7.28.2011

Cute Way to Ask Girls to be Bridesmaids

As I said here, my sister is recently engaged! They are planning their wedding for next July, so she recently asked her friends (and me!) to be bridesmaids.

I thought she did it in a really cute way!

She invited us all over to my parent's pool for lunch and a pool party. When we got there she had these babies laying on the lounge chairs.



She bought some white towels with brown trim and added each of our initials in sage fabric paint to match her wedding colors. She then tied a sage bow around the towel and attached a laminated card with this poem on it:


"The day, the dress, 
the bride, the groom,
the joy, the tears,
will all come soon. 

Professing true love,
to my husband to be, 
with family & friends, 
all watching me. 
But there's one more thing
that there needs to be...
and that's to have you 
standing with me!

Will you please be my Matron of Honor (or Bridesmaid)"

Cute, right? I can't wait for their wedding! I'm so happy for her and excited to be her matron of honor. 

P.S. I hate the matron part of that title. Not that I hate being married, but I feel like that makes me sound old. Oh well.
7.27.2011

Pinteresting Wednesday: Bookcase Styling

It's hump day! That means its time for...


I inherited some a bookshelf this weekend from a family member. I have wanted one for a weird wall in our living room since we moved in, but I just never bought one. I'm so excited to finally have one! And for free!

Now I have to figure out how to fill it.

Of course I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.

Here are some of my fav's.












I already have some things I think I am going to put on the shelves. These shelves came at the perfect time because I already had plans to head to IKEA later this week. I am thinking I need to add  a basket or two and some blue accessories to add some color to the room to the shopping list. I have some bookshelves in our office that house our books so this bookcase will be mainly decorative.

As soon as I style the bookcase I will update!
7.26.2011

Chicken Enchiladas

We love love LOVE this recipe so I had to share. These enchiladas are very similar to the ones you would get in a restaurant. It is a little time consuming and some work but it is so worth it. Trust me.

You need:

1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine
1 tsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. sugar
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 tomato,  chopped
Salt and pepper
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
½ cup minced fresh cilantro
12 tortillas
Cooking spray



I usually half this recipe for just the two of us. Just FYI, the ingredients for the whole recipe is what is written, but the pictures only show half.

First, you combine the onion, jalapeno and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes.


Somehow the jalepenos didn't make the picture. (opps!)

After the veggies have softened add in the garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar, and cook just until fragrant, less than 30 seconds.





Then put in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato.  Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat and cook about 5 more minutes or until the sauce has slightly thickened.


The next step is to put the chicken in the sauce. I half-ed the recipe so I only used one of the HUGE chicken breasts that come in the bags in the frozen aisle at the store. It was plenty.



Lower the heat, cover, and let cook until the chicken is completely done. About 15-20 minutes. When the chicken is cooked completely, transfer it to a cutting board.


 Strain the sauce through a strainer into a bowl. Make sure to press down on the onions and tomatoes to extract as much liquid as possible.



Add salt and pepper to the sauce to taste.

Put the solids left in the strainer is a large bowl and set aside for now.


Now it's time to shred the chicken. I just shred it right on the cutting board with 2 forks. I basically use one fork to hold the chicken and pull at the chicken with the other one.


After it's all shredded add it to the onion and tomato mixture bowl. Add in ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce, ½ cup of each of the shredded cheeses, and the cilantro.


Stack the tortillas on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 40-60 seconds, until warm and pliable.

Now it's time to assemble!

Spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture onto a tortilla.  Roll up the tortilla around the filling tightly, and place in a greased baking dish (9x13), seam-side down.  Repeat with the remaining filling and tortillas




 Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with cooking spray.  Place in the oven which was preheated to  425˚ F, uncovered, for 7 minutes or until the tortillas start to brown slightly.

Reduce the oven to  400˚ F.  Remove the enchiladas from the oven and pour the rest of the sauce and remaining cheese over the top.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is browned.


 Let them sit for about 10 minutes before serving or they will completely fall apart.

On this particular night we served dinner with some frozen strawberry margaritas with sugar around the rim!


