5 on Friday

Today I am linking up for 5 on Friday with A. Liz Adventures The Good Life Blog Hello Happiness and Carolina Charm

1.  My Triangle:   I love this picture of me and two of my best friends celebrating new life chapters. In law school we called ourselves "The Triangle" since we were always together.  For the last six years we have all lived in the same neighborhood in Pittsburgh and we have countless memories in our neighborhood together.
      There have been so many dinners spent gossiping and heart to hearts and nights out at our favorite local bars. I love that for the last six years our homes have all been in walking distance.     Today one the triangle is moving to a new neighborhood with her boyfriend 10 minutes away.    I am so excited for ALV to start this new chapter in her life, but it is bittersweet as it is an end of an era. Here we are enjoying our last night as residents of the same neighborhood.

2. Baby Smith:   Next week is  Steel Magnolia 's gender reveal party, and KLS has tasked me with the reveal!!!  I feel so honored that she has asked me to take on this huge responsibility. As we speak I have the envelope with Baby Smith's gender written inside.  Even though it is killing me to know I haven't opened it as KLS and I have plans this weekend to craft for the Reveal Party and I don't think I can face her while I know the sex of her baby and she doesn't.

 

3.  THE BEACH:  Next week is the 4th of July which is one of my favorite holidays, especially when it is spent at the beach.    I cannot wait to head down to LBI on Wednesday for the weekend to celebrate the festivities with family and friends.

 

4. La Croix: Last night KLS went to Target and came across La Croix Peach-Pear.   Is this a new flavor or am I out of the loop because I have never seen it before??  It is amazing.   If you enjoy La Croix then run to your nearest grocery store to try it.  It is even better then La Croix Pamplemousse.

 

 

 

5. Our Garden:  Our herb garden is growing like crazy and our veggies are finally sprouting!  Nothing is better then cooking with fresh veggies and herbs from your own garden in the summer.

Wedding Wednesday: Shoes

   Anyone that knows me would tell you that I am not a high heel shoe person.  Yes, I wear pumps and wedges to work as I need a heel to help my conservative dull suits looks a little more feminine, but even then I wear the heel as little as possible. Most days I walk to and from work in my flip flops and only walk in my heels around the office and to and from court.  Even then, I usually try and get heels that are less then an inch high.

  My go-to everyday shoes are flats and low heeled boots in the winter and Jack Rogers in the summer.

    This brings me to my wedding shoe choice.  I am having a difficult time finding a good shoe for my dress.  I want a heel at least for the ceremony, but I want to make sure it is low enough and comfortable to walk around if I decide to keep them on for the reception.  I am 5'8" so I certainly do not need a heel for the height. 

 Here are some of the shoes I am loving, but I am concerned about height on all of them.  I would really love to find a small kitten heel, but haven't had any luck.

 

 VIA

VIA 

 

 

 

VIA

 

VIA

I am obviously attracted to bows and sparkles, I just need smaller heels.  Any recommendations for comfortable wedding heels?

DIY: Polka Dot Vase

A while back I was reading Hi! Sugar Plum's  blog and saw her post about the DIY gold polka dot Kate Spade inspired vase she made and could not wait to try  to DIY one myself.  Gold  and polka dots.  Yes Please!   This DIY vase is truly easy peasy and makes great gifts!

Supplies:
1. 1 vase 

2. Metallic paint. Make sure it is paint that can be used on glass

3. Paint brushes with circular sponges.

Pour some of the paint onto a paper plate and lightly dab with the circle brush. It helps if you practice your circles on a paper towel or newspaper. Once you are ready, put some paint on the brush and begin dabbing the circle onto the vase with the sponge in the pattern of your choice.

After I painted on all the circles on the vase, I went over each one with the sponge brush to make sure it was opaque.

Let the paint dry overnight.

 The next day place the vase in the oven for 15 min at 350 degrees to set the paint.

I had given one of these vases to my mom for Easter.  Here is it with tulips at my bridal shower.

 

Wedding Wednesdays: Our Save The Date

Today is exactly four months until the big day!  Crazy.  I didn't want to do a four month update just yet, because I have a lot of things that are about to be finalized in the next week, so I wanted to wait so I look more productive. Ha. 

