MIMM: 24th birthday recap!

Hi beautiful friends, happy Monday to you all!

This weekend was super fun, we celebrated my 2-4th birthday! Saturday was the perfect day & exactly the way I wanted to celebrate it // Food, Friends, Sweets + some little odds and ends.

I woke up to George singing happy birthday : ) … and lots of sweet messages from everyone!

I quickly got up since I wanted to be able to spend some time with him { he had to work, booooo} so breakfast was fun birthday waffles and a trip to Starbucks so we could get my birthday drink : ) I started getting a little nervous about the weather. We had MORE snow! What else is new..

Our dinner plans later in the evening were in Philly!
Since I had some time to kill after G left for work, I took myself on a birthday date to get a pedicure.
you gotta pamper yourself on your birthday! ❤

Jenna wasn’t able to attend dinner Saturday and surprised me by dropping off a cake! { way to my heart } seriously, the sweetest gesture. Not only was it beautiful and from one of our favorite bakery’s on the mainline, but a peacock cake! { I have this as a tattoo } I just kept staring at it. Isn’t it beautiful?

….. eventually I caved and had some! 😉

After our visit it was time to get ready for the festivities! Cassidy & Larissa came over first. We hung out in the bathroom doing make up, changing outfits. Always a favorite time with the girls. Soon enough Courtney and Danielle arrived and it was off to Philly! The snow didn’t stop us!

{from the website}

One of my favorite favorite favorite things is Mexican food. Mexican in a cool restaurant. Mexican with my friends. We went to Distrito, the atmosphere was so cool. All pink everything, lights, swinging chairs, big comfy booths, crazy décor and amazing tapas.

We each started with a margarita, I am not the biggest fan of tequila so I went with andale since it had some other things in it as well!  // Tequila, Coconut Rum, Orange Juice, Pomegranate. Delish! Sunshine in a glass!

Because it was tapas, we wanted to try a bit of everything. From tacos, plantains, chips + quac, short ribs, seafood, nachos and everything in between.

I feel so grateful for these group of women in my life, they are my rocks! especially if I don’t get to see them very often, I like to soak up every minute.

Although I had cake at the house, there was definitely room for dessert. ummm… CHURROS! CAN I GET some more?! New favorite. Holy moly.  We e already planning our next time there.

{ and kahlua cheese cake! }

We wanted to go out in Philly, but the one spot was relocated or closed. Parking was awful, too many cars were snowed in. So we decided to head back to town so the boys could join us too. We ended the night at one of our local bars + a sleep over with Larissa!

Sunday was a nice impromptu brunch with my mom & Larissa. We have plans of celebrating mine & Cassidy’s birthday in March since we are going away, but I still snuck in some celebrating with my mama! .. Can’t wait to re celebrate in a few weeks  😉

Hope you had an amazing weekend & happy Monday.

Question:
Favorite cuisine to celebrate something over?

Also, find me here!
Twitter @pieceof_cait
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MIMM: Cookie baking + Winterfest

Hey guys, happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend! Today I am going to my last FINAL.. Wooo!!!
but before I do, wanted to share some marvelous pictures from the weekend. A coffee date with my mama, Christmas cookie baking + ice skating with my sisters!

Friday morning I met my mom for coffee, as we discussed our cookie swap and baking she said “hold on one minute” ran out to her car and gave me a cookie scoop!  I was so excited and used it right away .. oh the little things!
🙂  Double chocolate chunk cookies with andies mints! YUM.

Saturday, it snowed again. I had to work and it was probably a bad decision to volunteer and be the one to go in… it was D E A D. When I arrived home I wrote all the Christmas cards, just need to send them out!

Sunday, my sisters, brian + I headed down to Philly to the Winterfest. There was ice skating, hot chocolate, pop up stores + more! We haven’t been ice skating in so long.. so it was pretty funny the first few times around 😉

The rest of sunday was low key and relaxing. More Christmas tunes, decorating of the tree and some more baking.

I’ll share this week!

Hope you had a splendid weekend!
xo

Questions:
Did it snow where you lived?
Do you write Christmas cards or send out pictures?

If you missed Friday’s DIY Christmas post– check it out! Christmas is 9 days away!

World Cafe Live & caramelized candied walnuts

Hey! Happy Wednesday hump day to you all! Another week that just keeps on flying 🙂

When I left you last on Monday, we were heading to the city with some friends for dinner, drinks & music at world café live! It was such a great time. We saw Federico Aubele { who George has been playing for years } So it was finally great to see him live!

>> listen here <<

We enjoyed cocktails, wine & lot’s of sharing of food! My camera didn’t work well in the dim lighting, but here’s a few pics!

I had the jukebox breakdown ~ so good!

