A Weekend in Photos

This weekend I got to spend with a lot of my favorite people in two of my favorite cities.  It's been interesting trying to balance my time between two cities, but I think I'm finally getting it down.

Friday night the roommate and I had dinner with his aunt at New Albanian Brewery.  The beer was good as always and the pizza was amazing!  I'd heard stories on how great their deep dish is, and it did not disappoint!  It's too bad that it's all the way across the river and takes a solid thirty minutes to get there.  It won't be on the regular rotation, but it's great for a change of pace.

Saturday marked the third (is that right?) NuLu Fest down on Market.  I met up with Beth and JD at Louisville Beer Store to grab a Zombie Dust and start out the afternoon.  The weather was gorgeous, if not a little hot.  We did some browsing, drinking, and catching up.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  

{I had to snap a pic of the infamous Goatman for my mom.  She swears I made that story up.}

{Met up with these fools for a bit.  Always a good time with them!}

There were some awesome things to see, the above chalkboard wall included.  I love that some people took it seriously while others did not.  I really enjoy the whole melting pot atmosphere of stuff like this.  There were a few things on the wall that are on my bucket list.  And definitely a few that aren't.

{Lunch stop}

It was a great afternoon, and I didn't want to head home, but I had lots planned for the evening!  I made some roasted vegetables and headed to Lex-Vegas for Heather's 40th birthday party!  Good times were had celebrating the birthday girl!

While I was in Lexington, I made a stop at Courtney and John's new house to catch a peek at their new place!  All I can say is that I have back yard envy!  Love it and I am so happy for them!

After what was probably the worst night of sleep I've had in years (I wound up on the couch), I set out to do what I've been wanting to do since it officially became fall...make a huge pot of chili!

This pot was kind of a chicken chili and taco soup fusion.  I found it on Pinterest and doctored it up a bit to suite my tastebuds.  It was very fitting for the rainy day that I spent watching football, cleaning the house, and doing absolutely nothing of importance.  It was perfect.  Actually, since moving to Louisville, there have been a lot of those perfect weekends.

Change sometimes is just what you need to spur the change you need in yourself.  I'm glad I've been fortunate enough in my life to do so.  And I'm glad I'm still close enough to my roots to go back when I need to.  

To (mis)quote one of my all time favorite movies, Empire Records, I've been feeling a bit like "the old guy from the Karate Kid" these days.  And I like it.  

Until next time, happy Monday, y'all!

Friday Fives

It's Friday, and man, did I need this day to get here!  Lucky for you that means I'm linking up with April, Christina, Natasha and Darci for another Five on Friday link up!  

So here's what's made my week wonderful:

1.  Living in a new city with fun community events.  The last Wednesday of every month in the summer, Waterfront Park puts on a free concert for the entire city.  Most of the time, I have no idea who any of the bands are, but it's more about the people watching anyway.  It's also a great excuse for me to play photographer and take shots of something besides my dog.

2.  Strong women in my family to help guide me through some of the more difficult days.  I'm so lucky to be surrounded by women that showed me very early on how to take care of myself, to do the right thing, and to take things as they come.

3.  Perfectly timed drum transitions with a huge build up, punctuated by the high hat.  Gets me every time.  Some of you will know exactly what I'm talking about, some of you not so much.  I can't really define that moment in a song and how it makes me feel, it's just one of those things you have to be in the midst of to understand.

4.  When I slow down long enough to stop and take the picture I want.  Sometimes I see things that I want to photograph and talk myself out of stopping what I'm doing and busting out my good camera.  Most of the time, when I actually do, the end result is exactly what I envisioned.  Above are a few examples.

5.  Speaking of photography...this lens is what I've been coveting these days.  If only I could justify spending that much money.  Riley needs a fence first, though.

I hope everyone has as good of a weekend as the one I have planned!  happy Friday!

I should rename this blog "The Weird Things I Cook"

Last night, in my continued quest to eat healthy and use all the food already in the house, I came up with what might be the ugliest dinner I've ever made.

I'm sure you're wondering what the hell that is.  Well, it's an artichoke, onion, and cheese scramble served with a side of sweet and spicy pickles.  It sounds absolutely awful, but it was actually quite delicious.  So here's what is actually in that grayish tinted scramble that turned out so yummy:

Four eggs

One slice of Swiss cheese

Half of a can of quartered artichoke hearts, chopped

One quarter of a Vidalia onion, chopped

A sprinkle or two of Parmesean cheese

A healthy sprinkle of onion powder

I mixed all of the ingredients except the Swiss cheese and cooked it all together.  Once cooked, I cut up the Swiss and mixed it in to melt.  A minute or two later, and voila, the ugliest dinner ever!

