We’re quite busy laundering and folding itty bitty baby clothes and blankets; hanging artwork on the walls of the nursery; stacking diapers; and tackling the million other odds and ends on our to-do list. But I also know how important it is to find time to pamper myself. Between an expanding waistline, an achy back, and regular heartburn, it’s sometimes the ...]]> We are just weeks away from meeting our little Peanut, and I honestly can’t believe how quickly time has passed.

We’re quite busy laundering and folding itty bitty baby clothes and blankets; hanging artwork on the walls of the nursery; stacking diapers; and tackling the million other odds and ends on our to-do list. But I also know how important it is to find time to pamper myself. Between an expanding waistline, an achy back, and regular heartburn, it’s sometimes the small indulgences that make all the difference.

Here’s a list of my current favorite finds:

Bella B Tummy Honey Butter: Not sure if I can credit good genes or this belly butter, but I’m still stretch mark-free at 36 weeks pregnant! Plus it keeps my stomach from itching throughout the day.

Clinique Repairwear Intensive Night Cream: Typically my skin is oily during the summertime. But not this year. And so I’ve incorporated this silky face cream into my nightly routine. I use it after Clinique’s 3-Step products, and my husband jokes that I now have about 12 steps to complete each night. It’s true.

St. Ives Oatmeal and Shea Butter Moisturizer: Speaking of dry skin, I am in love with this body lotion. It smells sweet and goes on smooth. I use it twice a day.

Snoogle: I simply cannot sleep without this pillow. It hugs the natural curves of my body and forces me to remain on my (preferably left) side all night. And its soft jersey cover is comfortable enough to replace my standard pillow. So far hubs is okay with the new guest in our bed. He even “snoogles” after I get up to shower in the morning.

Crocs flats: Wedges and stilettos may be stylish, but I just can’t wear them. Not before and definitely not now. And even my flats don’t feel as supportive as they once did. Fortunately, I found the most comfortable pair of shoes: sling back flats by Crocs. They basically haven’t left my feet since I bought them.

Jersey Dresses and Tanks from Old Navy: Comfortable. Versatile. Affordable. Love everything about them. And they’ve become absolutely essential in these final weeks when nothing else seems to fit.

Prenatal Yoga DVD: I miss my power yoga class, but this DVD does the trick for now. There are planks and warriors and triangles — with modifications for each trimester. And I feel amazingly loose and relaxed after my 50-minute living room session.

TUMS Smoothies: I thought I knew what heartburn was until I entered the third trimester of pregnancy. Now, no matter what I eat, heartburn accompanies it. Enter TUMS. I eat at least three per day.

Other things I can’t live without: Honey Bunches of Oats, fruit of all varieties, Annie’s cheddar bunnies and macaroni & cheese, English muffins with Grandma’s strawberry preserves, and ice cream. Also: my husband. But that goes without saying, right?

What are your favorite products, pregnancy or otherwise?

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The first time my parents visited us after we got married, my dad presented me with a package, announcing it was “one last wedding gift.” ...]]> “Look into the skillet… Lean over it and look down.  If this is your mother’s skillet…it would hold among its molecules the vibrations of all the conversations every held in its presence.  All the exchanges, the petty irritations, the deadly revelations, the flat announcements of disaster, the grunts and poetry of love.” – Thomas Harris, Hannibal

The first time my parents visited us after we got married, my dad presented me with a package, announcing it was “one last wedding gift.”  I started to protest, and then I saw what lay inside, bundled in plastic wrap, and topped with a surgical-glove-bow.

Delightful! Padre spied the 15 inch Lodge amongst my bridal shower booty a few months prior and decided it was high time I learn how to properly care for such a kitchen essential!  After all, you can’t bake true Southern cornbread, fry up sublimely crispy bacon, or pan-sear a filet to perfection without well-maintained skillet. {Well, you can… but there’s just something about the heft of cast iron, isn’t there?} Here’s how to keep your cast iron cooking for generations to come…

You’ll need:

• Lard
• Aluminum Foil
• Surgical Latex gloves (or rubber dishwashing gloves) to keep your mitts grease-free
• An oven
• 2.5 hours to kill

Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of your oven, and preheat to 350.  Wash your skillet with warm, soapy water.  Rinse and pat dry.  After snapping on your gloves, rub lard into the bottom of the skillet and along the sides, thoroughly coating the cooking surface.  Bake the skillet in the oven for 15 minutes.  Remove {don’t forget your pot-holder!} and drain of excess lard liquid {yum!}.

