Memorial Weekend & Wedding Festivities

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! 

I had a pretty hectic weekend but got to spend Memorial day yesterday relaxing at home before the start of another busy work week. I left work early on Friday to head to St Pete for a friend's wedding that evening. We checked into the hotel and got dressed. Our hotel room had a pretty sweet view of the beach.

On Saturday everyone hung out at the beach and at the hotel tiki bar/restaurant. It was a sunny and beautiful weekend on the West Coast and I have to say St Pete Beach is one of my favorite beaches so it was the perfect way to spend the long weekend with friends.

On Sunday we checked out of the hotel and headed home but first we had to drop off a friend downtown so we stopped off at a Ray's bar right outside the stadium for some lunch and drinks. There was a Rays vs Red Sox game that evening so the bar was packed with people tailgating before the game. 

Monday was a lazy day at home getting laundry and stuff done around the house.

How did you spend Memorial weekend?

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap.

Happy Memorial Day!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday today and having the day off work.  I just got home from two nights out at the beach for a friend's wedding celebration so we're having a relaxing day with some grilling and possibly cold beverages this evening.

Have fun and be safe!

Oh, and I'd like to leave you with a scary thought for today:

Does this look good on me?

Beach Bound for the Long Weekend

I've been looking forward to this weekend for months now since we plan to spend it with friends out on Florida's west coast. We're going to a wedding tonight at a resort on St Pete Beach and the rest of the weekend will be relaxing on the beach, catching up with friends, BBQ-ing and inevitably drinking way too much. Let's not fool anyone here!

*Announcement* Tuesday Recipe Swap will be taking a break next week 05/27 due to the holiday on Monday.

I met up with Kate for lunch on Wednesday since her new job is literally walking distance from my office so we got to catch up and start planning our trip to Chicago later this year. We'll be meeting up for more lunches & happy hours in the future since we work so close together now.

I was most excited to come home to find this package from Blue Avenue waiting for me. The dress is just as gorgeous in person and fits perfectly. Blue Avenue is Jordon's brand new online clothing store with some pretty fabulous pieces (plus free shipping). Go check it out!

Last minute trip to the nail salon to get my nails prettied up for the weekend. I swear I love walking into the salon and hearing "Hello Emily" by all the ladies and they remember exactly what I like to get done. They also get me in and out quickly on my lunch break so no waiting around.

I was supposed to get my hair done last night just in time for the wedding today but my hairdresser cancelled on me last minute so I stopped for some happy hour drinks after work. I'm pretty bummed my hair is going to look like crap for the long weekend. Ah well!

I NEED to remember this for the weekend!
(and well, for every wedding, birthday celebration, bachelorette, etc...)

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial weekend!

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.

Kate Spade Surprise Sale

It's always exciting when KS has surprise sales especially a whopping 75% off. It's the perfect chance to get the purse or pair of earrings you've been eying for a fraction of the cost.

A sneak peak of some of my favorite sale items:

Kate Spade Clothes and Shoes · Kate Spade Flats · Kate Spade Watches


Click here to head over to browse the sale. Sales ends tomorrow!

Recipe Swap: Chicken & Veggie Kabobs

Kabobs are a favorite in our home because they're easy to make, healthy and you can use any variety of veggies to your liking. I posted a similar recipe before here with a different variation of veggies.

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts

Mojo marinade

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

 1/2 yellow onion

wooden skewers

Serving size: 8 kabobs

What To Do:

Cut chicken breasts in large chunks and marinate for about 30 minutes in the fridge.

Cut all the veggies into squares and assemble with chicken onto the wooden skewers.

Preheat the grill.
Cook 15-20 minutes on medium-high heat rotating them every 3-5 minutes.

These are perfect for summer grilling and BBQ parties.
Some other veggie options you can use are zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant or cherry tomatoes.

 

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.

Weekend Retail Therapy, Relaxing & Fun

Hope the weekend treated you well and Monday didn't come too soon as it tends to do.

I had a pretty relaxing weekend spent around town. We have some busy weekends coming up so it was great to get stuff done around the house and not be on a schedule. 

On Saturday, K and I went to my favorite Caribbean restaurant for lunch and then I got some retail therapy. I had Kohl's cash to use so I got some cute outfits & accessories for summer and our upcoming trips & beach weddings.

 

On Saturday night, I baked some quiches for dinner (and the leftovers are great for breakfast). I posted a recipe here a few months ago. So good and easy to make!

We also enjoyed some of our favorite beers & watched movies at home. 

On Sunday, we stopped by a friend's pool party to hang out and then went to the movies to see the Neighbors. I thought it was pretty funny but not as hilarious as I was expecting based on some reviews. Still recommend it and worth seeing. Zac Efron is a total cutie!

How was your weekend?

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap and Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

May's Group Giveaway

I've joined up with Natasha from SerenityYou and several other ladies to bring you May's Group Giveaway.

200 x 200 Ad space on This Workmans Life
150 x 150 Ad space for 60 days on Organized Chaos
and $15 viaPayPal

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Cheers to the Weekend!

Hope everyone has some fun stuff lined up for the weekend or maybe some R&R? I plan to do a little of both! This girl loves getting a break from an alarm clock and a schedule.

I finally got to try out the Red Velvet wine by Cupcake Vineyards on Wednesday night. It was really good considering I usually prefer white wines. Pinot Grigio being my fave.

