What's Up Wednesday {April}

Today I am linking with Shay for Wednesday.  February and March flew by for me and this month has been no different.  You can see what we've been up to below.  Happy Spring!

What we're eating this week...Two weeks ago I started weight watchers so I have been eating lots of lean protein, salads and fruits.  I am loving it so far and have lost 8 lbs!!    A few weeks ago I made these wonton tacos and I am planning on making them again this week for an event.  They are so delicious and so easy to make!  

What I'm reminiscing about...Ava's 16th birthday was last month.  It's so hard to believe our girl is 16.  She is learning to drive and she is going to her first prom in June.  I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming!

What I'm loving...I love the Libby app!  I have talked about it on here before but honestly I love this app.  I can get almost any book  I want instantly and for FREE!!  It's been fabulous.  I listened to my first audio book this month and I am hooked. This has been a game changer for me.   

What we've been up to...basketball, basketball, basketball.  Ava is in the middle of her AAU season and she's had games almost every weekend.  She has three games on Sunday and G and I will be in the stands cheering her on.  I just love watching her play. 

What I'm dreading...Thankfully nothing right now-ha ha!

What I'm working on...It's been beautiful for the past few days and I have finally been able to work in my flower beds.  I just love working in in the dirt and I can't wait until I can bring fresh bunches of flowers from my gardens inside our house.

What I'm excited about...I have a girls trip planned for a weekend in May. My friend Rachael's cousin and my friend Vicki's nephew plays for the LA Dodgers.  So last year we went to Cleveland to watch him play and this year  we are going to DC to watch the Dodgers play the Nationals. We are also going to do some sightseeing in DC.  It's going to be a great trip and I can't wait!!

What I'm watching/reading...One of my favorite shows, The Handmaid's Tale,  just came back on Hulu for season 2.  I am going to watch the first two episodes of season 2 tonight!  

For book club next month we are reading the Paris Wife.  It's about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson.  I just started reading it but I like it so far!

What I'm doing this weekend...I have a girls night out planned for Friday night, G and I are doing some stuff around the house on Saturday and Ava has basketball all day Sunday so it's going to be a busy weekend! 

What I'm looking forward to next month...We are wrapping up the school year at the College where I work.  I am looking forward to end of the year events and graduation which is happening May 12 this year. I'm also looking forward to going to Washington DC for the weekend!  

What else is new...I love succulents and I made these little succulent planters last year.  I want to make some more this weekend.  I think they look so cute especially this time of year!

That's it for me today.  I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!

xoxo

Our weekend

We had another fun and busy weekend this past weekend.  I love the weekends and this past weekend was a lot of fun.  We had our annual end of the year town/college festival, I got together with some friends and I took Ava to buy a dress for the prom.  I am exhausted just reading everything we did this weekend. 

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to help with the annual festival that the College where I work hosts for the community.  We started our day with a big breakfast and I took a picture of the student volunteers.  They worked so hard from bright and early in the morning until late at night on Saturday to make the festival a success.  

My friend Rachael and her family had an Earth Day celebration at their organic grocery store so I raced over to the store to see her and get one of the amazing organic earth day cookies that she had made for the event.  They were SO good!!

Saturday afternoon Ava and I went to get pedicures together and that was so fun.  I love spending time with our girl!  She also loves driving us every where we go.  It's been fun (and a little stressful!) having another driver in our house.

Saturday night I worked backstage at the festival concert.  The performer this year was A Boogie wit da Hoodie.  My friend Amy and her son came backstage to he could meet A Boogie.  I asked Ava is she wanted to go backstage but she wasn't interested-ha ha!

All the "old people backstage" took a picture with A Boogie 

There were SO many people at the concert.  I took this picture of all the people from backstage.  A Boogie wanted everyone to hold up their phones with their flashlights on.  It looked so cool from where I was standing.  

I left the concert early and raced to my friend D's house for a little get together.  I made my cowboy caviar and it was a huge hit!!  I have been so busy lately so it was nice to catch up with my friends.

