Throwback Thursday

Holllllla at Throwback Thursday!! I love myself some #tbt and I could never really put my finger on why until this afternoon when it dawned on me that maybe it has something to do with the fact that Thursday used to be my most favorite day of the week. When I was in college, I viewed Thursday as "the best day to go out", "the new Saturday", "an extra day it's socially acceptable to drink like a freakin' fish" etc etc etc. 

When I graduated college, I moved in with Erik, his brother, and Jeb.  They were all still in college. I was not. Every Thursday that year my heart broke into a million sad pieces of adulthood.  But as they say, time heals all wounds, not to mention, unlike in college, hangovers exist when you're 25 years old.

So let's throw it back to me & my 2 BFFs in all our college glory.

Here we are in our dorm room, pre gaming. I can tell because no one is looking at the camera and no one is wearing sweats.  Also note the poster behind us is a bunch of recipes for drinks.

Who needs wine glasses when you can drink out of the bottle?!

Yes, that is indeed a piece of bologna on her head.

And cue the theme party pictures...

Halloween! Sarah & I are 2/4 of the Wizard of Oz.  Ali is Bam Bam.  Not sure how we didn't convince her to go with the Wizard of Oz theme...

What college experience is complete without 1 or 2 or 10 Toga Parties and the same amount of mirror shots

Not quite sure what the theme of this party was but we're wearing bandanas and band shirts soooooooo

We threw a "Pajamas and Wine, So Divine" party for Sarah's 20th.

Ahhhh yes, and a white party/highlighter party or whatever the kids are calling it these days when everyone wears white and there's black lights and you write on people's white tees with highlighters.  Good times my friends, good times.

And here we are today, still best friends and toasting to that!! 

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Awesome Awesomeness

I have two favorite things right now.  These things bring me so much happiness with their awesome awesomeness, I was literally brought to tears.  

The Horchata Frappuccino. One night I was perusing Instagram when I came across a picture of a lady holding a horchata frappuccino. Quick side note: I LOVE HORCHATA. So the thought of a horchata frap existing was just too good to be true, and as Oprah once said, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."  I nervously typed "starbucks secret menu horchata frappucinno" into Google and tried not to get my hopes up... but like a shining ray from the heavens, there it was, a link to the recipe! I clicked on it. And then walked out from our bedroom, to the living room where Erik was sitting (and literally with tears in my eyes) told him the horchata frappuccino existed.  The next day I told my coworker about it and she said she was planning to go Starbucks on her break and asked if I wanted her to get me one. OF COURSE!!!!!!!!! Breanna, you are a saint. 

It was everything I could have hoped for and more. 

Here is the "secret menu" so you can grab yourself one of these bad boys.

Zumba. I got Erik an Xbox One for his birthday.  Actually it was his birthday/Christmas gift or late Christmas gift, however you wanna look at it, the point is I got him one!!! And like the kind man he is, he tried to get a couple games he thought I would like, one of those being Zumba. I fell in love with Zumba on the Xbox after witnessing Erik do it (he looked hilarious in the cutest way possible).  After trying it for myself, I was hooked. You literally cannot do Zumba without smiling because a). it's so fun and b). you know you must look like a complete fool but uhhhh don't care because you're having so much fun. Also if you wanna be all fitness-y and technical, it's a pretty decent workout too! 

And maybe I'll have your abs one day, lady.

So there ya go my friends, what's makin' me happy as a clam these days!

Speaking of happy... have the happiest of hump days!!

Erik's Birthday

Tuesday was Erik's 33rd birthday and I thought I'd be a super nice fiancé and decorate the house a bit for the celebration.  Erik leaves for work about a half hour before me, so I furiously put up streamers and balloons (the ones we had leftover from our Superbowl "party").  I left for work feeling accomplished, knowing that when he walked through the door after work, he would feel showered with birthday love.  When I got home from work that day, Erik had taken down some of the balloons and was using them as if they were balls to play with Kobe.  He had done the same thing with the Superbowl balloons, so I wasn't too appalled.  But after a few minutes he didn't mention anything about the birthday decor, so this went down:

Me: Do you like your birthday decorations?!

