Christmas Recap

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Sarah and I had a fantastic time in Bowling Green, Western Kentucky, Somerset, Louisville, and Lexington with our family and friends.

This year, I felt like Christmas lasted about a week and a half. It started with a family celebration last Sunday afternoon and the party really just ended the yesterday with a Christmas lunch with a close friend. This was my second married Christmas, and I think the holidays are one of the hardest transitions at the beginning of a marriage (other than you know moving in with a boy and starting a life together). While it’s typically really fun to spend time with more family and discover new traditions (i.e. hot browns on Christmas day is pretty amazing), deciding where to go and who to spend time with is a compromise. Jay and I did a better job this year of planning the week and even managed to start some new traditions of our own. Here are a few snapshots from the past few days.

Last night, I began taking down the Christmas decorations, which typically signifies that it’s time to get back to the day-to-day normalcy. As sad as I am to see the Christmas holiday go, I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine and plan to hold onto the hopeful feeling the season brings for as long as I can. In the meantime, I’ll be getting ready for our NYE party. Every year I try to simplify it as much as possible, but things still get a little hectic the day before.

Cheers!

Laura

 

Holiday Hosting and Raspberry Trifle

This weekend, we hosted some of our extended family for a Christmas lunch. The first holiday meal I ever hosted was a Christmas gift exchange with my high school girlfriends. Of course, my mom did most of the the planning and grocery shopping, and over the years I’ve learned much more about hosting meals, parties, and tailgates thanks to LOTS of advice from my mom and LOTS of trial and mostly error.

I’m by no means an expert, but here are the key tips I’ve learned from hosting – whether it is a smaller dinner party or a large bash.

1. Keep the menu simple: I like to plan my menu around food that I’ve made several times before. This way, I know the food will taste good, and I won’t have a melt down minutes before guests arrive since it’s harder to botch a familiar recipe.
2. Do as much work ahead of time as possible: Two nights before the event, I created my tablescape, set out my serving dishes, washed the holiday china, and prepared any food that I could get a head start on. The day before, I cleaned the house (minus the kitchen). This meant that on Sunday morning, I was only responsible for popping a couple of dishes in the oven, doing a light spot cleaning and vacuuming, and putting final touches on everything.  
3. Delegate tasks if it makes sense: Since this was a smaller family gathering, I didn’t feel bad asking people to contribute. My brother-in-law brought the wine and each couple brought a side dish. Generally guests want to bring something or help in some way, so if the situation is appropriate, I encourage it and give them a guideline, such as, “It would be great if you could bring a salad.” Then I know that I don’t need to prepare a salad, and the generous guest knows they won’t be duplicating a menu item I’ve already made. Being fairly general also gives them autonomy to put their personal spin on the dish.

Here’s the menu I planned for our Christmas lunch:

Appetizer: Beaten biscuits with country ham

Main: Beef tenderloin, salad (brought by guest), green vegetable (brought by guest), mashed potatoes, and rolls

Dessert: Raspberry trifle, assorted homemade Christmas candy

Raspberry Trifle Recipe

This is the same dessert I made for my girlfriends in high school. It is a go-to recipe because it looks pretty and festive,  is easy to assemble several hours before guests arrive, and is practically no-fail.

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 (10.75 ounce) package prepared pound cake*
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen raspberries, thawed**
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

1. In a medium bowl, beat cream with 1/4 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, cream together cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla and 1/2 cup sugar. Fold 2 cups of whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Reserve remaining whipped cream.
2. Slice pound cake into 18 – 1/2 inch slices. Drain raspberries, reserving juice. Line the bottom of a 3 quart glass bowl or trifle bowl with one-third of the cake slices. Drizzle with some raspberry juice. Spread one-fourth of the cream cheese mixture over cake. Sift one-fourth of the cocoa over that. Sprinkle with one-third of the raspberries. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining cream cheese mixture, whipped cream and sifted cocoa. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

*I love to bake, and I would normally make a homemade pound cake if I was serving a more simple dessert, such as pound cake with fresh berries. However, since I had a busy weekend and the trifle had plenty of flavorful ingredients, a Sara Lee pound cake from frozen foods aisle worked great.

