Emotional

After work today I got a hair cut (nothin’ fancy, just a trim), but since I didn’t get home until later than usual, I wanted dinner to be ready in a flash! 

Thank goodness for the grill. 

Ryan got to work grillin’ up some chicken breasts that we marinated in Asian sesame salad dressing while we were at work today. 

Asian Sesame Chicken

I tended to the veggies and roasted some Brussels sprouts after tossing them in olive oil and garlic salt. 

My Plate

Chicken 'n' Veggies

 Ryan cooked the chicken perfectly and the leaves of the Brussels sprouts were perfectly singed. 

Emotional 

When it comes to emotions, I feel like I am a pretty consistent person. On occasion though, I feel oddly emotional. I think it happens when something sets me off… a sappy song, a loving email… something like that. 

Well, my mom has her final surgery related to her breast cancer treatment scheduled for the end of the month and after watching Robert ‘s dance to Coldplay’s “Fix You” on So You Think You Can Dance last night, I couldn’t help but feel moved. (If you liked that dance you must watch Melissa and Ade’s breast cancer dance from a past season. Tear jerker!) 

Seeing Robert’s dance reminded me of a gorgeous rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You” by the a cappella group Straight No Chaser that I heard a couple of months ago when Ryan and I saw them in concert. 

With the help of Grooveshark, I played the song on repeat for the last hour or so of my workday to help me get through some monotonous tasks (think Excel spreadsheet fun). (If you click the link to listen to the song, keep listening for a while. It really picks up and gets super intense! LOVE it.) 

As if I wasn’t in an emotional state as it was because of listening to this amazingly beautiful song over and over again, I received an email from Ryan that completely set me off. 

As part of our wedding ceremony, our pastor has asked each of us to write down the three things we love most about each other for him to read before we exchange our vows. Well, around 4:30 this afternoon, Ryan emailed me his three things. I was so moved. 

Ryan and I have joked back and forth about our three things for a couple months now and I half expected to see something like “I love Julie’s butt” as one of his three things. After reading his amazingly thoughtful list, I can assure you that my butt did not make the list… but three wonderfully romantic statements did, and I feel so lucky to be engaged to such a wonderful man. 

Me & My Hubby-to-Be

I apologize for being so mushy-gushy, but if you listen to that song on repeat for an hour, I assure you that you’ll be professing your love and emotions to anyone who will listen, too! 😉 

Question of the Evening

What song always makes you tear up?

Straight No Chaser

Last night’s date night was SO much fun!!!

The concert was amazing and so was dinner… two for two! 😀

Dinner

Ryan and I kicked off date night by heading out to City Walk, an area of lots of restaurants, bars and clubs near Universal Studios.

City Walk

Orlando is huge (Disney World is about 25 – 30 minutes from our apartment downtown), and Ryan and I rarely do the “touristy” things.

Last night, however, we felt like we were on a mini-vacation, since we were surrounded by so many out-of-towners.

After parking in the King Kong lot (and paying $14 just to park! 😦 ), we walked around City Walk for a bit before crossing our fingers and venturing into Emeril’s restaurant to see if we could get a seat without reservations.

Emeril's Orlando

Luckily, the hostess said we could sit up at the bar which overlooked the kitchen.

Ryan and I have been to Emeril’s a couple of times before and we love sitting at the bar because you can watch all the behind-the-scenes action.

Within seconds of sitting, our drink orders were taken and we were provided with several fresh rolls to munch on before dinner.

Me + Cornbread

Cornbread

Ryan thought the sweet potato roll was tops, but I was a sucker for the cornbread (I had 2, plus 3/4 of a sweet potato roll).

We saved some of our rolls for dipping into the bowl of gumbo that Ryan ordered as an appetizer.

Gumbo

One of the cooks behind the bar said that when Emeril himself came to visit the restaurant in December, he complimented the gumbo, saying it was the best he’s ever had.

Ryan liked it a lot, but it was a bit spicy for me.

For our entrees, I ordered the sea bass while Ryan selected the duck.

Sea Bass

According to the menu, the sea bass was a “Seared Chilean sea bass bouillabaisse sofrito served with mussels, clams, toasted French bread with Florida orange-red pepper rouille.”

It was phenomenal. The broth was so flavorful, garlicy and delicious. I also loved the meatiness of the sea bass and the good amount of shellfish they included in the dish. Two thumbs up!

Ryan’s duck was also a great choice. He ordered the duck with caramelized sweet potatoes instead of the dirty rice it came with, which was a great decision.

Duck

We were both very happy with our selections.

Dessert

All through dinner we knew exactly what we’d be ordering for dessert.

Every time we’ve come to Emeril’s in the past, we’ve ordered the banana cream pie and been thoroughly impressed.

Last night was no different.

Emeril's Banana Cream Pie

The chef behind the bar told us that this dessert is the only one offered at all of Emeril’s restaurants.

It is so creamy and rich. Ryan and I finished all but two tiny bites.

Straight No Chaser

After a wonderful meal at Emeril’s, it was time to head over to the concert.

Date Night

Outside Hard Rock Live

We got there a little early but enjoyed people watching as the crowds entered the venue. There were quite a mix of people out to see Straight No Chaser, an a cappella group that originated at Indiana University.

The concert kicked off slightly past 8 p.m. and was full of energy!

We had great seats (4th row, dead center) and I got some awesome pictures and videos of the guys on my camera.

Straight No Chaser

These guys are so, so talented. It’s amazing what all they can do with only their voices.

Sing it Boys!

The show was energetic, fun and really funny!

