Yay for Yoga

I am beyond excited about my gym opening a Hot Yoga studio there this fall. I've been doing hot yoga on and off the past year thanks in part to the affordability of groupon/living social vouchers. Which unfortunately has lead to not practicing with any consistency, mostly because yoga is not cheap. Single classes can be about $20 per session (slightly less if you buy a package.) Most recently, my friend Lauren and I have been using a voucher we bought for a place in Ridgewood, but it's kind of a hassle to get to, at least 20 minutes each way, parking is difficult, the classes can be quite crowded and there is no shower there (which is crazy right?). Even with all that I still love going to the classes. But now I will have a much more convenient option, right at my local gym!

I can't wait to finally be able to practice yoga on a regular basis. They posted the information for the types of classes they're going to offer and they all sound great, a nice mix. I'm excited to try each of the classes, they will offer the Bikram yoga which is heated to 105 to restorative yoga classes. I hope they're as good in person as they are on paper. Plus I am looking forward to going to classes on the nights I don't take step (Tuesday/Thursday). And they will have weekend classes as well that are early!

I went to a hota yoga class this weekend and I felt like a totally different person afterwards. Hot Yoga is such a great workout both mentally and physically. Plus you sweat your butt off, I went on the scale once before and after class, I had lost 2 pounds worth of sweat in the one class alone. It is ridiculous how much you sweat in class, but it feels so good. It's amazing to think of all the health benefits associated with practicing yoga, I've seen articles that talk about the benefits from lowering blood pressure to calming the mind and helping with anxiety and depression. I know yoga has helped me feel so much better when I am having a bad day and helps clear your mind and put you in a better mood. I can't to improve my flexibility and stamina. Less than a month till the studio opens, and I am already signed up and ready to go!

Berry Delicious Cake

Last week my friend Michele hosted a "Pizza and Piazze" party at her house in honor of her company's National Party Day. Michele owns her own business as a consultant for Willow House and most recently they launched a new jewelry line called Sarah Blaine. In honor of the company's national party day, Michele hosted a party at her house and invited all of her friends over to participate!

You can tell right away that Michele has a lot of passion and enthusiasm for her business. She is always very excited to talk about it and share her experiences with us. Most recently she even got to go away for a week to a convention at five star resort in Mexico and was sharing beautiful pictures of her trip with us. You can tell that she invests a lot of time and energy in her business because she truly believes in it and enjoys it.

Michele had the table impeccably decorate and filled with lots of jewelry for us to try on. And for every three items you tried on she gave out raffle tickets for prizes later on. I needed no encouragement to try on all the pieces. No like I literally tried on every piece at once at the end of the night since I was having so much fun admiring all the pieces. I decided to splurge a little bit and treated myself to a nice pair of earrings and a matching necklace. The earrings were very reasonable at just $30, and I even got them for half off with my necklace purchase under the promotion they were running. And all my raffle tickets scored me free shipping on my jewelry order that night. Score!

Anyway for the party that night I knew Michele was providing the pizza so I thought I would bring a sweet treat along for dessert, since I love to bake. I found the perfect summer dessert to make a nice light finish after the pizza. This is seriously my new favorite summer dessert, second only to my favorite Skinny Taste angel food cake recipe that Mom V always makes, that's pretty incredible too. This was a tab bit more work though.

The 'hardest' part about this recipe was learning to make the meringue. I never made meringue before, so after the first batch did not work I turned to google for some helpful tips on how to properly whip my eggs into shape! I learned that it is best to start with room temperature eggs, if your eggs are still cold put them in a warm bowl of water to bring them up to temperature quicker. You should also add the sugar in slowly versus all at once. And you can also add a little cream of tartar to help firm it up. It took me two tries, and 6 eggs to get it right but the second time around it was much easier to see when they were done thanks to the helpful preparation tips.

