Little Things That Make Me Smile...

The new way we're staying organized through wedding planning, theater productions, work, being sick, and any other craziness that comes our way. PLUS, a cute little reminder of Valentine's Day on the 14th. :)

A new lamp (Walmart, $39.99) that creates a little reading corner in the living room.

Adding a romantic touch to the bedroom with a new piece of artwork (Target, $16.99).

One of my favorite combos: Champagne and Marachino cherries. I love how they look like little balloons in the glass when they flip over!

A toast

Happy New Year!

Champagne & shimmer

 A little New Years Eve inspiration:

Birthday Weekend

I wish I'd been more diligent about taking pictures over my birthday, but cest la vie. Here are a few highlights from the weekend:

Steve took me to PF Changs for a pre-birthday dinner Friday night. I WISH I could remember the name of this delicious coconut/lemon cocktail. I highly recommend it, if you're ever there. It's easy to recognize on their cocktail menu. We had a drink at the bar while we waited for our table, and then enjoyed a marinated lamb dish and shrimp with lobster sauce, paired with brown rice. I tried a pear Mojito with dinner, which was also quite good.

 

On Saturday (my actual birthday), we headed to Dallas for a day trip. My dad happened to be in town for business anyway, so we met up with him and his wife for a bit, and had a nice lunch together at Five Guys' hamburgers (my first time there! Very yummy). Steve and I spent the rest of the day exploring some of his old stomping grounds in the city, and browsing the beautiful (and large!) Galleria mall. Even though I think they should wait until after Thanksgiving, the mall was nicely decorated for Christmas, complete with a tree that stretched through all four stories of the building and was surrounded by an ice rink!  I got a kick out of browsing some of the very high end shops there, but my favorite part was going to The American Girl store. I have a huge collection of their stuff from when I was a child. For now, it's all safely packed away in my mom's attic for when I can pass it on to my little girl.

Dallas actually works alright as a day trip, but it was definitely a bit exhausting. Especially because we left so early in the morning. It felt great to just veg out on Sunday. Steve and I had breakfast in bed (strawberries, croissants, and Ruby-Red grapefruit mimosas) and watched "A Goofy Movie", something else nostalgic from when I was younger! The rest of the day was more of the same...movies and lounging around. Quite nice.

This Saturday, Steve and my friend Kady are throwing me a little belated party at Chuck E. Cheese. I can't think of a better place to be a kid again for a day, and forget how old I'm getting. ;)

Craving

Yes, please.

I've been having cravings for croissants, strawberries, coffee, and grapefruit mimosas since last night. Maybe that will be a birthday present to myself this weekend.

Too much work to get done today...I'm struggling to get started. My mind is more focused on wishing I was in the photo above, and on the play reading my boyfriend and I are going to this evening. There are two plays this week, and my group performs tomorrow night. I thought it would be fun to go and support the other group, as well. Plus, I can't think of a much better combination than wine and theater. Except mimosas and croissants...with strawberries.

Dragging myself to work now...

I was a Halloween zombie, but not in a good way

I'm still mourning the fact that I missed Halloween. I rarely get sick, so the fact that it had to happen on one of my favorite days of the year is making it difficult to take.

Luckily, I can still look back on Friday night, when my boyfriend and I attended our friends' annual pumpkin carving party. I didn't carve a pumpkin this year, but it's always good fun to go and hang out with everyone, and enjoy a nice spread of Halloween food and drink. There was no shortage of talent among the pumpkin carvers, as well, and it was fun to see what everyone came up with.

Drink of choice for the night: Snakebites (Guinness and Hard Apple Cider)

 

My cold-weather, casual party wear

I'm still feeling quite under the weather, and aside from that being a real annoyance, I am driving to Arkansas on Thursday morning, and then up to Kansas City with with my family on Friday, for my cousin's wedding! I am really looking forward to it, but being sick during the entire trip is definitely not the goal. My body needs to get in gear!

