Two hops and two vines

This morning I woke to my roommate, Ashley informing me of her tough night in the ER. In doing so she requested a nice tempranillo for when she gets home tonight. So I needed to get wine and a few groceries.
I think it will be a walking day.

Yep, walkin in my flip flops.

 My eco-bag.

First thing, Hops n' Vine.

I had no idea it had homebrewing supplies!!! The selection of wine was very decent, not too over the top plus they had a nice variety of craft beers.

I picked up two bottles for Ashley.  The tempranillo she wanted plus a shiraz from South Australia.

As I was walking to Ingles I got distracted. 

Oh hello homemade ice cream.

Oh you have vegan and sugar free flavors?

Plus an ice cream mosaic?

 I think this is a sign that I should stop on in and get some ice cream. A kiddie scoop should be good.

I love their window art!!!

The selections were very creative.

Craggie Antebellum Ale

Spinach Raspberry Swirl

Salted Caramel. I've had this one before and yes it is really, really good. I think my taste buds gravitate towards those salt and sugary combinations :)

I tried a sample of the Lavendar Vanilla with Almond milk. The best way to describe it, you know when you take a taste of something and as soon as you try to savor the flavor, it disappears? I mean disappears before you can identify the flavor? I mean I tasted a touch of lavendar and the rest was very light. Perhaps it's just my preferences, but I don't think this vegan ice cream was my favorite :-/

So I picked the Grasshopper.

Very light mint and with a few oreos.

After I was done devouring my ice cream, I had to run to Ingles. I found a recipe called Beans with Mushrooms, in one of my vegetarian cookbooks. So I needed some mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms.

Here are my purchases, eggs, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, THREE containers of mushrooms, shallots, canola oil and lettuce.

Here's a closer look at the wine I picked up :) The Strong Arms Shiraz has been a favorite of mine for many years. It has that usual Shiraz taste of pepper but then it has a nice medium fruity blend. Ughh I love it and hopefully Ashley will too!!!

"Send me on my Way"-Rusted Root

Dear Diary...

Ekkk, ok never starting a title or sentence off with that statement. Dear Diary is way too, middle school, going through weird, body changes. So how about, To my fellow readers? I think I like that a lot better. Ok so, "Fellow Readers," where do I start? As of right now I am in Kernersville visiting my Mom. I got in on Wednesday and by Friday left for Durham to visit Jeff. I just got back from Durham today and am enjoying some peace and tranquility in front of the TV.

I didn't take many pictures this week. I was too caught up with my time with Jeff to really think about anything else. It really was wonderful to spend this weekend with him! I felt like nothing has changed, except for location. He showed me around the place, we ate at new restaurants, sipped at new bars and of course we cooked some meals at home.We even had time to get a quick work-out in at the YMCA in Durham. I will say this I am very jealous of his gym! I mean it's a Y with a sauna, chapel, pool, and one of those machines that gets the wet out of your swimsuit! Now maybe I've been living in the mountains for too long but in my perspective, nice!

Jeff and I didn't go into wedding stuff as much as I had hoped for but hey give us time. I mean we are still in school and as much as I am becoming addicted to wedding blogs, we really need to think about what is important right now. The crazy thing is I had a dream the other night that Jeff and I were having our reception on our friend, Curt's farm. You may remember his trout! I think it would be awesome. I just don't know if it's enough space. Plus homie has an old school bus in the front! Hmm well the bus might not be such a bad thing.

Speaking of the off-beat wedding ideas. There is this wedding I found in Real Simple, that I absolutely love!

The couple are Adam and Tessa. They threw an amazing and fun wedding for only $5,000. I mean, think hot dogs, doughnuts, a barn receptions, tug of war, and the parachute game. Wow. I found more details about the wedding on Snippet and Ink. This is why I like wedding blogs, beautiful pictures plus the niddy gritty.

Well speaking of niddy gritty, classes for my internship start this Thursday. I think I'm ready to put my brain through boot camp. It's funny, usually in the summer I read or do some personal side projects. But with how my work schedule, moving and the touch of Taurus laziness, I did not get to do any of these things. I still haven't finished What is the What. It's a great book but for some reason I have no desire to sit and just read. Well, I have to put a lot of that aside. The laziness that is.

Ok enough of wedding talk.When I head back to Asheville tomorrow, I hope a few packages will be at my door! I went ahead and ordered three Jillian Michaels DVDs plus a budget wedding book. The wedding book was only a penny so heck yeah, already getting started on budget savviness!!!!

Ok back to doing nothing, while I still have time :)
"Dog Days are Over"-Florence + The Machine

Meatless Manicotti

Once again, I have to rely on my dear friends at Cooking Light. The other night I had a craving for some comfort food, that was easy to make and wouldn't cost too much. There is this amazing manicotti recipe in the 2010 special edition issue of Cooking Light. I have made it numerous times and each time its as wonderful as the last. It's so cheesy, plus the tomato-basil sauce really adds a nice flavor enhancer. If you decide to make this recipe, use the basil sauce for real. Any other and it doesn't have the same awesome potency.

