Pensacola Seafood Festival

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous (low 80s and sunny every day) so we tried to take advantage. We played a round of golf on base and spent lots of some time relaxing at the beach and by the pool.

Saturday night, we went to dinner and a burlesque show downtown with our friends Brittany and Paul.  I had never been to a burlesque show so I had no idea what to expect.  Let's just say we were not prepared in the least and our cheeks hurt from so much laughing.  It was without a doubt the most funny night we have had in Pensacola

We spent Sunday relaxing on the couch, catching up on Revenge before the start of the new season, taking a break only to overindulge in fried foods!  This weekend was the Pensacola Seafood Festival (there is seriously a festival every single weekend down here!) so we headed over for lunch.  I could not believe how many vendors came out for the event.  Between the two of us we ate a corndog, coconut shrimp, shrimp po boy, fried oreos and ALLIGATOR BITES!  I was dying to try them and actually really liked them.  (Sorry but I must say it: they taste like chicken)  Rob however was so grossed out by the idea of it, he would not eat them.

Have you ever eaten alligator? Or been to a burlesque show? We were quite adventurous this weekend ;)

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

Friday Favorites

1. Eat
My mom sent a package full of fall goodies, including these pumpkin spice marshmallows!! I did not even know they existed but they are my current obsession.  I have been putting them in coffee, in hot apple cider, and just eating them plain out of the bag.  Next step, pumpkin spice rice krispy treats!

     
2. Watch
#Don'tFallforFall.  When I saw this video on Katie's blog, I could not stop laughing.  Now every time I even mention the word pumpkin, Rob says "do you need to watch the video again?"

3. Indulge
We bought Pralines and Cream Blue Bell ice cream for my brother when he was in town and OMG! It is incredible! I didn't think that I was a huge fan of P&C but this one is to die for!  We can't stop eating it! (Also, Pralines and Cream is the seasonal McFlurry flavor at McDonalds! Haven't tried it yet but might need to!)

4. Celebrate
Although the days have been filled with more studying and less beach time, it is paying off! Rob got a 100% on his first two IFS tests! Yay!

5. Try
I have been looking to step out and find a perfect shade of red lipstick for fall.  I bought this one at Target for five bucks and love it!  The color is perfect and it stays on forever.  I tried it out yesterday {at the pool lol} and can't wait to wear it for real this weekend.

Linking up with Friday Favorites,  Friday Fab Favorites, High Five for Friday and Five on Friday

Gallery Wall

I love the fact that gallery walls are so popular.  This is one of my favorite trends and I never get sick of seeing them.  Why?  Because they are so specific to each person.  From the pictures to the knick-knacks, the layout to the style, every gallery wall is unique and representative of the family living in that home.  I love to see how people show their lives in their design and am always surprised at how creative people can be.

I love when gallery walls match the personality of the owner and contain little snapshots of their lives.  I am definitely not an interior designer nor do I have my perfect Pinterest decor but it is our home and I want it filled with things we love.  Decorating a large space with a gallery wall is also great because it is fluid and can grow and change over time.  I am constantly thinking of what I want to add next and where I will put it.

A little peek into our home

Cool Ranch Dip

In honor of the rain finally stopping, we invited a few friends over to grill out last night.  The weather ended up being gorgeous and we sat out by the pool enjoying food and beer and good conversation for almost three hours.



We had burgers, salad, and s'mores bites for dessert but the real fan favorite seemed to be this dip, which was so perfectly named "Cool Ranch Dip" by our friend Paul.  I swear this stuff is addicting; we could not stop eating it!!  I'm normally not a big fan of olives but combined together in this dip they taste perfect.  (Also, how on earth do people entertain outside in Florida? I bought a brand new bag of tortilla chips for the dip and within 15 minutes outside in the humidity they were already totally stale! Help!)  Regardless of the stale chips, this dip was completely gone before the end of the night.  It is a favorite and couldn't be easier to make!

Cool Ranch Dip

Ingredients:

1 16oz Container of Sour Cream

1 Packet Ranch Dip Seasoning

~2 T Taco Seasoning

1 Small Can Chopped Green Chiles

1 Small Can Chopped Olives

1 Cup Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together.
Refrigerate for at least an hour and enjoy.

My mom makes this dip using the fiesta ranch seasoning but I couldn't find that at Winn Dixie so I just used regular ranch mix and some taco seasoning.

Gallery Night

This weekend we had a surprise visitor!  My brother just finished his time with the Marine Corps and was making the drive home to Virginia from 29 Palms and decided to take a little detour to spend the weekend with us.  We relaxed on the beach all day and then met up with friends downtown.  He picked the perfect weekend because it also happened to be Gallery Night!

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

Friday Favorites

1. Embrace
Fall fever has hit and even though it still feels like summer, I am embracing fall in full force.  Pumpkin woodchuck ciders and a new fall bag (fell for the Phillip Lim hype, duh) were necessities in this week's Target trip.

