An {Amazing} Night to Remember!

After a rough week last week, I'm happy to announce that Friday night was exactly what I needed! And it all started with a text... 

That's what my husband texted to my sister. Hilarious! Y'all, this man melts my heart! I never get tired of the silly, amazing randomness that comes from him...ever! Needless to say, we went out that night! 
I drove to my sister's place and selected her outfit for the evening, and then we accessorized. That in itself was therapeutic! :) As I drove home, I kept a lookout for restaurants that wouldn't be far from the house to head to - we were tired of the same old places: Olive Garden, Chili's, etc. That's when I saw it: the Brick House Tavern & Tap. Hilary looked up the menu online and she had me at 'Drunken Chops'! Colten okay'd the restaurant, and we were off! 

We were already having a blast and the night had only just begun! Some time with a few of my favorite people started the process of getting me out of the funk I had been in all week long! Thanks y'all! :) 
When we walked into the restaurant, we were asked if 'one of their couches was okay'. Umm, excuse me? A couch?! YES PLEASE! 

Y'all, never in my life had I even fathomed a place like this - it was AMAZING, for lack of a better word! Then it was time to order drinks. And yes, that picture above includes their huge drink menu...anything you can think of, they have it! Hilary ordered the margarita, Colten ordered the Zombie (with a two-drink limit), and I wanted a glass of wine. The waiter then asked if I was only going to have one glass ... umm, I don't know? He proceeded to explain that it would be cheaper to purchase the bottle than another glass, and they cork the wine and let you take it home if you don't finish it. Yes, please! 

That moscato was amazing. Yes, I know I probably need a thesaurus for this post, because everything seems to be amazing - it just was!!! AMAZING!!! And apparently it's pretty hilarious that the designated driver (me) continued to order a bottle of wine and drink half of it with dinner. Oops! :) Don't worry, I didn't drive home...
Colten wanted to try the fried stuffed olives (parmesan panko breaded, stuffed with italian pork sausage & brie cheese), which were apparently disgusting. We won't be ordering them again (I was smart enough not to try one...). Then was their menu. Oh My Goodness, their menu. They have a little bit of everything! BBQ baby backs, chicken fried steak, seared halibut, chicken & waffles, grilled mahi mahi, steak & shrooms, oven roasted chicken, atlantic salmon, prosciutto wrapped meatloaf, steak & eggs, drunken chops, classic meatballs, brick pizza, crispy center-cut pork sandwich, greek lamb burger, beefed up steak salad ... the list goes on and on! Seriously! 
I ordered the bbq baby backs (half rack of baby back pork ribs, slow cooked, glazed with whiskey bbq sauce & a side of fries) but substituted the fries for their cheddar mashed potatoes, Hilary ordered the drunken chops (two house brined center cut pork chops, whiskey bbq glaze, topped with onion strings & served with cheddar mashed potatoes), and Colten wanted the seared halibut (seared halibut finished with lemon thyme butter, over fresh haricot verts & russet thyme sweet potato hash). It was all AMAZING! Every single bite was finished and there were no take-home plates that night! We rounded out our evening with dessert: magic brownies for me and Hilary (walnut brownies topped with bluebell vanilla ice cream) and a bourbon cake with bluebell vanilla ice cream for Colten. Yum, yum! 

This was our view for the evening ... yes, that's a real fire! So....AMAZING! The entire night was just amazing! I am so unbelievably thankful for an amazing husband and sister to spend quality time enjoying a night out at a new place! We will definitely be going back to the Brick House ... time and time again I'm sure. We laughed so much and just really enjoyed each other's company. I couldn't have asked for a better night! 

Holiday weekends are the {BEST}

Goodbye to a glorious 4-day holiday weekend! *sigh*

Today, it's back to the daily grind, working, planning out a weekly menu, preparing for several long days working both jobs, and longing for Friday yet again! 

But, today is a great day, because I'm remembering the fun, family-filled quality time I was blessed with this past weekend! Seriously, it was amazing! 

Colten was off for the entire weekend, besides Sunday, and we were able to visit with lots and lots of family! We celebrated on Thursday at my mom's house, Friday at my grandparents' house {although they've both passed, we still celebrated in their home}, and Saturday at Colten's grandparents' house! Y'all, that's a lot of turkey! I believe I'm still suffering from a food coma...

