miss bella boo

i've taken naps longer than that!

i think nate said it best at 3:45 am this morning when we got up to get ready for our flight to phoenix! we had a few hour layover in memphis, and made our way to the west coast :) unfortunately, cleo's been having issues with her paw so sarah & ryan have to take her to the vet tomorrow :( hopefully it's a quick fix with some antibiotics :)

dad and anita picked us up and we've spent the day with them and the boys which has been great :) i rented a lens to play with this weekend which turns out to be a lot of lens for me! i'm still figuring it out, but we played around with some senior photos for austin. ryan spent most of the time making austin laugh but most of the time also resulted in making me laugh which makes for blurry pictures :) we got a few we can use but it was HOT so we gave up pretty quickly :)

tonight we're headed up to the cabin with mom & marty for the weekend. should be a nice break from the hot weather we've had lately in florida and in phoenix!

some photos from today :) dad made some delicious stir fry for lunch (and is sporting some stylish new glasses!)
the boys out front :)


aren't they all grown up? this is taken where they both attended elementary school :)

more later! have a great weekend :)

juan valdez.... the explorer?

the other day nate and i were driving around orlando running errands together and he turned down a road that (i thought) led nowhere. the following conversation ensued:

bri: nate! this is the turn into the hospital, it's not a road!
nate: bri, i'm exploring. i don't know if you knew, but i'm an explorer. like valdez.... juan valdez.
bri: so, you .... discovered coffee?

turns out the parking lot did spill out onto the road we were looking for so his 'exploring' paid off afterall :)

Six Links -- cool new green site :)

there's a cool new website called Six Links where you can track what you're doing to save the earth and live sustainably as well as get new ideas on how you can do more :) it was actually started by a friend i went to high school with -- check it out! you can join at:

http://www.sixlinks.org/

hummus! round one

so i eat a lot of hummus. lots. like a costco sized tub :) it's that sabra hummus! if you've never tried it, head to the grocery store immediately and buy some. and some pita chips. then cancel dinner and sit on your couch and enjoy the yumminess :)

as a result of my hummus addiction, i've been trying to make my own. i've yet to come up with a chickpea version that tastes as good as sabra, but this spicy black bean hummus is in it's own league. it's delicious with pita chips or multigrain tostitos. and you can control the spice with how much jalapeno you use. i used a whole one the first time and WHOA! that stuff was hot. nate ate it like candy of course, but it was a bit too hot for me. about half seems to be perfect :) enjoy! and if you have a great hummus recipe, please share! i'm still tweaking the chickpea one. i'll post it once i'm satisfied :)

Spicy Black Bean Hummus

• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• Dash of crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of ground red pepper

Place garlic in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, black beans, jalapeño pepper, and crushed red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon bean mixture into a medium bowl, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with ground red pepper.

(not pictured as hummus isn't all that photogenic) :)

tgif!!

so glad it's friday!! happy weekend to you all :)

cleo's new friends

so it was a little difficult to get them to sit still, and i definitely didn't get a group shot, but here are the dogs that cleo's been hanging around with this weekend :)

colt:

and nittany:

better than ezra

last weekend we went to see better than ezra at house of blues in orlando. it was fantastic! we had a great view of the band and there always tons of fun to see live. i was thinking about the first time i went to see them, and cassie, correct me if i'm wrong here, but i'm pretty sure it was thirteen years ago!

better than ezra was cassie's favorite band and they were playing for $17 a ticket at the electric ballroom in tempe (which has since been torn down). i was fifteen (cassie's friend drove). we staked out a coveted railing spot and the cover band played so long i almost fell asleep! when they finally came on we loved every minute of it. we had to leave sometime at the end (maybe already at the encore? i can't remember) to make curfew.

we've seen them lots of times in betweeen then and now. i'll see them at least once more this year, they're playing at epcot's food and wine festival in october!

dog central!

