THEE color palette

I ordered paper and color samples for wedding inspiration. And I fell in love with the Caribbean blue from Cards and Pockets. I love, love, love the colors I chose and I wish I could make my invites already.

To get an idea of the color theme I would like to use (I need D's approval first, haha) I went to the COLORlovers site which lets you search and create your own color palettes. This is the palette I created.

I love that the blues remind of the ocean, the tan of sand, and the white of a classic summer. What do you think?

Penna alla vodka, y+d style

Sunday night, I decided to cook for D and his family. I've been craving pink sauce so we decided to make penne alla vodka with chicken, bread, and salad.

I found the recipe on the Food Network and change a few things here and there. Instead of adding ham, D cooked chicken and added it to the final dish. And considering there were 5 of us dining and 1 pound of penne looked scarce, we went ahead and purchased 2 pounds of penne. Good choice.

On to cooking...I followed the recipe to a tee but being impatient, I didn't let the vodka pink sauce cook enough. The result? When I taste-tested it, it was way too strong. D rescued me and saved the sauce. We cooked the pasta and bread. D's mom made her YUMMY broccoli salad. I don't even like broccoli but I love that dish! Overall it went well. :)

A :) moment

Yesterday I went over D's house to study and before we started, he whipped out a Bed, Bath & Beyond magazine. He then proceeded to show me all the (very cool) things he wanted for our home. Let me tell you, something as tiny as that made my day. I'm still thinking about it. I can't wait to pick out all our wedding registry items!

Ah ha!

After I wrote my last blog post, I received some positive remarks from nearly everyone. The only exception was my sister (:-P) - she could not fathom how I could just let my bridesmaids choose their own dress in a color theme I wanted. I tried to explain it to her but without a visual picture it was proving difficult....until today. I just came across a picture in my Google Reader. Everyone, this is exactly what I mean...photo credit
How freaking cute does this look??? I absolutely love it!

This is for my future-bridesmaids out there

I know I'm not even close to planning this wedding but I can't help and look online for inspiration. When it comes to my bridesmaids and their future dresses, I'm pretty set on the idea of having different dresses in the same color tone. I hate the idea of forcing them to buy the same dress that they will probably never wear.

So I was thinking of deciding on a color and letting them run with it. One of my only criteria - no long dresses, only short! The problem I'm running into is deciding on a color. I think my theme will probably be a nice aqua/teal (not crazy bright), cream/khaki/tan, and white? I don't know.

I think telling them to get a blue dress is way too complicated - have you seen the millions upon millions of different shades of 'aqua?' Yea, way too many. So my next thought would be a cream/khaki/tan color. But does that color look good on all skin tones? And if it does, there's also a million tones out there. But (there's a lot of but's in this conversation) sometimes I think having different shades of tan will actually look nice. This idea is probably my favorite so far.

I also thought of black. The writing on my invitations will be black but at a beach? I think it's way too dark for a Sunday afternoon wedding on the beach. Ehh. How about white? Since the dresses will be short, it won't compete with my wedding dress. But who will wear a white dress again? Ahhh.

What do you think? Should I choose a single dress or just decide on a range of colors they must wear? I like all these...

These dresses are all from lulus.com and range from $25 to $70!

Jack Daniel's Whiskey Pork Tenderloin = success!

Last night I made whiskey pork tenderloin with couscous and mashed potatoes. It. was. delicious!! Mr. D helped me out a little bit and I'm so thankful.

This time around, I actually took pictures of the entire process. It was really easy to make and I nearly followed the recipe to a tee. The only step I did differently was brushing the glaze onto the tenderloin and then flipping it over and brushing the other side. The recipe didn't call for that and D suggested it. It should be common sense but not common sense for me. :) Right before we served it, we brushed some more glaze and it was so good! I think all my meat-eaters should try it out...lol. Enjoy!

From left to right, we have the sauce simmering, the cooked pork tenderloin (the black burned stuff is the brown sugar that was in the glaze), and the final cooked meal (complete with couscous and mashies!).

Y goes domestic! (Part 2)

Wow, has it really been a week since my last post? Sorry I've neglected my two followers for so long. ;)

As of last post, I was suppose to make mojito cupcakes. Well, I did...kind of. My local Publix was out of mint so I actually made rum and lime cupcakes. I am my worst critic - they definately weren't amazing but ehh, they were ok.

I googled and found this recipe for the cupcakes. I think combined with a long day at work and no electric mixer, these babies were a pain. It took me from start to finish a good two and half hours. After that, I'm now on a baking freeze.

So rather than bake, I'm attempting to cook. D is naturally an amazing cook and far outshines my cooking abilities. But tonight, I'm making something delicious...so delicious that I know D will love it.

Side note, September is considered Jack Daniel's birthday month. In celebration of this, the Jack Daniel's website has some really interesting and nom-nom recipes with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. One of these recipes is a Oven BBQ Tennessee Pork Tenderloin recipe. It looks really easy to make and I can't wait to try it tonight.

