Nom around Indy 

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I LOVE FOOD! This summer Indy has made me so happy by giving deals on my favorite types of food! We have Nuvo to thank for this awesomeness!

Various foods were highlighted all around the city at discounted rates. Each type of food had a dedicated week and each restaurant put their spin on it.

If you love tenderloins you just missed the week of tenderloins. The above picture is from one of my favorites, as they truly are in my neighborhood George’s Neighborhood Grill. I was able to enjoy this amazing tenderloin on the patio with Pippa next to me! I love restaurants that allow dogs on the patio!

I also tried the tenderloin from Dooley O’Tooles and as you can see from the image below it was very impressive! This was my first time at Dooley O’Tooles as I had not hear of them prior to seeing them on the list for tenderloin week.

I enjoyed both tenderloins completely and for $4 each you cannot beat the amazing deal!

I also enjoyed burger week at restaurants I had never been to.  I love deals and being introduced to new places!

Burger, beer and tatchos!! What could be better?! Redemption Alewerks

Truffle and sweet potato fries and burgers!! Yes, please!  Flamme Burger

I have heard so many great things about BoomBozz Pizza and I was so excited that they were a part of pizza week!  The pizza, beer and salad exceeded expectations.

I could eat tacos every day of the week, so a taco week is perfect! I enjoyed tacos at Big Lug,   where I had the chicken #1 on the menu and the shrimp #2.

I love checking out new restaurants and visiting some of my favorites! My favorite time is when there is a deal on featured items!

Thank you to all the restaurants that participated! I look forward to visiting more restaurants for awesome noms!

Next up is bacon week !

Xoxo,

Cecee

Facials and Fall Crafts

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Friends, fall crafting and facials – what more could a girl ask for!?! Oh food… could ask for food, don’t worry there was plenty of that too!

My wonderful friend Elizabeth so graciously hosted Jenny and I for a fun night of fall crafting, facials, music videos, wine and yummy noms.

We each brought supplies for our crafts. I made the above canvases with the help of Jenny for penmanship , Ebeth made fall wreaths and Jenny painted a cute Halloween piece that lights up!

The table full of supplies shown below.



For the canvas project start with 3 blank canvases and select a base paint color. I used gold acrylic paint and used a sponge brush to paint with.

Then on the more narrow canvases I took leaves that I cut off of the string of leaves from floral section at Michaels (awesome deal of 50% off floral section) and used a glue gun to hot glue the leaves in a stacked and angled pattern.


For the center canvas I love the saying Gather Here with Grateful Hearts so Jenny first sketched it with a pencil. Then used a metallic gold marker to trace over and final touch was gold glitter paint on top. I then hot glued a ribbon across the top and Jenny made the bow to glue on top.

For Jenny’s project she purchased a wood sign that lights up to be painted and she did an awesome job bringing the sign to life!



Ebeth made 2 beautiful wreaths with fall floral pieces and ribbons then personalized each with letter cut outs.




We then moved onto facials. We tried a charcoal face mask as well as 24 kt gold face mask. I must say with the charcoal I’m glad I had some wine to numb me a little because ouch!


Sorry girls I know we all look so beautiful, but only fair to show what these mask look like!


The charcoal mask hurt pulling off for the fact of all impurities and any hair (watch your hair-line – ouch!) comes up with the mask when you peel it off.

Luckily the 24kt mask provided a cooling sensation after feeling like we ripped off parts of our face, but hey beauty is pain at times right!?!

The bad thing about the gold mask is you can’t really move as they slide real easy. The fact you can’t really talk that much is clearly a struggle for myself and my beautiful friends. How can you look like this and not laugh when ya look at one another!?!


Clearly these mask just made us even more beautiful 😁

I love these girls and always have so much fun no matter the activity! Make time to treat yourself and have fun with your friends, it is good for the soul!

Xoxo,

Cecee

Providing Comfort with Comfort Food

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Cooler weather and stress bring on my desires for all the carbs that are tied to my favorite comfort foods. I’m sure am not alone in these feelings right?!

Today my parents were unexpectedly in Indy due to my cousin unfortunately having open heart surgery. During scary and stressful times I tend to want to help provide comfort with food in addition to silent prayers. I know not everyone handles stress the same way nor will everyone want food, but my family always loves food!

I knew my dad was really worried about his nephew. My dad is the baby of a large family and his nephew is not that much younger. Since there is not a large age gap they grew up together more like brothers and are still close today. Since the hospital is nearby my parents came over for dinner. I knew my dad needed some comfort, so I made his favorite comfort meal, which is basically all carbs!