we're dogsitting this weekend for 2 dogs plus our usual resident canine, cleo. it's been pretty entertaining! cleo has never seemed to understand how to play with other dogs and she usually ends up growling and making a whole lot of noise that scares them instead of encouraging them to play with her. not so with this bunch! colt is a french bulldog and nittany is a mix of several things (i'll have to post a pic, she looks sort of like a tall fox). but because nittany is used to the frenchie growl, she just plays right along with cleo. right now they are chasing each other in figure eights around the couch. it's nice for cleo to have some entertainment ;)

nate's been out of town TONS lately! which is good that he's busy at work and that lots of that time has been in PA so he's been able to see family and friends. the only downside is that he's not here with me! i' ve been keeping busy though, been working late some and also working on catching up on photos. i also (and this is embarrassing) have been playing a whole lot of the sims2 and some stupid game on facebook that cassie and i have both reluctantly gotten addicted to ;)

this weekend, nate's brother (and lots of others from his company) will be in town for a conference. so we'll be spending time with him which will be fun :) i'm hoping to challenge him to a round of dr. mario! i think the band is getting together sometime today too.

have a great weekend!

oh okay one more :)

i think this one is my favorite:

attn: fans of fletcher

i'm working on the photos but since i went a little crazy with the quantity last weekend, it's a lengthy process ;) these things take time people! in the meantime, here's one more of fletcher. i think he's dubious that i will finish these anytime soon... what do you think?

fletcher william

is adorable of course :) we've been running around with drew, laura and baby this weekend and are having a great time so far :) we've also been doing a mini photo shoot with fletcher, here's one i edited quick and dirty -- more to come!

hotlanta!

nate and i were in atlanta this past weekend for a good friend's wedding. we used to work with her in florida and it was great to see her again :) the wedding was very cool too :) ever since my own wedding, i appreciate all the small details so much more!

for the rest of the weekend, we spent our time with ashlea who is finishing up soon at georgia tech. she is a fantastic tour guide so we saw plenty of neat areas in atlanta and had a fantastic time :) the most photogenic of which was piedmont park:


we ate, we drank, nate & ashlea played guitar, we shopped, we talked -- all in all, a perfect weekend :) we weren't ready to head home on monday, but i'm sure we'll make another trip before ashlea leaves atlanta for good :)

baby, you were right all along

i'm laying on the guitar and nate's playing guitar. the chorus involves "baby you were right all along." it's a toss up as to which i find more attractive: the fact that he keeps saying "baby, you were right all along" or that he looks cute when he's singing and playing guitar :)

in other news, i'm about to build an ark! florida has been in a drought this year and boy are we making up for lost time! it's been raining for DAYS. apparently we've gotten a total of around 7 inches, and will get 7 more by saturday. the power flickered at work today too. it's been a very dramatic rain, lots of lightning and thunder and some serious rain!

salmon with maple-lemon glaze

no picture, but we had this for dinner and really liked it :) it's super easy, takes about 15 minutes!

Salmon with Maple-Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag; seal. Refrigerate 10 minutes, turning bag once.

3. Remove fish from bag, reserving marinade. Place marinade in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute.

4. Heat a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish evenly with salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 3 minutes. Turn fish over. Brush marinade evenly over fish. Broil 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

mmm.. coconut popsicles

nate and i bought some edy's coconut popsicles at the grocery store yesterday and they are YUMMY.

i also kind of one to throw one in the blender with some malibu rum. don't judge me.

my husband is home!

he was out of town for a few days this week, it's good to have him back :)

if at first you do not fricassee... fry fry again!

so you know how i'm always blogging about these yummy recipes that nate and i really enjoyed? well i never blog about the flops. and believe me, there are plenty! if a recipe is bland, i usually just let it fade away into the sunset. and then there's the occasional recipe that's just AWFUL. looking at the following picture, you can probably guess why this one's awful, the main ingredient is there behind the finished product ;) while we were in az, we did a fun new year's with fancy appetizers and this was supposed to be my great contribution- a 'healthy' bloomin' onion. well, it wasn't. it was so gross we couldn't even eat it! everyone tried a petal... and then we threw it out. but not before we snapped a picture to immortalize it as a total flop :) i still want to try this again with different breading and see if it turns out :)

which way to the pictures?

well i'm officially caught up back through january! now just december and november to post and i'll be all current! that's progress my friends :) the picture below is from december: nate, cassie, jeff and i all went for a hike while we were in arizona for christmas :)

who do you belong to?

well we had another great weekend at the beach :) we're very lucky that nate's aunt and uncle are so generous with their place in florida :) it's one of our favorite places to be! i do get a kick out of how interested the rest of the condo community is in us and how they interview each and everyone of us given the first opportunity :) 'who do you belong to?' 'where are you from?' 'how long are you staying?'

nate's just started giving them all regular updates as we come and go :) 'we're headed out to the beach for the day!' ' we're going to dinner!' 'headed back to orlando, see you soon!' i do think it's actually kind of neat that they're all paying such close attention :) very close knit!

