Meet Rebekah + Amazon Giveaway

Happy hump day lovelies! 

I have a special lady posting for me today while I'm in San Francisco for work. Rebekah lives in one of my favorite cities and has some exciting travel adventures lined up so feel free to stop by her blog and share the love! 

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Hi everyone! I'm Rebekah from Blue Giraffes and Concrete Jungles, a lifestyle blog about myself and my crazy adventures in NYC! Emily has been so kind to let me takeover today and I wanted you all to get to know me and my blog better:

I'm so excited to also be sponsoring a great giveaway- a $25 Amazon gift card! I don't know about the rest of you but to me Amazon is the bees knees. I order half of my life from there, between new books for my kindle, household supplies and shoes. Basically any and everything is available.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you can all come over and say Hello! I'm looking forward to getting to know each and everyone of you now.... 

Recipe Swap: Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato Basil soup is one of my favorite soups and I was so happy to find a recipe that was easy to make and tasted better than any others I've tried at restaurants or packaged/canned soups. I used this recipe from Shared Appetite.

I changed up the ingredients just a bit like only using one onion instead of two but used all the main ingredients.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

4 cups good-quality chicken stock

Ground black pepper & salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 bunch basil, chopped

What To Do:
 Dice onion and cook on medium heat with olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven about 10-15 minutes.

Mince garlic and add to the pot once the onions become soft and start turning golden brown. Cook for another minute.

Add tomatoes and chicken stock to the pot and season with ground pepper and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes.

 

Puree the mixture using a blender or food processor and return to the pot.

Add cream and basil to the mixture and simmer for another 15 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Optional toppings: grated parmesan or chopped basil leaves.

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.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

Weekend Recap & St Patty's Celebrations

Happy St Patrick's Day!

As usual, Monday sneaks up on us too quickly, especially after a fun weekend but I'm excited to fly to San Francisco tomorrow so fun times are ahead...

After work on Friday, I went to a basketball game: Magic vs. Wizards with work peeps. The company bought us club level seats and K got to come along.  Of course the Magic lost, they have been totally sucking recently but I was glad to make it to at least one game for the season.

After the game we got to go on the court and take a group photo with the Magic dancers.

On Saturday, K and I went to the gym and had a sushi lunch date. So excited to finally eat "normal" food again after removing my wisdom teeth a couple weeks ago. 

Saturday night:

We went to a friend's St Patrick's party so got to catch up with friends and enjoy a night of Irish food and tons of drinks.

~ I made spinach and cream cheese crescent bites for the party (recipe to come soon)

~ My St Patrick's shirt that I've had for over 5 years now.

~ All the girls decorated in green.

~ Friends even showed up in kilts.

~ St Patty's party decor.

~ My and one of favorite girls who came into town for the party.

~ Green cupcakes with gold coins.

It was such a fun night!

Sunday was a nice, lazy day at home. I did laundry, prepped some food for the week and started packing for San Fran.

Joining Bella and Lisa for Weekend Recap.

 

How was your weekend?

Did you celebrate St Patrick's Day?

St Patrick's Day Party Gear

One of my favorite celebrations of the year is St Patty's day. The perfect excuse to drink Guinness and indulge in Irish food, which is exactly what I'll be doing tonight with friends.

St Patrick's Day by martinis-bikinis featuring a baseball tee

 

How do you plan to celerate St Patrick's day this year?

Weekly Recap: San Fran, Pretty Nails & Juice Cleanse

Happy Friday! I have a busy weekend ahead with a Magic basketball game tonight, St Patty's party tomorrow and preparing for a trip across the country next week.

#1: The Best News First
I found out I'm heading to San Francisco for a work convention next week!! This is another beautiful city that I've never visited and flights are not cheap coming from Florida so I'm excited to get a free trip out of it!

Other than the Golden Gate bridge, what else is there to see? It's so last minute, I haven't had a chance to research things to do on my free time.

#2: OPI's Eurso Euro Nail Color

I'm loving this new royal blue color from OPI. I got a much-needed mani and pedi earlier this week.

#3: Abita Strawberry Beer

I was so excited to see my favorite seasonal beer back on the shelves this week. I had to pick up a 6-pack and enjoy a cold one on my back patio after work.

#4: Mac Work Station
It's no secret I'm a lover of all things Apple. I have a Mac laptop at home as well as an iPad and iPhone so using a PC at work wasn't my idea of fun. The IT guy at work surprised me with a new Macbook along with a wireless mouse and tiny little keyboard, which I'm still getting used to. Now I feel like my office is complete :-)
 

#5: Two-Day Juice Cleanse

I started a 2-day cleanse earlier this week. I felt great during the process but realized I am not a huge fan of juice. I barely ever drink juice so not sure what I was thinking when I mentally signed up for this.

It took me 5 hours to juice and bottle 6 different types of juices (12 bottles total) so there was no backing out of this. I had to drink 6 juices per day so it wasn't exactly fun and, honestly, I wasn't able to stick to it 100%. The grocery list costed about $50 for the two days as opposed to buying pre-made juices for $200+. The cleanse worked great and helps you go to the bathroom quite often which is the whole point of a cleanse and detox diet. I'm glad I tried it but not sure I'll ever do a juice cleanse again. The next time I drink juice it'll probably be mixed with champagne at brunch!

