....and in hell in this NJ heat! Okay, perhaps that's a little bit melodramatic, but seriously, 100 degrees with awful humidity? Not my cup of tea. I've always gotten overheated easily, and living in San Diego has made me very SPOILED! Basically I'm melting right now, but moving on to my heavenly dinner last night... In college, I became hooked on Veggie Heaven, an all-vegetarian Asian restaurant with a few locations. When I first saw it, I thought it didn't look like anything special on the outside. I actually was reluctant to try it at all. What a perfect example this is of not judging a book by its cover, because this spot is awesome. I'm a person who hardly ever orders take-out, but this place became a restaurant I picked up food from on a weekly basis. It's that damn good. ... [Read More]
Archives for June 2012
Life as a Military Wife: Songs I Love But Can’t Listen To
This post's title might sound strange to you, but let me explain.. For the most part, I'm not an emotional person. I don't cry very often, am pretty level headed, and don't lose it all that much. However, what I'm usually like is sometimes not the same as how I am when my marine is deployed (especially when he's been gone for all of this year!). Nowadays, I tear up during movies and TV shows at times when it's totally uncalled for. I pretty much have banned any military related media because it'll either make me cry or give me nightmares. It's a funny thing how being separated from your spouse makes you more of a basket case than usual! If you're thinking I'm crazy, I know I'm not alone with this. My military wife friends and I joke around about randomly getting upset when our men are ... [Read More]
NYC Ladies’ Trip + Pizza Night
Happy Father's Day!! It's been a weekend full of fun for me thus far. Backing up to Friday, my cousin, best friend Meaghan, and I all met up at my other best friend Danielle's house to get ready for a night out in NYC. We thought we'd be coming back to Jersey after going out, but D surprised us by getting a hotel room in the city for the night. First, we checked into the hotel and got ready. We kicked off the night with some of my parents' homemade wine... ...which eventually (and not all that surprisingly!) turned into this: Keepin' it classy. ;-) We had dinner at our hotel's restaurant, Rare Bar & Grill, where I enjoyed this beautiful portobello mushroom burger: The burger was topped with goat cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, button mushrooms and a ... [Read More]
Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
Hope you're having a fabulous Thursday. I'm blogging to you as I sip my first glass of wine for the night - a yummy California Chardonnay: Backing up to last night's jewelry party, we had a fun relaxed ladies' night. Besides the chocolate Kahlua cake I talked about yesterday, we had a few other goodies: Roasted Red Hummus Platter - Champagne punch bowl - FYI, that fun ice/strawberry ring in the middle is pretty & decorative for the punch bowl, but not very practical. We had trouble getting it out of the way to scoop out punch with the ladle. [Note to self: come up with a smaller ice chiller next time!] My best friends Meaghan and Danielle came to the party: And this close-up photo of Meg and me is hilarious (Thanks for the photography styling, ... [Read More]
Rich Chocolate Kahlua Cake
Greetings from the East Coast! I've been enjoying spending time with my family since I arrived in Jersey. Tonight my best friends and some of the ladies in my family are coming over for a jewelry party at my parents' house. For the occasion, I made a few fun things to eat, including this chocolate Kahlua cake. Let me just warn you, when I say that this blog follows my mostly healthy eats.... this cake is not one of the healthy ones! But it's worth the splurge, and may be one of the only recipes that I don't think I'd screw around with to make healthier. I only eat it once every year or 2 and it is just so moist and delicious! The recipe comes from our former neighbor, Priscilla Walsh. My mom started making this cake after it was published in a local newspaper for winning a recipe ... [Read More]
A Circuit Workout to Do Anywhere
*Fun news: I made a little cameo today talking about my experience volunteering at the Humane Society on one of the blogs I read often called PB Fingers! You can read it here.* Well my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... That is, if you consider this being packed and ready to go: As usual, I've grossly underestimated how much time and effort goes into me packing for a substantial amount of time! I'm not sure if this is totally nutty, but when I pack I feel the need to try everything on, lay it all out, then match everything with shoes, jewelry, and underwear (is this normal?!). I got this far and decided to take a break and take Harley to the dog park, mostly out of guilt that I'll be kenneling her tomorrow. Now I'm back home, procrastinating packing even more and blogging instead. ... [Read More]