the eco font!

so check this out, there's an 'eco font' that used up to 20% less ink. how? by putting little 'holes' in the text. here's a blow-up a what it looks like, but when you have it in a normal print size, it's hard to see those little cutouts. try it out!

new template, new options

so i added a feature that you can just click to comment on a post -- i put a few categories up :) and new template, you know, because i have the attention span of a gnat!

fork lickin' chicken!

i bought the biggest bag of chicken you've EVER seen from costco, and as a result, we've been eating a lot of chicken! i tried out several new recipes and these are the two we've really enjoyed so far. they're both from cooking light although i added a little more butter to the first one so it's not quite as light ;)

Chicken Piccata with Capers
Nate and Sarah actually had this in Venice last week and it was so good I wanted to try it at home. It was really close! This was our definite favorite of the two recipes.

I only made 2 chicken breasts but we still used all the sauce (poured it over top the chicken and a pile of angel hair), so keep that in mind!

Ingredients

* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
* 1-2 tablespoons butter (I added a tablespoon of butter to the sauce at the end)
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons capers
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked)
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Place each breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Place flour in a shallow dish, and dredge chicken in flour.

Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add white wine, 1/4 cup lemon juice, capers, and garlic to pan; scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Whisk in another tablespoon of butter) Serve chicken over pasta. Top with sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Here's my satisfied customer :)


Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
Of course, this one has cilantro so it was an immediate favorite of mine :) The recipe only called for the cilantro in the marinade, but I also put it in the salsa for the top of the chicken. Also, we had it with saffron rice, but turns out I don't really like saffron rice! Next time I will try it with black beans and rice.

Ingredients

Chicken:
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
* 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Cooking spray

Salsa:
* 1 cup chopped plum tomato (about 2)
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 avocado, peeled and finely chopped

Directions

1. To prepare chicken, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

2. To prepare salsa, combine tomato and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add avocado (and cilantro!); stir gently to combine. Serve salsa over chicken.

new blogger!

fletcher (laura and drew's latest addition) now has his very own blog :) you'll find it on the list on the left, or here: http://theycallmefletch.blogspot.com/

yay!

beachity beach beach beach :)

we just got back from an awesome weekend at the beach with ryan & sarah - it was the perfect weekend for sure :) just one picture for now:

i feel like ari's disapproving look is appropriate here ;) i am six months behind on pictures! totally unacceptable! i'm on a mission to get them all published asap so you'll see more action on our smugmug site than there has been in awhile! i'm working from current events and going backwards for now. have a good wednesday ;)

now i'm an aunt three times over!

laura and drew had their baby today :) laura and the baby are doing well! i'll post more later!

... and it's later! his name is fletcher william and he was born at 12:54 pm today :) he was 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. can't wait to meet him!

Strawberries in Meyer Lemon Syrup

We had this for dessert tonight - it was in my Cooking Light this month and looked delicious but I wasn't sure where to get Meyer lemons. We ran across them at Publix and ta-da! This was simple and delicious!

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar but I actually might have preferred a little less so it would taste a bit more tart. Also, my arm almost fell off when I was trying to get the whipping cream to 'form soft peaks' - I ended up throwing it the freezer for a minute or so to get it a little more solid ;)

4 cups quartered small strawberries
1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream

1. Place berries, juice, and sugar in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill 20 minutes.

2. Place cream in a medium bowl; stir constantly with a whisk until soft peaks form. Serve whipped cream with berry mixture.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup berry mixture and 2 tablespoons whipped cream)

And if you can't find Meyer Lemons, don't despair! According to Cooking Light, "Meyer lemons, available through May, have sweeter, more aromatic juice than regular lemons. To ensure the dessert doesn't get too tart if substituting regular lemon juice, begin with 2 tablespoons juice, and taste; add more juice if desired."


ps: after nate finished his, he hunted down the extra lemon/strawberry/sugar juice and mixed it with the leftover cream and ate that too! don't tell him i told you ;)

Taco Salad!

