Friday Favs

Happy Friday! These are my favs this week:

1) Summer hang outs on our back porch

2) My new blue dress - great deal from Francescia's Collection

3) Butter, Sugar and Cream Cupcakes

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I helped with a baby shower this week at work and I ordered these cute rosette cupcakes from Butter, Sugar and Cream. Not only are they delicous, but all proceeds go to charity! The business is run by a mom and her 6 daughters out of their house and I work with the dad. If you are in the Memphis area, I would strongly recommend. Check out their other impressive treats here.

TGIF!!!

Weekend Highlights

I caught an antelope!!

Haven't exactly figured out where I'm going to hang it, but I've been wanting one of these for a while. Trying to decide if I should group it with other items or keep it separate. I got it from Posh, a cute new gift/furniture/florist shop in Midtown.

Other than that, I mainly hung out with friends and hit the pool! I finally went to the Levitt Shell on Friday night and listened to a jazz band from New Orleans. The Levitt Shell offers FREE concerts in the summer and is a great way to spend the evening. My friend Lauren called me on my way home from work wanting to go on a "quick bike ride." After a stressful day at the office, it sounded great. Well, we rode to Overton Park and then decided we should stick around for the show. Josh brought a blanket and we sipped on wine as we enjoyed the sounds of Louisiana.

Saturday I got my Farmers Market flower fix and bought some purple bell peppers! Never knew they existed but they were good in the chicken kabobs that we grilled out!

Recipe to come!

Sunday, I found a china cabinet that I'm seriously considering buying!! I love it because it's so different. What do you think?

Hope you're having a good week!

What's Cookin'?

Bean Dip

I had this bean dip at a work shower and have been dying to make it ever since. It's one of those dishes that will have everyone asking for the recipe. I love it because its light but very flavorful. It does require a little extra time for chopping but it's well worth it! I finally whipped it up over Memorial Day weekend for an impromptu cookout. Look how colorful!

Here's the recipe:

Salad:
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn (I use shoepeg)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons lime juice (fresh if available)
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (1/4 cup before chopped)
1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 Tablespoon ground black pepper
1 dash hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Combine beans, corn, bell pepper, and onion in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients EXCEPT hot sauce and chili power. Season with hot sauce and chili powder to taste. Pour dressing over salad and mix well.

Chill thoroughly and serve cold. Taste great with Frito's!!

Enjoy!

Weekend Highlights

Healthy Start

Although BBQ Fest and Memorial Day weekend were both fun, I'm starting to see the impact of my eating indulgences on the scale! So, my goal for June is to eat healthier and bump up the exercising. I had a good start this weekend.



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On Friday night, I did the Harbor Town 5K. This is a great race that goes through the Harbor Town neighborhood, a cute little island community downtown.The neighbors cheer you on and I really enjoyed the occasional sprinkler to cool me down. This year, the weather was perfect as the Memphis heat took a little dip after some much needed rain. The race has grown quite a bit since the last time I ran this as I heard there were 1,600 participants this year!



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Lauren & I post race

On Saturday, Lauren and I got together again for a fun bike ride to Overton Park. We checked out the new dog park which I hope to take Juno to soon. It is super nice and well shaded.

I picked up one of these cute watermelons which I would strongly recommend if you haven't gotten one this season. It was nice and sweet! I am a little perplexed as to why there were seeds in a "seedless watermelon" but oh well.

Sunday I exercised at the mall...hehe... I did some much needed shopping to buy some new summer clothes which I'm really excited about. That night we grilled out fish and squash (which I will post soon) and made S'mores. The good thing about this dessert is that it is easy to limit your portions (vs. baking a whole batch of cookies). We stuck to one each.

Have a great week!