happy friday!

this week has flown by & i've been a busy bee like usual! a few things that made me smile this week...

1. a night at my dad & stepmom's house with my siblings. we all ended up at the parent's house on tuesday night for a slumber party. dad made me a steak & we watched the CMT awards - i loved it. south charlotte seems like a mini-vacation at times!

2. i planned a surprise day for my mom & i on monday & i can't wait  to kidnap her!

3. i made some delicious clean cookies last night! recipe coming soon.

4. my sweet kristin sent me "how to kill a rock star" by tiffanie debartolo! i had ordered it a few weeks ago only to get an email from amazon that they couldn't fufill the order. so i was quite confused when it showed up at my door last night until i texted a pic to kris and she inserted the "blank stare" smiley. i love her. like a lot. (and i'm already 60 pages in!)

5. i have had 3 other really exciting things happen this week that i can't share yet - but more to come on them later! and another surprise (for someone else) coming tonight! i'm giddy!

6. lastly, this quote/tweet from rick warren. "i don’t have to know why everything happens since i know God is good, he loves me, and life on earth isn’t the whole story.”

have a great weekend!!

recipe: strawberry viniagrette dressing!

when i started eating clean, i stopped eating salads. salad dressings are full of all sorts of crazy things, and so it was just easier to cut them out. but a few weeks ago, i started missing my salads, so i went on the search for a clean salad dressing. i came upon this recipe for a homemade strawberry vinaigrette from the gracious pantry.

 

ingredients:

 

1/2 pound strawberries (momma got me some from the farmers market)

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar (trader joe's)

dash of salt & pepper

 

 

instructions:

 

throw it all in a blender & enjoy!

 

 

 

{i stored mine in an old salad dressing bottle}

{avocados & strawberries were made for each other}

 

so you know: 21 calories per serving, 2 carbs per serving. should last about a week before spoiling.

 

 

happy birthday lola!

 

today my sweet english bully turns 4 years old! she is spending the day at the barker lounge - the coolest doggie daycare in charlotte. they snapped this picture of her and posted it to facebook - i busted out into laughter at my desk.

 

i realized this morning that i don't talk a lot about lola on here much which is weird cause she's like my child. english bullies require a lot of care & attention, but it's totally worth it. she makes me laugh everyday & i can't imagine what life would be like without her!

 

so happy birthday to my baby girl - you will be getting a doggie cake from canine café when i get home! 

weekend recap!

after a low-key friday with a few glasses of vino at dilworth neighborhood grille, kelly & i woke up early on saturday morning to run warrior dash! i ran it last year for the first time and blogged all about it here. the course was different than last year - not as much mud/water. we heard someone got bite by a snake in the pond which is why the nixed it this year - yikes! it was a fun race but i think it will probably be my last mud run.

 

{before}

 

{after}

after the run we headed down to my parent's neighborhood pool & met up with court & lynde. we spent the day laying in the sun & drinking beer - it was awesome, minus my terrible sunburn. i'll never learn!

 

{it was really weird drinking at the pool i grew up at!}

once we had enough sun, we went back to our parent's house for a nap before dinner. dad & stepmom treated us to a delicious dinner at 131 main before we went back up to our part of town. there's nothing like a good steak to end a great day!

sunday morning i scooped up my mom and we headed to brunch at soul for nicole's birthday! brunch was delicious and so were the three million mimosas our table drank. soul is one of charlotte's favorite spots & it's always incredibly busy, so i was happy to get another chance to eat there!

 

{monster hash - sweet potato browns sautéed with sage rope sausage, garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and chipotles nested with 3 eggs, topped with white cheddar and served with fresh fruit}

i went to meet up with leigh, derrick, and court for a drink at jacks after brunch. after jacks, court & i headed back to meet up with the brunch crew that had now ventured into noda at jack beagle's. talk about a hilarious afternoon! after the old folks decided to hit the hay, us youngins decided to keep the party going back in plaza midwood. sunday funday strikes again - funny how it always starts out with my parents!

dear may, you rocked.

today we say goodbye to one of the best months of the year! it has been an awesome month for me. there have been lots of fun nights, amazing parties, yummy recipes, concerts, a trip to Michigan, and even my first 10k.

last night we went to selwyn in typical thursday fashion. court & i showed up after dinner at 5 church and immediately ran into two of our awesome guy friends that we typically see there on thursdays. my big sis from my sorority had texted me the day before that she was going to be in charlotte so i invited her to join at selwyn. my college roomie had also called earlier that day to say she was going to be in town, so meggie & britt came too. we ran into the girls that live on the other side of our duplex (that we love), and later in the night, derrick, kelly & steven all showed up.

i drove home last night with the biggest smile on my face. i love the randomness that life brings me on a daily basis. i got to spend last night unexpectedly surrounded by so many people i love from so many different parts of my life. college friends, my siblings/bffs, new friends, childhood friends. reasons like last night are why i never say no to a drink with a friend or a night out, because you never know where it may take you. i lose out on a few hours of sleep every week, but i wouldn't have it any other way. so thank you, may, for being one of the best months of my life. and cheers to summer & all the fun we're going have the next few months!