The image above is my dad’s favorite which is ham and white bean soup, fried potatoes and corn bread topped with an onion slice.  I of course used my cast iron skillet for the potatoes and cast iron corn bread pan in the shape of corn cobs.

Recipe- Randall Beans and fill the jar 1/3 of the way with water and add along with small package of ham chunks with salt and pepper to taste on medium heat until boiling.

Cornbread- I use Jiffy and follow the recipe with the exception of adding a teaspoon of sugar.

Fried potatoes- Red potatoes were on sale at Fresh Thyme today for .77 per pound. I left the jackets on and diced them while 2-3 tablespoons canola oil heated in my iron skillet. Cook on medium heat until tender and I like to have them get a little crunching by cooking a little longer.

Funny how different foods bring comfort and a sense of nostalgia. I would say my speciality niche is comfort food as I like to provide that experience to those I share a meal with.

What is your favorite comfort food? Mine is meatloaf!

*Thankfully the surgery went well and praying for a speedy recovery.

Xoxo,

Cecee

Labor Day Fun

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Labor Day weekend has always provided wonderful memories full of family time! Growing up my parents typically hosted the Labor Day cookout and now that I have my first home I have hosted the past 3 years. 

The menu included a basic salad, baked beans, macaroni salad, hot dogs and blended burgers, watermelon from my parents garden, dessert from Fresh Thyme- cookies and angel food cake.

For the burgers I decided I wanted to try something different! I took 1 piece of applewood smoked bacon, 1 piece of sirloin steak and 1 lb ground beef and blended with Weber gourmet burger spice and 5 leaves of fresh basil.When using a meat grinder be sure to cut the meat into small strips. A hamburger press is so helpful when making your own burgers! Side note I love my KitchenAid mixer and all the attachments! 


My wonderful dad was then the grill master for me and burgers turned out amazing!! 


Of course for the holiday weekend we needed some patriotic decor, paper products and I always love having fresh flowers around! 

We have been fortunate for perfect weather each year to enjoy the pool and a cornhole tournament! My cousin Bonnie and I were the champs this year!


I am beyond grateful for any time spent with my wonderful family. Time with them is full of laughter and smiles. They are the most positive, loving and kind people I know. 

Enjoy family and the last of summer!

Xoxo,

Cecee 

Princess Status 

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This is Pippa and she is a spoiled princess! Pippa is a Wheaten Terrier and approximately 10 years old. She has been my fur baby for the past 2 years and what an impact she has made! Besides the extreme love for Pippa she has also introduced me to additional responsibility. 

Growing up I always had an outdoor pet. I never had to worrying about a time schedule for letting them out and honestly I probably didn’t give them as much attention as they deserved. Pippa on the other hand snuggles with me, has play dates, birthday celebrations and enjoys her favorite, car rides! 


Since she has been so spoiled I think I have enabled some unfortunate behavior tied to separation anxiety. Pippa every now and then when I’m gone for longer than she likes will eat things. She has destroyed curtains, table clothes, cooler strap,shoe laces, reusable shopping bags and the scary part an electrical cord that was plugged in! 

As you can imagine early on several vet bills that added up fast! Pippa loved her vet staff, thank goodness as she was there a lot! Earlier this year that vet location was closing and sadly we had to find a new vet. Finding a location you feel comfortable leaving your fur baby is tough. 

Pippa was in serious need of having her teeth cleaned as sadly decay was present. The water additive and tooth brush bones were not enough and trying to brush her teeth was impossible ! Any tips of how to successfully brush your dog’s teeth without running away is appreciated! 

I took her to Binford Pet Wellness Center for her apparent fake out of a leg injury- yes I am a sucker! While there Pippa and I felt comfortable so I booked her teeth cleaning. After her visit they called to check up on her twice about her leg and then gave me a text reminder with steps to do prior to her teeth cleaning. After her cleaning they gave me a flier of info, called to check on her again twice and then sent this sweet card! 


I could not be more impressed with their customer service, amazing staff and welcoming environment! I highly recommend Binford Pet Wellness Center ! 

Cannot stress enough the importance of dental health for your pet! Make sure you keep an eye on those choppers!

Cheers to fresh dog kisses and happy tails !🐶

-Cecee

Baby Got Brunch 

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I LOVE brunch, 90s jams and I love supporting a good cause so Baby Got Brunch is happiness! 

The cause is feeding children faced with food insecurity – learn more at http://thepatachoufoundation.org/ . 

First off in going to any festival with a group of friends I’m sure you’ve experienced the oh crap we lost so and so! The best way to keep your group together is to have at least one friend wear a hat or some type of easier identifier to be spotted in the crowd. My brunch outfit below came from the following places: Hat -Old Navy, Skirt and Crop– Jules Boutique in Goshen, IN and my shoes came from TJ Maxx. 

