The Cooley Chronicles

Sharing Our News

Dear Internets, I’m sorry I’ve really, really neglected you. I’ve been doing a little too much living and clearly not quite enough documenting…tsk, tsk.

One of the most recent things that has been absorbing our lives is that we are having a baby!! Are you in shock? Me too :) it is still hard for me to believe that it is real!…but my perpetually growing belly is a daily reminder. We are ridiculously excited and equally as clueless but we’ll leave that for another post. Today I want to talk about how we told our families our big news :)

One of the challenges we faced with telling our families about our baby news is that my entire family lives 2,082 miles away. Many ideas went through our heads…we could fly there and surprise them, we could Skype or call them, hmmm, everything was a little to pricey or a little too boring. We settled on the decision of creating each of them a special announcement, putting said announcement in the mail along with instructions for them to call us before they opened it.Kirsten’s Mom - Not trying to be too boastful, but I have really great genes! So when I I came across a book “Funny You Don’t Look Like a Grandmother.” I knew it would be the perfect way to announce to my mom.  My mom is one of the prettiest people I know in real life and she doesn’t look a day over 29 :) This book is all about how grandmothers nowadays are so different than the image we have in our heads of our grandmothers knitting and baking and visiting.

Kirsten’s Dad - My dad and I have been collecting shot glasses together for years. It’s a really fun tradition where each time my dad visits a city he’ll buy two shot glasses and mail the other one to me and vice versa. Tanner and I decided that a personalized shot glass would be a perfect way to surprise my dad.

Kirsten’s Sister - My sister is very sentimental and crafty so we thought that she would love a thoughtful and creative announcement. We decided that we would create our own photo-booth style photo announcing the news in our house. As Tanner would say this was a debacle. Let’s just say my husband doesn’t exactly like getting his photo taken and when I can get him to pose for a photo it’s usually one shot and done. I wanted this to be perfect so we probably snapped 100+ self portraits. Pretty sure he wanted to kill me but look how cute it turned out!

They were each excited in their own way, there was LOTS of tears mixed with happiness and surprise. Being able to hear their excitement on the phone was the next best thing to telling them in person, which we were lucky enough to do with Tanner’s family.

Tanner’s Mom - A tradition that we have with Tanner’s mom is the impromptu Chinese take-out night. This usually occurs when one of us is about to go out of town or just got back in to town. Basically an excuse to get together and eat where no one has to do any work! 

Since Nancy just got back from a 10 day trip in Wyo we suggested Chinese the night she got home. Tanner was really excited to tell her so when she said, “No, I think I’ll be home too late.” he talked her into doing it anyway. It was so much fun catching up but not going to lie it was really hard to wait until the very end of the night to announce via our personalized fortune cookies. Tanner kept trying to bust them out in the middle but I gave him eyes saying “No, not yet!” Near the end of the night, Tanner carefully laid out the fortune cookies on the table and I talked Nancy into eating one, even though she was a little wary of the new packaging, she ate the cookie said yum and threw the fortune to the side. Ha! Tanner and I looked at each other and laughed and I said, “Nance, aren’t you going to read your fortune?”

Tanner’s Brother - Even though Tanner’s brother lives only 20 minutes from us it’s sometimes tough to get some quality hang out time with him. Tanner invited him to Akira for what Chris thought was just a regular lunch with his brother. They spent the afternoon hanging and eating and talking about regular things then midway through their lunch Tanner said nothing just passed him his phone with the 8-week ultrasound on the screen.

It was so much fun being able to tell Tanner’s fam in person, they were ridiculously happy for us and even more excited to be a grandma and uncle. Chris even said “I want Kirsten to have it now!” This has brought a lot of happiness to our family and we can’t wait until October when we get to meet our new little addition.

Seeing Polkadots

I love the days that you try to remember every tiny detail because it is just that great. That was my Saturday. It started with my first visit to Arlington Gold. I still can’t believe I had never been there, (actually I can because I’m boring). Arlington Gold is Kim’s maid of honor’s house - a house well-known for hosting some great parties - and I’m pretty sure the parties I missed included kegs and beer pong not bath salts and crockpots.

I was pretty excited to play Mustaches & Tiaras, a game adapted from Craftaholics Anonymous.

