Chill-What?!

I can’t believe I forgot to share my 2014 favorite holiday story with you all! 

Let me set the scene, it’s Christmas morning. We are all eating breakfast and opening gifts. My mom opens this thing you use to keep your wine cold: it resembles a long icicle and has a cork on the end and when you put it in the freezer it freezes and you then put it into a white wine bottle to keep it cold without using an ice bucket and without diluting the wine with actual ice. My mom opens it and expresses her excitement and my littlest brother looks at it and says, “oh look, mom, you got a chill-do.” My 13 year old brother said “chill-do.” Oh my gosh. We all burst into tears of laughter!

After we caught our breath I told them about the item that was the hit at our office secret santa. It’s called a veggetti. Now, before I explain what this is, what would you expect it to be? Oddly enough, it is not something that ladies use to clean their lady-parts with… it is a kitchen tool that is used to make vegetables into spaghetti. I know, their marketing team should be fired and banished from naming kitchen utensils. 

Now, for the icing on the cake, about a week later I was at my parents house, and my mom had a veggetti in the kitchen! She has since used said kitchen utensil and it worked great; however, it is still super weird to call it by its name.

Have any of you used a veggetti or a chill-do?

Homemade holiday cocktails 2014 ed.

Happy Holidays, happy Monday and happy soon-to-be bellies! Let me start off by letting you know that I am not a lush, I simply enjoy adult beverages on occasion especially when they taste like heaven in your mouth and during the holidays! If there is a better time to make yummy cocktails than the now, please let me know, because I sure can't think of a single better time of year. ---
To start off, on Thanksgiving we made Spiced Cider Margaritas which were inspired by the Whole Foods Market instagram. Oh boy, these were fantastic and just what the doctor ordered. I definitely recommend making these before the holidays are over, or, well, anytime of year for that matter! (p.s. check out my super professional looking photo! wow!)

My mom and I decided to make some homemade egg nog. This is the first time I have made it myself and I must say that it is lip licking good and I may not buy store bought again! It is super easy and so tasty! Thanks you Kelly for the inspiration! 

And on Friday night I had a fun girls night in and we decided, after much deliberation, to make Spiced Buttered Rum. This was definitely a new one for me, I have never had it before and when I saw the recipe I thought that it was straight out of a Harry Potter flick (weird, yes I know, and I have no idea where that came from! Maybe it's that I spent my days under the weather rewatching all of the Harry Potter movies...or maybe it was something else?) I digress.... On a serious note, this drink is fantastic. I don't know how I have never had it before but what I do know is that it will become a holiday staple, I even made it on Saturday night too! I added a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top. mmmhmmm good!

Please enjoy these cocktails! I promise they will not disappoint! Cheers!

Some changes

Given the changes in my life, I decided to change up the blog! I worked with the lovely Erin from Two Thirds Hazel and I think that she did an amazing job! She was super easy to work with and I am definitely excited about the final product! Woohoo!
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Anyway! I have been sick for the last week+ and it has been pretty miserable. I wish there was a way to speed up this entire process and start feeling better, say, yesterday. Sadly, I have no magic wand nor do I have a special elixir to make the sickies go away, so for now, it is lots of water, sleep and mucinex for this gal.
In the meantime, I took Wednesday and Friday off from work to celebrate a big birthday in my family! My dad turned 60 and we all went out to dinner and then to the movies. It was nice and relaxing. We ended up at the same restaurant we ate at for his birthday last year and we even sat at the same table! I guess we are suckers for routine and repetition? We even got my parents holiday card in the process! I mean, right?? How great is this picture!? We then headed to the movies. I suggested we see Interstellar, but the birthday boy wanted to see Horrible Bosses 2. I will admit that it was funny, it had me laughing the entire time! I don't know if that was the cold or the drinks but I sure did find the movie entertaining! (Maybe even better than the first - however, I would recommend waiting for it to come out on TV...maybe not worth the $12+ it costs for a movie ticket).
For the rest of the week I was glued to a couch, any couch, while snuggled up under lots of blankets enjoying lots of warm things. I got my mom hooked on Serial - if you haven't been listening, come out from under your rock and get caught up! - and I decorated my apartment for Christmas. 

I must say that decorating my tree while listening to Christmas music really made me happy. I took Tuesday off from work, to recover some more from this silly cold, and I sat at my computer with all of my lights lit, a cup of homemade egg nog and Christmas music playing. It was absolutely glorious and I couldn't help but smile for the entire day. I think that decorating is allowing me to be ready for the holidays and the new year to come my way.
Alright, December, let's get rolling so we can celebrate 2014 and get 2015 started! 

