Florida

Long time, no talk!
*crickets*
haha.
I went to Florida with my family for 10 days and I've never seen a more beautiful state. We stayed in Kissimmee, spent a LOT of time in Orlando, drove through Tampa and went to Clearwater Beach!
It really was perfect and I can't wait to go back but next time, with my hunny!
Here's a few of my favorite photos from the trip!

I'm getting really nostalgic while looking at these! Especially the Hogwarts pictures. Man, these parks really are the definition of magic.

Sunny Florida

I don't think I'll be posting any recipes anytime soon (not that I really was anyway. Life is BUSY over here), but that's because Saturday morning at 5 AM I'll be heading off to the Sunshine State, Florida!!
Hopefully when I come back I'll have lots of fun drink recipes and restaurant reviews to share!
I'm so excited and am already in full blown vacation mood that I can't seem to focus on anything else!
At least tomorrow is a holiday!

 Disney World!

Clearwater Beach!!!

Quiet Days

On February 5th, my Grandma died. We were extremely close but her health had been declining for years, so it wasn't too surprising, but still hard none the less.
Anyway, we didn't have a funeral for her... but Saturday morning we had a "Celebration of Life" for her which was nice.
There were so many people who gathered together in honour of her and it was actually quite emotional.
What mattered though to me, was that my Grandpa started out really nervous because he's not one for planning big gatherings, but in the end he was super touched that so many people came.

I was supposed to make John's big birthday dinner on Saturday night but after the Celebration, I was feeling worn out and emotional so I opted to make it Sunday instead.

So on Saturday night, this is what my evening looked like:

And the following morning was quiet with coffee, bacon and eggs:



Sometimes after an emotional event, those quiet moments are just what the doctor ordered!

Celebration Dinner: Instagrams

Me and John both found out some great news last Monday about getting new jobs!
He's been looking for a while and finally received a new Marketing job furthering himself in his field which is amazing and I received a position as a part time Weather Anchor... so naturally over the weekend we had to celebrate!

So on Friday night, we went out to the Keg, enjoyed a few glasses of Vino and I had my new (obsession), Lobster Tail! So so good! I always snubbed lobster before because it was sea food and I didn't think I was a fan, but holy moly is it ever good. It sort reminds me of buttered popcorn because when you take a piece of the lobster and dip it in butter, it really just tastes like butter. Haha but it's amazing.

Overall, great date night!

Chicken Dinner

 Raw Potatoes... I liked the way it looked with the olive oil and spices.

This was the dinner I made for John's Birthday. Overall it was a complete success
Buuutt, kind of a funny story with this one...
First of all, there was no "bag" of organs inside the chicken (gross) but I saw a few different "blood clots" ...I'm not sure if it was a liver or what, but I got paranoid and decided to scrape out the junk on the inside. Let's just say my stomach was turning the whole time. I'm not sure how I managed to eat this baby after but I did and it was really good!

Also, when it was in the roasting pan, grease started spitting ever and the oven started smoking!!! I was so scared, I thought I was going to burn the house down! So I called my Step Mom panicking at a loss of what to do and she told me to pour a cup of water in the pan and turn down the heat. So I basically had it cooking for an hour and a half at 375 degrees. And doesn't it look good? It was tender, juicy and FULL of flavour.

Here's what I used:

A whole chicken
Poultry Blend (Basil, Rosemary and Thyme)
2 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
a TON of salt.

I rubbed salt all over the chicken (especially in the breast) as per Camilla's instructions. Then I cut slits in the breast and stuffed in a garlic clove each, a stem of thyme, rosemary and basil.
Pour a cup of water in the roasting pan and then put in your chicken. Cook for around an hour and a half and maybe rotate the pan halfway through if you wish.

