Two Years!!

It's fitting for me to post about my second wedding anniversary.....one month (to the day) late! That's just the way my life is right now I suppose. We were busy traveling on our actual anniversary this year. Since we have moved to Columbia, we have so many weekend trips planned for this year. There are so many fun cities to explore all within a 2-3 hour drive from our home! We knew our first trip would have to be to Charleston!
We absolutely LOVED it as we were told that we would! We drove into town extremely early so we could use the extra day to explore. We fell in love with all the colorful homes and these cobblestone streets!


 


While in Charleston, we stayed at the Vendue Inn. This is more of a boutique hotel than a bed and breakfast. I was a little leery of a true bed and breakfast since we would be rookies to the experience. I know they are supposed to be fun, but I'm just not really one for conversation with strangers first thing in the morning! haha! I realize a true B&B may not be like that at all, but this inn gave us exactly what we were looking for! We received cooked-to-order breakfast each morning, an afternoon manager's reception with wine and cheese, delicious flavored waters available throughout the day, AND milk and cookies at bedtime. This was ALL included in the room rate!! Did I mention that connected to the inn is the The Rooftop Bar? SOLD!


This was our quaint little guest room. It was perfect that it was blue as I love blue, our wedding colors were light and dark blue, and it was our anniversary weekend. It was meant to be! :)





This is the famous "Rainbow Row" only a couple of blocks from our hotel.




For our anniversary dinner we dined at Husk. My sister had eaten here and strongly recommended it to us for dinner. It was so tasty! We had the best fried green tomatoes I have ever put in my mouth. They were served alongside homemade pimento cheese. Below is a picture of my entree. Delicious. I had Almaco Jack, Charleston Gold Rice "Risotto", Grilled Spring Courgettes (which I learned is a fancy way to say summer squash), and Marinated Heirloom Tomatoes. Those juicy red tomatoes were the sweetest and ripest tomatoes ever. Can you tell I may have a slight obsession with tomatoes? Oh, and to top off our dinner, we ordered a skillet of Bacon Cornbread. Seriously? Cornbread made with bacon grease and bacon bits throughout? Yes!! Wow, were we full!! But I couldn't celebrate the anniversary and not order a dessert! Below is the Lemon Pie in a Jar. It was the perfect lemony custard with an espresso mouse below. YUM!





Now Husk was clearly my favorite restaurant, but I can't mention traveling and not tell you about the other amazing places where we dined in Charleston.

• Cru Cafe - We went here for lunch, and this was my 2nd favorite eatery! The combinations of food on this menu are incredible and very unique! I would definitely suggest this place for a lunch spot as it is not as intimate for a nice dinner. It's very small and crowded.....just as you would envision a little cafe. 
• Hank's Seafood Restaurant - This was Brian's favorite! We went here for dinner, and this is definitely a great location if you are looking for an upscale dinner. He loved the She Crab Soup! I must admit, it was verrrrrry creamy!
• Poogan's Porch - A great place for low country cuisine.....lunch or dinner!

During the daytime in Charleston we took the opportunity to explore the beaches as well. To the north of Charleston is Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms. We were told by our bellman at the Vendue that they had the best burger place and BBQ joint in all of Charleston. He also said that the beach is more secluded. It was so relaxing!! I'd say it's a pretty empty beach for the middle of June, wouldn't you? If only I owned one of these beach homes.......

 


We opted to try the burger place, Poe's Tavern. That only means we will have to return one day to try out the best BBQ. Gosh! I hate that we have to return to the beach!! ;) Poe's Tavern was a great spot! Look at the fun sign Mr. Edgar Allen's face with the raven on his head. Love it! We learned that Edgar Allen Poe was stationed at Ft. Moultire which is on Sullivan's Island back in 1827, which is why the restaurant is respectively named after him. All the burgers on the menu are a tribute to his work. Our choices: The Pit & Pendulum and The Amontillado. Ohhh how it brought my back to high school!


 


The next beach day was spent at Folly Beach, just south of Charleston's downtown. It is known for its waves and has quite the surfer vibe. This is the Folly Beach Pier which holds many town events including Shagging on the Pier! My dad is begging us to learn to Shag dance while we are here in SC. I guess we will have to return to Folly as well!





That sums up our Charleston vacation. I would call it an overall success! I can't believe Brian and I have been married for 2 years now! It feels like I was just planning our wedding last week! Time truly does fly. I'm looking forward to number 3 a.k.a. "that year when we lived in South Carolina". I can't wait to see what our future holds!

When the Hubby's Away, the Wife will.......Bake?

