saratoga for the weekend

This past weekend Kevin and I headed up to Saratoga Springs for the weekend.  The purpose of our trip was to do a walk through at the Sagamore of the spaces we will be using for our wedding and to meet with our day-of-wedding coordinator.  

Friday we left the city and started our drive to the Sagamore.  We HAD to stop in Saratoga for Italian subs from Romas!  

We ate them in the car because we didn't have much time before we had to get to the Sagamore.  Oh my goodness they were sooooo good!!!  I seriously could eat one every day, hehe.  I'll admit that Kevin and I split another one on Saturday, we couldn't help ourselves.

Then we drove to the Sagamore and had a great walk through.  It definitely made me feel as though I have a much better grasp on all the decisions need to be made.  There is definitely a lot of work to be done but I am so excited about everything.  It was also really wonderful to meet Katelyn, our day-of-wedding coordintor, in person for the first time.  She is going to make our wedding come together so smoothly!  I cannot wait to start visiting fabric stores and crafting up a store, yay!!

Friday night Kevin and I had a 7:30 pm reservation at the Mouzon House.  Oh man was I ever excited for this!  Kevin and I discovered this restaurant after we graduated (*tear*).  It is a french creole restaurant that uses many local ingredients.  Their crawfish bignets are to die for!  We had a great bottle of red wine and ate honestly the most amazing food I have ever had at the most romantic table.  

After dinner we decided that we would do our own little drinking tour of all the old places we used to hang out.  We started at the Parting Glass (an Irish Pub) for a couple pints.  There was a great Irish band playing.

Second stop was Gaffneys.  We had some beer, chatted up with some locals.  

Our next stop was going to be Peabody's for a long island ice tea (I always used to have them there during the Saturday night dance parties) but they were closed, boo.  So then we headed to Desperate Annie's.  Our whole gang used to go to DA's every weekend.  It was our favorite bar.  We knew everyone that worked there.  Kevin and I were really hoping that everyone we used to know would still be working there and wouldn't you know it they still do!  They were all so happy to hear that we are getting married.  We ended our tour back at Gaffneys for one last beer and a royal flush shot.  After that we stopped at Esperantos for a late night slice of pizza, yummy yummy.  The whole night was a great success, we just wish we could have had a big group of our Skidmore friends there to join us.

Saturday (and night) our plan was to hang our with Merrick, my cousins Will and Will, and Tom at Will and Tom's house on Avery Street.  We went over to their house around 4:15pm to see everyone.  Kevin and I had made plans to take Merrick out for a belated birthday dinner so while the rest of the group headed out to dinner we headed to Hibachi.  After Hibachi we went back to Will and Tom's house to play some beirut.  Of course I didn't take any photos because I can be such a camera loser sometimes.  We had so much fun!  There was lots of synchronized dance moves!  It was seriously the best time.

Sunday we all went to The Kettle Restaurant for breakfast.  Kevin and I didn't know the Kettle existed while we went to school at Skidmore, such a bummer.  It is a great diner about 10 minutes outside of downtown Saratoga, a hidden gem.  It was such a great trip and I am anxiously awaiting our next excuse to head up there:)

parmesan crusted chicken recipe

On Valentine's Day Kevin and I made one of our favorite chicken recipes, Parmesan Crusted Chicken.  It is soooo delicious and just about the easiest recipe ever.  My lovely friend Claudia asked me for the recipe so I decided I should share it here.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

4 tbs dijon mustard

4 tbs olive oil

1 tsp fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

lots of shredded parmesan cheese

I will admit I am never the one who ends up cooking this (Kevin is the cook in this household) so I am just kinda winging it with the ingredient amounts, but I think it's hard to really screw this recipe up.  

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place them in a glass baking pan or any baking tray for the matter (I would recommend putting some olive oil in the bottom of the pan to keep the chicken from sticking and also to make cleaning the pan much easier in the end).  Then mix together the mustard, olive oil and fresh thyme and slather both sides of your chicken breasts with the mixture, the more mixture you leave on the chicken the more flavor your chicken will have.  Now take your shredded parmesan and cover each chicken breast in it, as much as you want:)  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  There you go, easy cheesy!

