Wedding Weekend!

Well hello there! Doesn’t Monday always come WAY too quick?! I was totally hoping for a 3 day weekend…but I can’t say that my wish came true. Back to work for me, but hopefully today flies by. It’s always better when they fly by!

Yesterday was filled with lots of wedding stuff. As I mentioned, a new Michael’s was opening near my house, and they were doing a grand opening sale. I figured I would see what I could find for our wedding! I also had a 50% off coupon for one regular priced item – but it was for Sunday only. I was glad I went! It was PACKED, but I picked up a bunch of things for our wedding. A few Christmas’s ago, Craig bought me a Cricut- have you heard of them? It is a machine that cuts out different letters & shapes- kind of like what teachers use for bulletin boards. He got it for me because he knows how much I LOVE scrapbooking & this is SO nice for that. I picked up another ‘cartridge’ for my machine that was for wedding designs & shapes.

Normally the cartridges are about $60 a piece, but I got this one for $24.99! Not too bad, huh?! I LOVE my cricut machine & I know I will be using it a lot of different parts of our wedding. I was planning around with this new cartridge all day & there is SO much you can do with it!

After messing around with that, I figured out the design I am going to do for our center pieces.

(^front)

(^side)

I have more of the vases on order at Hobby Lobby & will be picking them up this week! I can’t wait to make more of these center pieces I enjoy doing these art-sy type things so much!

Now I have to figure out how I want to make the head table center piece:

(^it’s the one on the right)…& yes, if you’re wondering that is a pig in the background

If you have any ideas, please let me know! I would like to do something similar to the table center pieces, but just a bit different.

Here are a few more things that I got for the wedding:

Kind of hard to tell what that is, but it’s one of those photo holder- there is a little clip on the end. I’m going to use these for our table numbers. I loved that they were purple & they happened to be in the DOLLAR bin! Oh yea!!

^Purple petals for my flower girl

I’m so glad that I have decided to make my own centerpieces! It is going to save us so much money. We can use the money saved elsewhere..I really just CANNOT justify spending $7000 on flowers! That just BLOWS my mind.

For dinner last night I decided to try out a recipe that I had seen on my ‘twin’s’ blog- Shrimp Scampi with Tomatos & Artichokes.
I had this recipe saved for a special dinner..and typically I like to do something special on Saturday or Sunday. Just makes the weekend feel even more special..ya know?! I KNEW I could count on Liz for something good

Shrimp Scampi With Tomatos & Artichokes
(I copied the recipe from HERE, but just changed what I did differently)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound small shell pasta
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound frozen pre-cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 5 tablespoons Vermouth wine (I subbed white wine)
• 14 ounces artichoke hearts (canned) 
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 roma tomato, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste if desired
• 1 tsp. basil
• One large lemon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves
• freshly grated parmesan cheese for serving

Directions

1. Set shrimp aside in a bowl to thaw while you prepare all of the ingredients. To speed thawing you can rinse in warm water.
2. Juice half of the lemon, reserving the other half to garnish the plate. Prepare the pasta according to package instructions so it is ready when you need it.
3. Measure the butter and olive oil into a large saute pan over medium heat. When butter has melted, swirl to combine with the oil.
4. Add the shallots to the pan and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes. Then, add the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes or until the garlic becomes fragrant and the shallots are tender and translucent.
5. Next, add the shrimp, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the wine and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
   
6. Stir the artichoke hearts sun-dried tomatoes into the shrimp mixture. Cook until heated through. Stir in the lemon juice and half of the parsley.
7. Add the hot pasta to the pan, stir until evenly distributed. Taste for seasonings and adjust salt and pepper if desired. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley. Serve topped freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a wedge of lemon.
   

   Eat & ENJOY!!

This was SOOOOO good & it was so easy to make! LOVE those kind of meals While I was cooking, Craig could not stop telling me how good it smelled in the house He said it smelled like a ‘real Italian meal!’ LOL!

We also got to try out the gift that my best friend (& Maid Of Honor) sent us:

It’s a wine chiller & warmer! It was an item on our registry & she surprised us by sending it last week It was quite a nice surprise to come home to! This thing is AWESOME! It chills wine PERFECTLY! I can’t wait to use it again

Well, I hope you have a great day! I’m off to conquer this stack of work staring at me. Just remember, New week = New goals I will be continuing to up my milage this week as well, but only with the 10% rule. Lindsay reminded me of this when I was having my achilles heel issues. Even though it is feeling much better & I am able to run on it again, I don’t want to go crazy with upping my milage too quick. Thanks again Lindsay

Have a great day!!!

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Posted by Holly at Everyday's a 'Hollyday' on February 28, 2011

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