day at the dog beach

Adam and I took Oliver to a dog beach outside of Baltimore this weekend, and I have never seen the little man have more fun. At first, he was a little scared of the small "waves" breaking on the shore but, with a little encouragement, he was having the time of his life. He even went for a true swim several times, whereas before he would wade in the water but never beyond where he could touch the ground. From digging and sprinting circles in the sand to fetching sticks out of the water, he burned about 9283 calories and could barely make it to the car without falling asleep. On a totally unrelated note, I'm in love with my new sunglasses from Free People, and I want to wear them with everything this summer.

happy cinco de mayo!

I don't think that Cinco de Mayo gets nearly enough press in the northeast (and no, Maryland, you are not the south, no matter where the Mason-Dixon line may lie). To me, celebrating this holiday should be on par with St. Patrick's Day hoopla, and I'm much closer to Irish than Mexican... obviously. This year the fiesta has to compete with another great event, the Derby, which also warrants themed celebration. P.S. this coincidental pairing has spurred one of the cleverest cocktail collaborations I've seen:  the mint julep margarita.

Anyway, I celebrated the day by making some classic pico de gallo, which despite less-than-perfect tomatoes was so refreshing and tasty. I ate/inhaled about half of the salsa before it even hit the refrigerator, then put the rest to good use in some chicken tacos. Since I was in the spirit of reworking leftovers, I then used the leftover grilled corn from said tacos and mixed it into the pico, creating what I'm calling Grilled Corn and Fresh Tomato Salsa. Naturally we've also been drinking margaritas, but there's already enough going on in this post, so I'll save that for another day.

austin bound

Adam and I have recently made a very exciting and important life decision, and have shared the news with friends and family: we are moving to Austin! With a career like dentistry, it's difficult to move from place to place; therefore, settling on a permanent home is more in the cards for us. Adam and I both love the city of Austin (his hometown) for a thousand reasons, and I know we're not alone. Even two of my favorite bloggers have featured the fun-filled Texas capital here and here. I love the idea of living near family, and while it saddens me to move far away from my own, it's welcoming to know that Adam's will be just around the corner. The move is still a little over a year away, but the decision has already made us happy and anxious to move forward. With seemingly endless sunshine, Tex-Mex and barbecue on every corner, margaritas of every flavor, and an abundance of live music, I believe Austin will be an amazing fit for Adam and I to start our life as newlyweds.

springtime wedding cocktails

Raspberry Beer Cocktail

Adam and I are just dreading the task of making and sampling various pink and green cocktails to choose for our wedding's cocktail hour. The idea of wading through numerous fruity and flavorful concoctions during the coming warm, sunny days of May and June just sounds so daunting, doesn't it? This is one wedding decision that both the fiance and I are happy to spend hours "laboring" over. I'm not sure how we'll ever choose a winner, but both a pink and green cocktail champion will eventually be chosen. These are some of the contenders I'll be whipping up in the near future.

Cucumber-Lemonade Chiller

The Blushing Bride

Strawberry Basil Margarita

Cherry Beer Margarita

Classic Margarita

Vodka Gimlet

*All images from Pinterest

green, pink and white inspiration

As usual, I'm rambling on about colors. I recently shared with you my obsession with pink, coral and blush flowers, and their prominent role in my wedding, but I've been daydreaming lately about putting my colors together in an overall scheme. Green is an obvious choice for me. I feel like if you don't love green, then it's probably not a color you'd choose. Lucky for me, I do. I have loved it since one of my lifelong best friends, Katy, adamantly named it as her favorite color. Being preteen girls, I had to choose a complementary but not conflicting favorite color, so I claimed blue as my own. Turns out, as usual, she was so wise. I think green, pink and white make such a beautiful color combo, and I can't wait to see it come to life on my wedding day. Also, beautiful drink dispensers similar to these will be serving up post-ceremony signature cocktails in a stylish way.

spring mint

I. Love. Mint. Whether in the form of trendy skinny jeans, flowing chiffon, or blended with chocolate chips in an ice cream bowl, I can't get enough. It's well known that I'm a sucker for almost any form of green, but the masses don't always agree on this often tricky-to-pull-off hue. Thankfully, mint is "in" in a big way right now, so I don't have to search far and wide to satisfy my green cravings this Spring. I often look to the amazing people at Design Seeds to pair colors in new ways, and this trend is no exception. Check out some of their pairings, mixed in with some always-welcome fashion, for some sweet minty inspiration.

Balanced out with earthy neutrals

Paired with "pops" (hehe) of complementary colors

Did I mention there's always mint chocolate chip?

Spearmint on peppermint on wintergreen...

Peach & mint: summer's perfect pairing

**All images taken from Pinterest

chicken laksa (curry ramen soup)

As Adam and I ate ramen noodles for dinner tonight, I remembered that I had taken these photos and forgot to post this Chicken Laksa dish. I call it Chicken Laksa, which is a Malaysian dish, but it's really just doctored-up ramen noodles. And it's got curry. And coconut milk. Yum. This is one of the easiest, cheapest dinners you can possibly make. Really, you don't even need the chicken, but you probably know my feelings on meals without meat (I tend to make very few exceptions to this rule). I got three Bauman-Slagter sized servings out of this meal, and spent less than $10. The key is to pick up a mix of chopped veggies from the salad bar, saving both time and cash. Money in the bank/in my closet.