm so thrilled and more sure than ever that I'll never pay full price for anything again! Feels good to have some clothes that fit and that I can look forward to wearing when I'm really big this spring and summer. Plus Loni lent me some skirts and shorts so I think I'm good to go minus some more tanks and t's :) Some pics below:

MM @ 10 weeks!

LOVE!

Mom and Lisa are here all weekend and I can barely contain my excitement!!!!

We're picking them up at the train station in 1 hour, and I've had 1 nap today and am trying for a 2nd...staying up late doesn't happen naturally anymore! And by late I mean 10 o'clock.

Happy weekend everybody, I know mine will be :)

people i miss.

lately as you know, I've been functioning at a highly REDUCED pace of life. Apart from work and sleep, I do next to nothing. When with work, I'm struggling to keep my head above water. The other day I had a full day on campus (not unusual but hard these days) and had 2 naps in the process. If I had a spare hour in between appointments, I would race in time for a 30 minute nap before heading back. I would normally see this as a waste of time and not worth the effort, but I'm THAT tired. And falling asleep on the metro is both scary and embarrassing - and I've done that twice.

I often say to Brad, "I miss being ME". He's been gracious to assure me that he loves me and that it's just a season and blah blah blah, but the reality is, I want to pick up the phone and call Missy and Catherine and just talk for hours. I want to meet Rachel for an early breakfast before 9am at Quoi De Neuf (when it's half price and just as glorious!). I want to hang out with Jamie for longer than an hour in the evenings, also meaning I want my bedtime to stretch later than 9pm. I want to have tea with Lydia and Jess again. I want to take Loni's kids swimming at the local pool and teach them how to swim like I was doing pre-prego, but that requires a level of energy that just doesn't exist right now. Ahhh... I am falling more in love with my baby every day, but I do miss my friends.

I keep being told that the energy levels will increase in the 2nd trimester, and I really hope it's true. The nausea is subsiding a bit so maybe it's a sign that the fatigue will too. Compared to many of my friends, my pregnancy hasn't been that difficult, it just seems like it I guess because most of my friends are able-bodied 23 year-olds who act like 23-year-olds... staying up late, meeting friends, having fun. I guess I just want to be ME again, but maybe the new me is more tired and I just have to figure out how to make that work with my relationships.

Then I remember, if the worst I'm feeling it tired and a bit nauseous to experience the joy and miracle of having a baby and starting a family - it's so worth it. It is. I just have forgotten that a few times lately and I need to remember it :)

dinner tonight

I make pizza most weeks. I love home-made dough and my parents always made it so I'm hooked on it. Love finding different random toppings that all fit together. Normally I don't use red sauce, I use olive oil with herbs, pesto, or mashed squash, but tonight I'm going red.

Toppings:
mozzarella, red cause (probably will use pasta sauce), caramelized oninions, white wine flavoured sausage, and tomatoes.

The Crust: I try a new crust practically every time from a different show on the food network or food blog, but this one is the best I've tried so now I'm staying with it:

Spelt Pizza Dough (by Anna Olsen)

• 3/4 cup tepid water (105ºF)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 500°F and place a baking tray or pizza stone in oven.
2. For dough, stir water and yeast together, then stir in flours, salt and olive oil until dough becomes hard to work with a wooden spoon.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for just 1 minute, until dough feels elastic. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Divide dough in 2 and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece as thinly as possible, to about 9-inches across. Remove heating pan or stone from oven and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
5. bake for 10-15 minutes.