  

Now about the event! Indy’s first brunch festival and I hope it becomes an annual event! Who doesn’t love trying different foods, bottomless mimosas/ Bloody Mary’s and latte art competition! 

I will say I am glad that we arrived early as sadly venues ran out of food and there was a bottom to the mimosas as they ran out of OJ and champagne. My friends and I were able to try all the foods we wanted and I was so impressed by many options! I wish I had taken more pictures of the food, but that was a challenge with carrying food and drink. 

Here are some images of a few items we enjoyed.


My favorite was the lox bagel from Taxman Brewing  and I didn’t get a picture of it as I just consumed multiple samples 😋

I love coffee and was so impressed with http://www.beecoffeeroasters.com/index.html#about ! 

I thought the event was well organized and not overly crowded, yet the lines for the bars were so long. The feedback I would provide is to have bars on opposite ends to help reduce lines and more high top tables to make sampling easier. I believe the vendors will know to adjust supplies as this was the first year and hard to know how much would be needed. 

Overall this was a wonderful event and hope to attend next year! 

Happy Brunching!

Xoxo,

Cecee 

Art of Gifting 

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The art of finding the perfect gift for loved ones takes time. They say it’s the thought that counts, but who really wants something that ends up in the regift pile 😜. 

Step 1- Know your budget. Depending on how close the person is to you and the type of event you are celebrating will play a factor.

 Step 2- Know the person’s top 2-3 hobbies and style.If you are getting a gift for an event that has a registry for goodness sakes buy off the registry! They told you what they want and there is no need to be creative! 

Step 3- Go shopping at places you know they like to go or have expressed interest in. 

As I have mentioned I am approaching 30 so as you can imagine lots of Dirty 30 Birthday celebrations. 

Here are a few ideas for some Birthday gifts:

For that friend who loves a lot of the same things as you gather a few of your favorite things! One of my best friends will be celebrating her last 20’s birthday this week and luckily we love a lot of the same things! We are both dog moms so the card must have dogs! We both hardly function without our coffee, so kcups. Fashion is our favorite, but instead of getting clothes I got her awesome lip color for her fall wardrobe that will look amazing with her skin tone! All of the previous items listed are from my favorite, TJ Maxx. Every day she lights a candle when she gets home so a candle with a funny saying that ties to an inside joke is perfect! This fun candle came from a local boutique in Fishers called Blue Peppermint. 


For the beer connoisseur turning 30 you can do 30 Beers for 30 Years. The reusable drink tub came from FiveBelow for less than $5 and I also bought the gold construction paper there for $1. I then printed the font and traced it on the gold paper so the letters would be even. I used tacky glue to glue onto drink tub. I then did a variety of beers for a total of 30 beers. I wrapped each in tissue paper partially for fear of bottles breaking and also wanting it to look decorative. Also be prepared this will be heavy!



Other ideas are themed gifts such as:

  • Golf- golf balls, tees, glove and ball markers
  • Pampering – bath robe, slippers and face masks, I love Dr. Jart brand! 
  • Cooking- go to a local restaurant or grocery store that sells spices and marinades to go with a cookbook or apron
  • Fitness- water or shaker bottle , fun saying workout top, gym bag 

I will do a future post on care packages. I tend to make care packages for those who are struggling with something. For example in the past I have made packages for friends going through a breakup, health struggles and even if they just need a pick me up. 

Happy gifting! 

Xoxo,

Cecee

Brunch to Blog

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I love being the hostess with mostest and my friends love that I am this way! From hosting friendsgiving, Christmas cookie exchange to poolside brunch I always go all in from the food to the ambiance.

My last pool party brunch my friend Katie suggested I blog about my party hosting skills. I had never really considered starting a blog, but I journal every day.  The idea had me intrigued and started reaching out to other friends who have lifestyle blogs. Check out my friend’s blog http://www.makingitmillennial.com as she has awesome content!

For me this blog will hopefully provide inspiration for others as well as help me journal through my chaotic life.

Now onto poolside brunch… the key is always a mimosa bar!  My friends are wonderful and bring the bubbly while I provide a spread. Quick and easy items to feed a large group include an egg bake along with fruit. The egg bake is so simple with a base of hash browns then any veggies and protein you would like with eggs, milk and cheese.  Recent easy cheat for a time crunch are waffles from the bakery section of Sam’s Club paired with Chic-fil-a chicken tenders for a fast serving of chicken and waffles!

Then you enjoy the pool with your favorites!IMG_9626