How did this happen yet again? I let everyone down and didn’t make much progress on TWLC2, and I swore that wouldn’t happen again with TWLC3.

Oh yeah, I stopped losing weight and started gaining.

But based on the activity in the Facebook group, I know that there are plenty of TWLC3-ers working their tail off to hit their goals by the middle of October. If you haven’t been meeting your goals, there is no reason you can’t make the necessary changes in the next 3 weeks!

Now that I’m feeling better (hooray for the second trimester, it’s a necessary respite) I’m back to exercising regularly and eating something closer to the diet I’ve had for the past two years. I joined a gym and attend group classes after I drop T1 off at preschool, and I’m trying to make it through C25K again. I’m eating a lot more meat than I was 6 months ago, though I am still trying to keep my carb intake low (and when I do indulge in my constant desire for cereal, I want it to have the least amount of sugar possible and be 100% whole grain (I really like this stuff I found in the bulk bin at Whole foods)).

I’m really curious, who’s still participating at this point? I’m really excited to get your before+after pictures, because I know some of you have made really drastic changes!

Remember when I asked you to name your favorite bloggers who were both Mormon and female? I took your suggestions, looked them up on the website Alexa to find out their traffic ranking, and then compiled a giant list of blogs written by female Mormons.

Based on what I found, the 10 blogs I chose to study for my paper (because Alexa told me they were the most highly trafficked) were: Our Best Bites (http://www.ourbestbites.com/), Two Peas & Their Pod (http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/), Oh Happy Day, (http://www.ohhappyday.com/), Design Mom (http://www.designmom.com/), Rockstar Diaries (http://taza-and-husband.blogspot.com/), The House of Smiths (http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/), Little Green Notebook (http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/), The Daybook (http://www.thedaybookblog.com/), Little Miss Momma (http://www.littlemissmomma.com/), and Say Yes to Hoboken (http://sayyestohoboken.com/)

The first draft of my paper was 18 pages double-spaced, but my professor wasn’t thrilled with the length and made me cut it down to ten. I prefer the longer one because I really liked some of the things I had to cut out, so I’m showing you the long version here. I figure if you actually click over to read it you’re interested enough to make it through the whole thing? Maybe I’m wrong.

Female Mormon Bloggers - Long Version

This is still a bit rough, because I cut out 8 pages and then polished it up to hand it in, but you get the idea. I’d love to know what you think about my conclusions!

I was still pregnancy sick during our trip to Poland this year, so it wasn’t quite what everyone was expecting. My FIL took work off so we could go out and explore the country a bit more, but I only managed to make it out of the house twice in two weeks. Next time I am planning to take Poland by storm!

Our first outing was to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. I’ve actually been to this mine once before, on my first trip to Poland with my mom back in 2008, and I loved it so much I asked if we could go again so I could experience it with That Husband. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and if you are headed to Poland I think the salt mine is worth it. Our tour guide told jokes that were actually funny (his humor was very dry and I really liked it) and I love the mix of history and folklore told throughout the tour.

My favorite part is the Chapel of Saint Kinga, filled with statues and reliefs and even chandeliers carved entirely out of salt. To read more about the mine and see more pictures click here.

The other day I made it out of the house was for the birthday party of a family friend. We were there for a few hours in the afternoon and I managed to squeeze in two naps. It was ridiculous, but everyone was very nice about it and expressed lots of love and well wishes for the baby. The time when I was awake was spent eating, playing Settlers of Catan (a new obsession of mine), and staring out at this view from the front porch of the cabin where the birthday party was held.

The rest of my time was spent recovering from the incredibly taxing task that is eating and showering (note: sarcasm). T1′s trip wasn’t at all affected by my knocked-up-down-and-out status because he did the same thing he does every time we visit Poland: spent copious amounts of time with Jaja and Babcia, ran around the wonderland that is my FIL and MIL’s backyard, ate a whole lot of sausage, and relaxed in his little green chair watching Polish cartoons.

We didn’t get a single picture of the three of us together. For shame!

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See what I did there with all of the acronyms in the title? This weekend I spent a few hours with Mandy of OMG Mom (we’ve met before) and her adorable daughter, whom I was meeting for the first time. Mia and T1 are about 9 months apart I think, so they’re close enough in age to make it work, even though I could tell that Mia was a bit bored with T1 at times. I tried to choose my outfit carefully, because I knew Mandy would look awesome, which she did, and I think I’m going to have to give it another try next time we meet.