**I bought a 26 ounce bag of frozen raspberries because it was a better deal at the grocery store and ended up using the entire bag. If you and your guests like raspberries, you may want to use a few more than the original recipe suggests.

I hope you’re enjoying your holiday festivities!

Cheers!

Laura

Weekend Roundup

 

The holidays are upon us, and this past weekend, Laura and I celebrated with a Holiday Tea at Shaker Village. We met our mother and one of our mother’s best friends, whom we also consider to be family, in Lexington to start our short drive alongside the Kentucky River and Palisades to Shakertown, Kentucky. While Shaker Village has dining options all year round, Holiday Tea is only available during the month of December, and reservations are a must.

The menu for tea changes daily, but you can generally expect a scone, assorted finger sandwiches, and a sampling plate from the bakery. Our favorites included the cranberry scone, country ham and biscuits, and assorted holiday sweet breads. We enjoyed this alongside Christmas in a Cup tea, blended and packaged at Elmwood Inn in Danville, Kentucky.

    

Following tea, we made a visit to the craft shop and took a short walk around the grounds. If it had not been such a chilly day, I’m sure we would have walked much longer. The village is beautiful and full of the classic American design typical of Shaker architecture adorned with just the right amount of simple holiday decorations.

If you’ve never been to Shakertown, we highly suggest putting it on your Bluegrass bucket list for 2016. After talking with our mother and her friend, it seems that the village is making somewhat of a comeback. There’s everything from kayaking the Kentucky River to craft classes to the (un)Pleasant Hill Trail Runs. Check out their events calendar for some fun weekend getaway ideas. Top of our list is the Well Crafted–Brews + Bands event coming this June!

Cheers!

Sarah

 

Friday Favorites

After the unseasonably warm temperatures earlier this week, I’m excited to really begin celebrating Christmas this weekend with several holiday gatherings with friends and family! Here are a few things that caught our eye this week.

1. HGTV Dream Home 2016 I may be getting ahead of myself, but one of my favorite thing on New Year’s Day is watching the HGTV Dream Home Special. I enter the drawing daily in hopes that someday I will win the spectacular house. I couldn’t help myself from looking at the pictures that are already posted on the HGTV website. – Laura
2. Get ready for Fuller House! Growing up, Laura and I were major Full House fans. A show packed with corny jokes, hot Uncle Jesse, and just the right amount of drama (who remembers when Michelle fell of her horse?)–what more could you ask for? Apparently, another season. Netflix has just announced that the Tanners are back on February 26 with Fuller House. The countdown is on! – Sarah
3. Gift for Your Burrito-Loving Techie Friend To be completely honest, I wanted to write an entire post about this gem of a gift idea. However, Sarah nixed that, so you can thank her. However, if you have a moment and want a laugh, please read the customer ratings and reviews on this digital burrito pouch. I got too much of a kick out of this not to share. – Laura
4.  I have an obsessive love for two things in my life: my college alma mater and dogs. This week, an administrator of WKU shared this photo of the university president sharing a treat with a service dog at graduation for a job well done. This was enough to make me tear up a bit and try to force my own dog to let me hug her. Even though she hated it, I think she knew the sentiment was there. – Sarah
5. Be Curious. Be Brave. And Don’t Get Bangs. I don’t know about you, but when the year is ending and another one is approaching, I spend some time thinking about how to become my better self. I loved this commencement speech Reese Witherspoon gave at her high school alma mater in Nashville. Even as a member of the working world, it is nice to remember to keep growing and stay true to yourself. – Laura

Cheers to a fabulous weekend!

Laura & Sarah

Christmas Ornament Exchange

As I mentioned in one of our previous Friday Favorites posts, my girlfriends and I love any excuse to get together even though the majority of us have scattered throughout the Bluegrass since college graduation. For Christmas, we decided to do an ornament exchange, and thanks to the careful planning of our friend Audrey, the event went off without a hitch.

I love the idea of doing events around Christmas where everyone contributes a single gift. Whether it is some sort of exchange or Secret Santa, it eases the pressure of feeling like you have to buy something for each of your friends, and you can take more time to just enjoy each other’s company. I especially liked the idea of an ornament exchange because it was simple to find an ornament to contribute and easy to stay on budget.