Source: Annie's Eats, Pink Parsley Catering

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7.24.2011

Concerts, Furniture, Paint, Oh my

I have so many things to update from this weekend that I don't even know where to start! So I will tell everything totally out of order and number paragraphs so I don't have to actually make this post flow or even make sense.

It's my blog, I can do what I want.

#1. Last night Jacob, my brother and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert here in Indy. I have no idea how, but I had never been to Verizon before. However, I have decided we are definitely going back (soon!). The concert was great and the people watching was even better :) It was hot, hot, hot but we had a blast.




#2 I was given some new (to me) furniture this weekend from my Grandma. I haven't gotten around to snapping pictures yet, but I will very soon. I also got our new light fixture for the bedroom in the mail Friday! Can't wait to show you! Cameras charging!

#3 Over the past 5 days I have pretty much been living in the garage working on re-doing our coffee table. 5 days? for a small little table?! Ugh. Let's just say, that I have hit some bumps along the way and there has been some change in plans. Actually, plan C is underway right now as I type. I just thought I would update while I, literally, watch paint dry. Hopefully this plan works because Plan D is buying a new coffee table and I don't think the hubs will be down for that.

Watch out for the coffee table saga complete with pictures coming very soon!
7.21.2011

Pinteresting Wednesday

google


I am obsessed with Pinterest. It is seriously like my crack. So I have to join in on the fun and link up with Michelle at the The Vintage Apple.

I know I'm about a year early, but I have been finding tons of inspiration for my sister's bridal shower recently.

















Source: etsy.com via Kim on Pinterest






All this pinning gets me so excited to actually start putting together her shower! Does that make me a dork?
7.20.2011

Change is Good

In case you hadn't already noticed, things are looking a little different in my little slice of interweb. I changed a lot of the design elements of my blog and boy did I struggle...and I still have no idea what I'm doing. What did people do before Google? Not have blogs

Anyways... I know what I did was super basic and simple and most people would probably laugh at what I did, but I am proud of myself. I like how it turned out because I feel like this design is more personalized and better reflects what my blog is about: random happenings in our life as newlyweds.

Ta-ta for now!
7.14.2011

We're Back!

Were you wondering if I fell off the face of the earth? Or more likely, was neglecting my blog? Well, the answer to both of those theories is nope and nope. We were just on vacation!

Sorry I didn't mention vacation before, but with all the creepers on the internet and all I decided to not tell until we got back to increase the chances that we returned to a home with all of our belongings still in it.

We went on a cruise with my side of the family and we seriously had a blast! It was a 7-day cruise on the Carnival Dream and we stopped in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

The ship was huge!

And so nice inside!


And there was always something to do!








Ok, no need to call Dr. Phil yet, we did do more than drink, gamble, and lay out by the pool. We also took naps and ate. Kidding! (kinda) Hey, we were on vacation!

Speaking of eating, we did a lot of eating.




And now that I have returned 4.5 pounds heavier, I am eating a lot less dessert and a lot more fruits and vegetables.

Eww, talking about gaining weight. Depressing. Let's go back to talking about vacation.

The staff was outstanding. We loved our dinner wait staff!


The ports we visited were beautiful!

In Nassau, Bahamas we went to the Atlantis.




The next stop was St. Thomas.





In St. Thomas we went to Magen's Beach. According to National Geographics it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Now I haven't been to all the beaches in the world, but I can't argue with them.

Magen's beach from above


The last stop was St. Maarten. This was probably my favorite, with St Thomas a close second. We started off our day in St. Maarten riding on a catamaran and snorkeling.


  
Then we took a cab over to a beach right next to the airport. When a plane lands it looks like it is going to land on the beach. It is really cool. Check out my video. It's shaky, sorry.


We had fun hanging out on the beach between planes too.





All in all, we had a great time and got to visit some beautiful places.

I know that this post is extremely long, but if you are still with me you rock and just one more thing! No post about a cruise would be complete without talking about the towel animals left in the room every evening. So I will leave you with a sample of some of the creations that we came home to each evening.


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