Catching Up - Holidays 2015

It has been so long since I've posted! I thought I'd share some of my favorite pics from the 2015 holiday season. Below are highlights from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas...

1) Halloween - this year the house was truly "lit up" with the Halloween spirit.  These decorations represent about 6 years of Big Lots and Walmart finds.

2) Thanksgiving - this was a special holiday as we had the whole family together. Also, since my boyfriend is Canadian, we celebrated twice! Pictured below are my Thanksgiving cookies- this was a new addition. To be honest - I'm on the fence to whether I'll do these next year as it may have been cookie burn out for my friends/family!! But the treats were cute!

3) Christmas - this year's holidays were special, in fact, I took a PTO day just to do my interior decorations! I'm also posting a picture of the results of some of my more major craft efforts 

Lots of crafts...

And exterior illumination!

I also had great success with my chocolate covered pretzel sale raising close to $300 for a holiday family drive (thanks for everyone's support!)--

A star of this blog, Camden, unexpectedly passed away a few days after Christmas.  This pic is from our last Christmas card together-- 

We miss him but he had a great life and can now enjoy his eternal home in Heaven(far greater than anything we could provide)!  Everyone knows it's hard losing a pet but we've made some wonderful charitable contributions in his name. We also became foster parents! In about 6 months, we hope to add a new pet to our lives more permanently. Lots to look forward to in the future---

4) Valentines Day- It's early but I'm me :-)  This year I'm continuing the "Homemade kind is the best kind" tradition of making my own cards-- detailed post to follow on that! For now- a few furry friends:-)

How were your holidays??

Xoxox Love, Madeleine

Perks of Meal Planning

Long time no post - but all is great here!  Spring continues to be filled with laughter, hockey, and an Eastern Conference Championship for the Cavaliers!  Family is happy, healthy, with an exciting summer ahead of us and I couldn't be happier.  It's been a great year!

 

During the last 2 weeks I've lived 100% on a meal plan and I'm LOVING it.  I have lost 4 pounds during the two weeks which is another perk- truly- all I've done is cut out all fast food, all soda, and then have focused on making my own meals.

 

Here's what has worked for me:

 

1) I plan my meals for the week - huge shout out to my friend Stef who helped me here w/her awesome template!  I try to think of 3 to 4 dinners that will result in leftovers for the next day's lunch.  I also factor-in nights when I'll eat at my boyfriend's, family dinners, etc.  Basically, I go into the week with a plan.  Not everything is homemade, i.e. I usually have frozen waffles for breakfast

 

2) I try to do just one day of food shopping - Each Saturday, I visit the Farmer's Market and stock-up on fruits, veggies, and frozen pasta.  One note on this- I only purchase from fruit/vegetable stands that advertise their support of WIC or EBT - everyone should have access to fresh produce and I support farmer's that advertise and welcome WIC or EBT holders (in fact, I only support those farmers! lol).  After the Farmer's Market, I'll go to the grocery store for the other items I need for that week.

 

 



 

3) I make delicious food - Seriously, meal planning is so much easier when you make yummy dinners!!  A cavatelli bake, the world's best chicken fingers, and spinach pasta w/pesto are the winners so far.  Best part is that all three of these meals result in excellent leftovers and lunch the next day.

 

Here are the recipes I've used - they are really awesome:
- Cavatelli bake - http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-cavatelli-252171
- Chicken tenders - http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/2013/05/worlds-best-chicken-tender-recipe/
- Pesto recipe for spinach pasta- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pesto/

If you meal plan and it works for you- I'd love to hear more.  Promise to post more soon- I love this little space and need to come back to it more often!!

xoxoxox, Love- Madeleine

Glazed!

Just a few pictures this morning from my favorite doughnut spot- tucked behind the palm trees of King Street! Visit Glazed at 481 King Street in Charleston, SC. My favorite? Just the simple glazed doughnut works for me :-) Happy Thursday everyone! Xoxox Madeleine

Easter + DIY End Table

It has been so busy but I couldn't let too much time pass without an update.  Easter has always been my favorite holiday and this year delivered!!  Between my boyfriend's family and mine, we had so much to celebrate.  The Easter baskets I made this year had a mix of store bought classics (Peeps!) and homemade items.  Also, for the first time this year, I made Easter cookies using my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe.  It is truly fool proof - here is a link to the recipe.