2. Download
Cardstar is one of those helpful apps that you have to download.  One of the difficult things about moving so often is adapting to new grocery stores.  I swear I have rewards cards for every store under the sun and still had to get a new one for Winn Dixie when we moved to Florida.  Cardstar lets you scan the barcodes of all of your cards and store them in one app on your phone.  Whenever you go to the store, the cashier can just scan the barcode on your phone.  Now I don't have to worry about carrying around a zillion cards or forgetting one.  I did: Winn Dixie, Kroger, Giant, CVS, VA library, FL library, Staples, Sam's Club, Costco, and BJ's. (Please don't ask why I belong to all three big box stores at the same time :/ )

3. Read
I put The Defining Decade by Dr. Meg Jay on my must read list months ago after seeing it on Smart, Pretty Awkward but completely forgot about it.  I happened to come across it at the library and remembered to check it out.  At first, I was totally hooked.  I mean talking about it all the time, making me rethink things I was certain about, telling Rob that it was changing my life, etc etc.  But about 3/4 of the way through it got a little repetitive and/or I lost interest so I never actually finished the last couple of chapters.  With that said, I got a lot out of the first half of the book and definitely think it is worth reading!!  It is just more of a "rent from the library" instead of a "buy on your kindle" book.

4.Try
I have been hearing such wonderful things about Barre classes and while they seem to be everywhere in Virginia, studios offering Barre are not easy to find around here.  To try it out before committing to an hour drive and 15 bucks a class, I started doing this video at home.  I must say, I kind of love it.  It is perfect for days that I want to squeeze a quick workout in and don't have much time.  I think I might just stick to youtube for now.

5. Rebel
I wore white jeans yesterday.  All I can say is "Haters gonna hate".  It's 90 degrees here; that's still summertime, and frankly the humidity is finally dying down enough to be able to wear white pants at all!  Sorry y'all but for Florida, I'm ignoring this labor day rule.

Linking up with Friday Favorites,  Friday Fab Favorites, High Five for Friday and Five on Friday

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Chicken and Apples {Slow Cooker}

If you have time to chop two apples then this recipe is for you.  Wednesdays are World of Beer Run Club so we are always out of the house the majority of the evening and then home with just enough time to eat.  This means we have two options: 1. Make something in advance that will be ready when we get home or 2. Eat out.  I have been trying my hardest to make something in advance so that we aren't even tempted to grab food on the way home.  These recipe is perfect for that.  Not to mention, it is the perfect food for this transition into fall and makes the house smell incredible! 

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Chicken and Apples

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

6-8 Slices of Bacon

2 Apples

1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

2 T Lemon Juice

Directions:
Wrap chicken breasts in bacon and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. (Don't stress about making it look perfect, it isn't a huge deal!)
Chop apples into small piece and mix together with BBQ sauce and lemon juice.  Pour on top of chicken.
Cook in crockpot for 4-6 hours.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished product.  Being 100% honest, we simply came home to delicious smells and devoured this without even thinking to take a picture.

D O :: World of Beer Run Club

I don't run.  Actually I don't even really like to run.  I'm bad at it, I convince myself I need to walk 100 feet after starting, and I get so frustrated with myself that sometimes I even feel like I'm going to cry.  But finally I found something that motivates me, even gets me excited about running -- beer!

Pensacola is such an active town.  From paddleboarders to bicyclist, locals are always out and about.  I think it might have something to do with the weather being nice all year (although the humidity here is a killer!)  One of the coolest things we have found in Pensacola are the "run clubs".  Every night of the week, a different bar sponsors a run club.  {We go to Seville's on Mondays, McGuires on Tuesdays, and World of Beer on Wednesdays}  Everyone meets at the bar at 6pm and run the 5k route.  After the run, the bar has drink specials for all runners so everyone sticks around and has a beer on the patio.  All different types of people come out for run club -- from moms with jogging strollers to marathoners, and almost everyone stays after for drinks.

In high school, I always played sports.  I never thought about practices after school being a "three hour workout" but if you tried to convince me now to work out for three hours, I would laugh at you.  I think the reasoning is similar to the reason I love run club: things are just better in groups.  It's just plain more fun to go out for a run with a group of other people and have an opportunity to socialize afterwards than it is to just go for a run by yourself.  After you complete 10 runs at a specific bar, you get their run club tshirt.  I am counting down and cannot wait to get my first shirt!

Bizarre Foods Pensacola

Rob and I woke up early on Saturday to head to Pensacola Beach for "Taste of the Beach", a food festival held right on the water.  Over 20 restaurants set up in tents on the beach, selling small plates that sampled local favorites from their menu.  Several restaurants also had cooking demonstrations throughout the day.  When we read that Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods was coming to do a cooking demonstration, we knew we had to be there!  Rob and I watch Bizarre Foods all the time, constantly adding new cities and countries to our wanderlust list!

