Happy Halloweeny

Enjoy a cute Halloween Treat!

Teacher idea!

What a CUTE seating idea for a teacher bride! Name the tables after children's books!

Last Cupcake Shindig!

I did a family friend's wedding in Greensboro at the beginning of the month. The cupcakes were a rave! Here's a few pics of them. They put them on a cake stand for display and then I captured them on a guests' plate! lol

Love the site The Nest and they have just revamped it recently.... check it out! Lots of fun tips for young couples!

Look at this way cute Manhattan apartment I found on there!

Are donuts the new cupcake?

My thoughts...SO cute BUT no need to cut these bride and groom! Just grab them and give them a good ole bite!

Check out Dee's mini donuts. They are organic! LOVE.

Love this

Love this wedding idea! Cute colors, simple toppers. Love it.

Creepy Cute Halloween Decor!

Question to the readers...

So I do daily blogs and I know that there are friends that check it periodically and Dave's mom and my step mom who check it daily.... but I would love to hear from you guys!

This is cute... don't forget the date nights! It's the little things!

Brothers and Sisters

GIRLS - this show is great. If you have never watched it before, you should put aside a whole Sunday afternoon to watch all the episodes. It's not like watching a show, it's like watching a movie! I never stay up late enough to catch the show on Sunday nights and so usually I watch it here instead!

Amazing Art

Girl draws in sand over a light box along to a soundtrack.

Work!

So, work life has been keeping me so busy lately that I thought I'd post some pics of my celeb moments from the fun stuff we've been doing!! Here are pics of me with Gavin DeGraw who performed at the concert series for the foundation last Thursday - great show! And the second is of me with golfer Boo Weekly! Such a nice southern dude. Caught a cold from all the hard work but it was totally worth it!

75%!!!!

So I was a little skeptical of a cheese that was 75% reduced fat with just 2.5 grams of fat. BUT! I went out on a limb, bought it, paired it with apple slices, and OMG it's amazing! It's got all the taste and flavor of 100% full fat sharp cheddar.... it's WHITE which is the only kind of cheese I eat (because milk, is, white.)..... and lastly it's got that sharp cheddar solid consistency that I love! If you were scared like me to try this low low fat cheese, don't be! It's delish!

Ugh, I wish I had money.

Jcew's got new arrivals. Here's a taste. A-freakin-dorable.

Another delicious-healthy Mexi dish

Still in search of healthy recipes with a small number of ingredients. Saw this last weekend on TV and had to make. We were pleasantly surprised and as a side I made white rice (still cleaning out the cabinets) and tossed it with a can of chopped tomatoes and green chili's. Here's the recipe!

Impressed

I can't stand to watch Rachel Ray. Hate her voice and her recipes can usually add up when it comes to ingredients. Not to mention, I hate the decor in her Food Network kitchen. Not pleasing to the eye at all and far from my style. This is probably why I love Giada so much - pleasant kitchen, easy recipes, and high points in the healthy category. Aside from all that - I was in a pinch last Sunday night and am slowly trying to clean out our kitchen cabinets before going to the grocery store for more things that we don't need cluttering up our space! So I had some sharp white cheddar cheese in the fridge and some noodles in the cabinet. I had left over milk from my cupcakes in the fridge and so I looked up a white cheddar macaroni and cheese recipe on the food network and who had one... Rachel Ray. Of course. lol BUT look how many ingredients and trust me, this was delish! Probably not high points in healthy BUT we did have a nice butter lettuce salad with lemon-evoo (AH!) dressing! Yum. Here's the recipe. Oh and I topped with breadcrumbs - love that crunch.

A delicious snack!

Have you ever tried Almond butter? It's really not so bad and has less saturated fat than peanut butter. I tried it with apples and raisins before class and I was pleasantly surprised. Give it a whirl - I got the premixed kind from Harris Teeter. When buying organic butters... it's always a plus to have the oils already stirred in - that can be such an icky turn off!

Fall Delicious!

Check out this mouth watering apple cake! Apple Dapple Cake used to be my FAVORITE at this store/lunch spot in Lynchburg called The Farm Basket. Not only could get get cute gifts there, you could have a box lunch!

Another easy dinner!

Cheddar Jalapeno Quesadilla Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

I chopped it all up and made the dressing before I went to class. It only cost me $10 to purchase the things I didn't already have at Wal-Mart. And when I got home from class it took me only about 10 minutes to get it cooked and plated! Nice!

Ellie Kreiger's Walnut Feta Pasta

I love this pasta salad. I cut the amount of onions in half and just use whatever pasta is in the pantry. It's really nutty and earthy in flavor. I like it for Fall.

Watch on hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/30349/healthy-appetite-with-ellie-krieger-whole-wheat-pasta-salad

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/whole-wheat-pasta-salad-with-walnuts-and-feta-cheese-recipe/index.html

Struggling for dinner tonight?