I'm happy to report that this cake turned out incredible, it was worth the extra work of making the meringue. It was also a little difficult to get the meringue out of the pan and flip it on top so mine did not win points for being pretty but it made up for it in taste. I think it was even more delicious the next day when I ate the crumbs of the last piece. The cake itself was so light and I absolutely loved the taste the almond extract added to it. Paired with all the fresh berries inside it was so light and delicious. The whole thing practically went and got many compliments. I def enjoyed it and can't wait to make it again perhaps for a bbq.

Blitze Berry Torte (5 pt +)
Source: Weight Watchers

3 large egg white(s)
1/2 cup(s) sugar
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 cup(s) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce
2 large uncooked egg yolk(s)
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup(s) fat-free half-and-half (I used my coffee mate vanilla creamer)
2 Tbsp sliced almonds
3 Tbsp light sour cream
1 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup(s) strawberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup(s) fresh blueberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup(s) raspberries, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Whip egg whites just until they hold a soft peak. Next, add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating, until the egg whites are stiff and glossy; set meringue aside.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer until light and airy. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and cream the mixture until light and fluffy; add the applesauce, beat to combine and then add the egg yolks and almond extract; beat to combine. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the half-and-half, mixing to combine.

Pour batter into prepared pans and smooth the tops; gently spread each with half the meringue and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of almonds. Bake until meringue begins to turn golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sour cream and brown sugar; mix in berries and set aside. Allow cakes to cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, turn meringue-side up and cool completely. Place one cake layer, meringue-side down, on a serving plate, spread with berry mixture and top with second layer, meringue-side up. Slice into 10 pieces and serve.

Book Club, Book Review & French Wine

I'm happy to report on another month of a very successful book club 'meeting.' We're going 7 months strong now and each month is even more fun as we get to know one another more and try new things. I'm not going to lie my favorite part of this month was not the book but the dinner. We chose a really different type of book from what we had been previously reading. It was a non fiction book about  World War II and how the French had to protect their greatest treasure, which is of course their wine. I had never read any books like this before so it was once again an interesting change of pace, and something I absolutely would not have read otherwise. It was sort of a random selection that got thrown out there when we all agreed we should discuss the book at a French wine bar, in the city! And I always love an excuse to go to the city.

Book Title: Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure -
Donald & Petie Kladstrup

Book Summary (From Amazon): Husband-and-wife journalists and contributors to Wine Spectator, the Kladstrups recount the dangerous and daring exploits of those who fought to keep France's greatest treasure out of the hands of the Nazis. Whether they were fobbing off inferior wines on the Germans, hiding precious vintages behind hastily constructed walls, sabotaging shipments being sent out of France, or even sneaking people out of the country in wine barrels, the French proved to be remarkably versatile when it came to protecting their beloved wine. The authors craft a compelling read that shifts back and forth between individual tales of bravery, including those of five prominent wine-making families, and the bigger story of how World War II affected the French wine industry.

Book Review: The book itself was certainly not the most exciting piece of literature that I have ever read, and for me was not a page turner, however as someone that has always taken a strong interest in History I did enjoy it from that perspective. It was not a piece of History that gets discussed very often. It showed me a totally different light to World War II and what it was like for the people that were not involved in the actual fighting but were left home to care for the homes and the crops, in this case the wine. Wine played an important part in the war and it was interesting to learn more about what Hitler wanted the wine for and how they obtained it. The French also went to great lengths to protect their best wine without giving it all over to the Nazi's. In some instances they would try to trick them and send them their worst wine. In other instances they would syphon the wine out of the barrels and replace it or just take the barrels and hide them all together. Some tried to protect their wine by building walls in their cellers and others simply tried to barricade walls and doors which didn't always work. It was also interesting to learn about when the war was over and they found all of their treasure at Hitler's Eagle's Nest. All and all which it was not a page turner it was a very interesting piece of history to learn about on a subject I love (to drink), wine.