Even though the weather was hotter than blue blazes (pushing 95 degrees all day!), I was determined to keep our second row seats to see Andrew.  (We got there ~2 hours before he was schedule to come out!) We decided to alternate going out to pick out a small plate to try from different restaurant tents.  It ended up being a great way to try a ton of new things!  We tried the pork nachos from H2O, corn and crab bisque from The Dock, seafood mac & cheese from Frank and Lola's, bushwacker from Sandshaker, fish taco and bread pudding from Hemmingways, and Beach pops!  Everything was delicious!!

When Andrew Zimmern finally came out, he did not disappoint.  If I closed my eyes, I literally felt like I was just watching an episode of the show.  His voice is exactly the same in person and he is just as funny.  He made an heirloom tomato salad, a low country shrimp with sweet corn, and a savory cornbread-of course made in a skillet!  He also had many compliments for southern cooking!  He was extremely knowledge about, well, just about everything and it was just awesome to watch him cook.  He makes everything look simply effortless!


After his demonstration, we had the opportunity to meet him and get a few autographs.  As much as I begged him to come over and cook me dinner, he politely declined ;)

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

Pumpkin Pie Protein Truffles

Pumpkin Pie Protein Truffles

Adapted From: Feeding Ger

Ingredients:

1 Cup Protein Powder (I used Vanilla)

1 (heaping) Cup Shredded Coconut

1/2 Cup Pumpkin

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

2 TBSP Nut Butter (I used Peanut Butter)

2 TBSP Honey

2 TBSP Coconut Milk (I used coconut/almond blend)

1 TBSP Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until well blended. (I put everything in my KitchenAid mixer and blended for ~15 seconds)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or tin foil) and scoop using a cookie scoop.
Place in freezer for at least one hour and enjoy cold.

G E T A W A Y :: Casey's Wedding

My weekends recently have been carrying over into Tuesday but I am definitely not complaining!  This weekend, we traveled back to Virginia to celebrate Casey and Zach's wedding.  Casey is one of my best friends and was my roommate in the Tridelt house senior year!  The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, held at Bristow Manor - a historic home in Northern Virginia.  Zach and Casey are perfect for each other and I could not be happier for them!



We sat at Table 15 {the kids table} and it definitely got a little rowdy at times.  Between playing "Never have I ever" and "Contact" to starting Tridelta chants when the bride came to the table, we had so much fun waiting for dinner.

It was a blast to hang out with everyone, just like we were back in college.  Weddings are such a treat when your friends are spread out in different states and time zones!  Thank goodness the girls will be coming down to Florida to visit in just a few short weeks; I can't wait to hear about Casey's honeymoon to Turks and Caicos!

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

Cake & Ice Cream {Cocktails}

In addition to Labor Day, we were also able to celebrate Erin's {belated} birthday while she was here! We went to McGuire's for dinner and then came back home for cake and cocktails.  The cocktails were super easy and super delicious....I just put a raspberry sorbet popsicle in each glass along with a shot of St. Germain and topped it off with champagne.  So fruity and perfect with cake!


Inspired by this cake, but knowing that boxed cake mix (and icing!) was definitely more my speed, I tried my first "un-iced"cake.  I just used 1 box of chocolate cake mix split between two 9 inch pans and two containers of whipped butter cream icing.  I mixed chocolate chips in one container of icing and used that for my icing in the center.  I also coated each layer of cake with a layer of caramel sauce.  Topped with flowers and fruit, and ta-da, a not-so-typical birthday cake!

Paddleboard

Labor Day Weekend felt a little strange this year.  It may be due to the fact that the weather is still consistently in the 90s here and that pumpkin spice lattes will not be consumed for at least another two months.  Let's face it....Labor Day isn't even close to the end of summer in Florida; which makes for a really awkward dynamic with the "white pants rule".  Regardless, I never miss an excuse for a celebration so LDW was packed with fun from Thursday-Tuesday.  Rob's sister Erin flew in from San Diego and we always have a little too much fun together.  This weekend was no exception!

Showing Erin one of our favorite Florida activities...paddleboarding!

Dinner at The Fish House



Saturday we spent TEN HOURS at Pensacola Beach.  Between floating in the water, playing Mega Pong in the sand, and watching football at the beach bar, the time just kept flying by.  Thank goodness for seafood chowder and fried mozzarella at Flounder's!






In between all of the beach trips, we also ate...A LOT!  Some days dinner came around and we were still stuffed from breakfast!  On Sunday, we had to take a nap after brunch because we were just so full and content! (Endless chicken and waffles, bread pudding, and cheese grits...not a bad problem to have!)  Oh Pensacola, how I love your delicious southern cooking!

Another great summer weekend for the books!  We were sad to drop Erin off at the airport but so happy she made it here AND that Rob had lots of time off from school to hang out!