It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you...

Oh my... work, life, the end of summer... I have been so busy! Too busy even.

Buzzed & In-Love

Married ONE year - crazy! The weekend consisted of lots of
good food, great wine and romance.
Word on the street: the first year of marriage is the hardest. Articles on how to survive it are abundant and were sent to me regularly by the Nest (the next 'step' after the Knot). LOL ... well, I survived it and it was not too bad... so bring it on!
{Cheese alert}:
I truly am fortunate to have married Mikey. He is my best friend, my confidant, my party buddy, my 4-movies in a row viewing friend, my workout partner, my dish cleaner (b/c I hate doing dishes more than anything in this world), my foot masseuse and my lover -to name just a couple.

The last 12 months were indeed a 'reality check' - testing my patience and helping me to become a selfless person. At the same time, the last 12 months were some of the best of my life. I found myself at times thinking, "this is for real, I am wife, Mikey is my hot husband and we are going to start a family and have a real grown-up life together." It's funny! I am a wife! GAWD... not that long ago I was living paycheck to paycheck, making multiple trips to Nordstrom and only concerned about myself. I am a grown up, I am a grown woman! (Screaming this, standing on a rooftop in a sexy Tarzan/Jane outfit. See it?) Mikey has taught me a lot, and I AM a better person because of him. He is thee sweetest, most genuine and thoughtful person I have ever met (besides me, LOL). I will always remember the last 12 months of our lives, the first year of our marriage: furnishing and decorating our first home, our apartment...buying a car...cooking and drinking...dance parties...farting in front of him for the first time...Laughing non-stop...Deep talks about our goals, dreams and aspirations...Knowing the comfort and joy of having the security of such an amazing man-friend that will be in my life forever... PRICELESS.

Here are just a few of the highlights from our charming weekend:

Market Street dining
The perfect romantic picnic spot at Red Butte Gardens
Picnic assortment: cilantro lime shrimp, caprese, reallly good
bread and some great white wine and raspberries

Back home to eat. Again. We made yummy tortellini with a pesto sauce!
One year later, our top tier of our cake is
still beautiful... but how does it taste?
Veueve to celebrate this Milestone!
Cutting in with a butcher knife...
Mmm... looks pretty! As for the taste- it was not the most disgusting
thing I have ever tasted, but a few bites each, and we were good!


Here is to many more years of love, happiness and health!!!
We had a wonderful FIRST year anniversary celebration!

Ah... my sweet MAN...

Gorgeous surprise delivery this afternoon @ work!!!

I wanna rock right now. Right, right, right now. My Wedding- the dance party.

Dance party: a critical element/activity to any party I host or am involved in. Requiring great music, fab friends {and maybe a beverage or two}.

While most dance parties I host take place in my apartment living room {broken tables and Amanda in the fireplace pilot light} this one was different. . . .

Band or D.J. - whatever your fancy, great music is a necessity!
Mikey discovered The Salamanders band- and they were absolutely fabulous.
At a point in the night, EVERY guest was on the dance floor, now that's what I call a dance party! A wedding is like thee most spectacular party ever, and it should be treated that way.

Whatta ROCK

In honor of Wedding week... holy S%*@!!!

Khloe's ring is outta control! But, I love her, her ring and her nail color (and nail shape) ... FAB!

Lets be honest, I love ALL things Kardashian. XOXO

In full bloom

My gorgeous bouquet made up of all white/ivory flowers bring texture and interest ...
hydrangea, lisianthus, callas, roses, vendulas and ranunculus ... tied in black ribbon and overlayed with a french braid in ivory ribbon and a pearl handle ...
Mikey's boutonniere was made of a lily to match my bouquet.

I am by no means any type of flower connoisseur, but after choosing and budgeting for (seasonal-August) wedding flowers, I at least know what I like and what I can and cannot afford. Going in to it, I knew the general look and style I wanted for all of my wedding flowers, but I did not know that it would cost me/my budget an arm and both legs.
I loved all of my flowers thanks to Jerry Rose at Hillside Floral. I was able to get my favorite flower, hydrangeas, in all of my bouquets and simply scale back on the size of centerpieces.

The bridesmaid bouquets were made up of hot pink roses,
green mini-hydrangeas and some random fun to add some umph ...
tied with black ribbon and pearl handles ... My throw bouquet and bridesmaid's bouquets filled the guest table ...
Will I EVER get sick of talking about our Wedding day and divulging on my details?
Hell no.
Ahhhhh.... I love WEDDINGS. A lot.

