Friday Favorites

Did anyone else FINALLY feel back in the swing of things this week? It’s not a bad feeling, and coupled with a three-day weekend ahead, it’s a really awesome feeling! Here are a few things that caught our eye this week!

• Almond Crusted Chicken Nuggets – Since this week has been fairly quiet most evenings, I’ve been a bit more adventurous in the kitchen. I’ve enjoyed trying some new dishes and flavors, but I’m also craving some comfort food. I saw this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs and am planning to make these next week.
• Bikini Body – I’m really proud that this awesome lady is a fellow Kentuckian. As women, I think it is important to take care of our bodies and appreciate them for everything they allow us to do. Whenever I look in the mirror and think my butt is too big or my calves are too muscular, I try to turn my thoughts to gratitude for my ability to walk and run and do all of the other things I love doing.
• These Booties – I’ve been eyeing these booties since September and tried to hold out until they went on sale – but that never happened! I broke down and ordered them earlier this week and have been wearing them nonstop since they arrived. I ordered them in the “putty” color, but if you like them in navy, I found them on sale on Abercrombie’s website of all places. *Disclaimer: They’d probably smell like the cologne your high school boyfriend doused himself in everyday. Anyways, I’m officially on the booties bandwagon (3 years after everyone else…)!
• Oh You Steppin’ – The health and wellness program where I work offered super discounted Fitbits for employees who sign up for a step-counting challenge, so as someone on the fence about the Fitbit craze, this was enough to push me over the edge. I’m one of the worst users ever because I don’t really like wearing the thing (honestly, it makes for a less cute arm party), so I usually take it off after I reach my 10,000 steps. While it’s amusing to see people marching around and swinging their arms for the sake of a few steps and free swag, if it makes people more conscientious about staying healthy, then I’m a supporter!

3,097 steps and a shameless arm party pic at work

Whether you’re staying in for the weekend or taking advantage of an extra day to squeeze in a quick trip, some of our posts earlier this week have you covered. Check out Sarah’s favorite new releases and my favorite podcasts.

Cheers and Happy Friday!

Laura

Weekend Roundup and What’s Cooking!

Happy Monday! On Mondays, Sarah or I normally share a weekend recap. However, this past weekend was pretty uneventful, which is A-OK with this lady. On Friday evening, I was planning to head to the gym, but I got a better offer I couldn’t refuse (AKA happy hour with a girlfriend). Then, Jay and I volunteered for Room In The Inn at our church later that night. I spent the rest of the weekend tackling housework, stretching it out at yoga, and snuggling with my pup.

Since that makes for a pretty boring blog post, I thought I’d share a couple of quick and easy recipes I made for EVERY member of the family to enjoy throughout the week.

Sweets are my ultimate weakness, so while I’m trying to cut back on sweet treats after the holidays, going cold turkey just isn’t realistic. These are healthier than a normal cookie, easy to whip up, gluten-free, and still satisfy my sweet tooth.

No-Bake Energy Bites

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or you could substitute a different chip, M&Ms, or raisins)
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine oats, chocolate chips, flax seed, almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract together in a bowl; form into balls using your hands. Arrange energy bites on a baking sheet and freeze until set, about 1 hour.

Like I mentioned, I made treats for the whole family. I found this recipe for dog treats while perusing Pinterest the other day and had all of the ingredients on hand. Annabelle is the first dog I’ve had that isn’t very motivated by food, but she LOVES homemade treats. Her favorites are the cookies from the Bluegrass Barkery, and it is safe to say that she likes these pretty well too!

Peanut Butter Dog Treats (via Damn Delicious)

• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups whole wheat flour, or more, as needed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted, beat pumpkin puree, peanut butter and eggs on medium-high until well combined, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually add 2 1/2 cups flour at low speed, beating just until incorporated. Add an additional 1/4 cup flour at a time just until the dough is no longer sticky.
3. Working on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 3-4 times until it comes together. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes and place onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. Place into oven and bake until the edges are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.
5. Let cool completely.

One thing I have to admit is that I bought a new cookie cutter for these dog treats. I only have holiday-themed and round cookie cutters, so I stopped by Williams-Sonoma to see what fun shape I could find. I decided on the fire hydrant. How cute is that?! They are out of stock online, but they had plenty at my local store. My mom is probably rolling her eyes – I know it’s ridiculous…

Cheers to a great week ahead!

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

Weekend Roundup: Wicked

One type of outing that I consider to be a special treat is going to see a Broadway show. I’m lucky that Louisville is home to the Kentucky Performing Arts Center and hosts a yearly Broadway series. This past weekend, Ryan and I went to see Wicked! This was actually my second time seeing the show. My first time attending was during my one instance of playing hooky in high school for my best friend’s birthday. However, this was Ryan’s first time. Knowing what to expect myself, half the fun was watching his reactions to all the jokes and big moments. Because of that, I think this time was my favorite!

If you aren’t familiar with the concept of Wicked, it is the backstory to the Wizard of Oz focusing on the witches. I loved the Wizard of Oz as a child and even went through a phase where I watched the movie almost everyday. As you can imagine, I was Glenda the Good Witch for Halloween that year. Wicked is such a fun, “adult” way to relive one of my childhood favorites.

I originally bought tickets for the show a couple of months ago, but due to some scheduling mishaps, we ended up not being able to use them. After being seriously bummed out and trying to woo the ticket office into letting me exchange them for a different time, we ultimately decided on trying our luck with the ticket lottery. KyPAC has this really cool program where you can enter your name into a lottery 2.5 hours before showtime for the chance to win up to 2 front row seats. And guess what–Ryan and I won!

If you’re a music nerd like me, then you know that front row seats technically aren’t the best for a musical. The acoustics in most performance halls tend to be better towards the middle/back of the orchestra level. However, this did not stop the experience from being completely awesome. There’s something really special about being close enough to be able to watch the pit and even see the details on the performers’ faces.

While the attire at most Broadway shows is mixed, I think that dressing up is a fun way to make the night a little more exciting. Since Wicked is a quirky show, I dressed accordingly in a black and grey leopard print dress (similar below), wine colored tights, and black booties. 

Loft Leopard Dress (on sale)

Do you have any favorite Broadway shows?

Cheers!

Sarah