...which is why I dropped the ball on a fabulous Thanksgiving recap post. Seriously...I slept most of yesterday away! Too.Much.Turkey. Wait, is that even possible?! Yes, yes it is.

Happy Monday!

Pasta Salad {for dummies}

So I follow an amazing blogger: Shay Shull over at Mix and Match Mama. She  has the cutest kids and is excited for fall! A girl after my own heart. So...I may or may not have been stalking her blog like I do on occasion {no big deal}, and I came across her friend Andrea's blog. And, browsing that {like you do any new blog you come across, right?!}, I saw her post about her working mommy lunch. And I was hooked! Here's what's up:

red onion 

cucumber (I used hot house)

pepperoni

mozzarella cheese

light Italian dressing 

tri-color pasta

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. It'll be done in about 10 minutes. Buuuut, while that's goin down, chop up your veggies! I used the entire cucumber and only half of the onion. Also, Andrea uses fresh mozzarella, but being poor, I bought the H-E-B brand brick and cut that up. Worked just fine! 

After your pasta is done to your liking {I personally like it al dente}, drain it and rinse until cool. 

Now just toss it all in a large bowl and mix, mix, mix! Add half the bottle of dressing {or less if you prefer}. I used roughly half. After that, just stir it all together and SERVE! Although, I do prefer it to be chilled for at least half an hour prior to eating - it's so much better cold! :-) 

Disclaimer: this makes a lot!  I plan on taking some to work every day, sometimes as a main dish, but also as a side some days. This will last all week long! Seriously. Amazing stuff! I just can't get enough! Also, it doesn't get much easier than this! The "hardest" part was chopping up the veggies - that onion was fresh and about killed my eyes! But seriously, this is a super easy go-to recipe and I just love the fresh veggies. Also, why have I never thought to put pepperoni in a pasta salad? It's perfect!

This is definitely going to become a staple in our household - I can see it now. Colten loved it too, even after belly aching over the fact that I indeed was going to use the tri-color pasta. Apparently, he's not a fan. But, he sure didn't complain when it was all said and done {except for the fact that I refused to use a 'regular' cucumber...he got over it hehe}! Ha! But seriously. So simple and so delicious. Thanks, Andrea!

 

TGIF!

Dear Friday, thank you for blessing us with your presence today, and not a moment too soon! I really thought I was losing my mind this week - it's been a long one!

 

 

Dear Husband, thank you for continuing your awesomeness this week! I know I've been a pain lately and I'm really sorry.  Thank you for supporting me and for making sure that I know your love for me grows each and every day. I'm eternally blessed to be your wife.

 

 

Dear new weight loss attempt, this time, I will conquer you! I'm doing it right this time with ACCOUNTABILITY.  That's right, I'm not in this alone! And you are happening with the aid of this little beauty of an app right here: 

MyFitnessPal.



 

 

Dear breakfast balls, I will make you this weekend!! At some point.  Nicole over at Grub 'n Marriage keeps talking of y'all like you're magic...well, I believe her! You will happen for next week...

 

 

Dear prayer warriors, thank you to each.and.every.one.of.you that pray for my family. This journey has been unlike any other that I've experienced in my short life (of which I'm so grateful!) and it's been a rollercoaster of a ride with emotional twists and flips at every turn. It's hard, but it brings out the best of my family in that the support only grows. Family and friends, thank you. Only God knows when it'll end, but until then, I'm just trying to hold on for dear life. It's hard.

 

Dear weekend, please be nice to me. :) I'm looking forward to spending time with my husband, of which we haven't gotten much of lately. It's been much needed after a long few weeks...as in, like 11. We deserve it!

National Donut Day!

It's National Donut Day!    Did you really think I wouldn't be super pumped and excited about this enough to post about it?!  Yeah, didn't think so!   Prior to realizing what today was, I had told my co-workers that I would stop by Krispy Kreme this morning to pick up some donuts.  We've all been working overtime and could use the pick-me-up.    Well, this was a completely epic fail, as I woke up super early after working job #2 last night and not getting much sleep, got ready for work, and left early - I am NOT a morning person, just FYI - I was proud that I had accomplished everything that morning and would still arrive on time to earn my overtime hours.  BUT, when I arrived at the drive-thru, I learned that the store did not open for another thirty minutes.    Yes, I was up and out of the house before Krispy Kreme even opened!  Sad day.    I had told my husband about my plan this morning, so I ultimately told him how my plan went up in flames.  He rubbed it in that he had donuts this morning...just not KK (Krispy Kreme).    Later in the morning (about 9am), I decided that I was going to go to KK on my break and get donuts - I had already gotten my heart set on them and it was definitely worth the drive!  So, my co-worker and I headed out to get breakfast!  It was amazingly delicous and we enjoyed every bite!   See?  

