Happy Birthday

This  MY guy is having a birthday TODAY!

Happy Birthday to my husband my best friend my co-conspirator my fellow free spirit the best traveling buddy, ever my better half. 
Love you.

Insta Roundup

Pardon me if you've already seen these on instagram. 

If you haven't, (or don't have an insta), 

I'm going to try to start doing a weekly roundup. 

Here ya go. 

Mint & Gold

Breakfast of Champions

Stacked

Represent on a Rainy Day

Coral & Gold. 

Pain in the arse. 

See that last pic? That'd be Shiva's new trick. 

She can reach up to the bathroom sink and turn it on, 

ya know, for when she wants a drink of water 

and none of her bowls are good enough. 

Have a Good Weekend

Mike and I are ore off to Asheville for the weekend, then to babyshowers, weddings, cookouts and more!

but, I wouldn't leave you empty handed.

Watch.

I love the guy at the end.

Wha?

Did you know? 

That I did things these last few weeks? 

All I know, is that I was S.I.C.K.

and suddenly, photos of happenings appeared on my phone. 

See?

One Thursday, Mike & I went with our friends to Total Wine in North Hills. 

Yeah, Total Wine. 

They have wine classes, and at these classes they let you try 10 different types of wines, in multiple price points all from different regions (Generally, each night has a theme, and they do it once a month)

This particular month was California. 

We learned about a movie "Bottle Shock" that is apparently a must-see, and tried a variety of new wines. Mike and I really want to head up Cali wine country to sample all the different vinyards. 

"On the list!" he says, so I will assume that it'll happen...eventually..

The class is also taught by an NCSU History professor, so its REALLY interesting..

This is the photo that best sums up the night. 

Lots of color & wine. 

Apparently, 

we also went to another Cirque Du Soleil show. 

"Michael Jackson"

From what I remember, it was really cool. 

"Love" is still my favorite, but this is definitely worth seeing, if you love the prince of Pop. 

the stage

my glasses  &  Mike's dinner...

We also started watching Oi and Olive as they run around the house. 

They both get really upset when Mike is in his office and will not come out to play. 

I guess the MBA is affecting the whole house..

Spring has sprung! Actually, it sprung last week and this week it's just

 raining and storming us to death. 

We also went out to Sushi..

(oh come on, are you shocked? 

This happens 23 times a week,

 minimum)

sooooooo goooooooooooood

 I also have, apparently, spent a great deal of time playing 

"Draw Something" 

with Mike. 

I think it's safe to say that even though neither of us are budding artists, 

we must "get" each other..

or else, we'd never understand what the other was trying to draw...

do YOU see shovel?

What have *YOU* been up to the last couple days?

Weekend Wrapup

What a weekend? It feels like we crammed 17 days worth of stuff into 3 nights... Let's start at the top

Friday: 

Mike and I managed to score a spot on the First Friday tour at Escazu artisan chocolates. 

It was a small group, only around 10 people, which I totally understood once we got in the back! The master chocolatier talked us through the process. Starting with the bean (all of the stuff you can somewhat see in picture below), and then where it gets dried and fermented, then shipped to..wherever? Then they hand sort the beans, from the not beans, before they roast them in that crazy contraption you see below. It's from Spain, roughly 1930s, and it came with a grinder that they use after the beans are roasted. 

She told us that they don't add anything to the chocolate initially to get it to "grind" into what we consider to be chocolate, it's actually just the oil within the nibs that make them creamy. THEN, they add all the delicious stuff. They sell a variety of bars, which we brought two home with us. 

They also make truffles. Delicious, amazing, iiiiiiinteresting truffles.  Mike and I tried the Apple Pie Moonshine, Patron Tequila Anejo, Lime and Chili and the Bacon, Rosemary and SeaSalt (you'll see them again later..) 

the goodies..

 After the tour, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for dinner! 

We got some delicious bruschetta and a pie and filled our stomachs to the brim. 

happy children faces. (see previous posts)

 After dinner, we headed  over to Fox Liquor Bar. Ran by Ashley Christensen (of Raleigh restaurant, oh and IRON CHEF fame) in the basement of her two other restaurants. You have to pay a membership fee (a whopping $1) and then you can choose from the most amazing line up of drinks..ever. 

We started with a Pan American Clipper and  a Mexican Firing Squad. 

We managed to find a spot at the bar (which was really lucky) and we watched the bartenders make all sorts of awesome concoctions. 

shakers

fresh fruit for garnishing

In the middle of the night, I asked the bartender if she could make me a drink with Gin, that I would like. She whipped up something with Fernets in it and it was delicious. 

delicious. 

Then Mike and I were watching her mix a drink with an egg in it, a Wonka Fizz, and she offered to let us taste a straw sample. Um, it was really good. A milkshake, frosty consistency. I also found out that her name is Carla, and we discovered the reason that we both looked so familiar to each other. She worked at the same tattoo parlor where I got my ink done. Great Great minds. 

Saturday, 

We mostly hung out at home, having cheese and sushi and wine for dinner, then watched Rango. 

Port Cheese, Rosemary and Cheddar cheese

sushi. 

 Afterwards, we dug into our Escazu chocolates. The chili lime was RIDICULOUSly good. Mike was more impressed with the Moonshine one than with the bacon chocolate. 

