Life Lately

A couple of my fav bloggers (Julie & Elizabeth) do this life lately thing, jumping on the bandwagon!

Reading... 

Just started High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It's one of my favorite movies, so I figured I should read it. Book and movie differ a bit already, which isn't a huge surprise, but the names basic plot is still there, I like it. :)

Watching... 

Well it's fall, so the shows I like, such as The Voice, Parks & Rec, Glee and a couple others. But also political debates, which...>gag< but I still watch them for some reason ::coughBriancough:: I know politics is a taboo topic, but let me just say I do think it's important to vote IF you are going to be an educated voter - which is what I try to be. I did already vote though, so I suppose the debates are null for me at this point. :P Oh, AND I have about 5 episodes of Ally McBeal left on Netflix...gah, LOVE that show!

Listening to...

Of Monsters & Men, Alabama Shakes & Lana Del Ray. At least these are the lovelies frequenting my playlist most often.

Working on...

Getting my shit together with...everything. I want to blog more often because it makes me happy, but I also have tons of other stuff I want to do. We are trying to eat/cook healthier and I'm working on exercising more often.  The latter isn't happening much with my long work days, I know no excuses! I'm also been trying to work on a family recipe book. If I can get it done it'll make fantastic gifts this season.

Stressing...

about our broken dryer! Seriously, wtf! Here's to hoping our landlord will replace it, ::fingerscrossed::

Loving...

+the fall weather, omg. I can't get over it, even with the rain this weekend it was beautiful. 

+my new tshirt from RAYGUN -- "The Quad Cities : twice as nice as the twin cities." Lol, okay if you aren't from Iowa that might not even make sense! 

+halloween ideas - can't wait to dish on our costumes, but I'm gonna make you wait!

my shirt//brian's shirt//the red monk//view from hotel

my dog is his costume, ha // brian & i before the bill maher show

xoxo, kass

Hunger Games Date Night :)

I'm sure by now you've at least heard of The Hunger Games.  It's a great book and has now been made into a movie.  I enjoyed the movie, but I will say the book was definitely better.  That's usually how it goes. :)   Anyway, okay, remember before how I posted on a Pizzeria date night...well after that Brian did a Medieval date night {it was awesome!}, so it was back to me.  Since we were going to see The Hunger Games movie on Friday, I thought...why not make it our themed date night for the month!  Yes, yes, I am a huge nerd, but it was fun and the food turned out awesome! :)

 Obviously, decorations are an important part of our themed date nights. :P  A large part of the Hunger Games takes place in the forest, so I tried to recreate that...in a sort of abstract way.

The single white rose is symbolic for one of the characters, President Snow.

 The main character, Katniss Everdeen, sort of gets nick-named "The Girl On Fire"...hence my light decoration. :)

Next, the food!  Each item was chosen specifically and directly relates to the book.  I got these recipes from other bloggers and websites, so click the links for the recipes!

The Appetizers

Prim's Basil & Goat Cheese wraps that she left for Katniss before the Reaping.

Peeta's {burnt} Raisin & Nut bread that he gave to Katniss when they were younger and her family was starving. 

 Drink Special

The Cinna - This is not a drink but rather based on a character.  It has vodka, balsamic vinegar, sugar and strawberries.  Sounds weird, but I liked it!  Brian did not...lol.

 Main Course

Katniss' lunch with Cinna - Chicken in orange sauce, over rice.  Pea's and onions and biscuits {that are supposed to be flower shaped, but I wasn't that ambitious!}

Dessert

Last but not least, Peeta's Apple & Goat Cheese Tart.  I've never had a tart before, but this thing is delish!!  I'll definitely be making this again!

After all this crazy goodness we headed to the movie,which again I will say was good not great.  I had really high expectations, which was silly.  I just felt the movie was geared toward the teenie boppers, who by the way would not shut the heck up during the movie. Grr.  Anyway, I still think the movie is good enough to warrant a theater viewing!

Have a good Monday!

Pizzeria Date Night

Hola blog world! I feel like I sort of dropped off the blogosphere planet the last few days! I had yesterday off {government job perk!} and it felt like it was still the weekend, so I completely forgot to blog. I remembered about 9 pm, but then I decided it could wait!

Anyway, this weekend Brian and I started a new thing...date night! I wasn’t planning on it becoming a “thing”, but we decided we would do a special date night in once a month and take turns with the hosting responsibilities.  I thought I'd share in case anyone was looking for a cute and simple date idea, I know I always am!

We had talked about making our own pizza before, so I decided to do a Pizzeria Date Night! Here are some yummy pictures from the evening, I unfortunately didn’t get pictures of the pizza. We were just having too much fun and I forgot! He basically made a Supreme pizza on his half and I made a chicken and broccoli alfredo pizza, very good!

 Ambiance is everything!  I even made us a little sign! lol Don’t forget music too! I opened Pandora and played a station based on “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin, it was perfect pizzeria music!

This is the most amazing garlic bread ever! I just bought a tube of Pilbury’s Italian bread, cooked it for half of the time {about 15-20 min}, then I pulled it out of the oven to cool. While it’s cooling, brush on a homemade garlic oil/butter {just melted butter, a bit of oil, italian seasonings, and a lot of minced garlic}. Once it’s cooled, slice into the bread and stuff the slices with more of the garlic butter and lots of cheese, we used mozzarella and parmesan. Then bake it for the rest of the time. It was AMAZING!

Like I said, I don’t have a final picture, but here are all our fixin’s! We had alfredo and regular sauce as well as two different meats, cheeses and lots of veggies! We used pizza crust out of a tube and brushed it with the left over garlic butter, again so yummy!

I kind of forgot dessert until the last minute.  Brian's favorite is tiramisu, but I just didn't have the time.  So, instead I made this quick dessert based on tiramisu.  In a bowl, crumble up some Nilla wafers, pour a little bit of coffee over them, top that with vanilla yogurt and some whipped creme, then sprinkle some cocoa powder over it.  Top it off with a couple more Nilla wafers!  I think it was pretty yummy, not really tiramisu, but still good. :)

All in all, Pizzeria Date Night was a major success! Brian was already planning for his turn...he mentioned something about a Medieval theme? Sounds like fun! :)

Style Log: Date Night in the City

{Top/Old Navy :: Tank/F21 :: Pants/Lauren Conrad via Kohl’s :: Ring/Kohl's, gifted  :: Boots/Merona via Target}

 

  If you follow my Twitter account, then you know I’ve been having a great holiday season! I had Brian snap a few quick outfit photos in our hotel room before we headed out. I think he did pretty good considering the extra crappy lighting we were dealing with! Plus, he basically picked out this outfit for me. :) I thought maybe it was too much blue, but meh, I like it anyway.

This top may have been a little chilly for the ice skating and walking around St. Paul. However, I was grateful for the loose fit and stretch pants when we had dinner at Pazzaluna! I loved everything about this restaurant from the vibe to the service to the amazing food! For real, if you ever get to St. Paul please go splurge {it’s pricey, but totally worth it!} and have dinner here. You won’t regret it!