In the last couple of weeks I finally finished a lingering DIY project. Like most DIY projects, this took a bit longer than I expected but I'm really happy with the result.  I needed some night stands for my bedroom and decided to move my end tables from the living room to the bedroom.  With that, I needed a new living room end table.  I scored this antique wood table at the local Goodwill.  It was $17 but had good bones and detail that I liked in the wood.  Pictures below show the table in it's original state from which I cleaned, sanded, and primed/painted. The table was finished-off with some polyurethane and I have to say it makes a nice addition to the Living Room. 

Signing off so I can watch some hockey with my favorite!  Slowly learning what a Power Play is.. :-)

 

Xoxo Love, Madeleine

Orlando, Orlando

This is an overdue post.  But I've been meaning to write about our trip to Orlando and just have not had the time to do it.  A few weeks ago, I went with my boyfriend and some of our work friends on a great trip to Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.  I had not been to Disney in several years and it had been at least 15 years since my last visit to Universal Studios.  Both parks delivered and we had a blast!

 

KP did a great job with the driving - we took a straight shot drive from work on Thursday arriving after midnight at a beautiful 5 or 6 bedroom house minutes from the Magic Kingdom.  We had a cute little room on the first floor and mentally, for a minute, this was MY house and I was a millionaire living by Disney World (seriously, what could be better than that?)

Our first day was spent at Universal Studios.  Now I am a total "muggle", but I have to say - Harry Potter delivered!!!  We went to both parks (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios) and both Harry Potter exhibits were really great.  If I had to pick the Harry Potter exhibit I liked the best, it would have been Islands of Adventure though.  You can't beat flying quidditch!  I also love love LOVED seeing the Back to the Future memorabilia. 

Disney World was of course magical!! I love Disney.  I had no trouble saying "no" to souvenirs at Universal Studios - but at Disney- all bets were off!  We had an amazing day exploring the Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and then back to the Magic Kingdom.  And of course - being with someone special made it all the better.  Orlando - you delivered!!

 

Valentine's Day 2015

This is just a quick post with some Valentine's Day highlights. 

 

I've gotta say - I love me a holiday and this one delivered!

 

This year, I made some Valentine's Day cookies and they came out really nice.  Per usual, I used my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe which you can find here.

For cards, I chose to make my own, using a kit from Target.  I thought they came out very cute!

 

One of my gifts- at the start of the week, we saw "The Book of Mormon" -absolutely hilarious!!!!  Don't get me wrong, it was crude, but so funny.  I've never laughed so hard at a theatre in my life!

 

Valentine's Day Dinner was at Al Di La. While we were waiting for our table, someone took this cute pic of my boyfriend, KP, and I. He gets my best smiles :-)

The rest of the weekend was spent at home. 

 

This one had fun too :-)

It was a wonderful holiday spent with very special people - sending best love to you & yours!

Xoxo Madeleine

Merry Christmas! 7 Weeks Later

I cannot let Valentine's Day pass without documenting Christmas!  So here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas 2014.  It was such a great season and we had so much goodness to celebrate!  I hope you enjoy some pictures of my new tree, rolled sugar cookies, and the outdoor lights.  Goals for next year - 1) Timer for the C9s outside (lost track of how many times I had to replace the light strings, 2) More beautiful Christmas paper and ribbon - homemade?  Target sale? 3) Re-using this year's decorations!!!  Love to you & yours - Valentine's Update soon :-)

 

xoxoxo Love, Madeleine

 

 

 

Halloween 2014

On one of my favorite Friends episodes, Monica declares that Thanksgiving is a competition against herself. I.e. This year's Monica is going to BEAT last year's Monica. I love that.  Just a few pics from this year's Halloween preparations. I kicked last year's Halloween outta the park (and my new kickball team could tell you - that's the only thing I'll be kicking outta the park!)--

Wishing you and your loved ones a spooktacular holiday!! Xoxoxox

Trick or treat!! Madeleine

Alesci's + A Taste of South Euclid

All I can say is WOW! This weekend we enjoyed Alesci's cavatelli and meatballs, delivered all the way from South Euclid to South Carolina!  The meal tasted just like as we remembered and I'll definitely be ordering more sauce and meatball mix.

To make this meal, begin by ordering your sauce and meatball mix at www.alescifoods.com!  The pictures below show how this meal was made.

For the meatballs, the only tip I would give is to bake your meatballs at 375 for 30 minutes. flip the meatballs after the first 15 minutes so that they are evenly cooked.

