The other weekend we had Luke's cousin and her husband over for dinner.  They are very rarely in town so we were SO excited when they were actually available at the last minute for dinner.
All you need for a successful summer soirée is food, a fun cocktail, a bright tablecloth, and pretty flowers.

I made shrimp and grits, yummy blackberry spritzer cocktails and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  I got to use new bowls and glasses I found at thrift stores in Chicago.  I love having an occasion to use my dishes!

You won't find any peppers in my shrimp and grits.  You WILL find extra bacon, mushrooms, and cheesy grits though :)

 This flower arrangement is one of my favorites.  Luke brought me home these cute little flowers and I didn't want to just put them in a vase.  A. you wouldn't be able to talk to the person across the table from you and B. I wanted to do something more fun! So I took a Revere bowl (silver bowl) and put a grid of masking tape inside of it.  I then stuck 2 or three stems into each grid (they stood up that way) until the whole bowl was filled up.  No mess, no oasis needed.  It was awesome! They also lasted for a good week after I made it.

For the drinks, I made a blackberry simple syrup (about a cup), poured it in a pitcher with a bottle of processo then added fresh thyme.  It was very refreshing and summery! Also, look at my pretty glass!

We finished with classic strawberry shortcake.  A homemade biscuit, fresh whipped cream, and sweet strawberries.  Voila!

It was such a wonderful dinner with amazing friends.  We are so lucky to have family that we can also call friends.  I think that is a rare and special thing to have.  :)

Recipe: Mojo Chicken

We had the yummiest dinner last night!  I am not very good at cooking things outside my comfort zone, or my "go to" recipes but this one looked so good I couldn't resist.

Here's the recipe from Purdue:
Ingredients
1 package chicken breasts
1 (20-ounce) bottle mojo criollo citrus marinade (we used a garlic lime)
1 1/4 teaspoons adobo seasoning
8 rings of fresh pineapple, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper, optional
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice, about 1/2 of a lime
1/4 teaspoon salt

Steps
- put chicken and marinade in plastic bag, set in refridgerator for 1-2 hours to marinade
- remove from marinade, sprinkle with adobo seasoning and grill chicken breasts
- Finely chop remaining ingredients for the salsa
- let the chicken rest for a couple minutes
- serve over rice

Here is how ours turned out tonight! It was very fresh.  PS, I forgot the tomatoes, it was a long day...

Buon Appetito!

Organization: Filing and Organizing Papers

Since it was so gross, rainy and cold (45 degrees!!!!) this weekend I decided to take the opportunity stuck in the house to organize all the papers that have been piling up unorganized in the beautiful desk we found at an antique store.  Since we got married, bought a house, started new jobs etc, we seem to have wayyyy more important papers that we must keep forever and ever.  

I pinterested ideas for how to organize everything and decided to use a colored system with the following categories:

• Green- Banking and Bills
• Yellow- Income and Taxes
• Blue- Keepsakes and Important Docs
• Red- Medical, Home and Auto

Once I came up with the large categories I sorted all the papers into very specific piles. Lots of piles only had a couple papers in them, i.e. voter registration which has only 1 lonely receipt. 

If you're planning to tackle this, your manila folders will be different but some of my favorites are:

• Wedding cards
• Love notes
• Other cards to keep
• Jewelry info and insurance 

Sidenote: I got a little carried away and made another file box with just my stuff including recipes, event and wedding planning materials, and hobbies. I am super excited about it!