Holiday Happenings

Our parents came to town for the holiday weekend & it was such a great time! We traveled to Lake Ontario on Friday to spend the afternoon in the sun & watch the boats roll in. Saturday we hiked & showed our parents around the cutest little towns before traveling into the city. We ate dinner at the neatest BBQ pit & over-stuffed our faces with all their delicious food, only to go to a brewery & over-indulge there as well! We ended our night with a walk around the city, listening to the free concert & taking in the pretty fireworks display.

Nate begins a really tough rotation this week, so we've been trying to take in as much of the city as possible. It has finally started to feel like summer this week with super hot days & zero rain, so we have plenty of outdoor activities in the near future. We have paddle boarding planned for this upcoming weekend & I couldn't be more excited! 

Have a happy ending to the work week! XO :)

Fourth of July

It's crazy to think that the biggest Summer holiday is already here! The Fourth of July is probably one of my favorite holidays; it's so patriotic & full of fun, fireworks & BBQ. It's also a little extra special this year because it is the first holiday that will be celebrated in our new home! Our families will be coming in to town for the weekend, so we're really looking forward to showing them around!

I've rounded up a few festive dresses to get the ladies in the spirit of the Fourth of July!

Stripe Maxi Dress // Printed V-neck // Eyelet Shift Dress // Tie-dye Cami Dress

I also think this cobbler looks delicious! I may have to try it out!

We will be indulging in way too much festive food, brews & fireworks!
What are your plans for the Fourth? Hope you have an amazing weekend! :) XO

Summer Bucket List

Summer is officially here! I thought it would be fun to put together a summer bucket list to explore our new city some more. So while the days get hotter, we have a fun list of things to do & many memories to make!

1. Homemade popsicles

I have been wanting to do this for a while & Pinterest is popsicle central.

2. Food Trucks

I have seen countless people go to food truck festivals & we finally live in a city that has one! I'm so excited & it will be the first thing we are checking off our list.

3. Beer Festival

Nate's obsession with craft breweries is an understatement. Naturally I had to add this to the list because there are countless breweries & wineries around us.

4. Lake

This was a no brainer. We keep mentioning to each other that it feels like we live in a beach town. Could it be because we have about 5 lakes surrounding us?

5. Baseball game

Duh.

6. Fireworks

We've heard there are fireworks throughout the summer at many of the lakes.

7. Buffalo Bills mini camp

Last year we went to the New York Jets mini camp & it was so much fun. Now we are living in Bills country & their summer camp is down the road from us.

8. Picnic

Did I mention we are surrounded by water?

Nothing makes me happier than adventures with my two guys, especially if they involve ice cream with ridiculous amounts of sprinkles & lots of laughs.

We Have A Place to Call Home!

We have an apartment! Finally! A real, true, newly constructed, pretty, pretty apartment! 

It has a garage, a fireplace, new appliances, a washer & dryer (like legit, none of that stack-able nonsense), hardwood floors; I could go on and on and on and on and on... but I won't bore you with all the glitzy details.

We couldn't be more excited. It's in a great location & did I mention it's brand new? No you say? Let me say it again, it's brand new!!!  And it's all ours! Pinch me.

We get to shop for new furniture too! You know, all the big stuff... sofa, table & chairs, bed, entertainment center. I can hardly contain myself. Literally. I might pee my pants from all this excitement!

A photo to show our enthusiasm! 

We live so close to basically everything. The city is a hop, skip & a jump, there are trails galore & any type of restaurant you could possibly dream of. It's been raining cats & dogs since we moved in, but we can hardly wait for the nice weather to come so we can explore our new city.

Side note: We saw Mumford and Sons a week ago on Coney Island & they were ah-mazing!

Another sidenote: I've added a new chalkboard print to my shop along with 2 original painting prints! 

Happy Wednesday! :) XO

Who Doesn't Love A Fiesta!

