So, at 33 weeks pregnant I’m really starting to miss and crave my regular workouts. I especially miss aerobic-type sweat sessions like Zumba and Step and really just anything that gets your heart pumping and lets you get groovin to some fun dance music!! I also miss being able to go for a run whenever and having lots of energy to do squats and lunges. Those types of strength moves are way harder when you are prego. Namely because you are lifting (at this point) a good 20 extra pounds up and down and because the baby is starting to move in on the diaphragm causing major shortness of breath. Bleh. The good news is that Baby Ashton is only a few weeks away and he is obviously worth every moment of pregnancy !!! 

Back to the moment, we had a lovely evening  last night with my cousin Brian, his wife Michelle and their three sweet and spunky girls Katherine, Thea, and Zoe. I love hosting. It’s fun to plan a menu and have motivation to get your place all spiffed up. I fixed grilled chicken; basil, tomato, and fresh mozzarella pasta salad; green salad; buttered french bread; and corn on the cob. For dessert my mom brought her amazing jumbleberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream and flourless chocolate cookies for the kids. It was a nice summer spread and I’m glad everything turned out ! Fun to try a new pasta salad too!! I love the combination of cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and real mozzarella pearls together, so delicous. I also like to mix up the pasta noodles so there are a couple fun shapes (say gemelli and radiatore) …makes for a more interesting dish.

I think the most important rule to hosting is to spread out your to-do list. As in don’t try to do it all in 1 or 2 days, but spread things out over the week. For instance, if you mop and plan the menu one day, you can clean a couple bathrooms and vacuum another day; plan grocery shopping and food prep for another day; and designate laundry, bed making, and towel and toiletry stocking the next. I feel like I always learn a lot about our hosting capabilities when we have overnight guests. It brings your attention to the things that would be helpful to have on hand. I made a little list this morning of items that would be good to pick up at some point to better host family and friends. These include:

• a couple more ice cube trays (that or get our ice maker working!!)
• A bread basket
• Cake Cutter
• Large Salad Bowl
• 2 extra pillows (steve and I are so bad, we both sleep with two and get sore if we only have one!!)
• a couple of warm blankets to add to guest beds
• a full or queen-sized down insert for our two queen duvets.

I’m not going to go run out and get all of these things in one trip, but being mindful of what we need, I can keep my eye on sales racks and at yard sales to find these items and fill in the gaps.