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May 29, 2014

Recent Happenings and Things to Look Forward to

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! Ours felt like a whirlwind with an overnight (and rain out!) visit to the lake, rushing back here for a wedding shower and then the usual weekend happenings that make it all pass by too soon. Luckily this week was a short one and the next weekend is already a light at the end of the tunnel.

In sort of a rare moment, we have absolutely no plans this weekend. And since I've been cooped up indoors because of several days worth of rain, plus a forecast of many more, I've at least had plenty of opportunity to day dream some plans up for summer weekends to come.



  1. Visits to Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs - this one is a guarantee. There is nothing better than cruising on the boat or sinking the anchor and floating for awhile. Not to mention eating delicious food, drinking my weight in wine and being with family and friends.
  2. Movies in the Park - Bring a picnic (including the booze!), a blanket or your lawn chairs and sprawl out and catch some great movies outdoor in the River Market. Choose between hits such as Frozen (already decided), Hunger Games (guess we'll have to go twice) and I suppose Man of Steel (For EH of course) plus several others. What a perfect date night!
  3. Float trips! EH and I own a pretty swanky canoe that is going to succumb to dry rot if we don't put that baby into a river ASAP. Not to mention we...might have cushioned seat backs AND cup holders. So. Yea, we have no excuse. Bonus points if we can make this an overnight trip with friends. 



I know I had more but I was interrupted by a recently washed Moose who wanted to cuddle and an EH who decided now was a good time to brush out some Pomeranian tangles. So on that note, I'm off to find the lint roller. Have a great night!

May 23, 2014

Favorite Friday of The Year

This Friday - the one kicking off Memorial Day weekend - is my favorite Friday of the year. Why is that? Because my office is awesome and allows us to close up shop for the week at 1pm. We still make the hours up (one downside..getting used to that routine stinks!) but there is something so exciting about stepping out of the office and into the sunshine with a whole afternoon ahead of you.

As soon as Engineer Husband gets off work (poor guy doesn't get his summer hours until next week) - we'll be packing up our swim suits and flippy floppies (sorry!) along with the Moose and headed to the lake!


Maybe we'll hit up one of the sandbars..


Definitely will be looking forward to sunset cruising on the boat..


And whatever else comes our way!

Hope everyone has some fun plans for this weekend - whether you are sticking close to home or headed to your nearest large body of water. No shame if that's the tub even! 

Have fun and stay safe!

May 11, 2014

Chicken Caesar Salads and a Happy Mother's Day!

It's been an eventful weekend. EH and I ventured out Friday night to meet some friends for dinner at Ciao Bacci, followed by lots of drinks at the Fountain. Though I feel like we are always doing something, it's pretty rare for us to stay up as late as we did. Fun! But we paid for it yesterday.

After finally powering through the dreaded mid-20's two day hangover, Mother's Day we woke up bright eyed and feeling tons better. We headed to EH's hometown to see my in-laws, Grandmother-in-law and Sister-in-law for a Mother's day lunch. It was extra special because my sister-in-law is having her second little girl this Wednesday!!

Back at our homestead, I decided to put together one of EH's favorite dinner dishes. Poor guy did five hours of yard work yesterday, and came home today to do some wood working and now he's finishing up a project for work, so I know he is pretty wiped out.

EH loves chicken caesar salads, so when I read this recipe for homemade caesar dressing from The Pioneer Woman, I knew this would be right up his ally.


So here is what I do, which is really following The Pioneer Woman's recipe word for word.

What you'll need:


  • 2 large cloves of garlic
  • 4 anchovy fillets (you'll find them near the canned tuna & chicken)
  • 2-3 Tbs Dijon Mustard (I get the Private Selection Garlic Dijon Mustard - very grainy and sooooo good!)
  • 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Little bit of salt
  • Little bit more of pepper
  • 1/4 cup grated/shredded parmesan cheese 
 Start by pulsing the garlic, anchovy fillets, dijon mustard, lemon juice, worcestershire, and balsamic. Stop every now and then to scrape the sides.

Once that is good and mixed, turn the food processor on low and slowly pour in the olive oil. Stop to scrape the sides and give it good mix.

Finally, add a little salt and plenty of black pepper and the parmesan cheese. Pulse until it's all good and combined and smelling delicious like you want to smear it all over your face.

Or..until it's ready to pour into a jar and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

When you're getting close to starving, cook up some chicken (I cook mine on the stove top in a whole mess of butter and olive oil). Once they're done, slick them into big hunks and toss with big crunchy pieces of romaine, some croutons (I cheat and buy the bagged kind) and plenty of parmesan cheese and your delicious caesar dressing.




Here's what ours looked like all put together. It looks like a lot of dressing, but once you toss everything together it coats everything perfectly. I hope you enjoy!

And to all the wonderful and fabulous Mother's out there - I hope you had a wonderful day!


May 8, 2014

What's Been Happening Lately

The past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. It feels like every weekend has been occupied with plans, work has me yearning for early evening naps, and there really is no end in sight. I hope that doesn't come off too negative because really the whirlwind has had it's fun moments for sure.

So here's a quick recap of what I've been up to.

I channeled my inner Zelda Fitzgerald (minus the drama and hospital stays) for a Centennial Gatsby-themed party, which I hope you'll find is RIGHT up my ally.


Engineer Husband dressed up as well, while I posed awkwardly beside him in front of a vintage car.

 
Holy unfortunate arm there. There was an actual photographer who hopefully captured a more flattering angle - this is what someone snapped with my iphone. 

Side note: if you haven't had the pleasure of attending a 1920's themed party, please throw yourself one. Or find me and I'll throw you one. It was SO much fun! Everyone really went all out to dress up and it felt like stepping back in time...except we didn't have to worry about keeping our speakeasy secret. 

Speaking of awkward selfies, here's one I snapped that I might as well share. It's officially PRETTY hot here so I've had fun digging out spring/summer favorites from my closet - like sheer button ups and some meant to look old but just kidding I bought them like this jeans.


One particular weekend where the Moose Face and I had the house to ourselves, I decided to dig out a few canvases that EH had gifted me years ago, coupled with some Pinspiration to do a little DIY art.

(but...still in progess!)


The top painting is in it's final stages but the bottom one has some work to do. I'm hoping to make sort of a gallery wall in our guest bedroom - and if I can perfect the blue tones to match the walls I will be much happier with it.

Anyways.

Then came Cinco de Mayo! We usually have a get together at our place, with margaritas and sangria and tons of food, but with so much going on (and with it falling on a Monday), we hit up one of our favorite local spots instead. Where, bless his heart, our waiter didn't hear my food order but DID hear my request for extra sour cream. 


Luckily he got some real sustenance out to me before I knew it. It was super loud so I definitely understood why we had the mixup! Bonus points - he kept the margaritas coming!

The next day we got to see my little sister-in-law and little brother-in-law, though they're not little by any means. Seeing them usually means my in-laws are cooking which result in pictures like this!


Though in full disclosure, this is EH's plate. My burger had blue cheese crumbles and bacon but it was devoured before I thought to snap a picture. But his burger was just as picture worthy. 

And now we're here, finally hours away from a weekend where we have very little planned for once except for Mother's Day on Sunday which we are looking forward to. Then it's go-go-go again! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!