Easter Festivities with Friends

Hope everyone had a great Easter yesterday! 

I had Good Friday off of work so it was a nice long weekend and finally got to catch up on some Zzzz after the NOLA Bachelorette trip. Easter is the one holiday we don't celebrate with family because we just can't swing the 3 hour x2 (there and back) drive on a Sunday, so we threw an Easter potluck dinner on Saturday for friends.

I made deviled eggs and we baked a ham, roasted a turkey and everyone brought a dish so we had tons of food & desserts. It was fun catching up with the girls and everyone had a good time playing cornhole & ladder ball in the backyard. Of course cocktails and shots flowed throughout the night because that's just what happens with our group of friends.

 
A few friends brought their kids so I made some Easter goodies for them.

Two friends also both brought Easter lilies for me. They're so pretty but let's just hope I can keep these babies alive. The orchid K bought me a few weeks ago has already started to perish....Need some green thumb advise!

This triple berry trifle was also on the menu for dessert. It was my first attempt at making a trifle and it came out SO good so it'll be featured on the blog tomorrow for our Recipe Swap every Tuesday.

How was your Easter weekend?

Joining Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

Easter Dinner Entertaining

Can you believe it's Easter already?

We're having some friends over on Saturday for an Easter potluck dinner. I plan on baking a ham and frying a turkey but, of course, I'm running around like a chicken with no head trying to decide on last minute dishes for the party.

Carrot Crescents Stuffed with Chicken Salad

Deviled Eggs

Pineapple Glazed Ham

Paleo Sweet Potato Stuffing

Corn Casserole

I made this for Thanksgiving last year and have been craving it since.
 

Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

What's your favorite dishes to cook for Easter dinner?

NOLA Bachelorette Recap

After a hectic 3 nights of binge drinking and shenanigans through the streets of New Orleans, I made it home on Sunday night with no voice and a lingering hangover but I'm in one piece nevertheless.

A group of us girls flew into NOLA on Thursday Night, checked in to the hotel in the Garden District and then headed out for some dinner and drinks. This gift basket full of goodies was waiting in the room for the bride-to-be.

On Friday, we toured Bourbon street in the matching tank tops we got customized for the bride. The streets were packed with people and lots of bachelor & bachelorette parties. Fireball shots were flowing along with my favorite Louisiana beer, Abita Strawberry and we even stopped at Pat O'Brien's for some Hurricanes.

On Saturday we went to the French Quarter Festival, which is the largest free music festival in the US. Lots of good food, music, drinks and people watching.

After the festival, we checked out some voodoo shops and then hit some more bars on Bourbon street ending at a gay bar where we made some fun new friends!

Sunday was our last day and we were all feeling a little rough but our flight wasn't until later in the night. We had lunch at Coop's Place and then a few drinks at Margaritaville and a few other places before heading to the airport.

So glad I got to finally experience New Orleans but I think I need to sleep for a full week to feel "normal" again. Is it the weekend yet?

Tuesday's Recip Swap: Berry Smoothie

Serving size: 2 smoothies

Ingredients:

8 oz frozen mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries)

1 cup almond milk

1 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

Optional: 1-2 tsp honey for added sweetness.

Ready to serve immediately or you can bottle and refrigerate to drink later.

Enjoy!

  

Rules:

1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin.

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to our blogs.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

My Bags Are Packed & Ready to Go

The bachelorette party we've been planning for months is finally here...I'm flying out in a few hours with 7 others girls to NOLA to paint the city red or just eat tons of good food & drink hurricanes!

We've planned one dressy night but the rest of the trip we're going to keep casual, which is just my style. With the amount of bar hopping & walking that will be taking place, I'm going to need some comfy shoes and outfits ~ shorts, skinnies, flats, maxi dresses and cute accessories.

Express Dresses · Express Day Dresses · Express Cropped Pants

Mostly everything above is from Express and even better Express.com has 30% off all dress now until 04/15. Don't know what I would do without Express in my life.

I also got a personal stash for the plane....catch you next week!

Get The Look: Eyeliner Tips

I typically go for the soft or precise looks but I've really wanted to master the winged look without looking too cray cray. I have to admit I have a pretty shaky hand so I tend to keep things simple but these tips are a big help.

Sigma Beauty has every type of makeup brush for the face, eyes, brows, lips, etc. I love their eye brush collection and the E75 angled brow brush to experiment with different looks.

Happy hump day everyone!