Restaurant Review: For our dinner we selected, Le Bateau Ivre, a charming and cozy French bar on the East Side. We absolutely loved everything about our meal here. We began the evening with a wine tasting. For $27 we each got to select 5 wines to try. Picking them was the hardest part, we pretty much just picked blindly, we tried to get a mix of red and white wines. They were delivered to us on a tiny silver tray in small little tasting glasses.

Along with our wine we also ordered a selection of French cheeses. This cheese plate was probably some of the best cheese I've ever had. It didn't say what all the cheeses were, but we could identify there was a brie, a goat cheese, a blue cheese, and two others. They were also served with walnuts and pistachio's and a french baguette (of course). Every wine we tasted was better than the last, we did not try a bad wine. I don't know much about French wine, but I can tell you we enjoyed all of them along with our cheese plate!

For our main course we each ordered a croque monsieur which was delicious, all of the cheese on it, it was so filling but couldn't have been a more perfect entree for our meal, sadly we didn't have enough room for dessert which I'm sure would have been equally as good. I would love to take Mike back here and go for a date, it had such a wonderful atmosphere, wonderful service and delicious food. Which made reading the book this month completely worthwhile! I hope we can top this again next month.

Only 4 Months To Go!

Oh man when I  actually started this post it was June 1st and I had exactly 6 months to accomplish everything on my 30 before 30 list, however that's come and gone as well so I am now closer to the 4 month mark. Which means this has been taking up space in my draft folder for 2 months now, it's prob time to finish it and get working on my list.

I think I may have been a bit ambitious on my list. I am realizing a couple things, one, to do everything on my list I need a second job to pay for all of this, everything I want to do is expensive and quickly adding up. And, two, I don't really have enough time and energy to devote to every single thing on here, to at least get good at any of them. I've also realized I have a lot of interests but I'm not necessarily good or into one key thing. Although I feel like I have been like that my entire life. Growing up there were things like piano lessons for a couple of years, or clarinet lessons, or the tennis team, I really bounced around a lot and did a lot of different activities. Not to say that is a bad thing, but it would also be fun to do something and do it really well. But in the meantime I have a lot of different things I would like to try and experience, so this is my list of those things!

Classes/Learning/Activities - I think this is the part of my list that I might have been a tad bit over ambitious on, since there's a ton of classes I would love to take, but it's hard to do them all, but hopefully I'll still get to take a few more before my birthday! 

1. Graduate with my Masters Degree - Check
2. Take yoga classes more regularly - Check
3. Take cooking classes - still really want to do this, just need to find the right class
4. Learn to speak Italian (better) - would love to take classes, but running out of time 
5. Take dance classes (like tap or ballet) - I found a place I can try a class at, at least
6. Take photography classes - I have but I'd still like to take more
7. Learn to use my camera in manual - I'm kinda getting there
8. Join a tennis league - I don't think this is happening this year
9. Join a book club - Check
10. Take a sign language class - Eh, it's on my list, but prob not happening soon
11. Learn to swim (I'm not so good right now) - I still need to actually do that
12. Get certified to teach Group Step - Check 

Travel - There's still a couple places on my list that although I might not get to all of them by my birthday, there's always next year! 

1. Go to Chicago, catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field - So much for this year, maybe next year
2. Go on a double decker tour of NYC - I'm still determined to do this, maybe in Sept
3. Travel to Napa Valley, California - Check 
4. Go to the Long Island Wineries - Check
5. Go on weekend trips to places like New England, DC, Niagara Falls - Check
6. Go to famous food places in new cities - working on it! 
7. Have a Guinness at the factory in Dublin (again)  - Mike still wants to go, nothing yet on the timing
8. Go back to Italy  - Most likely happening March 2013
9. Go away on vacation with our friends (/family) Check

Other - I should be able to accomplish all of these by my birthday! 

