So I am feeling a little fabulous this Monday morning. Trust me, I know that fabulous and Monday do not go together. However, I decided that I was going to try to work out this morning because I cant take it anymore…and I did. I didn’t die. I didn’t even cough the entire work out. Hallelujah! Now, dont get me wrong. It super sucked. I had to do the modified moves almost the entire time because I could barely breath….but I did it! 🙂 That makes for one super happy Nadine.

Anyways, this weekend was interesting! Friday evening, Chris decided to make the switch from an android phone back to an iPhone for work purposes. My husband changes phones more than some people change underwear, so no surprise there. Anywho, he found a great deal on Craigslist for an iPhone 5s 64 GB. We were to meet the dude at the AT&T store over at The Summit to make sure the phone was legit. We were running a few minutes behind and Chris sort of joked that he would by the dude a Patron shot. We exchanged phones and money and Chris did just that…he took random Craigslist dude to Village Tavern for Patron shots. Gotta love random Craigslist people.

Saturday we visited a friend in the hospital, and then hung out with my sister in law and brother in law the rest of the day. We visited a pawn shop, 2nd and Charles, the Galleria and went to dinner at Dixie Fish Company on Hwy 280 in Birmingham.

Dixie Fish Company occupies the old Bahama Breeze location. It was really cool inside.

We went between 6-7 on a Saturday, so naturally there was a wait. We ordered some beverages while we waited, I had the ‘Nana Puddin’ cocktail. It had banana liquor, heavy cream, vodka and something else in it…and was rimmed with nilla wafers! It was delicious!

My only complaint about waiting was that there were no areas to sit down. The bar was completely full, and we had our nephew with us so it wouldn’t have been appropriate anyways. We had to stand the entire time and there were a TON of people standing and waiting. The wait time seems 10 times longer when you have to stand the whole time. There is plenty of room in that place to put some benches in to for the people who wait.

We ordered some appetizers first, we ordered the Bayou La Batre Crab Dip which had Sweet crab claw meat and spinach with mozzarella and cheddar cheese served with tomato basil tortilla chips and the crab claws. The appetizers were amazing and my favorite part of the meal! The tomato basil tortilla chips were homemade and wonderful with the dip! You can never go wrong with crab claws either! I was a bad blogger and forgot to take pictures of the appetizers, mainly because I was so hungry!

For my main meal I ordered the Company Salad which had Bibb lettuce with herb roasted walnuts, grape tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and crumbled bleu cheese topped with apple-rosemary vinaigrette. It was an amazing salad! I also ordered the Dixie Chicken stips appetizer (I didn’t want the main course version because it was half a chicken and would have been too much for me).  Chris ordered the Dixie Chicken main course, and here it is:

Half a chicken marinated in sweet tea then fried crispy and tossed in house made pepper jelly. Served with gratinéed mac and cheese topped with chilled buttermilk whipped cream and green tomato coleslaw.

My Dixie Chicken appetizer is the same marinade with the pepper jelly. Mine came with regular coleslaw, not the green tomato kind.

The Company Salad:

We also ordered a side of hush puppies to share. They were amazing!!!!

Overall, the food was great, the atmosphere was fun, the cocktails were good and we would probably go back. I might just go back for the appetizers!!! My favorite things were the crab dip and the Company Salad.

I needed some things at Sephora. Like bad! So I made a stop while I was at the Galleria.

I needed my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer and Benefit Their Real Mascara, two of my go two favorites.  I also needed a new concealer and have yet to find one that I just love. I went in there wanting Yves Saint Laurent, something that Stephanie suggested to me, but they dont carry it at that location. The girl suggested the Tarte Maracuja Creaseless concealer and I figure I love the Tarte foundation so why not?! She also suggested that I try a translucent powder to set my make up. She suggested the Laura Mercier kind, but at $35 I didn’t want to fork it out when I was getting so much other stuff.  She then suggested the Make Up Forever one because they had a smaller size for $16. That sounded a little easier on the wallet, plus I wasn’t even sure I would like it. I will let everyone know what I think about the concealer and translucent powder after I have used it for a few weeks!

We stopped in Hallmark and they had their ornaments for 75% off. We couldn’t pass up Snoopy to add to our collection, and this fun beer one!!! It’s Santa and beer….do I need to say more?

We always have a list of video games to search for while we were out. 2nd and Charles is a great place to get some of the vintage games, as is Zone One. We found Kingdom Hearts for the PS2 which is a harder one to get and I have been wanting to try it for awhile. It has Disney Characters in it, so duh I wanted it! I also read a review on a blog recently for LA Noire and it sounded right up my alley because it is a detective game and I LOVE Law and Order SVU and Grimm so I figured we would like this one! Chris got two games he has been searching for the Vita too.

Sunday I did meal planning and grocery shopping. We had healthy baked ziti for dinner last night and watched the rest of the episodes of Grimm, so now we are caught up with the current season.

I burned our Flannel Bath and Body Works candle while we were snuggled under blankets last night and it was so cozy! I love the smell this one gives off!

Another week has come and gone! The first few weeks after Christmas and the New Year are always the longest, aren’t they? Everyone is bragging about their three day weekends and I am over here like…why doesn’t the real estate market care about MLK day? Drat!

1. Chris took off work on Tuesday and I was totally jealous. That afternoon my heart melted when he sent me this picture of him cuddling with our dogs.

Does life really get any sweeter? I think not!

