On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 5

So the weekend was met with mixed reviews. We had a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite steak houses, went to the opera, not so much. It wasn't as theatrical as we normally like, the singing was great, but they also only had a piano and a drummer, normally the operas we have been to, have a full orchestra. We decided to leave after the intermission and enjoy a nightcap before heading home. It was fun to run into Sister S and her husband who were enjoying dinner with friends in the dining room.

Saturday I spent the morning running errands, getting my nails done (SO glad this is part of my "me" routine again). I also picked up a new laptop, loaded with Windows 8. Ugh, big learning curve. My mom had wanted to get a new laptop in November, I had asked her to hold off until either myself or my sister could get our hands on the new operating system since I knew it was vastly different from previous versions. Boy am I glad I asked her to wait. I spent three hours on Saturday just getting used to the tiles, getting things organized and figuring things out. I like it, but it is going to take a while to get used to things. Saturday night was our 5th Annual Winter Whites event for the wine club. It was a blast, so many fun new people, great food, wine and the best part, just a great night seeing some wonderful friends!

Sunday was spent running more errands. I decided it was time to change up my skincare routine so we headed over to Sephora for some advice. I am going to try things out before I recommend anything, but so far so good and we received excellent service. It had started sleeted while we were on our way and by the time we came out (after a couple more stops at J.Crew and Banana Republic - awesome sales!) it was coming down HARD and the ice nuggets hurt as they hit! We made one last stop at the grocery store and then of course it REALLY started coming down. Plans for dinner got postponed and we got a red box movie, made a fire and settled in for the night.

We, luckily, don't have a ton of plans this week, but we have a ton of things to do at home.

Monday
Plans - Home, errands, laundry
Dinner - Beef and vegetable fajitas, white rice and cuban beans

Tuesday
Plans - Dinner with L & J
Dinner - she is such an awesome cook

Wednesday
Plans - Home, sister J coming over to work on a project for a friend
Dinner - either chicken stir fry or salmon

Thursday
Plans - Maybe a movie and dinner out
Dinner - Possibly out

Friday
Plans - Home, looking forward to a night in, maybe HH with the neighbors
Dinner - Salmon

Saturday
Plans - Birthday party for our friend M, and, he just got engaged while on vacation!
Dinner - WA Frost

Sunday
Plans - Celebrating G & G's birthdays! Going bowling and out for pizza!
Dinner - Super Bowl, honestly, not sure if we will even watch it. . .

We have three movies left to see that have been nominated for best picture in preparation of our Oscar party, Amour, Les Miserables and Life of Pi. We watched Beasts of the Southern Wild on Sunday. Ugh, I wanted to like it, but we could not even get through it. The little girl who has been nominated for Best Actress was wonderful, I can totally understand that!

For more meal plans and links to recipes, check out the Orgjunkie or the Stone Gable.

Meal Plan Monday! Week 47

This week is a short week, but a fun holiday week! And we are hosting Thanksgiving, so it will be full of prep for that as well!

We had an awesome weekend, starting out with a wine HH with a former co-worker who is hopefully going to start working with me soon! It was nice to unwind and relax on a Friday night.

Saturday was spent running errands in the morning, a haircut in the afternoon (a new salon and stylist and I LOVE it), lunch with sister J for her birthday and a little shopping and then we got ready and headed to the wine event. It snowed really good most of the day and evening Saturday. Thank goodness we had gotten a valet for the wine event, it made life so much easier, for everyone! It was a really fun event with a wonderful turnout. We held the event in the community room of a beautiful building in Minneapolis. Our friend J lives in the building and is just about completed with a redecorating of her condo, which is turning out fabulous, I need to take photos when it is all done, but it is being done in a monochromatic gray palate with some beautiful features, I just LOVED it. This is the chandelier above her island, OH MY!

 

Sunday we slept in a bit, which was very nice and then headed to brunch and to get some errands done. We tried a new brunch for us, Santorini's in Eden Prairie. We have been there for HH and dinner and really enjoyed it, but brunch was also very good! Errands consisted of Costco and such. We got what we needed for Thanksgiving Thursday, mainly veggies in large quantities including a 20 lb. bag of potatoes, oh my!

