From Brat To Bestie

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have already seen all the Instalove that Remi was receiving yesterday for her birthday. It's kind of sad that my dog is so much cooler than I am.

 

But seriously can not believe that my little girl is already one.. where does the time go?!

It seems like just yesterday that we were picking her out and bringing her home.

 

Gosh, I miss that little nugget of a pup on the left but definitely not how naughty that same little nugget was. I swear I still have nightmares.. but she has slowly become my new BFF (even after peeing on a pair of my boots last week) and I'm so glad that we decided to add her to our little fam. Or that Paul finally gave in after months of my begging.. which ever.

 

 I wonder if I'll be this sad over my hypothetical human children getting older..

 

An update on my blog design progress: Minimal.

My goal is to have this place back up and running full time by Monday next week..

Which probably means Tuesday since St Pattys just so happens to be on Monday & I really enjoy drinking green beer with a side of Irish Car Bomb(s). Enjoy being Irish this weekend friends! Hopefully this place will be looking a lot different next week!  

I'm Alive. I Promise.

Well, hello there March 11'th - aka my first post in March. Oops.

Just letting you all know that yup, I'm alive! And that things might start looking really funny around here as I'm pretending to be a blog designer.

X's and O's.

The Blogmopolitan Quiz

Thanks Erin for making me feel like a celebrity today!

I didn't get to participate during the last Blogmopolitan Quiz and felt a little left out so I was extremely pumped when I saw this little guy today. I think everyone should go link up because I haven't gotten my Cosmo (magazine or otherwise) fix in awhile.. mostly because I hate the fact that I'm older than every girl on the cover now. One day it was B-Spears being all fabulous and not bald and then all of a sudden, it's Ariana Grande looking all of 10 years old. This chick shouldn't even know how babies are made.. what the heck is she doing on the cover of Cosmo?

Well, that rant is over for now. Quiz time.

A Christmas Party In February?



A week away from the blog and you'd think I'd have my shit together before 4 PM on a Monday but apparently that's just not the case. I'm just now getting my head out of the clouds and it's not even from too much wine. Sadly, I was getting other people drunk until all hours of the night so it made for an interesting morning today.

 

2 months ago, my former boss asked if I would tend bar for their company Christmas party (yes, Christmas) for them at the end of February. 2 months ago, I was a couple of beers deep Feb 23rd seemed really far away and just like some mythical date that would never really arrive so I said yes. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed at myself when I woke up yesterday morning and said "mythical" date had arrived. 

 

Awhile back, I listed some ways to bug your bartender and after last night, I could easily make a whole new list. This list would be also be titled "20 Reasons Why I Will Never Set Foot Behind a Bar Again" .. but that's a little wordy and it would list names and faces along with a link to their Facebook page so that might not be the best idea.

 

But yesterday wasn't all bad because I did get to be hung over with girlfriends from out of town, drink pretty mimosa's and eat the most amazing eggs benedict in all the land.

 

 

If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, it might be eggs benedict from the Sundance Grill here in Grand Rapids. That and movie popcorn. I'm obviously really health conscious.

So enough about food and booze (but isn't that what this blog is about?).. I have some exciting stuff in the works which might have something to do with my playing hooky all last week. It's exciting to me anyway and I can't wait to share it with all of you!

Happy Monday friends.. it's almost over.

My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day lovers!! Despite all of my bitching worrying yesterday, Pax did allow PDiddy to board a flight today and he is currently on his way into my loving arms. I don't even think we're actually doing anything special but I'm just happy to have that guy home. After living together for over a year now, I know that I can drive him crazy and vice versa but two days away and I'm needing his ass to get home so that my little world can start spinning again.. and that is so freaking corny that I'm making myself gag so I apologize.

So Happy Valentine's Day to this guy: (in the off chance that he actually reads this)

 

But enough of that mushy stuff.. I hope you all have a fabulous lover's day weekend full of chocolate and flowers and hopefully some pink champagne or something.

Dear Pax, Go Home. You're Drunk.

Oh Thursday, you make me happy.

You know what doesn't make me happy? Stupid snow storms in NYC. I know I'm not there but my boyfriend is and obviously Pax didn't care about tomorrow being Valentine's Day. (Side note: when did we start naming snow storms? Who started this nonsense? I want to speak to their mother)

I have a feeling that all flights out of LaGuardia tomorrow are going to be canceled just to shit rain on my parade. I know I'm going against the blog world consensus right now of hating VDay but I absolutely love it. I have always had a special little place in my heart for this holiday. I have a special place in my heart for holidays in general.. you name it, I'll celebrate it.. but I love Valentine's Day and this is especially true when I actually have a boyfriend worth celebrating with.

If all else fails, I have Remi. We can make like Lady and the Tramp and share some spaghetti.



Okay, my "woe is me, my boyfriend might be snowed in tomorrow and I'll have to be romantic with my dog" schpeel can be over now.

It's Thursday afternoon & you know what we call that in the office? Margarita Thursday. I know, I know.. we really need to work on the name but in my defense, they called it that before I ever started working here so I had no part in it. But anyway, you get the idea.

Skinny Enchilada Casserole

I tried a new recipe last night and it was absolutely delish so I wanted to share it with you guys. When I first started blogging, I never thought I'd be posting so many recipes. Hell, when I first started life, I never thought I'd even cook. In college, my sorority sisters and I would have "family dinners" where we'd cook our favorite frat friends a meal and drink wine. Well, they'd cook and I'd be in charge of cutting the carrots (& drinking all the wine). It was pretty much a fancier way to get drunk together on a school night. Anyway, I wasn't allowed near the oven because my specialty was microwave popcorn and Kraft mac&cheese. 

This all changed when Pinterest was introduced into my life. It was the best thing to ever happen to mine and my oven's relationship and when I send pictures to my sorority sisters of the dinner I just made, they get really confused and ask me who I am. I'm obviously no Rachel Ray (Thank God, I can't stand that woman) but I'm just glad I'm not in charge of cutting the carrots anymore.

 

 

Ingredients:
1 ¼ lbs extra lean ground turkey (I used Jennie-O)
1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (10 oz) can refrigerator biscuits, cut into quarters (I used my store brand Meijer “Homestyle” biscuits)
1 cup shredded low fat Mexican Cheese

 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. (Grab Coors Light from fridge and take a big sip because you just drove around for a half an hour trying to find a parking spot outside of your own house)
2. Brown turkey in a large skillet or sauté pan. I used a smaller pan and made a mess so size does matter. See what I did there?  
3. Add the enchilada sauce, tomato sauce and black beans and stir to combine. Stir the biscuit pieces into the meat mixture.
4. Transfer the entire mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread out evenly. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

 

I say this is a "skinny" recipe because according to myfitnesspal app: 307 calories, 34 g carbs, 6 g fat, 32 g protein, 4 g fiber per serving. Not bad.
The only thing I'd change is maybe use a bigger can of refrigerated biscuits. Who doesn't like biscuits? But then that'd probably make it less "skinny".. so you swap the Coors Light for a Mich Ultra. Done and done.

 

This recipe is definitely a winner.. Your boyfriend will go back for seconds and your dog will look really cute while begging for some.

 

See?

 

Enjoy!