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Things I Love Thursday – the Chevy Traverse

When Jenny and I started thinking about taking a trip to the mountains, one question complicated our plans – “What are we going to drive?” Neither one of us have a car big enough to fit both of us and all four kids, and driving two separate cars seemed like a pain… and would make the trip a lot more painful less fun.

And let’s face it. I would have had to drop my kids off at the top of the mountain and go back down to get Jenny and her kids. She doesn’t really “do” mountain driving.

We knew Chevy had a very active blogger program and had given bloggers the opportunity to take “test drives” of their cars (they call it the “Girlfriend Getaway”), so we reached out to them to see if we could work something out.

They had just the vehicle we needed for our trip, and generously offered to let us borrow it for the weekend.

Meet the Chevy Traverse.

Isn’t it pretty?

With room for eight, we were able to fit four kids and two moms (plus a lot of stuff) very comfortably.

Sammy’s over there on the left, see?

(That’s him in his Safety 1st Air Protect Car Seat which really deserves a Things I Love Thursday post all to itself because omg bff I LOVE that thing.)

I had never been to Jenny’s parents’ house before (I was the family slacker in that department, but my kids LOVED it so much that I’m sure we’re going to be frequent visitors from this point forward) so I wasn’t aware of the terrain we were going to encounter. I mean, Jenny had tried to describe it to me and everything, but I wasn’t prepared for the actual climb up the mountain.

Did I mention that we got there in the dark? Yeah, it was awesome. I was driving four miles up a mountain I had never seen before, in the dark, on a gravel road, with two six-year-olds yelling “We’re going to DROWN! We’re going to DROWN!” and Jenny sitting next to me laughing at me for asking if the worst was over.

Now I know – the worst isn’t over until you shift into park at the top of the driveway.


See what I mean?

Needless to say, I was so glad we had the Traverse for that crazy drive! It handled really well and the big, wide tires were perfect.

We only had one problem on the entire trip. You see, the Traverse drives a little too smoothly… you can be driving a little too fast and not even know it.

Until you see the lights flashing in your rear-view mirror, anyway.

You should have seen Jenny trying to explain why exactly Chevy would let us borrow their car. Because, we’re, um, bloggers? Yeah, blank stare. Regardless, the officer took pity on us and only gave me a warning – shew!

Anyway, we had a great trip, and we both loved driving and riding in the Traverse. A huge thanks to Chevy for letting us try it out – it definitely made our trip easier, safer, and a lot more fun!

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For more Things I Love Thursday, check out Diaper Diaries.

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Always Thinking of Others

Well, folks, it’s almost that time of year again.  I am sure I don’t need to remind you because you have it in RED on your calendar: MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING!  You have 10 shopping days left, so in case you’re stumped about what to get me, I thought I’d give you a few ideas, like I did last year.  Because that worked out pretty well for me!  So, because I’m always trying to make life easier for you, here ya go.

JENNY’s BIRFDAY LIST:

1) New styles from Lands’ End.  Oh em gee have you SEEN the new catalog? Me want!  And don’t think it doesn’t KILL me that I am too pregnant to wear much of it right now!  But as I will be un-pregnant in just a few short months, I would like these for my birthday anyway.  They are so pretty they will distract from my baby fat!   I would like this cardigan and shell from the Blissful Knits collection. I will need at least two different colors in each, pleeeeeaaase:


Also, I will need a couple of each of these fab comfy tees. Love the feminine details! Surprise me with the colors, I trust you! Just make sure you get a size medium in everything!

2) Speaking of clothes…one of my FAVORITE retailers, Shade Clothing, is going out of business. 🙁  I can hardly imagine why as Bobby claims that SURELY I must have bought enough to keep them in business…but they are.  So that is the bad news.  The good news is that they are liquidating EVERYTHING so you can get some really great prices on stuff for ME!!!!!!!!!  I would like one of everything they still have available, in a medium please.    Especially this Embroidered Cami and V-Neck boyfriend tee.  Multiple colors in the tee would be SUPER!


Ok, so, moving on from clothes (bottoms are JUST gonna have to wait til I lose all the baby fat!)…

3) I need a nice pair of everyday earrings.  My suggestion are these Effortless earrings from Lia Sophia.   They are only $22, they are perfect for what I need, and they are sold by Melissa Ballweg who has supported our last two Dayton Mom’s Night out parties.  Really, you cannot go wrong!

4) Maternity Clothes. Seriously I have no shirts.  And the world does not want to see me pregnant and t*pless.  So do the world a favor and give the birthday girl a gift certificate to Old Navy, Motherhood, Gap, or somewhere else I can get something to put over this bump!  Sadly, I already bought out the *two* maternity shirts that Shade has left in my size. They are hopefully on their way to me as I write this!  If you really want to get me a *specific* item, go for this tee from Old Navy (ahem, it comes in two colors, *cough*Medium*cough*):

5) Finally, let’s talk shoes.  I mean my butt may be larger for awhile in 2010 but my feet I expect to retain their size 7.5 as they did in previous lives.  And mama wants these Exitosa black boots from You by Crocs for the winter.  My old black boots died a sad death when the heel broke off at BlissDom last year. SO it seems only fitting to move on to wedges, yes?

So, how do you like my birthday choices? I’m pretty much in love with all of them…I need pretty things to cover the grief I feel at getting to be such a GEEZER!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post. Oh, how I wish it were.  It is however, part of Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries! Go check it out!

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Things I Love Thursday – Cooking on the Grill

Now I know you all know how much I loooooooooove to cook, and how great I am at it… but, like I promised, I am trying to get better! I even bought myself a new grill last spring in an attempt to cook more.

It’s working! I love using the grill, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things to make. I’d love to hear yours – make sure to leave a comment!

First, I love the steak marinade recipe from Tricia at Once a Month Mom. There’s nothing to it, and it turns out so well. I have made it twice – once with strip steaks and once with t-bones, and it was a hit both times. It is sooooo good. (And if anyone can tell me the secret to preventing flame flare-ups, that would be awesome.) (And speaking of fire, I didn’t get a picture of this unfortunately because my husband was totally not amused, but you should have seen our attempt at grilling ribs. Let’s just say that rib night very quickly turned into grilled cheese night. And yes, I burnt the first sandwich too.)

I have also discovered grilled corn on the cob, and it is amazing. Check out this site – I googled “How to grill corn on the cob,” and wouldn’t you know it, I came up with step-by-step directions on a site called GrilledCornontheCob.com. I love the internet.

Thanks to the internet, I have also discovered the joys of grilling fruit. First, I tried grilling peaches using this recipe. Nothing to it – and over ice cream… YUM.

Grilling peaches was so good that I went back to google and looked for more grilled fruit recipes. I discovered that it’s also possible to grill strawberries and bananas. I haven’t tried either, but I am dying to do so!


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What else do you have for me? I’d love to hear about your favorite things to grill! And for more Things I Love Thursday, head over to The Diaper Diaries.

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