If you’re hosting a Christmas or holiday get-together, here are a few tips you can consider:

1. Pick a central location. Because we all live in different Kentucky towns and cities, we decided to meet in a location central to all of us, Elizabethtown. This meant that the drive for everyone attending stayed under an hour.

1. Choose: Someone’s home or a venue. We chose to meet for dinner and dessert at a local restaurant called The Whistle Stop, technically in Glendale just outside of E-town. While I love home-hosted get-togethers, meeting at a local restaurant was perfect for us because of the convenience factor. A lot goes into hosting an event at your home, so if no one in your group is prepared to take on that duty, restaurants or coffee shops work just as well!
2. Set a budget. Budgeting is extremely important around the holidays, especially if you’re in your early 20s like me and just getting started in your career. I don’t pretend to know anyone else’s financial situation, so setting a modest budget allows everyone to participate and be stress-free. While we didn’t technicaly set an exact dollar amount, we made sure to emphasize that our exchange was about finding a cute ornament, not an expensive one. If this was a Secret Santa event, I would encourage setting an exact amount as gifts could potentially vary in values.

On top of getting to see some of my best girls, it’s safe to say I came home with a pretty cute ornament as well! (Thanks, Logan!)

How are you and your friends celebrating the holidays?

Cheers!

Sarah

December Bucket List

As someone who lives by lists (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and varying other time increments), I thought I would share my December bucket list. Most items are fun and holiday related, but there’s one item that is mostly a big chore I want to tackle when I have a few days off work after Christmas. You should have no trouble spotting that one.

What are some things on your December bucket list?

Cheers!

Laura

Weekend Roundup

Ok, you caught me. I didn’t do anything overly exciting this weekend. As half owner of this blog, I’m calling an audible and deeming today #FlashbackMonday to last weekend. That’s when all the really good stuff happened, anyway.

Last weekend was many things–it was happy, full of anxiety, life changing, and even a little sweaty (more on that later). Saturday afternoon brought stressful Christmas shopping and battling who I have to assume must be featured somewhere as Louisville’s Worst Drivers. (Where do these people come from? Why do they only appear in December?) However, the one thing keeping my spirits up was that Ryan had promised a date that night to one of our favorite local restaurants, The Silver Dollar, and ice skating downtown.

Adding a little extra excitement into the mix was that Saturday was actually Repeal Day, marking the end of Prohibition 82 years ago. Although we weren’t planning on celebrating Repeal Day, whenever you show up at The Silver Dollar to find all of the staff dressed in Prohibition-era style clothing and a free photobooth sponsored by Old Forester, you find a way to make the celebration work. You may remember from Laura’s last Weekend Roundup that this date would eventually turn into the night I got engaged, so having pictures from the Old Forester photobooth turned out to be such a fun reminder of the night. Moral of the story: always do the photobooth.

Look at Ryan’s face. He’s got a ring in his pocket and knows what is about to go down. My face? Blissful ignorance.

After dinner, feeling stuffed and satisfied, we headed downtown to 4th Street for Louisville’s Holiday in the City. Ice skating is one of my favorite winter time activities. I like to go every year and feel especially proud of myself when I manage to stay up on my skates the whole time. This was one of those nights, and with a giant Christmas tree in the background and the scent of roasted nuts in the air, I basically felt like a human peppermint mocha latte on ice skates–it was actually that Christmas-y.

These are the faces of two people about to fall.

I’m going to skip over the gory details of how Ryan wanted to drive around to look at Christmas lights, how we couldn’t find any Christmas lights, and how the sounds of Bing Crosby singing softly in the car while we drove around for what felt like 10 years in the dark pushed me to my edge, and just let you know that somehow we ended up in St. James Court. St. James is a court of beautiful Victorian homes, and easily one of my favorite places in Louisville. I’m lucky to live very close to St. James and enjoy frequent walks through the area with my pup, Lou. After a little bit of encouragement, Ryan managed to get me out of the car to go for a walk. We came upon the center of the court where Laura and Ryan’s brother had set up a blanket, candles, and champagne. Anytime I had pictured this moment in my head, I was very calm. I’m typically not one to be emotional in public or make a huge scene. *Cue reality* Ryan is on one knee, and I am crying (not pretty crying, mind you) and profusely sweating. Somehow through all of that, Ryan decided he still wanted to be with me anyway, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Cheers!

