Game Night

Mario-themed cupcakes!!  (They are supposed to be the mushrooms!)

So I forget how this idea even came up, but Dave and our friend, Jeff, decided it would be fun to have a game night.  They wanted to play Mario Kart for Nintendo 64 and some other games.  This wasn't my idea of a good time but thought I would make the best of it.  Much to my surprise, the night turned out FANTASTIC and we all had a blast!

The foods we prepared for the night were your typical "party" foods, just the lighter version.  We made the Skinny Taste version of  buffalo wing dip and boy was it a hit!  You couldn't even tell that it was the lighter version.  We had different kinds of tortilla chips along with celery to go with the dip.  We also made healthy baked chicken nuggets from Skinny Taste with an assortment of dipping sauces.  Beverages consisted of beer and piña coladas.   Susanna, Jeff's girlfriend, and I opted for the piña coladas for the first couple rounds! :)

Yummy piña coladas

We decided to show Jeff and Susanna how to play crokinole.  I don't know how to explain the game, it kind of reminds me of shuffle board for your table (I suggest you go Google it!)  We had so much fun playing it!  Jeff and I were paired up together and Dave and Susanna were paired together.  Unfortunately, Dave and Susanna beat us in the end but it was close!  I really think they enjoyed playing it and we will definitely be having a re-match one of these days!

After playing several rounds of crokinole, Dave and Susanna made a pizza.  Jeff and Susanna made this to-die-for strawberry salad to go along with our pizza, which I will be replicating in the near future!  After dinner it was time to play Mario Kart!  Susanna killed us all in almost every round we played!!!   She was amazing!  I think I need to brush up on my Mario Kart skills! :)   We also played 007 which wasn't as fun as most of us remembered.  The highlight of the night was playing my dance game for Kinnect.  Dave and Jeff were H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!  I haven't laughed that much in a LONG time! :)  

Jeff and Dave dancing (sorry it's so blurry)

Jeff and Dave

I decided to make cupcakes to go along with our "gaming" theme.  I decorated the cupcakes to look like the mushrooms from Mario.  I think they turned out great!

What a wonderful night it was with great friends!

Tax Season is OVER and B-Day Recap!!

Where do I begin?!  Life has been quite hectic lately and I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Tax season was brutal this year and I'm happy to say it is O-V-E-R!  I've been working weekends and late nights since January, I haven't been able to commit to anything on the weekends and I haven't been able to travel.  Dave has been my savoir throughout all of this.  Every night he has a nice home-cooked meal ready for me, he cleans and he's there for moral support.  He lets me vent to him about how stressed I am or if I am having a bad day.  He tries to help me see the positive even when I didn't think there were any positives.  I'm so thankful that I am able to come home to him every night.  He knows how to cheer me up and make me smile!

Dinner menu that the restaurant had made up for my b-day!

Cutest b-day gift from my manager's daughter!! :)

Normally I would have the perfect birthday for a tax accountant, April 16th, since the deadline is normally April 15th.  Unfortunately April 15th fell on a weekend so that moves the due date to the next weekday but now for some reason we are deciding to celebrate Emancipation Day, the deadline got moved to April 17th.  Long story short, my birthday was a day of complete chaos. Dave made me a delicious breakfast and picked me up my favorite coffee along with flowers!! :)  Work was stressful so I couldn't wait to come home and enjoy what was left of my birthday with my husband.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner from Liberty Tavern and I opened presents.  :)  Ice cream cake followed presents and shortly after that I was ready to hit the hay!! :)  There would be more birthday celebration later during the week.

Adorable flowers from my brother-in-law and his g/f!  They look just like Winnie!  T-minus 2 weeks until she is OURS!! :)

I made it through the deadline on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were spent catching up on things at the office that weren't 4/17 sensitive.  I decided to take Friday off because I was so exhausted from work.  I attempted to sleep in, went for a long run and then got a massage!  It was so relaxing; exactly what I needed.  That night Dave and I went to Founding Farmers for my birthday dinner!  We enjoyed lots of yummy food and a couple of drinks! ;) 

FABULOUS dinner at Founding Farmers

Saturday morning we went on a run together (my favorite) then came home, showered and got ready to head to Frederick, MD for the day/night.  We had a Groupon for a brewery tour at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick.  This was my first brewery tour so I was quite excited.  Unfortunately my feet weren't prepared for the tour.  I was wearing sandals and apparently you cannot wear open-toed shoes so I got to wear these horrendous Croc-like shoes over my sandals.  They were not the perfect compliment to my dress...  Other than the shoes, the brewery tour was a blast!  That night we had another delicious dinner.  Sunday was spent catching up on things and just relaxing.

