Saturday mornings

Saturday mornings are always the best.  We make coffee, eat breakfast, stay in our pajamas until about noon and catch up on all our shows that we recorded over the week.  But we did something extra crazy this morning...we went to the gym...both of us.  It was actually refreshing.  

But now here we are, pajamas again, coffee and Modern Family.  This is good.

The polka

Today I wore polka dots because they are awesome and girly and well, it's just good to feel that way sometimes.  But now it is American Idol time and I plan on doing wall sits with plenty of long breaks on our cozy couch.

xoxo

Dad

I have the best Dad in the world.  Really.  Don't even try to fight me on this;)

(And he loves his iPad too)

xoxo

This Friday night

This Friday night we had my little sister over for a sleepover.  She is the coolest kid on the block so both Michael and I were looking forward to this night all week!  We painted our nails, took silly pictures, ate burgers and french fries at Five Guys and gorged on candy at the movies.  We went to see One for the Money and it was actually fairly entertaining.  We were pleasantly surprised:)

But now it is morning and we have lounging, coffee and hot chocolate on the agenda.

Happy weekend everyone!  

Self portraits

I have recruited my husband to take photos, but since he is out of town for business and I cannot figure out how to set the self-timer on my camera, iPhone instaphotos will have to do!  

It's a happy Tuesday in neon.

(Top, NastyGal; Jeans, JBRAND; Earrings, NastyGal; Lipstick, Covergirl Lip Perfection in Spellbound.)

A happy weekend

This weekend was a happy one.  

1.  A surprise date night with my husband which resulted in me indulging in garlic, truffle, and roasted mushroom risotto that was just brilliant.

2.  A lazy Saturday morning.

3.  An exciting highschool basketball game at my brother-in-law's school (he teaches English) which revealed a completely new side of me that I didn't even know I had.  I talked smack, cheered, woot-wooted, and my husband said that he needs to get me out more.  Who knew I would come alive?!

4.  Drinks, hummus, pitas, and an impromptu game of "The Office Trivia" that I totally stunk at.

5.  Home videos with my sister, watching the boys bottle their first batch of home brew, and a successful trip to Goodwill.

6.  Football.  Do you see what marriage has done to me?

7.  Family.  Love love love.

         

 

Run-around

Today was a run-around day.  And that is exactly what I did.  Despite my still drippy nose and clogged sounding voice, I did numerous errands and organized closets and cabinets galore.  Only one mishap at Target...apparently no wallet means you can't take all your new necessary things home with you.

Humph.

Top, thrifted. Belt, thrifted. Pants, Zara. Shoes, Gap.

Dinner, meal, supper, feast, informal spread.

So who is hungry?  And not have a clue what to make?  Even after just two months of marriage, I still come home at night and slump in the kitchen looking through cabinets, the fridge, the freezer, more cabinets, looking for something to make.  So I have decided to help, both myself, and you (whomever you may be!) come up with something new to eat.  So, whatever you call the meal you eat between the hours of 4:30-??? (Yes, sometimes I am so famished that dinner is served at 4:30), let's eat!  Come back each week (Mondays except for, ya know, today, Wednesday) for a new delicious recipe.  Taylor and Michael approved.

Bon appetit!

Roasted chicken with mediterranean vegetables

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (4-5lbs)
1 red bell pepper, quartered
1-2 zucchini, cut into large chunks
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and quartered
1 lb new potatoes
8 garlic cloves, whole and peeled
1/2 lemon
Sprigs of fresh thyme
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

So, forewarning...I do not cook with exact measurements.  I cook with the things I like and add more of it and add less of what I hate.  This recipe called for eggplant, but I hate eggplant (a ruined experience of eggplant parmesan that I would like to repress, but I just can't), so I switched it out for zucchini.  The recipe called for 8 cloves of garlic, but I put in about 12.  Garlic...mmm...garlic.  The fun of cooking is to make it your own and be creative.  So, hate fennel?  Use onion.  Hate peppers?  Use more potatoes.  OK, moving on...

