Our Backyard Makeover

I love the house that K and I purchased over two years ago, but as first-time home buyers we missed a few important features that we've spent some time figuring out how to solve.

One of the BIG things was that we didn't have an outside area to entertain friends & family. When we had parties everyone would end up hanging out in the kitchen.

Our backyard could only fit two chairs and then it was just grass so everyone would just stay inside. So a few months ago we made the decision to build a screened in patio and deck to entertain and have BBQs.

Everything was finally completed last week and I love our newest home addition! Time to throw more parties...you're invited!

Weekend Happenings

On Friday, K and I had a dinner and movie date night.
We went to Red Lobster so I could use a coupon they sent me (love the coconut shrimp) and then we headed over to the movies to see We're The Millers which was really funny.

And, yes, we snuck mini vodkas and fireball into the movies to make things more interesting.  haha. After the movie we went to check out a new Tap Room/Bar that has an amazing variety of beer on tap. So we tried out a couple different beers and then called it a night.

On Saturday, we had brunch at home and then I went to the hairdresser to get a Keratin treatment done to my hair which takes almost 4 hours. (The wine helped!)

After the hairdresser, we met up with some friends at a sports bar to watch some college football and got a nice win for our alma mater, UCF.

On Saturday night, I made us some homemade dirty martinis with blue cheese olives and we relaxed at home.

Sunday was a nice lazy day cleaning, laundry, cooking/grilling burgers and watching football. 

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

 

Have a great week!

New iPhone 5 Out this Week!

I'm finally due for an upgrade with AT&T so I'm excited for the release of the new 5c and 5s this week. 

But where's the best place to buy it from? A friend told me about Target's Trade-in Program and I can literally sell my old phone (iPhone 4s) for $180. 

So if I buy a new iPhone 5s for $299 (minus $180), I only have to fork out about $120 for a brand new phone. Sweet deal!

I think I've decided on getting the Gold 5s. The 5c's are a bit too colorful for me and don't have all the new features.

Count down til they're relased on Friday at Target. 

Have a good weekend!

Friday Finds & Favorites

YAY the weekend is right around the corner! I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend after several back-to-back weekends of traveling out of town, birthday celebrations, and non-stop drinking ;-P

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

1. Ulta has their eye shadows, lip glosses and eyeliners going for $4. I love their neutral eyeshadow colors for everyday use/work makeup so I bought a few this week.

2. I've been eyeing these beautiful Tory Burch sunglasses online. I should really wait until my birthday in December but it's sooo tempting not to get them asap.

3. My new favorite iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. I think it tastes so much better (and is cheaper) than Starbucks and most other iced coffee I've tried.

4. New favorite beer of the season - Redd's Strawberry Ale is soo delicious. I bought a 12-pack last weekend and they're almost all gone. *lush*

5. Healthy dinners at home cooked by K - baked tilapia topped with shrimp & capers, with steamed brocolli & carrots on the side.  Lucky to have a man that wants to can cook.

Have a great weekend!

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?