Weekend Sunshine & Fun with Friends

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

On Friday, I had a team building day with work people. We had lunch and then went to a sports bar with simulated golf, car racing, pool, darts etc. It was nice getting out of the office early and catching up with work peeps over some drinks. 

On Saturday, K and I planned a beach day to spend some time together after a few hectic weeks. It was a gorgeous day & we ran into some old friends so it was fun catching up.

After soaking in some sun for a few hours, we went to our new favorite tiki bar/restaurant for some apps and beach cocktails before heading home.

On Sunday, we went to a friend's birthday BBQ and the guys played some basketball in the neighborhood. The weather was perfect this weekend so finally got to work on my tan!

How was your weekend?

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap and Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

Take Me to the Beach

Same shit, different day. That's how this week has been so I'm waiting for happy hour & the weekend to come to the rescue in a few hours.

#1: I'm also looking forward to relaxing on the beach tomorrow with a cold one and then grabbing some seafood for lunch. So happy the warm days are here in Florida!

#2: My Easter flowers are blooming and looking prettier than ever.

#3: I bought way too much candy for our Easter party last weekend so K and I have been stuck consuming unlimited "dessert" this week.  No bueno...I'm ready to throw the rest away!

#4: Breakfast made with love. The lush in me also loves strawberry season because my favorite strawberry beer from Abita is out on the shelves :-) 

#5: I had my yearly review at work yesterday and got great scores plus a nice little raise. Less than I was hoping for but it's better than nothing. The good news is they'll be pro-rating it back to the beginning of the year so I should get a nice chunk of change soon. 

Joining Lauren for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Thursdays Trends: High-Low Dresses

I have a slight obsession for high-low dresses especially now that the weather is warming up. They're sexy and sleek and can be dressed up with heels and accessories or worn to more casual places with sandals. I have several beach weddings, bridal showers and other parties coming up and I've been shopping around for the perfect high-low dress. 

Haute Hippie Day Dresses · Nordstrom Cocktail Dresses · Alice + Olivia Day Dresses


Where do you shop for special occasion dresses?

Giveaway Time: $200 Stella & Dot Gift Card

These lovely ladies and myself have a fun giveaway for you running now until April 28th. Enter below to win a $200 Steel & Dot Gift Card!  If you aren't familiar with Stella & Dot, they sell really beautiful jewelry and accessories perfect for the modern day lady.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone! 

Triple Berry Trifle

I made this Trifle for our Easter dinner party over the weekend and it was a hit! It's easy to make, you can use low calorie/low sugar ingredients and it feeds a whole lot of people.

Ingredients:
2 boxes of instant cheesecake pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 large container of strawberries, cut in halves
1 small container of blueberries
2 cups Cool Whip
1 prepared angel food cake
2/3 cup raspberry jam

What To Do:
1. Whisk pudding with milk according to package instructions.
2. Cut the Angel food cake horizontally into 3 layers. Spread raspberry jam on each layer and cut into 2" cubes. Sandwich two squares together.
3. Place half of the cake pieces into the bottom of the trifle dish. Layer with strawberries and top with pudding mix. Repeat layering and top with cool whip.
4. Decorate the top with strawberries and blueberries.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 3-5 hours before serving.

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.

Easter Festivities with Friends

Hope everyone had a great Easter yesterday! 

I had Good Friday off of work so it was a nice long weekend and finally got to catch up on some Zzzz after the NOLA Bachelorette trip. Easter is the one holiday we don't celebrate with family because we just can't swing the 3 hour x2 (there and back) drive on a Sunday, so we threw an Easter potluck dinner on Saturday for friends.

I made deviled eggs and we baked a ham, roasted a turkey and everyone brought a dish so we had tons of food & desserts. It was fun catching up with the girls and everyone had a good time playing cornhole & ladder ball in the backyard. Of course cocktails and shots flowed throughout the night because that's just what happens with our group of friends.

 
A few friends brought their kids so I made some Easter goodies for them.

Two friends also both brought Easter lilies for me. They're so pretty but let's just hope I can keep these babies alive. The orchid K bought me a few weeks ago has already started to perish....Need some green thumb advise!

This triple berry trifle was also on the menu for dessert. It was my first attempt at making a trifle and it came out SO good so it'll be featured on the blog tomorrow for our Recipe Swap every Tuesday.

How was your Easter weekend?