A wonderful afternoon at the Flying Dog Brewery!

I'm so happy to have my weekends back and spend more time with family and friends!!  I'm looking forward to trying new recipes, making some arts and craft projects, traveling and RELAXING!!!

Easter Weekend

I had such a wonderful Easter weekend!  Dave was out of town from Thursday night until Sunday morning so I took full advantage by doing some girly things!  Friday after work I decided to stop by the salon for a mani/pedi! I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute to it.  That night I caught up on my DVR and made some Easter chocolate bark for Dave!  It turned out pretty and Dave seemed to like it.  I will never know since I absolutely DESPISE white chocolate! ;)

Homemade Chocolate Bark

Saturday was spent at the office (of course!).  After work I decided to stop by the Leesburg Outlets since I hadn't been there in almost 4 years!  I stopped by Kate Spade and picked up the cutest dress (hoping to wear it on my birthday next week!) and a couple cute tops!  After Kate Spade I went to Vineyard Vines to pick Dave up a few things to put in his Easter basket.  I figured I had done enough damage with just those 2 stores, so I headed home.  After a nice run outside, I was in for the night.  I spent the evening putting together Dave's Easter basket, hiding eggs for him and watching "Foot Loose".  It was a wonderful, relaxing evening...just what I like!

Dave's Easter basket

Hiding Easter Eggs :)

Dave came home Sunday morning and I gave him his Easter basket and he did his Easter egg hunt! :)  We decided to head to Barrel Oak Winery (a favorite of ours) for a fun afternoon in the sun!  We each got a nice glass of white wine, shared an assortment of cheeses, meats, strawberry preserves and bread!  We relaxed and read...the perfect afternoon.  That night I went for a run and we actually ordered in for dinner.  We were planning on cooking a nice meal, but since we both were so exhausted from the week, our afternoon nap ran a little longer than planned!  Even though we didn't have a fancy Easter dinner, sharing a wonderful day with each other made for a perfect Easter!

Afternoon at the winery...perfect!

Dave at the winery in one of his new shirts I got him for Easter! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Cherry Blossom Weekend

I had such an amazing weekend this past weekend, besides the whole work thing! ;)

As most of my family and friends know, I had the Cherry Blossom 10 miler on Sunday.  It's been tough to train during the busy tax season, but I fit in runs whenever I could.  I'm so proud of myself for doing the run during such a stressful time.  I actually felt pretty good during the run until about mile 9.  At mile 9, I just wanted the race to be over!  I pushed hard towards the finish line and was just so darn HAPPY!  I did something that a few weeks ago I didn't think I could do!  Thanks Dave, for coming out to support me!! :)

Prior to the race!

I look disgusting, but hey, I did it!! :)

My medal!! :)

After the race, we met up with some friends for a delicious brunch at Liberty Tavern.  Of course I had a Bloody Mary - my newest obsession.

Delicious Bloody Mary

My stuffed Peep Dave got me!

When we got home, Dave and I took a nap and boy was is glorious!  Since we were up at 5am for the race, a nap was definitely in order.  Later that afternoon, we headed to National Harbor to visit one of my favorite places, the Peep Store!  Dave bought me a cute little stuffed Peep that I have at my desk and of course a box of Peeps.  Peeps are definitely a guilty pleasure of mine!  After the Peep store, we walked around outside since it was a beautiful day.  We stopped at a local coffee shop and relaxed on their couch with a nice cup of coffee!

I Heart Peeps!

After a wonderful afternoon spent outside, we decided to go do our weekly grocery shopping.  The evening consisted of a nice dinner, a game of Crokinole, crafting and then we capped the night off by watching Mad Men!  It was a wonderful weekend...I'm still smiling from it!! :)