Won’t He Look Handsome!?

Our weekend checklist included a slew of wedding-related errands, and this afternoon we got to check the final item off our to-do list! 

After lunch, Ryan and I headed over to Men’s Wearhouse to select the tuxes he and his groomsmen will wear on our wedding day. 

Another Day of Wedding Fun

We looked at many different options, including champagne colored vests and ties, but eventually settled on a classic black Calvin Klein tux with a crisp, white shirt, a black patterned vest, a solid black tie and a silk white handkerchief in the breast pocket. 

The Look

I should also mention that the pants they will wear will not  have any pleats, which made me a very happy girl. 

Ryan and his groomsman will all wear the same tux, but Ryan will have a different boutonniere to stand out a lil’ bit. 

Won’t he look handsome? 😉 

Dog Park 

Post-tux selection, Ryan and I headed home to pick up Sadie for a trip to the dog park. 

Earlier in the week I made plans with Meghann to meet her and her adorable dog Maddie at the park. 

Meghann + Maddie

Aren’t they the cutest!? 

I met Meghann for the first time back in May and it was great to see her again. She completed an olympic-distance triathlon today and I loved hearing about her race and playing with Maddie. Sadie really seemed like a total nut job next to Maddie, who has such a sweet demeanour. 

Bloggers and Their Dawgs

After an hour or so of puppy play time, we headed home, but not before giving Meghann a bag of starter dough for Amish Friendship Bread. 😀 

Dinner 

Once we arrived at home, we were ready for some dinner. 

Tonight felt like a no-think-no-fuss kinda night, so we opted for a California Pizza Kitchen frozen margherita pizza. 

CPK Margherita

Slice of Delight

CPK makes the best frozen pizzas!  

I think everyone grew up loving a certain brand of delivery pizza… Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Domino’s or a local pizza joint of some sort. So, I ask you… 

Who makes your favorite brand of delivery pizza?

Off to California…

…Pizza Kitchen, that is. ;D 

California Pizza Kitchen

After a good workout yesterday, my sister, Ryan and I had some grumbly tummies. I suggested grabbing dinner at California Pizza Kitchen because I recently received some “pizza dough” from the company to sample their new small cravings menu.  

Apparently they got wind of my intense love for CPK frozen pizzas and figured I might enjoy some of their restaurant fare as well. 😉   

Smilin' Sisters at CPK

We sat down in a comfy booth and immediately ordered two items off the small cravings menu to share: the Mediterranean plate and the crispy artichoke hearts. 

Mediterranean Plate

Mediterranean Plate: Our original recipe of Tuscan white bean hummus, Feta cheese topped with extra virgin olive oil and a Greek salad with cucumbers, red onions, fresh Roma tomatoes and Greek olives in our homemade lemon-herb vinaigrette. Served with our traditional pizza-pita bread. 

Hummus + Feta + Greek Salad + Pitas

 Crispy Artichoke Hearts: Artichoke hearts lightly fried with Japanese panko bread crumbs, then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Served with our homemade remoulade sauce. 

Crispy Artichoke Hearts

Both small cravings items were light, flavorful and would pair perfectly with a bowl of soup for a light lunch. 

The Greek salad included on the Mediterranean plate was my favorite. The saltiness of the olives and the fresh, crisp flavor of the cucumbers and tomatoes really complimented each other. 

For dinner, the three of us ordered two pizzas to share. 

Margherita Pizza: The classic Italian pizza. Made with imported Italian tomatoes, Mozzarella and fresh Mozzarella cheeses topped with fresh basil and Parmesan cheese. 

Margherita Pizza

Cheesy

Greek Pizza: Mediterranean spiced grilled chicken and Mozzarella cheese topped with a chilled Greek salad of cucumbers, red onions, fresh tomatoes, Greek olives, Feta cheese and a lemon-herb vinaigrette. Served with our homemade Tzatziki sauce and chopped Italian parsley.  

Greek Pizza

Lots o' Veggies

Both pizzas were really tasty. I loved all the veggies on the Greek pizza and CPK’s homemade Tzatziki sauce was fantastic. 

The Margherita pizza was prepared on a thin crust with lots of cheese and fresh tomatoes. It tasted the way a gourmet classic pizza should taste. Very good! 

I had two large slices of the Greek pizza and one slice of the Margherita pizza, but still had room to share a dessert with Ryan and Leslie. 

We opted for the hot fudge brownie sundae, which, according to the menu is an old fashioned chocolate brownie, served warm and topped with Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, CPK’s triple-thick hot fudge, fresh whipped cream, pecans and a cherry. Are you drooling yet? 😀 

Ryan's "I'm Full but Still Have Room for Dessert" Smile

Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae

I think the sundae lasted about 60 seconds once it was placed in front of us, and that includes the time I took to snap a quick picture. 

The warm, fudgy brownie was moist and perfectly sweet. When paired with the creamy, cool vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream, we were all in dessert heaven. 

We all agreed our meal at CPK was a-okay! 🙂 

After dinner, we walked around the mall where the restaurant was located for about 10 minutes before heading home to relax for the evening. 