So when I was throwing together all of the ingredients, I was thinking spinach and artichoke dip (minus the spinach, since I didn't have any).  I don't think it tasted like that at all, but fortunately it worked out.  That usually doesn't happen (see Tuesday's salmon croquette experiment).  I'm just glad it worked at all.  At one point, I was looking at the uncooked concoction and getting a little nervous/grossed out.  

I also realized I'm turning into my mother.  My childhood is peppered with memories of awful, made up dinners based on what was in the house.  I swear, the older I get, the more I sympathize with her efforts to not go to the grocery.  

What have you made on a whim that worked out better than you thought?

What's a-happening, hot stuff?

Things have pretty calm here in the past few days, just like I've wanted them to be.  Mainly this week I've been trying to get back on track with my diet since I spent the weekend and part of Monday eating all the cupcakes I could fit in my face.  Also, I vowed to eat all the food in the refrigerator before I go to the grocery store again.  It's a bit challenging when trying to eat healthy.  I'm one of those people who always wants what they can't have (i.e. the toy my childhood friend had right before I bit him), so limiting my dinners to things in the house that are healthy has been entertaining (for me; no one else in the house seems to be interested in this adventure).

Monday's dinner was salmon that I've had in the freezer for a few weeks months.  I baked it in a bourbon barbecue sauce and served it with Greek flavored quinoa and peppered brussel sprouts.  It was underwhelming.  Frozen salmon isn't all that great.  Won't be buying that again.

Tuesday was another failed attempt to eat the remaining salmon, but this time I made it into croquettes.  Turns out that you can't make mediocre salmon better by adding breadcrumbs, Old Bay seasoning, and eggs.  The veggies were good, though! 

Other than a workout with my trainer friend Ann (she's awesome if you're looking for a trainer in the Louisville area, let me know), I've spent most of my time working on my photography.  And by working, I mean taking terribly inartistic shots, attempting to edit them enough to look decent, and getting frustrated because I don't know Photoshop very well.  

This goes back to my mention earlier of failing to follow through with anything.  I started to read about how to use Photoshop, but then I found a football game.  And promptly fell asleep while watching it.  So easily distracted!  One of these days I'll figure it out.  Until then, I'll go by trial and error.  I kind of like that method, even though it's so opposite of my type A personality!

See, not really artistic.  But kind of funny that there was a leaf, just chilling on my console when I got back into my car the other day.  

This is another reason why I love fall, the silly little pieces of it that float into the mundane parts of my day and make it so much more enjoyable.  It's always nice to have a reminder to stop going through the motions and appreciate what's going on around you, not just to you.

I'm trying to remember that more and more every day.  The nice weather certainly helps.

Until next time (when I might be feeling a little less philosophical), have a great week!

I already miss Sunday, or things I ate this weekend.

This weekend wasn't anything particularly picture worthy (since my friends hate being my subject matter), so I give you...What I Ate This Weekend!  Feel free to go back to your day now...  Anyway, for those of you that are still reading (seriously, you have got to have something better to do), here it goes.

Cheese ravioli with olive oil, rosemary, broccoli and Parmesan.  Recipe is exactly as it sounds.  For something that I totally made up from what I had in my house after discovering that my marina sauce had molded, it was pretty freaking delicious.  Sidebar, this is an example of why I never get around to posting my recipes...there aren't any.  I kind of make it up as I go along, eyeballing all the measurements.  This is also why all my pictures are not pretty and well planned.  I am nothing if not ill prepared for this so called blogging thing that I do on occasion.

My Great Bagel replacement.  This is the Heartbreaker from Baby D's deli on spinach.  Good, but as the group of twenty somethings sitting next to me on Saturday morning proclaimed, "It's no Great Bagel."  By the way, my bagel obsession has a hit an all time low (high?).  I got a bagel for breakfast on Sunday when I was in Lexington, AND a second one to take home for lunch.  I have a serious problem with carbs.  Moving on.

One of these days, I'm going to do an entire series on Pinterest fails.  This would rank right up there with the best of them.  So, I decided to test out the "lower the temp and fill the cupcake liners fuller" pin (as well as another one that I'll get into another day).  Fail.  Big fail.  As in mutant looking cupcake fail.  These babies are not going to win any beauty pageants, that's for sure.  Whatever, I don't really care because they were delicious.  So I ate four.  Yep. This is why I am not buying any new clothes any time soon.  I will get back to my normal, relatively healthy eating habits one of these days.  Probably once I master this whole not smoking thing.  Until then, I'm giving myself a break and forcing myself to get some exercise.