* * * * * *
Now onto caramelized candied walnuts. A simple thing, but whenever I see them on a salad I always gravitate towards that salad. Something about them that I love! I love sweets, so there’s no issue with me having sweets in my salads either 😉

They became caramelized due to one ingredient I added: coconut oil.

What you need:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup sugar
• dash of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil
• Pinch of sea salt

On medium heat, place walnuts on skillet. Pour sugar over them & watch carefully!
Stirring occasionally & add the 1 tbsp. of coco oil.
Once sugar has become a liquid place on a pan, sprinkle your cinnamon & salt and place in oven @450* until browned.
Let them dry ~ and put them in your favorite salad!

Great addition to any salad, but most defiantly a fall salad!

I’m linking up with Jenn over @ Peasandcrayons, time to go check out what is yummy over on her blog!

xo

Are you a fan of caramelized walnuts in your salad, or fruit? Or do you tend to stick to just a veggie salad?

Celebrating 3 years

Hey hey. Good afternoon.
wow what a beautiful fall day! Nothing beats an east coast fall day, am I right?!
I just got home from the my first test of the semester.. fingers crossed!

Let’s get to today’s post! Yesterday George & I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary! 🙂 boy, does time fly or what!
We, or should I say I decided to nix the original dinner plans for a late lunch due to my test today, but it worked out perfectly!
Cards, chocolate & flowers. Simple, yet a way to my heart ❤
Earlier in the morning we had some coffee at one of the local coffee shops, followed by me studying for a short period of time..
than off to Manayunk to do the trail we had walked back in earlier September but decided to ride bikes! 🙂

It’s such a nice trail. Some parts are shaded, some have full sun & you pass along the water with the city skyline in the background.

We rode all the way down to the Philly art museum and water works, took a small break and decided that we were more than ready to eat!
Thank goodness after the bike ride I ate my quest bar, because the place we originally wanted to go to was closed on Monday’s 😦 BOO! We walked around until we found something that tickled our taste buds. Wine.. and pizza? Sounded like a perfect lunch after a ride.


Plus some greens we’re thrown in there 😉

We opened our cards, and enjoyed each other’s company, reminisced & then realized how SORE our booty’s were from the bikes! hehe.
Of course I couldn’t leave without something sweet to finish the day.

Chocolate cupcake, filled with butter cream. Frosting is ganache topped with toffee.. SOLD.

Was the perfect little anniversary day to us! We were able to celebrate and then I was able to study more at night <— lame but the truth.
I love going on our little adventures together, couldn’t imagine being with anyone else!

Here’s to more adventures & many more anniversaries.

xx

Enjoy your day everyone!

MIMM: Kicking off September

Hi all!, happy labor day. Hope you’re enjoying your extra long weekend 🙂

Yesterday was the perfect day to kick off “FALL”, I know that summer technically lingers for another 20 days & the weather to go with it. but once September rolls around, I am more than ready to dive into fall!

I couldn’t reset any longer & made myself a pumpkin smoothie in the morning  This is just the start .. I have my eyes on a few other pumpkin things 🙂

* * *

A little after noon, we set off to Manayunk which is just outside the city. We have been saying that we wanted to walk around down there and yesterday was the perfect day.

— if you follow me on instagram, I’m sure you saw some of these, if not .. please do follow! Piece_of_cait —

It was definitely a longer walk than we expected. Before we knew it, we coming up on Boat house row and the art museum. Which was about 4 miles from where we parked. Ooops : )  When approaching the museum we heard the MADE IN AMERICA concert going on, so we took advantage to walk along the museum’s beautiful property.
{ I love philly }

We couldn’t see the bands, but could definitely hear them. Maybe next year we will get tickets!

Since we knew we we’re little far away from the car, instead of sticking around we decided to head back… only because I didn’t want to become hangry 😉

Before we left the house George mentioned a Greek place that got some good reviews. Whenever we hear that, we always set out to try it. It was good .. but nothing beats a true Greek Gyro from Greece, with the French fries inside of the sandwich 😀

 {George in his glory} We munched on a big ol Greek salad, chicken gyros, grape leaves & some hummus + pita. A perfect spread after our walk.

We felt nourished and more energized, so it was time for something sweet.

Happy as a clam

 We walked into *Ndulge, which was a cupcake boutique. The cupcakes looked all so beautiful. We chose Peanut butter {obvi} and a dark chocolate pistachio with a pistachio cream feeling. So good!

We browsed around a few more shops before calling it quits. Where we headed home to end the evening relaxing on the couch & finishing those cupcakes : )

It was a great way to spend the first day of September and welcome a new season.
Fall is one of my favorites + SEPTEMBER. Our wedding month, yay! ❤

Enjoy your day!