We picked up friend J and sister J and headed out for dinner before the best part of the weekend. Downtown was crazy and we had to do quite a bit of wandering around to actually find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. I have never seen downtown like that on a Sunday night, but with the Vikings in town, getting done around 4, and then, the best part, the Zac Brown Band at the Target Center starting at 7:30 the restaurants were packed. We finally found somewhere and enjoyed a really nice meal together before sister J and I headed to the show. Next time I will know better to plan and make reservations, but I seriously did not think a Sunday was going to be a problem!

We did make plans for New Years Eve as well which I am really looking forward to. Two years ago we had a big table for a late seating at one of the best steak houses in Minneapolis and we decided to do that again. We had some wonderful wines, wonderful food and spent the night ringing in the New Year with good friends. I am looking forward to doing that again. 

Zac Brown Band in concert is unbelievable, their music via cd, the radio, streaming or whatnot does NOT do them justice. They are true musicians and their harmonies are incredible, it was by far one of the best concerts I have ever been to. I did not want the night to end and I will definitely go see them again and would not mind paying for good seats, it was absolutely incredible!

With the contractors over and working on the basement, they have been using the 1/2 bath, and leaving the seat up. The boy and I are not big fans of this at all, we never were prior to Stella, but with her fascination with water we figured it best not to tempt her. We have come home to water all over the walls and bathroom floor a couple of times now, and every time you head into the bathroom she has to be right there checking things out, she cracks me up!

We have a pretty low-key week which is perfect for getting ready for Thanksgiving! I am looking forward to getting things crossed off of the Ta-Da list! We also have contractors working on the basement this week. They should be finished with getting the main room mudded, taped and sanded. So then we will just have trim, painting, carpet and cabinets left. I am hoping that comes together pretty fast, but we will see. My goal is by the end of the year. I would like to have friends over New Years Day for a football party!

Monday
Plans - Set table, get out serving dishes and label, organize dishes for cooking
Dinner - Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Chobani Mustard Sauce , rice and butternut squash

Tuesday
Plans - peel and mash potatoes, blanch green beans and prepare bundles, blanch brussel sprouts, make corn pudding
Dinner - Slow cooker White bean and Kielbasa Stew

Wednesday
Plans - Pick up turkey and final items needed for Thanksgiving
Dinner - Park Tavern for burgers and bowling

Thursday
Plans - Host our first Thanksgiving!
Dinner - Appetizers - Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip, Stuffed Baby Portabella Mushrooms, Parmesan Crusted Goat Cheese with basil oil, veggie tray (sister is bringing), Main course - Turkey (no recipe yet), Green Bean Bundles, Apple and Turnip Dish (C from Canada is making and bringing this), Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Creamy Mashed Potatoes (what I love about this recipe is that the Pioneer Woman made these ahead of time and put them in the oven), Wild Rice Stuffing (using this recipe but adding mushrooms and sausage), Scalloped Corn, Gravy (mom is making), Cranberry and Pear Sauce, jell-o salad (mom is making at niece and nephews request), rolls (sister is bringing), lefse (mom is bringing, Dessert - mom is making three different pies

I am sure it seems like a lot, but I think it will all go over pretty well. We usually have a couple of appetizers, then a late lunch, then pie, then we eat again later. Without the basement, I am just hoping we can keep the kids occupied long enough so that there isn't a fight over wii and the football!

Friday
Plans - My niece is spending the night Thanksgiving, so we will go and do some shopping, maybe get our nails done and then wait for the boy to get off of work and then go have dinner and see a movie. There are SO many good ones out, I am having a hard time deciding between Arthur Christmas, Hugo, and The Muppet Movie. I heard from my sister that she has been Muppet crazy lately so I am guessing that is the direction we will be going in. I am also really excited to take her to see War Horse. She is horse crazy and I just know she will love that film.
Dinner - out - Nieces choice

Saturday
Plans - We have a huge list of things that need to get accomplished before the next weekend. One is getting the house decorated. I need to get all of the Thanksgiving down and put away and get the Christmas up. This has to happen this weekend as our annual holiday party is the next weekend!
Dinner - Osteri I Nonni (I made reservations for 5:15 so that we can enjoy an early dinner and maybe a movie)

Sunday
Plans - Brunch at Jax with my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday. Start getting appetizers ready for the following Saturday, plan shopping list and menu, set table, get platters and serving dishes ready.
Dinner - it better be leftovers, we will need to make space in the fridge and I am sure we will still be full from brunch!!