Side bar: It makes me so sad to see Gracie’s face so white in pictures!!! I don’t really notice as much in person.

2. Speaking of sweet, I mentioned in my Gatlinburg trip review that the Apple Barn’s store and bakery were closed when we stopped to eat. I missed out on getting a jar of their delicious homemade apple butter and that made me sad. Chris surprised me this week and had ordered me an apple butter and apple fritter mix! I cant wait to consume these!!!!!

3. Last Friday I was so distracted by the start of my allergic reaction that lasted all weekend, that I completely forgot what day it was! It was the four year anniversary of the day that Chris and I met! Here is a little slice of our 2010 goodness! One of our first pictures together 🙂 Sometimes it is hard to believe it has already been 4 years, and other times it feels like it has been a lot longer than 4 years! Either way, he is a keeper.

4. Any How I Met Your Mother fans out there? I am seriously still disturbed at how painfully awful this past weeks episode was. They are lucky it was one of my favorite shows ever for so long, because the last two seasons have sucked pretty bad! I continue to watch because I have been too invested in it thus far….but gosh darn! Can we go out epic and not epic fail?

So, if you remember my winter goals, you will recall that one of my goals is to start getting the house organized and decorated. I got started on that this past weekend with our kitchen. I got rid of some of the clutter on the counters, organized and repurposed some of the cabinets, and cleaned really good. It felt so good when I was done that now I am inspired to organize EVERYTHING. The problem is, when I have an itch to do something like this…I want it ALL done right meow!

Calm down Nadine. You goal was to work on this room by room and do just a few things each month as to not become overwhelmed. Plus, organizing and decorating calls for some money to be spent…and I don’t want to spend all the money on all the things in one month. I have been on Pinterest just pinning away and getting inspiration and ideas. I have so many ideas and different thoughts on what I want to do with each space, that it is hard to really choose. That is why I haven’t really done anything, I guess.

Here are some of my favorite organizational projects that I want to do:

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And just for fun. I was looking into different ideas to organize our ever expanding gaming collection/consoles in our basement and this image came up. I would love to turn our basement into this!

What are your favorite organization projects that you have done? I would love to hear everyone’s ideas!

I have realized that I have all the right friends in all the wrong places. And by wrong places, I mean that all of the friends that need to live around me do not. They are spread out across the country….and most recently we even had one move to a different hemisphere. I read all of your weekend reviews and think, man what a fun weekend! Why cant I live near so-an-so?!  Sometimes it is hard to be….meep….30…..

Most of my friends are either married and have kids and no longer want to (or have time to) go out and do fun things on the weekends. And by fun things,  I am not even talking about getting crazy, I am just saying lets go grab a beer or two and some dinner and call it a night at 10:00 pm. Or they are single and a little younger and I am just not cool enough to hang with.

I mean why is it so damn hard to find a good couple or even just a few people for us to just hang out with on the occasional weekend? I have lots of great ideas of fun things to do. A brewery hop around town, check out a fun hip restaurant, host a little get together at our house…maybe have a craft brew tasting party with some appetizers or a football party.

Not many people want to come visit Birmingham. Trying to get any of my friends who live in Atlanta (just two hours away) to come for a weekend is laughable to them. This isn’t a third world country over here, people! While it might not be a travel destination, there are some fun things to do around here! There are breweries, great restaurants and fun areas of town to hit up. We can certainly provide a night of entertainment. Plus we have a guest bedroom that would provide a comfortable and free place to stay as well. So who wants to come visit the Ham?!

I love Mexican food. I could eat it just about every day and not be tired of it! I am not quite sure how that is, seeing as how most of the time it is the same base ingredients with a different name for the dish! Either way, it is delicious! A little too delicious. I like to find healthier ways to be able to keep it incorporated into weekly meals instead of just the occasional “splurge.” Enter: The Mexican Skillet Casserole.

It might sound simple enough, but let me tell you….this meal delivers on the flavor! Chris even said “Wow!” after sampling his first bite. I don’t think he has ever said wow to a meal before. So you know this shit is good!

What You Need:

olive oil

4 garlic cloves (I use minced)

1/2 onion, chopped/diced

1 lb extra lean ground beef

2 tablespoons of chili powder (this sounds like a lot, but it really adds flavor!)

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of Rotel

1/2 bag of cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese

2 cups of cooked brown rice

What You Do:

-Prepare rice according to package. I prefer Uncle Ben’s, as the cook time is much less than most of the store brands. (About 20 minutes)

-Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the onion and minced garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes.

-Add the ground beef and brown.

-Stir in your seasonings: chili powder and cumin.

– Add the Rotel, black beans and rice and cook until all blended and heated through. About 4 minutes.

-Sprinkle the top with cheese, cover and leave on low until cheese is melted.

This is delicious re-heated in the same skillet another night!

Menu for the week:

Lunches:

Vegetable soup with elbow wheat noodles, pita bread, hummus and a piece of fruit. (I changed up the soup this week and added lima beans, peas and corn in addition to the carrots, potatoes and onion that I made last week. I also added a beef bullion cube for some additional flavor.)

Dinners:

Kung Pao Chicken with Stir Fry Vegetables

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Caribbean Jerk Chicken with Green Beans (Basically this is just the Lowry’s Caribbean Jerk marinade sauce tossed with some chicken in the crockpot, then some green beans with a some balsamic vinegar, a beef bullion cube and a splash of olive oil.)

What are you cooking up this week?

Linking up with Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday!