Weekend Whereabouts & Spring Cleaning

Hello lovelies!

 Sorry for being MIA for a few days. The head cold and allergies hit me hard last week and I was focusing on feeling better and catching up at work after all the traveling I've been doing. This weekend really helped me catch up on some rest and get back into the swing of things. 

Friday night was a quiet date night at BoneFish Grill for their famous Bang Bang shrimp which we absolutely love. I veered away from my usual dirty martini to try their blueberry cold snap cocktail which was a disappointment.

After sleeping for almost 11 hours, we had breakfast at home before heading out to do some shopping, errands, and stock up on groceries. K got some new kicks for working out and I replenished my 3-wick candle collection.

We then headed to our favorite hole in the wall oyster shucking bar where we got some ginormous raw oysters from Louisiana. Our oyster fix was a success!

After lunch we took Lola for a walk around the neighborhood and I spent the rest of the day Spring cleaning and purging clothes, shoes, jewelry and toiletries to donate. I capped off the evening with my favorite blueberry beer and some blogging.

Sunday morning consisted of more spring cleaning and decluttering before heading out to Wildside BBQ for some lunch with K and Lola. 

It was so amazing having a fairly quiet weekend in and around town. Lots of sleep and snuggles with my loves is just what the doctor ordered!

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

San Francisco Recap

I didn't have much time on this trip for touring the city instead I used my one free day to visit Sonoma Wine Country with some friends which I posted about last week.

I flew out there on Saturday and enjoyed the views of California from the plane. 

I checked into my hotel and went exploring the downtown financial district which has lots of good shopping. 

Later at night I checked out the Waterbar restaurant which had a beautiful view of the Bay Bridge. (Grainy iPhone photo)

On Sunday we drove by the marina before heading over the Golden Gate bridge to Sonoma for some wine tasting and lunch. 

On the way back from Sonoma we stopped off at a lookout spot for some beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were stacked full of work at the conference followed by a quick dinner and then off to bed. 

The last place I want to mention is Bask Tapas restaurant. The same friends that I went to Sonoma with suggested we have dinner there on my last night.  We shared several small plates including the meatballs, duck foie gras, mushrooms, croquettes, tiger prawns, and a tomato & cheese plate.

That was the extent of site-seeing on this trip. I went to the same conference last year and had a free afternoon to explore the city on a double decker bus where I was able to cover a lot more ground. Here's my San Francisco recap from last year.

Such a beautiful city!

Brussels Sprouts with Pecans & Cranberries

Photo via Rachel Shultz

This is one of the recipes that I made for the first time and served over the weekend for our Easter dinner potluck. I failed at taking many useful pictures between multi-tasking in the kitchen and opening the door as guests arrive so I had to use the photo from the original recipe. I made a few tweaks like using coconut oil instead of olive oil and eliminating the barley and there was no lack in taste. 

Ingredients: 

1 lb. brussels sprouts

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2/3 cup cranberries

1/3 cup pecans

1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese 

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

1 tablespoon maple syrup

What To Do:

1. Cook brussels sprouts and cranberries in coconut oil over medium heat for 8 minutes.

2. Add balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and cook for an additional 2 minutes before removing from heat. 

3. Add the walnuts and stir well in pan or toss in a mixing bowl.
4. Top with crumbled gorgonzola. 

That's my blurry picture of the final product but I can attest that it was a delicious side to serve for any holiday dinner. Kerri loved it too! ;-)

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Easter Weekend Entertaining

Hi everyone! 

Hope you enjoyed the weekend and Easter Sunday yesterday however you decided to spend it. 

Friday was a wash for me after returning home late on Thursday night from a work trip. Thankfully my job gives us Good Friday off so I was able to rest a bit before going grocery shopping and organizing our house for Easter entertaining. 

We hosted an Easter open-house party and potluck for friends on Saturday which was a fun and busy day. We baked a ham, fried a turkey and had a bunch of other appetizers and sides.

Kerri and Kate both came to celebrate and it was so fun hanging out with them. 

I hosted the same Easter party last year and hope to continue the tradition as it's the one holiday we get to entertain friends and cook up a big meal. Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually spent with family out of town.

Sunday was perfectly lazy which was much needed. I had plans to go for brunch but decided against it and stayed home to relax before the busy work week.

How was your Easter weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

Great Week, Good Friday

Happy Friday lovelies!

I'm so relieved we have Good Friday off of work today. Otherwise I would be a zombie at work after arriving home late last night after 5 nights in San Francisco. It was an awesome and extremely busy trip. I'm talking 11-hour work days but thankfully I had some time to squeeze in some site-seeing and meet up with friends.

I posted about my trip out to Sonoma Wine Country last weekend which was such a great experience.

Other than work, I...

* Visited The View Lounge with coworkers to enjoy some views of downtown San Francisco.

* Went to Haight Street for $2 beer night with a friend (like the good old colleges day). Truthfully, I prefer dive bars than a fancy digs to relax and unwind after busy, business/formal days.

* Did more shopping than I had planned and had to buy an extra duffel bag to bring stuff home. (My hotel was in the heart of the shopping district which is just bad news.)

* Got kicked out a taxi because the taxi driver said we were touching the back of his neck (my friend and I were in full conversation in the back of the taxi not even paying attention or "touching" him). Taxi dude clearly showed up for work high on some sort of drug. Best we get kicked out, right?

* Went to Bask Tapas restaurant with friends followed by walking around Little Italy and a few more drinks before calling it a night.

* Flew home bright and early yesterday morning. With several delays and a layover in St. Louis, I made it home in about 12 hours. Not to mention the 3 hour time difference which totally screws you more so flying back to the east coast. I'm so, so happy to have the weekend to readjust and get back to reality.

Happy weekend to everyone and hope you enjoy Easter!

Joining the lovely Amanda for Friday Favorites.

Easter Dinner Party Planning

Every year we host an Easter dinner for our friends since many of us don't have family that live close by. We always bake a ham and fry turkey but I'm always looking for new ideas for sides, desserts, and cocktails.

Deviled Eggs

Sparkling pineapple lemonade

Crockpot Maple Brown Sugar Ham

Easter Bunny Rolls

Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries

Sweet Corn Casserole

Glazed Orange Carrots

Strawberry lime moscato punch

Carrot Cheesecake


What's on your Easter dinner menu?

Sonoma Wine Country

On Sunday I drove out to Sonoma from San Francisco with some friends who live in the city. What we didn't know is that most of the wineries require reservations ahead of time so we weren't able to get into the first one we stopped at. They recommended we go to Cline Cellars Vineyard which is open to the public and we weren't disappointed. It was beautiful there and every wine we tried was amazing! They also don't charge for wine tastings like most of the others do. 

We had a wine and cheese picnic is the garden and enjoyed the sunny yet cool weather.

After our picnic we headed into downtown Sonoma which is cute and quaint. We walked around the farmer's market and checked out a few shops finally settling at The Girl and The Fig for a drink and some appetizers. Once again, amazing food and drinks here! 

So glad I got to cross Sonoma off my bucket list. Wine country is truly breathtaking!