Family, Friends & Salad

Hiatus much, Kem? yeahhhh.

I'm terrible at this blogging consistently thing. Gotta figure out how to make myself better. One post a week, at least... that's not hard... yeah, that's not hard.

Anywho.

Today is my mama's birthday! The hubs and I went to PA this weekend to visit my family and our friends. It was much needed. All pictures from family time are on my parents camera. :-/ Hm.

+ we got to rent a Prius Hybrid... that was fun. I get so excited renting cars... weird? Am I the only one? Driving new cars is fun! Free upgrade, thank you Alamo Insiders Club. + with Alamo Insiders your spouse can be added as an extra driver for FREE. Which is the only reason we are Alamo Insiders members in the first place.

My littlest brother is graduating high school in June! WOAH. He had his senior pictures at home when we visited. What a cutie. And look at how much older he looks in not even two years!? Maybe it's just the long hair and facial hair. ha The picture on the left is from our wedding not even two years ago. He was forced to cut his hair. ha

I love him.

Littlest Broseph.

We had a hang out night with about 15 to 20 of our friends on Saturday night. So good. Nice to be with people who just know you. Know what I mean? I miss it. I miss them. But I am happy to get the opportunity to form even more of those relationships here in Boston... eventually. Making friends, those friends who just know you is GREAT but hard. Know what I mean? Sure makes me appreciate and enjoy every second of being with them when I get to though. :)

Shout out to Girls Weekend in Florida in May! Pumped.

These are my best friends. BFF's. My "MOD's," that'd be "Maids of Dishonor," as they like to call themselves. What would life be like without these ladies? Stupid. It'd be stupid.

Just look at these amazing people?

Pajama & Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) Birthday Surprise Birthday Party

Youth Ministry. So many reasons to act ridiculously silly. Nerd Night at the Skate Rink.

Our Wedding. Some serious dancing going on at the end of the night. Love.

They are fun peoples.

Then Sunday I had some Girls Only time at California Pizza Kitchen after church. Favorites. Aren't they pretty? Yup. Pretty friends.

If you've never been there and had the Five Cheese & Tomato Pizza you should go do that very soon. + the Thai Chicken Salad. Our go to. Linds and I always split the half salad + the pizza. I know the pizza sounds boring but I swear to you it's not. Do it.

Favorites. 

For mama's birthday I made lunch - requested was a "Father's Day Chicken," a salad and bread. What mama wants, mama gets. Plus a cake. Strawberry Shortcake Cake... from the store though. I cheated. But that's what ya gotta do when you're traveling six hours and just don't have time to make the cake. It was a good one though. + I got fresh strawberries, too.... semi-homemade? ha Not quite.

What is "Father's Day Chicken," you ask? Well, that's the super delicious chicken that I made for Father's Day last year. It was actually a steak marinade that I used on the chicken AND the steak but it was delish on both. (Steak for the Father's and chicken for the rest of us!)

I also made a pretty bangin' salad. Spring Mix + a little Romaine (cause I prefer it to Spring Mix) + Roasted Red Bell Peppers + Goat Cheese + Brown Sugared Roasted Walnuts + Croutons + Cranberry-ish Vinaigrette. 

Cranberry-ish Vinaigrette = I would have used Raspberry Vinaigrette but mama made up a mixture of some leftover dressings + cranberries + strawberries earlier that week and so we used that. It was pretty delish. 

My leftover chicken & salad fixings Salad for din tonight. + my Kindle reading since I was all by my lonesome.

Tonight I had leftover chicken + salad fixings for dinner since hubs is at a Celtics game that he got invited to last minute with some work friends. (yayyy!) Fab doesn't share my super love for salads so I don't force them on him too much. Plus, I gotta use all this spring mix! Note to self: get the small container next time - it expands!

You should probably go make this salad right now. You'll thank me. Goat cheese + roasted red peppers + roasted sweet walnuts = ..... the most awesomest, yummiest, delicious word ever. It's a party in your mouth. Wish goat cheese wasn't so dang expensive. 

Instructions/Recipes:
Roasted Red Bell Peppers
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Brown Sugar Roasted Walnuts

Enjoy dearies. I promise to post more regularly.

Hopefully I didn't bore you too much with my topic-jumping, friends-praising rambling ways on this post. 

xo

Kem

Cara Box Reveal! {February}

Let's talk about Cara (pronounced car-rah) Box. It's. awesome. Around the end of January I was browsing through Glam Hungry Mom's blog and came across her post on a Cara Box that she received from a fellow blogging friend. A gift in the mail? Who doesn't love gifts in the mail!? So I hopped on over to Wifessionals to check out what this was all about. Each month you sign up to participate and get paired with two others ladies - one to send your gift to and one to receive your gift from.

I love giving gifts. I love getting gifts. Sign me up!
Go on. Go check it out (if you haven't left me already out of excitement for such wonderfulness!).
Sign up for March's swap here! (Not sure when sign-ups close so get on it!)

So February I sent my gift to Andrea over at Glam Hungry Mom. Wait? What? That's how I found out about Cara Box in the first place! Loved that! And I received my gift from Shelly over at Our Motto is Patience.

I had a fun time putting together Andrea's box and you can check it out over at her blog!

Ok. So my fabulous Cara Box from Shelly!

btw. Shelly's last name is "Motto," hence her blog name, "Our Motto is Patience." Love it.

She made me feel poopy for not wrapping my Cara Box up all cute with ribbons and such. I just put it in the box. Poo. Next time!

So here's what' inside the cute wrapping.

Yummy hot chocolates - Salted Caramel, she must know my heart, and Mexican Cocoa, which Fab will love. He doesn't like Salted Caramel. I mean, really? Crazy hubs.

And some delicious "Cupid Crunch" caramel corn with chocolate. I may have opened that immediately and had a few pieces.

And some glass mugs, which Fab already broke in.

And a cute book that Fab and I can fill out called "what I love about you." Technically it's meant for one of to fill out and give to the other but we'll probably do it together. Love it!

Thank you so much, Shelly!

We haven't had our at home date night yet. Thought about doing it last night but we ended up going out to eat at a local place, Italian Express Pizzeria, simply because we didn't want leftovers and I didn't have any plans for dinner.

If you live near East Boston... Italian Express Pizzeria is super yummy Delish pizzas. Delish meatballs. Delish pasta dishes. It's very small but also very friendly - the owner is out chatting with you and meeting all the patrons... asking them where they live, what they may be in town for, chatting with the regulars. Awesome sauce. The sign above the door says something like "Come a stranger, leave a friend." Yup.

xo - Kem