Category Archives: Holiday

December 23, 2012 · 12:07 pm

Our first Christmas and giveaway winners

This year, I got the best Christmas gift anyone could ask for. I got to marry the man of my dreams and my best friend, and I’m so excited to celebrate this year as Kevin’s wife. We will be spending the next few days with our families, so Kevin and I are having our own Christmas dinner tonight. I wanted to try to recreate our steakhouse dinner we had on our honeymoon, so we got some really nice steaks to grill and we’re going to try making potatoes lyonnaise for the first time. My mouth is watering already.

steak

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season full of love, cheer and good food.

Giveaway Winners

Thanks to everyone who entered my two giveaways! Here are the winners.

First, the winner of the Tuttorosso prize pack, Arlene!

Tuttorosso Winner

Tuttorosso Winner Tweet

And the two Lone Star Steakhouse gift card winners, Teresa and Michelle!

Lone Star Winner 1

Lone Star Winner 1 Comment

Lone Star Winner 2

Lone Star Winner 2 Comment

Congratulations! I’ll send you each an email with what I need to get your prizes to you. Have a wonderful holiday season!

What are your favorite holiday traditions?

Thanksgiving Game Plan

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

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Source

Seriously, whose idea was it to schedule our wedding the week after Thanksgiving?

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Source

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s the Friday of the holidays. You still have the entire holiday season ahead of you before feeling the stress and hustle and bustle. Everyone is just starting to feel that holiday cheer. I also love reflecting on all that I have to be thankful for, and let’s face it, I also love all the food involved.

My goal this year is not to overindulge. I’m still going to enjoy the delicious spread, but I just don’t want to overdo any meal nine days prior to my wedding day. My plan is to load up on and to fill most of my plate with veggies. I’ll stick with lean cuts of turkey (even though I love dark meat) and ease up on starchy sides. I only need a taste of dessert, if that. I want to enjoy the time with loved ones while not over-obsessing about my eating habits. I also don’t want to lose control and eat twelve pounds of mashed potatoes.

This past year has truly been amazing. Being engaged, albeit stressful at times, has been a wonderful process making me even more thankful for Kevin, my family, my future family and friends. Everyone has been so supportive, helpful and generous. I’m also thankful to have amazing coworkers and a great work environment who have supported me this year though studying for the GMAT, taking time off for the wedding and who are encouraging of my starting grad school next year. I’m thankful to have Kevin in my life and to have the privilege of being his wife soon. I was never in a rush to get married, and now that I’m ten days away, I realize how lucky I am to be able to marry my best friend.

How’s that for some holiday warm and fuzzies?

What are you thankful for? I’m constantly thankful for each person who has stopped by my little corner of the blog world. Thank you for each comment and all the support I’ve continued to receive. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Filed under Health, Holiday

October 21, 2012 · 3:43 pm

Pinterest Project: Easy Pad Thai

I love Pinterest for wedding planning ideas, new workouts and recipes, but sometimes I get nervous attempting to recreate recipes or crafts. Whenever I try new recipes, I like to browse any comments or reviews for tips and tricks. I saw one pin floating around many boards for easy Pad Thai and was intrigued to try it, so I thought I’d share my experience with you.

The recipe required minimal ingredients and didn’t seem too complicated, so I decided to give it a shot one weekday evening. The source of the pin was very thorough and had step-by-step instructions with photos.

Pad Thai

Although not exactly like the photo, I thought it was a successful attempt. I couldn’t find flat rice noodles so had to settle for lo mein noodles. I added a half tablespoon more of brown sugar because I thought it needed to be slightly sweeter. The chopped peanuts and cilantro are a must to bring everything together. I also did not add the optional Sriracha, but I think it is needed to give the dish more depth of flavor. Although it didn’t taste quite like the Pad Thai in restaurants, I thought it was a delicious mid-week meal. The cilantro and green onions gave the dish a fresh flavor, and the sauce wasn’t too heavy.

Pad Thai 2

I’d call it a Pinterest success and recommend that you give it a try.

Last night, Kevin and I went to our first Halloween party of the season. Kevin doesn’t get very excited by the idea of dressing up, but he was a really good sport. We decided to be 80s fitness enthusiasts, and boy, were our outfits bright!

Costumes

We had a lot of fun laughing at how goofy we looked, and I was so excited that Kevin dressed up. It’s hard to believe we’re already coming up on Halloween.

What are you dressing up as this year?

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Filed under Eating In, Holiday, Thai

October 12, 2012 · 8:11 pm

Celebrating 27

Yesterday (on 10/11/12!) I turned 27 years old—crazy. My birthday snuck up on me this year. I have been so busy preparing for the wedding and working a lot that it just didn’t feel like it should already be mid-October and my birthday season. The company I work for gives a birthday holiday, so I took yesterday off work and decided to take today off as well for an extra long birthday weekend. Kevin also took the two days off, and it was wonderful to spend the time with him.

My birthday started off spectacularly with a trip to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte then we were off to the courthouse to get our marriage license! It was a quick and easy process, and now all we need is for our officiant to sign the document on our big day.

After “getting married,” we headed out to lunch with Parko to take advantage of not being at work on a gorgeous Thursday.

Anthony's-Lunch Special

We headed to Anthony’s in Thornton Park and sat outside. There was such a nice breeze, and it finally felt a little like October. We started out with an order of zucchini fries.

Anthony's-Zucchini Fries

They were a little on the salty side, but the zucchini inside was delicious.

I ordered the two-slice lunch special with meatball pizza. Kevin ordered two slices of Sicilian pepperoni.

Anthony's-Meatball Pizza

Anthony's-Pepperoni Sicilian Pizza

It was great to spend the afternoon with my boys. I really wanted to keep this year’s birthday low key. Things have been very hectic, so it was nice to slow down and just enjoy a relaxing day.

Parko

Later that evening Kevin took me out for an amazing dinner at Chez Vincent in Winter Park. It is an upscale, traditional French restaurant. The ambiance was so nice and I really just wanted to enjoy my birthday and my evening out with Kevin, so I didn’t take any photos. But I did enjoy a glass of red wine, the majority of a bread basket with three different types of butter, escargot in garlic butter sauce, rack of lamb with blue cheese sauce and a chocolate raspberry soufflé. Kevin ordered their filet mignon topped with peppercorns and a cognac sauce and partook in the soufflé. It was a very romantic evening, and the food was so mouthwatering.

I’m so excited that I still have two more days of freedom ahead! 26 was such a wonderful year full of wedding planning, taking my GMAT and lots of house projects to continue to build our home. I can’t wait to see what 27 brings. I have a feeling it will be my best year yet.

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Filed under French, Holiday, Italian, Thornton Park, Winter Park

May 27, 2012 · 11:14 am

Walk to remember

Like many, the long Memorial Day weekend fills my mind with images of barbeques, cold drinks and laying by the pool. Today, Kevin took off early this morning to go golfing with his friends leaving me unsure of how I wanted to fill my day.

Parko seemed really antsy this morning, so I decided to take him on a nice, long walk to get some energy out before it got too hot in the day. One of our favorite walking paths is around the lake in Baldwin Park, and then I recalled all of the war memorials they have in one particular section of the path.

I loaded Parko in the car, and we headed over to Lake Baldwin.

Parko

I purposely planned our walk so we would come across the memorials toward the end. That way Parko would be more worn out, and I could take a little more time with them.

Memorials

I must have passed by these so many times, and I would read them and see what people had left in memoriam, but this was my first time really stopping at each one and reflecting on their purpose.

Memorial2