Elderflower Cocktail + Weekend

We may have started our weekend a night early. I went out for a drink with my friend and was delighted to try the Elderflower cocktail on the menu. SO good, seriously. I now know what the big fuss was about. I took a photo of the board in hopes to be able to recreate it at home. (What a cute board too, the drink above it was called honey bourbon) I am all about a no fuss drink- the less ingredients the better. After cocktails, the hubs and I had dinner on the waterfront. 

Fun little Thursday evening it was! 

We are off to Raleigh this afternoon! Hope everyone enjoys a beautiful summer weekend! xo.

Happy Hour Help

Happy Thursday y'all! This week has flown by and I am anxiously awaiting the five o'clock hour tomorrow :) With that being said, who is ready for a cocktail this weekend? We are having a little get together at my parents beach house Sunday night to sort of kick of summer and celebrate the weekend. I am in charge of the cocktail/drink to serve and here is what I have narrowed it down to so far.  Of course we will have beer and wine but we want to serve a yummy drink as an alternative. Give me your votes for what I should serve Sunday night!! 

This one looks delicious and pretty, right?

{Raspberry Beer Cocktail}

I have been wanting to try the oh-so-popular elderflower cocktail...will anyone be excited about this other than me though? Or does anyone have really simple recipe for one?

{Elderflower Champagne Cocktail}

While I am not a huge Daiquiri fan, I love the idea of the red, white and blue drinks with strawberries.

{Daiquiris}

I have never had a white wine sangria but I fell in love with the real thing when we were in Spain last year. Is it good?

{Red White and Blue Sangria}

This one looks simple and I love the name. I'm all about simple.

{Americas Sweetheart}

Alright ladies, give me your votes and let me know what you would like to sip on if you were celebrating summer with us on Sunday night {wish ya were}!

XOXO

Friday Finds: A Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Can you believe it's Cinco de Mayo tomorrow? Cinco de Mayo was one of my favorite celebrations in college, I'm sure I need not explain why. One of these days years I will put together a fabulous party to celebrate this super fun occasion. This holiday combines so many of my favorite things: bright colors, amazing mexican food, and you cannot forget everyone's favorite indulgent beverage, the margarita.

If I was planning a party for tomorrow I would absolutely have to make these over the top tissue paper flowers. How cheap would they be for huge impact?

{babble}

I still can't get enough of the buntings and this one screams Cinco de Mayo with the fringe detail.

{martha stewart}

Or, use a bolder color scheme with geometric detailing. 

The tablecloth makes such a big statement, I love it.

{oh happy day}

Even if you have the most simple of parties, I think it would be fun to incorporate these straw flags. Saturday afternoon craft, anyone?

{cupcakes and cutlery}

These napkin rings were made from a foil pan and just punched with pattern. Easy and cheap.

{martha stewart}

One of my favorite mexican dishes is the steak quesadilla, which I only discovered not so long ago. I would love to serve these for a smaller party.

{martha stewart}

I knew you were waiting for this last one...the beverage. We make these all the time in the summer, the perfect refreshing afternoon cocktail...the beergarita. Here is a recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny that is a little more involved than my recipe, but worth a try.

And here is what we usually make, we have made it over and over again and I haven't met a person that didn't enjoy one of these!

BEERGARITA

-24 oz Beer (Corona Light}

-8 oz White Tequila

-1 Can Frozen Limeade Concentrate

-8 Wedges Lime

-1/2 cup Salt

-15 cubes Ice

Stir together Frozen lime concentrate, beer, ice, and tequila in a pitcher. 

Pour into a salt rimmed glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Do you have plans for Cinco de Mayo? Do share, and have a wonderful weekend. xoxo.

Cocktails + Dinner

Nine times out of ten I prefer a glass of wine over a cocktail, but I felt like trying something new Saturday night. I almost never make a cocktail at home {hence, the leftover mini bottles from my bachelorette party that has been in the freezer for two years?! Does it ever go bad??}. 

Anyway, I ended up with a Pomegranate Lemon Martini!

Here's what I used:

POMEGRANATE LEMON MARTINI

-2 parts sparking ICE lemonade {found in the flavored water section}

-1 part pomegranate vodka

-Add one lemon wedge and enjoy!

This is also a great low calorie drink since the lemonade has zero calories! I think this would be a great drink after a hot day, make sure it's nice and cold:)

That night we also had one of the best meals we have made in a long time. Being on the coast, we really should take more advantage of having the freshest seafood readily available, but we do take it for granted most of the time! Stephen grilled some marinated shrimp for us as an appetizer and yes, we ate all of them {the dogs had some as well} We use Italian dressing as a marinade- one of the best and easiest ways!

Here is one of our favorite recipes for grouper, but you could really use this on any white fish! This came from our Coastal Living Cookbook.

