Home Sweet Home Again

Our house is finally back together and renovated after the flood we had over a month ago and I have to say it looks even better than it did before. Although the whole situation was very stressful, it was nice getting to pick out new floors and carpet and be able to afford a couple upgrades.

Living Room 

After the Flood

Renovated & Looking pretty

 Hallway

Carpet torn up from flood

New Wood floors

TV Room

Carpets torn up from the flood

Kitchen

We were also finally able to afford a backsplash in the kitchen .

It's my home sweet home again!

Vitamin C Berry Boost Smoothie

 I've been feeling under the weather this week and was looking for a delicious way to get a Vitamin C fix without having to chug down one of those gross fizzy drinks. I ran across a berry smoothie recipe online yesterday and changed it up to fit my preferences - I didn't use milk or extra sweeteners. 

I didn't realize that blueberries were so high in Vitamin C, Vitamin E and other healthy nutrients.   

Ingredients:

~ 1 cup frozen blueberries

~ 1 cup frozen blackberries

~ 2 cups fat-free vanilla yogurt or soy milk

~ 3/4 cup organge juice

~ 1 cup ice

Optional:

~ 1 banana for thicker smoothies

~ 1 tbsp honey if you want a sweeter smoothie

Blend all ingredients.

This made enough for about 4 smoothies so I put some in to-go cups to take for K and I to take to work. 

How do you get your Vitamin C fix?

Weekend Celebrations

This girl is having a case of the Mondays after a weekend full of festivities for K's birthday. 

- Dinner date with K for his birthday downtown Orlando.

- Delicious shrimp from our favorite Spanish Tapas restaurant

- My latest wine kick is this cheap box of Pinot Grigio that costs less than $10. I'm far from high maintenance when it comes to wine.

- Cheese plate I made for K's BBQ party we threw on Saturday.

- New cornhole set I bought for the hubby.

- Fireball shots were had on Saturday.

- Our new deck and screened in patio were finished just in time to throw a party on Sat.

- Delicious cake designed with his favorite NFL team.

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

Cheers to a new week!

Weekly Friday Wrap-up

It's been a busy busy week and I'm so happy it's finally Friday! We have some fun celebrations planned for this weekend and I'd also like to sleep beyond 7am for a change ;-)

Joining Lauren today for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

1. Labor day weekend was spent lounging on Treasure Island/ St Pete beach with friends. 

2. K's birthday was yesterday and I surprised him with a custom designed UCF Knights corn-hole set.

3. Gifts and more gifts for K's birthday. He never buys himself new clothes so I usually have to stock him up for his birthday and Christmas or he'd wear the same old thing over and over. 

4. Mojitos at dinner last night. We went to one of our favorite Spanish Tapas restaraunts that have the best Mojitos in town.

5. Our new backyard patio is getting finished today just in time for K's birthday BBQ party that we're throwing tomorrow. I'm excited to host a party at our newly renovated house :-)

Have a great weekend!

Labor Day Beach Getaway

On Saturday we headed out to the west coast to stay at a beach condo resort with some friends for the long weekend.

On Saturday night we all cooked a nice dinner and then had birthday cake to celebrate my hubby's birthday this week and my friend Sacha's birthday.

Sunday was another beach day with friends on Treasure Island beach.

On Monday we headed back home & went to check out some Labor Day furniture sales for the new patio and deck that's currently being built in our backyard. 

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

Hope you had a fun weekend too!

Hey There, Long Weekend!

SO excited Labor Day weekend is finally here. We've been planning a beach getaway with some friends for months now and the time has finally come to enjoy our beachfront condo with frozen cocktails, BBQ & good friends on sunny St Pete Beach.

St Pete Beach - Treasure Island

Now a quick recap of the past week...

 

1. Pretty hummus I got for lunch on Wednesday from a Mediterranean food truck that came to our office.

2. Our kitchen backsplash has finally been installed and it makes such a huge difference.

3. Enjoying sunny summer days in our neighborhood.

4. Birthday dinner for a friend last night at a new Mexican restaurant downtown. Good times!

5. Can't beat 2-4-1 Pomengrante Margs. Shrimp tacos and goat cheese Guacamole were also on the menu. Delicious!

Joining Lauren for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

I hope you ladies have a safe & memorable Labor Day weekend!

Saving When Eating Out

I'm pretty much signed up to all my favorite restaurants' mailing lists and it really pays off when it comes to finding deals and coupons. We often choose a restaurant to eat dinner at based on the coupons I got via email that week.

These are some of my favorite deals:

 Smokey Bones sends out $10 off coupons quite regularly.

Olive Garden sends out a variety of coupons for lunch & dinner.

Outback's most recent $8 off coupon.

50% off from Ruby Tuesday. 

Other restaurants that send out great savings on the regular are Red Lobster, TGI Friday's, Chili's and Bahama Breeze

Ordering in?

I got this coupon code via email last week to get 50% off a large pizza when ordering online. We used the promo code PLAY50 last weekend but it's still valid until Sept 1st.

How do you save on food & eating out?

What's Your Monday Face?

Yep, this is how I feel today after a super fun weekend.

Photo credit: http://www.funnymisfit.com/my-monday-face/

On Friday night, K and I went for dinner and then went to the Orlando Brewing company to watch my coworker's band play. We were really impressed by the band considering that they're quite new.

On Saturday, K had his football draft which they do live so all the friends got together to pick their teams while the ladies had to run around making drinks and giving out shots to anyone that messed up their pick.

Sunday was a rainy day so we stayed in and finished some stuff around the house and later ordered Pizza for dinner.

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

How was your weekend?

Finally It's Friday!

I'm sure you're just as ready for the weekend as I am. I got some fun stuff lined up including a live football draft and going to see a local band at the Orlando Brewing company tonight. Don't forget next weekend is Labor Day! Who doesn't love a long weekend?

1. Shimmery neutral nails. I love this color and need to get it more often since it pretty much goes well with any outfit. 

2. Baked Pesto Salmon & sauteed veggies was on the menu this week.

3. Have you tried Michelob's Cider? It's nice & light and not as sweet as most ciders like Woodchuck. This might be my new favorite drink for the beach or pool.

4. Good times last weekend with our group of friends. Sometimes our lives seem so busy and we don't see each other for weeks but it's good to get together and celebrate.

5. I'm loving the wood floors that were installed this week in our TV room & hallway - which used to be carpet. Can't wait for all the renovations to be complete so I can share pics of the finished house.

Joining Lauren for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Renovations After The Flood

I'm so relieved that our house is starting to feel like home again two weeks after the flood and living with gutted floors and furniture piled up everywhere.

It was fun picking out new carpet and wood floors. Kind of felt like we were decorating a brand new home.

Luckily insurance covered this expense and we were left with some extra money to do some "upgrades" so we're finally able to afford that kitchen backsplash that I've been wanting for so long along with some painting.

Here's a little sneak peak of our newly renovated living room.

The rest of the house should be done by the weeknd so the nightmare will finally be over.
Happy hump day!