Here's the recipe, provided by Jack Daniel's...

¼ cup Jack Daniel's® Tennessee Whiskey
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup ketchup
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 pounds pork tenderloin

Heat the oven to 450°F. Combine all ingredients except the pork tenderloin in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Place the tenderloin on a foil-lined baking or roasting pan. Brush with the sauce. Roast for about 30 minutes until the internal temperature is 150°F. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest about 10 minutes before slicing. Makes 6 servings.

I'll post pics later this week...wish me luck!

Y goes domestic!

I had an epiphany today. Lately I’ve been on a baking/cooking spree. I’m not naturally gifted as D when it comes to cooking – I’m the type of gal that needs to follow a recipe. So with the encouragement of my co-worker M, I decided to try and blog (!) about a new recipe every week. Borrowing from M, the series will be called “Y goes domestic.”

So this past weekend was, as everyone knows, Labor Day. D and Y went to a pool/bbq party on Saturday. Everyone had to bring a dish – which by the way, is a brilliant idea and helps out if you’re hosting the party.

The first recipe, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, I baked the day prior which helped time-wise. I spent the better part of Saturday at Loehmann’s, shopping with one of my best friends, A. FYI – amazing deals. Back to baking…after I came home, I frosted the mini cupcakes. They were too cute! I had never made mini cupcakes before and I wanted to try them out – they were well worth it. Those little delights were gone in no time.

Right before D and I left for the party, we whipped up the second recipe…a spinach and artichoke dip. If you’ve never had spinach dip before, you really must. This recipe was super easy and the only time-consuming part was waiting for the frozen chopped spinach and artichoke hearts to thaw.

I borrowed both recipes from the Food Network. The red velvet cupcake recipe is courtesy of Paula Dean. The cupcake part was super easy but I didn’t have enough time to make the frosting from scratch so I used store-bought frosting. Aside from the time crunch, I’ve attempted making frosting from scratch three times in my lifetime and I’ve failed miserably every single time. Homemade frosting is a sore topic for me.

The spinach and artichoke dip is one of those dishes that people just crowd the table for. I won’t lie – I devoured that thing and I had to remember to let other people try it. D likes food spicy so he added a little bit more of the red pepper flakes than the recipe called for. It was good, it had a little kick to it and everyone loved it!

Next up, I’m making mojito cupcakes!

Umm, ok?

Saw this on AOL's homepage. I don't know about you but this looks really strange. I personally don't like things between my toes (I guess I'm claustrophobic in the feet department) but supposedly, these are just as comfortable as walking barefoot. Vibram Fivefingers

Wedding photography is definately a top priority

D and I haven't been able to set a date yet (which sucks) but I've still been on the lookout for ideas. One of the most important things for me, right after marrying my love, is photography. I love taking pictures and I need to have an awesome photographer who can capture my vision. I had been searching for a while now and a couple days ago, I decided to contact a few of my favorite photographers.

I'm glad I did because I was in for an awakening. I was so set on one photographer that when I received a quote that was double my budget, I was really sad...tear. A couple hours of contemplating doubling my budget, I decided I needed to stick to it and just find someone else. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

So I went on weddingbee.com and looked through the South Florida boards for any photography-related posts. I found this post - hallelujah! Reading through all the posts, I found other brides-to-be who needed a photographer on a small budget.

Enter 13:13 Boutique Wedding Photography. I love, LOVE their work. I emailed Ashley and within an hour I had a quote for my wedding. She was extremely helpful. Unfortunately, I can't do anything until I set a date (which sucks yet again). But I really, really hope when the time comes, 13:13 is not booked. Fingers crossed!

Here are some of my favorite pics...

(all photos from www.1313blog.com)

Ok, I'll stop now :)

Walking down the aisle...

So I think I found the song I'll be walking down the aisle with. I borrowed the idea from a blog post I read this morning.

On a side note - this wedding was absolutely gorgeous (see for yourself: http://www.polkadotbride.com/wp/index.php/2009/09/02/anna-and-james-the-ceremony/). The bride walked down the aisle with this song and I think for a day beach wedding (which is what I'm hoping for), this song is perfect!

I guess I should mention the song. It's "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles. What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZtQh5EIgWQ

Are books made into movies always successful?

Tonight I'm going to see the Time Traveler's Wife. I read the book a couple weeks ago in about two days flat. I really liked the book - everything but the ending. It just didn't cut it for me. But when I read that the director altered the ending to the movie slightly, I was for once, excited.

My previous encounter with the book-made-into-a-movie scenario was My Sister's Keeper. I read the book a few years back and it was great. Super sad and definately a tear-jerker but the entire book (including the end) was one cohesive and amazing message. So once I heard that a movie was made, I was beyond pysched about seeing it....until...I heard they changed the ending. I went a step ahead and read a spoiler and sure enough, they altered the entire meaning. I was so pissed, I refused to see the movie and I still haven't seen it.

So, long story short, let's hope this movie rocks tonight. :)