Erik: I thought these were still up from the Super Bowl.

Me: ------

I don't say any of this because it was his birthday BUT... THE SUPER BOWL WAS OVER A MONTH AGO. WHICH MEANS FOR OVER A MONTH THESE DECORATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN UP IN OUR HOUSE.  SORRY THAT I DIDN'T BUY NEW STREAMERS AND BALLOONS FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY BUT I THOUGHT YOUR KEEN EYE WOULD REALIZE THAT I HAD TAKEN THE SUPER BOWL STUFF DOWN A MONTH AGO AND PUT THESE UP SO YOU WOULD FEEL SPECIAL ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!!! GAHHHH!!!!!!

#birthdayfail #sorrycapslock #ilovemyfiance

Okay. Now that I've gotten that out, I feel a lot better.  I had told Erik that I would make whatever he wanted for dinner on his birthday and of course he asked for his favorite pasta, which I didn't mind because it's my favorite too.  Except on Tuesday, both of us had crazy stuffy noses and thought the delicious pasta would be lost on our tastebuds, so we decided on the next best thing, pho. 

When we got home, I made some cookies and topped them with ice cream because birthday cake is so overrated.

Erik questioned whether the cashier asked me if I was buying these candles for two 3 year olds.......haha ummm NO.

Yesterday we were feeling well enough to fully enjoy this pasta, so the birthday shenanigans continued!

Happy birthday, my love!

I'm Engaged!!!

While we were in Vegas, Erik proposed and I accepted  Then I walked around the rest of the weekend staring at my ring, still in euphoric disbelief I have a FIANCE! 

We got to Vegas Thursday evening, did some gambling, had some dinner, then went back to our room.  We had a great view of the strip, so as I was standing at the window taking 9238423202 videos & pictures of the fountains at the Bellagio, Erik came up behind me, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I think I said yes? And hugged him? I was so in shock. After he asked me to marry him he said some other things. Again too in shock to completely recall exactly what was said, but my heart was (and still is) so full of happiness & love!

The next night, Erik and I went out for a delicious Valentine's Day dinner.

Seriously the best flatbread.  Ever.

Can't go wrong with a puff pastry atop your soup.

The rest of the weekend was spent gambling, lounging, and shopping.  We also saw the Ultimate Variety Show & took a trip to the pawn shop where Pawn Stars is filmed.

I'll leave you with the yummy breakfast sandwich I had on the car ride home today.

See what I did there? ;) ;)

xoxoxoxoxo

Viva Las Vegas!

Good morning, friends!
Erik and I are off to Vegas today!  I pretty much want to quote all of the Hangover (the first one) but I'll spare you and just say I really hope our hotel is pager friendly.  Speaking of hotels, we'll be staying at Planet Hollywood, which is pretty fancy for my Vegas standards (my go-to is usually the Flamingo).
As always, I have big dreams of striking it rich and quitting my job upon arriving home.  I love myself some roulette, Let It Ride and slots (Wizard of Oz & Wheel of Fortune--I once won $250 playing the latter)
The weather is looking pretty prime for some pool time too. So if I don't make the big bucks, at least I can come home with a tan!

Can't wait to share deets of our trip when we get back!
Happy early weekend!

Meatless Monday

Before I get rollin' on this Meatless Monday post, let me say WOOOOHOOOO! THE SEAHAWKS WON THE SUPERBOWL!! Erik was under the weather all weekend & we were planning to go up to Phoenix to watch the game, but with him being Mr. Sicky-Sick, we decided not to go.  So it was a Superbowl party of two in Tucson; but that did not stop me from going all out on the food & decor (anything for a theme).

