A Year of 30th Birthday Celebrations

Hi everyone!
I'm off road-tripping to Savannah for the weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday so my good friend Kate is entertaining for me today :-)
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Hey there! My name is Kate and you can find me over on my little corner of the internet at Green Fashionista where I blog about everything from fashion, travel, home decor, recipes, and of course my weekend shenanigans which are usually shenanigans indeed. I'm so happy to be taking over for Emily while she's off celebrating her big birthday with K. 

A lot of us in our group of friends hit the big 3-0 this year and we all celebrated in style from house parties to cruises to the Bahamas. And to round out the 30th b-days this year, we saved the best for last.... Emily who was one of my first friends here in Florida. I'm so thankful for our growing friendship, and love that she joined the wonderful world of blogging last year.

On my birthday, one of our friends "kidnapped me" and took me to the spa where I was treated a wonderful massage gifted to me by Emily and the girls. We then went to lunch and had a martini or two while H got the house ready for my party.

My big pretty pink cake!

Lots of shots were had.....

And just because Emily went away for her big b-day weekend, I hope she knows she's not getting away with all of us celebrating her ;-)

Wishing Emily the BEST birthday ever! Can't wait to celebrate with you soon! Hoping you're enjoying plenty of birthday drinks and cake this weekend.

Birthday Freebies - Retail & Restaurants

My 30th birthday is tomorrow and I've decided to just embrace it since I kinda still feel 21, well at least on a good day ;-)

It's also that time of year when it becomes apparent I'm subscribed to a crapload of mailing lists! My inbox is flooded with birthdays freebies and coupons from restaurants and retail stores.

While most places send you a free dessert coupon (thanks, but no thanks!), here's some of the better freebies I scored this year.

ULTA $10 off Coupon (no spending limit)

Moe's free entree with purchase of a drink

Victoria's Secret $10 off (came in the mail)

Free appetizer from Carrabba's

Complimentary dinner from Texas De Brazil

$5 off from Red Lobster

If you love desserts, these are some of the restaurants that sent me free dessert coupons:

~ Macaroni Grill
~ Smokey Bones
~ Buffalo Wild Wings

~ Olive Garden (app or dessert)

~ Ruby Tuesday
~ Chili's

Don't forget to enter below to win a $200 Amazon gift card from Erin and her November sponsors!

I'm off on a road trip tomorrow to Savannah, GA to celebrate my dirty thirty...catch you next week!!

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Festive Holiday Dresses & Sparkly Shoes (Plus $200 Giveaway)

It's that time of year to pull out the sparkles and shine for the holidays.

Festive Holidays Dresses by martinis-bikinis featuring a mini dress

Kate Spade Pumps · Enzo Angiolini Pumps · Red Carpet Pumps

Join Erin @ TwoThirdsHazel and the rest of us for a chance to win a $200 Amazon gift card.

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Taste of Tuesday: Sausage & Veggie Breakfast Casserole

I got the idea from Ashley a few weeks ago to make breakfast casserole and I also found a recipe on Jimmy Dean's website that is super easy to make but I changed it up a bit.

 

Ingredients:

8 eggs

1 Jimmy Dean Pork Hot sausage

1/4 cup milk or heavy whipping cream

1/2 green pepper

1/2 tomato

1/4 onion

1 cup shredded cheese

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown sausage, onion, green pepper and tomatoes in pan.

Mix all ingredients in a greased baking dish.

Cook for 35-45 minutes until top becomes golden brown.

Enjoy!

Joining Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday.

December Weekend Fun

Another fun long weekend!
Thursday night was my company holiday party at Disney so they gave us Friday off of work, thankfully! We stayed out at a Disney resort and hung by the pool on Friday since the weather has been in the 80's. It definitely doesn't feel like December in Florida.

 

Strawberry Mojitos at the pool bar ~ delicious!

On Saturday night, we went to Kate's holiday party. After 2 nights of partying at Disney I was exhausted but we had a great time celebrating the holidays with friends.

~ The girls at Kate's 2nd annual holiday party

~ Their pretty Christmas tree

~ The festive dessert table

~ Roxy wearing her Christmas outfit

~ White elephant gift: We ended up with a Patron Tequila set, which K was most excited about.

This is why I love the holidays!

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

 

How was your weekend?

Let The Holiday Parties Begin

Happy Friday!

 Luckily I got the day off from work today because last night was my company Holiday party at Disney. Nothing's better than another long weekend after Thanksgiving last weekend. This is seriously why I LOVE the holidays!