We spent some time at my place and then went to the park where they shared snacks.

And went down the slide. (T1 tried to tell me that Mia’s pink sparkly shoes were his and tried to convince me to put them on him).

And scaled the monkey bars. Look, T2 is making an in-utero appearance as well! I look so different in pictures than what I see.

I would have fed them lunch, but I’m not sure they wanted to eat it (my hummus was a bit overpowering on the salt and garlic although I did really like this recipe and plan to use it again) but they had to head out for family stuff. Mandy is so much fun to spend time with, and T1 loooooved her. She was constantly scooping him up and playing with him and telling me how great he is. (She’s right, he’s one of the coolest kids ever.) She was also very gracious and refrained from commenting on our inability to be proper hosts since we have almost no seating downstairs (we had to drag kitchen chairs out on the porch to talk). Stylish Mia was not at all freaked out by the fact that I acted like I knew her already, waited patiently for T1 to stop hogging all of his toys so she could try them as well, and did a great job posing for pictures. After they left, T1 kept talking about his “friends” and the “park” and I realized Mandy is right. It is time for me to get some regular playdates scheduled. If only these two lived closer!

And just for fun, a picture of T1 on his new toy. That Husband took this because T1 went outside, came back in, and told him that he wanted him to take his “pitture”. He smiled and posed for several shots all on his own. He’s made so much progress over the summer! (And of course I am delighted that he wants to have his picture taken. I dream of pictures documenting our life similar to what The Image is Found creates.)

We’ve been in Palo Alto for a week now, and we’re almost entirely unpacked which means I can finally take a deep breath and attack other areas of my life that have been put on hold for weeks and months over our crazy summer. The amount of shopping I need to do is insane (including things like a couch and something to clean the toilets with, you know silly non-essential extras).

I’m feeling worlds better in my second trimester, but at the end of each day I find myself exhausted. 8pm comes, we work on getting T1 to bed, and by the time I usually would sit down at the computer all I want to do is climb into bed and play Bejeweled. I don’t know that blog posts are going to be as frequent as they were in the past. I do have almost a dozen things I want to write about, including half-marathon training/running, TH’s graduation, my school experience and graduation, my paper on Female Mormon Bloggers, potty training, and how I can meet my neighbors to find some playmates for T1 and mom friends for me.

In the meantime, two favorite pictures from the summer. The first is obviously right after my graduation ceremony. Thanks to Aubrey of Every Little Moment Photography for doing family photos for us after my convocation. She took them, I edited them (and I’ll share the rest soon!).

The second is T1 taking a breather after chasing me around my in-law’s backyard during our last trip to Poland.

One of the things I missed most this summer was my time in the kitchen. During my time at school I was so sick that heating up and eating a frozen burrito was overwhelming, and in Poland my in-laws take care of us all day every day. Now that I’m feeling better I’m combing my Pinterest boards for recipes to try. Here are a few I think you should make as well:

Eggs in Clouds

I thought these were best when the yolks were runny.

Avocado Banana Bread

I did have a little bit of trouble with this bread, but I think that’s because it needed to cook a little bit longer (I left the house and had TH take it out of the oven). It was really moist and the flavor was great!

Curried Coconut Chicken Salad

The chicken mixture keeps well in the fridge for a few days so you can stuff pita bread with the leftovers or continue eating it as a salad.

Summer Vegetable Tian

Mmmmm, this is one I’ll be making over and over until the summer vegetables are gone from the farmer’s market. We ate it with whole wheat noodles mixed with a creamy lemon-dill sauce.

Slow-Cooker Asian Pork With Snow Peas, Red Peppers, and Soba Noodles

I tend to choose recipes that are a bit involved and that don’t reheat well, and this one was neither (hooray!). The pork was incredibly easy to make, the peanuts took seconds to roast, and the noodles and vegetables required little more than a quick boil. For me the best part was enjoying the leftovers for lunch the next day!

Eggplant and Goat-Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Tarragon Sauce

Oh goodness me, this is the kind of dish I would pay good money for at a restaurant. It took me several hours from creation to dining to cleaning-up but I’m not sure if that’s an indication of anything since I’m notoriously slow in the kitchen (anyone know of a speed cooking class I can take in the Bay Area?). First you start the tomato sauce and let it simmer for just shy of 30 minutes (I would double the amount of tomato sauce and use it for leftovers if I were you). The eggplant slices are breaded and fried, goat cheese is sandwiched between then, and then they are put in the oven long enough for the goat cheese to melt.