Thoughts on Thursday: Movie Edition!

As I've mentioned at least a million times, I am obsessed with the Academy Awards and every year I try to see as many of the nominated movies as I can (see how I'm doing over there on the right side of the blog). With less than a month until the big day I have a lot of work to do. I have spent all of my free time this week packing in movies. Here's what I've seen and what I thought...

*Last Friday me and the fiance met up with my BB and her fiance for dinner and to see True Grit. I liked it. It wasn't my favorite movie of the year but I thought it was really well made and both Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld did an amazing job. True Grit is nominated for 10 awards, and I know for sure they'll win at least a few of them.

*On Tuesday, I saw Blue Valentine. This was a tough one. The acting was AMAZING, Ryan Gosling definitely got snubbed! It was a really gritty and really real potrayal of a relationship. I definitely appreciated the way Derek Cianfrance (the director) decided to tell this story. But, because it was so real it was hard to watch. I liked it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone getting ready to walk down the aisle.

*On Monday I rented Winter's Bone. I didn't like it. I thought it was slow moving and overall boring. The lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, did a great job and I think she deserves her nomination....other than that I was underwhelmed.

*I also rented The Kids are Alright. I loved this movie. Do I think it deserves a Best Picture nomination? NO. Do I think Annette Benning deserves a Best Actress nominations? YES. Do I think Julianne Moore's performance was even more Oscar-worthy? YES. Do I think Mark Ruffalo deserves his nomination? Maybe not.

*This weekend I'm excited to finally see The Social Network and Toy Story 3 and I'm hoping I can maybe squeeze in one more nominated film as well!

Now head on over to my BB's blog:
Life, Love and Puppyprints
and play along with "Thoughts on Thursday"

Wedding Wednesday: HONEYMOON!

Our honeymoon is booked! But, it wasn't the glamorous experience I was hoping for (planning it, not the honeymoon itself).

First of all, the coffee shop. As is it now there is no possible way J and I could leave for a week. We work 98% of the time and with one part-time employee it's just not possible for us to take off. But, who knows where we'll be come November. The hope is that business is booming and we have more employees allowing us to get away for the first time in almost 2 years. We decided we couldn't let the unknown come between us and our honeymoon. We want to spend our first week as a married couple in paradise and we just couldn't wait until November to figure out if we could do it.

We have a regular customer at Coffee Buzz who has her own Travel Agency. She is THE BOMB. If you are looking for a GREAT, experienced, fun, and affordable travel agent get in touch with Meg from Amera Travel. She seriously is amazing. AND, she offers travel protection, which we got so that we can cancel for any reason, which will come in handy depending on how Coffee Buzz is doing!

Originally, J and I wanted to go to Hawaii. Oahu to be specific. We met with Meg and she put together three trips for us, two to Hawaii and one was a wild card she thought we would enjoy. The Hawaii trips were incredible and we were pumped, then we saw the price. The wild card trip was to an amazing all-inclusive resort in Negril, Jamaica. For less than the trip to Hawaii we could go to Jamaica and have EVERYTHING included. We mulled it over and decided that the Jamaica trip would make the most sense with our budget. Hawaii was just going to be too expensive. But, something was holding us back. I don't know what it was but something about Jamaica just wasn't making me jump for joy. So, I talked to Meg and she put together a couple more trip options for us. After talking to a lot of friends and family who have traveled we decided that for our honeymoon we're going to RIVIERA MAYA in MEXICO!!!

We're staying at the El Dorado Royale for 6 days and 5 nights!

"A Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Top 100 Hotels in the World and a AAA Four Diamond Resort, El Dorado Royale is an adults-only destination that provides the ultimate in service in the ultimate setting.
El Dorado Royale offers an escape like no other. All the luxuries you can imagine, combined with personal attention to your every need, make this an ideal location for especial getaways, romantic weddings, honeymoons and anniversaries."

We're staying in an Ocean Front Suite

Complete with views of the Caribbean, access to the white sandy beach, a personal suite Jacuzzi., 24 hour room service, bathrobes and a daily stocked minibar (key!)

How amazing are those personal jacuzzis?!

The resort also includes seven restaurants, thirteen bars, thirteen pools (with swim-up bars!) and a spa!

We are also hoping to do some fun activities while we're there like swimming with dolphins, snorkeling, getting a couples massage and going to a tequila tasting. All of which we registered for on our honeymoon registry (more on that later.)

I AM SO EXCITED! I don't know how I'm going to wait this long to go!

A Quick Note About Friendship

I am so lucky to have a lot of friends, but I am extremely blessed to have a few REALLY good friends.

2010 was a monstrous year for me, I opened a business and got engaged. I have always thought that extreme excitement or a massive struggle brings people closer or tears people apart, and after 2010 I know this to be true. 2010 was filled with both extreme excitement and massive struggle for me and when I look back there were three people who stepped up. People who have supported my coffee shop, who have offered to help, who have listened to me complain or rant or cry, but who also praised me when I was excited and proud. These are the same three people who cried when I told them I was engaged (one even cried when I showed her my wedding shoes....because she got it. I'm getting married and I'm wearing amazing shoes, she knows what a big deal that is.)

