Delfest

One of my favorite summer activities in the summer is listening to live music, even better is a whole weekend of live music.   Over Memorial Day weekend we attended Delfest our favorite annual blue grass musical festival in Maryland.  DFH, LES and I hopped in our car on Friday after work and headed down to Maryland.  

We got in later then planned and set up our campsite for the weekend and then caught some live music at one of the stages. 

 

LES and I jamming out. 

( Sorry for the blur)

Our camp for the weekend 

On Saturday we woke up and took some Selfies while DFH cooked us breakfast. 

 

Our personal chef. 

Saturday was gorgeous and was hot enough to finally start wearing our summer dresses.  

DFH and I 

Delfest featured three stages with live music and vendors.  We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the main stage listing to some great music 

And catching some rays. 

Can't wait for next year. 

#TBT Chicago

    I'm finally getting around to recapping my Chicago trip from April.  DFH and I found a last minute cheap flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago so we decided to venture to the Midwest for my college friend Jenna's 30th birthday. 

We arrived and Jenna had a bottle of champs waiting to start the celebrating.   She knows my love for champagne too well. 

We enjoyed a delicious sushi dinner downtown before Jenna rang in 30th birthday with some Kesha Kareoke. 

 

 

On Saturday we enjoyed brunch before the boys headed to the Cubs game and Jenna and I enjoyed some girl time gossiping and shopping. 

Of course DFH loved the craft beer scene in Chicago, especially this beer flight.  

Saturday was the big birthday celebration. Sadly I failed to take any pictures.  

On Sunday we explored two local breweries, Half Acre and Revolution for a Sunday funday. 

We ended our trip with a visit to "the bean" for a few selfies. 

Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette Gift Idea

   Today I am linking up with Belle in Boots  and  Love Always, Nancy J. for Wedding Wednesday.  I have really been the worst about recapping my wedding and I still plan to do that, if only for my own personal blog scrapbook, but for right now I want to discuss my favorite Bachelorette Gift Idea.  Obviously lingerie and undies are essential gifts for the bride-to-be, but I also received a very special gift my bachelorette weekend from my mom and all my bridesmaids. 

 

My mom purchased the picture frame with the white matte and then secretly had all of my bridesmaids and herself put on different shades of lipstick and kiss the matte in two different spots and sign their name by their kiss.   I had no idea this was being done behind my back during the bachelorette weekend, yet now I vaguely recall some of the girls suddenly sporting faded lipstick during the day. 

My Mom stuck in a picture from my bridal shower, I still need to update the picture from the bachelorette weekend.  It is such a special gift and reminder of such a fun weekend.

This is such a simple and inexpensive gift for your bride-to-be and such a special keepsake.

 

Baby You're a Firework

       It is always so hard to come back to work after a long weekend at the beach.  This post is picture heavy...get excited!

    On Wednesday DFH and I and some of our friends headed to Long Beach Island to celebrate ALV's birthday and hang with my parents for the 4th of July weekend.

   There were five of us who came in from Pittsburgh and we brought a ton of stuff so we rented a mini van which was so fun for our road trip.  A minivan may be my next car I loved all of the space.

   We arrived on Long Beach Island super late on Wednesday and then woke up Thursday and packed the car back up to celebrate ALV's birthday in Atlantic City for the night. 

    A group fireball shot was necessary at 11:00 am to start the 30th birthday fun. 

 

 

   The weather was gorgeous on Thursday so once we arrived in Atlantic City we headed straight to the boardwalk to Bungalow, the beach bar to enjoy a few cocktails on the beach. 

JLP and I

   On Thursday night we all got dolled up before feasting on tacos and margaritas at Casa Taco for dinner.  ALV even got three cakes for her 30th birthday celebration.  Cheers to 30!

After dinner we headed to Boogie Nights for their 90's night dance party.

Paparazzi, no more pictures please. 

A bunch of ALV's friends from college met us in Atlantic City for the night, it was such a fun group!

   We woke up to a monsoon on the 4th of July, but it was perfect weather for recovering after a big night and traveling back to LBI. Luckily by dinner time it cleared up so we were able to enjoy drinks  outside on the deck with my parents and end the night watching fireworks on the bay and playing with sparklers. 

Matching in our 4th of July anchors 

ALV and BS 

ALV, LES, and I 

With the Hubs 

 

 

Family Sparkler Picture

 



 

One last Birthday celebration for ALV 

  On Friday night we went to Plantation a local bar/restaurant for live music and a beer. I had to try the FU Sandy beer made by Flying Fish as 100% of the proceeds go to benefit victims of Sandy.

