Let the good times roll

What a fun and fabulous weekend!

First sunset boat ride of the year with Sarah & Wyatt over to the Tides Inn for Lancaster Lemonades,

followed by a fun dinner out with more friends

A night out in the city after moving Jessi into her new apartment

which is about a TWO minute walk from the beach!!

and in the most gorgeous neighborhood,

I was drooling over these houses!

Great sushi, fun cover band, synchronized back up singing. 

Fantastic night.

Trader Joe's and shopping on the way home, stopping by Grandad's open house in Urbanna and spending the sweet remaining hours of the weekend relaxing with a bottle of red and a TJ's roasted vegetable lasagna (which was really good, I'll recommend!).

From here on out, we have parties/plans every weekend until July so let the good times ROLL!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Coconut + Lime = two of my favorite flavors.

All wrapped up in a neat little polka dotted cupcake wrapper,

topped with lime buttercream frosting and toasted cocnut.

Of course, this  photo is the prime example of why no matter how cute the design, you should still opt for greaseproof wrappers.

Not so cute when it turns dark and brown'ish : (

Interesting recipe, it was adapted from a vegan recipe but converted to real dairy products.

Dense, moist texture- reminded me more of a muffin than a cupcake.

Lime frosting tastes great but I'm a little weirded out about the idea of using margarine and veg shortening  and will probably use the real deal *butter* if I make again.

warm goat cheese, rosemary & honey drizzled crostini

Shrimp n' Grits

I make fantastic shrimp n' grits.

I love me some low country cooking, and while I'm usually playing the "use up what's in the fridge" game the majority of the time I'm making these, I've never gone wrong.

Sometimes it gets a little bacon, maybe a little spicy sausage, whatever assorted veggies are hanging around, if I have a bottle of white wine open (or if I decide a glass of chardonnay sounds pretty good after all)- a splash of that, whatever shredded cheese that's in the drawer that strikes my fancy- I'm always changing it up. I love the versatility of this dish. That it never has to be the same but is always so so good. 

Anthony told me (while eating this) that sometimes he looks at the meals I fix for him and realizes that some people only eat like this in restaurants.

 

awwwww



Nautical kiddie cuteness

I'm in love with J. Crew's kiddie crewcuts nautical line.

Think I can have a girl's size 14 altered to fit me?!

Yea, ok. Didn't think so.

These are so stinking cute.  

If I had kids, my bank account would have just taken a big hit... and if these came in my size, well, let's just say I'd be in some serious trouble...

rain or shine

It was a much needed lazy weekend after last week's chaos and crazy work schedules.

The polar opposite weather days each gave us a little of what we needed. 

Saturday's gorgeous weather meant outdoor running and relaxing in the sunshine, grilling asparagus and bacon wrapped filets while concocting new rum drink creations and playing music way too loud with all our windows and doors open. Sorry neighbors.

my adorable little lime tree!!! it's so cute with it's mini limes!

Total opposite but every bit as enjoyable was Sunday's cold steady downpours.

All day rain + cold temps = leisurely breakfast and coffee, dvr clean out, homemade tomato basil soup and gouda grilled cheeses, zing zang bloody marys, quick productive project and cozy shrimp spaghetti carbonara with a bottle of Barboursville Cab Franc.

(sigh)
Perfect.

The Carbonara recipe was a Rachael Ray, with a few of my own modifications.  

(I eyeballed amounts since we were cooking for 2: used regular bacon; added shrimp; only used 1 egg but used whole egg, not just the yolk; the red pepper flakes made the dish for me-great little kick of heat)

Anthony and I agreed, it was exceptionally good
and is likely to become a new pasta night fave.

I don't want you thinking we were TOTAL bums on Sunday. I mean, we were bums like 90% of the day (and as you've probably gathered- we did spend most of it eating), we did however get a quick burst of energy and spent an hour tearing apart our closet and drawers, making a small mountain of clothes to donate/trash. We decided it was another "we're getting old" milestone that we BOTH tossed clothes that we deemed no longer appropriate for our 30 year old/close to 30 year old selves. It's crazy the amount of clothes we're getting rid of and that our closets are still far from bare... although Anthony's is getting closer to bare as he realized yesterday that he left his two favorite/nicest/most expensive shirts in the hotel room in Fort Lauderdale three weeks ago. As of this morning, the barely-English-speaking-housekeeping-department was unable to locate his items... ugh

Summer in April

River Opening Day 2012

This past weekend you couldn't have convinced

me that it's only April.

Sunburns, river days, little productive yard work, dinner with friends, Coronas, seafood, golf cart rides- all the components of my favorite summer days.

You know your weekend's off to a good

start when you run into Princess Tawny

I dig that she rocks the tiara for a

Saturday morning trip to the garden store

(and love it even more that she wears it

pushed back on her head as a headband hehe).



fyi: I didn't love this. maybe I didn't make it right but I won't be doing it again.



This is how Sunday started:

Followed  by a good river run and some

poolside lounging with friends and family

Baited up my birthday present!

And ended with mojitos, steamed shrimp,

grilled burgers and music on the deck.

Ant's awesome Captain cup from Ryan and Peyton.. he loves this

Last night we even got in some Monday night

golf cart sunset cruising by the river and more deck grilling.

...uhhhh what do you mean it's not summer??

helloooooo weekend

Ummm all I can say right now is HALLELUJAH it's Friday afternoon.

This week has kicked my butt in every way and I'm about to go tearing out of this office with an enthusiasm usually reserved for a kid's last day of school.

To leave on a happy note, here are some fun and fabulous things I'm excited about for the weekend:

1. Sarah and I just lime tree shopped together via gchat

and mine is ordered!

2. I'm about to go home and make one of these in a

matter of minutes.

3. "Family Dinner" night tonight with friends.

Girls' turn to head out for cocktails!

4. Big annual anniversary sale at the Earth Store tomorrow.

This means garden and yard work! 

(oddly, we really enjoy most yard work)

5. Saturday- mid 70's, Sunday- mid 80's...need I say more?

Few more Florida pics

These are a few more trip pics via Ant's iPhone

my yummy cucumber and dill gin martini at Coconut's

the VIP red carpet event at Gulfstream

just one of the craaazzyyy strippers gymnasts 

performing at said red carpet event

seriously. this guy was nuts. I didn't even record the crazy stuff.



sweet babies

After posting those Easter pictures, I started looking at others I've taken of the twins.
They're so stinking cute, I have to share a couple others.

Mom, Jess and I do like to call them "our babies".

So here are a few more of our sweet babies, Audrey and Olivia.

Ooooo I just want to SQUEEZE them!

Happy Monday yall!