Weekending: Charity, Live Music & Good Friends

Morning loves! Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend! 

On Friday Kerri and I went to a charity event to support sexual assault victims in Central Florida. But first, we stopped for a cold one at The Brass Tap to cap off the busy work week and let the rainstorm pass. 

We then headed over to the Mennello Museum of American Art for a night of live music, silent auctions, good wine, and some amazing live art. 

This artist was amazing and I wish I could remember his name but he does an awesome performance while painting to the music of the artist he creates.

On Saturday a group of us headed to Epcot to celebrate a friend's 34th birthday and to see Jon Secada live in concert.

The Flower and Garden Festival was also going on so there were lots of pretty Disney character displays. 

And Jon Secada rocked the house!

The day was capped off with some grub in Mexico and viewing of some of the pretty flower displays as well as a walk through of the butterfly garden. 

What a fun weekend with great friends! Now back to the grind...

Happy Monday!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

Friday's Favorites

Happy Friday! 

I rarely ever say this but this week was great! I felt revived after a relaxing weekend and the week seemed to breeze by. I also got decent sleep and wasn't overwhelmed at work or with any other personal/blogging obligations. All very rare occasions!

So this week:
~ I dropped off several bags of stuff (from my spring cleaning purge over the weekend) to donate to Goodwill.
~ Stuck to our meal plan and had healthy, low-carb dinners every night.
~ Booked our hotel in Tampa to visit Busch Gardens this month (we got the park tickets for Christmas so it's about time).
~ Went out for an awesome lunch with coworkers at The Strand.
~ Didn't watch any TV shows except about 30 minutes before bed every night. Instead spent time with Lola, did some blogging and prepped lunches for work.
~ Got 8 hours of sleep mostly every night.

Now onto some of my fave things...

Favorite Recipe:
This Grilled Turmeric Chicken recipe looks amazing. I'm always looking for new ways to cook chicken and other meats on our grill.

Favorite Fashion Find:
I bought my first Bow Back Top in San Francisco and I'm loving this comfy yet girly look.

Favorite Accessory Lust:
These Spring Street Fan Drop Earrings are on my wishlist for sure.

Current Wanderlust:

Can't wait to be here next weekend but OMG I'm such a chicken when it comes to roller-coasters and Busch Gardens has some crazy ones!

Favorite App:
My commute to work can be horrendous. I take 3 different highways and one is now under construction for the next 6 years! Talk about ridiculous but anyways I've become dependent on navigation apps to find the quickest and safest route to and from work. Waze has been a lifesaver! It gives real-time traffic and accident information, along with gas prices, police presence, and lots of other useful info for commuters. I definitely recommend it for the drivers out there that live in busy areas.

Favorite Quote: 
I have a few scary ones...

Have a wonderful weekend!

Joining Amanda for Friday Favorites. 

Brunch Cocktail Ideas

Brunch is probably my favorite cheat meal. I've always been a breakfast person and then you add in some cocktails and that just makes it a fun occasion to meet up with friends to catch up and cap off the weekend in style on a Sunday. I have a handful of favorite brunch spots that we frequent but it would be nice to host a brunch one of these days at home for the ladies. I found some fun cocktail recipes that would be perfect to serve. 

Pomegranate Prosecco

Blood Orange Bellini

Kiwi Blueberry Mojito

Old Bay Bloody Mary

Strawberry Smash Cocktail

Pink Lemonade Moscato

And a Mimosa Bar is always fun so your guests can customize their own drinks. This is also a cute idea for bridal showers, engagement parties and jewelry/nail parties.

What's your favorite brunch cocktail?

Easy Chicken Spring Salad

As a side note, I'm not so impressed my brand new Nikon DSLR took a dump on me while on vacation so I'm back to grainy photos until they return a working camera.

Now back to the point of this post... I love finding recipes that are easy to whip together because after working a long day, the last thing I want to do is spend any length of time in the kitchen. This recipe takes less than 10 minutes to prepare so it's perfect for a quick weeknight dinner.

Ingredients:

1 5 oz. bag of Spring salad mix

1 bag of Perdue carved chicken breasts

2 tomatoes, sliced

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

Serving size: 4

What To Do:

1. Cook chicken according to the directions on the package.

2. Toss all ingredients together with dressing and it's ready to serve. 

3. Enjoy!

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 Whereabouts & Spring Cleaning

Hello lovelies!

 Sorry for being MIA for a few days. The head cold and allergies hit me hard last week and I was focusing on feeling better and catching up at work after all the traveling I've been doing. This weekend really helped me catch up on some rest and get back into the swing of things. 

Friday night was a quiet date night at BoneFish Grill for their famous Bang Bang shrimp which we absolutely love. I veered away from my usual dirty martini to try their blueberry cold snap cocktail which was a disappointment.

After sleeping for almost 11 hours, we had breakfast at home before heading out to do some shopping, errands, and stock up on groceries. K got some new kicks for working out and I replenished my 3-wick candle collection.

We then headed to our favorite hole in the wall oyster shucking bar where we got some ginormous raw oysters from Louisiana. Our oyster fix was a success!

After lunch we took Lola for a walk around the neighborhood and I spent the rest of the day Spring cleaning and purging clothes, shoes, jewelry and toiletries to donate. I capped off the evening with my favorite blueberry beer and some blogging.

Sunday morning consisted of more spring cleaning and decluttering before heading out to Wildside BBQ for some lunch with K and Lola. 

It was so amazing having a fairly quiet weekend in and around town. Lots of sleep and snuggles with my loves is just what the doctor ordered!

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

San Francisco Recap

I didn't have much time on this trip for touring the city instead I used my one free day to visit Sonoma Wine Country with some friends which I posted about last week.

I flew out there on Saturday and enjoyed the views of California from the plane. 

I checked into my hotel and went exploring the downtown financial district which has lots of good shopping. 

Later at night I checked out the Waterbar restaurant which had a beautiful view of the Bay Bridge. (Grainy iPhone photo)

On Sunday we drove by the marina before heading over the Golden Gate bridge to Sonoma for some wine tasting and lunch. 

On the way back from Sonoma we stopped off at a lookout spot for some beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were stacked full of work at the conference followed by a quick dinner and then off to bed. 

The last place I want to mention is Bask Tapas restaurant. The same friends that I went to Sonoma with suggested we have dinner there on my last night.  We shared several small plates including the meatballs, duck foie gras, mushrooms, croquettes, tiger prawns, and a tomato & cheese plate.

That was the extent of site-seeing on this trip. I went to the same conference last year and had a free afternoon to explore the city on a double decker bus where I was able to cover a lot more ground. Here's my San Francisco recap from last year.

Such a beautiful city!

Brussels Sprouts with Pecans & Cranberries

Photo via Rachel Shultz

This is one of the recipes that I made for the first time and served over the weekend for our Easter dinner potluck. I failed at taking many useful pictures between multi-tasking in the kitchen and opening the door as guests arrive so I had to use the photo from the original recipe. I made a few tweaks like using coconut oil instead of olive oil and eliminating the barley and there was no lack in taste. 

Ingredients: 

1 lb. brussels sprouts

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2/3 cup cranberries

1/3 cup pecans

1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese 

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

1 tablespoon maple syrup

What To Do:

1. Cook brussels sprouts and cranberries in coconut oil over medium heat for 8 minutes.

2. Add balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and cook for an additional 2 minutes before removing from heat. 

3. Add the walnuts and stir well in pan or toss in a mixing bowl.
4. Top with crumbled gorgonzola. 

That's my blurry picture of the final product but I can attest that it was a delicious side to serve for any holiday dinner. Kerri loved it too! ;-)

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.