Monday, March 31, 2014

stuffed peppers.

stuffed peppers are probably one of the easiest things to make. we had some frozen ground beef that i wanted to use in something other than just tacos or spaghetti. what i like about this dish is how different you can make it. i think it would be good to try a breakfast version using sausage & eggs too! but for this dinner, we used the following:


2-3 large bell peppers; hollowed.
1 lb ground beef
1 can of rotel
cilantro
avocado
cheese
and whatever spices you like

cook & drain the beef then season with spices. hollow out the peppers and remove all seeds. in a large bowl, combine the beef, avocado, cheese, rotel, and anything else you’d like to add. stir together & spoon mixture into center of peppers. bake on 350 for about 20 minutes. it’s seriously as simple as that.




we roasted some rosemary chopped red skin potatoes to accompany. delish! 

enjoy!

xo,
-A

Thursday, March 27, 2014

eating boar.

last night, i tried blue restaurant in uptown. one of my friends who got married a year ago, was in town, so we got to try this place.

it's awesome! i tried the wild boar. i'm sorry... wait. what? boar? like the big animal that is in minnesota or some other odd state out west? yes. boar. and i have to tell you, it was the best thing ordered at the table. 

the word boar just weirds me out in general and i can't figure out why. but after a few people telling me this was a must try, i decided to put away my weirdness and jump in.

there were two different parts of the boar; one from the shoulder & the other as a pulled pork texture. it was served over spinach risotto and i will go back to blue solely to eat that again. 


some one commented on my instagram & said it looked like something from the walking dead. i don't watch that show solely because of the title, but i'm glad i ate this before i saw that comment. trust me, the lighting on my phone is what made it so red! blue is an extremely dim lit place.

we spent the remainder of the night over a few drinks at connellys on fifth & catching up about life. so glad i got to spend some time with you taylor!


praise the fact that it's friday eve! 

xo,
-A

Sunday, March 23, 2014

does sunday have to end?

having thursday and friday off reallllllllllly spoiled me. 

after all of our concert madness, we decided to take it really easy on friday night. we caught up on unc beating providence at the VERY end and me screaming at the television. this year, my brackets have been terrible! lee literally started our fire in the fireplace with his bracket piece of paper. so our night looked something like this.


saturday was spent with an awesome girlfriend i work with, danielle. i have too many friends named danielle! okay, fine - only two, but i can still see how that gets confusing to y'all. i met with her at her house in northlake and we had some yummy japanese & a day of shopping at h&m where i pretty much cleaned out their store. 

i admit it. i have an h&m problem. my other online order from last weekend isn't even here yet! oops. but i also scored this cat scarf. yes. a scarf of cats. i'm obsessed! 


we then headed out the noda brewery for a coworker who got married! congrats julie! she was a beautiful bride and wore her wedding dress out to the bar. how #baller is that? she is such a sweet soul and i'm so happy we got to spend time with her on her special day!





sunday is {was?} more march madness. and more upsets with kansas being beat by stanford. what?! 10 seed beating a 2 seed? according to espn, there were NO perfect brackets as of earlier this weekend because really, who can predict this?! 

we're curled up on the couch with some yummy homemade chili {made by lee} in the crockpot. mimosas all around and celery, cheese & crackers for an appetizer.




jared {our roommate} also made pan seared sesame tuna! talk about awesome and healthy. this will be something we make more often. 


sad to see the weekend go, but such is life.

xo,
-A


Friday, March 21, 2014

friday's five.

well, considering i only had a three day work week this week, friday feels somewhat like sunday to me. but i am loving the fact i get two more days to relax in this great weather!

{one.}

as i've mentioned plenty of times before, we love to cook. and this past monday, dinner was no exception. salmon & bacon wrapped asparagus may look fancy (or does it?), but this dinner was one of the easiest things we've made. we had some salmon and marinated it in this teriyaki sauce and baked on 350 for about 20 minutes or so. the bacon wrapped asparagus - y'all, i could eat this everyday of my life & never get tired of it. i wrapped four asparagus stalks in half a strip of bacon, drizzle with evoo & balsamic vinegar and bake for about 15-20 on 350. it's so good.