How to:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
2.  Take whole chicken and pat it dry.  Place in a large roasting pan and lightly coat with olive oil and pepper.  Place 1/2 lemon and a few sprigs of thyme inside.  Place chicken breast-side down and roast for 30 minutes.
3.  Remove from oven and flip chicken over to breast-side up and add potatoes.  Roast for 30 more minutes.
4.  Remove from oven once again and add vegetables, garlic, and a few more sprigs of thyme to vegetable mix.  Roast for 30-50 more minutes occasionally stirring vegetables.  (Note:  To know when chicken is done, pierce meat between breast and leg and juices should run clear.  If the juices are pink, keeping cooking at 10 min increments till clear).
5.  Serve with rosemary garlic bread or anything else you like.  Yum.

This recipe is so easy and yummy.  Perfect for cold winter nights.  Enjoy!

Sick Day

It's Monday.  It's gloomy.  And I am sick.

I never get sick, so this whole standing up and walking to the kitchen for a cup of tea and getting fatigued is quite new.

I am not leaving the house, I am only watching movies and napping.  And blowing my nose.

It's Brand New.

It's a brand new year and to so many people...a sigh of relief!  Yes, some years I have felt this way, but when the clock struck midnight and we blew our horns and cheers'd our champagne flutes, I almost felt...sad.  Undoubtedly one of the best years of my life had come to an end.  2011 was filled with the last year of nursing school, an engagement to the most handsomest and kindest of men, a beautiful summer spent galavanting together as an engaged couple, marrying, moving into our first home together, an incredible honeymoon and so many other little moments with friends and family and my husband that I would bore you and gag you with the details.  It was a good year.  But 2012, I am so ready for the awesomeness that you are about to be.  I am a wife this year and will soon be a nurse.  It just sounds so good...and grown up.  And responsibility-filled.  As it should be.  

I am still working on resolutions, as I have never really been a resolution-maker.  But, I have come up with one.  Wear more lipstick and for goodness sake, put on some earrings.  I am a grown-up and should look like a very chic one.

Ooooh.  Hello red lips on a Tuesday afternoon!  I am rocking this resolution thing.

Accessorizing

As much as I love fashion and clothing, I am not a jewelry connoisseur (although I am trying to be).  I enjoy my scarves in the winter and an occasional hat or head wrap in the summer if I am feeling extra ambitious, but rarely, on a normal day, do I put a necklace on in the morning and take it off as I am dressing for bed.  It is usually off within 2 hours, floats around in my purse for 2 weeks only to follow with a week in my car's cup holder...that is until I try it out again for size (and then repeat).  Instead of glitzing up this week, I am just going to carry around one of these.  And I mean everywhere.

Anyone want to join me with the perfect summer accessory?

They would pair perfectly with this Marc Jacobs number (especially that blue one!).

Check, check, check!

Apartment -  Check!

Sofa -  Check!

DIY furniture -  Check!

 A few more coats, a couple reupholsterings, a little signing of the lease, and a few vows to repeat...the gentleman and I are on our very merry way to becoming a real live married couple. 

This is good.  Very very good.

{I was going to do an outfit post, but I was in scrubs all day and now with this heat all I can do is sit in front of a fan with a little cotton sundress.  I'm a burning up.}

OK, now I am relaxed...

I have spent one good full day at the pool this summer.  It was awesome.   And even though it is blasted hot outside, it finally feels like summer. You have to have a few of these sweat inducing days for it to fill up your tank in preparation for fall and winter. My summertime love tank is getting nice and full.

I think we are turning into a Mexican meal

I think Michael and I are turning into a Mexican meal.  Our go-to celebratory, lazy day, hungry-and-I-don't-care-what-I-eat, and dinner with friends meal is Mexican (and a margarita, of course).  Thursday evening last week was spent with two of our friends downing tacos, laughing and trying to figure out how to blend the perfect margarita.  It is such a breath of fresh air when you spend time with your favorite people during a busy week...and when you all take a walk outside.  Which we did.

Casual

{Dress, Target. Shirt, Anthropologie.  Hat, H&M. Shoes, Cynthia Rowley.}

My days are filled with classroom sitting, errand running, furniture painting, and cleaning up little sticky hands and mouths.  It's awesome.  But who wants to do all those things in high stacked black wedges and silk tops?  As much as I love all of those things, a cotton dress and flat sandals are much more practical.  Let's liven it up, shall we?

It's a perfect, casual, summer get-up.

Oh, and remember when we would all do this? Ha!