Happy March!

Spring is in the air! At least for the day... It's a whopping 60 degrees here... and sunny! That's mostly unheard of for March. So while the rest of the East Coast is listening to the rain all day, I got up and went to the gym and came back in time to watch the Phillies play their first Spring Training Game!! Obvi these games don't count but they get me SO excited for the season! I love baseball and I love love love the Phillies :)

Our mascot Phillie Phanatic - the best mascot in sports!

I'm looking forward to the start of the regular season - Opening Day is April 9 vs Florida Marlins!

On Wednesday, we had company over for dinner so Ryan always goes all out to show off his skills in the kitchen. He made Pork Osso Bucco similar to this recipe which was DELICIOUS. I must say this is a dish that hits a home-run every time and Ryan has perfected it. The pork is fall off the bone tender and one shank is more than enough for one person. I had some leftovers which went straight into Moby's dish! :)

On the side he steamed broccoli, my favorite, and made garlic mashed potatoes which pairs perfectly with the pork because there is always so much gravy left and it's y-u-m on potatoes. To make the gravy, Ry used the emulsion blender to incorporate all the veggies in with the stock. It's full of so many amazing flavors.

 This photo really doesn't do it justice. My plate was very small so it looks like much more than it actually is. And the pork shank had already been a little eaten off of ;) Still delectable all the same!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Cheers!

becoming domestic

I never thought I would be 23 years old and cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and everything in between for myself and another person. But becoming domestic isn't so much for him as it is for me. I have a new found respect for people with spotless homes. It's not an easy task but it's become an obsession of mine. I can't stand for things to be out of place! Last night I cooked a delicious dinner, all from scratch, and did a pretty great job if I do say so myself. I even made dessert!

I snooped around on Pinterest until I found a few yummy things that I could make and put on a plate together. 

I was inspired by this recipe from Food.com of "Easy Garlic Chicken." I added onions, honey and a splash of soy sauce to the recipe. Also, per the comments below the recipe on that site, I lined my baking dish with foil for easy cleanup. I also found a yummy recipe from Gimme Some Oven for Sweet Potato Fries, my potatoes were small so I made them into round chip shapes but thicker. I made my Grandma's Brown Rice recipe on the stove (always a winner) and tossed together some creamed spinach and wa-la! 

I even impressed myself :)

I'll save Gemama's Brown Rice recipe for another post... :)

For dessert? Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - Ryan's favorite (I'm not the biggest fan..)

 Cheers!

Love Day/Aunt Crystal

Happy belated Valentine's Day :)

I came home from school to a few sweet gifts from my favorite people, which made for a very special day.

Chocolate covered strawberries and apples from Mama & Daddy

From my lovebug :)

Ryan took me to my favorite restaurant ever : Femmina Ristorante

ahi tuna with spinach/mushrooms & pink heart shaped lobster ravioli

my new favorite! Barocco Primitivo (Zinfandel)

tiramisu is to. die. for.

It was such a lovely evening. I loved it! :)

I am so proud and excited that I can FINALLY announce to the world that I'm going to be an aunt! 

Well... ish. One of my very nearest and dearest childhood friends is going to be a daddy and well, yeah that little dumpling of joy is definitely going to know me as his/her Aunt Crystal :) I can't wait to spoil!

Hi Baby Cox!! <3

I'm in love already. How could you not be??

On another note, my bestie, Meg at Style Me Swanky is in a wedding contest and needs your vote! She has a lot more followers than I do (0) so I'm sure they are taking care of her but just in case you haven't voted, please do : here Vote for Megan & Brandon! And while you're at it, follow her blog!

Happy Weekend :)

LOVE THIS SONG!

Cheers!

 

Motivational Monday

I don't know about y'all but Mondays are the toughest days for me to make myself go to the gym. I almost feel like maybe it should be a rest day for me because it takes everything I have to make myself go! The reasons why I don't boycott the gym on Mondays are because A) I typically have a few drinks on Saturday nights, which makes me completely unable to throw myself on a treadmill on Sundays. Also, I tend to eat more on the weekends and many weekends we eat at least 2 meals away from home... terrible, I know. Sundays we go over to Ryan's parents and his mother cooks a big meal for dinner so by Monday I know that I have to go work all of that off. B) I read somewhere not long ago (I wish I could remember where!) that going to the gym on Mondays makes you more likely to go throughout the rest of the week. I'm not sure if it's true or not but when I get out of Planet Fitness on Monday afternoon, I can't wait to go back on Tuesday. So, for me it works. Today, I needed a little inspiration so before I got out of bed this AM, I grabbed my phone and browsed a few of my favorite motivational pins on my "motivate me" board on Pinterest... which can be found here :)

Don't be afraid to "Follow All" ! 