Saturday was another gorgeous day. We spent it in the lagoon paddle boarding, kayaking, playing cornhole before spending the afternoon at beach. 

We came home and enjoyed some apps and beers on the boat followed by an incredible lobster dinner. 

 

 

Until next time LBI. 

Mac and Cheese Cups

    Wow, what a weekend, we spent all day Saturday and Sunday moving into the new house.  I am exhausted and can't stand that everything is still in boxes, but it is so nice to finally be in the new house, even if it is a disaster.  Anyways, Allie, from Alexandra Bee Blog had posted about her Mac and Cheese Cups recipe a while back and they looked incredible, I mean who can say no to individual portions of Mac and Cheese?!  Not this cheese lover.

     I used her original recipe from allrecipes.com and was so happy with the results.  I do think next time I would add some more sharp cheddar cheese or switch it up and add Gruyere to give the cups a punch of extra flavor,  I skimped on these cheese this time to save a few calories, and won't make that mistake again,  but overall they were a crowd favorite. 

Ingredients:
                       

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

                                        

1 tablespoon butter

                     

1 egg, beaten

                       

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

 

1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

                       

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs  ( I used Panko bread crumbs)                                                   

                       

2 teaspoons olive oil

                       

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

( I also added a pinch of pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes for extra flavor).

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside.

     2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, it should still be a little bit firm. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan; stir in the butter and egg until pasta is evenly coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese and stir the remaining Cheddar cheese, milk and mozzarella cheese into the pasta. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.

 

I need to majorly work on my food photography skills. 

 

  These were such a breeze to make and a great appetizer to bring to any bbq, brunch, girls night in, etc. 

Five on Friday

  Hello, Friday! It is so nice to see you again!  Although, I  have to say this week has gone by pretty fast, so I cannot complain too much.   It has been a while since I have participated in the 5 on Friday link up with A. Liz Adventures and Co, but it is one of my favorites.  So here I am with five random thoughts. 


1.  It Is Moving Weekend!!!  I can't believe we are moving into our new home this weekend.  I am super pumped, but dreading the actual moving part of the process.  We have been packing up our current apartment and slowly moving boxes to the new house for the last week, and I still feel like we haven't made a dent.  We have a lot more to packing to do tonight!  Bring on the wine and packing tape!!

2. I am loving these two guys!   Seriously how precious.  They love each other so much, or as DFH would say they are best friends. 

3.  A week from today I will be in Charlotte visiting my college besties, and celebrating one of their 30th birthdays!  I cannot wait for a weekend of celebrating and gossip with some of my favorites.    The countdown has started!! 

Such a good #tbt to college graduation day. 

4. Monograms.  I have been on the search for an over sized monogrammed crew neck sweatshirt that I can throw on, on a cool summer night and I finally found one I love that looks lightweight and slightly fitted.   Now I just need to pick a color! How cute are these made by the Southern Sewcialite.

5.  Happy Father's Day Weekend to all of the Dad's out there.  I am sad I cannot spend it with my Dad this weekend, but love that I was able to spend a long weekend celebrating him two weeks ago for his birthday. 

Hope everyone has a lucky Friday the 13th!

Stuffed Pork Tenderoin

A few months ago I came across A. Liz Adventures' post where she posted about an easy stuffed pork tenderloin recipe.  It looked so tasty and I knew it DFH and I would enjoy it so I immediately saved the recipe. We finally made it for dinner, but with slightly different ingredients and I am mad I waited so long because it will certainly become a staple dish in our home. 

     We purchased a pork tenderloin form Trader Joes. We cut a slit across the tenderloin so it became a flat slab of meat and then pounded the meat until it became thin and flat. We added a layer of arugula and blue cheese crumbles and then rolled the tenderloin and secured it with toothpicks. 

 

We seared each side of the pork on a frying pan for about two minutes, to get the outside nice and crispy.   ( Sorry there is no picture of this step)

 

We then placed the rolled tenderloin on a greased baking pan covered in foil and baked it at 350 for 35-40 minutes.. 

 

After the tenderloin looked crispy brown and cooked all the way through, we took it out of the oven and let it sit for about ten minutes. 

 

I just realized I didn't even take a final picture, sorry for the messy foil picture above. 

The pork came out super tender and had intense flavors.  In our home a tenderloin will usually last us two meals, however this night we ate almost the whole tenderloin in one sitting,  it was that delicious.  I would love to try to stuff it with different ingredients in the future.

 Have you ever stuffed pork tenderloin?