I had Kim & Pat answer a few questions about themselves and then chose one answer from each question to share with the ladies. They then had to decide who said what, if they thought it was Kim they should hold up their tiara or if they thought it was Pat they should hold up their mustache. It was so fun hearing what Kim and Pat came up with and also watching everyone trying to guess who said what.

I loved meeting all of Kim’s friends and family and spending some more time with her sweet bridesmaids. Oh and the foooood! Everything was so delicious and of course I had to try it all.

The sun came out of no where and we walked outside and took a few photos, if it looks like we’re squinting it’s because our eyes haven’t seen the sun for a few days. 

Me & Kim!Bridesmaids!Tanner called while I was slowly saying my goodbyes to the girls and I texted him saying I would call him soon. I finally got myself together and into the car with plenty of time to get to my next activity of the day, our good friends Mike and Christie were getting married at 3 today and I would have an hour to get ready and get over there by the time I trekked the 45 minutes to home :) I called Tanner to let him know I was making my way and the conversation went something like this.

T: Where are you?!

Me: I just left.

T: You know the wedding starts at 2?

(Insert Kirsten having a complete and utterly ridiculous panic attack)

Me: NOOOOOOO!

Let’s just say my reaction was a little overly dramatic…but we somehow managed to get to the wedding right on time. Like literally within minutes before the wedding party entered Saint Theresa’s chapel. 

I had never been to a Catholic wedding before but I’m pretty sure its customary to power down your cell phone when you enter….(sorry IE aka Christie McGuire). One of the lovely wedding attendees had the look of pure terror in his eyes not once but twice when his alarm went off during the ceremony. Oh and it wasn’t just a normal cell phone alarm it was a loud, non-church appropriate rap song. It caused me to perspire a little bit sitting next to him, I can only imagine how he felt as he jammed his panic stricken hand it his pocket to make it stop.

After Mike & Christie’s beautiful ceremony we had a few hours to kill and we were all starved. We went to Jacksons and proceeded to eat a bunch and the server spilled ketchup all over Paul’s pants. lame…..

We all had such a great time at the reception. Christie did a fabulous job making it absolutely perfect. Mike and Christie’s families gave some of the best speeches I’ve ever heard, literally found myself laughing and crying multiple times. The music was to die for and so was the company :) oh and their friends and families are party animals! Congrats to the new bride and groom! We love you two and are so happy for you!I’m really looking forward to having some memorable moments with both of these amazing couples!

Banquet Style

I never quite know* how to dress for Tanner’s wrestling functions. I think my first problem is that I call them functions and my second problem is that I’m worried about how I’m dressing for wrestling. I have found that everyone dresses pretty casual, but I am not very good at dressing casual. Guess it’s the past 8 years I’ve spent in business school and the business world.

(*Side note: I keep typing no when it should be know and know when it should be no, I’ve never done that before, maybe I’m getting dumber).

Anyway this is what I decided to wear to the Broad Run wrestling banquet on Sunday. I wanted to go for the “casual but dressed up” look. Did I pass?The banquet was really great! I’m glad I got to go :) They had a ton of really cool traditions, including having the seniors “retire” their shoes.

Pizza and Sliders and Tacos, Oh My

It all began one hot day in the frozen food section when Tanner had a craving for something full of saturated fat and preservatives. I’m usually the voice of reason in situations like this but for some reason that Digiorno with a side of mozzarella sticks found a weak place in my heart and I caved. Since when does frozen pizza come with a side of ooey gooey cheese sticks? How could I resist?

It was all downhill after that…a few days later I found myself stuffing my face with sliders, some mini hotdogs, some more sliders, ice cream, and a whole box of popcorn at a March Madness party at my office. I don’t usually partake of the food at our events but this particular day it looked so enticing.And as I was loading up a plate of leftovers to “take home to my husband” I remembered we had decided that tonight we were going to order in. I called Tanner to let him know I was coming home and, without flinching, told him he should go pick up our Ledo’s pizza that we talked about having for Friday night date night. I have never felt more awful, what had I done to myself? We NEVER eat like this but those 10 square slices of pizza were just so goddamned amazing. 

