Menu Sunday

I love, love, love Kate's Menu Sunday posts and also love how she reviews her last weeks' recipes. I get in huge cooking ruts on the regular, especially around this time of year where the novelty of winter meals is wearing off, but it's still not warm enough to get back to grilling. I find that if I create a weekly menu, I cut back significantly on time and money spent at the grocery store. Here's what's in store for this week:

Monday: Cooking Light's Cider Glazed Chicken - this comes

highly recommended by Kate. I'm excited to try it with some steamed broccoli and rice!

photo via Cooking Light

Tuesday: Bowtie Pasta Lasagna - with french bread and veggies. I found this while browsing The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen and thought it was something my hubby would most certainly love. Sounds like a great weeknight meal in a hurry.

Wednesday: San Francisco Chops in the Slow Cooker with white rice and broccoli. This was also found on Tasty Kitchen and sounds like a great meal. I love to use my crock pot and these flavors sound awesome!

photo: SF Chops via The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Thursday: Baked Lemon Pasta also from the Tasty Kitchen. I love the refreshing taste of lemon and vegetables in my pasta. I'll probably add a little sauteed chicken on top.

Friday: Tri-Tip on the bbq with yukon gold potatoes and green salad- hoping it will be a nice evening to grill one of our favorites. I do a dry rub of salt, pepper and prime rib seasoning.

Also, I finally found a printable shopping/menu list so thatI don't find myself running back and forth to the store for forgotten ingredients. Find and print here

Holiday Picks 2010: For the Ladies

I'm having a great time coming up with gifts for my family this year. Thanks to Cyber Monday and Ebates, I am finding some amazing deals online. I do love to shop in stores, but the crowds of inexperienced shoppers swarming my retail stores make me anxious and impatient. With so many free shipping offers, I'm happy to click away from the comfort of my home. Make sure you check out ebates and sign up for great cash back on many online purchases! No strings attached-I have earned great cash back!

1. Ugg Bailey Button boots ($149). I l.o.v.e my ugg boots. I wear them a lot throughout fall and winter. I'm loving the more fashion forward Uggs that come out each year. I overheard my mom talking about wanting some black, fold over Ugg boots, so I ordered these on cyber Monday.

2. Sephora Black Diamond Metro Train Case ($110). This is actually on my wish list. I have outgrown all of my makeup storage. I don't like to keep things on my counter, so I need something I can close and tuck away under my bathroom sink. This limited edition black diamond Metro Train case from Sephora is perfect. Big enough to hold it all, but completely transportable.

3. Philosophy Amazing Grace Gift Set ($49)I noticed when I visited my Grandma in October, that she was using a very old perfume that smelled as though it may have gone sour. So, I hit up Ulta online via Ebates and found something I knew she would love. This set makes a beautiful gift and smells so amazingly good. Very light and clean with a slight floral/baby powder note.

4. Vera Bradley Hanging Organizer ($48)- I've never really been the biggest fan of Vera Bradley stuff, but my Mother-in-law loves it, and her stuff makes a great gift! The packaging is very nice, I have to admit. My in-laws travel A LOT and I thought this was a beautiful toiletry bag, big enough for long trips. I snagged this for half off (!!!) on Cyber Monday!

5. Family Plaque from Personalization Mall ($26.95). My sis-in-law recently purchased a home and her family became blended. I loved this because it is so neutral and pretty. I also love that instead of showcasing a last name (they don't all share the same), it showcases all of the names of the family. I think she will love it!

Happy Shopping!

Holiday Photo Cards and more at Shutterfly!

B and I recently took some portraits for our annual holiday cards. I just LOVE sending and receiving holiday cards with a photo attached. We've sent holiday cards since before we were even married. After we adopted our dog, we just felt the need to show off our little family, holiday style. Since then, our friends and family have come to expect a photo of the three of us each Christmas season.

I love sending fashion forward cards and have used a few different printing companies when designing our photo cards, including Shutterfly. This year, I was really impressed and overwhelmed with the extremely stylish and unique designs available at Shutterfly! I was even more excited when I learned about their promotion for bloggers! Go here to see the deal on getting free cards!

Since I've used Shutterfly many, many times and know that their products are of great quality, and with their constant promotions and discount codes, I find myself coming up with fun projects including photo books and specialty prints. Definitely take a moment to look at their super stylish designs for this holiday season.

Love the idea of purchasing personalized gift tags. Can't you just picture this atop a plate of Christmas cookies? Or tied around a bottle of wine! Love it! This design found here

I am loving the corresponding address labels. Such a Christmas-chic touch! Find these here.