Ryan and I both agreed that it was one of the best concerts we’ve ever seen.

Dessert x2

As we were walking out to our car, we walked past TCBY. I’m not one to just walk past a frozen yogurt store, so we popped in and split a small peanut butter and white chocolate mousse frozen yogurt.

TCBY

I love date night!

Today

Today I plan to tackle household chores (cleaning, laundry), get some sun, workout, run some errands, go to Ryan’s soccer game and possibly try a new recipe for dinner.

Catch ya lata! 😀

Still Obsessed

My obsession lives on! With what, you ask?

Two things:

My awesome FREE coffee cup from my orthodontist…

Me and My Beloved Mug

…and Straight No Chaser‘s Christmas holiday albums.

(Note: In the above picture I was stopped in my car, waiting for a train. I had some time to spare. 😉 )

This morning started out on a great note when I stopped by my orthodontist’s office for an emergency Invisalign appointment (my bottom aligner ripped… oh no!). My orthodontist saw my blog and knew how obnoxiously obsessed I was over the first free (eco-friendly!) coffee cup she gave me that she gave me another one to keep at work. Awesome! (Here’s the post where the love affair began.)

As for my love for Straight No Chaser, I was jammin’ to “Carol of the Bells” on their first Christmas album on my way to work today. (Click here to enjoy this fabulous song.)

Straight No Chaser: Holiday Spirits

I love singing in my car and sometimes I think I sound pretty decent! This encourages me to turn down the music to see if it’s really me that sounds good, or if it’s the help of the professional singers and the band that’s making me sound so fantastic. After about half of a second, I always realize that it is, in fact, Carrie Underwood who sounds good… not me.

What is your favorite holiday song?

I love “O Holy Night.” I think it is so gorgeous and I can’t get enough! I also really enjoy “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Carol of the Bells.”

Workout and Breakfast

This morning I did not want to get out of bed. I attribute this to the sound of rain on my window. How relaxing! I was so comfy under my blankets. Still, I knew I’d feel better after my workout and so I went to the gym and took a BodyPump class, followed by 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical.

Breakfast was tasty: A warmbowl of Flax Z Snax hot cereal with a scoop of cinnamon All the Whey protein powder and some frozen raspberries.

Flax Hot Cereal and Raspberries

Of course I enjoyed some hot coffee in my free mug (and a Hershey kiss on the side)! 🙂

It’s the little things in life that matter most, right?

Friday's Breakfast

(Gross! You can see my Invisalign aligners in the above picture. Ewwww. I apologize… please don’t leave me!)

Up for a Challenge?

Click here and report back if you can beat this game in under two minutes.

Ryan, I have high hopes for you on this one!

Second Thanksgiving Meal a Success

The second of my four Thanksgiving meals was, in a word, delicious!

Ryan and I headed over to my friend Laurel’s boyfriend’s house for a Thanksgiving potluck party. Everyone brought traditional Thanksgiving dishes and we had tons of food!

Potluck Platter

Friends and Food

Within 10 minutes of our arrival we were diggin’ in.

My Plate

I went back for seconds of the sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese and stuffing… apparently carbs and I are lovers today. 😉

The dessert options included brownies, cookies, pies, a pumpkin roll, whoopie pies and more. I brought my two pies and the turtle pumpkin pie was a hit! I really enjoyed it and it got good reviews from other taste-testers. If you’re looking for an easy, tasty Thanksgiving dessert, you may wanna give it a go.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

Yummy Nuts and Caramel

Yummy Pie

It was a fun time with wonderful friends. I’d say Thanksgiving meal number two was even better than round one. Round three will kickoff tomorrow at my work Thanksgiving potluck lunch. I can already feel my food baby growing.

Dusting and Decorating

Though I managed to gather up the fall decorations into a pile yesterday, I didn’t get around to transforming our apartment into a winter wonderland.

When we got home from the potluck party I got to work cleaning (as in vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing) because moving picture frames around to make room for holiday decor revealed just how dusty and dirty our apartment truly was… ick. I was on my feet cleaning and decorating for more than two hours, but our place looks ah-maze-ing!

Sadie was happy because her little Santa bear (in the form of a free Victoria’s Secret PINK beanie baby) resurfaced. Fun for all!

I also totally forgot I packed up some Christmas CDs with my decorations and enjoyed listening to Mannheim Steamroller and Straight No Chaser.

I LOVE Straight No Chaser. I think acapella music is unbelievable and this group is so talented. I know this video was very popular on YouTube a couple years ago, but if you haven’t seen it, you HAVE to watch. They’re amazing!

I got my whole family hooked on their Christmas album. They just released a new CD for this Christmas and my mom already bought it for us to enjoy over Thanksgiving. Woop, woop!

Week Ahead

Another weekend bites the dust. I’m looking forward to this work week… only two days… and tomorrow will be fun since we’re having our Thanksgiving potluck lunch. I am bringing one turtle pumpkin pie and some cupcakes.

I would be bringing two pies, but look what happened when I was moving stuff around in the fridge:

Fallen Pie

Pie down, pie down! What a bummer. Not only did I lose a perfectly good pie, but it also fell on the kitchen floor which I just cleaned. Luckily Sadie’s super-fast tongue licked up a lot of the crumbs and made vacuuming round two a breeze.

I will only be working two days this week. Ryan and I are heading to St. Pete after work on Tuesday to begin the Thanksgiving fun. My family and I are flying to Gettysburg early Wednesday morning to spend the holiday with my grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. I love family fun and can’t wait to see everyone.