We stayed overnight at a Disney resort after the holiday party last night...

 ~ Pretty Christmas tree in our hotel

~ View of the resort from our room

~ Mickey Mouse dessert at the party

~ K and I at the company dinner

~ Dueling pianos during dinner

~ Group photo of work friends

~ Fireworks at Epcot

~ The girls getting ready to go on a ride

~ Hilarious pic of us on the Test Track ride at Epcot

Have a great weekend everyone!

Holiday Gifts for Him

Versace Fragrances · Calvin Klein Underwear Boxers · GUESS Slim Jeans

 ~ money clip or wallet

~ watch

~ grill master set

~ sunglasses

~ underwear or socks

~ a good pair of jeans

~ iPad case

~ NFL shirt with his favorite team

~ (Your favorite) Cologne ;-)

I got a sample of Versace Eros in the mail and it smelt so incredibly good that I had to buy K a bottle for Christmas this year. I purchased the bottle of cologne and got the Eros 3-piece gift set below for free ($20 value) from ULTA. I think that was a pretty good deal and now I have two gifts to wrap instead of one.

What other gift ideas do you have for guys?

30th Birthday & Holiday Wishlist

The #1 item on my wishlist this year is an iPad Mini. I've been wanting one for the longest time and finally decided that my 30th birthday is probably a big enough occasion to get one, right?

My Holiday Wishlist this year:

Marc Jacobs Fragrances · Conair Hair Care · Kate Spade Tech Accessories

~ Beachy decor for my house
~ Large crystal studs
~ Sparkly iPhone 5s case
~ Tory Burch flats
~ Olive green cardigan
~ Infiniti Pro Curl by Conair (to curl hair)
~ MK Wallet
~ Daisy perfume by Marc Jacobs


What's on your holiday wishlist this year?

I also want to wish my little (but taller) sister Leah happy birthday today!
 xoxo

Happy Holidays Spinach & Red Pepper Dip

I made this dip for a friend's holiday party a couple weekends ago. The red peppers give traditional spinach dip a really nice flavor and the green & red colors make it the perfect festive dip for the holidays.

I got the recipe from All Recipes and changed it a bit with some additional ingredients I usually use for spinach dip.

Ingredients:
1 pack frozen chopped spinach
2 red peppers
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper seasoning
Black pepper to taste

Dice red peppers and keep aside 1/4 cup uncooked peppers for the topping. Bring 3/4 cup water to boil and cook the remainder of the red peppers about 10 minutes on simmer until softened.

Cook frozen spinach in microwave or on the stove until thawed (according to directions on the back).

Melt cream cheese, grated cheese and sour cream in a saucepan on the stove top. 

Drain the spinach and red peppers and add to the mixture in the saucepan. Mix in the red pepper flakes (or cayenne pepper) and black pepper to taste.

Spoon into a serving dish and sprinkle the remainder of the raw chopped red peppers on the top.

Serve with raw veggies and/or crackers. I used wheat thins which went well with this dip.

Joining Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday.

Weekend Shenans & College Football Tailgating

What a fun & busy long weekend! I did a quick recap on Friday of how I spent Thanksgiving day with family.

Friday was spent tailgating with friends for the UCF vs USF game.

We celebrated UCF's win like it was 2002 again. Saturday was therefore spent recovering and being reminded that we really can't party like we used to in college.

On Sunday, we went to brunch with friends and had a relaxing day at home.

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

Thanksgiving Weekend: Friday's Favorites

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday :-)

2013 has been a great year so far and I'm thankful for so much...where do I even start?

Joining Lauren for High 5 4 Friday.

~ Sparkly leopard infinity scarf perfect for the holidays. Purchased from Charlotte Russe for $10.99.

~ 2-4-1 Berry Mojitos: We left town after work on Wednesday and drove 2 hours to West Florida to stay with K's family for Thanksgiving. We settled in town and quickly started celebrating the 4-day weekend with some happy hour drinks & dinner.

~ Favorite local bar that we visit everytime we're in town for the holidays, weddings, birthdays etc.

~ Thanksgiving dinner. It's crazy how you try to take a little of everything and your plate still ends up piled high with food. #turkeycoma

~ Pretty sunset last night driving home after the celebrations.

How did you spend your Thanksigiving?

Happy Thanksgiving & Thursdays Trends: Statement Necklaces

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope everyone is able to eat some good food and spend the day with family/friends.