Replace the skillet in the oven, upside-down, over the aluminum foil.  Bake for another 2 hours. When your timer dings, turn the oven off, leaving the skillet in the oven until both completely cool.  Your skillet should have a slight sheen to it when the process is complete.  It may also be a little cloudy in color; this will dissipate with use.

Repeating this process is recommended to really seal the cast iron.  {I know, I know – who has 5 hours to watch lard sizzle?! I usually pick a slow weekend and execute a little Saturday-Sunday tag-team.}  Seasoning recreates the nonstick quality as the lard smooths the naturally pitted quality of cast iron, and seals out water that can cause rusting.  With new cast iron, you’ll want to season after every use in order to build up the protective coating.  Additionally, re-season after cooking acidic foods (tomatoes, beans, etc).

Other Tips & Tricks for Cast Iron:

• Wash cast iron immediately after use, while it is still hot, using hot water and a scrub brush.  Do not use soap (unless you are about to season).  Do not soak.
• Never place cast iron in the dishwasher.
• After cleaning, brush or spritz a very light layer of vegetable oil over all surfaces.
• Never store cast iron skillets or Dutch ovens with the lids on.  Cast iron needs circulation!
• Never pour cold water into hot cast iron – it could crack!
• Do not use cast iron to store food.

Happy Cast-Iron Cooking!

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2011 · Permalink · 2 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Cooking and Food, Good Things

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While I’m a major Christmas Freak, Fall is by far my favorite season.  Unfortunately, we get so little of it down here in Texas that I tend to get all wrapped up in tinsel and holly and eggnog before I’ve truly taken the opportunity to stop and smell the cinnamon sticks and crunchy fallen leaves.

Happily, I think I might have just created the optimal “Get the Most Out of Fall” itinerary!  Here’s the skinny on how ...]]> {Food, Beverage, & Entertainment Edition}

While I’m a major Christmas Freak, Fall is by far my favorite season.  Unfortunately, we get so little of it down here in Texas that I tend to get all wrapped up in tinsel and holly and eggnog before I’ve truly taken the opportunity to stop and smell the cinnamon sticks and crunchy fallen leaves.

Happily, I think I might have just created the optimal “Get the Most Out of Fall” itinerary!  Here’s the skinny on how I’d fill a totally-unencumbered, totally-lazy, totally-Fall day…

Voluntarily extricating myself from underneath our cuddly pick-stitch quilts is somewhat easier when there’s pumpkin cream cheese in my future!  It’s a slightly odd combination, but lately I’ve been cheering for a toasted mini-”everything” bagel (yep, the kind with the onion and the garlic) topped with the pumpkin-y sweet stuff.  Einstein Brothers makes my mornings simple with their take-away Pumpkin Shmear, but you can always go all fancy-pants with the homemade variety!   Add a few slices of a Honeycrisp apple and I’m one happy gal!

After a jog (note: “jog” is a relative term when it comes to my athletic capabilities) around White Rock Lake (insert favorite neighborhood route here!), I’m ready to kick off my tennies and curl up with my new go-to, get-ready-for-the-holidays read, Wishin’ and Hopin’.  I’ve always loved Wally Lamb for his brutally honest, sometimes uncomfortable, yet unbelievably relateable novels (think: She’s Come Undone; I Know This Much Is True), but this little gem is something different entirely… a light-hearted and poignant tale that I’ll surely be sneaking into my dad’s stocking (a kindred feisty ex-parochial schoolboy spirit if there ever was one!).  My Main Man Van plays softly in the background… Bonus Points if you know all the words to some of my personal (lesser known) favorites: Coney Island, Queen of the Slipstream, Tore Down a la Rimbaud, the Comfortably Numb collaboration, and Whenever God Shines His Light.