1. Run a 5K race - Check 
2. Get a puppy - Check :-)
3. Spend a whole day at the spa - This will be a check come the fall, Bridget and I are going!
4. Cook with/Eat more organic & unprocessed, natural foods - Check
5. Go on a romantic date night in the city  - Check 
6. Make a cookbook of all the women in my life recipes - I'm working on it but its taking me a while
7. Go out and stay overnight at my brother's in NYC - I should prob pick a date and just do it
8. Get a "really killer sophisticated city outfit" - I will get this, I'm planning a wardrobe overhaul!
9. Host a wine tasting party at our house - My 30th Birthday Party! 

The Rehearsal

Since I have a ton of great pictures from Nick & Stephanie's rehearsal dinner, I thought this one warranted its own post. Mom and Dad hosted a wonderful Rehearsal dinner for them. It was at this beautiful restaurant in downtown Greensboro, and the food was absolutely wonderful! (Some of the lighting in the pictures didn't come out right so I had to lighten them if they look a little off)

The grooms cake

Some family photos

 That steak was freaking fantastic, we all cleared our plates!

 The guys got jerseys of their favorite team with their nickname on the back

 The girls with their gifts, awesome tote bag and beautiful earrings!

 If the steak was fantastic the red velvet cake was even more amazing!!!

 And with that we were ready for the big event just a few short hours away after this!

Wedding Weekend Festivities

Another long overdue post that I'm quite behind on but didn't want to overlook was the rest of the wedding weekend because there were quite a lot of festivities that weekend aside from the main event. Mike was in charge on planning the Bachelor party which began bright and early on Thursday morning. A round of golf at The Grandover resort, with a small group of the guys. After that Mike planned a big steak dinner for the guys at a local steak house where they had their own private room. What happened after that we're not privy to, it's probably best that way but I'm told they had a fantastic time. Which Stephanie and I can attest to since we were at the apartment when all of the guys got back in the early morning hours and it was clear that good times were had by all.

 Meanwhile the girls had a day of pampering. Starting out with a wonderful brunch. They even offered a mimosa flight of 3 different types of mimosa's, needless to say I partook in that one, the food was also delicious!

After that we were on to the nail salon to indulge in some wonderful manicures and pedicures, we even brought our own pink champagne along for the event, I think it's safe to say everyone enjoyed this part of the day.

 Finally while the boys were out enjoying their steak dinner we enjoyed a fantastic dinner over at Sam's house, where she was kind enough to host the whole lot of us. Her house is beautiful, I would love to have a house just like hers one day. It was a quasi pot luck dinner too so we had a whole variety of dishes to pick one. Stephanie's Mom, Cathy, made her famous pulled pork which was my first real pulled pork sandwich and it was fantastic. We all ate way too much that night!

Jumping ahead to the day of since I didn't include that in the wedding day post, so I'll put it here. In the morning the girls all headed to the salon together for hair and makeup, once I got us to the correct place, no thanks to the lack of help from my GPS, but we arrived with plenty of time. The salon went right to work on all of us and made everyone look ravishing, especially the bride. We had our own little brunch there as well in a private room, it was so much fun and the perfect way to start the day!

Our Handsome Pup

 Just throwing a couple new Rocky shots in the mix. We happen to think he is the most adorable little guy, ever, but we're his parents. We love him to pieces and I'm always taking new pictures of him. Here's a couple recent shots of the adorable little guy 

Garden without Veggies

I have a vegetable garden but no vegetables :-( Everything still seems to be fully alive but I'm a little disappointed by the lack of progress, I figured by now I'd have some stuff that would be sprouting. The tomatoes are not even close to having any tiny little buds on them, except for the cucumbers. 

 The basil is coming in strong!

 I have no idea what those two long stalks are, I thought they were weeds at first

 See the tiny cucumber sprouting! It's progress!

 The zucchini seems to look ok here but sometimes it doesn't look so hot

 I thought everything would be taller by now and maybe have some tomatoes on there

 It is a beautiful garden, it's fun to have some greenery on the deck and something to look at and take care of everyday. It would be great if it actually grew some vegetables though. Is it supposed to take this long???