this is a favorite recipe in my family, taco salad! the ingredient combo might seem a little strange, but it's super tasty, trust me ;)


romaine lettuce
kidney beans
fritos
shredded cheddar cheese
ground beef (spiced with plenty of chili powder, cayenne, crushed red pepper, garlic, pepper)

chopped:
tomato
avocado
green onions
jalapeno (optional)

thousand island (we used to buy kraft but in effort to make this slightly more healthy i've been using a yogurt based dressing by bolthouse farms that is just as good! it's in the product section)

make a salad with all of the above :) easy, eh? a word of warning: nate and i usually start with a normal size bowl and add what looks like a normal amount of lettuce and then somehow after you add all the stuff, you have created the salad that ate conneticut! don't say i didn't warn you ;)

cleo digs the porch

she loves to sit next to us on the couch, or also the ottoman which we thought we purchased for putting our feet up but turns out to be cleo's location of choice when nate and i are both sitting on the couch :)

snakes on a porch!

well... snake. and it was a baby. but still! check out this baby snake that made it's way onto our porch this morning. i actually stayed calm... mostly because it was so still i thought it was dead, but snakes aren't near as scary when they're worm sized! nate shooed it into a shoe box and released it into the yard. now it can grow into a big five-footer that scared the #@$%! out of me last time i saw one while doing yard work. yay!

spring cleaning!

i cleaned out my closet yesterday, it's been on my list for awhile! and although i had no issue giving away clothes i've purchased within the last few years that just didn't work out or don't fit, i was really reluctant to let go of some pieces that have been around for so long they're almost memorabilia at this point! most of the clothing in that category happens to be denim. i am finally getting rid of a pair of gap overalls i've had for 10 or more years (nate says he has underwear older than that. i say gross.) they have a bleach spot on the back pocket from cleaning the bathroom in the apartment cassie and i shared for years, and when the little clips for the straps broke, one of my co-workers at danaher soldered it back on for me :) i also go rid of a pair of shorts i bought right before highschool graduation. i remember because i ripped them less than a week later at a graduation party (fell backwards on a fence i think?) and sewed on the little heart patch you can see in the picture below. my compromise with finally letting them go is immortalizing them on film (well.. on a few megabytes anyway) ;)

it's the journey.. not the six dollars you save at costco!

nate and i are heading to the beach with friends in a few weeks and wanted to purchase some cocktail supplies beforehand. we've been meaning to check out the liquor store at costco so this evening, we called our friends to see if they wanted to join us on our trip :) they headed to our house and we headed out at around 8 only to realize that it closed at 8:30 and was a 35 minute drive away! we weren't sure if we were going to make it, but we did- with 5 minutes to spare!

as it turns out, if you're a good bargain shopper like they are, you can find prices at or within a few dollars of what we found at costco, but it was still an entertaining trip :)

so if you give your wife a camera...

no, nate didn't write the comment below. i highly suspect my brother-in-law actually but haven't had the chance to verify that yet :)

"...if you let your wife become a photographer, she'll probably ask for a fancy new camera. Once she gets her fancy new camera, she'll tell you she needs a nice case to 'keep it safe' (oh, and an extra memory card.) and while you're getting the case, you might as well go ahead and pick up a portable hard drive to store all those pictures on, you know, because it's black friday and it's a super deal. Once she has all that storage space, she's going to need to fill it up with some especially artsy stuff, so she'll probably want a new extra versatile lens to attach to her fancy camera. And of course, if you let your wife become a photographer, she'll probably want to grow a beard. Oh, wait. That stopped working."

if you give a mouse a cookie....

...he'll probably ask for a glass of milk. if you let your husband join a band, he'll probably ask for a new pa system. once he gets his PA system, he'll tell you he needs a set of microphones. once he gets the microphones he'll probably need to get some stands for them (oh and some wind screens). and while you're getting the microphone stands, you should go ahead and order a music stand, you know, to get the free shipping. once he has all those stands, he's going to need somewhere to put his drink, so he'll probably want a drink holder to attach to his mic stand. and of course, if you let your husband join a band, he'll probably want to grow a beard.

our nephew cadiem :)

hello from blacksburg! we arrived this morning to visit cassie, jeff and cadiem. he's a little over 4 weeks old now and ridiculously adorable (of course!) we haven't done a full blown photo shoot yet, but i did photograph them all day anyway while they were up to their daily goings-on. here's a few of them:




this is the funniest face he made all day for sure :)

and here's the whole family :)

and one more of mom and baby :)

lime-tastic!

so it's been a limey week :) is that a word? limey? anyway... since living in florida, i've been really into lime, especially key lime :) while grandma & my aunts were here this week, i remembered a recipe for key lime pie that's tasty -- especially when it's hot out! it keeps in the freezer, so nate was a particular fan of it as a nightly treat! it's also a light recipe (from Eating Light magazine) and super easy to make! :)

1 cup key lime juice (yes, it has to be key lime)
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes
1 box sugar-free lime jello
2 cans (14 oz) fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 tub (8 oz) fat-free frozen cool whip, thawed
2 graham cracker pie crusts (most of these seem to have trans fat, so i've been using organic granola pie crusts which are yummy too!)