Joining Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

Easter Dinner Entertaining

Can you believe it's Easter already?

We're having some friends over on Saturday for an Easter potluck dinner. I plan on baking a ham and frying a turkey but, of course, I'm running around like a chicken with no head trying to decide on last minute dishes for the party.

Carrot Crescents Stuffed with Chicken Salad

Deviled Eggs

Pineapple Glazed Ham

Paleo Sweet Potato Stuffing

Corn Casserole

I made this for Thanksgiving last year and have been craving it since.
 

Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

What's your favorite dishes to cook for Easter dinner?

NOLA Bachelorette Recap

After a hectic 3 nights of binge drinking and shenanigans through the streets of New Orleans, I made it home on Sunday night with no voice and a lingering hangover but I'm in one piece nevertheless.

A group of us girls flew into NOLA on Thursday Night, checked in to the hotel in the Garden District and then headed out for some dinner and drinks. This gift basket full of goodies was waiting in the room for the bride-to-be.

On Friday, we toured Bourbon street in the matching tank tops we got customized for the bride. The streets were packed with people and lots of bachelor & bachelorette parties. Fireball shots were flowing along with my favorite Louisiana beer, Abita Strawberry and we even stopped at Pat O'Brien's for some Hurricanes.

On Saturday we went to the French Quarter Festival, which is the largest free music festival in the US. Lots of good food, music, drinks and people watching.

After the festival, we checked out some voodoo shops and then hit some more bars on Bourbon street ending at a gay bar where we made some fun new friends!

Sunday was our last day and we were all feeling a little rough but our flight wasn't until later in the night. We had lunch at Coop's Place and then a few drinks at Margaritaville and a few other places before heading to the airport.

So glad I got to finally experience New Orleans but I think I need to sleep for a full week to feel "normal" again. Is it the weekend yet?

Tuesday's Recip Swap: Berry Smoothie

Serving size: 2 smoothies

Ingredients:

8 oz frozen mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries)

1 cup almond milk

1 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

Optional: 1-2 tsp honey for added sweetness.

Ready to serve immediately or you can bottle and refrigerate to drink later.

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! ;-)

My Bags Are Packed & Ready to Go

The bachelorette party we've been planning for months is finally here...I'm flying out in a few hours with 7 others girls to NOLA to paint the city red or just eat tons of good food & drink hurricanes!

We've planned one dressy night but the rest of the trip we're going to keep casual, which is just my style. With the amount of bar hopping & walking that will be taking place, I'm going to need some comfy shoes and outfits ~ shorts, skinnies, flats, maxi dresses and cute accessories.

Express Dresses · Express Day Dresses · Express Cropped Pants

Mostly everything above is from Express and even better Express.com has 30% off all dress now until 04/15. Don't know what I would do without Express in my life.

I also got a personal stash for the plane....catch you next week!

Get The Look: Eyeliner Tips

I typically go for the soft or precise looks but I've really wanted to master the winged look without looking too cray cray. I have to admit I have a pretty shaky hand so I tend to keep things simple but these tips are a big help.

Sigma Beauty has every type of makeup brush for the face, eyes, brows, lips, etc. I love their eye brush collection and the E75 angled brow brush to experiment with different looks.

Happy hump day everyone!

Chicken Marsala with Whole Grain Pasta

Marsala is my favorite Italian dish so I had to try my hand at it.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, pounded 1/4" thick

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pack mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp mustard powder
1 tbsp Italian seasoning/ parsley
salt & black pepper to taste

1.  Beat egg in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix flour, Italian seasoning & some ground black pepper. Dip each chicken breast into the beaten egg and then coat generously with the flour mixture. (I cut each breast in half so they would cook faster)

2. Heat 2 tbsp Olive oil in large skillet coating the surface of the pan and add 2 tbsp butter. Once butter has melted, place chicken fillets in pan and brown for about 8 minutes.

3. Remove chicken and set aside in microwave or warm oven.

4. Add the remainder of the olive oil & butter to the pan until melted. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes. Pour Marsala wine, chicken broth, mustard powder and black pepper into the pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the Marsala sauce mixture starts to thicken.

You can either add the chicken to the Marsala sauce & mushroom mixture or just pour the sauce over the chicken, which is what I did.

Serve with pasta or mashed potatoes. I used Healthy Harvest's whole grain noodles.

Optional topping: Grated parmesan cheese

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! ;-)