 Scored 2 movie tickets for $10 on LivingSocial.com so we plan to go see Neighbors this weekend. I've heard from several people it's hilarious!

Some pretty new pieces arrived in the mail for an upcoming wedding. I also ordered a high-low dress to match but it doesn't fit so I need to exchange it this weekend.

K has mastered the art of cooking Chicken Cordon Bleu and I'm not complaining. Love yummy dinners at home! I posted his recipe here last year.

Anybody else a Daddy's girl? Today's my Dad's birthday so I want to wish him a fabulous birthday. Sad my parents live so far away and can never celebrate birthdays, father's day etc. but they're coming to visit in just a few months.

How was your week?

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.

#TotalSocial: There's a First for Everything

I'm excited to join Helene and Sarah today for their new #TotalSocial linkup and since there's a first time for (almost) everything that's what I'll be sharing today.

One thing I wasn't blessed with is a good memory so remembering exact dates/ages is a hit or miss but I'll attempt to give it a go!

First car:
 Hyundai accent, manual transmission.
Couldn't drive it off the lot by the way. Took another couple weeks to figure out how to shift the gears *die*

First sports: 
Swimming & ballet. Those are sports right?

First time shaving:
10 yo without permission from my parents.

First pet:
A pomeranian named Rosie. He was a male pup btw.

First paying job: 
Around 14 yo working in the mall at a home decor store.

First car accident:
Ran into the back of another car while trying to merge only 3 weeks after getting my license. Dad was in the passenger seat so he dealt with the other driver and insurance etc cause lawd knows I wouldn't know what to do.

First concert:
Journey & some other bands. The concert got rained out and I was knee-high in mud by the end. A sight for sore eyes when I finally returned home to my parents.

First regrettable hair style:
That hideous boy cut I got when I was 8 or 9. Remind me to burn all the evidence!

First time purchasing a home:
Three years ago in March 2011

First tweets:

(Awkward...I've never been especially good at Twitter)


First Martinis & Bikinis blog post:
November 8th, 2012


What's some of your memorable firsts?

Turkey & Veggie Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:

1 jar of pasta sauce

1 lb ground turkey
1 tbsp olive oil

2 zucchinis (chopped)

2 yellow squashes (chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

1/4 onion (diced)

1 cup mushrooms (chopped)

Whole wheat or egg noodles (1/2 bag)

4 oz mozzarella cheese 

1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

What To Do:

Boil noodles according to directions on packet & drain.

Add olive oil, onions and minced garlic to a large pan and cook on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add ground turkey and cook for approx 7 minutes or until no longer pink.

Add the zucchini & squash to the pan, cover and cook 5 minutes. Lastly, add the chopped mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9x11 baking dish with cooking spray. Layer the bottom of the dish with cooked noodles then top with 1/2 jar pasta sauce and then layer with turkey and veggie mixture. Spread ricotta cheese over turkey/veggie mixture and layer with the remainder of pasta sauce.

Sprinkle parmesan and mozzarela cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes and serve.

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.

Weekend Fun, Friends & Music Fest

Monday comes to quickly 'round here but it's always fun recapping the weekend ;-)

After work on Friday I went to happy hour with a girl friend. We attempted to play bar trivia but neither of us were especially good at useless knowledge so we just wrote down the most bizarre answers to amuse the judges. It was a good time!

On Saturday I went to C's bridal shower. Since her wedding is in Punta Cana, the shower was a tropical theme. Everthing was beautiful! K is also a groomsman in the wedding and it happens to fall on our wedding anniversary so we're counting down the days to visiting the DR next month with a bunch of friends.

After the bridal shower, I met up with K & some friends and headed to a Reggae music festival downtown. From growing up in the islands, I'm a lover of reggae and nothing makes me happier than listening to some good music.

On Sunday, I cooked up some brunch and we had a relaxing day at home. Since both of our Mom's live far away we called them to chat but couldn't celebrate Mother's Day with them. I promised my mom to cook her some eggs benedict when she comes to visit in September.

It was a nice, lazy Sunday at home. You know you're getting old when you love nothing more than catching up on some TV, laundry, cleaning & blogging to end the weekend.

How was your weekend?

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap along with Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

Friday's Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday lovelies!

I think Friday is the most exciting day of the week for me. I usually go out for lunch with my work team and then K and I go for happy hour or dinner and drinks after work. I always look forward to not cooking and eating at home as we do all week.

K and I ran into the most interesting man in the world last weekend. Well, a cardboard cutout, but who's the perfect celebrity for Cinco de Mayo? Yup, we had some margs together and listened to live music after our brunch extravaganza on Sunday.

This beauty showed up at my front door yesterday. I've been eying different rose gold watches for a while now and finally jumped on the Macy's Family & Friends 25% discount to get it at a great price online.

Anybody else have really thick or just a lot of hair? Loving my new Turbie Twist to wrap my hair up and absorb the water after I wash it. I've always used a towel but this just makes way more sense. 

You know I'm a seasonal beer lush. Sam Adams Summer Ale is another favorite on the shelves at this time of year. Try it!

Thirsty Thursday's dinner last night included some pinot grigio, steak & a veggie medley cooked at home. It's officially grilling weather so we threw some steaks on the grill and enjoyed some wine before watching the NFL draft.

How was your week?

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.