So much to choose from! I would love to see what y'all come up with for your own cards!

Do I need a Keurig Coffee Maker?

I've seen a few bloggers/tweeters go on and on about how much they love their Keurigs. I tend to see this brand mentioned the most, as opposed to Tassimo or Senseo. Since we received a very nice krups coffee maker for our wedding, I never really considered adding another small electric to our arsenal of appliances. But, my mom called me last night to tell me she had bought herself an early birthday present and was just overjoyed (and most likely, over-caffeinated). She was sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee from her brand new Keurig and basically told me to run, not walk to my nearest retailer and purchase one immediately. She gave me a 15 minute informercial-style rundown, and it got me wondering, do I need one?

Anyone have one, thoughts?

A wedding recap, one year later!

We have been married for over a year. Crazy. And, somehow I never recapped the wedding. I really miss blogging. I'm still an avid blog reader, but just haven't felt compelled to write, until right now.

Our wedding was truly a beautiful experience. It was so much more than I could have imagined. We lucked out with gorgeous weather. It was about 75 degrees, a beautiful blue sky, peppered with clouds and no crazy wind during our hilltop ceremony. Thanks to Kate Miller Events, our day went incredibly smoothly. We had some issues with Taber Ranch's staff, but of course Kate was able to work everything out and I felt nice and calm all day.

My bridesmaids looked gorgeous, my family looked amazing and I definitely felt like a beautiful bride. The food was a huge hit, as was our signature cocktail, the "Maverick Lemonade", an ode to our cherished bulldog. I was incredibly impressed with our DJ, In the mix916. Not so impressed with our bartender, but really, there isn't much I could complain about once the day was through!

A main wish for my wedding day was that I'd get to dance all night with my guests. And dance we did. I don't think I left the dance floor but once all night. After the wedding, I briefly wondered if that was a mistake. Did I ignore the guests who didn't dance? But honestly, I had the best time and am so glad I was able to interact with all of my friends who were getting busy on the dance floor with us.

Yes, that's me in the plum cardigan, getting very into the music, as I tend to do. I changed from my lace bolero to a simple plum cardigan, and I love how it came out in photos.

all photos by Terra Tabbytosavit Photography

The Flowers Part I

My MOH's family is a huge part of our lives. Her father married us and her mom offered to spearhead out centerpieces. While she was up for the challenge of the bouquets, etc. I decided to go the professional route for those. Unfortunately, I liked our DIY flowers SO much more than our pro-personal flowers.

After the rehearsal dinner was through, I "invited" my bridesmaids, moms and MOH's mom up to my suite to help me arrange all of our centerpieces. I had warned them all that I was counting on their help and they were all up for the challenge (of course)!
I had purchased all of glassware at a local thrift store. I bought bud vases, cylinder vases, fish bowl vases-basically anything that was plain. I spent under $40 on all of the vases for the entire wedding.
The morning of the rehearsal, my brother and I headed to the wholesale flower mart where we had made a pre-order. Friday mornings at a large wholesale flower market can be NUTS and this Friday morning was no exception. They did not have many of the flowers I had requested, but I was somehow able to do a super-market sweep style run through the freezing refridgerator room with lightening speed. We ended up with JUST the right amount of flowers. Tons of dahlias, hydrangea, mums, spray roses along with beautiful, hand-selected "filler".

My hotel suite soon became a centerpiece factory and we were done with everything in just over an hour. I could not have been happier with how they turned out. No two were alike and all of the colors really popped!

Websites I Love!

Just wanted to share a few sites that I have been using quite frequently lately!

Fatsecret.com

When my WW online subscription ran out, I was not planning on renewing. A friend of mine told us about fatsecret. You can tell fatsecret what diet you are following and it will help you along by counting points. Their online food databank is unparalleled. I've been using it religiously for the past month and it's a super easy way to track cals and points. And the best part--totally free!

ebates.com

I found ebates through twitter, and am loving my shopping bonuses! Simply register at ebates and start there before you make an online purchase. It's SO nice to calculate an extra savings at places like old navy and macys. There's no catch-I can attest to receiving my "big fat check" in the mail after all of my holiday shopping!

outright.com

I am technically considered an independent contractor, which means I am responsible for paying my own taxes. It is a DRAG. I never considered myself great with money, but this past year has taught me so much. I use outright to track my income/expenses. I still use a professional tax service for now, but I'm hoping to be able to do it on my own next year.

Any other great websites I should know about?