When my husband got off of work, however, he texted me and said he had my donuts for me for when I got home later in the day.  So nice of him.  I texted him back saying, "Ok. We went to KK after all :)." 

His response: 'Ok, I guess I'll turn around then."

Y'all, the sweet, sweet man was going to DRIVE TO MY OFFICE TO DELIVER DONUTS because he knew how much I was looking forward to them this morning and then wasn't able to get them. 

This man melts my heart.  And I am so blessed to be his wife! 

Happy Donut Day, everyone!

{Strawberry Pineapple} Smoothie

I have a problem with breakfast.  

I know that probably sounds weird, but it's true.  My digestive system does not like for me to consume any food prior to like 8am.  Well, that's a problem, seeing as I have to be at work by 7:30, and I would have to eat breakfast at 6:30.  And, obviously if you add that up, it's impossible for me to eat at 6:30am.  SO, that leads to me munching on things throughout the morning and always grabbing for some type of snack food = not good. I also don't do very well just consuming coffee or drinks in the morning...it just doesn't sit well with me and I feel miserable for the rest of the day.  For some people, that works just fine...a few cups of coffee in the morning and they're good to go.  Well, not so for me. 

And from the title of this post, you already know where I'm going.  Yes, I'm turning to SMOOTHIES!  I love fruits and veggies, so why not incorporate them into a breakfast thing?  I really don't want to munch on whole strawberries, bananas, kiwis, carrots, etc. all morning, so why not blend all of that goodness into a smoothie?  Well, not ALL of those aforementioned ingredients into ONE smoothie, anyway.... Yikes!  But, I did some research and I found a few really good recipes that I've been dying to try!  So, I decided to try a strawberry pineapple smoothie - and today was day 1 for the test!  

Colten bought groceries on Monday, and I added the smoothie ingredients to the list.  I chose to dive right in this morning and tried my hand at the strawberry pineapple smoothie.  Colten helped, and it was actually great quality time this morning, which we often don't get, especially not so early in the day, as I'm not a morning person at all.  But, I was in such a great mood and would be trying a great recipe!  So, we dove in.  I began by digging our Ninja Master Prep out of the bottom of our pantry.  Seriously, we have this super amazing machine and hardly ever use it.  Well, that's going to change soon, too!  But the smoothie turned out AMAZING and I'm so pleased!  I've definitely found a new breakfast favorite!  It stayed frozen until about 9:30ish, which I was finishing it by then anyway!  And it's an 'on-the-go' thing, so that makes it even better!  

Ingredients:

Hubby thought he was being 'creative' and it was 'cool' to take a picture with the sugar on top of the other ingredients...and see those ice cubes?  Yeah, real genius babe! :) They're actually kinda cute!

1 cup frozen, unsweetened strawberries

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (we figured out that a 6oz container was perfect) 

2 Tablespoons white sugar

6 ice cubes (I cheated and used 7...)

1 teaspoon wheat germ (optional, but super healthy)

Directions:

1. Toss everything in the blender, and mix, mix, mix!  

Everything in the blender.

Our super awesome Ninja Master Prep Pod-Guy in use! FINALLY! 
P.S. IT'S AWESOME!

All mixed into a delicious goodness

2. Pour into your favorite cup or just one that won't spill its contents (in which case, you should dispose of any that will spill its contents...).  

3. ENJOY!

This is definitely going to be repeated several times a week, as it's a perfect amount, filling, and healthy!  And I won't be munching on unhealthy snacks for the rest of the day.  All I'll need is a semi-late lunch to hold me over until supper, as I have to get through both jobs today and won't be home until 9:30pm tonight!  *I think I can, I think I can*  

Have any favorite smoothie go-to's?  Please share!  I'm open to new recipes!! :)  

Have any smoothie tips and/or tricks?  Please share those as well!  I'm a smoothie newbie, and it never hurts to learn a thing or two...