Super busy week, but with work being more manageable, working from home most of this week and the house getting more organized, things should go pretty smoothly!

More Wine Events!

After our brown bag night, we had a big day planned. We started off at the University of MN football stadium for Taste! the Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine wine event. It was an absolute blast. The big phenomenon in the Twin Cities this summer has been all of the wonderful food trucks. They have been written up everywhere and a ton of people have raved about the food. They brought in about 15 trucks and had a contest where people voted for their favorites. All I have to say is I was so excited that they chose to do this so that I could sample a little bit of everything at once. It was hard to choose a favorite. It was also nice to get some food in our stomachs before hitting the wine after the night we had before, the food was definitely appreciated.

We also got to go down onto the field and check things out.

Here are a few of the favorite wines from the day!

After the Taste! event, the boy and I headed home for some rest before my sister and the kids came over. My brother in law has a good friend that he grew up with that plays in a band. The

Wine Events

We have attended and hosted a few wine events over the last couple of months. But I learned a lot from a wine event we recently hosted. We did a brown bag night. This means we put all of the wines in brown bags and guests guess the varietal and rank it. We did have some wonderful wines.

First mistake, we invited too many people and we had too many wines. there were probably about 30 people and we had about 28 wines, not including the wines we opened for people to pour before everyone got there.

Second mistake, letting one of our guests pressure other guests to drink fast to get through all of them so we could vote, this was not a contest to see who could drink the most the quickest.

Third mistake, not putting as much value on the food as we did the wine.

Overall it was a really fun night, but I definitely made mistakes that I would learn from again.

We also had a wine event that started the next day at 11:00. Needless to say, it was a long day, but more on that later!

Meal Plan Monday! Weekend Recap!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. For the first time in almost three months, we were out and about Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was in pain throughout most of it, but it was so good to get out and about and socialize. Friday we had a wine event for the wine club. It was an Event of Olympic Proportions - Winter Edition. Everyone picked an athlete and then brought a bottle of wine and a dish to go with it from the athletes region. There was some wonderful food, fabulous wines and a ton of fun. We had the event at our member C's community room which was gorgeous. Three floors, two bars, a full kitchen, our own bathrooms, and a beautiful view of the downtown skyline.

Some of the nummy food items! LOVE the flags representing the different countries!

 

  

 

Saturday we attended friends L & J's wedding reception at Forepaugh's in St. Paul. It was a beautiful setting and the food was amazing, we all had a really good time! Both the boy and I said, that was a wonderful way to celebrate both of them. This is the table in the wine cellar~heaven in my book!

 

Love the cake!

 

The lovely couple!

 

With the brides parents, love how L is looking at dad!

 

The food was delicious!

 

All of the ladies!

Sunday we volunteered in the reserve area for The Minnesota Monthly Food and Wine Show. It was SO much fun and we had such a good time. There were plenty of volunteers so we were able to float and check out different wines and food booths. I also made a TON of contacts for the wine club that are going to come in really handy!

 

LOVED this floral arrangement, I am sure I will be trying something like this soon!

 

Local celebrity chef, Sameh Wadi, he appeared on the Iron Chef a couple of weeks ago. I actually got to talk to him about his experience yesterday, it was SO much fun! SUPER nice guy too!

One of my favorite wines of the day was Roberts + Rogers 2005 Cab. which was wonderful!

 

 This week is a tad bit busier, and here is what is on the menu!

Monday

Plans - Home, catch up on laundry and cleaning the house

Dinner - Pat's Pulled Pork Tacos (NUM!)

Tuesday

Plans - JLM committee over for a meeting and dinner

Dinner - Lasagna

Wednesday 

Plans - Movie Screening City Island

Dinner - out, not sure where yet, we sampled some food from a couple of new restaurants near the movie theater yesterday, so we may check one of those out. 

