What A Wonderful Weekend!

So if you look back in my earlier posts you’ll notice that I read and rated The Fault In Our Stars. Looks like they’re gearing it to be this decades The Notebook, but I just don’t see it. The book was good, but I didn’t shed one tear. I felt the emotions and I fell in love with Hazel Grace & Gus, but the tragic ending just didn’t hit home for me. I think I’ll have to re-read the book before the movie comes out. I can say that I can already see thousands of teenage girls swooning over the tragedy and heartbreak and it makes me sad for the next generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ss#t=137

Anyway, I have been busy at work so here’s what happened this weekend! As I mentioned I had some fun things planned out to celebrate Mr. Tan Lines' birthday. On Saturday I surprised him with a romantic dinner at a yummy French restaurant. There are locations in Vegas, Chicago and Bethesda, MD. The restaurant is called Mon Ami Gabi and it was delicious! We met some friends for drinks first, they had a fabulous HH special. We drank two different varietals of pinot noir to start. We were seated at our table right on time and ordered the warm baked brie dish and the french onion soup. We enjoyed both thoroughly. We then both ordered steaks, I got the hanger steak with a pinot noir butter sauce, what? YUM. Mr. Tan Lines ordered the Béarnaise, which was a classic French cut of meat with a sauce similar to a hollandaise. Both steaks came with thinly sliced potatoes, or aka steak frites. We also ordered a bottle of the Bordeaux Superieur, Chateau Cadillac from 2010. It had a wonderfully nutty flavor and paired excellent with our steaks. After we devoured our meal we were too full for dessert, however the waiter brought over two complimentary profiteroles that were delicious! They had creamy, vanilla filling inside of them and were covered in melted chocolate. We had a wonderful and romantic evening and Mr. Tan Lines loved it! :)

On Saturday we spent almost the entire day cleaning. I, also spent almost the entire day cooking! We invited five of our friends over that night to enjoy some delicious food and play some board games. The meal I had planned for that evening was a cheese/meat platter to start, Mexican shrimp cocktail and chicken fajitas! Dessert was going to be guiltless brownies and low-fat vanilla ice cream. Here is a picture of my cheese board, I purchased the meats and cheeses from my local Trader Joe’s, along with my guiltless brownie mix and ice cream :)

The chicken fajitas required very simple treatment. I used our new Emeril indoor grill pan and got great color on the green, yellow, red peppers and the yellow onions. I seasoned the chicken with chili powder, salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic salt. We then made a large platter with lettuce, tomato and onions. We then let our friends top off their fajitas with sour cream and guacamole. I did not home make the guacamole this time, we purchased it from Whole Foods because it is our favorite! Sorry, I was wayyy to busy for pictures! After everyone ate we played around 50 rounds of Cards Against Humanity, an adult card game that is truly entertaining. We had some good laughs, even a few tears were shed from laughing so much! After a while we switched over to Taboo which was a lot of fun too!!! It was a great evening and we all had so much fun. I cannot wait to do it again!

The recipe for the Mexican Shrimp Cocktail I got from here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-shrimp-cocktail/detail.aspx

Last but not least I spent Sunday night in a flurry of excitement getting ready to watch Sean and Catherine’s wedding!! I loved his season of The Bachelor and thought they made a great match! The wedding was stunning and they both looked so happy! Bridal Guide Magazine put some behind the scenes pictures, check them out! They are soo cute! 

http://bridalguide.com/planning/bachelor-sean-lowe-wedding

The Countdown Continued!

So after my return to Virginia from Alabama in August I had a great sense of accomplishment and readiness for the wedding. Almost everything was finalized and it was now time to sit back and relax. This was how I timed my planning all along; I wanted the last few months to be spent in complete relaxation and excitement for the big day! We were down to just 60 days :) I purchased a delicious white chocolate and coconut cake from our local grocery store and added some candles to it! I surprised Mr. Tan Lines with it when he got home from work :)  The picture in the background was taken in May 2011 at Virginia Beach. We had been dating for only a month and Mr. Tan Lines swept me off my feet and took me away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. We had a fabulous trip and it brought us even closer together!

I also purchased a coloring book, I find coloring to be so so relaxing! Mr. Tan Lines thought it was very elementary school but I thoroughly enjoyed it! There’s nothing better than hanging out with a glass of wine, a coloring book and your favorite music. Here is one of the master pieces I created!

Around this time too I was leaving work and spotted this amazing sun/cloud picture. I felt like it was God looking down on everyone and saying Hello :)

And lastly, you know there has to be a Miss Lily update! Here she is at a little more than 5 months dancing with dad! She had gotten so tall by then, she also started what we called “counter surfing.” Meaning she was now tall enough to reach the food on the counters, causing us to purchase baby gates to eliminate the threat to our dinners!

Well Happy Friday everyone! I am so excited for this weekend, we are celebrating Mr. Tan Lines 28th birthday! It was technically last week but I don’t feel like he got the proper celebration since we were traveling. I am taking him to a romantic French style restaurant tonight and tomorrow we are having friends over to play games and hang out!  I will be cooking up some fabulous meals so I will be sure to share the recipes on Monday! Talk you all then! 

They Always Come Back

Well, well, well. Look who decided to join the party again! I cannot believe it’s been 5 months since my last blog post. Where did the time go?? Well, a lot has happened in those 5 months. I of course, got MARRIED and it was the most perfect day! We had an amazing honeymoon in Antigua and we have traveled to a few places since then too.

But, alas. We must start from the beginning. So let’s go back to where we last left off, shall we?

In late August I made a solo trip down to Orange Beach, AL to finalize our wedding plans. I met with the event coordinator for the reception and revisited the flower shop aka the local Publix. I also had dinner at the reception site with my (then) future in-laws where I was able to capture this gorgeous picture of the sunset. It must have been an omen :)

It was a cloudy Saturday but my (then) future mother in law and I drove up and down the beach looking for weddings and examining our wedding site. We were lucky enough to find a protected sea turtles nest which I thought was so cool!

It was a fabulous trip and I got SO MUCH done. There were 62 days left, yet the wedding still felt years away. I was calm and just ready at that point for the big day to arrive! 

Here was Miss Lily at 5 months with Mr. Tan Lines :)