     Now that our Save The Dates have been sent out I can finally show our design.  We are doing a few different themes for the wedding.  Right after we got engaged last year, I decided I wanted to incorporate artichokes into our wedding theme/ décor.  I just think artichokes have a real unique look and you can do so much with them to decorate.  I also love that artichokes have hearts inside of them and symbolize peace and "getting to the heart of the matter" so I think it is an awesome wedding symbol.    I also wanted to incorporate monograms into the theme ( surprise surprise). 

   Our colors for the wedding are sage green, terracotta, and gray.   After deciding on the colors and incorporating artichokes, and some other ideas.  I have decided that the whole wedding will have a Tuscan look.  This was not the original plan, but now I am loving it. 

 

I wanted to incorporate our themes into our Save The Dates.  Luckily the stationary store we are working with was able to do a custom design for us and include the colors we wanted, monograms and artichokes. 

 

I have always wanted my wedding to be pretty traditional when it came to etiquette and old customs.  Traditionally, you are not allowed to use your joint married monogram until after the ceremony so I didn't want to include it on my Save The Dates, Invitations, or Programs. Instead I liked the idea of

using both of our current monograms for the Save The Date.

 

 

All bundled up!

 

I decided to hand address all the envelopes, and it ended up taking a lot longer then I had anticipated, but I was pleased with the way they turned out.

 

 

We also included our artichoke theme on the return address stamp.

 

 

4 Months to Go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parmasean Crusted Chicken with Arugula Salad

     This recipe is fantastic and so easy I haven't met someone who doesn't like it yet.   Remember when I posted about my shower favors that included one of my favorite recipes ? This is the recipe that was included with the heart shaped measuring cups for guests. 

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Arugula Salad

 

 Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

4 (6 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breast halves

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon water

4 cups arugula

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

 

Directions:

 

1.Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

 

2.In a small bowl, whisk 2 teaspoons of the mustard with 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and the thyme.

 

3. Season the chicken breasts, on both sides, with salt and pepper - then brush them all over with the mustard mixture.

 

4. Sprinkle about 2 T. of the Parmesan on EACH chicken breast (both sides) - it should take about 1/2 Cup total for all 4 breasts.

 

5.Transfer the chicken breasts to a rimmed baking sheet (I line mine with alum. foil for easier clean up)

 

6. Bake the chicken in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until just cooked through and nicely browned.

 

7. Meanwhile, in a salad bowl, combine the remaining 1 teaspoon each of mustard and oil; then stir in the water.

 

8.Add the arugula and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and toss well.

 

9. Spoon the salad onto plates, top with the chicken and serve!

 

 

   As most of you know by now, I enjoy recipes that I can get creative with and add new ingredients, depending on what I have in my house.  For this recipe sometimes I add extra veggies or garbanzo beans to my salad for an extra crunch.

Enjoy!

Wedding Wednesday: Trying To Get Fit

 With only a little more than 4 months to the big day it is time to get serious about getting fit. I said the same thing nearly two months ago, but I wouldn't say I got super serious. I can afford to lose a few lbs, however I mostly want to tone! Who doesn't want strong arms and a tight tummy on their wedding day ?!?!


I've always eaten pretty healthy during the week and try to eat low carb, but it's the weekends that get me! I just love food too much to go to a new restaurant and order a house salad. Blah! I also love wine too much to give it up either! We tried Paleo but was too lenient for it to do anything.

It is just not realistic for me to not indulge a bit on the weekends so I know for me I have to focus on fitness. The problem is I don't love or even like to really work out. haha.

I did however start Pure Barre and fell in love (I know I am likely the last person to get on that bandwagon) it is the only class I actually enjoy and it goes by so fast and I can definitely feel the burn the next day so it must be doing something.    The problem is, it hurts the pocketbook a bit and I can only do the bridal boot camp for so long so I need another form of exercise.

Can anyone recommend any good toning workouts ?? Has anyone tried the Pure Barre DVDs ??

What were your secrets to getting a bride bod ?