We went to our Saturday morning workout and somehow trudged through without agitating the newly formed blockages in our arteries. We got home to a fridge with so many choices, at that moment I couldn’t think of a better post-workout food than pizza and sliders. That night was our amazing friend Amanda’s 25th birthday! Steven had a fun night planned for the bday girl and we met up with them in DC. Did I mention today was also St Patty’s Day? 

We got to the bar they were at and there was a 30 minute line to enter and unfortunately for Tanner my newly assumed tastebuds were angry. I complained for that full 30 minutes about how hungry I was…and if I could just climb through that window I could order myself some french fries. Thankfully everyone else had the same delicacy in mind and soon we were off to Vienna Inn, known for it’s amazing chili dog covered with cheese, for a pre-comedy show dinner.

I wish I could tell you my battle with fast food addiction ended after that weekend. But I think I might have a problem because I’m pretty sure I have never uttered the words, “let’s go to Taco Bell,” until yesterday. We drove 1,000 miles (not really, just really out of our way) to pick up the new Doritos shell supreme tacos. Have you seen those commercials, I’m not advocating anything but they are as good as they look. What’s wrong with me?!

I promise it ends here, the first step is admitting you have a problem right? We have both felt soooo terrible lately, so this my friends is my vow that as I make this week’s grocery list I will not pencil in a stop to McDonald’s.

Randomness in Pictures

I started writing this on Monday. Can we say slacker?

I’m sitting here watching the Bachelor After the Rose and vomiting at Ben and Courtney. Oh and the weather has been fantastic, but Tanner just said the house is hotter than the sun and Baxter is panting. 

Anyway I’m the worst, I haven’t been here for so long. I’ve wanted to post a few things from the past few weekends but I just haven’t gotten around to it. So here’s a quick recap :)

First of all…one of our favorite people, Preston, came to visit a few weekends ago. We cooked, we ate, we laughed, we walked around DC, we tried to go to the Spy Museum and they told us it closed an hour early for a special event. Neat. I love the friends that it seems like no time has passed since you saw them last.

 Second of all…did I mention the weather has been fabuloso? We thought we should take advantage and went mini golfing! We had so much fun and I randomly killed it…3 hole-in-ones is pretty insane. After we took some photos with our new camera on the porch and recreated the Melting Pot at Nance’s, it was phenomenal.

Third of all…Tanner is such a handyman. Look what he is building for us! 

Fourth of all…one of my best friends moved to NC. I am going to miss her like crazy but I am soooo happy for her and her hubby. 

And finally look how happy these two are :) I think they love the weekend almost as much as me.

Recipe Exchange: Stay-at-Home-Valentine

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day! Because I did :) Tanner and I decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day at home this year. So from the gifts to dinner everything was homemade. I wanted to make something fancy schmancy for dinner and I came across this romantic dinner recipe and it was. To. Die. For. 

Risotto with Bay Scallops

(Adapted from ivillage.com)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium yellow onion, minced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 cup diced prosciutto

• 1 cup Arborio rice

• 1 generous pinch saffron

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 3 to 4 cups chicken stock (see recipe below)

• 1/2 pound bay scallops, or 1/2 pound sea scallops cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 1/4 cup sliced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat it for 2 minute. Add the garlic and sweat it for 2 minutes more. Add the prosciutto and cook it until it crisps, about 1 minute. Add the rice and let it toast slightly in the hot fat, about 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon.

2. Reduce the heat to low, add the saffron and wine, and stir continuously until most of the wine has cooked off. Add I cup of the stock and stir continuously until the liquid has cooked off, about 3 minutes. Add another cup of stock and repeat the process. Taste the rice. Continue to add stock in 1/4-cup increments until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy.

3. Add the scallops and continue to stir for 2 minutes, or until the scallops are heated through. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parsley, butter, and cheese and serve immediately. 

I’m so happy we decided to make each other gifts. I loved my incredibly sweet love notes from Tanner and I had such a great time writing down 52 reasons that I love him :) (I challenge you all to try and do this for your S.O. you have to be creative but it’s fun)

This wasn’t homemade but it was spectacular. Tanner drove all the way to DC and dealt with the lines on v-day to get me this red velvet Georgetown cupcake! So thoughtful!

Style Section: The Hunt is Over

Don’t fret…I finally found a brightly colored blazer! I’ve been on the lookout for a while now and those that know me well have heard me analyze every brand, material, color and price. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that’s happy I found this burnt orange blazer at H&M!