For the veggies/potatoes:

Turnips
Parsnips
Carrots
5-10 garlic cloves (preference)
Potatoes
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

Cut up all your veggies to around the same size so they cook evenly.
Peel your garlic cloves and set aside.
Pour your veggies (EXCEPT for the garlic) into a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the veggies and add salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.
Mix EVENLY.
When you have about 30 minutes left for the chicken to cook, put the veggies in on a pan in the oven mixing occasionally.
The chicken might be done before the veggies, which in my opinion was a good thing because it allowed time for the chicken to sit on the counter in TINFOIL and cool and soak in all the yummy juices.
Let chicken sit for 10-20 minutes.

When you have about 10-15 minutes left for the veggies, add the garlic cloves in with the veggies.
(the veggies and potatoes will probably take about 45 minutes to make)

This turned out really well for me, hope it works for you!

Red Wine

Lately, I find myself craving the simple taste of Red Wine.
Don't worry, I'm no alcoholic... but isn't there something so warm, comforting...perfect about a delicious glass of red wine?

It tastes fantastic with dinner.

It's a perfect addition to a romantic night.

And it's a nice compliment to a really good book.
Red Wine, I think you and I could be great friends.

John's Birthday

I LOOOOVE Birthdays! And the most important person in my life has one coming up next week!
So, naturally, I'm planning a delicious dinner this weekend considering we'll probably be going out with his family on his actual birthday... plus it will give me more time to be domesticated. Haha.
I was debating going out for a nice dinner or cooking at home, but after a little conversation with John, I decided to just cook. It'll be much more special that way and it'll save me a bit of money! :)

I've decided to make John a gourmet meal consisting of a delicious (hopefully) roasted chicken, potatoes, vegetables and salad and you KNOW we're going to have red wine.

I'm also going to make cake batter martini's while the food is cooking to cheers to his birthday!! I really hope it turns out.

Image/Recipe Via

I've gotten the majority of these ideas from one of my favorite bloggers, Camilla. Be sure to check out her blog! She always has delicious recipe ideas that are heart (and waistline) happy! :)

Hopefully, my chicken will look something like hers (from Camilla's site):

And I plan to make the following with it:

Yummy Green Salad that I've actually made before (friends of mine, don't be fooled... I'm not trying to "get a ring on it". It's just what she titled the salad)

Roasted Potatoes (explanitory)

Root Vegetables

And I'm trying to figure out if I should make ice cream sandwhiches with John's favorite ice cream or if I should go to Coldstone's or DQ to pick up an ice cream cake.

I love birthdays. :)

Cheesy Quinoa Bites-Fail

Last night after Hot Yoga, I decided to make Cheesy Quinoa Bites.

image via

The original recipe makes I believe, 28 bites. And considering I was only cooking for myself, I had to drastically cut that down to say... 9 bites. Also, the original recipes calls for 2 eggs when mixing everything together... and I put in one egg (which I thought would be the obvious move) however, the final recipe was a little too eggy for me.

Other than that, they were pretty good. I'd make them again but if I did only the 9 bites, I'd mix together the egg seperately and then put in... a quarter of the one egg. Haha.

Anyway, I suck and didn't take pictures because I didn't think they were very photogenic (considering I dropped them in the oven before I put them in...I obviously managed to save them though cuz I'm a hero.)

Have a great day. 

Pinterest: Home Decor Ideas

Lately there has been some pretty amazing changes in mine and my boyfriend John's lives (see below), I can see us moving out and getting our very own little home soon.

So you can see why my Home Decor Pinterest Board is overflowing with lots of fun ideas.
I can't wait to put them to use hopefully sooner than later.
Here are some of my favorites:

 This Bedroom. I dream of a white bedroom with either bright coloured or even soft coloured accents like brown or beige (or for bright: yellow!)

 This Foyer. I'm such a sucker for bright colours... and I love the way this is organized.

 This house in general. I could totally see me and John living in this...however, doesn't it almost look to perfect and adorable? Le Sigh.

 This kitchen times a million. I am in love with hardword floors and white furniture so this is perfect. (p.s. I could only find Tumblr as a source. If someone could tell me where it's from... much appreciated.)