Pistol

I cannot believe our one year anniversary is a mere FOUR days away! One year flew by so fast! As it has been a while since I have posted anything wedding-related, I thought this week would be a great time to do so.
To this date, I am still totally wrapped up in wedding-related 'things' ... I was recently a bridesmaid in Kristen and Nick's wedding and I am thee Maid of Honor for Jaima and Chris' big day in October.
I absolutely love everything about weddings, from planning minute details, to creating a grand overall vision, to all things BRIDE. I hope that one day I can take my passion for weddings and really use it!

I love music, but Mikey is super passionate about it and loves finding new artists that complement his musical taste. A few years go Mikey discovered Dustin Kensrue, and Pistol.

There are a number of songs we are both in love with, that represent our love and relationship, but when it came time to choose our first dance tune... we thought Pistol would be perfect. I guess in general, the first dance song a couple chooses happens to either be from the male or female perspective, but safe to say that they both feel the love of the song!!! The lyrics of Pistol speak well to how our relationship came to be and grew, and about us as individuals. Not only are the lyrics incredible, but Dustin's style - his raw voice and harmonica playing - also play a role in our love for this jam.

I love how you curse when I wake you up

And sweetly demand that I fill your cup.
With the smile of your cool gun powder glare
Honey you lay me bare.

You're the girl of my dreams
And a pistol it seems, but you shoot me straight and true.
Time to lay down my bets,
Oh, I put all my money on you.

When I'm in the dark, girl you bring me to light.
It seems like you're almost always right.
So keep boxing my ears when I sew them shut.
Baby, you sure are tough.

You're the girl of my dreams
And a pistol it seems, but you shoot me straight and true
Time to lay down my fears,
Honey, I feel so safe around you.

*If the tillerman taught me anything,
It's that a hard-headed woman is what I need.
To help me to always do my best
Baby, my life is blessed.

You're the girl of my dreams
Darling, please wear this ring
You're an angel through and through.
Time to lay down my life,
Honey, I'd do it gladly for you.

Time to lay down my life,
Honey, I'd do it gladly for you.

*Cat Stevens has an album named 'Tea for the Tillerman', which is mostly about a spiritual man trying to find meaning/happiness in life, and it contains the song "hard headed woman".

I read an article on CNN yesterday... the top most overplayed wedding songs... and I was happy to see Pistol was not on that list. While many of these songs are simply wonderful classics, I felt really good about having a song that meant something to us that (I would be willing to bet) a lot of people had not heard of!

I love you Mikey!!!

Past wedding posts...

'print' details
CAKE

My Weekend in Food

After a somewhat dreadful week, I made up for it with a weekend full of good times and good food. The Tim McGraw concert was fabulous, and this year I remember it :) Hopefully Jaima will get me some pictures soon that will tell the tale of our evening!

Mikey, Mike (Mikey's Dad) and I hit up Farmer's Market for our first time this season on Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, we have been missing out all summer and are planning to be back there next Saturday morning. Easier said than done, we passed up all of the incredible (smelling and looking) food at the market as nothing can compete with a Caputo's craving.

I never appreciated, desired or enjoyed Caputo's as much as I do
now - thanks to Mikey.

As Linda (Mikey's Mom) is out of town to be with Alicia (as she is ready to pop any day now!!!) we decided to try something new for dinner and have Mike over to thank him for the great day! With our borrowed deep fryer from Mike and a craving for some fish... I decided to make

fish and chips!

Fish:
On a quest for halibut, I decided fresh cod was a more economical choice and went with that.
I sliced the cod, salt and peppered it, dipped it in egg and smothered it in Panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs).
In a pan with about a tablespoon olive oil and a tad of beer and lemon, I browned each side of the fish in separate batches. {this turned out AMAZingly, I will be doing it again}

"Chips":
I cut up a ton of potatoes and tossed them in the deep fryer for a simple and oh-so-delectable fresh fries to accompany the fish... simply tossed with salt and pepper. {anyone who knows me well'ish, knows that I could live off of fries and having this handy dandy fryer in my possession is a potential detriment to the size of my ass}

A fun extra:
Never having made onion rings and having this fryer on my hands, I decided to use the onion I had on-hand and give it a whirl.
I sliced the onion and tossed in in flour, baking soda, salt and paprika and set them to the side. I added in some milk and an egg to this mix which created a batter. I then coated the onions, covered them in Panko and tossed them in the deep fryer... these turned out like WHOA. :)
The Drink:
Feeling more than appropriate for the dinner theme I had created, I used extra jars from my jam experiment and made a YUmmy spiked lemonade, dressed with a fresh lemon.
Ah... I LOVE food, and love making new things. This weekend's experiment turned out incredibly. Now, back to a week of the gym and non-extravegant meals... we our celebrating our one year anniversary in ONE week!