Back in Action

OK PARTY PEOPLE --- I'M BACK!

It's been a long time since I've blogged and I'm not going to pretend that I had nothing to blog about. I've done a lot in the past two months, so much that I'm not sure I can cover all the bases. Well, I'll give it a shot. Since my last blog post....

• Ali and I hosted a Christmas Party.. if you haven't heard what happened on that fateful night, please call me. We need to catch up.
• I went to California for the first time to spend Christmas with Gregg's family! It was an amazing 2 weeks filled with wine tasting in Napa, skiing in Tahoe and exploring in a little city called San Francisco. Yaaaaever heard of it??
• My first assignment of the year was in Irvine, California and it was great. Lots of plastic looking people, it was awesome.
• I was able to work from home for a week so I've gotten to see a lot of people in Nashville, including my family... I miss everyone so much.
• Thennnn, my super sweet boyfriend drove up to spend the weekend with me in Nashville and then we drove to his place in Florida and spent a week there. We're officially comfortable with each other. We sat around, drank wine and watched tv all week. But by comfortable, I'm really just referring to the farting. You could point to Gregg and tell him to fart and he could do it on command. Boys are gross.
• While Gregg is gross, he's also pretty sweeeet. He took me FLYING on Saturday! It was so cool to see him doing what he loves to do.
• I have had a very active past two months and a great start to the new year. I've traveled, seen a bunch of movies, met new people, caught up with old friends, have eaten some AMAZING food (pictures below) and have checked quite a few things off my bucket list. I have to say that it's going to be hard to beat 2010 as it was one of the best years of my life, but I'm ready for even better. Bring it 2011.

Here's some pictures of some of the stuff I've been up to in the past two months (warning: mainly pictures of food). No clue where I actually was when I ordered most of this food, I just know it was amaze-balls. On an unrelated note, I need to lose weight.

 Ali and I at our Christmas Party. Third year in a row in those spandex pants. Got our $12 worth for sure!

 In-N-Out Burger. Those fries are done animal style. Pretty gross looking now that I'm taking a second look.

 Hmm? A yummy looking salad that I deemed picture worthy at the time. I'm sure I took a bite first and then rearranged it so it looked pretty.

 The sushi in Irvine was amazing! I was there with a coworker and we literally ate sushi every night.

I'm on an eggs benny kick. Got this at Mad Donna's in East Nashville. 2 for 1 Mimosas on Saturday and Sunday! Get it.

 Ali's BLT at Mad Donna's. I asked her how it was and she said "Ehh"... well at least it looks good.

Welp, believe it when I say that I MADE THIS!! Gregg was super impressed with my skills. We got fresh Mahi Mahi and baked it up reaaal nice.

 This is Gregg's fried crab. He wasn't sure how to eat it. We had two dinners that night.

TUNA!!! I am on a huge tuna kick these days. This was Tuna Steak from McGruber's in Destin. OKAY, it's called McGuire's.

The beautiful view from when Gregg took me flying!

Well, that's it kiddos. You are my amazing and relentless followers. You have been there from the beginning and you never stopped believing in me. So I am going to vow to keep my blog up to date and keep you in the know from here on out.

 Unless I'm tired or out at a local bar.

ALERT! I found another swanky place to eat in Harrisonburg!

Helllloooo, this is very important! I found another super cute restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg! It truly is a miracle! It's right near my other favorite restaurant, Clementine's!

They have a great happy hour with $4 wines, so you know I was there. I got the Tuna Tartare and it was delicious! Their happy hour is from 4 - 7 and there are some great deals.

Check out Beyond!

Where to Shop in Harrisonburg...

If you read my last post, you saw how awful my shopping experience was at the local mall. However, I went back downtown and passed the cutest little boutique! Again, I don't recommend coming to Harrisonburg for fun, but if you're here you should DEFINITELY check out The Yellow Button! Right now they're promoting their purses and they are super cute...

This is the Lucky Brand patchwork bag. Suuuper cute.

This is the Lucky clutch. Loves it.

Here is the Hobo Trinity Bag. Apparently T-Swift has been seen carrying this bad boy. This bag is bigger than her.

Definitely check out the store and their blog! All pictures are from their blog. :)

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Sorry for the lackluster name of this blog entry but that's really all I can think of. I've driven all around this town and I've searched high and low for something to actually do during my time here. I tried to go shopping and it was the saddest thing I've ever seen. The best shops were Spencer's and Claire's. So... I decided to wind down and grab brunch and I found the best place in Harrisonburg! It's called Clementine Cafe and it's on the square in Downtown Harrisonburg.