Thursday

Plans -No plans at the moment, but that could change

Dinner -  Chili (I am thinking I will be trying a new recipe!)

Friday

Plans - catch up with a couple of nominated movies

Dinner - out

Saturday

Plans - Couples dinner

Dinner - Santorini's 

Sunday

Plans - Hangin' out with the boy

Dinner - the boy's parents

For more menu's check out the orgjunkie!

Few things HAVE to get done this week. I need to decide once and for all what I want to do for my birthday at the end of March and get invitations out. I have been going back and forth, do I want to have a big blow out, if so, where should I have it? If so, should I do a theme party? If a theme, what kind of a theme? The roaring 20's? A sock hop? A Lilly themed? Can you believe it is almost here and I just can't decide? If not a big party, what do I want to do? A sit down dinner? Dinner out? UGH! Have you attended a birthday party and gotten any good ideas???

I am hoping to go back to work next week, so I need to get some projects done here at home. Better get back to the ta-da list.

Things I am Digging!

We saw a screening of "Shutter Island" last night. REALLY interesting movie. We went with the boys parents, and we all said that we would like to go back and see it again because the way that the movie unfolds, I know that there were things that I missed. Not a really fast moving movie, but very good and I would recommend seeing it. The score to the movie really added to it, and for any of you "All My Children" fans out there, Jill Larson (from Minnie) who plays Opal, is in one of the opening scenes and is REALLY scary looking!!!

We have been sucked into the Olympics and loving every minute of it. We missed last night but have it recorded and tonight my wine club is having a tasting "An Event of Olympic Proportions - Winter". We did this for the Summer Olympics 2 1/2 years ago and it was a lot of fun. Everyone picks an athlete, does some research on them, chooses a wine from the region they represent and brings a food item to pair with it. We are having it at a members community room where the Olympics will be on as well, should be a ton of fun!

 

If it was outside, I would be wearing my new hat and scarf to represent, but instead I will just wear it there!

 

Last weekend, the boy and I had lunch at Cheesecake Factory for Valentine's Day and then took in a couple of movies. "Edge of Darkness" and "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief". They were both good movies, but I think that we were both surprised by the latter movie, we thought it was going to be more of a kids movie, which I think it is, but we really enjoyed it as well. 

 

While we were out and about last weekend, we strolled through my favorite Lilly store and they had these, so you know I just had to pick one up! I am so excited for Spring to be here now! I bought the Lator Gator! 

This weekend is going to be a big test for my shoulder and to see how well I can do for long periods out and about. With the wine event tonight, plus a wedding reception tomorrow night and The Minnesota Food and Wine Experience Sunday, it is going to be a FULL weekend! We are volunteering Sunday at VIP tasting which should be a lot of fun. The reception Saturday is going to be at a very nice restaurant in St. Paul and I thought I would wear a LBD, not sure which one of these I will wear, but I picked up a few after the holidays this year. The hardest thing to even think about right now is putting on stockings, it is NOT going to be fun or easy!

 

  

  

  

  

I think that it is going to be a game time decision, but the hard thing is I am so so so pasty white, I am not sure if any of them will look all that great! 

I spoke to my boss from work yesterday. I think they are getting a little desperate for me to come back. But I have a few issues that are holding me back at the moment, one is driving, two is putting on shoes and socks. . .we will see how this weekend goes and then make a decision. . . what are your plans for the weekend?

Wine Event

Tonight my wine club is sponsoring a wine event at one of my favorite places in Uptown, Bar Abilene. My friend John is the GM there and is very accommodating and super nice always willing to work with us and he does wonderful specials to promote the place. I have spent a couple of my family birthday celebrations there over brunch, my niece and nephews love it.

Admission for this evenings event is $20 and we will have 20 different wines to sample as well as array of food. The other great part, $5 of this evenings event is going to the Liz Logelin Foundation. Isn't that awesome? John asked me who I wanted him to make a donation to and I got to choose the charity of my choice. I have been following Matt, Liz and Madeline's story since the Star Trib covered it back in April, I follow his blog now and I think he is doing a really good job of getting the information out there about the struggles of a widow\widower. I don't envy his position though.