Sarah

Friday Favorites

We made it folks! It’s Friday! Time to give your friends a high five, do a cartwheel, and hit that dougie. But before you do, check out our favorites nuggets of fun from this week.

1. Christmas Card Displays December is my favorite month for mail because I love receiving Christmas cards. I’ve never had a great system for displaying them, so I’m going to DIY one of these ideas this weekend. Now if I could just decide which display I’d like to try… – Laura
2. Serial Season 2 The Serial podcast is a mutual obsession shared by Laura and I. We developed an intense curiosity about the story of Adnan Syed and his accused murder during season one. Season two is taking a different spin on things by looking into the story of Bowe Berghdal, an American soldier previously held prisoner by the Taliban and also charged with two crimes related to his supposed desertion from the Army. I listened to the first episode last night while cooking dinner, and I can already feel a new weekly ritual coming on. – Sarah
3. Dogs Starring in Nativity Scenes Because is there anything cuter than dogs in costumes? – Laura
4. Pickin’ On Coldplay If you’re a fan of bluegrass music, like all true Kentuckians are, then you have to check out the Pickin’ On series. Pickin’ On pays tribute to a variety of popular bands, but my favorite at the moment is their tribute to Coldplay. The bluegrass cover of Shiver will be your perfect soundtrack to a quiet Friday morning. – Sarah
5. Ornament Exchange Even though most of my close girlfriends live all over the Bluegrass, we still like to get together for special occasions, holidays included. Next week we are meeting up in a central location (for us, that means Elizabethtown) for a holiday dinner and ornament exchange. Since many of us are just getting started in our careers, an ornament exchange is a fun way for us to treat each other to a gift, but also stay on budget! – Sarah

Cheers!

Laura & Sarah

Lunchtime Quinoa Bowl

Confession: I’ve been getting off track with lunch recently. I am fortunate to live about a mile from work, so I frequently walk home during my lunch hour to let the dog out and grab a quick bite. It’s really ideal because I’m able to get a few steps in, take a mental break from the office, and enjoy some doggy snuggles.

However, I used to be the best at packing well balanced and filling lunches when I took my lunch to work and had to plan ahead. Now, I tend to grab just whatever is quick – some cheese and crackers, a can of tuna, a pear, some pretzels dipped in peanut butter, a cookie, whatever… I usually returned to the office feeling gross and bloated or still hungry and on the prowl for unhealthy snacks. Last week, I purchased frozen chicken nuggets and corn dogs at the grocery store because I thought that would be a great option for my grab-and-go lunches. What was I thinking?! After reaching that low point, I realized enough is enough. It is time to get back on track!

When I was single, I used to frequently make hearty quinoa bowls for dinner and then eat the leftovers for lunch. On Sunday, I decided to whip up a big batch and use it for at least three of my lunches this week. The great thing about quinoa bowls is they’re hard to mess up. Sometimes I follow a recipe, but more often than not,  I just chop up whatever veggies and herbs I have on hand and add some good olive oil, vinegar, sea salt, and pepper for a little flavor. However, this time I used a recipe I found at Kaylee Cooks.

Tomato-Basil Quinoa with Spinach and White Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 3 cups vegetable broth(note, this is more than you usually need to cook 1 c of quinoa, but we are also cooking the tomatoes and beans in the broth)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 oz canned white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1.5 tbsp basil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 oz fresh baby spinach

Directions:

1. Combine quinoa and broth in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large dutch oven (or other large pan) over medium heat.
3. Add garlic and onions; cook for 1 minute (until the onion is softened)
4. Add tomatoes, beans and basil and cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Pour the pot of quinoa and broth into the tomato mixture, season and simmer on a low heat (uncovered) until the quinoa is absorbs the broth and is cooked through (You may need to add a bit more broth to finish cooking the quinoa if the broth is absorbing too quickly).
6. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, add the spinach and stir to wilt.

When I don’t have fresh basil in the winter, I like to use the Dorot frozen basil cubes. Locally, they can be found at Trader Joe’s, Good Foods Co-Op, and Rainbow Blossom Natural Foods Market.

I’d love to hear your easy, go-to lunch ideas!

Cheers!

Laura

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