The Weekend with Sunshine & St Patrick's Day

The weather has been all over the place lately but ended up warm and sunny during the day on Saturday and Sunday. I actually woke up on Sunday morning hustling to get ready for work thinking it was Monday, then to realize it's still the weekend so I crawled right back into bed and slept until 9:30. Bliss!

Friday Faves

Happy Friday everyone!
Daylight savings really made this week feel like it was dragging so I'm pretty relieved the weekend is almost here.

Last night my coworker and I met up with a business partner visiting from New Jersey at Marlow's Tavern for some dinner. No green beer this year for St. Patrick's Day but lots of others greens in the form of a delicious Ahi Tuna Salad with avocado!

How about some faves for the week?

Favorite Find
How adorable are these pet name tags from Tags For Hope? You can customize it for the state you live in and add all of your pet's information as well as your phone number (where I blocked out below). I love this idea for a tiny pet ID tag to hang from their collar.

Favorite DYI Project

This is such a cute and easy DYI guide for making a key holder out of a picture frame. I already have a key + mail holder on my wall but I think this would be cute for beach/vacation homes or cottages.

Favorite Memories
Some of my favorite St. Patty's Day photos for a quick Flashback Friday.

Favorite Recipe
This Guinness Beef Stew recipe is on the menu for Sunday dinner and keeps up with the whole Irish theme I'm going with this month.

Favorite Funny:

Speaking of Jameson, did you happen to catch my Irish Mule recipe yesterday? Since the weekend is here, I figured why not share it again.

The ecard definitely describes me in previous years but, as I mentioned above, I celebrated or didn't at a business dinner but I have to say it was still fun even though it was work-related.

We also did a lunchtime celebration at work with some corn beef and pastrami sandwiches, beef stew and all the shamrock desserts possible.

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Linking up with Amanda for Friday Favorites

Happy St. Patty's Day

I don't have any big plans to celebrate St. Patrick's Day tonight because #Thursday. I do plan to wish my best friend (since we're 5 years old) a Happy Amazing Birthday because she deserves nothing but the best! She's my sister from another mister (and of course mother) but you know how that saying goes.

Since it's St. Patrick's day and everyone knows I love experimenting with new recipes, I thought I'd share a fun Irish cocktail recipe.

The Irish Mule

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Irish whiskey

½ lime squeezed juice 

Ginger beer

Slice of lime for garnish (optional)

Copper Moscow Mule Mug

via

What To Do:

 Fill up your copper mug with plenty of ice

Squeeze in half a lime on top of the ice

Pour in the whiskey

Top off with ginger beer and stir 

Dash of bitters (optional)

Garnish with a slice of lime (optional)

Cheers!

Please drink responsibly today and always!

Trinidad & Tobago Trip: Part 1

Last week Monday I flew into Trinidad which is where is spent the first part of my trip and also where my parents live. I got to accomplish everything I had planned with hardly any extra time to spare.

Monday:
We arrived around dinner time so my best friend and her husband picked us up from the airport and we went for dinner at Mandiero's Peri Peri Grill. That was my first time trying Portuguese flame-grilled food and it was excellent.

Tuesday:

We went the beach with friends to hang out and soak up some sunshine on my pale skin and then stopped at the lookout on the way home to catch some breathtaking views of Trinidad's north coast.

 Later that night (which was also St. Patrick's day) we went to a pizza restaurant for dinner to celebrate my best friend's birthday. After dinner we stopped off at one of the few Irish pubs on the island to have a couple drinks for St Patty's and to hang out for a bit before calling it a night.

Wednesday:

We went to lunch with my parents, visited family and did a few errands during the day. 

In the night, I had a fun blogger dinner meet-up with Kay and her friend Alicia. We went to Samurai for sushi and wine which was amazing! The food was awesome and the company was even better. We stopped off at a new bar called Buzz for a couple drinks after and had a blast chatting.

On Thursday morning, K and I headed over to Tobago with one of my girl friend's and her baby girl for the wedding of a lifetime but this post has become long enough so I will have to do a part two. 

Phew, I'm tired from all the traveling and need to catch up on some rest this week and not to mention blogging before I leave this weekend for a work trip...I know it's crazy!

Friday's Favorites & Weekly Recap

Happy Friday!

So happy to be finally adjusted to the time change and, better yet, the weekend is here! I have some fun plans for tomorrow and I'm always looking forward to catching up on some sleep. This week consisted of:

~ adjusting to the "spring forward" BS time change

~ lunch date with a girl friend at our favorite Thai restaurant
~ planning out the schedule for my upcoming trip and, not to mention vacation, back to Trinidad

~ sticking to our meal plan and healthy dinners at home

~ the ongoing struggle to keep my head above water with the life/work/blogging/sleep balance
~ happy hour yesterday with Kerri for $5 martinis and small plates. So fun catching up!

I'm sure some of you are gearing up to celebrate St Patrick's day this weekend. I will be out of town next week and don't feel the need to drink my weight in guinness and harp. Don't get me wrong, I love a good St Patty's celebration (see here and here) but this year, there's just too much going on.