And my favorite...

And if none of that works, I just visit VictoriasSecret.com and that usually does the trick :)

One last thing...

 Rest in Peace, Whitney Houston.

Cheers!

Sunday Projects

Typically on Sundays, Ryan gets crazy ideas and involves the entire family in his shenanigans. Ryan, his mother, grandmother and myself are usually in the kitchen for the better part of the day making whatever his heart desires. These "projects" in the past include making fresh mozzarella cheese, pickled peppers, homemade handstuffed sausage, the list goes on and on. This Sunday was different, however. Yesterday, I went out shopping at the mall so Ryan went to his parents' to build a cheese press. That way, on future Sundays we will be able to make any and every cheese you and I could ever think of.

It isn't finished but essentially, the cheese curds will be in that plastic bucket and a block of wood will press down on it for around 12 hours before the cheese ages in the refrigerator. So since his project was completed yesterday, he decided to whip out a new gadget that he got a few weeks ago on Amazon.

It's a marble cooking stone that you put in an oven for about 10 minutes, let it get really hot and then place it over Sterno if you're cooking for a long period of time. We happened to have a few shrimp in the freezer so we didn't use the Sterno pot thingys (IDK what you call them?) but instead just heated the stone in the oven and put the shrimp on it. It's pretty much the same concept as hibachi but on marble. And yes, we have plenty of pots and pans that these little shrimp would've cooked perfectly in... but that is beside the point :)

Yesterday, I went to Charlotte Russe and Sephora. CR was having a great sale with a ton of great buys. I just went in to grab a shirt to wear out for the night but came upon these little cuties

I'm in love! They came in a pack of 5 other pairs but I wasn't a huge fan of the others. All of the jewelry was 2/$10 so I grabbed a cute little ring, too. Pretty good deal if you ask me. At Sephora, I picked up 

Sephora Ultimate Dual Exfoliating Face Brush $18

I've been on the fence for quite some time about buying myself a Clairsonic Mia, but something about dropping $120 on a skincare tool that I may not even use doesn't sound like my cup of tea. So I figured I would get this, try it out for awhile and see if I use it/like it before I get the Mia. So far, I'm loving it!

I also got 

Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Primer : Adjust $38

This stuff is flat out amazing in every way and I really can't live without it. I have a bit of uneven skin tone on my face due to redness. Mostly because I go tanning, scrub the shit out of my face everyday, and since I have combination skin I use two different moisturizers for different parts of my face. (Is this weird?) So the green, offsets the redness and well, it vanishes! Also, BareMinerals foundation clings to this primer. Perf :)

My last little goody is something I came across in CVS. I'm pretty much in love with LivingSocial in every way so when they offered $20 of merchandise for $10, I was all over it. I thought it would be great to use for cotton swabs, nail polish remover, magazines... whatever! All my life I've spent $8-$9 per bottle of OPI and Essie polish but when I saw Revlon's new spring colors, I had to give them a try. 

Revlon Colorstay : Posh $3.99 at Walmart or $4.99 at CVS

How adorable for St. Patty's? And um.. well every other day! I'm in love and frankly, I'm off the OPI bandwagon after this. I bought like 6 different colors so I'll be showing them off soon.

I bought another shade also, Impulsive.

However, I wasn't really in LOVE with it like I am with the Posh. I was afraid that I wouldn't ever wear it so I returned it the next day. I think I may regret this decision so it's pretty likely I'll go back and get it again.

Such tough decisions... :)

Alright well I suppose that's all for now. Hope y'all have a wonderful week... I think my next post will be inspired by motivation... because I NEED SOME! 

Cheers!

Pimento Cheese

After many years of enjoying this delicious Southern delicacy, I've decided to make my own version of it!