Meeting Baby Elle

I promise to get to the bulk of our Arizona trip - It will come soon and my goal is to be finished recapping the holidays before January is over ::le sigh::

I brought 2014 in right with a visit with one of my best friends and her sweet baby girl, Elle. We planned on it being a double date + baby, but we decided to have a girls only {no boys allowed} lunch date and it was nothing short of a perfect afternoon lunch.

Sam and I met our Freshman year of high school in our first period choir class. We sat next to each other, I cant remember if it is because we were both sopranos, but she turned to me and said, "You look like Rory from the Gilmore Girls." I looked at her, confused because I had never watched an episode in my life, and said, "Who is that?" And that began a lifetime of friendship. We happened to be in lots of the same classes throughout high school so many group projects were completed and lots of sleepovers were had. The summer after our Junior year, her family moved to Tennessee - and this was really before video chatting etc, so we had to make sure to catch up on the phone and remember the time zones.

We traveled to see each other and we were in each others weddings. We have definitely had our ups and downs and our laughing hysterics and arguments. This girl has been my friend for what seems like forever. She is my sister and I love he and her family as if they were my own! And this sweet baby of hers is more than lucky to have her as a momma!

I <3 U Mucho Grande, Shmu!

WEIR Fonduing

Well now I can tell you our big secret: we spent the New Year in Arizona! It was a surprise for my FIL - I'll get into it more later. Because we were in Arizona, we weren't able to practice our tradition of Fondue and wine so we decided to do it a bit early with one of my very best gal pals and her fiance. 

They, sadly, moved back to the East Coast on the first for the year, so this was the last time we were all going to be together while they still lived nearby. We decided to celebrate 2013 and cheers to 2014 with fondue, beer and The Grinch. It was a perfect night with the best company!  

Here is my fondue recipe - a combination of a few recipes!

1-2 tblsp flour
3 c dry white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 -2 tsp whole grain mustard
1 lb Emmentaler cheese, shredded
1 lb Gruyere/Cheedar Combo cheese, shredded
½-1 tsp ground nutmeg
baguette (the more sour the better!)
chicken breast
sausage
broccoli

canola oil - if you are also cooking the meat

1. Shred cheese (if you want, you can put all of the shredded cheese in a plastic bag and pour in the flour and shake the bag to coat the cheese with the flour - OR you can add the flour in at the end - in this case, we added the flour at the end - we have combined the cheese and flour before and I am pretty sure it turned out well!)

2. Combine the white wine, mustard and garlic in a fondue pot (or a large saucepan) over medium heat; bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk in the cheese, about 1/2 cup at a time, allowing each batch to melt before mixing in the next. Stir in a figure 8 pattern to prevent cheese from clumping into a ball.

3. Whisk in flour, a little at a time until the cheese is a thick consistency, and nutmeg to the cheese sauce; until thickened. 

4. Put the fondue pot over a flame and eat (if not using a fondue pot to begin with, transfer the cheese mixture to a fondue pot)

5. Cut/cube all of the meat, veggies and bread into bite sized pieces and either cook the meat before hand of put on a plate for cooking in a fondue pot.

Note: we have 2 fondue pots - yes, we are serious fondue-ers - one is electric and the other is not. The electric one is used for the oil and cooking the meat and the other one is used for the cheese. We will make the cheese mixture on the stove in our fondue put and then put it over a flame.

Christmas Day 2013

Christmas Day we spent at my parents house. It was a seriously beautiful day. Like beautiful outside and beautiful to spend the day with people we love so much and are proud and thankful everyday for.

Every year, that Christmas is at my parents house, my mom will host an all day open house. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come by for some delicious snacks and fun cocktails, wine and/or champagne. This year was a pretty quiet year - it seemed like most people were out of town - but the important people were definitely around! Rich's parents and sister/friend arrive around noon after staying the night at Grandma's house. We had to get some family/group shots in before we forgot/people had to head out. 

 

 

 

About mid afternoon, Christine and her mom and Laura came over for some snacks and Champagne. After we all caught up we decided, like any other event at my parents house, to play a game. We played a few rounds of Taboo with my mom guessing for both teams. It was a ton of fun! We all laughed until our stomachs hurt!

The gals left for their perspective Christmas dinners and another family came over for a crab feast. Crab, garlic bread and more wine was enjoyed by all! We spent the night at home and I had to go into work the next day. Fortunately it was pretty quiet, which was definitely what we all needed in our department!

Christmas Eve #sepia #blackandwhite

I am not even going to crop these pictures, they are that good. Let me set the scene for the day:

It was a beautiful day in the Bay Area. I was able to work remotely on Christmas Eve, so first thing in the morning Rich and I headed to Startbucks for coffee and then I got to work. We planned to head to his grandma's house in the early part of the afternoon with his sister/friend in tow. We pick her up from BART and head on our way. 