Don't want to spend a lot of money? When you're at the store pick up some refrigerated pizza dough in the can. Then you can whip this out and top with whatever you want for a delish meal! I did 1/2 of the pizza with pesto, parm, moz., and canned tomatoes. The other half I just did olive oil with moz, garlic and parm. My favorite. It was a good quick meal. It probably wasn't the healthiest but was definitely better for us that ordering pizza from Dominoes!

Warning: use olive oil is small portions as it will roll right off that pizza dough!

The Middle Sister

Going to a girlfriends and need to bring a bottle of wine?? I saw this at Super Target and fell in love. There were 4 different types, each with their only silly name like this one, Drama Queen. I love the logo and the fact that it comes with a tag of best foods to serve it with! How neat! This was a whoppin' $10, not as cheap as the usual Trader Joe's steal BUT for a friend, you gotta jazz it up a little bit!

More respect

After seeing Jay Z interviewed on tv, I like him!

Loved this song on the MTV music awards! Alicia's got a killer voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BVkq_9UVMY

Light & Tasty for only 208 Calories!

Recipe:http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1036181

Custom Shop

Our new Charlotte favorite! Dave and I went to the Custom Shop on Elizabeth for a date night. The atmosphere was wonderful and the service couldn't have been better. I would recommend it for a double date night too!

Their bathrooms were really nice too! I'm always big on that - especially when we order a bottle of Pinot Noir! LOL

The food scoop - they bring you two slices of homemade WARM bread covered in olive oil. For appetizer we had (they combine salads in their apps list) butter lettuce with vinaigrette and blue cheese and a bowl of calamari and mussels covered in a tomato vodka sauce which was delectable! For the main course Dave got the rib eye which is made using a warm water tactic which keeps the moisture in. It was Ok but I think Dave knew better than to order that because the menu was covered in fish items! I was very pleased with my order (and so was Dave). I got the saffron spaghetti with lemon, artichokes, and kale. It was creamy and delish. The portion sizes were really decent, what you'd serve yourself at home. I liked that. We had room for dessert, all looked great but we ended up doing coffee and a special raspberry chocolate cake. Yum! Sounds like I need to hit the gym! LOL

They Always Get Me!

Another fabulous NY Times Love Story... and I love this one because of the last line. It's a tear jerker!

Claire Robinson

Now this is what I'm talking about!

5 Ingredient Fix on the Food Network!

This girls got the right idea. 5 ingredients per meal not only saves the money but saves the calories too! Recently she did a "Skinny Jeans Supper" themed show. Right up my alley! Here's the run down...check her out, Saturdays at 12:30: Healthy eating does not mean bland food as Claire proves with her tasty Grilled Prawns with Caper Tzatziki and refreshing Minted Squash Orzo. For a sweet treat, Claire makes Roasted Pineapple with Thyme-Ginger Ice.

Nolen Kitchen

Dave and I are trying to date nights where we try out different restaurants in the area. So last weekend we tried Nolen Kitchen on Selwyn in Charlotte. Honestly, the atmosphere was great. Bathrooms were nice (they even had a dish with GAP coupons set up in the bathroom AND a full length mirror). And they offer a nice outdoor seating area. Dave and I didn't have an appetizer but if I went back I would definitely try their dip tray offered with pita wedges. The caesar salad that Dave ordered was delish. I hate when the lettuce is served in big chunks. Romaine and I have our issues. They were smart enough to chop it bite size. But then our entrees came and boy were they a disappointment.

I havent eaten meat in about three months. I tried it the other weekend and will occasionally have a shrimp or two but when I tried it at a friend's the other weekend in a huge amount, I almost died. I felt terrible. I think my body is rejecting it.

So back to the entrees... I ordered the spinah dish which involved phillo dough wrapped around spinach and mozzerella Aaand feta. What I got was a spinach log. It was nasty and too spinachy. However, the side greak salad was out of this world. Dave ordered the sea bass, it was tasteless and nothing to rave about.

We also had a molten chocolate cake for dessert. Those are hard to screw up. It was better than expected after the main course :)

So in conclusion, if you want to try Nolen. 1-take your girlfriends 2-order a few bottles of wine and apps 3-order a salad

Run fo your life

Check out this awesome running plan from health mag Girls Gotta Move Running Club.

Joint Performances

So I loved the the joint performance a few years back when Sheryl performed with the Dixie Chicks. (look how different Sheryl looks!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y-ERKz-ynE

What do you think about her performance with Miley on the recent VH1 divas? (loving Miley's extensions)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOjRUEyftfA

Ah, Yes, the New York Times Vows

This love story needs to be made into a movie. Just read it. You're gonna love, I promise!

On the soup

If you haven't seen this clip yet, you have got to watch this kid. It's hilarious. You gotta wonder what his real parents are like because you just KNOW that is where he is getting these comments lol.