I can't tell you how many times I've eaten my mother's pimento cheese or bought Palmetto Cheese which by the way, if you're ever in a grocery store in SC - grab a tub of this deliciousness!

However, pimento cheese is few and far between in these parts (NJ) so what better way to embrace my heritage than to make my very own? After my first try, I'm pretty much a pro... 

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• About 3 to 3.5 cups of your favorite shredded cheese, I used a little sharp cheddar mixed with a little taco cheese because I had opened bags of both in my refrigerator
• About 1/3 cup of mayonaise - nothing is better than Hellman's :)
• A couple of squirts of Miracle Whip - I really detest this stuff, but it adds the perfect sweet/tangy touch
• 4-5 turns each of pepper and ground garlic
• Pinch of salt
• 1.5 oz of pimentos - they are sold in 3 oz. jars, so I used half of said jar
• Have fun with it: add a few strips of finely chopped bacon (cooked), some jalapenos also chopped, whatever your heart desires! I didn't add a thing to my first batch and it was perfecto!

First, I used my hand mixer to whip the cream cheese in a medium sized bowl. Tossed in the other ingredients and mixed until everything was completely incorporated. I couldn't believe how easy this was! I chose Pretzel Crisps to serve with the cheese because they were on sale in my grocery store. One thing I learned is that the cheese tastes better after a day or two in the refrigerator! This recipe makes about 10 oz I would guess but I split it into containers to give away so I'm not exactly sure how much it made. It can be kept in the refrigerator for months, although it would NEVER last that long in mine :)

This is after it was all finished - it looks light because of the sunlight and I used white cheddar - yours may be more yellow/orange. I happen to be a big fan of olives, so I went to the grocery store where we have a huge salad bar and olive bar with all sorts of stuffed and unstuffed olives for you to stuff yourself. So obviously...

made the best decision of my life by stuffing them! I just used a small butter knife and loosened the opening up and stuffed them full of pimento cheese. Delicious! Perfect Superbowl party food :)

Cheers :)

hey y'all

Well, I've decided to give the blogging world another go. I started a blog just over a year ago and just  couldn't commit to it. So, I decided to start fresh, in hopes of sticking to it this time. Here goes...

I'm Crystal. I've successfully made 23 trips around the sun... and counting. I was raised in several small towns along the coast of the magnificent South Carolina, but home to me is Kingstree, SC - where my mom & dad were both born, raised, met, got married, and after 30 years and 2 kids, they found their way back. My older brother, Dray, and I were born in Pawleys Island and lived there until we were 13 and 15. My dad was offered a dream job working on a plantation in Ridgeland, SC - so that's where we went. After graduating highschool, I high-tailed it out of that small town as fast as humanly possible. I moved to Conway, SC to attend Coastal Carolina University, where I stumbled across this handsome fellow...

Cinco de Mayo 2009

That's Ryan. He's 26 and a New Jersey native. He came to Coastal to play baseball but decided to find younger girls in bars around Myrtle Beach instead... :) We met in the summer of 2008 after he graduated.

In March 2009, we were blessed with a gift so precious, it could have only come from Heaven...

Moby at 6 weeks

Moby was a gift from my Aunt Lynn after my family gave her Moby's mother, Millie. My parents have Millie's father, Booh. Miniature Schnauzers have been in my life since I was 3 years old and got my first puppy, Sally. Moby has been the joy of my life for 3 wonderful years. I'm a little obsessed :)

Sleeping inside Rioz Steakhouse

Fuzzy little boy with his bowtie

Ready for Christmas 2009

Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday and first time in the snow. He LOVES it.

Go Clemson!

My favorite picture: Looking so happy at the vet!

Picking his 3rd Birthday gifts at Petsmart this week

We aren't the least bit afraid to admit that we have one very happy, spoiled with love, handsome little guy here! So on with the rest of my story... In September 2010, Ryan and I decided to take a stab at life on his turf. So, we moved to his hometown in NJ, just outside of Philadelphia. It has been quite an adjustment but we are enjoying every moment. Ryan has a wonderful job at a pharmaceutical company and I am trying to make my way into Nursing school.

Ryan and I cook everyday and I'm constantly taking pictures of our creations to post on Twitter. 

Hopefully, I can post some recipes and other things that we enjoy on here! Cheers :)