Now this is where the story gets good..I was asking about how the holidays at Grandma's house were since I hadn't experienced on yet. We were joking around and basically crying from too much laughter when Rich looks in the rear view mirror and says: "Melissa, are you bleeding?" Sure enough she had made herself laugh so hard we had her laughing so hard that she cracked her lip open and was bleeding! #sepia #blackandwhite Basically, when the three of us get together we are all cry because we laugh and we laugh until we bleed. It truly is the best time.

Anyway, after getting a bit lost due to poor directions and hilarious distractions, we made it safe and sound and in one piece to Grandma's house where we all caught up on life, drank lots of red wine (as you can tell by the above photo) and opened gifts.

It was the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve.

Sunday in the City

The weekend before Christmas Rich's parents came into town along with two of my aunts and an uncle. It was a pretty busy weekend trying to coordinate everyone's schedules and making sure to see everyone!

On Sunday, Rich's family and I all headed into San Francisco to walk around, get happy hour and meet my family for dinner to celebrate my FIL's birthday. Our first stop was at the Tcho Chocolate factory. If you are ever in SF, this is a must. The last time Rich and I went in there we were able to hop in on a tour of the factory without a problem. However, this time, they were jam packed full, so we decided to enjoy some sipping chocolate and then head on our way to happy hour at Palominos. Did you know that their happy hour is all day every day?! Yes, please and thank you!

 

 

 

It was seriously such a gorgeous day. I hate that I love the beautiful weather since most, if not all, of California is in a severe drought. But I loved it just he same. After our walk along the Embarcadero and then enjoying a few glasses of wine at Palomino we headed over to Delancey Street Restaurant. It is a really nice restaurant, with good food and over the top fabulous service! I definitely recommend the restaurant if you are looking for something nice and totally affordable! We will definitely be going back.

At dinner, our waiter told me that I look like Uma Thurman ... (?? not really, but okay...)

Isn't my littlest brother the cutest?? haha

This was basically the start to a super-de-dooper busy 2 weeks! It was so much fun and totally worth every hour of sleep lost :-)

A Speakeasy Holiday Party

 

 

  I know that this is super behind, but we just got the pictures from the photobooth, the picture from the photographer came almost immediately after the party, and I just had to share!

If you hadn't noticed, I work for a really fun company. We constantly have treats around the office, monthly massages, catered lunches and dinners with 2 fully stocked kitchens, and fun after work events. I am thankful every day for this opportunity and for all of the awesome people I work with.

Our holiday party was planned by our dedicated Tagged ninjas - yes you read that right ninjas - they take care of our Friday happy hours, all of the fun treats we get in the office and really make our company a lot of fun to work for. The ninjas planned a 20s Themed Speakeasy Holiday Party at a beautiful Art Gallery in San Francisco that was fully equipped with a whiskey bar, a live jazz band, an ice sculpture, a photo booth, people teaching us how to roll cigars and so so so much more. It was definitely a night to remember...well...you know what I mean...!

The best part? That one of my coworkers brought breakfast burritos in the next day to help us cure all of our hangovers for breakfast. It was perfect!

Needless to say, we had a blast and it was so nice to finally introduce Rich to most of the people I work with!

5 on Friday

1. Dare I say that I am glad that the holidays are over? I don't mean any disrespect to the holiday season, but, I am exhausted (!) and so ready to be back to my regular routine: sleeping in my own bed, cooking and eating healthfully, the daily grind of typical work, less stimulation and all around calm. *Phew* Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with family and friends from near and far, there is really nothing better, but I definitely need a vacation from our vacations!

2. Surprise! Rich and I went to Arizona for 5 days to celebrate my FIL's 60th birthday! It was a great trip! We got lots of family time in, experienced some Arizona sites, ate and drank to our hearts content, saw a few friends and met one of my best girlfriends new baby!

Tonto National Park, Arizona

3. I am not big into making New Years Resolutions. I hardly ever keep them and then I beat myself up for breaking them. So, for the past few years, as I reflect on the previous year I think about the aspects of my life where I want to improve. Every year, judge less and love more is on my list. This year, I wan to volunteer once per month. Alone. Only Me. Yup, I want to do this for myself, I don't want it to be a social get together, I want to use the time to focus on the organization I choose and live, love, reflect and make a difference.

4. 2014 is going to be a great year. There will be a lot of unknown, living, friends, healing, frustration, excitement, change, love, exercising, family and hopefully travel. I can't wait to see what the year has in store for me and for my family!

5. And last but certainly not least: mid January, a friend of mine is hosting a Bay Area Blogger Meetup! Check it out here and definitely come if you can! It will be tons of fun....! I am caking on the peer pressure, cantcha tell?!

*5 on Friday Link Up