Style Section: Night Out Circa 1990

Last Friday night I had just gotten home from the gym and was ready to settle in on the couch…when Tanner remembered that he wanted to venture out to a going away party in Arlington.

Ah crap, I literally had nothing to wear. No joke, I tried on 5 different failure outfits and then I opted for this simple Ryan Seacrest look.

And yes, you may recognize this ‘Same $hit Different Day’ t-shirt that has lived in my pajama drawer for the past 15 years give or take. Talk about sustainability and check out those muscles!

Workout Corner: (Im)possible Staple

The last few days I have been so utterly overwhelmed with lactic acid that even the simplest tasks seem impossible. Not just standing up, walking or reaching for something but even thinking and typing have been tough.

All of this grogginess stemmed from an intense workout on Friday afternoon courtesy of the hubby and then more torture courtesy of Kelly’s No Limit Circuit (NLC) class Saturday morning. And even though I hate how I feel I really want to remember Kelly’s workout to torment myself later; I know I am a creep.

*Man-Maker: start in plank with heavy weights, right back row, push-up, left back row, push-up, stand up and jump with weights over-head

Recipe Exchange: Smooooothie

Hiya everyone! I’m a slacker, a slacker that loves smoothies. I was chatting with my mom about how excited I was to get home and make a mango pineapple smoothie :) I promised her I would post my smoothie recipes so here goes:

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

• 1 cup fresh pineapple
• 1 cup fresh mango
• 1 cup Simply Orange orange juice
• 1 cup ice
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 splash vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients, if it’s too thick just add more oj.

Also, here is my go-to EASY Blueberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 cup milk (substitute almond milk/rice milk)
• 1 handful blueberries (I buy the frozen ones)
• 1/2 banana
• 1 cup ice
• 1 scoop protein powder

Blend all ingredients, if it’s too thick just add more milk.

ENJOY!

Style Section: And the award goes to…

Yep, it’s official. Tanner wins the best husband of the year award.

Literally one week ago Tanner decided he wanted to redesign our master closet. A few hunge, some pseudo architectural design, and a couple Home Depot visits later and my closet went from this messy one-rod disaster to an organized masterpiece!

Best. Closet. Ever. Thanks baby!

Style Section: Crafty McCrafterson

Hi, it’s me. I’m alive. 

Since I got back from Utah I haven’t posted at all. I have kept busy though and I definitely enjoyed being home with our family and friends for Thanksgiving and have had a lot of great holiday events this month! Oh and did I mention I got a new job?! More details on that later…on to the crafts :)

This past weekend my hubby went up to NY and I went crazy in the craft department. I am pretty much Michaels’ customer of the month since I bought everything up to create these awesome ideas that I found on Pinterest. 

$4.99 wreath + glittery balls o’ yarn = incredible holiday wreath

I got after it on our chalkboard inspired by a printable

I finally found a way to display my holiday cards! I am really happy with how this turned out :)

Oh and I also did some pottery painting a few weeks ago with my friend Amanda. So much fun and I’m really happy with how they turned out :) Now I just need an excuse to bake some cookies.

Yay Holidays!

Workout Corner: Holiday Challenge

Alright, here we go again! It’s time for another challenge. My friend Tamdan and I were discussing how easy it is to get out of shape during the holiday season. There are so many parties, so many feasts, and so many calories in general that it’s easy to lose focus of your exercise goals and your waistline.

So, we made a pact that we would do some sort of physical activity every single day through the end of the year. And from this pact, “The Holiday Challenge” was birthed.

Join us as we enjoy indulging during the holidays while sweating for at least 30 minutes every day. Walking is out (unless it’s at a steep incline or you’re carrying your dogs instead of walking them). I’ve had lots of requests to have Christmas day off, but if you’re a go-getter like Tamdan then you will join her for a workout.

(We are using the Optumizeme app on iphone to track our progress. If you are interested in joining let me know!)

Here is my workout for tonight:

I would like to work on building my pull-up reps again, so tonight I will walk up to the bar and see how many pull-ups I can do in a row. I assume I will max out at 3 (so take 3 and divide by 2 and round down to 1) So 1 pull-up is my half-max pull-up. Make sense?