{two}

its #marchmadness time! go heels! they play here in a just a few and i hope their journey lasts longer than most acc teams {ahem, duke; nc state} and they don't royally screw my bracket even further like most acc teams {ahem, duke; nc state}. speaking of, i have found that some fans seriously trash the other teams coaches/records and i hate that! it's all over facebook, twitter, etc. saying things of disrespect towards coach k visiting mercer's locking room? come on, you guys! i am all for a little competition,but i think it should be all in good fun & not personal. however, www.diddukewin.com is still really, really funny. bashing a coach's style and the team as a whole to further promote your own is not. however, i'm glad i didn't put money into a bracket considering i had duke going at least until the elite 8. le sighhhhh. 


{three} 




i have been a fan of this band since i was younger when they had bigger radio play. we learned at their concert they ditched their record label and went independent - something i didn't know. their new album, fading west, is phenomenal. a few songs that were played were love alone is worth the fight, when we come alive, say it like you mean it, and a few others. awesome performance put on at amos southend


they only thing else i had to say was the line was seriously over a quarter of a mile long to get in. this picture doesn't do it justice. regardless, it's something i'm glad i was a part of solely to hear dare you to move live. my heart was so, so happy.

{four}



i love them! they were reasonably priced at $35 and they're equal parts cute and comfortable. you can dress them down, as i did at the st patty's day bar crawl, or dress them up as i did for my outfit last night. which brings me to....

{five}

the 2 chainz concert! 


why yes, i went to two concerts back to back nights this week. i actually won these 2 chainz tickets through uber charlotte who was putting on a promotion. all you had to do was retweet their tweet about two chainz and you were entered in to win. i got a message via my twitter on thursday telling me i had won two tickets to the show and meet & greet passes! i was ecstatic!!  we also got two free rides to and from the show - compliments of uber. for those who don't know, uber is a taxi like service who personalizes in customer service and uses the gps from your phone to locate you. did i mention it's cash free? that's right - the app has your debit on file, and even has the convenience to split the final tab among other uber users. oh, and cheaper than the other yellow cars floating around the city. who doesn't love cheaper?! the driver who took us home was funny, personable, and genuinely seemed to love his job. two thumbs up for this awesome experience and company. 

now for the pictures of two chainz! he put on a phenomenal high energy show! and was so nice when we met him in person. i walked up to him, showed him my jewelry and said "i'm your mini me! i have one chain; two bracelets!" referencing his "two chainz, four bracelets" line in a song he's featured in called "bands make her dance."

he giggled. i made two chainz giggle!




whew! super long post this friday, but it was an awesome week. happy friday!

xo,
-A

Sunday, March 16, 2014

st patty's day 2014.

well ladies and gentleman, i report to you live from the couch on this rainy sunday. we were so blessed with a gorgeous 72 degree saturday for the 14th annual rich & bennet's st. patrick's day bar crawl in charlotte.



{the green beers are the best!}

they sell this as the worlds largest bar crawl, and i'm no book of guinness records, so i don't know the validity behind that. regardless, its the largest group of people wearing the same shirt in the same place at once that i've seen. however, i was the only person i saw wearing a green boa. it was a huge hit.

{michelle, me, sydney, danielle w.}

{me; danielle w.}


we started at dixie's tavern around 1 pm to check in and man, what a line! it's definitely worth getting your shirt at a pre-party before the actual bar crawl day. we started with a huge group of about 15 people, but because everyone is in green, it's easy to lose people. we left dixie's and trickled down to cosmo's café where there was a flip cup game going on. talk about a way to kick off the day! 


{betsy, me, hannah}

{this guy was literally 7 foot tall! he just busted up in our flip cup game - hence my expression.}

we later went to rira's irish pub {naturally} for the experience and then met up with danielle below {yes another danielle!} & her friends, as st patty's day is her birthday! what a blast that is, right? we ate at the ever popular hooters and then headed down to fitzgerald's to meet up with allyson.  