Kevin and I usually pair this chicken with green beans and rice or sweet potatoes.  Now go make yourself some parmesan crusted chicken and enjoy!

love of my life

I couldn't think of anything to get Kevin for Valentine's Day this year, but then I thought I don't have to get him anything, there are plenty of other ways to show him how much I love him.  So I decided it would be the perfect time for me to participate in an amazing project that Jen's husband Kevin started for her last Valentine's Day.  The project, Love Of My Life, gives people all over the world an opportunity to proclaim their love to their special someone.  To participate all you have to do is print out the "Love of my Life" flyer, take a picture of it somewhere meaningful and then upload it to the website and show it to the love of your life.  Here is the photo that I uploaded for Kevin:)

I thought it was a special and unique way to show Kevin how much he means to me.  Kevin Andrew Fournie is the Love Of My Life!  I cannot wait for September 17, 2011 when we will become husband and wife:)

Valentine's Day

Kevin and I just had the most delicious Valentine's Day dinner.  We made a trusted recipe: parmesan crusted chicken and green beans.  We also made a little Rice-O-Roni for Kevin because he loves his rice.  The parm crusted chicken recipe calls for fresh thyme which I couldn't find in the couple grocery stores I went to so I asked Kevin to pick some up on his way home.  Unfortunately it turned into a crazy thyme hunt for him - he had to go to 5 grocery stores before he found it.  Even though he wasn't very happy about having to walk all over the place to find thyme he came home with flowers, wine and almond/dark chocolate cookies for me - aren't I such a lucky girl?!

When he got back we finished making dinner and I set the coffee table so we could make dinner feel a little more special.  I cannot wait till we move to an apartment with enough space for a dining room table.  Hopefully next year I will be able to set a dining room table for an extra special (and first MARRIED) Valentine's Day dinner.  

I think our set up for this year was pretty cute and dinner was absolutely delicious!  Hmmm parmesan crusted chicken is sooooo good!!

 These are cute little hearts I cut from solo cups (classy I know) for a little Valentine's Day present I will tell you about tomorrow.

Earlier today I made Valentine's Day cupcakes and delivered them to Kevin's office.  I didn't think there would be any extras but there were so Kevin brought them home so we could have them for dessert.  Cupcakes make me one happy lady:)

 It was a perfect homemade Valentine's Day with my lovie!

Last night we went out to a super nice dinner at Park Avenue Winter, an amazing restaurant that changes its menu and decor for each season.   How lucky am I to have gotten a fancy dinner out and a delicious dinner in with my love for Valentine's Day?!?!?

picasso at MOMA

Last night Kevin and I were lucky enough to attend the opening of Picasso: Guitars 1912 - 1914 at MOMA (thank you so much Jenna!).  It was a special members only event that our dear friend Jenna invited us to (she works at MOMA).  We had a lot of fun drinking free wine and cocktails while we watched all the hilarious artsy folks mingle.

I did not take any pictures at the event but I did snap a couple shots of my outfit before I left home.  

 Again I was home alone and had to make due with some crummy iPhone photos.

Outfit Details

Blazer: Uniqlo

Dress: Eight Sixty

Belt: Goodwill

Tights: We Love Colors

Boots: unknown

little owls

So I have to admit that I kinda copied this outfit.  Do you guys know Kendi from Kendi Everyday?  If not you are totally missing out because she is pretty awesome.  I promise you won't be able stop looking at her blog once you start.  Her style, wit and photographs are addicting.  Anyway, she wore an outfit last fall very similar to the one I wore the other night.  Her outfit was the reason I bought the dress.  The little owls on the dress are so cute!

I really love the way this outfit came together.  Sometimes I come up with an outfit in my head but when I actually put it on I hate it.  This time I was pleasantly surprised, I think it came out even better then I had imagined. 

It was the second time I have ever worn knee socks.  The whole idea of knee socks is really growing on me and I really love how they add another dimension to the lower half of my outfit. Can you make out the little owls on my dress?  They are too adorable!

 I really need to work on taking better photos.  I apologize for the crummy iPhone photos but I have been home alone the past couple times I have wanted to take outfit shots.

Outfit Details

Sweater: Ann Taylor Loft

Dress: Lulus

Belt: Vintage

Tights: We Love Colors

Socks: Gap

Boots: unknown

angry morning.

So guess what Kevin and I woke up to this morning... 

Yeah, that's our soaking wet and leaking ceiling.  Kevin almost fell down the stairs because there was so much water on the stairs.  There was water everywhere.  Needless to say Kevin and I are not very pleased and our management company is a bunch of a**holes.  Some guys are coming over to assess the damage tomorrow and I cannot stop thinking about the complete horror it will be to have them rip out and replace our ceiling.  There is going to be dust all over everything!

I'm so ready to move to a new apartment.