Quarter Century Fun (not crisis!)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I turned the big 2-5 last week! It was a great three day celebration (yes, three days! I'm so lucky!) that started out with some drinks and games with my parents at Ormsby's. Every year, they let us choose a restaurant to go to for our birthdays, and this year I thought something more low key and laid back would be the best bet. So, I went for the easy choice - Ormsby's! I've posted about it before, so I'll spare any redundancy.

On Friday, the bf surprised me to dinner at Kyma (pronounced Kee-Mah - who knew?). Kyma is a fantastic greek restaurant on Piedmont, that is part of the Buckhead Life Restaurants and is very delicious. We did the sampler special, where you get to choose a bunch of small plates to share between two people. We ordered absolutely delicious items, such as grilled octopus, short ribs, tuna tartare, tomato salad and a bunch of spreads and dips. Everything had a greek flair that was so amazing and filling. Of course, I failed to take any pictures, but I do have a picture of the shoes I wore for my shoe obsessed readers! I love them...

I also took a picture of my dessert, that the waiter and my bf forced on me despite the fact that I was busting out of my dress from too much awesome food!! The dessert was light and tasty though, the perfect bday dessert.

On Saturday, there was a German Bierfest going on in downtown Atlanta. Since I love beerfests, and this just happened to be the day after my birthday, we figured what better way to celebrate than gathering friends here? So most of my friends who were in town met us all down at Woodruff park and drank and partied all day in fantastic weather. {Well, except for the 5 minute monsoon which caused everyone to run for cover. Seriously, after 5 min the sun was shining again... }Here's a few pics of the great day!

We made pretzel necklaces to snack on all day!

One of my besties drove down from Greenville just for me!

Snack time! Pretzels and brats - perfect beerfest food

Felt like taking a picture of this beerfest chick and her crazy shoes

My wonderful bf planned the whole thing!

So many people!

We tried to frown since our pretzels were almost gone, but we were laughing instead!

Overall it was a great birthday! After beerfest, a few brave souls decided to continue the night at RiRa in midtown. I love that place!

ps I also was very excited to get a GPS for my birthday (yes, I now have entered the 21st century). As my friend Sallie put it, "I don't know how you've survived living in Atlanta without one!" Me either Sallie, me either.

Emmy Fun

Did you guys catch the Emmys last night? Jimmy Fallon was the host and I think he did a great job. The opening act (Born to Run song and dance), in my opinion, was perfect! I love how it included a whole crew of actors; Betty White, Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Glee cast, Joel McHale, Jane Lynch and even Kate Gosselin. I must say, Kate annoys the crap out of me, but it was nice that she had a sense of humor and was able to make fun of her awful dancing skills in this skit!



I think my favorite part of this opening skit was when Betty White was teaching Jon Hamm how to dance and she was yelling "Back that mother up!" Priceless. Isn't it funny that Betty White is everyone's go-to person to put in their skits? She's everywhere - movies, new shows, SNL, every awards show imaginable... Everyone loves Betty!

"Back that mother up"

On stage song and dance

I also am THRILLED that Eric Stonestreet won for Modern Family. He is the most flamboyantly hilarious character on that show, and he totally deserved it. He was also so humble when he won, I just loved it!

After the first hour or so of the show, I started to stray and flip channels, only because I have no knowledge of Mini-Series or TV Movies. Sorry, I don't have HBO so I'm not familiar with a lot of these! So, we'll just talk about the fashion part of the show instead. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the dresses for this show. None of them stuck out in my mind as absolutely terrible, but I'm sure Joan Rivers will disagree with me...

Here are a few of my favorites:

I think Lea Michele is adorable!

Julie Bowen's look was simple and elegant

For some reason, I am totally rooting for this couple!

Most people would be washed out by this color, but Claire Danes looks great

This isn't my favorite outfit, but I love Kyra and I'm so glad she finally won!

What were some of your favorite dresses?

25 Things you don't know about me...

In honor of my 25th birthday (which is Friday!), I thought I would do something fun and different!

Us Weekly readers out there, you know that section where the famous person writes the column, 25 Things You Don't Know about Me? Well, I'm not famous, but I thought I would give it a shot! Let's see if I can even come up with 25 interesting things....

Who, moi?

1. I will watch (and usually love) almost any chick flick out there. No matter how cheesy or predictable they are, they always seem to entertain me. {i.e. 27 Dresses, Step Up, Two Weeks Notice etc...}

2. I blush really easily. For some reason, certain things make me turn red for no reason at all. Of course, people bring it to my attention, and the red face only gets worse...

3. I will eat just about anything, except mushrooms. Blech!

4. I have my Clemson acceptance letter framed at my parents' house. Getting that letter was one of the happiest days of my life, since it was my first choice!

5. I came up with the name Cooper for my parents' dog. I thought of it because he is white, and Anderson Cooper's hair is white...Random, I know.

You handsome little devil

6. The first cd I ever purchased was Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill. I thought I was so cool because it was full of curse words.