Anyway, there was also some awesome food not pictured (Adam and Kate's shrimp boil) that I will maybe post about some other day.  But let's be honest, I'm terrible about remembering to do these things.  So we'll see.

Hope everyone is enjoying this awesome weather!  

Friday Fives!

Linking up with these girls found here!  Here's this week's five things I'm loving...

1. Fall Decorating, even though I have to start over.  So I bought five different pots of mums a few weeks ago with the intention of decorating the front porch.  Fast forward two weeks later and they are already dead.  I still haven't bought the pumpkins yet either.  But below is the look I'm going for.  We'll see what actually happens.  Or if it happens at all.  I am the worst at following through with this kind of project.  But it makes me happy to think about it!!!

{Stolen from Pinterest via this website}

{Another Pinterest steal, originally here}

2.  Porch decorating in general.  I finally ordered some cute pillows for my front benches, and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.  According to Pottery Barn, they should arrive sometime between now and January. Yes, you read that correctly. I'm not sweating it, but I thought that was funny!  Moving on...

3.  Upcoming party plans.  This weekend I'm heading back to Lexington for a "Fest of Ales" party celebrating my friends Kate and Adam's engagement.  Super excited to drink some tasty brews and see some friends!  I think I'm going to bring this beer with me and not even worry about the insane amount of calories it holds!

4.  Breakfast bagels.  I am seriously obsessed with Great Bagel on campus in Lexington.  I will be getting breakfast there this Sunday, no matter how tired I am.  End of story.

5.  Upcoming baby arrivals!!!  My friends Mary and David are super close to the due date for the arrival of their first child, a little girl!  I can't wait to meet her and buy some pink stuff with bows!  Yay babies!!!!

Those are five of this weeks things I'm loving!  There are a slew more, but these are at the top!  What are you loving?  Have a great weekend!

Thursday Photo Dump

I have nothing new of note to share today, for no other reason than I've been pretty boring this week.  So, here's some terribly old photos that aren't really worth sharing.  Ha ha, I lured you here with the pretense of content.  You've been had!!!! 

{Fourth of July, circa 2012?}

{I was going to do cute front porch decor for fall.  Fail. Dead mums must be replaced first.}

{My fortune broke}

{More days like this, please}

{Spicy little peas of happiness}

{Kinda missing my blonde hair}

{Also kinda miss this light fixture from the old house}

Have a safe and thirsty Thursday!

I love Sundays! They're phenomenal!

Since I've gotten (ahem) a bit older more mature, Sundays have become more and more my favorite day of the week.  There is something about the menial Sunday tasks that lowers my anxious heart to a slower rate.

 I spent yesterday driving back to Louisville from Lexington, napping, actually paying a decent small amount of attention to my fantasy team, doing laundry, and cleaning up from the past week.  Something about getting my home in order always makes me happy and at ease.  I venture to guess it's because I'm crazy.  I mean, I don't enjoy scrubbing base boards, mopping, etc., but I love wiping down counters and generally just putting things away.  I guess I'm more of an fan of organizing than cleaning.

Anyway, this weekend wore me out, but it was worth it.  Friday night was spent at Iroquois Amphitheater watching Frightened Rabbit and The National.  It was also a nice reminder of just how great it is to live in a big city (bigger venues for more awesome shows).

{Crappy iPhone photo.  Was not aware you couldn't bring SLRs and had to take mine back to the car.}

Saturday came very early and getting to the stadium from out of town was a nightmare.  I forgot how lucky I was to avoid all of that mess when I lived minutes from the stadium.  It doesn't look like I'm going to very many more games this year, so I'll have to perfect my route asap.  The tailgating was awesome, the game wasn't too bad, and the weather was amazing!  I have a lovely tee shirt burn to prove it.  The rest of the night was spent running around Lexington trying to see all of my favorite people.

Alas, morning came too early again but was greeted with a bagel from my favorite bagel place in the world.  I am in serious withdrawal when it comes to some of my favorite foodie haunts.  Don't get me wrong, Louisville has amazing new food that I'm finally able to try without a long drive home, but sometimes I miss my go-to places.  So that brings me back around (in a round-about way) to my original theme for this post...Sundays.

This Sunday was good.  I loved it.  I loved the alone time.  I need more of days like them in my life.  But for now, Monday is looking pretty good too.  Dinner plans with my gal Al Sal should provide a nice break continued disregard for my diet.  

FYI, for those still wondering, I'm still not smoking (although I may have had a puff or two this weekend).  I almost don't remember to want one most of the time.  Except when I'm having multiple drinks.  So I'll be avoiding all of that until Saturday to make up for this weekend's transgressions.  Still considering myself totally kicking this habit's ass, though.  Woo hoo!

'Til next time!