Equinox

I'm a little late, but: It's officially Fall! What are your wishes for the season?
Mine might be to have this lovely set up every single day. Actually, I think I'll just wish for something simple...cooler weather here in Texas.

Live it!

Life feels good right now.
I'm a big believer in living the life you want, even if you have to fake it for a while. Eventually things
catch up.

A little inspiration

Right?!

Try not to sweat the small stuff, a  mindset I still struggle with at times.
Hope you have a happy day! xx

Weekend Highlights

Steve took me out for an official date night on Friday, which was really sweet. I love an excuse to get dolled up! We go out a good amount and always have a great time together, but it's nice when he just says "I'm taking you out Friday night" and has a whole bunch of great ideas of what we're going to do. Ladies, don't forget to do this for your man occasionally, too! Just make sure your plans are full of stuff they like to do. :)

We started the evening with dinner at NoRTH, a modern Italian restaurant. The food was absolutely amazing, plus we had wonderful service. We'll definitely be going back sometime.
I had their seared scallops, with corn risotto and braised leeks with a "white truffle essence" (very "mah-ve-lous, dah-ling", don't you think?). I wanted to try something a little out of my comfort zone, and I'm so glad I did. Steve got the "Bucatini" pasta dish with red sauce and braised, boneless short ribs. The meat was so tender and had a great flavor. For an appetizer, we ordered their bruschetta. It had Crescenza cheese (totally a new favorite of mine, but apparently very hard to find), prosciutto (my first time!), and asparagus on Ciabatta bread (LOVE!). Our server described the dish as "Heaven on a plate". I can't think of a better way to say it.

NoRTH also had a great cocktail menu. I'd love to go back even for just a happy hour drink sometime. The ones Steve and I chose were just delicious. I got the Botanical (gin and tonic with fresh terragon and cucumber). He tried the Blackberry Fix (rum and crushed blackberries over crushed ice). It was hard to decide which was better, and they looked gorgeous!

 "Hmm...what should I order tonight?"....."OH MY GOSH, I CAN'T DECIDE!!!!" 

(Haha, actually, I have no idea what I was doing here. I do take ages to order 

whenever I'm at a restaurant though. It's a problem.)

 After dinner, we headed downtown to see a show at Esther's Follies, a musical comedy club. I was pleasantly surprised how funny it was, and I liked the fact that it wasn't too over-the-top and full of inappropriate over acting, as sometimes these kind of shows tend to be. The comedy was pretty clever, much of it poignant to current events, and some of the skits involving magic tricks were almost good enough to impress Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman (if you don't get that, Google it. Then rent the movie immediately). ;) All in all, it was really enjoyable. I'd love to take some family members next time they come in for a visit.

 Sitting in the lobby at intermission. The whole place is decorated like a vintage aquarium. Really beautiful!

After the show, we walked down to Halcyon, an eclectic, yet laid back coffee shop/bar. I had every intention of getting another cocktail, but when I walked in, the smell of espresso completely took me over. Steve suggested I make things easy and get a chocolate espresso martini, which I did. Completely hit the spot. 

We got comfy on one of the couches (I'd changed into flats by this point!) and enjoyed chatting and people watching. A lovely way to end the night. Although, technically, our night continued a bit longer with a stop at our usual karaoke bar on the way home. No wonder I'm exhausted today. And this was just Friday.

Other weekend activities included attending a surprise engagement brunch for two friends and a usual wandering session around stores like Target...

 An ice cream sandwich pillow!!

Trying on the leopard print heels again that I can't get out of my mind....annnd, I finally bought 'em!

However, the biggest thing we accomplished this weekend was buying supplies and painting a colorful accent wall in the living room! I am really loving it. I will be doing a separate post on that whole adventure, so stay tuned!

 

 Weekend: 1 

Jennifer: 0

I'm doing my best to get myself kicked into gear this Monday. How is yours going? Any weekend stories? Hope you have a lovely week! xx

"Pop" Some Champagne

 

Photo credit: CognacandCoffee

How's this for a summer cocktail idea? Brilliant!