blog break

happy hump dayyyy!

i'm announcing to all 2 of my loyal readers that i am taking a blog break for awhile.

i hope to be back soon(ish) with lots of fun new stuff!

our weekend

our asheville weekend was so much fun! we had a great time just relaxing, being outside, and enjoying the perfect weather.

i survived my first hostel experience, and i have to say it wasn't as scary as i thought it would be, although i think the hostel we stayed in is probably way nicer than most.

this hostel has 3 types of accommodations: private rooms (basically like a hotel room without a bathroom), private pods, or bunks. we went with the pods and it was actually really fun! our little hallway had 8 pods, and all of them were full of our friends so i didn't feel like i was sleeping with strangers. each pod had a curtain, a locker for your stuff, a shelf, a lamp, and an electrical outlet. it was like a mix of camping and college dorms really.

[the most college dorm-y part was when i woke up sunday morning looking like death and had to walk by an entire kitchen full of people drinking coffe on my way to the bathroom with my makeup bag and change of clothes. hey guys.]

here's a picture from the website of the private pods:

and, for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures i'm planning on converting into a flip book:

that's my husband

disappearing act 

stu's got it

we're cute when we try!

asheville bound

this weekend we're heading to asheville for one of our favorite friend's birthdays!!!

loki is going to be hanging out with his favorite dog/house sitter all weekend and we are taking off this afternoon to spend the weekend enjoying some cooler weather and good times!

proof of cooler weather statement...heck yes:

Fri

75°

48°

Sat

72°

48°

Sun

73°

57°

hope everyone has a fun weekend and happy birthday taylor!!!! we <3 you!!

favorite shrimp scampi recipe

happy monday everyone!

back to the grind today after such a fun weekend!

quick recap:
-had a fabulous homemade dinner at kat's house on friday and played with her new kittens (LOVE)
-had a fun, relaxing day with the hubby on saturday
-met lots of our neighbors at a neighborhood house party saturday night
-tailgated for the first regular season panthers game yesterday

today i'm sharing my favorite shrimp scampi recipe. it's so easy and fast and tastes better, in my opinion, than any other scampi recipe i've ever made. michael is actually making this for dinner tonight and i'm so excited about it!

this recipe is courtesy of the genius also known as the pioneer woman. she has some really beautiful pictures of this meal on her website! here's one:

yum.

you'll need:

• butter and olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 lemons
• 4 dashes hot sauce
• 8 oz angel hair pasta
• basil, parsley, salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

*you want to have your pasta cooking at the same time you're cooking your shrimp mixture, so start the boiling pasta water first*

1. heat olive oil and butter in skillet over medium heat.

2. add onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
3. add raw shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes. (if shrimp is already cooked, wait to add it until step 6).

4. squeeze in the juice of both lemons.

5. add wine, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. 

6. stir and reduce heat to low.

7. put angel hair in boiling water and cook according to package directions.

8. drain, and reserve 2 cups of pasta water.

9. remove skillet from heat. add pasta and toss. if sauce needs to be thinned out, add some pasta water.

10. top with parmesan, parsley, and basil to taste.

enjoy!

weekend recap

i guess summer is "officially" over...which is fine by me! bring on the fall weather asap :)

this weekend was really fun and relaxing, a pretty perfect end to the season.

friday i got out of work at 1, and i got home to a beautiful sight: a newly painted front door!! as you know, we've been talking about repainting it for forever (see here) and my sweet husband was finishing up the final coat when i pulled up in front of the house.

we debated over paint colors for awhile, but we ended up using some paint that michael initially bought to spot-paint some missing patches when we switched out the door handles last fall. it's a little greener and a little darker than the door was before, and i LOVE it! the fact that we didn't spend any extra money was the icing on the cake.

in love

friday night we had a fun family party at my in-laws' house to celebrate my brother-in-law's 20th birthday and michael's aunt's return to costa rica. (she'd been here visiting for a few weeks). it was so fun! as is usually the case with segura family parties, we had lots of food, drinks, music and dancing.

the next generation of motorcycle riders

michael & his lil bits!

so thankful for this family!

saturday was mostly spent relaxing and hanging out with friends...it was wonderful :)

on sunday we had church. after that we went to the pool for awhile, then went down to the whitewater center to watch the build your own boat competition. it was so funny! there were tons of people there-more than i've ever seen before. teams built their own boats out of anything they could find other than actual rafts and metal...there were rafts built out of air mattresses, 7-up bottles, beach floats, etc. most of them crashed at some point which made it even funnier to watch! they all had themes..my personal favorite was a raft built to look like the flintstones' car.

and also, it was a million and 2 degrees outside. i'm pretty sure loki almost had a heat stroke.

one of the homemade boats

yesterday was another pool day, followed by a long night of movie watching. we watched 5 movies in 2 days this weekend...craaazzyyy!

we <3 the pool

i hope everyone else had a fun labor day weekend too! next up is halloween! (yes i'm already excited)