We woke up to the news of the Boston Marathon bombing.  

Checked in with all our Boston friends and thankfully they are all ok. My husband went to undergrad in Boston so there are so many connections and love for the city as well. Our hearts and prayers go out to every single person there and hope that they can find out what happened and why. 

This world is such a scary place…  

We got up at 6am this morning because the hubs has a meeting to go to. I made breakfast for us, helped him get ready and sent him off. The morning was quiet, it was still a little dark and I was by myself thinking… Wow. I’m at 30 weeks now, only 10 more to go. 

I thought about how I wish my friends were near me to help me celebrate and thought about how I miss them. Well, I miss them all the time, lol but ya know… every now and then I miss them in concentrated amounts. 

My buzzer rings from a delivery man and holy moly. I get a huge package (twss?) from the lovely Sandy! As I’m opening it, I’m pretty emotional. One by one, I can’t believe how generous she is. 

She made a boppy pillow for me and it’s just so adorable and I’m impressed by her sewing skills! I can’t wait to try it out while breast feeding little Boram. It’s so soft and sturdy, I know it’s going to come in handy. 

She sent socks and I was just telling the hubs we need more socks for our baby, especially to double as mittens. I think we actually have plenty now. The onesie is just the cutest thing ever, a lion on the butt… I mean seriously, how cute is that? The hoodie is amazing because it’s for when he’s 6 months and that’s winter time for us! 

And she had a garland in there as well so I hung it up around our mobile and it’s adorable! 

The cookies. Oh the cookies. I was drinking my raspberry-strawberry tea and it’s perfect timing.

I really feel so spoiled. I am so blessed and so lucky to have so many friends who love us and are so generous. I can’t thank you enough Sandy! Thank you SOOOOO much for all the gifts, all the love and support. xoxo

It’s been a great 2012, lots of ups and downs but mostly ups. Thank you for reading and supporting me through my life as an expat, my struggles to get pregnant and now my pregnancy.

This year has taught me so much, I can’t even begin to imagine what the new year will bring. Especially our little boy, he’s going to make life extra special for us. (I can’t WAIT)

May your holiday season be filled with love, cheer and delicious food. I hope that the new year brings you many blessings, happiness and excellent health.

From our family to yours, 

Happy Holidays!

So happy! Go Obama!!!

I have been using the slow cooker these past two days. Thank you to everyone for the recommendations about the whole chicken! I have it in the freezer because the head and feet are still on it. I need the hubby to chop those things off because it scares me every time!

I used what I had on hand and this was pretty good! I put potatoes, carrots, onions and then raw chicken breasts in the slow cooker.

Added about a cup of water and two cans of condensed cream of chicken soup. I threw in some herbs and kept it on low for 8 hrs.

The hubs loved it and it was quite tasty over rice. It was a bit salty for me but not bad.

I personally like cream of mushroom better than chicken. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

This was dinner tonight! A sort of “anything in your pantry” chili.

I had a cans of marinara sauce, tomatoes, kidney beans, and half a jar of salsa.

Threw all of that in the slow cooker with fresh onion, yellow and green peppers. I had fresh tomatoes too so I chopped those and added them as well.

I had chili seasoning and I fried some ground beef separately. Drained the fat and added to the slow cooker and stirred.

Low for 8 hours and it turned out absolutely amazing over rice.

It was an experiment but not bad for a fast, hassle free meal.

I’m loving the slow cooker! Can’t wait to try more experiments and recipes!

I’m so full. Food coma!

Do any of my lovely readers have any go to slow cooker recipes? 

The weather is getting cooler and I want to start using our slow cooker again. But I need some really simple recipes since it’s a bit difficult for me to find some fancier western items. I wanted to make beef stew but my delivery didn’t have any good choices of beef. Though, randomly… they gave me a whole chicken. I have no idea what I’m going to do with that chicken. 

So if you have any easy, tasty recipes… please leave it in the comments. (or links would be great!) Thank you in advance!

And I also wanted to say a huge thank you for those that reached out to me from my last blog post. I was honestly, having such a terrible day. You know when one thing goes wrong, then another and then it just keeps getting worse? It was one of those days.

I am feeling much better and back at speaking Chinese (as much as I can) daily.

I’ll be getting surgery and recovering in the hospital.

I know all will go well but if you could send some good thoughts, love and/or prayers… I would greatly appreciate it.