I'll post the recipes and more details on the cleanse if anyone interested in trying it out.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.

Glam Series: Benefit Cosmetics

Benefit has become one of my favorite cosmetic brands. I was always more a MAC & Clinique girl but I'm beginning to love more brands sold at Sephora & Ulta. Benefit offers a few unique (and great quality) products such as the POREfessional and High Beam Highlighter that help create that celebrity look every girl wants to achieve.

How do you BENEFIT? by martinis-bikinis featuring benefit makeup

 POREfessional Pore Minimizer:
Works great to minimize your pores and prime your skin before applying foundation. It's an oil-free formula that has vitamin E so it also helps to add another layer of protection. This is a fairly new product to me (that I was convinced to buy after reading great reviews from other bloggers) but I'm really loving how it works because I have bigger pores on my cheeks and forehead.

High Beam Complexion Enhancer:
This is a shimmery pink liquid highlighter that helps to create a nice glow. It's often called "supermodel in a bottle" and great for all skin tones. I use my fingers to lightly dab and blend it onto my cheekbones to contour and create a shimmery glow.

I got 2 sample size Benefit products: the Watt's Up Highlighter and They're Real Mascara free for my birthday for being a Sephora Beauty Insider so I've been using these two since December.

 

  

Watt's Up Highlighter:

This a cream-to-powder highlighter that helps create a champagne glow. I mainly use it on my browbones but you can also use it on your cheekbones to get that "wow" factor.

They're Real! Mascara:
This silky mascara lengthens, curls, and volumizes your lashes and lasts all throughout the day. I love the brush head which has staggered bristles to boost volume and separate lashes which helps to prevent clumping.

Hoola Bronzing Powder:

This is a great contouring powder bronzer that can also be used to highlight features on your face. I use a light amount on my cheeks, chin and forehead and it helps give you a natural-looking tan. I hate looking pasty white in the colder months.

Joining Jordan today for the Glam Series. 

St Patrick's Party Food Ideas + 2013 Recap

I've been looking around for festive appetizer and finger food ideas on Pinterest to make for a St Patrick's day party and stumbled across some cute ideas.

Mint Oreo Triffle via this The Girl in Red Shoes.

Mint Chocolate Chip cookies via True Couponing.

Shamrock Spinach Quiche via Diamonds for Dessert.

Lucky Charm Bars via Cozy Home Chronicles.

I love celebrating St. Patrick's day with friends. Last year we went to a friend's potluck-style
party so we ate all sorts of festive food and, of course, had way too many Irish car bombs. It was a fun night and the same friends are throwing another St Patty's party this weekend.

One of my friends recreated this Rainbow Fruit Tray with a Pot-O-Gold Rainbow and I thought it was such a cute idea for a St Patty's party.

via Pinterest

Are you planning to make any festive appetizers, desserts or cocktails for St Patty's this year?

Ham, Mushroom & Spinach Quiche

Ingredients: 
1 9" deep dish pie crust
4 eggs
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 yellow onion
1 box frozen chopped spinach
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sliced canned mushrooms
1/2 cup ham, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat eggs and mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and pour into the pie shell.

Place pie shell on cookie sheet. I doubled the above recipe to make two quiches. (The leftovers are also great for breakfast!).

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top has turned golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes and 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.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

Weekend Whereabouts, Pain Aside

I had another relaxing weekend spent in and around town. My mouth is still hurting badly from the surgery so need to see the Dentist this week to find out what's going on. It's been over a week and I still can't eat anything other than soft foods and I feel like I have a permanent headache. It's been torture!

On Friday, I found myself at Target on my lunch break and walked away with some cute stuff for the warmer days ahead. Has anyone ever left Target without buying something? It's ridiculous! The BCBG sandals are from Marshall's...another impulse purchase, but hey, they're pretty and were less than $20!

On Friday evening I went to a charity event that my company sponsored so K and I got to enjoy an evening of wine, hors devours, and live music on the lake. We also did some silent auctions to win tickets to Sea World, Universal Studios & some big concerts coming up.

On Saturday morning I went to the gym and picked up all the ingredients to start a 2-day juice cleanse this week. My fridge was bursting at the seams (err doors?) with fruits and veggies. I'll do a review and share the recipes once I'm done with the cleanse.

Saturday night I baked a quiche (recipe will be posted tomorrow) and tried out the new Pecan Pie Pinnacle vodka for "dessert". We love trying all the new flavors of vodka that Pinnacle comes out with.

On Sunday I spent almost 5 hours juicing and bottling 6 different types of juices for the cleanse so that got in the way of any plans I had to enjoy the sunshine outside. I had no clue it would take that long!

On Sunday evening we tried out some Cherry Wheat beer (which I didn't like) and K grilled BBQ chicken for dinner.  Of course, I had to shred the chicken into a million pieces to eat but it was delish.

It's starting to get warm and sunny in Florida so I'm hoping to have more weekend outdoors after being cooped up for the last two weekends.

Joining Bella and Lisa for Weekend Recap.

 

How was your weekend?