1. Put Key Lime juice, zest, and juice in a bowl. Whisk in gelatin until almost dissolved, about 1 minute. Whisk in sweetened condensed milk until fully blended.
2. Whisk thawed cool whip in until blended. Pour mixture into crusts and freeze for at least six hours or until frozen.

the other 'limey' recipe we had this weekend was beer margaritas! it's even easier than the pie:

1 can lime-ade
that same can filled with tequila (ay ay!)
1 beer
1 can 7-up
ice

Mix in a pitcher until lime-ade dissolves and serve over ice. Enjoy all summer long ;)

i know it's been forever since i updated

but my grandma and 2 of her sisters, my aunt peggy and my aunt willie, are here and i've been running around with them :) we've been to the parks, been shopping, been to the beach for about 5 minutes and have spent a lot of time relaxing on the patio :) i'll post a longer update sometime soon!

cleaning out the garage + cocktails = entertainment

nate and i are cleaning out the garage today. there is a whole lot of stuff out there! some of it is funny, some nostalgic, and some i can't believe has taken up space for that many years without us throwing it away!

yesterday, we did yard work. it's been a productive weekend!

cadiem rey mangold

was born at 11:32 am :) he is 7 lbs 1 oz and has brown hair :) the whole family is doing well! if you're a blacksburgian/christiansburgian, they are receiving visitors tomorrow so give them a call.

i'm so excited :) and so glad that everyone is doing well. that labor stuff sounded pretty scary over the phone! i know it's totally worth it and i can't wait to meet him :)

no baby yet!

jeff sent updates all night, they're getting close now (starting to push) so hopefully soon!

cassie's in labor!

her water broke earlier today and she and jeff are at the hospital (and have been since this afternoon). my mom and i are getting updates by phone, i really wish i could be there with her! they are giving her medicine to induce labor and her contractions are about 3 minutes apart (so i think that means it should be soon, i hope soon for cassie's sake!) i'll post as soon as i have an update!

music weekend!

music weekend was a success! measure of success? lots of great music, delicious food, cold beer and this year, even a little bit of dancing! :) we had a great time and this year even put together a slide show of the day to the tune of one of the band's greatest hits, 'wagon wheel' by old crow medicine show. enjoy!

Grilled Wine Country Beef with Arugula

Nate and I have been eating healthier lately (think fresh veggies, lean meats, and whole grains) and so far, this has been our favorite recipe hands down! it's easily halved for two :) you can marinate the beef up to 24 hours ahead of time, which i recommend :)

Ingredients:

• 4 6-ounce boneless beef sirloin steaks, cut 1 inch thick
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more!) :)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 6 cups torn arugula leaves
• 1 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan or Asiago cheese

1. Trim fat from steaks. Season steaks with kosher salt and black pepper. Place in a large self-sealing plastic bag and set in a shallow dish.
2. For marinade, in a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1 tablespoon of the mint, the rosemary, and crushed red pepper. Pour over steaks. Seal bag; turn to coat steaks. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 24 hours, turning bag occasionally.
3. For dressing, in a screw-top jar, combine lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover and shake well. Season to taste with additional kosher salt and black pepper. Set aside.
4. Drain steaks, discarding marinade. For a charcoal grill, place steaks on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Grill for 14 to 18 minutes for medium-rare doneness (145°F) or 18 to 22 minutes for medium doneness (160°F), turning once halfway through grilling. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place steaks on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as above.)
5. Remove steaks from grill. Cover with foil and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice meat across the grain.
6. In a large bowl combine arugula, celery, tomatoes, and the remaining 1 tablespoon mint. Drizzle with the dressing; toss to coat.
7. To serve, divide arugula mixture among four dinner plates; top with meat slices. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

We had it with toasted whole wheat pita bread brushed with garlic and olive oil. It's delicious, trust me! It also makes for beautiful presentation!

cleo and her party hat

if you haven't been to nate's blog to see his post about cleo and how she reacts to her party hat (i don't know the technical name, but the big cone collar they put on dogs so they can't mess with themselves) -- go watch the video! it's not action packed at all, but i've never seen that dog stand so still. as soon as we put it on her, she freezes and seems to only be able to go in reverse. poor thing! we only put it on her when she won't quit licking though, don't worry!

