Uggie

Gosh I love this adorable little dog. He's so cute!

 

Mini Calzone Recipe

These were a hit at a little Oscar's get together with some friends last night. Super simple to make and really tasty. The only thing I would change is that I put in 5-6 pepperonis per roll, and pizza dipping sauce is not optional! Glad to be adding a new appetizer to my party rotation.

Source: dailydishblog.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Spain Hotels Booked!

Exactly one month from today I'll be boarding a plane to meet Brian in Spain! Hotels are booked and itinerary is filling in, can't wait!

Nights 1 & 2 - Hotel Arts Barcelona



Nights 3 & 4 - AC Hotel Palau de Bellavista (Girona)



Night 5 & 6 - Dios Esta Bien (Peniscola)
I can already tell this one is going to be my favorite, for all it's charm! We get a balcony too!



Nights 7, 8, 9 - Room Mate Emma (Barcelona)

Shiny New Machine

It certainly must mean you've hit a certain point in your life when a new dishwasher gets you excited. Seriously? Yep. We just had this lovely installed today and I "won" the stainless battle vs Brian's arguments that we could put in an all black one, even though our fridge and stove are stainless. It helped that our friend Megan also backed me when asked, stainless vs black. It's all about the future re-sale and catering to what a buyer is going to be looking for. She knows, they just bought a place. So, Megan and Amanda vs. Brian won out.



Anyway, to his credit, the fridge and stove do have black accents (mostly due to the restrictions in size and therefore options because of the builders of the house- that's a whole other story though). So, this new dishwasher also has the "matching" black accents. Here's to hoping that we no longer have to practically wash the dishes before putting them in there, and that everything comes out clean and spot free on the first try. They should, because of course Brian never buys anything without doing his due diligence and researching the heck out of it. Consumer Reports guru. Ugh, I sound so old and boring, talking about a dishwasher on my blog!

"All" that's left in the kitchen is a new hood/microwave combo, new light fixtures (this is actually a whole house project that will likely start in the kitchen/dining) and new tile floor.... stay tuned later this Spring, perhaps. Of course counters/sink/faucet would be lovely, but not on the "soon to do" list by any means. We're thinking the wood tile route, which I really like (for kitchen, foyer, and bath actually). Brian gave his nod of approval when looking at pictures of it, but I have to be honest when I say I have no idea the cost of said tile. At least our spaces are relatively small, which will help my "case."

Source: trendir.com via Amanda on Pinterest

(Disregard the patterned tiles in the above. No Thanks.)

Source: Uploaded by user via Amanda on Pinterest

Bubba's Jambalaya

Brian whipped up a tasty jambalaya this evening. It was the first time we've ever tried this recipe and it was a winner for sure. We modified the sausages a bit so I revised the original recipe for our modifications, below. My only suggestion was more bacon next time, because who doesn't love bacon?! I liked the flavor and crisp it gave. I also said I could forgo the chicken but he didn't think so.

Ingredients

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound cubed cooked ham
• 1/2 pound cubed cooked chicken
• 2 Andouille sausages, sliced into small pieces
• 1 Spicy Italian sausage, sliced into small pieces
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with liquid
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1/2 pound salad shrimp (we did not include this as I do not like shrimp)

Directions

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon pieces, and set aside. Add celery, bell pepper, and onion to the bacon drippings, and cook until tender.
2. Add the ham, chicken and sausage to the pot, and pour in the tomatoes, beef broth and chicken broth. Season with thyme and Cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil, and add the rice. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.
3. Stir in the shrimp and bacon just before serving, and heat through. If you use uncooked shrimp, let it cook for about 5 minutes before serving.

Ceiling Medallions

Ceiling Medallions as wall art, as pictured in March 2012 Better Homes & Gardens. Not the first time I've seen this idea and I plan on implementing it around here sometime soon- including the grass mat background as well. These were given the antiqued finish with brown shoe polish. Medallions and grass mat pinned here and console table here.

Things That Make Me Smile on This Friday Afternoon!

1. Getting the results of a mole biopsy just a few hours ago and even though the Dr. said "this looks fine," when removing, actually hearing the results and knowing everything is OK! Phew!

2. Having Brian back in town and heading to The Med for a dinner date.

3. These new boots. An investment piece for certain.



4. Hanging bedroom curtains last night. Yaaaaay! More to come on that soon.

5.  It's Ries's 5th Birthday today. She doesn't know any different and continues to sleep the day away, per usual. As I cuddled up to her warm little 10 pound self this morning, I whispered Happy Birthday and she wiggled away and burrowed under the covers. I guess her method of celebrating is sleeping longer than usual.