We’ll pretend I was so engrossed in my reading that I somehow forgot about lunch (in reality, this would never happen… I’d be quickly boiling whole wheat pasta shells, steaming broccoli, tossing both together with white truffle oil, and shredding Tillamook extra sharp cheddar over the whole shebang for a comforting, quick “broc-mac-and-cheese”).  I’ll rest my eyes a bit with a cuddle on the couch and Good Will Hunting on my television.  I was recently reminded of how much I love this film after Evs admitted he’d never seen it!  I tracked it down on one of our many movie channels and it’s now permanently saved on the DVR for posterity (I actually own it on VHS… sigh… technology marches onward without me).  While not a “seasonal” movie by any stretch of the imagination, there’s something about this flick that just feels like Fall to me.

After Will heads to Palo Alto to “see about a girl,” it’s supper time!  Cooking Light’s Cider Glazed Chicken makes my mouth water on command!  You are welcome to give the companion Brown Butter-Pecan Rice recipe a whirl, but I much prefer pairing the slightly sweet, rustic chicken with Roasted Asparagus Risotto…  Preheat your oven to 450.  Spread a bunch of asparagus over an olive-oil-spritzed cookie sheet.  Give the asparaus another good spritz with the olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 8-12 minutes.  Chop into small pieces.  Then, stir into a basic risotto (if you don’t know risotto by heart, here’s a great place to start!), toss with Parmesan, and devour!

I’m always game for a companion beverage, so I’m just going to shake a bit of vodka together with a glug from that spiced apple cider jug I had to purchase in order to make that magical chicken dish come to fruition.  Most likely, I’ll sip this concoction from a juice glass, but a cinnamon-sugar rimmed martini glass can transform any old evening into a festive affair (even if you’re sporting your dingiest sweat pants!).  Is wine-ing more your style?  Give your favorite dry white wine a dash of apple cider plus an apple slice floater, and you’re sipping a “Languid Winter Sangria” in no time flat!

Now that my tummy is full and there’s a drink in my hand, my lazy fall day is primed for the perfect ending, double feature style!  Out with the Matt Damon and in with the Diane Keaton… it’s all about The Family Stone!  I’m not sure why this wasn’t a bigger hit back in 2005, but this ensemble cast makes me belly-laugh and ugly-cry every damn time.  While it’s probably impossible for me to nudge White Christmas and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation too far down on the ladder, The Family Stone is definitely my favorite holiday movie of the past 20 years.

Ending the day with the cuddliest of flannel pajama pants (mine feature pink coffee cups!), I snuggle back under the covers, novel in hand, eyelids heavy from the relative inactivity enjoyment of the day.

One delicious Fall day… it’s enough to make you consider logging a “mental health day,” yes?

What does your perfect November day off include?

Photo Credits: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bagel; Apple Harvest; Van Morrison; Wishin’ and Hopin’; Cider Glazed Chicken; Asparagus Risotto; Good Will Hunting; Apple Cider Martini; The Family Stone.

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2010 · Permalink · Comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Books and Reading, Good Things, Holidays, Just for Fun, Recipes

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Kate’s Easy-as-Pie (and Perfect-for-a-Pizza-Pie) Red Sauce

Ingredients: *

And whoa, there we are!

I know our wedding wasn’t a sparkly traditional wedding – that’s exactly why I loved it so much. Everything about ...]]> You read about it on EAD first, of course… but now you can read about our nearly one-year-old wedding in Brides Magazine, too! We’re one of the May 2010 issue’s Real Weddings, and I’ve gotta say, it’s a little bit crazy to see yourself in print in a national magazine! But yep, that sure sounds like us…

And whoa, there we are!

I know our wedding wasn’t a sparkly traditional wedding – that’s exactly why I loved it so much. Everything about it screamed us, from the words to the party to the paper to the crafts to the clothes.

I like to think that this little feature might bring a smile or two to the faces of its readers. With any luck, a few of them might be fellow untraditional gals who’ll be inspired by us weirdos to make their wedding obnoxiously their own. Here’s hoping!

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Anyhoo, I used to roll my eyes at this suggestion, but – as with many things in life – mom’s advice works ...]]> You know when you’re not physically ill but, for whatever reason, you’re just not feeling so hot?   My mom’s response to complaints of these sorts of general feelings of malaise is always the same:  ”Take a shower – you’ll feel better!”  I like to think of it as her version of Gus Portokalos‘ “put some Windex on it!”

