Big Fat Bacon Sliders

Are you ready for summer? I have been looking forward to it since the first snowflake hit the ground last winter. Memorial Day is a much anticipated because it marks the beginning of summer. I am having to get used to not having a BBQ around. So sad, but I am making due with the oven. When Holli showed me a Pioneer Woman recipe for a burger wrapped in bacon that you cook in the oven, I knew I had to make it for Memorial Day!

Picture by Holli Coats (She's good!)

Monsterblog.

Greetings! Long time no post, I know. Matt always 'encourages' me to blog... but by the time I come home from work I just don't feel like it. Today flew by at work and was particularly busy, but for whatever reason, here I am! Lucky you:)

You all get a peek into our lives as Matt posts his cooking ventures. Being the food people that we are, I feel like that is a pretty good look at what goes on in the Coats house, but we are overdue for some life/baby updates- so here they are!

Some time ago our little baby ticker (over there, to the right.... up.... there it is) said we had 100 days left till this little one is scheduled to join us (and yes, I know there is nothing scheduled about it) so we decided to celebrate! We went to a great little diner about 40 minutes away in Staunton called Wrights where Matt enjoyed 'the monster burger'. You are all right in assuming it was huge. After that we had the wheelie, a donut topped with soft serve. I can't believe I never thought of that before, but it was good.

The Wheelie

We also carved pumpkins in the recent past for family night. Our pumpkin is currently rotting on our front porch- the rain hasn't been good for it- so we'll stick with a picture we took right after carving.

Owl Pumpkin

Fall is my favorite season, especially in Virginia. We took advantage of the beautiful place we live and went for a fall drive this past Sunday. Here is a pic of my handsome hubby in a random field we stopped in.

This is Virginia, folks.

In addition to all these goings on, we are continually doing baby-related things, like planning out the nursery, crib searching, making baby things, baby showers (thanks to my awesome co-workers- what a great surprise!), reading all sortsa stuff... Matt even found an ipod app on making your own baby food. He's adorable.

Our crib search was getting frustrating. We found one crib we liked. Loved.

This bad boy is modern, eco-chic and downright beautiful (I'm in love with everything on their website). And costs $690. Aside from the price tag, it was everything we imagined we wanted in a crib. But apparently money is a factor here (ok, reeeeeeally a factor) and we knew this crib could not be ours. Sigh. As I searched for online crib skirt tutorials I stumbled across this post from a blog I used to check out every so often and read about their crib search. It sounded like ours... and I knew there must be resolution, so I started to get hopeful.

What we found through their crib search was this modern beauty. Where is it sold you ask? Walmart. Yes. You read that right. Of all places. Our search had taken us just about everywhere EXCEPT Walmart, mostly because their selection of in-store baby stuff is terrible and I thought it would be the last place to get a unique but simple crib. I was right. It was the last place- but isn't it a beauty!?

This one rings in just under $300. Matt wanted to buy it the moment we saw it, but we are trying not to be impulsive shoppers. Site-to-store service means we don't have to pay for shipping and we can actually get it right here in our rural little community. The stars have aligned, and there is much rejoicing.

Amongst all this crib searching and baby planning, my dear husband ran across a website that allows you to create a virtual room and arrange furniture. He thought it would save him the hassle of moving furniture around multiple times before I figured out what I wanted.... what he didn't know was that it actually was kind of a pain to use. But, once we figured it out, we started to have fun. We created 3d images of the nursery layout that is to scale with the furniture we already have and that which we hope to acquire.

Kinda neat right? We couldn't change the crib to white... but use your imagination. We also couldn't change the wall color to Olympic's 'Crocodile Tears', but you get the idea.

I finally bought my fabrics for the bumpers, crib skirt, changing pad and throw pillows for the love seat, plus whatever else I come up with. Fun patterns, right?

Just yesterday I made this skirt and embellished onesie. Originally I was going to attach the skirt to the onesie to make a dress, but I figured this way both pieces are versatile. I also attached the flower with a snap, so if I decide to make more skirts in the future I can make matching embellishments and just swap out the onesie. It was super easy- maybe I'll create a tutorial...
And for a photo update- here I am at 27ish weeks in that fabulous field we drove to. That belly is a-growin!

Decisions, Decisions

Matt here! I have been thinking a lot of my of hamburgers. I have also been wanting to make eggs benedict. So I started thinking… what if I make an egg benedict hamburger? I would have a hamburger patty and Canadian bacon on it for sure. I’m not sure if I would want to put a poached egg or fried egg and I’m also debating if I would want to use a burger bun or an English muffin. Is there anything else that would be good? Caramelized onions would be good, but would that take away from the classic eggs benedict? (of course I’m straying away from the classic because I’m making a hamburger) To top it off I would add a hollandaise sauce and maybe a little chopped fresh parsley. What are your thoughts? I want to make a cool hamburger before summer is over. I need some feedback and maybe I’ll start fiddling around with some things. Oh, I just thought of a name…The Traitor!

Another decision I need help with is which font to use for Holli’s logo. I have been working on one, but we are having a hard time choosing one. So I figure we would put it up to a vote.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

I would love as much input on these two topics as I can. Thanks for your help!