This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

allergic to florida?

cleo has been super itchy and scratchy lately so nate took her to the vet this morning. apparently she could be allergic to dust... grass...her toys...we don't even know what! apparently the longer we live in florida, the worse it will get. we're supposed to spray her paws twice a day with some allergy stuff, give her benadryl, weekly baths, etc. hopefully she feels better soon!

our new baby!

omg i can't believe we bought a car :) is it the cutest or what? after six years, i said adieu to my lovely corolla and nate and i are the proud new owners of a rav4! kept it in the toyota family though ;) nate says the subaru still has more cargo space but i don't know if i believe him!

happy birthday to my husband!

:)

the weather is gorgeous!

i love this time of year in florida :) we're headed over to our local pub to play some trivia, it's been quite awhile since we've been! and ivey extravaganza is fast approaching: nate's birthday, valentine's day, and our wedding anniversary are all within a week :) we always change up the celebrations a bit, some evenings in, some evenings out. we're still figuring out what to do with ourselves this year!

i think cleo likes the band

nate and some friends have started a band, they practiced on friday night. cleo was particularly interested in the sound when they trilled on the keyboard ;)

trying something new...

it may change shortly :) we'll see!

so, GO STEELERS! i have to admit, every time the cardinals scored or showed a chance of making it, i was a little excited for them. but i was super excited at the outcome (as was all of beef o'bradys and all of our PA company that's in town this week!) we had a great time watching the game all together :)

today, we also went to see the manatees at blue springs state park, and found a great place to eat on the river called Swamp River Grille. definitely adding it to our list of great places to enjoy the beautiful winter florida weather!

ivey arrivals tomorrow!

and the next day too! john and nina will be here tomorrow, followed by laura on friday :) they'll be here for an extended weekend and we're very excited to have them :)

virginia is cold!

but surprisingly... not that much colder than florida was when i left :) add "waiting for the plane to defrost" to the list of the many travel delays i've experienced in life! the plane was scheduled to leave at 7 a.m. before the sunrise, so they explained that since we had a hard freeze the previous night, we had to wait for the sun to come up and melt the ice! it took about an hour and fifteen minutes of sitting in the sun and readjusting the plane, but finally, we were cleared for takeoff. i've been having a great time, cassie's friend hosted an absolutely fantastic shower for her with amazing food (and drink!) :) today, mom headed back to charlotte to catch her flight and cassie and i are putting the baby furniture together. jeff's at work but will be home tonight to hang out with us :)

pittsburgh's going' to the superbowl (and so are the cardinals!)

pittsburgh and arizona in the superbowl! how cool is that? back when they both made it to the playoffs, i was hoping it would end up that way, although i didn't really think it would :)

i'm cheering for the steelers though, i was never really even a football fan until nate and i got married ;) i am really excited to see the cardinals in it though, my dad has been a lifelong cardinals fan!

in other news, i'm headed to blacksburg this weekend for cassie's baby shower so i'm very excited for that! oh and of course, i'm way behind on pictures, but i'll catch up in february sometime when our weekends slow down :)

i won grandma!

go steelers!

if you don't follow football closely, the steelers are in the playoffs :) they beat the chargers last week and we were at our usual place to watch the game, beef o' bradys :) here's a shot of the group in front of the bar. it is, obviously, a steelers bar ;) nate and i are on the bottom right!

still kickin'!

just been busy :) we've opened the ivey bed and breakfast for the season ;) the weather has been beautiful too, so it's a great time to be in florida!

last week, nate's good friend from punxsy and his wife (who now live in d.c.) were here to visit. we had a great time :) and they have 2 dogs, 1 of whom is a frenchie and although they didn't make it to FL, they enjoyed cleo and she REALLY enjoyed them :) she spent the week happily getting her belly rubbed and being doted on.

this week the ghoons are here and it's been great so far :) unfortunately the weather's been a bit cold but hopefully it will warm up a bit this weekend so we can go pick some citrus!

next week is cassie's baby shower so my mom and i will both be in VA for that and i'm really excited to be there. nate'll be home in FL with cleo, i think he has all kinds of activities planned for himself :)

god help us all...

our new camera has a video feature! (thanks john and nina :) ) here's the first video i took (well.. technically not the first. the first was the same thing but with nate complaining that i was taking a video and he made me retake it)

merry christmas everyone!

enjoy :)

merry nate & bri christmas!

so nate and i celebrated our christmas this morning :)  (much like the pennsylvania 'thanksmas,' we move the holiday to where it's convenient!)  we played scrabble on 'christmas eve' lastnight.  i thought our santa table decoration coordinated rather well with the scrabble bag.  doesn't it look like his bag of toys?