Sunday, 

We headed over to Fullsteam Brewery in Durham. 

They were having a "Music for Micro Loans" event, cosponsored by Whole Foods. They had a rice and hibiscus beer, and for a $10 donation, you could keep the glasses. We had a great time listening to all the music, chatting to other bar patrons and having a few good beers. 

iiiiinteresting instrument

our "hand stamps" for entry

 It was also during this event that I tried to send my mom a text. 

I wanted to tell her she was very wise. 

You can see what I told her. 

I called quickly to tell her what I meant, and (luckily) she was already laughing. 

"I'd just ordered a hamburger steak and fries..guess I'll just get wider"

 After we left Fullsteam, we headed to my favorite Durham eatery. (ok, one of em)

Cosmic Cantina

for some chicken nachos. These have been a staple in my diet since I was in 11th grade. 

Finally, we headed back Raleigh side for a "little desert" 

We didn't realize how "little" crepes in the USA could be.. 

but we ate em anyway,

then meandered home and get our heads in place for the week. 

Weekends like this are what dreams are made of. Seriously. 

What'd YOU do this weekend?

Fail Thursday

 

Those would be my feet. 

At work. 

Today. 

To my benefit, they're both black. 

Happy Hearts Day

Atlanta, 2011

Happy Valentines Day everyone. 

Hope you have an awesome day (if that's your thing, but it IS my thing..and it is my blog, so there). 

Most of all, Happy Hearts Day to my best friend,

 the one who makes me feel special every day,

the  one who fixes my sad and inspires me to be better

 the one who makes my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling, 

my partner in crime and in life: 

Olive. 

oh, you thought I meant Mike? 

;-)

Weekend Review 2-5-12

What a weekend! We stayed in Friday night, so Mike could catch up on homework, I did get a little bit crafty and made a cute wreath for Super Bowl Sunday. 

mini footballs! 

Saturday night, Mike and I went back to Wine and Design, Cary for another date night! 

via Wine and Design Cary's facebookpage

Our class's renditions of Starry Night

via Wine and Design Cary's facebookpage

blurry shot, but you can see our paintings. 

When we got home, we hung em up in the kitchen!

 Sunday, we spent the day cleaning and cooking to get the house ready for our 2nd Annual Super Bowl party. We made a few different things, but my FAVORITES were the little burgers below. 

Totally inspired by Emily. I made some plain yellow cupcakes and cut them in half after they were cool. The "burger" patty are really thin brownies. I cut a bunch out with a wine glass, then Mike scooped up the bits and made the rest. The "ketchup," "cheese," and "mayonnaise" is just white frosting with foodcoloring piped around the edges and "smushed" down. They were quite the hit and totally fun to eat. 

We also had a pretty competitive game of Commercial Bingo going on. I found a blinged out football necklace that we passed around as people got BINGO and it definitely made the game a bit more exciting.  

cupcakes and touchdowns ;)

At the end of the night to celebrate our successful party, some recent events and a general awesomeness of 2012, Mike and I popped open a bottle of champagne that'd been sitting around for a couple years. 

Success. :)

Mike's Birthday 2012

Last year, Mike and I had the flu during his birthday so this year I was determined to make up for it. 

Friday night started off the fun:

Friday night, I made a simple dinner of Mac-N-Cheese, veggies and jalapeno chicken. (My first Pinterest recipe!)

while playing a few rounds of You Dont Know Jack. (this is my favorite win to date)

Saturday, we kept busy!

We went to Chatham Hill Winery, where we toured the place and then had a wine and cheese tasting, then we just picked up a bonus bottle and sat around chatting and sipping on wine. We got to keep the glasses you see, and we brought home a bottle for later. 

We headed back to Raleigh to the new Tyler's taproom. We grabbed a couple beers and watched some basketball...

and munched on DELICIOUS BBQ nachos and pickle chips. (Seriously y'all, I  WILL BE back. They were SO. GOOD.)

We headed home to clean up and get ready for dinner, meanwhile I gave Mike his Birthday present. 

the force is strong with this one

Saturday night dinner was at the ever amazing, delicious, scrumptions, spectacular Angus Barn. From the Ostrich Sate to the juicy, mouthwatering steak, AB is definitely the place to go for any BIG event.

Haven. Heaven. Whichever

Mike got some birthday balloons!

and BIRTHDAY CAKE! He was quite proud of himself and the nibble. 

Mike bought me a set of Angus Barn desert recipe cards. I've lusted after that Chess pie for years, and after my horrible fiasco with it from last year (I was crying on the kitchen floor) I think he took pity on me.

With full tummies and happy memories, we headed home to rest up for Sunday!

Birthday brunch at the Twisted Fork!!!

then a few hours leisurely spent at Barnes and Noble.

birthday filmstrip!

During the afternoon, Mike spent his time playing videogames and chugging around the internet, while i spent a few hours making him some AWESOME red velvet cupcakes. (Right Babe?) Then, I plopped the 2 and the 8 in, light those babies up and carried em downstairs.  Quite the happy camper that Mike. 

While I didn't have to really DO anything to make this birthday better than last year, just not die and junk, I *think* 

I succeeded in making this year pretty awesome.