recipe: veggie packed burger!

i learned via twitter that this past tuesday was national burger day. half my timeline was filled with people tweeting about their yummy burgers and i got a serious craving for one. seeing as how i've never really made burgers on my own, i wasn't quite sure what to do. but i did know i wanted to throw some veggies in there.

i had been to the farmers market earlier in the day and picked up my weekly stash of veggies. i got a pound of lean meat (96%) from the teeter & some ripe avocados from trader joe's. i decided to use zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion in my burgers. i sliced up the zucchini with my mandolin and finely chopped about half a bell pepper & 1/4 of an onion.

once the veggies were chopped, i combined them with the meat in a large bowl and used my hands to mix & knead them together. i also threw in some sea salt & pepper. i separated them into 5 burgers and turned on the stove (my grill needs propane). i sprayed the griddle with coconut oil cooking spray from trader joe's and threw two burgers on at a time. i cooked one side until i could see it browning on all sides, flipped them over, let them cook, and cut into them to make sure there wasn't too much pink.

 

 

{my griddle is from ikea}

 

i topped the burgers with two small slices of raw goat's milk cheese, and homemade avocado spread (avodcao, lime juice, salt & pepper). YUM!

 

for my side, i made lemon & garlic okra. i simply cut up the okra into small slices, let olive oil heat in my skillet, and threw the okra in (it should sizzle). i squeezed half a lemon in & also sprinkled some garlic salt. i loved the flavor.

 

 

{that is samuel smith's organic strawberry beer - super sweet but refreshing}

 

not too shabby for my first go at burgers!



 

michigan weekend!

friday afternoon i hopped on a plane to detroit, michigan, to see one of my dearest friends. brittany (or brg as i call her) and i worked together in atlanta and quickly became inseparable to survive our workplace environment. i moved back to charlotte in april 2011, and brg moved back to michigan in august that same year. she came to visit me in charlotte for a weekend before she left, but i haven't seen her since then - almost 2 years! so i decided to make an extra long weekend and go see my brg!

 

i got in around 8:30pm and smiled big when i came down the escalator into this trippy weird light tunnel. i had been to detroit once before, but forgot about this little treat!

 

britt picked me up and we headed home to her new adorable house that she bought at the beginning of may - i can't believe how much she already had done! her house is about 30 minutes outside the city in royal oak, michigan.we spent the evening catching up & drinking sangria before crawling into bed. britt had the guest room all finished for me & even put one of my CHEERSPORT blankets on the bed to make me feel at home!

 

saturday morning we woke up and went to bodypump class at her gym, powerhouse gym. it ROCKED. now i understand why brg is so obsessed! after class we ran some errands including the most awesome place ever, westborn market. it was like the farmer's market // whole foods // earthfare all rolled into one place. after showering & prepping for the cookout, britt's two best friends came over for lunch. brg made a delicious marinade from scratch & we hung out on her back porch until it was time for the tigers game!

 

{ market & my colorful lunch plate}

brg works at the renaissance marriott in downtown so we parked there & ran up to her office to print our tickets. her office has a great view of the river! we walked to the game & i loved how close the baseball & football stadiums are to each other.

{ center building is brg's hotel // view from her desk // ford field // tigers stadium}

 

we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of baseball & beer! the stadium is gorgeous.

{brg & i // brg, darcy, me & lisa}

 

after the game we headed to a detroit staple in greektown, new parthenon. of course we had flaming cheese! we headed back to royal oak & called it a night.

 

{oompa!}

 

sunday morning we woke up late & went to brunch at what crepe - holy yum! i had the mexican with chicken instead of sausage - it was delicious!

 

after brunch we rand some errands and then drove down to the river to meet brg's friend ron. he took us out on his boat & we spent the afternoon drinking & laying in the sun - it was beautiful!

 

next stop was a cookout & bonfire at two of brg's friend's house - jerry & clio! they were wonderful hosts & fed us yummy burgers & clio even let us wear her clothes cause we were chilly. thanks for a great evening!

 

{we never wanted to get out!}

 

monday morning we slept in (again!) and made this frittata from scratch. we had no idea what we were doing, but it turned out to be really yummy. brg had been wanting me to paint a sign for over her bed - so we spend the next few hours doing that - i really like how it turned out!

after we finished arts & crafts, we went to royal oak brewery for lunch & beers. we had  pitcher of their vidal saison and really liked it. then we stopped at bastone brewery where i tried both of their seasonal beers - the smoked porter & the raspberry tart. extremely different beers, but i enjoyed them both!

tuesday morning came & it was time for me to head back to charlotte. i had such an amazing time & loved spending 4 days with my brg. when you're lucky enough to have friendships like ours, it doesn't seem to matter how much time passes between visits, it's like we never missed a beat. thank you britt for showing me around your city & letting me get a sneak peek into your life for a few days - i love you & miss you already!