I love avacados. I love Guacamole. I love Ina Garten. So when she featured this salad on her show the other morning (the show that I DVR) I was speechless. We're going to a friends for a BBQ tonight and I thought I'd bring this along.

I made two substitutes and one addition. I forgot a yellow pepper so I used green and I I left out the black beans because I don't like them, lol. I added cilantro to the sauce to keep it fresh. It turned out FANTASTIC.

Here's Ina's recipe.

Guacamole Salad

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup small diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe Hass avocadoes, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced
Directions
1Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeño peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl.
2Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables.
3Toss well.
4Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad.
5Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature. *I serve it chilled*

It's true, it does seem like everyone is a professional photographer these days. Especially with the wonderful new technology! I wish I had a DSLR... I'm practically salivating for one, haha.

Memorial Day weekend was pretty uneventful. I am sick with a sinus infection that's taking over my entire life. But we still tried to make the most of the weekend. We went to a barbecue with some new friends and I stood back and took about a million pictures (or so it seems). It was relaxing and fun, but I paid for it the next day. I was so exhausted. Thank goodness for Stefan, he let me sleep until 2, he knew I wasn't feeling well.

Here are some pictures that I found to be quite good from my weekend :) Enjoy!

I like to toy around with my camera. It's a more advanced point and shoot and it's really good for how much I paid for it.

I also like to think I've got some knack for photography. A friend from work seems to think the same! She wants me to take some photos of her son at the park and adit them for her. I don't do a lot of editing... But I'm wanting to take some classes on it.

I feel like I do better when I child is in a relaxed or carefree state. You get much better emotion and a much stronger feel for the person in the photgraph. I'm someone who believed every picture has and should tell it's own story. That's my photography method, I search for the story.

Here are some pics that seem to be pretty popular! Tell me what you think!

I don't want Rileigh to ever be able to say that I was never around or that I made her feel unimportant. As a result, I probably overcompensate. I just know what I want to be as a Mother and I hope I can be that for her.

I try to do special activities for her whenever I can. Stefan and I were in the middle of making her an "economy" sandbox but realized the store was out of the sand we wanted. So in a pinch, I turned it into a water box. Rileigh loves it. She could play outside with it all day. We picked up a small tote, one of the ones that fits under beds, and filled it with water and water appropriate toys and put it on the porch. It was such a success that I'll have to keep it a waterbox and get a new tote for the sand!

Somewhere around 4am I woke up to get a drink and check on my daughter. I peaked in her door and noticed her face down buns up in her new toddler bed. Something like this...


Notice how her diaper is slightly off kilter? I didn't think much of it, I was tired, and wanted to go back to sleep. SO I DID. I'm sorely regretting that decision.

Around 8am my lovely daughter chippers "Moooooommmmmyyyyy!" Sounding the alarm that it's time to wake up! SO I DID. I'm sorely regretting that decision.

I peak into her room to find.... A toddler and a toddler bed covered in poo. Poo on her face, poo in her hair, poo on her legs, poo on her new bed set. Poo everywhere.

I giggled a little and poked my head in to Stefan (who doesn't do poo well, at all) "Honey? I'm gonna need your help for this one..."

Let's hope this isn't an indication of how the rest of my day is going to play out.