Today, I'm thankful for....

~ my family (both present and deceased relatives are cherished on this day).

~ my job and getting to work in a laid back environment with cool people.

~ new and old friends. Life wouldn't be such a fun ride without them!

~  that I've been on this earth almost 30 healthy years and my husband has a super fun trip planned for my birthday next month.

~ the home K and I bought over 2 years ago and all the work we've put into it to make it our perfect home and to continue creating lasting memories under that roof.

~ Last but not least, I'm thankful for all my blog readers and the friends I've made over the last year since I joined this community. I truly appreciate you and hope to make many lasting friendships.

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Thursday Trends: Pretty Statement Necklaces

Statement necklaces are one of the "in" things these days. They can transform the simplest black outfit into an eye-catching look for any occasion. They are also great to give as gifts for the holidays.

Nordstrom Necklaces · Juicy Couture Necklaces · Lori's Shoes Necklaces

The beach baby in me particularly loves the necklace with starfish and sand dollars from Tommy Bahama.

Enjoy Turkey day!

Holiday Favorites: Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Joining Elise and Jen today for These are a few of my Favorite Things.

Stocking Stuffer ideas that I'm loving this year:

Marc Jacobs Beauty Products · Walgreens Nail Polish · Stila Lip Products

e.l.f. Studio Cosmetics has some really cute gift items such a lip gloss and nail polish sets for super cheap. This week's deal (valid 11/27 through 11/30) is Buy 1 get one 50% off, plus get a $10 gift card when you spend $30 or more using coupon code BLKFRI.

Also joining Lisa Nichole for favorite holiday traditions. 

 

What stocking stuffer ideas are you loving this year?

Taste of Tuesday: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Hi everyone!

I made pumpkin cheesecake for the first time last week and it tasted so good so I have to share this recipe that I got from Martha Stewart but I changed it up a bit.

Ingredients

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Filling:
4 (8 oz) packs cream cheese
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp pumpkin-pie spice
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp salt

*I made this for a large group so the recipe could easily be cut in half to feed less people. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Crust: Melt the butter and mix ingredients until moist. Press firmly onto the bottom of a greased 9 inch baking dish.

 Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling: Soften cream cheese and beat with sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Add in flour and mix gently on low speed. Add in the pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, vanilla, salt and mix until smooth. Add in the eggs one by one and mix on low speed until well blended.

Pour filling onto pie crust and bake for 45 minutes

Turn off oven and let it sit in there for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before refrigerating.

Optional Topping: whipped cream sprinkled with either cinnamon or pumpkin-pie spice.

Enjoy!

Joining Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday.

Let The Holiday Festivities Commence

The craziness that is the holidays has officially begun for the Martinis & Bikinis household.

Friday was nice & quiet. K and I went for dinner at Carrabbas and then rented the movie "This Is The End" to watch at home.  I thought the movie was weird and zoned out after about 20 minutes so I don't recommend it.

On Saturday, we went to our first holiday party for the year which was so much fun. This is my absolute favorite time of the year and I love nothing more than spending it with good friends/family along with delicious food and, of course, copious amounts of alcohol.

Sunday was gloomy & overcast so it was the perfect lazy day to catch up on my blogs, cook food for the week and nurse my hangover.

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenans.

Also, big congrats to Bella from Dateless in Dallas for winning my Beauty Bag Giveway and thank you to everyone that participated!! I truly appreciate all of my readers :-)

Is everyone excited for Turkey Day this week?

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Friday's Favorites: Potlucks & Giveaways

Happy Friday!

I've felt like a sleepy zombie all week ~ wake up, traffic, work, gym, dinner, go to bed, repeat, repeat, repeat ~ BUT last night I had a nice little sushi date with one of my besties for her 30th birthday. We had a fun time catching up so that helped break the mundane weekly routine!

Joining Lauren & Darcie for Five on Friday.

#1: Sushi dinner date

#2: Gifts for the birthday girl

#3: Pumpkin Cheesecake
Baked this for a potluck at work. Recipe to follow next week for Taste of Tuesday. It was delicious!

 

Thanksgiving Potluck spread at work. Food for days!

#4: Friends-Giving (potluck) last weekend...The girls and I being silly :-)

#5: My Beauty Bag Giveaway ends tonight. Don't forget to enter to win it ALL! I'm soo excited to see who the winner will be!

 

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Hope you have a fab weekend!