7. I have a slight phobia of waterskiing, ever since I took a nasty spill in high school. I've gone a few times since then, but people have to basically force me.

8. One of my favorite things to do is sit at the bar of a restaurant with my bf, trying new beers (I think he's a beer connoisseur!) and chatting. Totally low key, totally perfect.

Bf and myself at a wedding

9. I am a homeowner all on my own! I bought a condo in August 2009, and it was the scariest and best decision I've ever made.

10. I absolutely love having an older brother. Although we fought when we were growing up (what siblings don't?), at least it was never about clothes or boys. We also happen to be great friends and have a lot of fun together.

Bro and sis at Kentucky Derby

11. I was a cheerleader for 6 years from 6th grade through end of high school. I did competitive cheerleading along with cheering the sidelines at football games. I was the flyer, the person thrown in the air, and I'm sure it gave my parents a small heart attack every time I went in the air.

12. My mom's side of the family (18 people total) is very close even though we are scattered along the east coast. We used to rent giant beach houses in Myrtle Beach growing up, where we would play practical jokes on the parents and launch water balloons at people from the rooftop. Those are some of my greatest memories.

13. I was a summer baby and therefore the oldest of all of my friends. This meant first to drive, first to vote, first to drink legally... it definitely had its advantages :)

14. I was obsessed with the Spice Girls growing up. My dad (what a saint!) took me and two girlfriends to their concert, and nicknamed himself "Old Spice"

Spice up your life!

15. The one thing I would change about Atlanta is that I wish I could walk to more places. Things are too spaced out!

16. My friends are VERY important to me. I hate the fact that many of them live in different states than me.

My Clemson besties in Charleston in 2009

17. My freshman year of college, my roommate and I would always drink vanilla vodka with vanilla coke before going out. To this day, I cannot drink vanilla coke.

18. I love shopping, however, I have never ever had credit card debt. It makes me mad to hear about people who are thousands of dollars in debt because of shopping.

19. I love Subway. I think I could eat it every day.

Jared ate subway everyday.. Can't I?

20. When I was younger I had gum surgery in which they used banana flavored novicane. Now, any time I eat banana flavored candy or popcicles, my gums tingle a little. No joke.

21. I secretly wish I could be a food taster for my job. It would be so fun to eat at all the restaurants in Atlanta and write about them. I just have a strong feeling I would become obese in about a month.

22. I took spanish classes since 2nd grade, and I minored in it at Clemson. I also studied abroad in Spain, where we were scolded if we spoke english in the classroom. Could I speak it as easily now? Probably not.

23. I have a total girl crush on Reese Witherspoon. I think her and I could be friends, and I think she's adorable!

My new bff

24. I love people watching. Two great places to do so are Lenox Mall and Piedmont Park. There's always some interesting characters roaming around both of these.

25. Holy crap.. 25 is a lot of things to list about yourself. Glad I'm done with that!


Tell me some things about yourselves! Or create a blog post like mine. I love reading things like this!

This just in!

I am a HUGE fan of the new Courtney Cox show, Cougar Town. I just find it absolutely hilarious and goofy, and I think Cox is the best pick for the show. (I also happen to be obsessed with Modern Family which comes on right before, but that's a blog post for another day) I just came across some news that makes me VERY excited: Jennifer Aniston will be on the season 2 premiere of Cougar Town this September!

LOVE this cast

Besties reunited!

I had a feeling she would be on eventually, because Lisa Kudrow was already on a while back. It only makes sense to have the other Friends friend on there as well, right? According to the gossip sites, she is going to be playing a therapist for Jules (Cox), which should be funny. I think these two always had great chemistry on Friends, and they are friends in real life, so I think this will be great!

Oh, I can't wait for all the fall shows to come back and fill up my DVR!!

Shoe Lover

It is pretty hard for me to pass up an incredible deal, especially when it comes to shoes. Along with every other female I know, I love shoes. Heels, boots, flats - you name it! I try to be reasonable and look for good deals when buying shoes, so when I came across these guys online at Nine West, I couldn't resist! I don't know about anyone else, but I've always been a fan of Nine West shoes. They fit my feet really well, and I've never owned a pair that I wasn't happy with!

These $29.99 flats (regular $80!) are on their way to my house as we speak! I love the baubles and beads on the top of them, to spice up an otherwise boring outfit. I think they would be great with skinny jeans too. I hope they are as cute on my feet as they are in the picture :)

Chow Down at Chow Baby!

On Wednesday, I got roped into helping my parents move some furniture in their townhouse in Midtown {because of my new bootcamp guns, of course}. In return, my dad said he would take us to Chow Baby for some dinner! I introduced my parents to this place a while back, and my dad just loves it now.

The way Chow Baby works is, you basically make your own lunch or dinner. You grab a bowl up at the giant buffet looking line, and pick your choice of carb. Brown or white rice, lo mein noodles, chicken noodles, and a few others are some tasty options. Then comes your veggies. There is pretty much every type of veg imaginable: baby corn, spinach, peppers, beans, cilantro, bok choy, mandarin oranges, and a million more.