Ingredients include:
-2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided 
-1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese 
-1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry 
-1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
-1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 
-1/4 teaspoon salt 
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
-1 (8-ounce) package manicotti (14 shells) 
-1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce 
-Cooking spray 
-1 cup water

First step: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  

Second Step: Combine 1 1/2 mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and the next 5 ingredients (up til the black pepper) in a medium sized bowl. 

Third Step: 
Spoon about 3 tablespoons or more of the cheese mixture in each uncooked manicotti shell. I just stuffed until all the space was full. 

Fourth Step: 
Pour half of the tomato sauce in a 13 X 9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. 

Fifth Step: 
Arrange all the 14 stuffed shells onto the baking dish. 


Sixth Step: 
Once all the shells have been arranged, pour the remainder of the sauce evenly over the shells. Add the cup of water into the dish. Then sprinkle with the remainder of the mozz cheese. Cover with foil. It should look like this..

Last Step: 
Bake in your 375 degree oven for an hour or until the shells are tender. Let cool before serving :) 

The day I made this I was very happy with myself. I had said earlier that day that I would not drive my car and that I would walk to the grocery store. We have an Ingles in West Asheville that's about three blocks from our apartment. So I got my backpack and a few reusable bags, left my purse behind and just took my phone and wallet, and headed off to the store by foot! It wasn't too bad. While walking home I worried about the shells and eggs getting crushed on the way home! But luckly all the food made it back to the apartment safe and sound! 


If you live close to the grocery store, I highly recommend walking or taking your bike out to run errands :) It saves on fuel plus you get some exercise in the process!


"Ants Marching" -Dave Matthews

Will you be my.....

Being an only child, I grew up learning how to keep myself entertained and how talk to adults but, I also learned the value of friendship. So when it came time to pick my bridesmaids, I knew I had to do it in a special way. My friends have meant so much to me in my college career. They were the people I drank with, laughed with, cried with and to this day confide in. So to let them know that they will be celebrating this special occasion with my honey and me, I made these...

I had seen cards like this on greetingcards.com. But to my surprise I found free templates at www.weddingchicks.com!!! I could pick any colors I wanted. It was so simple, just print, cut out, and paste on some cardstock all was good to go.

Here is the step-by-step process:

 Materials needed:
-Your printed template (I'm having 5 bridesmaids so I printed off 5 copies)
-Cardstock (again I used 5 of these)
-Glue
-Scissors
-Envelopes that fit the template

Step 1
Have your materials at hand.

Step 2:
Place the envelope over the template.

 Step 3:
Make some marks above the envelope. This will show where to cut the paper.

Cut the template.

Step 4:
Do the same step described above except do this for the cardstock. Once you have the marks in the right place, do the same up above. This will help to create the fold, so it will look like a genuine card.

Cut of course.

Step 5:
Glue the template to the cardstock.

 and with that..

You've got yourself a card!!!

The finished product :)

I just finished handing these out!! My bridesmaids, or action league as I like to call them, loved these!! I can't wait to DIY (oh lord it's starting!) more wedding stuff!!!

"In Bloom"-Nirvana

How I'm spending my first days in Asheville

Yesterday was a day I was on a mission.

But first I need some Zen tea.

and a random breakfast of Mac n' cheese, watermelon and scrambled eggs.

And computer time. Then I was off to browse J. Crew and then to World Market to pick up a compost bin!

This is the dress I tried on at J. Crew. Of course I won't show you the whole dress but I really liked the neckline and the fabric. The shoes were pretty cool too!!! I don't know if this dress is the one but if I get one like this I think I would really have to accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!!! The next time I go Wedding dress hunting I will need a team of professionals!!! AKA my friends with awesome style!!

After J. Crew I needed a guilty pleasure....

Yep, I wanted some fried rice goodness.

I ordered some steamed vegetable dumplings as an appetizer.

I had no idea i was that hungry :-/

But ohhh the fried rice was soo good!!!

 I don't know what it is but I have to be in the right mood for some beef fried rice. It's something about that seasome oil with bits of egg and shredded carrots, that just leaves me feeling happy :)

I also read up on some other material...

 I got this at the J. Crew store and I was a little disappointed that there weren't that many wedding dresses to look at :( Ehh but whatever I'll be looking at so many dresses in the near future that I'll be sick of them!

 And I can't forget my best purchase ever....

It's so compact, perfect if you live in an apartment complex!! We keep this right by the sink.

 It even has an odor blocker!!! Which we have to replace every few weeks or so.

Reasons why composting is awesome:
1) It helps reduce the amount of landfill
2) Helps to enrich soil
3) Helps clean contaminated soils
4) Can reduce the need for water, fertilizers and pesticides

Yes, I like being environmentally friendly. I used to just throw my food outside or use the garbage disposal. The price for this was just $14.99!! I think it's a great investment!!

"Little Boxes"-Malvina Reynolds