It is also National Night Out though, so our RSVP's are kinda low, but I am hoping for a good turn out.

Pictures tomorrow, I am off to get ready, now the big question, do I have time to change into a Lilly or I do I go with the sundress I have on. . . .

Little Barrel

Yesterday I was over at TCP catching up on happenings and all of her good finds as usual. But one find in particular I was very interested in and clicked on over through her link to Little Barrel. I could hardly contain myself. Of course I am a fan of Vineyard Vines, but you have no idea how excited I was to see VV like prints but with wine bottles and glasses! Combining two of my favorite things!

I went through the site pretty quickly getting more excited as I clicked along, scooping things into my shopping cart as I went, I just could not resist!

My wine club is celebrating our three year anniversary at the end of July, and I have been planning a big event, I think I found the perfect giveaways!

Here is what I wound up with (but I am sure there will be more to come in the future). Photos borrowed from the Little Barrel website.

The Bottleneck Pruned Headband in Yellow

The Cheers Scarf Belt in Brown

The Bottleneck Picnic Tote in Blue

Bottleneck Tie in Yellow (to match my headband)

I cannot wait for my items to arrive, I am SO excited. I just love the picnic tote and how it has space for two bottles, perfect bag to bring along on my next trip to Napa. I am thinking that the headband and tie will be perfect for our 3 year celebration for the club, now I just need to find the perfect dress to go with it! I will give you all an update once the items arrive, but I was so excited I just couldn't wait to share. I also sent a note off with my order letting them know how delighted I was to come across such wonderful products and received a very nice note back from Andrew & Taylor, great customer service, you have to love that too!

French Themed Wine Tasting

Last night we hosted a French themed wine tasting for our wine club. SO much fun, and it was such a beautiful night. Wonderful turnout and we had a really good time. I gave everyone French names as well, mine was GiGi. I love it! The boy was Henri. I told everyone it was pronounced Ornery!

We have some good ideas for our next themed event, there are so many great ideas. Last month was Spanish Wine and Tapas, before that, Wine and Cheese pairings, Wine and Chocolate pairings, Winter White event. So we have had some good ones.

It is such a great group of people and there are always new people joining us which makes it so much fun.

I have been working a lot lately, so I didn't feel as organized as I usually am, but everyone seemed to have a really good time!

MIA!

So, I have been COMPLETELY MIA which is terrible. My apologies, BIG time! There are a ton of reasons though. For the past week I have been sick. Migraines, swine flu (KIDDING), allergies all of the above most likely, and I am still not feeling well and I am actually at home today, hence the reason for the post.

I started with a new client a little over a month ago and I am actually on client site for a while and they are very locked down, so no access. Now, I signed up for mobile blogger thinking that would do it, still no access, REALLY locked down client site, which not for nothing, this particular client, that is a good thing. I am HATING not working from home. I am REALLY outnumbered men to women, normally this is okay, but I am SERIOUSLY missing some females around, plus all of my coordinated colorful outfits are completely lost on them, I am lunching at my desk, really it is just very lonely and nothing but work, BORING! Not having access to blogs makes it pure torture. I don't have FB access, NOTHING! And while I know I shouldn't be concerned about this, right now I am really bored because I am still getting up to speed on the project, there are a lot of approvals still in progress and really, I am just BORED!

Nights and the weekends have been busy. Weddings, wine events, the Derby, parties, entertaining, travel, a little of everything lately and life has just been beyond busy. The boy and I have been working with his mom and dad on a flip house, that has been a ton of fun and it looks as though it will go on the market next week, I will try to post some photos, it is really cute. I have gotten to spend some time with my niece and nephews, that is always fun and I seriously cannot get over how grown up they are getting.

The boy and I hosted Easter for my family which was a lot of fun. We did really fun baskets for everyone and had an egg hunt for the kids. Dinner\lunch was really good we did a little bit of everything since we had a vegetarian (my sister) and kids but everything was really good and I had fun coming up with a menu. I also made these for everyone as well as for some friends and they were a big hit.