Pigs in a Blankie w Jalapeno Cream Cheese

(Vegan!) Spinach & Artichoke dip w Bow Tie Pasta Chips

12th Man Cookies

ANYWAYS. Back to the point. Yesterday, we "celebrated" our first Meatless Monday, and it was quite the success, if I do say so myself.  I made a vegetable lasagna, a recipe I stole from my gal Bethenny.  I changed it up a bit after reading the recipe wrong/not having all the ingredients/hating whole wheat pasta...

Ingredients

4 oz whole wheat lasagna noodles/4 oz regular lasagna noodles
15 oz part skim ricotta

Fresh basil, chopped, to taste (1/3-1/2 cup)

1 small jar of pesto

1/4 cup toasted cashews, chopped

4 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella (let's be real, I definitely used more than that)

Italian seasoning + Parmesan cheese 

Preheat oven to 350. Cook lasagna noodles & set aside.  In a large bowl, combine ricotta, basil, pesto, & cashews.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.  Spread 1/3 of pesto mixture into the bottom of the pan. Cover with half the noodles (I did whole wheat, regular, whole wheat, regular).  Spread another 1/3 of pesto mix (& I added some mozzarella cheese here) before adding the rest of the noodles and remaining pesto mix as the final layer.  Top that all off with mozzarella cheese, some Italian seasoning & parmesan and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and bubbling.

It was pretty delicious. Even my carnivore of a boyfriend went back for seconds!

xo

Get Your Mac & Cheese Away From Me, Lady!

This morning Erik & I were watching Food Network and they happened to be making homemade pudding.  One of the gals started saying how she loved the skin that forms on top of pudding and basically that's the only part she likes.  She "lives for it."  I was immediately taken back to my Grandma Nana's house in New Jersey and being served her homemade pudding.  And there was only one thing separating me from that delicious treat: the atrocious, disgusting skin (like HELLO, it's called "skin" as if that isn't gross enough).  

I started telling Erik about these traumatic experiences at Nana's house, where she'd serve me pudding & even at the tender age of 7, I felt very obligated to eat it, skin and all.  This got me thinking about all the other homemade foods people served me throughout my childhood, that they considered their specialties and bestowed upon me, that I absolutely hated but was too nice (& too scared, in all honesty) to say "HELL NO!" to.  Besides the pudding, I thought of 3 other foods (which ironically happen to be my three favorite foods) I was served over & over again as a kid and still haunt me to this day. 

Disclaimer: Both my Grandmas are mentioned in this post for serving me horrific food, but I swear everything else they ever made me was absolutely divine. Sorry, Grams!!!

My neighbor's homemade macaroni & cheese.  We lived in a townhouse in New Jersey, so we had one extended backyard where all the neighbor kids would play outside until it was dark. And every so often, our next door neighbor (whose daughter was my BFF at the time) would come outside with styrofoam cups filled with her homemade mac & cheese and hand them out to all us kids. WHYYYYY I never just said, "No thanks, I'm not hungry" or ran and hid in a bush when I saw her coming is so beyond me.  Like how do you even do mac & cheese such a disservice?!

My Grandma Grace's grilled cheese sandwiches.  Here I am sitting at my Grandma's house waiting for her to make me lunch and "OH NO! It's a grilled cheese" -said no kid ever, except me.  This lady could make theeeeee best chocolate chip cookies but when I saw that grilled cheese comin' I wanted to head for the hills.  She put margarine inside the sandwich, which kinda sounds good, but somehow, someway destroyed every grilled cheese she ever made me.

My other neighbor's homemade ice cream.  After we moved to AZ, I thought I would be free & clear of all neighbors serving me their homemade concoctions, until my friend's dad got an ice cream maker & thought he was the shizz. I was quite excited the first time I was served homemade ice cream. I mean, I love ice cream & I was a sweaty kid running around in the Arizona sun.  I took one lick and all I tasted was salt, sooooooooo much salt.  Again, it is beyond me why I didn't just scream out, "I'M LACTOSE INTOLERANT!" (which is not entirely untrue) each time the ice cream machine was whipped out again.

Am I the only one who faced these food dilemmas as a kid?! Yes? No? Yes? Probably.