Mike and Jen's wedding reception

Mike and Jen got married a few weeks ago but wanted to have a casual reception at the Avenue too.

They had it catered with BBQ and fun music playing!  Here are some of my Ave girls...

L to R - Wendy&Brooklyn, Heather, Me, Jen (the bride!), Darlene, Christina, Meg, Jenny.

Kevin and I with the happy couple!

Jen and Mike with their wedding day portrait!

My goofy Kevin and I!  :)

We ended up going to Dixie's after the reception to show some of the bride and groom's Pittsburgh friends a good time out and about in Charlotte.  Suprisingly, that place still has a good crowd! 

Yesterday we were supposed to go to a couple Superbowl parties but Kev wasn't feeling the best so we decided to be the rude couple that didn't go at the last minute.  It's always in everyone's best interest to not attend if you think you may be sick anyway, right?!  I ended up making some sliders and we enjoyed those from the couch.  Ha!

This is going to be a big week!  Kevin's birthday is on Thursday!  ;)

Oh and I posted a couple times this past weekend (I know, rare!), so please be sure to keep reading down if you'd like.

Game Day Appetizer - Sausage Balls

I think everyone has a sausage ball recipe for tailgating or the holidays.  I will say, this one has been tried for lots of sporting events and it is perfection every time.

Sausage Balls - makes approximately 4 dozen

1 pound of Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage (I use regular)
1 cup of bisquick

3 cups sharp cheddar cheese (I use low fat)

 - Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

 - Mix all ingredients together with your hands in an oversized bowl.  If there is still powder, it isn't mixed well yet! 

 - Roll into quarter size balls and place 1" apart on a pregreased/pammed baking sheet (and make sure the sheet has sides - you don't want a grease fire)

 - Place in the oven for 5 minutes. 

 - Take out and use tongs to flip them all over. 

 - Bake for another 6-7 minutes until sausage has browned and it looks like they are done.  (My oven takes 7 minutes)

 - Get them out of the oven and let them sit for a minute.

 - Transfer them to a paper towel to let grease drain.

 - I pop mine in a tupperware lined in another paper towel until I'm ready to serve!

They are good cold but I always serve mine warm.  You can just zap them once you get to the party (and of course put them on a pretty platter).  Easy peasy!  No mess at someone else's home!

OPI

We're going to a casual wedding reception today so I decided it would be fun to paint my nails.  "Your Villa or Mine" is the OPI color.  Thought it was fun for February and dreaming of the Spring weather!

What's your go-to color this time of year?

Kimmy

Last night I went over to my friend Kimmy's house.  Well her name is Kim, but I've only ever called her Kimmy.  Haha. 

She was one of my best friends in Chi O at NC State and now we both live in Charlotte.



we always do silly poses (we have since all of our sorority functions in school)



Yall have seen numerous pictures of she and I over my years of blogging.  We hang out with she and her husband, Jeff often!

This is at their rehearsal dinner back in June 2008.

She has always been such a special friend to me.  The kind of you can call at 3am and she'd be happy to drive to your house right then if you needed her to.

Anyway, I went to her home last night and we just hung out and chatted for a couple hours.  Nothing fancy, just good ole' girl talk.  Sometimes you need that, ya know?

I treasure my friendship with Kimmy!  :)

It's finally Friday!!!

Mexican Night

Last night Wendy and Josh hosted Mexican night for the 6/7 of us that always get together every few months.  If you'll remember, last time I hosted Oktoberfest at my house, then we went to Brixx one time and we went to Brett and Emily's the first time.

Fun fact - we've been doing this for a year now with these couples and since we have been getting together, Miss Brooklyn has joined us!  :)

Isn't it rare when both the guys and the girls get along with couples and everyone hangs out so well? 

We love that! 

Thank you to Wendy and Josh for hosting!  :)

Philosophy Products

So I have a problem.  I like nice bath/shower soaps and lotions etc.  And these are some of my favorites by Philosophy!

LOVE the grace lotion.  Awhile back I went over to Nordstrom and they had the big bottle of this and the big bottle of the grace shower gel (neither of which I can find on their website)....the woman told me I would never find a deal that good again.  I knew well enough that it was a good deal but didn't know how good!  She was right and I am still enjoying both 2 years later!

Love the lip shines!  I have the one below and vanilla birthday cake!  I enjoy pulling the candy cane one out every December 1st for the holiday!

Love the Vanilla Birthday Cake shower gel/bubble bath/shampoo.  Sometimes when I want to take a break from washing my hair with Aveda, I use this! 

And last but not least...the cocktail party.  Kevin's Mom and Dad gave this to me for my birthday in November and I've loved having it.

So the funny part about all of these Philosophy goodies is that they are kinda on the expensive side so I hardly use them!!  Only when it is a special night out or something like that.  Haha!  I do think of them as treats!

Random phone pictures!

Yall seriously - did Shawntel really get to go on that shopping spree last night on the Bachelor with Brad?  NOT FAIR.  Each bag was worth $5,000???  Isn't that what she said?  Holy moley!

Soooo here are some random phone pictures....

As I mentioned yesterday, we had another couple over on Saturday afternoon and NC State was playing basketball so I decided to get a State dish out.  Have yall ever had the Honey Goat Cheese from Trader Joes?  Run to your nearest TJ's right now to get some.  Great to serve to guests with TJ crackers.

We also had margaritas.  This was the day after - what I had leftover.  I do own margarita glasses (!!) but I had already put them up from the day before (don't forget I live in a place with no space and it's ridiculous to get anything out that I don't use often) and I just felt like using a big wine glass!  Ha!  This was as we sat on the balcony in 70 degree weather.  :)

And last night we made those Frat Brats that I mentioned and gave the recipe for here.  They turned out amazing.  We used avocado and the corn salsa as toppings (like it mentions in the recipe).  I only used the bottom half of my bread to save almost 200 calories.  All in all, this was about 500 calories, actually probably a bit less.