Do I even have to tell you why I looooveeee this livingroom? I'm obsessed with yellow and hardword floors. Le perfect.

And last but not least, this organizational shoe staircase. I have so many shoes but I hate more than anything that they take up so much space and cause clutter (gross). So this is just awesome.

Those are a few of my favorite Home Decor Pins... let's hope I can put them to use soon... and be able to cook allll thee recipes I want! :) 

Pinterest: Favorite Recipes

Skimming through my "I'm Hungry", Yummy Drinks, and Sweet Treats boards on Pinterest, I thought I'd show you first some of the recipes I've found that look great to me and can't wait to try!! 

Don't worry my work will come to life shortly but for now, I need to gather inspiration!

And don't worry, sources (titles of food) will all be linked! (hopefully I'm allowed to post these images on my blog... let me know if I'm wrong?)

 Roasted Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage Ravioli with Crispy Sage Brown Butter

 Black & Blue Mojito (I LOOOVE Mojitos!)

 Breakfast Braid with Jalepeno Sausage from my FAVORITE food blogger (I made this recipe and it was truly amazing)

 Cake Batter Pancakes

 Chicken & Tortellini 

Cheesy Quinoa Bites

Hope you enjoyed! And maybe you could make some of these and link back? I'd love to see how they taste.. however I'll probs make anyway to try out for myself :) 

First Post: A Pinning Life

I took a couple of stabs at blogging and was losing my overall joy in the activity... Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love reading other people's blogs but I just wasn't feeling the passion in my own. I thought that I needed a more exciting life in order to create a more exciting blog. 

One day, I was on my beloved Pinterest pinning a TON of recipe's which I loved the look of, but had yet to try. 

That's when it hit me!

Why waste all this time pinning recipes that looked delicious but never actually stepping into the kitchen and seeing what they tasted like?

I thought, hey! That's actually a really great blog idea. Taking the recipes I've found on my Pinterest and blogging about them. Actually keeping track of my progress on Pinterest, working on my cooking skills by trying ahhhmazing new recipes, and working on some photography skills with the nice camera I never use!

And you never know, if I ever find any cool DIY projects or Home Decor ideas on Pinterest, maybe I'll post them here to? 

You can find my Pinterest Here

Follow along, won't you?

So Many Things

There are so many things I want for this little blog of mine.

I would love somebody to design a blog for me (of course with my input and to reflect on my personality).

I would love to be able to afford a better camera so I can post my musings in crisp and clear photos.

I would love to start fresh with a new blog, but while looking back on some of my old posts... I don't know if I can.

Maybe I'll just keep this little blog of mine but start a new fresh one?

I wonder if my small group of followers would follow me over to my new one?

Any Advice?

Food

All I can think about is food right now.
I'm sitting at work absolutely STARVING because I'm trying to limit my carb intake (so of course, the only type of breakfast food at home was CARB filled) so this morning I had an apple and an atkins granola bar.

I don't know about you, but in order to look good, but most importantly FEEL good, is a LOT of work.

I don't have time to cook in the morning! I get out of bed at the last possible second but if that weren't the case I'd LOVE to make some eggs. And maybe work out. Which is completley non existant in my life (again).

I love food more than anything and all kinds of it! Sometimes, I don't want the healthiest option on the menu, I just want a burger! But then of course, I know I'm going to pay for it after.

Anyway, this is just a silly post that doesn't mean anything. I know I should eat healthier and get exercise blah blah blah, but I DON'T WANT TO!

Fashion: Striped Invention

This is the outfit I wore to work today. It looked cuter in person... I feel like the pictures make it look sort of sloppy. I swear it wasn't!

Tumblr Images

Here are two completely different images I found on Tumblr that I absolutely love.
Enjoy!

Fashion: My Taylor Swift Dress

This is my version of a Taylor Swift mock!
I saw this in Suzy Shier and HAD to buy it!


Side note: Excuse my nutty little sister in the background!