Joining the lovely Amanda for her Friday Favorites linkup. 

Fun Nails for St Patty's Day
Love this green color with the gold sparkly accent nail.

Image credit

Favorite Fashion Find:
This Kate Spade Gold Plated Cuff. Not to mention they have a 40% of sale on everything going on now with code EXTRA40.

Favorite Beauty Product:
Body Shop's Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash

St Patty's Recipes:
Loving this Irish Coffee recipe from ladies at The Sequin Notebook.

If you're looking for some party food ideas, I made this Spinach Crescent Bites recipe last year which was a party pleaser and perfect for St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Favorite Funny:

Have a lovely weekend!

Weekend Recap & St Patty's Celebrations

Happy St Patrick's Day!

As usual, Monday sneaks up on us too quickly, especially after a fun weekend but I'm excited to fly to San Francisco tomorrow so fun times are ahead...

After work on Friday, I went to a basketball game: Magic vs. Wizards with work peeps. The company bought us club level seats and K got to come along.  Of course the Magic lost, they have been totally sucking recently but I was glad to make it to at least one game for the season.

After the game we got to go on the court and take a group photo with the Magic dancers.

On Saturday, K and I went to the gym and had a sushi lunch date. So excited to finally eat "normal" food again after removing my wisdom teeth a couple weeks ago. 

Saturday night:

We went to a friend's St Patrick's party so got to catch up with friends and enjoy a night of Irish food and tons of drinks.

~ I made spinach and cream cheese crescent bites for the party (recipe to come soon)

~ My St Patrick's shirt that I've had for over 5 years now.

~ All the girls decorated in green.

~ Friends even showed up in kilts.

~ St Patty's party decor.

~ My and one of favorite girls who came into town for the party.

~ Green cupcakes with gold coins.

It was such a fun night!

Sunday was a nice, lazy day at home. I did laundry, prepped some food for the week and started packing for San Fran.

Joining Bella and Lisa for Weekend Recap.

 

How was your weekend?

Did you celebrate St Patrick's Day?

St Patrick's Day Party Gear

One of my favorite celebrations of the year is St Patty's day. The perfect excuse to drink Guinness and indulge in Irish food, which is exactly what I'll be doing tonight with friends.

St Patrick's Day by martinis-bikinis featuring a baseball tee

 

How do you plan to celerate St Patrick's day this year?

St Patrick's Party Food Ideas + 2013 Recap

I've been looking around for festive appetizer and finger food ideas on Pinterest to make for a St Patrick's day party and stumbled across some cute ideas.

Mint Oreo Triffle via this The Girl in Red Shoes.

Mint Chocolate Chip cookies via True Couponing.

Shamrock Spinach Quiche via Diamonds for Dessert.

Lucky Charm Bars via Cozy Home Chronicles.

I love celebrating St. Patrick's day with friends. Last year we went to a friend's potluck-style
party so we ate all sorts of festive food and, of course, had way too many Irish car bombs. It was a fun night and the same friends are throwing another St Patty's party this weekend.

One of my friends recreated this Rainbow Fruit Tray with a Pot-O-Gold Rainbow and I thought it was such a cute idea for a St Patty's party.

via Pinterest

Are you planning to make any festive appetizers, desserts or cocktails for St Patty's this year?

Weekend St. Patty's Festivities

Morning everyone!

Well my headache from Saturday's St Patty's festivities is still going strong over 24 hours later. But I think it was worth it. All 15 Irish car bombs and all.

On Friday night, we went out to an engagement party for a friend. This was the huge suprise that we all knew about but couldn't share until her boyfriend proposed on Friday evening. I also happen to work with this lovely lady so keeping such a big secret from her was extreme torture.

On Saturday I baked some chocolate chunk cookies and picked up different Irish beers to bring to a St Patrick's party that night. 

Before the party, K and I went out for dinner at a new restaurant that opened up in our neighborhood. The Lobster Mac n Cheese was delicious and, of course, I had to get a dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives!

We then changed in our green gear and joined the rest of our friends to celebrate St Patrick's day.

We had a blast catching up with friends.

And completely overdid it with the Irish Car Bombs. Hence looming hangover ;-P

Super fun weekend! 

Linking up today with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Cheers to the Weekend!

Hi Everyone!

Looking forward to seeing how you all plan to celebrate St Patrick's day this weekend. 

We'll be celebrating on Saturday night with some friends, green beer and Irish Car Bombs. I've been trying to think of a festive dish I can make to bring to the party. I am not exactly the artsy type that can pull off making fancy desserts that you see on Pinterest but this recipe for Guinness Brownie Bites with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting looks awesome.

Here's the recipe for Guinness Brownie Bites with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting. 

K and I also plan to get started on our latest home improvement project - a DIY kitchen backsplash.
I'm hoping it looks something like this.

And finally, tonight we are going to a surprise dinner to celebrate a top secret occasion. I'll be able to share more details after the secret has been disclosed tonight.

Joining the Follow Friend Friday Linkup today.

    Hope everyone has a fun weekend!