Clementine's motto is Food + Music + Art and it makes sense... There's unique art all over the walls and they have live bands every weekend. The music ranges from DJ's to Jazz Bands and on certain nights they even have trivia! If I lived in Harrisonburg, first of all, I might die, but really if I lived here, I would be a regular at Clementine's. Their brunch was amazing and they had great drink specials. There are couches so you can lounge and there's also a balcony area with tons of seating... so you can get a birds eye view of the band! P.S. This mimosa was amazing and it was $5. Suck on that.

This is what I ordered and it was AMAZING! It was shrimp and poached eggs with grits. Probably the worst thing for me but I didn't care. I'm actually surprised that I was able to snap a picture before I ate everything in sight. Ahh so tasty. It is literally the only thing I recommend doing in "The Burg". Just go there and eat and drink and listen to music and play trivia. There's nothing else to do so get ready spend a lot of time there.

CHICAAAAGO!

Almost a year ago, 4 of my girlfriends and I braved the Windy City in the dead of winter. When we told people we were going to Chicago for New Years, almost everyone called us morons. Well, the jokes was on THEM because we had a great time.

Well, thanks to Livingsocial.com, there's a GREAT opportunity to head to Chicago again! Escape to Chicago for the weekend! Grab your man or your girlfriends for an AMAZING weekend in Chicago! Here are the deets:

• Stay at the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue
• Two drink tickets at Base Bar
• VIP Shopping at Bloomingdales and Macy's (hellooo ladies)

Definitely read the fine print but if you're looking to visit Chicago, this is definitely a fun way to go!

You only have 4 days left to buy it so do it!!

Home Cookin'!

I've never been a good cook. Although, anyone who knows me well, knows that I really do try. But some way, some how, I will always manage to screw up a recipe. How does it happen EVERY time?? I mean, it's instructions. If I follow it from beginning to end, SURELY I'll make something delicious. Not really the case for me. And for some reason, all I want to do is cook!

Thanksgiving is coming up and let me show you what I'm going to (attempt to) make. Look at these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins! I am going to attempt to make these and bring them to Thanksgiving this year. The boyfriend will be there so I have to make him think I know what I'm doing in a kitchen. Looks fairly easy:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (yes, 1 1/4 cups)
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (Regular or mini, I like mini best) In large mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla and oil until smooth.

1. Mix dry ingredients together and mix into pumpkin mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
2. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake at 400 F for 16-20 minutes.

BOOYA... easy as pie. Yeah, I can't really relate to that phrase because I will certainly screw up a pie. But I really have faith that I can make these muffins. I will blog about my cooking/baking experience and I hope my muffins look like that picture. Mmm.

The next thing I'll try for our actual Thanksgiving meal is Paula Dean's Hashbrown Casserole. Amber Dale made this a few months ago and it was amazing. I gained like 5 pounds just from looking at it so beware.

Umm don't you just want to eat that right up?? Let's hope mine turns out half as good as Paula or Amber's.

Anyone have any recipes that are easy for someone as slow as me? Send em to me! It's time for me to learn!

San Antone :)

While in San Antonio, I haven’t been able to explore all that much. First of all, I’m sharing a car with a coworker. Second and most important of all, we’re opening a new property in San Antonio so we’re working really hard and by the time I want to explore, I’m exhausted. However, I’ve done two rather fun things here in SA! One of them is for my body and then other is for my sanity.

Bikram Yoga (or Hot Yoga) in San Antonio is the craze. I’ve been to both locations and they just opened one closer to where I’m staying so my coworker and I are checking it out tonight! So far, I recommend going to the Alamo Heights but I’ll let you know once I go to the new location. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of Hot Yoga. It’s pretty intense but once you get the hang of it, it’s so much fun. Don’t be afraid to try it out, even if you go by yourself. NOBODY is watching you or cares how well you do your poses. It’s actually a pretty vain form of exercise… you are encouraged to just stare at yourself in the mirror and work on your own strength.

The other place I’ve checked out here is Kona Grill. Kona is the place to be for young professionals. They have happy hour, which you’ve probably heard of, and then they have REVERSE happy hour! Regular happy hour takes place in the bar and on the patio and it’s from 3 – 7. And reverse happy hour is from 9 – 11. I’ve been there twice now and their sushi is AMAZING! There are Kona’s all over Texas so let’s just hope they expand and bring their deliciousness to Nashville!

The boyfriend is going to be here before I know it and we're going to explore this great city! We've got a few things to do and that includes the Riverwalk, Six Flags, SHOPPING (he doesn't know that), and plenty more. Our relaxing week together will likely turn into anything but that. Stay tuned!