This past Saturday we hosted a really fun Derby Party. I actually came home Friday though with what I thought was either a migraine or allergies and slept for three hours, so I actually really struggled through the weekend, so I forgot to take pictures and I am SO bummed. There were some great hats, I wore a new Lilly and we had some fabulous food and friends. PLUS, what a great Derby, you could not ask for a better race. It was really fun because the boys parents came and brought pictures of the horse that they used to own that raced (and won--twice) at the local track. The jockey actually rode Chocolate Candy in the Derby, so that was kind of exciting. Sunday we were supposed to go to the Twins game, but the thought of sitting in the dome with my head pounding was too much. I did take it easy most of the day while the boy worked on the house with his parents. I got to see the kids, so that was good. I also was able to find a great pair of navy sling back Calvin Klein pumps. I had been looking for navy shoes, and these are perfect!

I have been adding to my Lilly wardrobe as well. I have picked up four dresses, a pair of pants and a sweater. I still have not picked a piece from the Jubilee collection, but I did get the silk scarf which I love and have already worn several times. My sister also gave me a new bag for my birthday, so the collection is growing. This is the dress that I wore on Saturday for the derby party
with these shoes
and this hat.

We have seen a couple of screenings for movies. My favorite was "The Proposal" with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. It comes out June 19th, I highly recommend it. We also saw "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" which was pretty good.
This Friday we are hosting a wine event for the wine club, Spanish wine and tapas. We have been doing theme only events and giving people "homework" to get everyone more involved in not only the tasting, but in the prep for the evening as well. I have a few tapas books so I am enjoying this one. Last month we did wine and cheese pairings. My influence for that event came from a book that a dear friend gave to me when she visited last summer. The event was a HUGE success and it was so much fun to hear everyone present their cheese and the reason for the wine that was paired with it. I am trying to come up with the theme for next month yet, I know somewhere I have a list of them, but if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!!!!

I need to get better about posting, if nothing else, at least my meal plans on Mondays. I have a corned beef in the crock-pot at the moment. I have been trying to use my crock-pot at least once a week because working on a client site has made getting dinner ready a little harder (I am not a fan of commuting either. . .). We went out to dinner last night, but only because we decided at the last minute to go and see a screening (it was terrible so I am not going to even mention it) and I was feeling okay yesterday, well better than today anyway. I wanted to make something for Cinco de Mayo actually, but I really needed to cook this corned beef and had been meaning to do so for a week. We are staying at the boys tomorrow night, so we will either eat out or just have grilled cheese and soup, which we were supposed to have Sunday, but the boy ordered pizza instead.

I should be like my friend over at the Garage. She is so good about coming up with ideas, writing them the night before and then posting them in the morning. But truth be told, I am probably more like my friend Kerry over at More, More, More where working in my pajamas or yoga pants and just rolling out of bed and into my office is such second nature to me, that starting a whole new morning routine for me has really been an adjustment. I am sure I will get adjusted somehow, it is just taking a little longer than I like and getting sick in the process has not helped.

I am also in the middle of the big spring chore. Getting the closets switched over. Really this is easily a three day project. Well, I have not had three days to do this, so I am "in progress" so I have to make sure the night before that my outfit for the next day is all laid out and put together. This is going to be the first week that we are going to throw an overnight at the boys into the mix. He lives closer to the client site, but there is more traffic, so we will have to see how that goes.

This weekend we are hosting a mother's day dinner for our mom's at the boys house. I have not finalized the menu yet, but I was thinking of doing a custard in these cups with a raspberry or a blackberry on top for dessert. We still are not sure about gifts either, a plant is always nice, but my mom and dad are pretty particular about their garden. Any ideas? Clothes, no. I tried to buy her a wallet when we were out shopping last month and she said that she still likes the one that she is using that I gave her and that she had a new one at home. . . .hmmmm, a book, maybe, but I was hoping for something kind of special.

The boy is working on a project at his house too, it will be done this weekend, so I will post those pictures as well. So much to do. The summer is just around the corner. The boy and I are taking a week up at the lake over Memorial Day, I cannot wait for that. We are also planning a special birthday dinner party for our good friend J. I did a special invite
I think they turned out pretty fun!

I will try to get better about posting, maybe I was just in a slump?