Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tonight's dinner

I can't remember the last time I posted a picture of food or something I've made but you have to try this.

Homemade focaccia + caramelized onions + thin apple slices (I used granny smith) + sliced mozzarella cheese + thin turkey deli meat + the world's most amazing basil mayonnaise on a panini press* = AMAZING!

Our philosophy when it comes to dinner is to eat our typical go-to cheap meals: beans and rice or some kind of pasta. We typically go vegetarian just because we both enjoy meatless meals and it's relatively inexpensive. I'll mix it up every now and then, like tonight or when we have guests over. I spent a lot of time on this meal but it was well worth it.

*This is one of our favorite wedding gifts! We didn't register for it but our friends who got married about a month before us gave it to us and we love it!

I would also like to clarify for the picture below that this was posted by Andrew and we DID NOT smear cake on our faces. He was reminded for 3 months leading up to the wedding that there would be no smearing whatsoever. :)

Monday, June 27, 2011

Correction: Amended favorite picture


My favorite picture is actually the one catching Andrew just before he covered my face in wedding cake.

Favorite picture & favorite wedding decision

The week of the wedding, and actually the wedding day itself was very stressful. There were so many decisions to make and by the end of 3 months of making decisions, I was so happy when it was over. There was one I had to make and that was to go with clear or color for my nails. I went with color! I knew my hands would be seen in a lot of pictures so I really debated about this but I hate to waste a manicure on clear polish, so I went with a beautiful Esse pink. I'm so glad I did!

Also, this is one of my favorite wedding pictures of my dearest sisters & friends. I absolutely adore my MOH's and Bridesmaids! Aren't they beautiful?!

Weekend in Greenville

We had a lovely weekend in Greenville with Andrew's family. They threw us a wedding reception having inviting a lot of their friends since we had such a small wedding and couldn't invite a ton of people.

We enjoyed hanging out with our nieces and nephews. They put on fabulous plays!
Me & AD in front of the spread. Yummy cupcakes. (and yes, I'm wearing the same outfit that's in the previous post.)
Caroline and I made a million cupcakes and spend hours on Saturday decorating them.
Chloe with a cupcake. :)
Ahh, my parents came!!
Caroline, me, Andrew & Pete
Peter & Andrew with the kiddos.
Adorable Souley with Grandpa's hat.
On Sunday we went for a trolley ride in downtown Greenville.

Yay for a fun time with family!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Life lately and the longest day of the year!

Oops! Sorry it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I blame it on marital bliss, oh and the fact that my computer screen went blank and I've yet to do the whole backup hard drive however that works blah. Computers stress me out. Thankfully Andrew is letting me use his computer and just this morning I uploaded a ton of pictures and will now share for your enjoyment. I'll let most of them do the "talking".

Happy Summer!!!

The Parkers and Neels came up for Memorial Day Weekend! They were our first overnight guests and we had so much fun!
We've also enjoyed spending time with Andrew's niece and nephews as they've been staying with Andrew's parents some this summer. Upon having them over, I quickly learned that our apartment is not kid-friendly. So when the kids asked for juice, yikes! we don't have juice!... I squeezed all the lemons and limes we had, made a simple syrup and voila! lemonade.
I got to visit with my college friend, Kate and her adorable little Rush.
We've been enjoying wedding presents, like this vacuum pot coffee maker. Andrew LOVES it. I have yet to figure out how it works, but it is pretty entertaining.
Summertime means parties! We went to a goodbye party for our friend Lauren this past weekend. Here are some of my Charlotte friends: Katie and Laura (and Bryan cheesing it up in the background).
My love and I.
Lauren! Soon to be leaving for Morocco!
This past weekend Ginna, Lucy and I traveled home to celebrate my Dad! We surprised him with a porch swing! It was a blast to be home and with the "original five". I adore my family and we just have the best time together.
Yay Dad!
Haha, Gin, Lu & I had a sister date that night when we went into Greensboro for dinner and frozen yogurt. This picture cracks me up every time I look at it. Sorry, Ginna. It's just too cute!
Today is the first day of summer which means it's the longest day of the year!!!! It's my favorite!!! And always has been!
Andrew and I have a double date tonight so we wouldn't be able to watch the sunset. Last night we went to get Yoforia at the mall and then went to the top of a parking deck to watch the sunset on the second longest day of the year.
It was so pretty and fun to start traditions with him. :)

Friday, June 10, 2011

It's about time...

...for a party at my house...
--MxPx

While my lovely wife continues to be away from the proverbial keyboard, I thought I'd sneak in a second guest post.

First things first. I was instructed to explain a couple of peculiarities regarding the way I blog. The first being that I intro every post with a song lyric, usually whatever's stuck in my head or what I'm currently listening to. Second, I always end my blog posts with "Crazy kids and their crazy (fill in the blank)". These are quirks carried over from my previous blog. In case you were wondering, that's what those starting/ending things from my previous guest post were. Old habits die hard, and these are pretty well ingrained.

In other news, Carrie told me on I believe Tuesday that she was taking me on a surprise date on Thursday. Now, usually, one doesn't tell the intended target of a surprise about the surprise, but we'll let that slide. The activities of said date were indeed a surprise, especially since she rushed home after babysitting and we wolfed down a quick dinner of quesadillas and salad and decamped for parts unknown in the space of 30 minutes or so.

Once we were underway, she told me that our date was to drop off some recycled engine oil at Autozone. I saw through this pretty quickly, and surmised our approximate destination, Carolina Place Mall in Pineville. Initially, I guessed we were going to see a movie there, but when she demurred on that option, the only thing I could come up with was that we were going to Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up something she had ordered earlier in the week. She's quite the actor, because she had me convinced I'd gotten it right at this point. Then, once we got to the mall, after driving by BBB, we did indeed end up at the movie theater, where she revealed that we were going to see Fast Five, the aptly named fifth film in the unlikely street racing saga. She even had popcorn and Skittles. And great fun was had by all, though we've established once and for all that action movies are my forte, not hers.

The movie itself was probably the best in the series, though that admittedly is based on a very low standard. Being the avid F&F fan that I am, I caught all the little references to past films and goofy quirks only obvious to the observant and well-studied viewer, and, yes, I did enjoy the Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson dust-up about half-way through. Overall, I give the movie two thumbs up for being a fun, summer action flick, and I learned some valuable lessons along the way, namely, that the best way to clean up corruption in law enforcement is to lead a troop of corrupt cops on an absolutely ridiculous car chase across town, preferably while dragging a large hunk of steel behind you.

Crazy kids and their crazy furiouser car rides!