 

it was a tough board!  we were mostly confined to the lower corner due to some bad start out words (ahem... nate)  and my letters were atrocious!  at one point, i swear i had all i's.  and this rack, which totally made me want to spell hee-haw (but i doubt that's an acceptable scrabble word!)

then nate spelled 'pinna,' which i challenged, and lost.  apparently pinna is a long forgotten botany word.  i don't think he knew that though, i think he just got lucky!  :)

 

after christmas eve, we were excited for christmas morning to arrive!  we got up early(ish) and started with stockings!  (ours are new this year, i finally found some i really liked :)  cleo's has been around for a few years though)

 

then we had the dogs pose by the tree.  for those of you who don't know, benny is a dog we've been dogsitting for the past month and a half (his owner was injured and can't walk him at the moment).  he went home today, but not before he and cleo got their picture together.  you may remember that cleo doesn't like to sit too near other dogs. 

can you believe that pile of gifts in the back is all for us?  nate went a bit overboard this year :)  he even had a few adressed to himself.... from santa.  including this one, a book on tennis skills:

 

santa was all about tennis this year.  he also got nate and i a costco size supply of tennis balls, and a ball hopper!  i got all kinds of goodies including a new camera bag to hold all my gear, a really cool calendar of paris, cool photography books, a new outift, etc.  :)

after 'christmas morning' we had what nate affectionately calls 'mexican breakfast':  refried beans, fried potatoes, and tortillas.  it was super tasty if i do say so myself :)  

and the best part is?  christmas isn't even over yet!  lots more family time to come :)  hope your holidays are happy!

some new photos

finally posted ;) there are some new in october and november - and more to come!

included in the new are a bunch from our weekend in captiva with glen & family -- i took TONS of the sunset. and i posted less than half of what i took so... you're welcome! it's still a lot to wade through but we happened to catch a really pretty sunset. and i was drinking cocktails which tends to increase my 'number of photos taken' metric ;)

enjoy!

cleo says hi!

holiday blog neglect

haven't been posting much lately but holiday activities have been keeping me busy! :) we celebrated thanksgiving AND christmas in PA over the traditional thanksgiving holiday this year (as has become our tradition when we spend thanksgiving with nate's family). it's fun :) kicking off the christmas season by popping up the tree, drinking hot cocoa and exchanging gifts not only gets you in the spirit, but also crosses a bunch of things off of your list early!

since we've been back, we've been playing some tennis, getting together with friends, and finishing up christmas shopping. we bought our tree, 'santa the christmas tree #3,' and decorated the house. this year i FINALLY found stockings that i liked enough to buy, it would have been our third christmas without stockings (oh the horror!) but we're all set now :)

on the picture front, i'm stuck somewhere back in october but as soon as things calm down a bit, i'll get back on the wagon.

also, i really enjoyed the steeler's game last week (against the cowboys). usually i go with nate, but generally ignore the game by playing the bar video game, or reading a magazine, or whatever. this time it was an exciting game and i watched the entire thing. cassie thinks i'm crazy :) but there is really quite a bit of drama in the nfl (just like the commmercial. i'm such a marketer's dream).

happy holidays!

tennis, tennis, tennis!

we've been playing more tennis lately (and are now fully supplied with all the right gear thanks to some christmas presents from laura and drew!)

last week, nate and i played singles and as nate put it, i was 'dogging it.' i was feeling kind of lazy so i didn't exactly bring my A game. i did have a talk with nate about raising his arms NFL touchdown style every time he won a point though ;)

today we played doubles with some friends of ours and had a good time :) nate and i need to do some work on our doubles strategy though ;)

also this weekend, we saw twilight (nate HATED it, i liked it but then again, i read the entire book series and all the outtakes too), had sushi night (and i drank a bit too much wine), and decorated for christmas! more on that later ;)