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo & it was a gorgeous, sun-filled day! Nate & I made slow cooker carnita tacos with apple salsa & quenched our thirst with a couple Coronas! The tacos were ridiculously easy & delicious! I also spiced up our table with an easy Cinco de Mayo "floral" arrangement.

Ingredients:

For the Carnitas

2 pounds of pork tenderloin

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 orange, juiced

1 lime juiced

1/2 cup beer

1/2 cup green salsa

Flour tortillas for serving

For the Apple Salsa

2 apples, diced

1/2 cup red onion, diced

3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 lime, juiced

Cook the pork in a slow cooker for 4-6 hours with all of the spices, orange & lime juices, beer and salsa. When the pork is cooked, shred it with 2 forks. Serve the carnitas on flour tortillas & top with the apple salsa.

(c/o Spoonful of Flavor)

Happy Wednesday friends! :) XO

It's Friday!!!

It's Fridayyyyyy! 

Have you heard about that surprise television death? Yeah, me too. 

If you live under a rock & haven't heard about it... prepare to pee your face.

It has seemed like the longest week EVER. I even caught a mysterious illness & missed a day of work. I think me actually writing this out makes the sickness real & frees me of any guilt I might have felt. That's a big (HUGE) might! 

Friday is grocery shopping day. As weird as it sounds I love to grocery shop. I mean really, truly I do. Nate & I go really late at night, even at 1 AM on occasion. It's prime time since the store is absolutely empty except for 1 or 2 other odd ducklings.

I make out a list of everything we will need for the week & write down dinner ideas. This makes it easier & typically it keeps us from buying things that aren't on our list. The key word there being typically. The warmer weather really gets me in the mood to cook elaborate, healthy-ish dinners. We're getting back into our "meatless monday" routine, so I'm going to make eggplant parmesian. I've also got a sausage-hash-thing on tap. I will be sure to let you know how that goes! I'm going to squeeze a trip to Barnes and Noble into our jam packed weekend. I've got to step up my meatless game.

We have a wedding to go to this weekend. We got schnazy new outfits & can't wait to inhale endless amounts of cake & beer. 

Have a happy weekend! XO :)

Easter Weekend

Completely late on our Easter happenings, but it's been a busy few days!

We traveled home to see our families for the holiday. It was really nice since it's been over a month. Sleeping in, having your mom make you a bunny breakfast & slow country roads,what more could a gal ask for? 

Anyway... Nate's family had their Easter dinner on Saturday complete with Easter trivia. It's always fun to be pitted against one another on a holiday. The trivia totally kicked our asses though. We know nothing of the Easter holiday or anything else for that matter. Is it such a terrible thing that I got overly competitive with a 5 year old? I like to think not. She started it anyway. I mean doing the whole "loser, loser, double loser...." is completely normal for a grown woman. In the end we both lost, but I'll get her next year.

My family had Easter dinner on Sunday & as if trivia the day before weren't enough for our competitive hearts, we had an Easter egg hunt & an egg toss. Mind you, there is no one younger than 21 partaking in these activities. We're all trying to figure out what will happen when a grandchild comes. Do we all continue to do the Easter games too? I'd like to think so. We're all kids too! They've gotta learn a thing or two about losing. Am I right? Or am I right? I sound awful, I know.

I learned of loss. I lost both games. Unacceptable. I will blame it on my egg toss partner, she throws like a linebacker & my bag conveniently had a hole in it. Everyone else made out like bandits. Me.. I was awarded the "boobie prize." Literally, my prize had big, ugly boobs attached to it. My dad had to look up those boobs & perfectly cut them out to be placed on my prize envelope. Gross.

Moving along... Monday we traveled to Rochester to look at apartments. We quickly eliminated two. Very quickly. I'm getting old & doggone it I want something nice & new! This leads me to our final option. It's brand new! New appliances, new tubs, new floors, new walls. I could squeal just writing all of that! The only hiccup is that construction is not complete, but is supposed to be completed by the time we would like to move. Fingers crossed.

Have a fabulous rest of the week! :) XO