Weekend With Dad

This past weekend my dad came to visit me while Dave was up in Boston for what I like to call a "Nerd Convention."  I assumed work would have slowed down a little bit after the 3/15 deadline so I thought this would be the perfect weekend for my dad to visit, but that was not the case.  This busy season has been crazy and it's just going to get crazier; I haven't even done my own taxes!  I cannot wait for a nice celebration on April 16th, which just happens to be my birthday...what a glorious day it will be!

Luckily my boss let me work from home this past weekend so I could spend time with my dad.  We enjoyed a nice dinner out on Friday night, worked out together on Saturday (I did 13.1 miles...getting ready for April 28th), did some errands and relaxed.  It was nice not to having a schedule and to just being able to hang out together and get some things done that I hadn't been able to do during the week.  That night we decided to make homemade pasta.  I thought my dad would enjoy it since he really enjoys to cook.  We had a great time making dinner together and enjoyed a relaxing night in.

Dad with the dough 

Kneading the dough 

Dough! 

The trusty Kitchen Aid  

And the fun starts! 

Getting the hang of it!

Our delicious dinner! 

Sunday consisted of church, kickboxing, work and errands.  The weekend went by so fast - I really enjoyed having some one on one time with my dad.  I'm looking forward to when he and my mom come up at the end of April for my race.  And of course I couldn't wait to pick up my handsome nerd at the airport on Sunday night!  ;)

Pretty tulips for our apartment!  I'm SO ready for Spring!

Thanks dad for such a wonderful weekend!  You are welcomed here anytime!

On a Scone Kick

I know my last post was about scones, but since I've been busy with training for my half-marathon, going to yoga and working, it leaves very little time for other things.

I don't know about you, but baking is a big stress reliever for me.  Last Thursday I was having a rough day at work, so that night I decided to do some baking.  I've been on a scone kick ever since I made the cherry almond scones from this post.  About a week prior, I was thinking about other flavor scones I could make and I stumbled upon this cinnamon chip scone recipe.  I was planning to make them that weekend, but cinnamon chips were nowhere to be found!  I searched several grocery stores and could not find them so I ended up buying  them off of Amazon.  Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!  :)  I ordered the Hershey's brand cinnamon chips which came with 6 10oz bags, so I should be stocked for awhile.

Cinnamon Chips!

That Thursday after work I decided to make a batch of the cherry scones and a batch of the cinnamon scones to bring into work on Friday.  Since I've made the cherry scones a few times I felt comfortable bringing them into work, but the cinnamon scones were a first for me so I was a little apprehensive to share them with co-workers.  Dave tested them out and of course loved them.  I had a little piece and thought they were pretty good.  I think next time I won't use the whole 10oz bag of cinnamon chips it called for because it was hard to keep the dough together with so many chips.  So, Friday morning I brought the scones into work, being a little skeptical of what people were going to think.  I love to bake but I'm a tough critic on myself so I get very nervous sharing things with other people because I'm afraid they might not like my baking.  I got nothing but positive responses and people asking for my recipes.  I don't know if they were just being nice or if they truly liked them; I like to think it is the latter.

Description cards to bring into work

Cherry Almond Scones

Cinnamon Chip Scones

 

The final product!

My father-in-law made the cherry almond scones and said they were the best scones he has ever had!  That meant a lot to me since he is an excellent baker.  I'm hoping to do some baking this weekend - maybe try out some treats that would be great for Valentine's Day.  If anyone has some great recipes they would like to share, I would love to try them!

Cherry Almond Scones

Dave and I have been visiting Northside Social quite frequently and I must say, I'm in love with their cherry almond scones.  The other night I decided to find a recipe online and try to re-create them.  This was my first time making scones and I'm so happy with the way they turned out.  I used this recipe, but decided to brush the tops with butter and top with a little sugar like one of the readers suggested.  I highly suggest trying this recipe - they were easy, tasty and fun to make with your loved one! :)

Delicious!!

Buh-Bye 2012, Hello 2013

2012 ended up to be a pretty great year that ended on a very high note.  During the last few weeks of 2012, I completed my last class that I need in order to sit for the CPA exam, we bought a brand new car (our first big purchase together!), moved into a BRAND NEW apartment that we absolutely LOVE and we got to spend Christmas with my wonderful family!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas Day

Visiting the church where we got married

This past week (New Year's Day through this past Saturday), Dave and I spent a lot of our time watching Homeland.  My sister was talking about it over break so we thought we would give it a shot.  We instantly got HOOKED!  We completed seasons 1 & 2 in less than a week (not that I'm proud of it).  It's so nice when we have a show that we both really enjoy together.  Now that we are done with that show for now, I guess we will have to wait for Mad Men and Breaking Bad to come back!

This weekend was pretty much perfect.  I really wanted to enjoy it because I start loosing my weekends very soon due to tax season.  Saturday I started the morning by going to a yoga class.  It was so nice getting back into it, something that I've really missed.  I'm looking forward to getting back to my old schedule of yoga about 3 days a week.  After yoga and a run, I got ready to go do some errands while Dave was at his soccer game.  Later that afternoon, we headed out to District Taco for a late lunch/early dinner.  After we ate we headed to the Sculpture Garden for some ice staking.  It was so romantic skating under the stars and with all the sparkling lights around us.  I had such a wonderful time and neither one of us fell down once! ;)  After ice skating we picked up some hot chocolate, a sweet treat and headed home for the evening to finish Homeland.

Ice Skating with my LOVE!!

Sunday consisted of an early morning kickboxing class, a run with Dave to our favorite local coffee shop, Northside Social, errands, watching football and using one of Dave's Christmas presents:  a pasta maker!  We had so much fun making linguine together and it tasted AMAZING!  We are looking forward to trying out raviolis this next weekend.

Coffee at Northside Social

Pasta making

This was the perfect weekend with the perfect husband.  We had so much fun together which makes it hard to think about this upcoming tax season.  For now, I'm going to try to enjoy every free minute I have.