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Blog Life
The Weekend…Brunchanista
Hi Pretties,
How was your weekend? Has everyone recovered from last Thursday night’s tv watching? Are you ready for this week? Too much fun! I’ve posted a fair amount on the blog about brunch. It is my favorite meal of the week! Luckily, for brunch lovers like me, The A has so many great restaurants to choose from. If you’re in The A and want an inexpensive brunch option, try Empire State South….
Sisterly Friendships
Hey pretties!!!
I’m back!!! I’m attempting to write this post without boo-hooing, but the weekend was better than I ever imagined. The theme for the brunch was Mimosas and Maxis. I asked my girls to wear their favorite maxi dress and they delivered. Such fashionistas! The folks at 4th and Swift prepared a beautiful and delicious brunch and never ending mimosas, even creating a personalized menu for the day! If you’re ever in The A, check them out!
It was my 50th birthday, but it was really a day to celebrate sisterly friendships because the word sister rang out over and over.
I commissioned these custom bracelets as gifts for the sister friends. The green bead symbolizes life, the purple bead for royalty, since Leos are Queens of the jungle, the dress charm for our fashion theme and the infinity charm for endless friendships. I’m a cookie monster so I also gifted the ladies these custom cookies. So pretty and so good!
It is essential that as women we form bonds with other women. These sister friends have stood by my side during the good, the bad, and the ugly that life sometimes brings-they have my back. These sister friends are family, friends, high school classmates, college classmates, sorority sisters, and co-workers, with many relationships 20 years or longer. My sister friends call me sister, lil sister, big sister, friend, confidante, cheerleader, mentor and of course diva…LOL I love them and I feel immensely blessed to have them in my life, thank you God. What a time we had! So happy!
Gearing up now for vacation, more to come on that!
Do you share sisterly bonds with a special group of women? I sure hope so! Have a great day my pretty friends!
Nikki Can Cook
Hello,
I hope the weekend rocked for everyone. It was kinda rainy most of the weekend, but the rain did not stop the fun. I scratched another thing off the bucket – a cooking class. Saturday me and some of my girlfriends attended Cooking and Cocktails with Nikki.
Cooking and Cocktails
Nikki Bell has been cooking since she was 7 years old. A self-taught Chef, Nikki was one of 16 home cooks from across the U.S. that competed for a $50,000 cash prize in the Food Network’s new culinary competition series America’s Best Cook. Nikki credits her love of cooking to her grandmother. She shared stories about cooking from the Betty Crocker cookbook alongside her beloved grandmother.
For Cooking and Cocktails, we feasted on chicken breasts stuffed with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat-cheese accompanied by couscous. Nikki guided us through this simple, yet delicious and nutritious meal. The chicken was moist and the stuffing was full of flavor. I’ve had couscous at some pretty nice restaurants, but this dish was melt in your mouth good. While preparing this fantastic meal, Nikki gave us tips on finding quality cooking utensils at stores like Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and Ross – checkout the home section at these discount retailers. She urged us to buy the freshest ingredients from a farmer’s market or from stores like Aldi.
To finish off our meal, Nikki prepared an “ice cream” of frozen bananas, apricot preserves, and almond milk using a NutriBullet. Y’all it was so good – I’m buying a NutriBullet as soon as they go on sale. I topped my ice cream with balsamic strawberries. Oh gosh, so good!
I asked Nikki what was her takeaway from her Food Network experience, “Don’t be afraid to go for it and salt your pasta water!”. This was a good experience and Nikki’s down to earth approach to cooking has me thinking yeah maybe I could whip up some stuffed chicken and couscous. Learn more about Nikki at her website Nikki Can Cook and grab a cookbook and some spices.
Link parties{here}.
More Or Less…Bottle Chillers
Hi there,
Yesterday I posted about my uneventful, anti-climatic trip to Trader Joe’s. But one of the best buys was my $2.99 bottle of Shiraz.
Shiraz
Are y’all familiar with Shiraz? It’s from Australia and is a popular red in the region. The flavor is bold fruity – blackcurrant, cherry, blackberry, plum, and raisin. Good paired with red meat dishes. And of course it has the antioxidant characteristics of red wines. If you’d like to sip a Shiraz and have a Trader Joe’s in your area, then try the $2.99 bottle – no big investment if you don’t like your bottle of Shiraz.
No matter what bottle you snag, you need a cute bottle chiller to keep your red at the right temp. Not cold but chill. This bottle chiller is nice for table side, just the right height. Both versions are nice but I favor the Less version with the round handles, just a better design than the molded handles on the More version.
Have you tried Shiraz or do you have a favorite wine? Which bottle chiller do you like?
Link parties{here}.
The Weekend And An Award
Hey there,
July 4th weekend was a lot of fun! I cheered on one of my really good friends as she did her first Peachtree Road Race. This is a huge (yeah 60,000 people) 6.2 mile race held every 4th of July in The A. I did this race in 2011 and it was so cool to be at the race again watching many folks doing it for the first time, but a whole lot of folks keeping a tradition. Of course, no holiday weekend is complete without good Mexican food and some spirits. I know, I know, Mexican food isn’t on my healthy eating plan, but somehow it’s becoming the norm for the weekend. I had a refreshing mojito and then posed for the camera too! And, I caught the 4th installment of Transformers. This movie did not disappoint, big – loud explosions, evil villains, great special effects, and the cars and trucks!!! I love the Transformer franchise but I’m wondering when will they have a female voiced Transformer? I’m writing somebody about this, girl power!
An Award
If that wasn’t enough fun for the weekend, sweet blogger Merrie at Petite Career Girl nominated me for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thanks Merrie!
Rules
1.Thank and link the amazing person who nominated you.
2.List the rules and display the award.
3.Share seven facts about yourself.
4.Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
5.Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you. (I follow Merrie’s Petite Career Girl already, so stylish and funny!)
7 Facts about me
1. Turning 50 will be my best b-day ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. I would buy a handbag everyday if I could. Here’s my dream bag!
3. The Walking Dead is my favorite sci-fi show and I would love a walk-on part of any kind, zombie or survivor!
4. Ok this may sound horrible and I don’t mean to offend, but ultrasound pictures are creepy. I’ll just wait and see the baby when it gets here.
5. TV Commercials/Ad critic- somebody has to pay for tv shows but some commercials are really bad. Love any Coke commercial, the AT&T kids, and Macy’s Christmas ads. I dislike all ads for Kia Motors!
6. Is there a job for a shopping travel writer? If so, sign me up, my two favorite things to do!
7. Blogging is the most fun I have all week. So many creative, stylish, funny, wise, and awesome bloggers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting!
I’m nominating these bloggers:
Becoming Fab
Who is That Girl Mo
The Striped Flamingo
Glow Kouture Style
Whitney Nic James
DeDivaDeals
Keysha L. Fashion Blog
Being A Wordsmith
Shabby Chic and Cheap
My Kurves
Mrs. Looking Good
Kishina’s Kurvy Korner
Nicole to the Nines
Saving Everyday with Sonya K
GlamCurvy
Link parties{here}.
More Or Less – Slate Cheese Trays
Hello,
Now that the days are longer and we’re entertaining outside, it’s time to pull out the outdoor dining serve ware. A cheese tray is a good piece to have for outdoor dining so I’ve curated two good choices, one more and one less. I like slate because it has that rustic feel, great for outdoors. What’s really cute though is using chalk to mark the yummies you’re serving your guests. These are fairly similar but I think I would go with the less version because it has the rope handles making it easy to carry from kitchen to patio or deck.
How To Select Cheeses
Once you select your slate cheese tray, you’re ready to assemble your cheeses. This handy guide will help!
Image via: Buzzfeed
Which slate cheese tray did you choose? And $225 buys a lot of cheese, enter The July 4th Star Spangled Giveaway HERE CLOSED!
Link parties{here}.
Sweet Weekend Fun
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Hello Pretties!
A lovely weekend it was for sure! I hope y’all hit the streets or stayed home but enjoyed whatever you indulged in! I had a ball this weekend. Started out Friday, enjoying some shopping and dining with my bestie. We hit up Dress Barn and I snagged the cutest pair of flip flops. Flip flops are usually very casual, but the metallic accents on these really dress them up! Of course shopping makes you hungry, so we stopped by Chili’s. Have you dined at Chili’s lately? They have gone hi-tech with the Ziosk tabletop device. You can order food, drinks, read the newspaper, play games, and pay your check, right at your table! I’m a gadget girl, so I thought it was super fun. Me and the bestie shared this yummy dessert with the biggest scoop of ice cream I’ve ever seen – so good!
I got my workout on with the Color Fun Fest. Oh this was a blast with a sweet group of friends otherwise known as Team Elevate, cause we’re all trying to be the best women we can be. The Color Fun Fest is a 5K run/walk where the goal is to get as colorful as possible. There were color stations throughout the course where the participants get doused in a different color. By the end of the race, we were a real rainbow. We did the night wave which was even better! A portion of the proceeds from the Color Fun Fest benefited Free Arts for Abused Children, HopeKids, and Flight For Cystitis Fibrosis – quite worthy causes. The Color Fun Fest visits several cities so if it comes to your city, sign-up and join the fun!
And Sunday was brunch with my sweet co-workers. We work virtually so it was so nice to get together in person. We had great food at The Shed at Glenwood and even better conversation. And this sweet treat, a homemade Ding Dong yeah, I know I just did the walk the night before, but that thang was sooooo sweet and chocolatey! I saved half for a sweet Sunday bite! Ended the weekend with a live chat with a sweet friend via Facetime! Love this app from Apple!
I feel refreshed and ready to take on the week. How was your weekend?
Link parties{here}.