As most of you know, Brian has been a little world traveler. He was gone to Tampa a little over a week ago, and now he is currently in Japan. I can't believe it! JAPAN! His schedule is completely opposite of mine right now (literally 13 hours ahead of me due to the change in time zones) and it blows my mind! While Brian was in Tampa, I got a little bored one night and got a major sweet tooth. Not a good mix with swimsuit season upon us! haha! I was craving a peanut butter pie, which then turned into a craving for cake batter or anything I could make in order to "lick the bowl." I came up with this marvelous combination for those who love chocolate and peanut butter! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Warning: It can be extremely messy to eat, but worth every last bite!

Cake Batter Cookie Sandwiches with Peanut Butter Pie Filling

Cookies:

1 box of cake mix of your choice (I used chocolate of course!)

1/3 oil

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until well mixed and thoroughly moistened. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten the balls on top with your fingers. Bake for 6-8 minutes and cool on a cooling rack. They will be very, very soft cookies!

Peanut Butter Pie:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup milk

16 oz. tub of cool whip

Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Mix in peanut butter until smooth. Fold in cool whip. Place in freezer to until firm. If you choose to just make the pie and not use it as a cookie filling, then recipe will make enough to fill 2 graham cracker crust pie shells.

Chomp! Chomp! Enjoy!

1-2-3...Salsa!

The summer has quickly come and gone. While I'm sad to see the summer leave, I'm definitely ready to say hello to FALL! I'm excited for the crisp, cool air and I'm excited about pulling out my fall boots!

One thing I will miss about the summer: Tomatoes!

Do you have any of these lying around? This month is about the last time you will still see them in season before the pumpkins and apples arrive in full force. If you have several at your house as we did, may I suggest a quick little recipe for making salsa!?! (Because who really wants to eat tomatoes on a sandwich day after day, after day, after day. You get the point!)

All you need to make homemade salsa is the five simple ingredients seen below.

Now that is fresh salsa!

Homemade Salsa:

A bunch of tomatoes, roughly chopped (I used about 4 large tomatoes.)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, minced (You can use more if you like the heat!)

1/4 of a purple onion, chopped

juice of one lime

Add all ingredients into a food processor and blend to your perfect consistency. Enjoy!

Tip #1: If you like your salsa a little more chunky, you may want to seed the tomatoes first.

Tip #2: I added a few dashes of hot sauce (Texas Pete) to give our salsa a little kick. You may want to add this for extra flavor.

Chicago in Review

I've finally figured out how to make my pictures easier to upload in Picasa!! I know you, as the reader, probably do not care as much as I do. But hopefully it will enhance my blog and make it more enjoyable to read! :)

Chicago.....where do I begin? My sister moved to Chicago this past month. She is no longer in Alabama and is officially in a BIG city! I'm very proud of her and excited for her for making the move, but sad that she has left Birmingham. However, we can now go visit Chicago as often as we like and visit her! Win! Win! Brian and I decided to make the 10 hour drive to help with the moving. We were promised sightseeing time in the city since Brian had never been to Chicago. We of course have tons and tons of pictures from our trip, but I'll try to capture the highlights here.

We started our sightseeing adventure by taking a train into the city. Whitney lives in a suburb called Lombard, which is about a 45 minute drive into downtown Chicago. We had a weekend pass for the train which is certainly the way to travel! It was $7/person.....all weekend.....unlimited rides!

As soon as we got into the city, we hopped on a water taxi. This is also the best way to see the city if the weather is nice. The river flows right through the middle of downtown, which led to great photo opportunities while cruising down the river.

Chicago view from the water taxi.

Michigan Ave.....shopping in Chicago.....Yes! Please!

Once off the water taxi, we walked in the scorching heat down to Millennium Park. We were headed for the Taste of Chicago, but made a quick stop at the BEAN again!

I just love this bean!

We finally made it to the Taste of Chicago. This is the biggest food festival in the United States. Read more about it here.

Oh, you don't believe that it was that crowded? See below!! People as far as you can see down the street! And we weren't even at the end of the food vendors! You could taste just about any type cuisine you wanted. What were we there for? The Chicago deep dish pizza of course!

Brian was able to taste his first piece of true Chicago Pizza from Lou Malnati's Pizza. It was delicious!

In the middle of the "Taste" (as the locals call it) we saw Buckingham Fountain. Chicago has the best parks!

After filling up on more pizza at Pizzeria Due, (Yes, we went and ate and entire pizza pie after that one slice tempted us!) we took a cab down to Navy Pier.

One of the main things I love about Chicago: You've got the city feel, then you've got the beach! All in one!

Chicago Skyline

After Navy Pier, we made our final sightseeing stop of the day, Sears Willis Tower.

A great view from the top of the tower!

At Willis Tower, they've added these new window ledges where you can literally walk out onto glass and look straight down some 1,507,235,678 feet! It is very safe, but yet very scary!! I only had one problem with the ledges......they let as many people as they wanted step out on that thing! A little too crowded for glass in my opinion!