Sunday I left bright and early and took Ava to Albany to look for prom dresses!!  She tried on SO many dresses at 3 different stores.  She finally settled on this simple black dress.  She loves it and is comfortable in it and I am so happy that she is happy!!  My friend Rachael went dress shopping with us and it was good to get her opinion on the dresses. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and made a fun day of it!  

I hope you had a great weekend!!

Xoxo

Cocktail Time {Spring Tart}

No Saturday Snack today but I do have a DELICIOUS cocktail recipe for you today!  I made this drink twice in the past month for two different events.  I made it once when I hosted Bunco and once when I went to a craft night.  It was a hit both nights!!

My friend Heidi had a few of us over for a craft night.  We worked on wooden signs and spring wreaths and it was a fun way to spend a Saturday night.  

  I told her I would make a fun drink so I created The Spring Tart using elderflower liquor and rosemary simple sryup.  It was delicious! There are a few elderflower liquors.  St. Germain is the most popular one.  When I was at the Philadelphia flower show in March we sampled a good elderflower liquor called St. Elder,  I bought it there and it was perfect for this cocktail!

I brought all of my stuff to Heidi's in a galvanized organizer I got at Walmart.  It was cute and an easy way to keep things organized. Last summer I went to a fun cocktail party   where my friend Erica who is a bartender taught us to make all kinds of drinks.  One of her suggestions was to put your juices and simple syrup in squeeze bottles to make them easier to work with.  The squeeze bottles fit perfectly in my caddy.  

The rosemary simple syrup was easy to make.  I just made regular simple syrup and added a few sprigs of rosemary in the pan.


Here is the recipe for the Spring Tart

{Spring Tart}
2 oz. vodka
1 oz. elderflower liquor
2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 fresh lemon squeezed into class
1 squirt of rosemary simple syrup
splash seltzer

Mix all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker and pour into a glass and enjoy!

I served these in my new mason jar drink caddy.  I also got this at Wal-Mart and I absolutely love it!  It is so festive and fun and I can use it to make drinks ahead of time and then take them to go.  I think it will be perfect for summer!!

I made this same drink at our monthly Bunco night that I hosted at the beginning of this month.  For this event I changed the name to Bunco Tart for fun.  I put the recipe in a frame so everyone could make their own drinks.  

Let me know if you try and make the Spring Tart.  Happy Saturday!!

Xoxo

  

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday friends!   This week FLEW by we had something going on every night and I am looking forward to the weekend so we can relax a bit. Today I’m linking up to share my Friday Favorites.  Today I am linking up with Andrea, Narci and Erika to show you my Friday favorites.  

1.  Last weekend we went to Long Island to watch our girl play in a basketball tournament with her AAU team.  Her teammates are from schools all over our area.  It was fun getting to know them a little bit better and it was nice to be together as a family for the weekend.  Her team went 4-0 in the tournament!  

2.  Last Friday Rachael and I had our monthly craft night for our business Branch and Bloom.  We made these cute chalkboard planters.  Our craft night was also a fundraiser for our local library.  We were able to raise $120 for the library st our craft night.  They are going to use the money to buy pillows for the kids who come to story time.

3. The Botany club on the campus where I work sold plants and succulents as a fundraiser this week. I couldn’t resist and bought a pot of succulent hen and chicks I planted them and think they add a little touch of spring to our house.  We desperately need spring btw, it has SNOWED every day this week. 😫😫

4.  Graig and I went to see the movie Chappaquiddick on Wednesday.  I love history and I love the Kennedy family so I thought this would be an interesting movie to watch. The accident happened in 1969 and I didn’t know much about it before the movie.   The movie was  based on the facts surrounding the accident and the aftermath of it.  It was very interesting to watch the family dynamics in this movie and the power that Joe Kennedy held over his youngest son. 

That's it for me this week.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!! 
Xoxo

Saturday Snack {Wonton Tacos}

I have a delicious snack for you today.  A few weeks ago I went to my friend Heidi's for a craft night and I brought these delicious Won Ton Tacos along for us to snack on.  Our craft night was right during the dinner time so I wanted to make something hearty and delicious for us to share.  I looked on pinterest and found Won Ton Tacos and thought that would be good to make.  I love anything with taco meat in it!

