family fun & a phillies game

we have been busy, busy, busy!! on monday night shawn & i met up with my mom and my brother to celebrate what would have been my dad's 60th birthday!! i can hardly believe it! it is impossible for me to picture what he would have looked like at 60...he never seemed to age.

 the second photo is my favorite photos of us. at a luau party, eating clams=) a great memory!

happy 60th dad!! you are loved & missed everyday<3

*****

last night was another great date night for shawn & i! we had tickets for the phillies exhibition game. although they lost, & we were absolutely freezing, it was soo much fun!

shawn looks like a dad with his hat;) hahaha

this week flew by! i'm happy tomorrow is friday! what are your weekend plans?

xo,

kiwi changed my life.

have you had the kiwi experience?

kiwi frozen yogurt is the best, most creative idea ever! upon walking in, you choose your cup size.

then you walk along the line of yogurt dispensers & choose your flavors.  there were about a dozen or so different flavors.

can you tell we were excited? a little piece of heaven on earth!

 i started off with birthday cake, quite possibly the best flavor out there.

 after choosing all the flavors your little heart desires, you choose from a very large variety of toppings, including fresh fruit, granola, brownies, cookie dough, reese's peanut butter cups, jelly beans, jimmies, etc, etc, etc...

then you weigh your cup and pay 49 cents per ounce, which roughly equaled $6.00...the most delicious $6.00 ever spent =)

 the finished produt included: birthday cake, red velvet, pomegranate, chocolate & peanut butter swirl, topped with one brownie, one cookie dough, some chocolate sauce, some peanut butter sauce and some granola for a little crunch!

amazing!! it's probably a good thing this is not close to my house;) perfect date night in my book!

and as you can tell, it was absolutely packed.

*****

yesterday was an amazing day spent shopping and catching up with my best girls. we topped it off with dinner at wegman's & frozen yogurt at kiwi, followed by a pocketbooth photo shoot of course!

ps- if you live near a banana republic, run there now to experience the amazing sales that are happening! you will not be disappointed, i promise=)

i hope you had a great weekend! enjoy sunday funday=)

xo,

need a laugh?

this is so funny that tears were running down my face! my brother emailed this to me last night & i just had to share=)

hope it made you smile!

xo,

new recipe

this past weekend, my awesome momma had us over for dinner (which was amazing!)..she sent me home with some basil. and while i love basil, i don't often use it. so i was in search of a recipe that used basil in order to use it up before it went bad. i found an easy recipe on cooks.com that didn't have any fancy shmancy ingredients. thus: chicken baked with lemon & basil...

it was really quite simple & turned out delicious, so i do recommend it! i altered the recipe slightly to make it healthier.

you will need: 

2 boneless chicken breast, sliced in half

one clove of garlic

4 large basil leaves

salt & pepper to taste

olive oil

lemon juice

Directions:

-slice the garlic in half & rub the halves in the bottom of a shallow baking dish. leave the garlic in the dish.

- place the sliced chicken breasts in the pan.

- top with basil.

-season with salt & pepper.

-drizzle with olive oil & lemon juice.

-bake at 400 for 30 minutes, turning half way through.

use your judgment for the olive oil & lemon juice, i used about a tablespoon & a half of each. i served it over brown rice with some savignon blanc. (we were out of green beans! i wanted to make lemon green beans for the veg :/ )

the jury (shawn) decided that this dish is worth making again - this got me to thinking: maybe grow my own basil this summer? brushetta galore, yummmm...

in other excting news: wednesday is coming to a close which means one thing: tomorrow is thursday, one day closer to the weekend! woo hooo! 

the boy & i were thinking about going to see limitless this weekend.  have you seen it? what did you think? bradley cooper is too cute for words & rumor has it the movie was filmed in philly?

i hope your week is flying by! le weekend is just around the corner=)

xo,

date night

tonight the boy & i indulged a little and went out for sushi, which is something we haven't done since my birthday waayyy back in december.  this past summer we discovered a little hidden secret of a BYOB sushi & hibachi grill not too far from our home.  the best part? on monday's & tuesday's the sushi is half price! so today after work, i rushed home to fit in a work out before readying and when shawn arrived home, we were off with our savignon blanc in hand.  i tried a  new sav. b. by monkey bay, a wine out of new zealand, and let me tell you...it was delish! very light & refreshing, a perfect pairing with sushi. afterwards, we stopped at barnes & noble (mainly because i had to pee & knew i couldn't wait til we got home).. i had to force myself to put back 4 books, no lie. it is so hard for me to not buy a book! but i must save every dollar for this weekend's shopping excursion with my psu girlfriends!anyway, i'm starting to think that monday night is a perfect date night! especially with a cute boy, good wine, & half price sushi =)

hope you enjoyed your first monday of spring!

xo,

and the obsession continues: MORE celebrity engagement rings

at this point, you may have noticed my slight obsession with anything shiny & pretty. i have had a few posts showcasing some of my favorite or some of the most unique celebrity engagement rings. here are some more....

first up: jennifer garner - her ring is huge!! looks like an emerald cut with baguettes & eternity ring.

 celine dion's upgraded ring, this thing is amazing!

 i love penelope cruz's sapphire and diamond halo ring.  next to diamonds, sapphires might be my favorite!

 i loveeee rachel bilson! her ring is very sweet...is she still engaged?!

simon cowell and his fiance - what do we think of this one?

and lastly, my favorite ring yet:

emily maynard's engagement ring from weirdo brad womack! obsesssseddd with this 3 carat total $50,000 diamond, cushion cut...perfect!

which one is your favorite?

i hope you are enjoying this beautiful 1st day of spring=)

xo,

Japan

thoughts & prayers to japan. i know how hard it is for everyone but every bit counts! if you can, go to livingsocial.com and right now you can donate $5 & they will match your $5 for a total of $10 going to the american red cross!!

do it!

*****

tomorrow is friday & i am so thankful that it is almost the weekend! tomorrow will also be our warmest day yet, temps in the low 70's! can't wait!

hope you had a great st. pat's day=)

enjoy your friday..

xo,

on top of the world

ever wake up feeling amazing? like you were on top of the world?

i did today!

i hope that you are feeling great, too:)

xo,

so, about that..

i was so excited to finally watch due date this weekend..and immediately after clicking "publish post" on friday's post, i ripped open the red netflix envelope to discover: 

cop out? 

ummm, while i'm sure this movie is wonderful & funny, this is NOT what I was expecting. soooooo instead, we watched the hangover for the umpteenth time.  never gets old! i love that movie (even if i fell asleep 40 minutes into it!) honestly, i needed to get my zach galifianakus fix!

i guess i'm not the only one who is super excited to watch due date, because netflix has notified me that it will not be available until march 22nd...ok, i'll wait..

in other recap info: i am very happy to report that my recent brooks purchase was indeed a good one.  brooks is by far the most comfortable & supportive running shoe i have ever experienced.  if you are looking for a new running shoe, i very highly recommend brooks!

on the job front: i have nothing new & excited to report:(

it is depressing, and i'm sad about it. 

but, i saw this:

while i may not have the dream job, (or dream car, dream house, etc...) i, by no means, live a tough life. i have the best boyfriend a girl could ask for, some pretty fabulous girlfriends, & and an amazing family. i can say that, job stress aside, i am happy..and more importantly, healthy.

i hope you had a wonderful weekend!

xo, 

due date

i'm so excited to watch:

DUE DATE!

due date has been at the top of my netflix list for a while and it finally arrived this week!!!

the boy & i are hunkering down with some popcorn and some blankets. 

aren't friday night movie nights so fun once in a while??

but before show time, we are going to fit in a little gym time . .

have a wonderful weekend!

xo,

in like a lion

march is here in full force. the upcoming weather is predicting floods and downpours..yuck!

can we fast forward a week or 2?

*****

i splurged a little bit & i cannot wait until my purchase arrives..which according to my shipping date, SHOULD be tomorrow.  allow me to introduce my new running buddies:

brooks glycerin 8

 

can't wait to start training with these bad boys..haha

in other news - today is ash wednesday! and so, being the good little catholic that i am, i finally (at 7:30am) decided what to give up for lent! my afternoon snack & any/all desserts.  this is a win/win. give up something that i have EVERY day, and hopefully, slim the waistline;) in addition to this, i also like to do something nice everyday. so i will also be making sure to say something nice to someone. by the way, that is a great color on you! ;)

so happy it's wednesday..the weekends do not come quick enough!

goodnight!

xo, 

sunday funday

tonight we had a little family dinner - shawn, chris & me!

chris is shawn's best friend and he is easily one of my best friends as well.  chris does so much for us, so every so often i like to make him a home cooked meal to thank him for being such a great friend!

tonight i made his favorite: baked ziti with sausage, garlic toast, and caesar salad.  best part: chris brought the wine! thanks chris! he brought my new favorite red: un4seen which is a blend of zinfandel, malbec, petit verdot, and merlot. it's tres delish! i highly recommend it!

i hope you had a wonderful weekend! happy sunday funday to you =)

xo,

girl put your records on

still loving this song =)

*****

i have had blogger's block for about a week now:/

i hate it, because i honestly love blogging! but i sit down & nothing comes to mind. .

so, i thought i'd do a list of random things about me!

here goes:

1. i am naturally blonde, through & through. (just get some highlights once in a while.)  i laugh at myself at least once a day!

2. i have a plethora of useless knowledge regarding celebrities, names of people from high school, song lyrics, people, places, things, outfits worn, food eaten, smells, etc...

but i can not tell you anything worth while, haha. unless the above list is worth your while=)

3. my favorite place in the world is central park, nyc.

4. i am the biggest animal lover.  i've never met an animal that i didn't like, or animal that didn't like me!

5. my biggest fear would be a tie between spiders and those million legged creatures that flutter across the floor late at night.

6. i love to read.

7. my best friend is my boyfriend & i think that our relationship is awesome!  i never knew that i could ever get thisclose to someone.

8. my favorite movie is "the holiday". i could watch it back to back & not get sick of it.

9. my favorite memory is from a trip to nyc. in was mid january and shawn & i took a train ride to the city.  we spent the day walking around, shopping, eating and drinking.  it occurred to us that neither one of us had ever been ice skating at rockefeller center. so we finished our drinks, hopped in a cab and we were off to go ice skating!

 10. i love to run & plan on running a marathon. i think it would be awesome to call myself a marathoner!

*****

i hope you are enjoying your weekend!

xo!