Sunday Meal Planning #5

After moving into our new house, celebrating Christmas, and ringing in the New Year I think we have finally gotten back to some sense of normalcy in our house.  I've had so much going on in my personal life with buying our house, not to mention December was one of the busiest months I have had at my job- ever.

We have this great big new kitchen, and I feel like I've barely even used it.  Other than throwing a frozen pizza in the oven or maybe heating up some soup on the stove top, we haven't made many real meals yet.  So this week I am finally getting back to my Sunday meal planning routine, and I couldn't be more excited.  Here's what we've got on the menu.

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Sunday: Chicken and Lime Soup

Monday: Left Overs

Tuesday: Fish Tagine over Basmati Rice

Wednesday: Skinny Buffalo Wings and Wedge Salads

Thursday: Left Overs

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Five On Friday: New Year's Resolutions

It's Friday!  This week has been an interesting one.  Having New Year's Eve fall in the middle of the week really threw me off of my routine.  Yesterday I finally sat down and did some goal setting for 2014.  There is so much to look forward to this year, so making my resolutions was quite fun. Although this is a little different that the typical Five On Fridays that I share, I decided to share my five resolutions for 2014 because, well, the thought of accomplishing these five things this year is getting me really excited!

1. Learn more about my city- I feel like I've already learned a lot in the past three years, but I know there is so much more to learn about Greenville.  We had to do some serious budgeting in late 2013 since we were saving every penny to buy our house.  Because of this I haven't been to any new restaurants recently. I can't wait to get back to my routine of trying new places and reviewing them.
2. Make our house a home-T and I have already put a lot of work into our new abode, but there is still so much more that needs to be done.  Everyday I look forward to coming home and digging into something new that evening.  We spend almost every night doing something for the house, and I'm just loving how it is all coming together. Last night we hung curtains and finally got some things on the walls, and this weekend we plan to paint our dining room.
3. Save and pay off debt- Earlier this year T and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course.  We learned a lot, and it has drastically changed how we look at and spend our money.  This year we are going to concentrate on paying off T's student loans and my car.  Our goal is to have no debt other than our mortgage...and eventually no mortgage at all.
4. Get a dog- Well this is just a fun one.  T and I have been wanting a dog for so long, but it just wasn't practical to have one in our 3rd floor apartment.  Now that we have a fenced in backyard I cannot wait to adopt a sweet little canine companion.
5. De-clutter- We are still in the process of moving, and we are just starting to realize how much stuff we actually have.  The two of us have acquired a lot in the last several years, and it is time to part with it.  There are so many things that we need to throw away, give away, or sell.

Have a great weekend! 

New Year's Eve 2013

This year for New Year's Eve my friends all decided to throw our own party.  We realized that every year we pay some restaurant or hotel gobs of money for a party, so why not just throw our own?  We pooled all of our money together and had it catered, and supplied alcohol for everyone.  Our friend Caroline's parents were so generous and let us use their house for the evening.  They have this great outdoor porch with a fireplace and heaters that was perfect for the night. 

I loved getting to spend the night ringing in the new year with my closest friends.   We played beer Olympics earlier in the evening, and watched lots of football.  Later on we brought out the party hats, fake mustaches, and noisemakers- that's when it got interesting.

Cheers to 2014!

For Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year! I am so excited for 2014 to be here.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a fabulous year.   I have so much to be thankful for from 2013, and so much to look forward to in 2014.  I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year last night, and I hope it involved lots of bubbly! 

The champagne cocktail that was a staple for me this holiday season was the Apple Cider Mimosa. It's painfully simple, just combine one part apple cider with two parts champagne, and voila! If you're feeling a little adventurous throw in a teaspoon of brown sugar and an ounce of bourbon. Its a sweeter more alcoholic version, need I say more?

Apple Cider Mimosa

1 tsp brown sugar

1 ounce bourbon

4 ounces Prosecco or other sparkling wine

2 ounces fresh apple cider

Combine bourbon and brown sugar in champagne glass, fill with sparkling wine and top with apple cider. 

Christmas 2013 Recap

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! I know my family sure did. Here are a few pictures from this year's holiday celebrations.

House Update

Hey everyone!  My apologies for not blogging for a while.  Its been a crazy week for us.  We just got our internet hooked up, so hopefully I will be able to start blogging again soon.  Thank you to everyone for their sweet comments, we really appreciate it!

If you're curious, this is what our new house looks like. I have always said I wanted to live in a white house with black shutters, little did I know that would actually come true.  And don't you just love that red door? There is something that is just so classic about the combination.

We are having people over for the first time tonight.  Ambitious, right?  Wish me luck!  I've got a lot to do before this evening.

My Exciting Announcement Is...

We are homeowners!  

T and I have been under contract on a house for almost two months and our closing day finally arrived.  We are so excited to move in to our new house, and I can't wait to share all of our home improvement and decorating adventures with y'all!

One of the best things about this process is that I got to work with some of my best friends.  Our friend Maggie was our realtor, and our friend Caroline was our mortgage broker.  I loved getting to work with them, and it was an added perk that I could text them at all hours of the day, or night, with my questions. 

 Now we just have to get all of our stuff in the house- which is the part I'm looking the least forward to.  There's a 100% chance of rain on Saturday, so moving is going to be quite interesting.   Hope y'all are having a great week!