Today’s Plans 

Today Ryan, my sister and I are hoping to head out to some nearby trails with Sadie for some Memorial Day hiking. I’m hoping to bust out the grill for a classic Memorial Day BBQ when we return for lunch! 

What are your Memorial Day plans?

Two Dresses

Since we finished printing and compiling our save the dates last night, I’ve been in wedding-planning mode! I like the feeling of checking things off my to-do list. 😀

After work today I headed to Something Blue Bridal Boutique to meet with Lori to discuss the bridesmaid dress I fell in love with back in April.

I had a couple of concerns regarding the color and the design and wanted to make sure all of my issues were addressed before fully committing to the dress.

Lori isn’t sure if the dress I like is available in the cashmere color I want, and will be calling to check on Thursday.

While I was at the boutique, I browsed some of the other bridesmaid dresses and really liked a pretty, whimsical dress by Alvina Valenta.

Alvina Valenta Dress

Here is a ghetto photo-of-a-phone photo of me in the dress:

Photo of a Photo

I really love how romantic an flowy this dress feels.

If the one-shoulder Jim Hjelm dress is not available in the cashmere color I love, the above dress may be a contender.

To jog your memory, or if you are new to the blog, here’s a picture of the Jim Hjelm dress:

Jim Hjelm Dress

Which one do you like better?

I really love both dresses though they look completely different!

Dinner

Since I arrived home later than usual, I wanted to get dinner on the table fast.

Enter, frozen pizza.

CPK White Pizza

Ryan and I are huge fans of the California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas and the crispy thin crust white pizza is one of the best.

The pizza cooked up in 10 minutes, and we enjoyed several slices with roasted broccoli on the side.

White Pizza Slice

Roasted Broc

Dinner

Dinner was fast and tasty… Just the way I like it.

I’m off to read my book for a bit before hoppin’ into bed. See ya in the morning!

Play Time at the Park

Even after two walks totaling at least 4.5 miles (2 with Ryan and 2.5 with me), Sadie was as energetic and chipper as ever. Clearly a trip to the dog park was in order. 

Puppy Play Time 

I’ve never seen so many cars at the dog park! 

People came out of the woodworks to take in the sunny day at the park. 

Smilin' at the Park

"Well Hello There."

 Sadie found lots of treasures to play with today. A grungy ball, several sticks, a rope toy and more! 

"Look What I Found!"

Pretty Girl

I originally planned to make garlic soup from scratch for dinner, but a long trip to the park made both of us unwilling to wait the 1.5 hours needed to prepare the soup and let it simmer. 

Luckily we had a freezer fallback meal on hand! 

Dinner 

Having a frozen pizza in the freezer has saved me in numerous “I need dinner and I need it now” situations. 

Yay for CPK!

Sadie is Intrigued...

(Please ignore my slippers in the above pic. Also, don’t I kinda look like a bobble-head? What’s the deal!? 🙂 ) 

Ever since trying (and loving!) the BBQ chicken frozen pizza by California Pizza Kitchen, Ryan and I have been on a mission to try all of their flavors. Tonight the margherita pizza was on the menu. 

Hot 'n' Cheesy

This pizza was g-o-o-d! We both agree that the BBQ chicken and the white pizzas by CPK are our favorites, but we’d definitely buy this one again. Mmm, mmm. 

To get our veggies in, we served the pizza with a side of cauliflower roasted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes after tossing it in a bit of olive oil and garlic salt. 

Pizza + Veggies

My Plate

Ryan and I both want dessert and are craving ice cream, but we’re feeling pretty lazy and don’t want to go anywhere… It’s the sweet tooth vs. laziness. An epic battle, I know! Not sure which one will prevail… 

I hope you guys had a wonderful weekend! See ya in the mornin’.

Movie + Pizza

I know there are mixed reviews out there about the movie Valentine’s Day, but I loved it!

Valentine's Day Movie

The movie reminded me a lot of Love Actually. I think movies with so many mini-stories intertwined are so neat. It was definitely chick flick, and I enjoyed every minute. The girls I went to see the movie with also really liked it a lot. Movie night success!

Dinner

I came home ready for some good eatin’.

Luckily Ryan was hungry too, so we popped a frozen pizza in the oven and had dinner ready in 15 minutes.

California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza

Neither of us had tried California Pizza Kitchen’s white pizza before and we both couldn’t get over how delicious it was! Our taste buds definitely did a lil’ happy dance. 😉

Eat Me!

While the pizza was cooking, we simultaneously roasted some broccoli after tossing it in a bit of olive oil and garlic salt. Gotta get those veggie servings in!

Roasted Broccoli + Pizza

My Plate

 I surprised Ryan by bringing home a lil’ sweet treat for dessert: Candy!

Almond Joy Pieces Candy

I’m not gonna lie, this candy served as both an appetizer and a dessert. 😉

I love how all the little pieces really did taste like mini Almond Joys. I think these tasted like what I was hoping the coconut M&Ms would taste like. Definitely delicious!

Now I’m off to hang with Ryan and Sadie while I update my iPod with fun songs for the 10k race in the morning and sort through massive amounts of clothes to see which ones are now Goodwill-worthy.  

See ya in the mornin’ after the race!