Chicken Marsala with Whole Grain Pasta

Marsala is my favorite Italian dish so I had to try my hand at it.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, pounded 1/4" thick

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pack mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp mustard powder
1 tbsp Italian seasoning/ parsley
salt & black pepper to taste

1.  Beat egg in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix flour, Italian seasoning & some ground black pepper. Dip each chicken breast into the beaten egg and then coat generously with the flour mixture. (I cut each breast in half so they would cook faster)

2. Heat 2 tbsp Olive oil in large skillet coating the surface of the pan and add 2 tbsp butter. Once butter has melted, place chicken fillets in pan and brown for about 8 minutes.

3. Remove chicken and set aside in microwave or warm oven.

4. Add the remainder of the olive oil & butter to the pan until melted. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes. Pour Marsala wine, chicken broth, mustard powder and black pepper into the pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the Marsala sauce mixture starts to thicken.

You can either add the chicken to the Marsala sauce & mushroom mixture or just pour the sauce over the chicken, which is what I did.

Serve with pasta or mashed potatoes. I used Healthy Harvest's whole grain noodles.

Optional topping: Grated parmesan cheese

Enjoy!

  

Rules:

1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin.

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to our blogs.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

Weekend Recap: Beach Weather is Here

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I finally made it to the hairdresser to my hair done before I head to New Orleans for a bachelorette on Thursday. Got some highlights and side bangs. The salon I go to also has the cutest boutique that sells pretty statement necklaces and jewerly so it's such a temptation not to buy everything.

Still have swollen cheeks over a month after the wisdom tooth surgery. Ugh!

On Saturday night, K and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the basketball games and have some dinner & cold ones.

On Sunday morning we headed out to the beach. Nothing makes me happier in life than relaxing on the beach so I'm excited the weather is finally warm enough in Florida to start working on that tan!

It was a gorgeous day and the perfect end to the weekend!

Joining Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

April is Here & Sports Fanatics Giveaway!

Can you believe it's April already? I'm definitely excited about the sunnier days and more beach trips ahead.

#1: Did you know that April is Autism Awareness month?  My company encouraged us to wear blue on April 2nd for "Light it Up Blue" to support World Autism Awareness day and they served blueberry bagels, muffins & my favorite yogurt for breakfast.

#2: My first Ebates check came in the mail. Thanks Jordan for introducing me to this rewards program. I have to say it's pretty sweet getting paid to shop!

 

#3: I got this save the date email from work. They're taking us on a 3 night vacation to St Pete beach, FL! How sweet is that? Might I add, St Pete is one of my favorite beaches!

#5: Healthy home cooked dinners this week:

~ Baked pesto salmon & asparagus

~ Chicken fajitas

~ Baked tilapia & steamed broccoli

~ Chicken & broccoli casserole (recipe here)

#5: For the sports fans out there, these lovely ladies and myself are throwing a giveaway for a chance to win a $75 giftcard for Fanatics.com. The winner will be announced on Friday April 11th and will be notified by Kristin @ Hopelessly Ever After.

Kristin : Brandi : Michelle : Lisa : Kelly

Marty : Emily : Chelsee

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

  

Welcome To Mi Casa

The 3 year anniversary of becoming a homeowner just passed and it's been a work in progress with some ups and downs in our home. I remember our realtor bringing us to see this house and I immediately fell in love the with Mediterranean style. We looked at 20+ houses and nothing compared so, when it was appraised within our budget, we were immediately sold!

The good memories have been limitless but we've also experienced a few crazy times starting with a tornado blowing through our neighborhood knocking down fences and blowing shingles off the roof. No one was hurt but it was one of the scariest days of my life. Then a few months later our house flooded from a broken pipe causing the downstairs to be completely gutted. All the hard work. Gutted. Things have been back to normal recently and I've been able to focus on some fun remodeling and redecorating projects.

Living Room

Dining Room

Beach-Themed Bathroom

Recent Home Decorating Project: Gallery Wall

TV/Family Room

Kitchen

Recent Project: Kitchen Backsplash

Recent Home Addition: Backyard Patio

Ongoing Project: Master Bedroom Decorating

Master Bathroom Tub

Thanks for stopping by and take a virtual tour of my home!

Where do you look for inspiration to remodel or decorate your house or apartment?

Purple Makes Me Happy

It's a color that I used for my wedding, my blog is designed with purple, and if I could afford a dark purple convertible, well that would have been done a long time ago!  But, purple can also be a bit gaudy if overdone or used too much for decorating.

Luckily it's is a pretty color to accessorize with and I would definitely rock some purple skinny jeans if I found the perfect pair:

M Missoni Denim · Kenneth Jay Lane Necklaces · MICHAEL Michael Kors Totes


What color makes you happy?