After you finish cooking the meatballs, pour a jar of sauce into a pot and add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and simmer.  As the sauce simmers, cook your cavatelli. I had some frozen cavatelli from the Farmer's Market.  Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and wait for the cavatelli to rise to the top, this will take 4-6 minutes.  Drain the cavatelli, combine the sauce and meatballs with the pasta, and serve!

I brought this to my parents and we all loved it!! It tasted JUST LIKE the Alesci's we loved and remembered. I am definitely ordering more and would encourage everyone to do the same- so, so good! You can't beat Cleveland's Italian food in my humble opinion!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I've become addicted to "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and have binge watched this whole long weekend. This show is making me stupid!!! But I have to say Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe are three unique and beautiful sisters who remind me of a few awesome  ladies I know;-) Gotta love reality television!! Thanks to my youngest sister for getting me hooked.

Oh yes, ran 6.2 miles on Saturday and 3.1 today:-) 

Hope this post finds everyone doing well! Best love from the SC!!!

Xoxoxo Love,

Madeleine

Great Recipe + a Great Week

Hi everyone!! It has been a busy week but I've been excited to post an update. Half Marathon training has  kicked off with 12 miles ran since Saturday (3.1 Saturday, 6.2 Tuesday, 3.1 today).

Since I've last posted, I've made my best friend Caitlin's amazing paleo turkey sausage. Here is a link to where you can find the recipe. Cait's turkey sausage is unbelievable, it tastes like Bob Evans!  I follow her recipe word-for-word and it comes out perfect each time.  These freeze very well.  I gave half the batch to my parents and kept half for myself.  These have been breakfast all week!  Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe Cait :-)

Finishing this post, with a picture from tonight's 5k on Daniel Island.  I ran with some great people, made some good new friends, and fell in love with Governor's Park!  If you saw it, you'd understand... So here is a picture :-)

I have to say, this picture does not do it justice.  The palm trees, the waterfront, the bridges- seriously this park was magical!  Running terrain varied... Lol. But so gorgeous!  I would have taken more pictures if I wasn't busy running :-)

More to come this weekend, with a special meal care of South Euclid :-)

Kisses and hugs from South Carolina! xoxoxoxo

Madeleine

Empire State of Mind + Johnny Football

Just a quick post after returning from Buffalo, NY. It was a work trip but I really enjoyed my time there. The weather was perfect, it felt like 70 degrees outside. 

This week has just been a really great week. I'm almost sad to see it come to an end!  But I'm excited for the weekend- tomorrow I'm running a 5k for a great cause. You'll hear more about it!

Weight loss is still going great! I swear the hardest part of a diet is the first 3 weeks. Then, it's auto pilot!

Came home tonight to this awesome t shirt from one of my sisters!! Johnny Football!!! Can't wait to wear this bad boy all season.

Love to all!!! Xoxoxo

Madeleine

Winners + Challah Bread

First, congratulations to the giveaway winners!! Norie, Lindsay, Danielle, and Dawn - you won the earring giveaway! I'll reach out to you all on Facebook for address information. Congratulations!!

Tonight, I felt like some comfort food. Challah bread is a braided bread that I understand crosses many cultures. It was one of my favorite comfort foods as a child and I still love it as an adult!

Making this bread takes a little time, but it's worth it!  I followed this recipe, but adjusted the serving size to ten.  In truth, I feel like this bread yielded four servings.  Of course, I love bread!  So maybe if you found ten people that didn't love bread that much they could each have some.

 

I've made this recipe once before and I really like how the ingredients are mostly items you already have on hand:

Can you tell from this picture that I enjoy generic brand food items? :-)

First, you will dissolve the yeast in warm water and mix your wet ingredients plus the salt.  Once the ingredients are mixed, add in the flour and combine thoroughly.

Now some patience is required, you will cover this dough and let rise for 1.5 hours.  

After the dough has risen, it is time to knead the dough and then form a braid. I think this part is fun and easy!

As the photo above shows, you will once again cover the dough and let rise.

Don't worry if the dough does not rise as you might expect it to! This is truly a recipe that comes together in the oven.

Prior to baking the bread, brush with egg white and sprinkle some poppy seeds across the top.

Bake at 375, I would suggest 25-30 minutes for a loaf this size.  You'll know when it's done because you will knock on the bottom of the loaf and the "challah" will sound "hollow" :-)

Now that's some delicious bread!  Break off a piece or two and enjoy. Weight Watchers tells me this is a 3 PP treat! Not bad!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  Best love from the SC-

Xoxox, Madeleine