{Wonton Tacos}

1 lb. lean ground beef, browned and drained

1 envelope taco season

1 (10oz.) can Ro-tel diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

48 wonton wrappers

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Generously coat a standard sized muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.  Combine cooked beef, taco seasoning, cheese and  tomatoes in a bowl and stir until combined.  

(Here are the tomatoes that I used) they gave this dish a little kick and a lot of flavor!!

Line each cup of muffin tin with a wonton wrapper.  Add 1.5 tablespoons taco mixture and top with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese.

Add another layer of wonton wrapper, and another tablespoon of shredded cheese.  

Cook in the oven for 11 minutes on 375 and enjoy!!  You can serve these with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. 

Happy Saturday!! 

Life Lately

I am STILL having blog issues-ughh!!!  I am hoping to get them resolved this weekend and get back to posting regularly next week.  We have had an exhausting week and I am SO SO happy it's finally Friday!  Tonight Rachael and I have our monthly craft night for Branch and Bloom and tomorrow G, Ava and I are headed to Long Island because Ava is in a basketball tournament.  

Wednesday we had to put our dog Daisy down.  I was such an awful morning.  On Sunday she had a seizure.  Ava and I were home when it happened and after her seizure we held her until she seemed OK again.  On Tuesday night G and I were getting ready to go to sleep and she had another one.  I told him I was going to take her to the vet the next day.  We knew something was wrong we just didn't know exactly what was wrong.  I took her in to the vet on Wednesday morning and they did blood work and took x-rays and the vet said her lungs and the area surrounding her heart were full of cancer.  He said there was nothing they could do to help her.  He suggested that we put her down right away so she wasn't suffering.  I called G at work and he came and was with me when they put her down.  It was so sad and I just cried and cried. Daisy was my little shadow around the house and I loved taking her for walks around our neighborhood.  She was part of our family for 12 years and we miss her so much.  

The vets office made us a paw print in clay so we could remember our Daisy girl.  I picked it up today and thought it was so sweet.  I will cherish it always.  

This week did have some happy moments....

We celebrated our nephew Gabe's 6th birthday on Friday with dinner and of course a big cake.  He is such a cutie.  I am so glad we got to be with him on his birthday.  

We bought a new (to us!) Nissan Rouge for me.  I have only had it a couple of days but so far I love it!!  We have always had cars so this is our first SUV and it has so much room so far it's been great. It's a really pretty dark purple/black color called black amethyst.  

Tonight Rachael and I have our monthly craft night for Branch and Bloom.  We are going to be making vertical chalkboard planters and this craft night is also a fundraiser for our local library.  I love this craft and think it will be a lot of fun to make these tonight.

That's it for me today.  I hope you have a great Friday!
Xoxo

Life Lately

I've been having some technical issues with my blog and haven't been able to post in a few days :(
I am hoping everything is fixed so I am able to post.  I have so much to share!  Here is a look at our life lately.

Last night I hosted our monthly Bunco game.  It was fun as always.  It's always great to catch up with these ladies.  

I made a some yummy snacks and a signature drink of course!! I set up the food on my desk in the living room and it worked out great!  

I set up the drinks in the kitchen.  I will post instructions on how to make the Bunco Tart on Saturday.  Everyone loved this drink.  I drank seltzer at Bunco because I had to get up early this morning to run.  But everyone loved this drink and it's a fun spring.summer cocktail!!

This week is Greek Week and we have different fun events planned every night.  The students have been loving it!!  

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Sunday!  Ava got a big basket of candy and a gift certificate for a manicure.  We also went to church and had a big Easter dinner at home. 

Saturday night my friend Heidi hosted a craft night at her house. I made a welcome sign that it turns out I have no place for in my house so I am going to sell it at the Holiday Market.   It was so fun to get together and catch up with these ladies.  

 Ava and I went to a green house/farm stand on Saturday to look at the plants and buy some fresh produce for our Easter dinner.  I got a couple of little plants for our house.  Even though it is snowing today I am so happy it's almost spring in upstate NY!!

 G's brother and his family has been visiting from Colorado this week. It has been fun having them in NY.  Ava loves her baby cousin Gabe. 

That's it for me today.  I hope you've had a great week!!

Xoxo