Everytime

We go here:

We get stuck in this:

And see interesting things like this:

Normally we are starving and I get antsy like this:

And decide to take a walk here:


These empanada's are so delicious!!! They always hit the spot I LOVE the spicy tofu one...in fact I've taken to calling the Holland tunnel the empanada tunnel...Lincoln is the Pizza Tunnel in case you were wondering thanks to the yummy piping hot 99 cent slices! By the time I walk back to the car with these the hubby has normally moved up like an inch or two but at least we have food now :)

Image from here.

Weekend Wrap up

This weekend invloved the basement work, an impromptu trip to NYC, getting stuck in traffic and barely making it back to drop off our handyman who is AMAZING, birthday celebrations gone haywire but still lots of fun, a bajillion trips to Home Depot, and two unsuccessful attempts to watch this move and finally finishing it on Sunday morning.

I was honestly really excited to see this movie and I thought the first half was pretty good, fine it made girls seem a little crazy but I thought it was cute...Towards the end I felt it was a little long and drawn out and considering the whole point of the move was to dispel the idea of happily ever after and be more realistic Beth still got her engagement ring, Gigi still got the guy, and Mary and Cooper were oh so in love! I thought the book was hilarious and a lot more realistic then the movies take on things. All in all a cute movie but not sure it got it's point across?

Photo Friday

It's been a rough week in more ways then one....



RIP to the American Icons we lost this week :(

I am looking forward to Monday and a new week and even better it's a short work week!

1000 Words

I'm taking the cue from Chessa! and posting one of my favorite pictures of all time. I have to preface this by saying I have ALWAYS LOVED taking picturs and have longed to take photography classes but have not had the opportunity to do so. Right now I just have a little Canon point and shoot but I dream of a big "pretty" camera....This picture was taken three years ago and something about the moment just literally caught my breath, I feel the same way EVERY time I see this picture. I adore the brightly colored sari's and I wonder what these women were thinking about on this hot summer day. I myself am a little lost in my own thoughts today so it only seemed appropriate to share this image.

Color!

I have been basically living in these tees from Express...Throw them on with skinny jeans and a fun pair of earrings or a trendy scarf and you are good to go. Throw them on with a pair of boot cut jeans and flats throw your hair in a pony tail perfect for running errands. Dress them up with a fun belt for work or dress them down with a pair of yoga pants to workout...they really are awesome!


But this morning I woke up in the mood for something bright and patterned so I browsed Forever 21 to find something fun...I hate how to find any of this in the actual store you have to walk around for hours! Which are your faves?

Recipe Share

So Saturday's Graduation Bash was a huge success :) Lot's of food and fun games of Jenga, Wii, and Mafia! It was originally supposed to be outdoors but the rain killed that :( I haven't had a chance to upload my pics yet but here are a few from my aunt...

My mom carved this watermelon basket by hand and then we filled it with fresh berries. I used apricots to make the designs it was so yummy with some Breyers French Vanilla Ice Cream!

The Graduate concentrating hard on a game of Jenga!

Me and the hubs :)

The hit of the party was this Bruschetta:

I got the recipe from Food Network by Guy Fieri ( I multiplied this by four and almost all of it was gone)


*1 tablespoon minced garlic
*2 Ounces Olive Oil
*2 cups diced Roma tomatoes
*1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
*2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
*1/2 teaspoon sea salt
*1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix together all the ingredients and refrigerate for like 15-20 minutes.

I just picked up pre sliced bread at the grocery store and we toasted it on the griddle with a drizzle of olive oil!

Breathe

This last weekend was a bit of a roller coaster, my little brother graduated Thursday, my dad was in town, basement renovations, a huge graduation bash, and last but not least Father's Day. I'm still in recovery mode today and am thinking I need a little me time...not sure when that's going to happen but until then I'll focus on this lol!


If you have an extra $900 you can be the orginal painting by Jodi Uttal here.

Photo friday: So proud

Of my not so little anymore brother....

P.S. Doesn't he look SO thrilled to be taking pictures? To bad his big sis is paparazzi!

M.I.A

Been a little busy the last two days and I do have posts to write but first I need to get a few other things in order...So enjoy these gorgeous pics of Aishwariya Rai from Verve magazine and hopefully I'll be back to post soon!

Morning Routine

Hubby: Wake up at 6:00 AM stretch, wonder around the room. Maybe go check on something outside, come back and settle back in bed with the laptop.

Me: Wake up at 6:00 AM and then wonder why the hubs is awake so early and then try to go back to sleep. Finally fall back asleep at like 6:35 AM, the alarm goes off at 6:45 AM I snooze it for 10 minutes and snuggle back into the covers. At 6:55 AM I snooze it again and say I will get up in just two minutes. At 7:05 AM I kick the blankets off and try to wake up...after a minute I stumble out of the bed. Hopefully there is nothing on the floor on the way to the bathroom otherwise I will be sure to knock into it or hurt myself.

Hubby: Laughs because he is mean as I blindly walk to the bathroom.

If I keep my eyes closed

maybe I can make it Sunday again??? LOL that's what was running through my head this morning! Why are weekends never long enough? We had a lot of running around, rain, and lawn mowing/gutter cleaning. Luckily we were able to sneak in a date night involving sushi and this movie which was HILARIOUS!

We were DYING of laughter and enjoyed a piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that we snuck in to the theatre YUM!

Recipe Share

Since yesterday was so yucky I knew the one thing that would fix it would be something yummy for dinner...I hheaded to the grocery store to pic up the ingrediants for spinach and artichoke dip YUMMY! I had my FEED bag and everything to have the groceries bagged in and of course the bagger wasn't paying attention and bagged them in plastic anyhow....Let me just say this recipe was so delicious...the highlight of my day yesterday was when one of my cutie pie nephews said "this dip is as yummy as Applebees!!!" while he was digging in :) The base recipe I used is this one but I added a few little twists.

2 cups parmesan cheese
1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2/3 cup sour cream (I used lite to be a little health conscious)
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise (Lite again)
2 teaspoons garlic, minced (I increased this to 4 because well garlic is yummy although you still didn't taste it that much)

My additions:
I added salt to taste, ground black pepper, and then some crushed red pepper flakes just cause we like to have that little kick!

Mix everything all together and bake in the oven at 375 degrees, the recipe said to leave it in there for 20-30 minutes but I left it in for 35 and could have left it a little longer cause I like it all brown on top.

P.S. The picture above isn't mine...I took one but forgot to load it before I left the house this morning :) It's from www.realsimple.com

P.P.S Anyone have a really good bruschetta recipe?

Blecccch

Ever have days you just want to quit, as in it call it a day, go home curl under the blanket, eat some cheetos,(which I've totally been wanting since Lindsey mentioned them as her weakness!) watch some mindless TV, and wake up tomorrow days? That is today....but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. I figured maybe a yummy iced coffee would cheer me up....Since I'm at work this involved a trip to the break room for hot water for the coffee powder and ice to cool it down. Except on the way back I spilled the hot water on my thumb OUCH! I then proceeded to add in the coffee to the hot water and transfer it all to the cup of ice. I got almost all the coffee into the bigger cup when the phone rang and when I reached for it the cord knocked over what was left of it...Now I officially quit today! Hope all of you are having a much better day!

Blog Love

I was nominated for this sweet award by Eli a fun blogger who loves to read!

Then this one by Jenny and Eli! Thanks ladies for the blog love :)

For this one the rules are to list 7 things you love and then pass it on to seven bloggers.... So in no particular order....

1)The husband (sometimes)

2)My family!

3)Taking pictures....I love capturing just the right moment!

4)Creating! Nothing makes me feel better in the world....

5)Cupcakes Yummy!!

6)Scarves This is obvious right??

7)Traveling

Because I can't choose I am going to send this to anyone that's reading today! You guys are the best and I really look forward to getting your comments and reading your blogs daily!

Monday Morning Wifey

Remembers to take her husbands wallet and cell phone for him because he's still getting ready, and then gets to work and looks in her bag only to realize she left her own cell phone at home! Genius right??? On another note this marks my 200th post...YAY!

Archie is Marrying Veronica???

Whatt???....Click here for more info!

What's for Lunch?

I'm super excited about what's in my lunch box today....It's just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but it involves this:

I have a confession....The hubby and I are slightly addicted to the food network and the travel channel. We love seeing things featured on there and trying them out! Luckily we live close to NY and this is possible for us :) One of the places on our list has been Peanut Butter & Co. in Greenwich Village. I mean take a look at their menu! Until we get over there I have this jar of yummy peanut butter that we found at the grocery store yesterday :) I was a lot more excited then I should have been about it and when we got home I promptly opened the jar and had a tiny spoon. It was delish on it's own so I'm hoping the Strawberry Jelly combo will be good too! If any of you have ever been let me know how it was and what I should order...If not what's your favorite PB&J combo?

P.S. Kaycee it's Gluten Free!

FEED

I came across the FEED project a little while ago and bookmarked it away as something I definitely wanted to contribute to. From the website itself here is the story of FEED:

FEED Projects was started in 2006 when acclaimed model and activist Lauren Bush designed a bag to benefit the United Nations World Food Program's (WFP) School Feeding operations. Lauren, a WFP Honorary Spokesperson who has visited eight WFP food aid operations around the world, was inspired by the plight of the people she met on her travels. She took a special interest in WFP's School Feeding program, which feeds and educates hungry children.

Inspired by the aesthetic of the bags of food distributed by WFP, she created the FEED 1 bag, a reversible burlap and cotton bag stamped with "FEED the children of the world" and the number "1" to signify that each bag feeds one child in school for one year.

At the UN, Lauren met then-WFP Communications Officer Ellen Gustafson and they hatched a plan to use FEED bags to FEED the world. In 2007, Lauren and Ellen founded FEED Projects, LLC and started selling FEED 1 bags in April of 2007. By the end of 2007, they raised donations for WFP to feed over 37,500 hungry children in school for one year. In 2008, FEED Projects various partnerships will lead to over $4 million for WFP school feeding.

Our personal commitment to working against hunger is matched with a commitment to the environment and to safe and healthy working conditions for all we work with. FEED bags are made with sustainable materials and are designed to be used as an alternative to disposable paper and plastic bags. This environmental and fair labor commitment is an added value in all FEED products.

The goal of FEED Projects is to market and sell as many FEED bags as possible and to FEED and educate the world's 400 million hungry children.

I think it's a great project and I feel especially connected to anything with Africa as both my parents were born and brought up there! I have visited Kenya when I was 10 and have seen the ravaging effects of AIDS (also a Project(RED) supporter) and the sad state of these children. If you bring anything into an orphange it has to be food and if you don't give it to them right away then most likely it is confiscated by the people running the orphanages for themselves.

This bag specifically targets Kenya but it was quite a bit outside of my budget :(.
It's available for $195 exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman for any of you that might be interested.

I did however purchase this one which provides 100 meals for school children in Rwanda and I will definitely be carrying this bag with pride!

There are several other ones at different price points so check them out!

On Fire!

My arm's that is thanks to a crazy workout yesterday....I hate any sort of arm excercies and any sort of squats but yesterday at the gym I just focused on my upper arms and today well if I don't wave back at you please don't hate me because it hurts! My smart self had decided to making the bread I posted about earlier this week after we got home from the gym and all that kneading didn't help. All in all it came out pretty good for my first time just the crust got a little crispier then it should have so next time I think I'll leave it in for the lesser time frame (40-50 mnutes). Fresh bread with butter and whole what pasta with a spicy arrabatia sauce made for a yummy dinner! Even better I have left overs today for lunch :) Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Monday!