Standing on the ledge!!

We certainly had a busy sightseeing day. We had one more day to explore in Chicago once my dad arrived. There was only one place left to see.......Wrigley Field! More to come soon!

Mesa Grill - Las Vegas

Ok. I couldn't talk about our entire Las Vegas trip without mentioning F-O-O-D!!!! I had completed tons of research and planning in advance to pick out the perfect dining locations for our vacation.

We decided to go here:

Mesa Grill in Caesar's Palace

Restaurant Owner: Bobby Flay. Love him! Bobby is known for his tex-mex/southwestern spin on food and is known for cooking with all things pepper. Chiles, Poblanos, you name it. This restaurant encompasses all of the above, plus some more! The menu also offered a unique twist on Mr. Flay's other famous creations ---- Burgers! (Wait and see below.)

Here is a peek at our dining experience at Mesa Grill

Drinks: Brian started with a traditional margarita. I tried the cactus pear margarita. How cute is that bright pink cocktail!?! They were so smooth and refreshing.

Appetizer: Goat Cheese "Queso Fundido"
Delicious melted goat cheese, with roasted peppers on top, served with blue tortilla chips.

I loved the little individual Staub ramekin that this dip was served in. You could easily tell it was freshly baked.

My pick: Yucatan Chicken Tacos
Chicken skewers with grilled red onion, served with a peanut-smoked chile barbecue sauce

This was like Tex-Mex, BBQ, and Thai tastes all in one. That may not sound like a great combo, but that sauce was so unique and flavorful!

Brian's pick: Green Chile Burger
Queso sauce, roasted poblanos, pickled red onions and a side of southwestern fries
Look at that queso dripping off the edges of that juicy hamburger patty! YUM!

Brian and me at Mesa Grill

Needless to say we had a fabulous lunch and we were so full after eating all the scrumptious food! The best part about the meal???? We didn't have to pay one penny for it! My wonderful, sweet sister surprised us a 2nd time on our trip. She took care of the bill by contacting the manager in advance! It was a great surprise to end our meal and a terrific anniversary present! Thanks again, Whitney!

Livin' Large- Grilary Edition

Get ready for a loooooooooong post. This post entails our wonderful Memorial Day weekend we spent in Cleveland, OH celebrating the nuptials of Hilary + Greg = Grilary! Although about half my blog readers are Livin' Largers like me, I must explain our group. You start with a family of 3 sisters and then add in my mother-in-law, the "4th" sister, plus their cousins and Aunts......THEN you add all their children and their spouses (this is where I hop on board) and you've got one LARGE family. We get together about once a year.....well about that often since I've become a member. The past 3 years we have been at gatherings for weddings within the group! It's always a blast and all the "kids" are around the same age living anywhere from California, Ohio, D.C., Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. We have a little bit of everything in the bunch.

Now back to Cleveland and Grilary!

We arrived on Friday evening for a BBQ at the Ehrlich household. Kim is such a great hostess and can cook up a storm! I wish I had taken photos of her spread!

This is most of the female "kids" -- minus Kalida :(

Rebecca, me, Christina, Caroline, and Hilary

Brian and the bride-to-be! Look at her amazing BRIDE cup!

The next morning Mr. O just had to explore Cleveland and see the city. This entailed about half our group (two car loads) joining in on the sightseeing adventure.

Downtown Cleveland

We ventured over the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is highly recommended if you are in the Cleveland area. So much to see! No cameras allowed. :(

But look who we did run into!!! Yes, that is Danny DeVito at the Hall of Fame! How hilarious is he next to Brian?!??

After the Hall of Fame we made the mistake (best decision of our lives) to check out a local restaurant called MELT. It's been featured on Food Network (stop there and I'm going), USA Today, Travel Channel, you name it. It features gourmet grilled cheeses. Need we say more? Nah, I'll just show you.

This beauty is called Spinach Pie. I thought it would be a healthier option. HAHAHAHAHA! This place was so good that we went twice! No shame!

Finally to Sunday! WEDDING DAY!!!!

Hilary and Greg had a beautiful ceremony and an amazing reception. They are so in love and it shows. They are truly so sweet and so inspirational to me. They always appear so carefree and delighted with one another. Nothing truly matters except their love for one another.

This is the California bunch! Caroline, Christina, John, and Kalida. We must go visit and John and Kalida soon in San Diego. We are saving our money and vacation days now!

Mom O with the beautiful couple!

Sweet love birds during their first dance!

Brian and me at the reception!

We really shook our groove thang at the reception!

I believe this was Brian's attempt at the Thriller dance!

The newlyweds were shakin' it too! So cute!

Brian and me with Greg and Hilary!

We love y'all and can't wait to see you again soon!

Best Wishes in your marriage!