6. World-class customer service from West Elm last night. Related to the curtains and a wrong shipment, credit, no charge, etc. I never in a million years dreamed it would have been as easy and accommodating as it was. I'm a sucker for places with amazing customer service and they blew me out of the water.

7. Booking hotels for Spain this weekend. Lots of discussions and excitement!

8. A Girls Night Out tomorrow. Always a good time!

9. My sweet brother buying my Mom flowers for Valentine's Day. He's such a good guy!

10. Dave Matthews Band touring again this summer! Already on board for the July 11 concert in Michigan with my brother and friends. Can't wait!

Happy weekend!

Sophia Grace & Rosie at the Grammy's

"We weren't nervous but we were hungry!" "I got hungry, so we're having a little snack." Cracks me up...

This Weekend

With Brian out of town, I always try to fill up my weekends so I'm not sitting around bored. Of course I'd much rather he was home and enjoying the weekend with me. I was feeling particularly "woes me" with him being gone on this trip, and wishing he wasn't gone so much, so I did a pretty good job of filling up my social calendar to get out of the house.

Friday I had to make some returns at the mall and I treated myself to some Panera (mmm, mac n' cheese) and a leisurely roam around Target. Good night in my book.

Saturday I was up and at em' at 7:45 am to meet Tiffany and her sweet girl Logan for an IKEA outing. It was my first trip to the Colorado store. Somehow you manage to find all of these things you NEED and I'm not even sure how I spent $128. But, I did. And I ended up with pillow cases, a shower curtain, candles, and some other random things that I just "had" to have. Oh, and a project like one of these will be in the works soon to make a new nightstand. The "Campaign Style" furniture is big right now.

Source: designmanifest.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I also took a look at a couch I am considering. Young House Love has it and they love it, so of course it must be great! It was nice, but the cushions in the back might be a bit too low, and that's likely a deal-breaker as I realize how much I do actually rest my head back when lounging around. So, we'll have to see and likely make another trip down south to check it out again when Brian's in town. It's a running "joke" in our house that if John and Sherry have/do something, it's practically the "gospel." I've even hooked our roomies on YHL, as they are in the midst of buying a house and gathering all sorts of DIY ideas.

Karlstad Corner Sofa in Lindo Beige

Then, I made a little visit to World Market and West Elm (I adore that store- wish there was a closer one!), before heading down to dinner at a friend's new house. Eight of us spent the night laughing and talking, having a great time as always. I didn't get back home until midnight so it was a long day. And being a master sleeper, I managed to clock 12 hours and did not get up until Noon on Sunday. I'm not ashamed, "professional sleeping" runs in my family- we're experts at it!

I did a whole lot of not much on Sunday, I actually woke up with a bit of what felt like a head cold, which has thankfully gone away. I went and got another Spain guide book for Barcelona as I'm still struggling with figuring out the trip and where we're staying. And to be honest, I'm really struggling with whether I'm going to like Spain as much as Brian does and how it will compare to Rome- which I found to be absolutely amazing. I cannot fathom that Barcelona will even come close to comparing, but Brian says Barcelona is his favorite city in the world. I think I'm a little afraid that I'm going to be let down. I hope not!

In other Spain related issues, it's no secret I have some "feet issues" with my bunions and finding comfortable (yet stylish- very important!) shoes, especially when I'll be standing/walking a lot. It's pretty brutal. Brian said I could not take my tennis shoes to Barcelona, I would look like a tourist. Newsflash, I'm pretty sure I'm going to look like one ANYWAY! Hello, blond hair and blue eyes, fair skinned American. Anyway, he gave his "seal of approval" on some "stylish" kicks and I just received these, which I actually really like. However, I'm still baffled as to when he became the "fashion expert." And of course, I'm irritated that when I just went to the site for the below picture I see these shoes are on sale. Gah!

Nike Eclipse Natural Motion

I also bought my first pair of TOMS. We'll see how they are on the comfort factor.

TOMS Burlap

Anyway, enough on shoes. I was a complete couch potato and sat around watching the Grammy's all evening. I love Adele. Who doesn't? The girl deserved all six of those awards. Other highlights? Paul McCartney, of course, and Bruno Mars surprised me with his Motown influenced performance. I also like Civil Wars, who did the brief intro for Taylor Swift. I have never heard of them before. As a matter of fact, they're actually performing on Jay Leno right now too. Good stuff.

