Insta Friday

It's Friday again and that means Insta Friday! 

As I posted about earlier, Gavin and I went to the Brad Paisley concert last Saturday. Before we went to the concert we grabbed dinner at Monell's in Nashville. It is family style southern restaurant and the food is amazing. It is a really fun atmosphere and you always meet new people. We are planning on taking the people who come to visit for CMA Fest there for dinner one night. If you are ever in Nashville I would highly recommend a visit to Monell's! 

The Brad Paisley concert was phenomenal! I wrote more about it here.

Happy Friday!!

Insta Friday

Back for another round of Insta Friday!

This last Sunday was Kellie's birthday! Kellie is my partner at the school and we run the after school program at the middle school in Nashville. She is an absolute gem and I don't know how I would survive everyday after school without her. Since she is so wonderful I decided to bake her a cake! You can read more about the cake I made here.

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend!

Insta Friday

I only had one Instagram photo this week, and it was from last Friday. I must have been too busy to stop and take some pictures :)

The idea to have a craft beer and pizza night came about after Christmas and having tried so many beers while in California and Oregon. Gavin and I thought it would be fun to have friends over and introduce people to beer they may have never tried and make some custom pizzas. You can read more about our beer and pizza night here!

Gavin and I are planning on having a quite Valentine's Day cooking dinner at home and staying in. We decided early on that we weren't going to try to fight the crowds. Plus if I am spending quality time with the man I love, I don't really care what we are doing.

Happy Weekend!

Insta Friday

Back for another round of insta Friday! I did end up taking more pictures this week, really quite easy to do when last week I only took one.

On my lunch hour last Friday I went to a used book store here in Nashville called McKay's. It is like a miniature Powell's. I wish I had longer to wonder around the store and find some hidden treasures, but I only had a few minutes to spare during my lunch break. I did however make a stop at the free book bin on my way out and scored some old books to decorate with!

Sunday after church Gavin and I went to Costco to pick some stuff up for the week and the Super Bowl. As we were walking in there was a litter of puppies that were headed in as well. To say we were excited would have been an understatement. There were 8 or so 3/4 lab and 1/4 mix puppies hanging out in Costco the whole time we were there. They were getting used to being around people before they start training to become therapy dogs. Gavin and I really wanted to steal one and take it home, but knowing they were going to grow up and do great things helped us resist. 

Tonight we have friends coming over for a craft beer and make your own pizza night. We are excited and think it will be a fun night with good friends, good food and good beer! I will post about it later this weekend :)

Happy Friday Y'all!

Our Quiet Superbowl

Gavin and I didn't have plans for the Super Bowl this Sunday, which was actually a little strange for us. However, I was not going to complain about having a relaxing Sunday evening at home with my husband and happening to have the Super Bowl on. 

Earlier in the weekend we had some of my co-workers over for dinner and drinks and we came up with a delicious cocktail: Blackberry and Mint Tom Collins. It is pretty darn yummy! So of course, I had to make a few for myself on Sunday. It is really simple and the recipe is below. 

Blackberry and Mint Tom Collins

Ingredients:

4 to 6 Blackberries

5 to 8 Mint Leaves

1/2 ounce to 1 ounce Simple Syrup

1/2 ounces of Lemon Juice

1 1/2 ounces Gin (I like tanqueray or Hendricks, but use your favorite!)

Soda Water

Directions:

1. Put mint, blackberries and simple syrup in glass and muddle. 

2. Add the lemon juice and gin and stir. 

3. Top with soda water to your taste preference.

4. Garnish with mint or blackberries. 

You can adjust the amount of all the ingredients to suit your taste. Want a sweeter drink? Add more simple syrup. Want a strong drink? Add more gin. Also you could easily make this drink with rum, tequila, or vodka if you prefer one of those spirits over gin. Part of the fun of making cocktails like this is experimenting and figuring out what you like. Now go and experiment!

As I was saying earlier, we had a simple and quiet Super Bowl at home. For the first half we had a healthy spread of fruit, veggies, hummus and peanut butter. 

But then for the second half I busted out the big guns: chorizo stuffed bacon wrapped dates. I will have to do a post about those soon because they are delicious!

We had the game on, but I ended up reading most of the game and watching some commercials and the half-time show. I must say, this years super bowl was a little underwhelming. 

What did your Super Bowl Sunday look like?