HEAVENLY BROILED GROUPER

-2 pounds grouper fillets

-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

-3 tablespoons chopped green onions

-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

-1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

-1 garlic clove, pressed

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-Dash of hot sauce

Place fillets in a single layer in a lightly greased 13x9 inch pan. Stir together cheese and remaining ingredients; spread over fillets. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 10 minutes or until lightly browned and fish flakes with a fork. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

We served ours over jasmine rice and with a Caesar salad.

I know a lot of people are skeptical over seafood and I was once that way too. You really have to try it freshly caught if you are a skeptic!  I kid you not, this recipe is perfection and you must try it! 

So if you are a seafood lover like me, do you have any recipes to share? Or any easy cocktail recipes that you have put together on a whim? Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday! xo.

Our Weekend

This was my view leaving work Friday afternoon. It might have been the prettiest day of the month so far. I only wish the sunsets lasted a little longer this time of year, they go so quick!

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am in that I live in such a beautiful place. Even though we live in a coastal town, it's easy to take it for granted in the winter months. We took our lunch break in Atlantic Beach on Thursday at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Zarape {so so good}, and just simply crossing the big beach bridge made me miss the beach house and all that comes with it. That prompted a mini getaway Friday night at the beach and it was perfect. Absolutely what I needed. My husband, our dogs, wine and listening to music on the porch wrapped up in a blanket. I need not ask for more!

We made a delicious dinner with fresh shrimp, peppers and a garlic/wine/butter sauce. There is no recipe, just simply adding things here and there as needed...my favorite way to have pasta.

Our sweet babies enjoyed a night out as well. They love coming to the beach house...they get to sprawl out, hang out on the porch and usually get way more snacks than they do at home! 

Saturday night we went to a friends house to watch basketball and have dinner. I had been wanting to make a fun holiday drink but couldn't decide at the store, so I ended up with Cranberry Juice and Lime Juice and figured I could do something with that. I ended up crunching up candy canes into small pieces and mixed that in with my juice and vodka. It was awesome, the peppermint took the bite off of the cranberry and sweetened it a little more. I brought a pitcher over for everyone, and don't worry it was gone at the end of the night. For a similar recipe, use this and add crushed peppermint to your mix, or even add it on the rim of the glass.

Don't you love this photo of these drinks? Mine looked similar I promise. 

{Image Via}

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I cannot believe it's the week of Christmas! It finally feels like it here too...there was frost on the ground this morning and I will definitely be wearing the fur coat today! xoxo.

Friday Finds: All Things Festive!

{Armful of presents!}

{Candy Cane Kiss Cookies}

{Tree Shaped Napkin Rings}

{Marhsmallow Pops}

{Cranberry Santa Cocktails}

Have a wonderful, festive weekend!!! xo.

Food, Drinks and Dogs: My Week in pictures

I'm sure like most of you/all of you, I have been crazy busy over the past week. In between the prepping for the holidays and other craziness, I took a bunch of photos {via iphone, it's always so handy} and here we have it. Bear with me, this is the old iphone-I get the new one as an early Christmas present tomorrow:)

Hubs started my birthday in a delicious fashion- bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin. 

It was my birthday, and I indulged.

My older sister and her hubby gave me a beautiful gift set from L'Occitane and the box was amazing. I am currently finding a place for that pretty Hermes Orange color I love.

Night #2 of celebrating with friends at Amos Mosquitoes, their signature dessert is s'mores at the table with your personal campfire. So amazing. A little birthday treat from them.

 

 My sweet girl making the trip with me to Raleigh for my sister's birthday. She travels well.

 {husband was hunting so this was a girls night}

Dinner at Flemings Steakhouse- I ordered a Christmas Margarita- it was so good!

Normal camera pics- me and the hubs before birthday dinner with his family.

And one with our pups! Tucker looks so happy.

And, my latest appetizer craze. I saw these on A.Liz Adventures a few days ago and I had to make them. Her blog is one of my favorites to read. If you haven't checked it out yet, head on over now. These are "Parmesan crisps" and are amazing. Stephen was in shock when I whipped these out in a matter of minutes. 

They are little piles of Parmesan cheese heated in your pan.

 Check out her details here. And, thank her later after you make them! 

Well that is enough random photos for the week, did you get through all of that?! 

 We are going to spend the rest of our night watching Home Alone 2...tis the season! xo.

Friday Finds: Entertaining for the Holidays Edition

{Cedar Topiary}

{Cranberry Ginger Fizz Cocktail}

{Herbed Goat Cheese Bites}

{Spanakopita Bites}

{Tortellini Skewers}

{Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake}

Happy Friday! xoxo

Pop the Champagne Darling!

My birthday is tomorrow and I cannot believe the month of November has flown by (oh, and the fact that I am a year older!) It has been unseasonably warm here for weeks, and it figures today it would cool off and rain! I really hope we have another beautiful sunny day tomorrow, I just don't do well in the rain! So...the weather got me thinking, how fabulous would a little party full of pink, peonies and champagne be for a break right here in the middle of the holiday season!?

all images via pinterest

Happy Tuesday!! xoxo