These friends love me for me, and they know me. They know every little thing about me, and they love me anyways. After a falling out with one friend I really doubted myself, felt bad about myself and dwelled on what had been said and what went wrong. These friends made me realize that I am a good friend, a really good friend. We all make mistakes and I would be lying if I said I haven't had a fight or an issue with all of these three woman. The difference is we treat each other with respect and we know how much we really need each other and we worked through it.

These girls mean the world to me and if I didn't have them to make me laugh, hold me when I cry or gchat with me for the entire day I don't know what I would do.

I guess I just want to thank these women for being there for me when I need it and more importantly when I don't. You're just there. Always. I love you for that!

Thoughts on Thursday: Recipe Edition!

This past weekend I experimented with three new recipes! Two of them I sort of made up myself and the third was straight out of Bethenny Frankel's book, "Naturally Thin." I figured I would use my BB's THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY to share these great recipes with you all!

Stroganoff Meatballs
Ingredients:

-1 lb ground turkey
-Half an onion (chopped)
-1/4 cup Whole Wheat bread crumbs
-Garlic (chopped and to taste)
-2 large egg whites
-2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
-Whole Grain Rice
-2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
-1 cup Skim Milk
-1 cup Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt
-Salt and Pepper (to taste)
-2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Preparation:
-Cook Rice according to package

Meatballs:
-Preheat oven to 450
-Combine ground turkey, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, bread crumbs, egg whites and olive oil in to a large mixing bowl and mix well. I have found using your hands is the best way to combine the ingredients without completely mashing the meat (which you don't want)
-Take large spoonfuls of meat combination and lightly pack them in to round balls. *You don't want to smoosh them or pack them too tight or they get dry! I made 10 larger meatballs...make them whatever size you want!

-Bake the meatballs on 450 for about 15-20 minutes. Make sure to rotate them while they're cooking.

Sauce:
-Combine Cream of Mushroom Soup, Greek Yogurt and Skim Milk in a large saucepan.
-Heat until sauce us hot and has thinned

-Finally, add cooked meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes so the flavors get all mixed together! Serve meatballs and sauce over rice

*I'm sorry I don't have a finished picture for you....we were too hungry and I forgot. Also, this recipe made a ton of sauce. It worked out because I used the extra on some vegetables, but if you want less sauce I would do just one can of Cream of Mushroom and maybe reduce the yogurt and milk a little.


Bethenny Frankel's Cucumber Salad

*Whisk together:
-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or less, if you want)
-1 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill (or your fave herb)
-1 teaspoon honey
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-Salt and pepper to taste
(I made a double batch...so I just doubled everything)
*Pour over sliced cucumbers
This was so yummy (I served it with the stroganoff meatballs). It was really refreshing and is a great cleanser. It was a little too vinegary for us, so next time I think I'll use a little less.


Kristin's Amazing Chili!
Ingredients:

-I lb ground turkey
-1 can Kidney Beans
-1 can Black Beans
-2 8oz cans of Tomato Sauce
-1 packet McCormick Reduced Sodium Chili Seasoning
-Chopped Garlic (to taste)
-Frozen Corn (not pictured)
-Celery
-Carrots
-1/2 White Onion
-1 Red Bell Pepper
-1 tsp Olive Oil
-Cheyenne Pepper (to taste)
-Red pepper flakes (to taste)
-Chipotle Tabasco Sauce (to taste)

Preparation:
-Chop vegetables (I just chopped up everything but ended up using about half of the total veggies. So add as many or as few to your chili as you want....just make sure not to add too much or the chili will be super thick)
-Add all vegetables (except for onions) in to a large steamer. Steam for appx 20 minutes (or until veggies are soft). Again, I cooked them all but didn't use it all.

-Heat 1 tsp of Olive Oil and saute onions, garlic and red pepper flakes
-Drain and strain the beans....get rid of all that yucky preservative junk that it comes in!

-Brown the ground turkey

-Add steamed veggies and onions to the ground turkey (make sure to mix them up well)

-Add tomato sauce, McCormick's seasoning, cheyenne pepper, and Chipotle Tabasco Sauce. Mix well! Make sure to taste so you know if you've seasoned enough!

-I let the chili sit and simmer on low heat for about an hour so that all the flavors got incorporated.

You know I couldn't let Thoughts on Thursday go by without a couple random thoughts....

*Not to toot my own horn but this chili was GOOD! REALLY GOOD!

*I have been a terrible blogger in terms of reading and commenting on all of your blogs! My plan is to get caught up today! So I apologize for being so neglectful!

*I have quite a few new followers! WELCOME! I am so excited you care enough about what I have to say to follow this little blog! :)

*Finally, make sure you go to my BB's blog Life, Love and Puppyprints and link up with Thoughts on Thursdays!

Wedding Wednesday: DIY Card Boxes

A while back I saw these amazing card boxes on one of the blogs I follow, She Said Yes! Marni Gold who is the owner of Custom Card Boxes was guest blogging and I was blown away by her beautiful creations.

After seeing these I decided to look around and see what others have done in the way of DIY Card boxes. Here are some of my favorites.

The last one is my favorite! So I got to thinking, I bet I could make one of these! It will take some patience to get the ribbon to look that pretty, but I the rest of it would be pretty easy, at least I think it will be. I think I'm going to try it! Not sure when exactly I will take on this new little project of mine but I will most definitely take pictures and share the process with you!