That's all I have for my weekend. A long day of work today with The Voice and Smash this evening (couch potato 2 nights in a row, oops!), a Valentine's Day without my Valentine tomorrow, as well as tuning in to Parenthood, and finally he'll be back late Wednesday night. We have nothing on the calendar for the weekend yet, but I have a few tasks up my sleeve that I want to tackle. Hopefully it warms up and melts what is left of our snow, as I'm sick of seeing all this white stuff. And sick of Ries taking forever to go to the bathroom, to be honest.

That's all I have for now...

Grammy Awards: Sophia Grace & Rosie

Yesssss! Can't wait until their "reporting" segment comes out on Ellen on Tuesday.

Cooking Light Salsa Chicken

In an effort to be better about cooking for myself when Brian is out of town I actually planned out meals for this week. Salsa Chicken, Garlic Chicken and Broccoli, and Taco Salad. This Salsa Chicken recipe is awesome and extremely easy to make. A must for me, as I'm no chef extraordinaire. For those of you who know my hot 7 layer dip, I think it tastes like that. Yum!

Salsa Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
• Cooking spray
• 2/3 cup bottled salsa
• 2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• 1 (4-ounce) can whole green chiles, drained and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
• 2 tablespoons sliced ripe olives

Preparation
 

Preheat oven to 475°.

Combine chicken and seasoning in a medium bowl, tossing to coat. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Arrange chicken in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with salsa, cheese, and chiles. Bake at 475° for 8 minutes or until chicken is done and cheese is melted. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 1 1/2 teaspoons olives.

Words

There are no words to explain the loss we experienced in this past week. Last Saturday we lost a dear friend to a heart attack. Joe was only 41 years old, went into the hospital with some chest pain, had some tests run that came back OK, called a friend to come and pick him up, and then went into cardiac arrest right then and there. We lost a friend. A member of our "family" here in Denver. Life just isn't fair.

We spent days crying (oh, the tears we all shed!), planning (a memorial), drinking Leslie's (that's rum and diet- Joe's drink), surrounding ourselves with friends, eating pizza 5 times in one week, brainstorming about a foundation that will be started in Joe's name, and attending three days of memorials and funerals in Denver and St. Louis. Well over 200 people at each of them. I would say you have to know our industry to really grasp how many lives Joe has touched and come into contact with over the years. From traveling on the road as a TD to his latest job as a Sales Manager at the convention center. Joe knew a lot of people. What is amazing is that Joe made an effort to get to know so many people and keep in touch with them. It's a tribute to the kind of person he was. Always a smile, a hug, the life of the party.

Me, Joe, and Brian at Joe's 40th Birthday Party.

And now, unfortunately he's left us all way too early. This past week sucked. My Mom never let us say "sucks," it was a bad word, but there's no better way to describe it. Point blank. Thank God for our tight knit group here in Denver. We could not have gotten through this without each other. Friends spoke funny and kind words, sang songs and played instruments (Joe was the lead singer in our friends' band), and ultimately friends literally carried Joe to his final resting place- the hardest part. Joe was our family and we were his. That's just the way we are. His Mom said it best when she said they were always a little jealous of all of us out here in Colorado with him. Jealous that we got to share his love of life day in and day out, and jealous of what our group "has." It's true. We spend holidays together, mark important life events like new babies, engagements, and weddings, share birthdays, kickball teams, picnics in the park, and just random evenings making our own fun up as we go along. It's special. I would be jealous of it too.

Such a great family, always having fun!

So, pardon my silence for the past week, but we've been dealing. Taking a step back. A reality check. Putting life into perspective. Coping. So many things. There were so many phone calls that had to be made to friends across the country. Then there was the traveling, coordinating, and coming together to celebrate someone's life. It was an unfortunate way for a "reunion" to happen in St. Louis, but such an awesome outpouring of love for Joe and his family.

And if I can leave you with any parting words, it would have to be these, as I watched Joe's family struggle to fill in the blanks and piece together the puzzle. Write down your wishes. Have a will, even if you have "nothing" to will. Someone needs to know who gets the dog. The furniture. The computer. The keepsakes. It's true. Your passwords and accounts. Have them documented and in safe keeping. Tell someone where this information is. God forbid something should happen, the last thing that you want your family to deal with is figuring out how to get into your e-mail, banking, Blockbuster on-line (yep, it's true), etc. It pained me to watch Joe's Mom become so overwhelmed with how much she had to figure out and take care of from an "administrative" standpoint, and she didn't have a clue where to start. Nevermind the fact that she is simultaneously grieving over the sudden loss of her son. And finally, check your health. 41. Young. Active. You just never know...