After you get your rice and veggies, you get to the sauces line. There are also tons of sauces there, and you can even mix them up to make it fun! At the beginning of the line, all of the sauces and their associated nutrition facts are listed on the wall, which is useful to know which ones are decent to eat and which ones will make your pants not fit the next day. There are also a bunch of "recipes" of ways that you can mix up the sauces to make new flavors. It's like art class, but so much better.

Girl in green shirt spilled sauce all over my feet. Not pleased with her.

After sauces, comes protein - Sausage, beef, pork, chicken, salmon, scallops are some of the options you have. You get a separate bowl for this, so not to put all that raw food next to all your veggies, and then you are able to put some seasoning on the meat too.

Chow Baby chefs!

After you drop your food off at the chef area, you just go back to your table and hang out until the food is ready. They bring it over to you all cooked together in its deliciousness for you to chow down on!

I'm a skilled chopstix user, until I get too impatient.

Personally, I love the black bean garlic sauce on mine. 2-3 scoops of sauce is perfect, with tons of veggies, lo mein noodles, and some chicken and beef. I also went back for some seconds to try the thai bbq sauce, which was pretty tasty as well. Yes, that's right - seconds! You can go unlimited times, but to be honest, you'll be pretty full after the first bowl :)

After dinner, we went back to the townhouse so I could say bye to this little guy, Cooper! He's my parents' pooch, whom I often puppysit for :) Love him!

Happy Friday everyone!

Anyone have big plans over the weekend? I am going ziplining in North Ga tomorrow morning.. A post to come next week!

A spin on a boring chicken dish

I love chicken, but let's be serious, it can get boring sometimes. I'm always trying to find ways to spice it up when I'm cooking chicken for dinner. A while back I came across a recipe which included some of my favorites: artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers. I honestly can't remember where I found this recipe, it's just been sitting in my recipe book for a while now. It's so easy to make, it is one of my go-to dishes if I'm cooking for someone else. It was actually one of the first dishes I cooked for my boyfriend and he loved it! Well, at least he told me that he did... ;)

On Monday I decided to make myself a mini version of my chicken dish, since it was just a quick after work meal. So, I took the recipe and basically shrunk all of the ingredients to fit just me! I'll give the actual recipe, and you can manipulate it as you please:

The recipe:

1 6oz jar marinated artichoke hearts

1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped

4 boneless chicken breasts

6 garlic cloves, pressed

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tsp paprika

1/4 ground red pepper (optional, I don't normally use)

Drain artichokes, save the marinade

Toss artichokes and peppers in small bowl

Heat 2 tablespoons reserved artichoke marinatde in skillet, add chicken

Cook a few minutes (not all the way) and remove chicken

Add garlic to skillet for about 30 seconds

Smokin'!

Stir in remaining artichoke juice, pepper/artichoke mix, wine, paprika, chicken

Cover skillet, cook about 10 minutes

The chicken is hiding under all the goodies:)

Delicious and filling! A very easy meal with few ingredients (I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to shy away from recipes with a bazillion ingredients)

Village Pizza

On Saturday, the bf and I were trying to think of some possible lunch options. We didn't really have anything to do that day, and the weather was pretty icky, so we thought we would explore something new. So, what did we do? Searched through all the Scoutmobs we have, of course! If you don't know about Scoutmob, it is one of the best ways to try out new places. Every day there is a new deal (most of them are 50% off) at a different restaurant, store, spa, car cleaning service, etc... The only catch is that you have to text the deal to your phone that very day, or it is gone. Lucky for iPhone carriers, they can set up an app to automatically get all of the scoutmobs, without having to text it. Unlucky for losers like me, with Zack Morris phones, you have to manually send the text.

After searching through the Scoutmobs on the bf's phone (he is one of those fortunate iPhone carriers), we decided on Village Pizza in Cabbagetown. Though it's a bit of a drive, pizza sounded just about perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon. Lucky for us, we had the 50% off, because pizza and beers can get a little pricey! The place was very cool inside though, and not too big.

Village Pizza in Cabbagetown

As you can see, we had our pick of tables

Squeezed in between some other restaurants and a tattoo parlor, it's a very quaint and delicious pizza joint. After agreeing on some toppings, we grabbed some beers and found a table. The place was definitely not crowded that day (aside from the group of dudes who all just got tattoos together), so we practically had the whole place to ourselves.

This was our table number - cracked me up!

Delicious!

We settled on pepperoni and cheese, with half mushrooms (for him) and half olives (for me). We ate until we were stuffed, and then spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy and watching You Don't Mess with the Zohan. This might have been one of the dumbest movies I've seen in a while, but somehow I still found myself laughing at Adam Sandler and crew's ridiculousness. I also loved that he had his buddies make their regular appearances: Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James to name a few. I probably wouldn't recommend spending more than Red Box prices for this movie (i.e. $1), but it's a nice break if you've got some downtime.

Armless pushups a la Zohan, of course.