{birthday danielle and myself}

{graham; lee}

{danielle; me}

{always making me laugh.}

{allyson & i at fitzgeralds's}

EVERYWHERE was packed and EVERYTHING was green. it was so congested, i had no cell phone signal! i finally got to hang out with betsy & hannah {pictured above}. these girls are dating two guys that lee knows and i adore them! we hope to all have a triple date soon & apparently agreed to do a cruise together this summer? ok, #yolo.

oh, and let's not forget about this great dane. how awesome is this? 


overall, st. patty's day weekend was a success. it was my second year doing the bar crawl and i hope the fun continues next year!

xo,
-A

Friday, March 14, 2014

friday's five.

so this post is a little late today as i was munching on some carrots yesterday and one of my back molar teeth literally shattered. 

i mean like here i am crunching away on food and then i was crunching on my tooth. it was horrible.

so this afternoon i had to do an emergency crown fitting and now am in mucho pain-o. but anyway, it's still friday and i still have five. 

{one.}

this dip.


i feel like at least one of my five on friday's includes food. but this dip is noteworthy. nothing but a can of black beans, a can of corn, diced avocado, green peppers & red wine vinegar. i ate it as an appetizer and then the next day in my chicken wrap. so good!

{two.}


i got all of my mega-tickets in the mail last night! i am so ready for these concerts to start! i have some cowboy boots that need some dancing! come onnnnnn lady a on april 26th!

{three.}

urban decay's eye shadow primer potion.


this stuff is awesome! i have always been one of those people who thought products like this were unnecessary, but when i got samples of this in my naked 3 palette, my mind was changed. my eye shadow stays on literally all day and doesn't smudge. thank you urban decay!

{four.}



i got this picture last night as i was driving home. i grew up in a small town, but i love the city lights of charlotte. i used to think i wanted to live in the city, but seeing the calmness of the country, i think i wouldn't mind driving home to a house of my own one day.

{five.}

19 you & me.



you guys, this song. i am so obsessed! i've probably surpassed the most played songs on my ipod with this one. a guy i know actually knows dan from dan + shay! and i found out they were added on the blake shelton tour this summer! i'm anxiously awaiting for the album to be released on spotify. their other single what you do to me is so cute and catchy too! 



another shout out goes to cole swindell! his chillin' it single was an immediate hit and i love every song on his new album. this kid is gonna make it big.

for now, i'm sitting here just letting my tooth throb. ugh. but at least it's friday and i'm hoping this glass of wine kicks in soon! 

xo,
-A

Thursday, March 13, 2014

treehouse vineyards.

so i promised you guys i would talk about our day-cation to treehouse vineyards, so here we go.


this past weekend, lee and i drove about 30 minutes east to monroe, nc. after a quick lunch, we followed the gps to treehouse vineyards because what else is better on a saturday? i’d seen this on groupon before, but never bought into it. i will tell you - this place is slightly in the middle of nowhere so be sure to map its location! we thought we were about to roll up in someone’s ghetto for a quick sec.

after realizing we actually weren’t in the ghetto, we pulled up to rolling hills full of grapes on the vine & purchased two wine tastings that were only $6 a person! we got to sample 8 out of the wines below & a wine-orita! the tour told stories of how the wine’s got their names and yada yada yada. date nite & windy hill were my favorites. most of the wines were made from muscadine grapes so they were super sweet.


after the tasting, they offered a complimentary tour of the vineyard, but we thought we’d pass that opportunity, grab two more glasses of the wine-orita (currently my new fav thing) and a bottle to share. this place had rocking chairs, tree swings, and even a few treehouses!





the treehouse was rentable by the hour for only $25; something we didn’t know prior to coming, so we didn’t get to go up it. however, there’s always next time and the tree swings were free which is my favorite price.



we spent the afternoon enjoying the warm weather. i suggest this place for a nice Saturday mini getaway! i’ve heard great things about other vineyards in the area, so i’m curious to check them out soon. if you know of any in the charlotte area, please tell me!

when we got home, lee fixed us a phenom dinner of seared lemon scallops & mushrooms over linguini alfredo. i thank his mom every time for his great cooking skills!


i may or may not be spoiled.

ps y’all: it’s almost friday!

xo,
-A