recipe // sloppy joes

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I am a total lover of Pinterest. I don't spend hours a day sifting through pins, but I do use it almost everyday. It has honestly made cooking so much easier. Pre-Pinterest, I used to have bookmark tabs with links and links of recipes I'd like to try. It wasn't very practical, but it was all I had. Then along came Pinterest and this type-A organizer was thrilled.

I found this sloppy joe recipe just a few days ago (on Pinterest) and made it last night. Tim claimed it was hands-down the best sloppy joe he'd ever had. Go figure. It's a super easy recipe; there's just a few little surprise ingredients that I think give it that edge - like soy sauce. Have you ever put soy sauce in your sloppy joes?! Not me. So Tim thought it'd be a good idea to share this recipe with the world, just in case you were looking for the best sloppy joe recipe ever.

Sweet & Spicy Sloppy Joes
from Jennifer Hill Pallian of the Foodess blog

2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
2" piece ginger, minced (I didn't have ginger on hand, but I'm sure this would give it another great dimension of flavor!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
rolls for serving

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, celery, and carrot until soft, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add the beef and cook until fully browned, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, soy sauce, and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
Serve with split rolls and enjoy the best sloppy joe ever!

baby update // 37 weeks

yes, that is my hospital bag in the background, semi-packed and ready to go.

Well, folks, I think we're ready for Baby Miller. And by that I mean as ready as you can ever be walking directly into the complete unknown aka parenthood. The nursery is unbelievably cute and stocked with blankets, onesies, and diapers; the car seat base has been installed; all the crib bedding has been washed; the swing is put together and sitting in the corner, waiting to be used. As for the labor and delivery aspect of everything, I'm feeling fairly prepared for that as well. Between our birth classes, reading a couple of highly-recommended books, and talking to friends who have been through the experience, I feel ready to take on this enormous task. People keep asking me if I'm nervous or scared, and I always say no. I'm more curious than anything, and if there's anything I'm nervous about, it's not the pain or work, but just the unknown. I'm a planner by nature and love to know what I'm walking into, but birth is one of those things that you can't really plan for. Yes, we have our birth plan all written out and ideas of how everything will go, but we of course have no idea how it will all actually go down. For this reason, I've been focusing my prayers more on the outcome than on the actual experience. Yes, I would love to be one of those women who can say I had a terrific and beautiful birth experience, but ultimately, all I want is a healthy and strong babe.

It's still so weird to me that I'm going to be a mom, that Tim's going to be a dad. Growing up, those titles were reserved for people who had perms, wore pleated pants, had mustaches, drank a lot of coffee, and liked to listen to news on the radio. Actually, Tim fits 3 of those characteristics already, ha! I think parenting is something I'm much more nervous about than physically birthing a baby. Should we be reading parenting books? Do we need to go over standards we think we should have once the kid is a little older? I think I'm so scared that one little "wrong" decision about something like how often to feed the baby or where the baby will sleep will end up snowballing into some kind of undesirable "condition" like a baby that cries all the time or doesn't sleep through the night until they're 2. This is probably just something I need to get over and we'll find our groove over time, figuring out what's best for our baby.

Baby Miller, we're ready for you and are so excited to meet you! See you soon, little one.

baby shower #2

Well, it's the middle of October and it's starting to look like fall. This year's fall season seems to be a little later than usual, which I am totally fine with. I'll take a long fall season any day. And the beginning of this year's fall was also the beginning of baby showers. I am so blessed to have family and friends who want to literally shower me, Tim, and the baby with gifts, blessings, prayers, and advice. My sister hosted baby shower #2 and did an excellent job. It was so darn cute! Check out all the cute details she put into it...

How fabulous are those cupcakes?! And the tree stumps and striped straws and diaper "cake" and... It was a great little party, full of special touches and special ladies.

And speaking of fabulous, a dear friend designed the shower invitation, which you can check out here. So adorable!

baby book

As of today, I am 34 weeks into this pregnancy and starting to get the "we really need to start getting things done/make a hospital packing list/buy essentials like a carseat" itch. I think part of it is that the last few women I've known who've had babies have all gone early. So while I think that I still have a whole 6+ weeks left, it could very well be 4 weeks. Holy cow.

One of the things on my to-purchase list has been a baby book, and finding a non-cheesy, gender neutral baby book that didn't cost $80 was much harder than I thought it'd be. I first tried the usual suspects - Target, Hallmark, etc. - but they only carried gender specific books. Then I thought I'd try Etsy because you can find awesome, unique things on there. And while that proved true, many of the books were a little spendy for me. So I resorted to Pinterest and searched for baby books and within 15 minutes found 3 great options. Gotta love Pinterest. After reviewing the options, I made my decision and placed my order for a baby book from My Sweet Muffin, a totally adorable site. The book came on Friday and I LOVE it! It's beautiful, it's gray and yellow(!), and the prompts are perfect. AND it cost less than $35. Score. Look how cute! Totally love it.

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Other great and unique options for baby books I found:

The Poketo Baby Book and Memory Box
source

Baby Book by Yasmeen Ismail
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engagement photos // john+dani

I got to spend some time with these two a couple weekends ago for an engagement photo in and around Minneapolis. It was a super fun shoot. We started on St. Anthony Main and ended at a wild flower preserve on the edge of the suburbs as the sun was setting. These last few photos are some of my favorites I've ever taken. It didn't hurt that John and Dani are a beautiful couple!

a weekend in the city a.k.a. a babymoon

Happy October! As Tim and I were sitting at the table this morning, he declared that October is probably his favorite month, followed closely by January/February. The boy loves his snow. I'll stick with October, thank you very much, and all it's bright leaves, sweaters, bonfires, apple pies, and (this year) baby prepping.

We spent this past weekend in the city. I guess you could call it our "babymoon", although it was really just like any other weekend, just with a few added extras...

• seeing The Milk Carton Kids and Over the Rhine at the Cedar Cultural Center. holy cow, so good! if you would like proof, take a listen.
• staying in a hotel = swimming! I've been wanting to go swimming for awhile now, thinking that it would just feel soooo good for this pregnant body. And it was every bit as awesome as I imagined it would be.
• walking around the Mall of America early on a Saturday morning to avoid the crowds. Tim said it was his best MOA experience to date.
• eating at an Asian bistro in Stillwater.
• exploring the antique shops and boutiques of Stillwater.
• eating a salted caramel pecan cupcake at Mara Mi, one of my most favorite shops EVER. seriously, I think I could live in there.

We were back at our cozy home by Saturday evening, which made for a quick trip, but also meant that we spent Sunday at church/baking apple crisp/mowing the lawn/generally enjoying each other's company and the beautiful fall day. Perf.