NYE Recap

Does anyone else tend to feel stressed out around New Year’s Eve? Every year, I seem to find myself worried about getting invited to the perfect event and finding a sparkly outfit to boot, as though the new year will be doomed to be a tragedy if I’m not tooting party horns with at least 50 of my closest friends at the stroke of midnight. Kentucky native Jennifer Lawrence even took it one step further to say she always ends up drunk and disappointed on NYE. Thank you, J Law, for saying what goes through my mind every year. I feel you. I really do.

This year, I decided to take a little bit of a step back. There was no huge road trip or scouring my favorite online stores for a glittered frock. Instead, Ryan and I headed down the road to Lexington to join Laura and Jay for their annual NYE party. Don’t get me wrong–it’s not as if Laura and Jay don’t know how to throw a party. Between Laura’s spread of hors d’oeuvres and Jay manning the bourbon bar all night, it tends to be quite the affair. What I mean by “taking a step back” is that instead of chasing the perfect night, I rolled up to a party where I knew a total of 3 people aside from my sister and brother-in-law. When the clock struck midnight with my fiance to my right and a group of strangers to my left, I realized how perfect and appropriate that was to represent this time in my life. Over the past year and a half, I’ve moved to two different cities, started and finished a graduate program, traveled to foreign countries, found a new job, and started a relationship that recently turned engagement. To say the least, life for me lately has constantly been on the brink of discomfort and defined by new things and new people. So, of course this is how I should spend my NYE. And I believe that 2016 will be all the better because of it.

Cheers!

Sarah

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

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

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

My Old Kentucky Home Renovations: Survival Tips

Last night, I was walking through our house enjoying our Christmas decorations and appreciating that we were able to decorate the entire house this year. Last year during this season, we were in the thick of home renovations, and I didn’t want to put up too many decorations because it meant extra stuff to dust daily.

Anyways, those who know me well know that I have slight anxiety issues when I’m in messy and unorganized spaces, so the months of living in the house during renovations were really difficult and stressful. Since it was a dark time, I didn’t take too many pictures, but I found a few in the annals of my iPhone. I could literally feel my breathing shallow and my blood pressure spike when I pulled them out to share with you.

I put together a list of survival tips. I geared them towards OCD folks, like myself. Here they are…

How to Survive a Renovation If You Don’t Like Messes

1. Create renovation-free zones and keep them organized.

I can’t tell you how many times I escaped to our upstairs guest bedroom for a couple hours or closed the doors in our living room, so I wouldn’t have to look at the mess. Having a mini-haven that I could keep neat and clean inside the house was necessary to my survival.

Ain’t nobody relaxing in this mess of a bedroom.

2. Buy Swiffer Dry Cloths in bulk.

If you’re like Danny Tanner (or me) and can’t stand dirt, these are a lifesaver. I typically like to use microfiber dusting cloths and washable dusting mop pads, but it was worth it for my sanity to use disposable dusting sheets. I used the dry cloths to dust the floors and multiple other surfaces most evenings. Sorry not sorry, Mother Nature.

Dust Culprit I

Dust Culprit II

3. Multiply the estimated project timeline by four.

Getting into a renovation project, I knew that it wouldn’t be finished on time. Have you ever heard of a construction project finishing on time or ahead of schedule? No. However, I thought it would only be a couple of extra weeks. One of the most stressful things was not knowing when the project would be done and when workmen would come. I had my hopes up pretty much every week, and our project ended up taking four full months instead of the four weeks we were told. If you’re starting a project, multiply the completion time by four because then you might be pleasantly surprised if it gets finished sooner.

4. Realize that you’ll likely go over budget.

Along the same lines, every project that we’ve done has pretty much gone over budget. In our case, the investment in higher quality items was worth it since we were already making a large investment, but we definitely considered where to save and where to splurge. For example, we used higher-end tile in our shower, but we purchased our towel racks from the hardware store (with a coupon) instead of the fancy bathroom showroom. My advice is to know what you can realistically spend and lowball your budget when talking to contractors. You’ll likely end up spending your entire budget, but maybe you won’t go over it.

5. Have patience, and if you don’t, just leave the house.

I consider myself a fairly patient person, but that went out the window during renovations. The time, the mess, the workmen leaving trash throughout the house (even in places they weren’t working), etc. definitely shortened my fuse. I really tried to have patience, but like I mentioned, my anxiety took over, and it wasn’t pretty. My biggest advice is to leave the house. I went for a lot of runs and walks to get out of the house, and I actually looked forward to business trips. If you can plan a vacation during a particularly rough renovation, by all means, leave that mess and enjoy yourself.

Thank you, Mr. Construction Worker, for leaving your Dr. Pepper in an already junky bathroom. I don’t even want to think about why you took that in there.

If all else fails, just pour yourself a big glass of wine. Cheers!

Laura

 

Weekend Recap

This weekend didn’t really get started until Saturday night. I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning running errands, cleaning the house, working in the yard, and dog-sitting while Jay was at a conference. However, the second part of the weekend definitely made up for the mundane first half.

Since Jay has been working long hours recently preparing for upcoming trials, it was really nice to spend Sunday together. After church, we went to a waffle brunch at Manchester Music Hall and listened to live music by Tyler Childers. Manchester Music Hall is a recently renovated event space, and we’ve been wanting to check it out for a few months now. Since the brunch was fairly low-key, we were able to take in the venue’s new changes, and I thoroughly enjoyed my mini waffle croques from Whoo Wants Waffles and the mimosa bar.

After being stuffing ourselves with waffles, we went to Judy’s Garden Shop, which is around the corner from our house, to pick out our Christmas tree. We’ve gone there for the past several years because the owners are really friendly, and we can carry our tree home with us instead of having to load it up in the back of the Jeep. We brought Annabelle with us this year, and I thought it would be really festive if she wore her holiday hat that matches her cousin Lou’s. I find dogs wearing hats to be hilarious, so I take every chance I can to put one on Annabelle. Annabelle was definitely the most popular customer and had her picture taken more than a few times.

The holiday fun continued at my sorority’s alumni cookie exchange. I normally end up eating a dozen cookies at these events, so I’m pretty proud of myself for only eating one cookie and leaving the rest for the collegiate members.

After the cookie exchange, we spent the evening at home making dinner and decorating the Christmas tree. I received my first Blue Apron delivery this weekend, which I plan to share more about later. I will say that as someone who cooks dinner most evenings, it was really nice not to have to meal plan this week.

FINALLY… I saved the best for last! Sarah got engaged on Saturday night! I know she plans to share more details of the story, but from my perspective, the evening started with lighting candles in St. James Court and hiding behind a tree for a while before ending with a YES!

Since I was snapping photos from a really awkward position in the dark, the pictures of the proposal didn’t turn out great, but here’s a little dark and blurry peak into the proposal. To be honest, I’m just glad I didn’t burn down Old Louisville or get arrested for stalking.

Let the wedding planning begin!

Cheers!

Laura