Anyhoo, I used to roll my eyes at this suggestion, but – as with many things in life – mom’s advice works nearly every time.  There’s something about literally washing away all the dirt and grime that figuratively makes me feel renewed.   Its amazing what a little hot water can do…

… hot water and my favorite bath goodies, that is!

St. Ives Energizing Citrus Body Wash (around $3.00)

Fruity and invigorating… This body wash by St. Ives not only gets me going in the morning but is mega-easy on the wallet.  Its also one of the more moisturizing gel body washes I’ve tried.  Added bonus?  All natural ingredients and no animal testing!

Skintimate Moisturizing Cream Shave (about $4.00)

My beef with normal shaving cream is that it’s too “poofy” and slippery – I always feel like I get too much and then it either clogs my razor or ends up as a slip-n-fall hazard on my shower floor.  This cream spreads on in a thin, ultra-moisturizing layer and clings to your skin as you shave.  No fuss, no mess!

Toca Boxed Candles ($36.00)

I know, I know… a $36 candle???  The price tag is eyebrow raising, but I’ve had the one in my bathroom since my first quarter of law school four years ago!  The official word is that Tocca candles burn at least 60 hours… so, 60 cents an hour?  A luxury in every sense of the word, these look gorgeous perched on your bathtub or shelf and smell like a slice of heaven (Cleopatra and Stella are my favorite scents!).

GAP Stretch Jersey Short Robe ($39.50)

This super, super soft jersey cotton robe is ideal for slipping on straight out of the shower.  Warm enough to ward off the chills but light enough to allow for comfortable blowdrying, its the Goldilocks of bathrobes!  And the price is just right, too!

Aveda Foot Relie f($19.00)

I’m not a foot cream kinda-gal.  I like me feet to feel dry, and I really hate sleeping in socks… so slathering lotion on my feet and then encasing them in socks overnight is pretty much a beauty regimen nightmare.  But this minty concoction shimmied its way into my stocking this year and I decided to give it a go – night-time socks and all!  Ummmmm, A-MAZ-ING!  It smells delicious, has a lovely little tingle to it, and makes your footsies totally touchable.  It also soaks in really quickly so feel free to slather it on after your morning shower and throw on some socks while you execute the rest your morning routine.  By the time you’re ready to slip on shoes, the cream is absorbed and you’re off with a spring in your step!

Scrub-a-dub-dub!

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2010 · Permalink · 3 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Beauty, Gift Guides, Good Things

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20 years later… I look back at the welcome we had with extreme fondness. Particularly on my Mother’s behalf. It is only recently ...]]> 22 and 21 years ago I had the privilege of celebrating Thanksgiving with families in California who opened the doors of their houses and welcomed an English family through them. At not even 8 years old I wasn’t fully aware of how special that was or how much those simple acts of kindness would shape my future life.

20 years later… I look back at the welcome we had with extreme fondness. Particularly on my Mother’s behalf. It is only recently that I have begun to realise what she went through for our family, for her husband. It cannot have been easy relocating a 6 year old, a 3 year old and a baby half way round the world for my Dad’s job, but she did. She would be the first to admit that she gained an awful lot from the experience too, but the catalyst for the trip was to further my Dad’s career.

20 years later… I remember the kindness that people showed towards my family: the invitations, the blueberry muffins that appeared on our first morning in that strange rented house. And I have always sought to make our flat the place where friends, existing and new, are always welcome & to welcome new friends into my life. (which is perhaps in part why I love blogging so much & why I am always keen to meet my blogging pals in ‘real life’).

And so, 20 years later… Thanksgiving is still special to me. We don’t celebrate it as a country in England, obviously, so I don’t celebrate it with my family (although it would be wonderful to see them) but we often have a dinner with friends. Also, this year is our first married Thanksgiving celebration and I let him know how thankful I am that we are married and a family.

Other things that I am thankful for, aside from family, health and home, include the fact that opportunities are arising jobwise again, that I finally demonstrated willpower by NOT purchasing a heavily heavily reduced beautiful bronze leather Mulberry wallet at a sample sale & that I have learnt to be able to say no when I need to.

Small things, but big lessons.

How was your Thanksgiving?  What are you thankful for?

© Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2009 · Permalink · Comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: Good Things

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