Weekend Update

Happy Monday!

Yeah, usually Mondays aren't too "happy" but I don't have any work this week so as far as I'm concerned, I have a super long weekend.

The weather was gorgeous this weekend. It was in the 60's but when my car read 70 degrees, I couldn't believe it. November 11th... 70 degrees? You always surprise me, Maryland.

Chris took me to dinner at P.F. Chang's on Friday night to celebrate my job ending, and it was so good as always. We got the banana spring rolls for dessert which are my favorite! I also got the perfect fortune. 

"You'll never know what you can do until you try" 

This is probably my favorite fortune ever.

Warmer weather also meant putting away the sweaters for the weekend {agh this time of year is so confusing!}.. Chambray and cord skinnies it was! Messy hair and awkward poses are normal around here, in case you're new.

{Chambray shirt: Old Navy, Cords: Kohl's (LC by Lauren Conrad) }

Also, who else watched Revenge last night? Besides being totally hooked on the show, I'm loving Target's partnership with Neiman Marcus. I'm totally obsessed with this Oscar de la Renta bag and need to have it.

source

So, for the next week I'm looking forward to sleeping in and doing whatever the heck I feel like doing. Chris is off work tomorrow so that's a nice bonus :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Linking up with Sami, Dana, and Leeann as usual!

{does anyone know what's up with blogger? Whenever I try and go into html to insert buttons, all my pictures are gone when I go back to "Compose". Anyone else have this problem? :\ }

High Five for Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone!

What a week it's been!

Here are my high five from the week..

{1}

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. 'Nuff said

{2}

Finally settling in to our new apartment. It's definitely a process. I'm looking forward to the time I have off so I can set up the loft area... it's going to be an office/guest room and I'm so excited!

The view from above when we were moving in... it freaks me out but I love the tall ceilings!

{3}

TV. This can pretty much be included in every week's high five. I can't get enough of Revenge. It's been my favorite show since it began last year. I'm hooked. I want to start watching again from the beginning, and I usually hate watching things more than once. Also, Grey's this week! I missed it last week and it was great as always!

{4}

My bloggy friend Dani sent me a package! A glitter owl, herbs from her garden, and Scentsy samples! It totally made my week :)

{5}

I can't believe it, but this is my last day of work at my current job. I'm sure the day will be filled with tears. It's also full of nerves, excitement, and fear for my new opportunity, so I'm feeling a lot of different things at once.

I also get a full week of nothing next week before I start the new job. No work, no responsibilities... I've never had a vacation like this. No worrying about the things I have to get done at work when I return because I won't be returning. No checking work email on my phone and getting sucked back into it, no work cell phone on 24/7, NONE OF IT. It's going to be really hard to get away from all of it after 4 1/2 years. To get myself out of that "groove". To lose my downtown Inner Harbor parking. (Yeah, there were serious perks to this job I'll definitely miss! Ha!) Most of all not seeing the pretty faces of my amazing co-workers who had turned into a second family! I'm going to miss those ladies so much! I'm going to miss my kids who I've seen grow and change and am so proud of.

It'll definitely be an adjustment but I'm as ready as I can be... I'm also going to miss this lil office!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Turkey Cheeseburger Casserole

A casserole with turkey, packed with vegetables, and topped with biscuits?

Yeah, it's is as good as it sounds. 

Chris and I came up with this while attempting to make a "sloppy joe casserole".

Whatever we ended up making was so much better.... and the Turkey Cheeseburger Casserole was born!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey (or beef, whatever you prefer. You could even use "fake" meat if you're a vegetarian)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 large carrot

1 celery stock

1/2 small white onion

1/2 green pepper

4 tbsp Barbecue sauce

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

Italian spices/any spices you prefer

1 package Pillsbury Grand Jr Biscuits

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Chop all veggies into very small pieces. Brown turkey in pan. When almost cooked, drain fat and add back into pan. Add vegetables, cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add barbeque and worcestershire sauce, along with the brown sugar and spices and stir well. Simmer for a couple minutes. Transfer to greased 8x11 casserole dish. Top with cheese.

Cut each biscuit in half, place on top of the meat and cheese. Leave room because the biscuits will spread.

Bake for 20-25 minutes

Enjoy!

Weekend Update!

This weekend was so uneventful and so needed!

We unpacked and set up the new apartment... pretty much everything's now in its place and it feels great!

We'll only be here about 5 months, but I still wanted to hang pictures and make it feel homey. That's what we did, and it finally feels nice and comfortable.

On Friday night we got take-out sushi and redboxed Rock of Ages. It was actually pretty funny and of course I sang along the whole time. I can't help loving the 80s music, no matter how terrible it is.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the couch...on Pinterest... eating...

Home-made stew (amazing for this cold weather), Belated Halloween cupcakes, and Ben&Jerrys were this weekend's staples. (How do I not weigh a million pounds?)

To the gym tomorrow  who are we kidding?

Also, this stuff is amazing: In a medium glass, 3 ice cubes, 1/2 Pumpkin Pie Liqueur, 1/2 milk, top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon. So.Good.

So, here's to a weekend of being lazy, not doing my hair and wearing no makeup (do you know how much time that saves, by the way?)

We got an extra hour of sleep today, which I didn't use at all... I just got up earlier. It gets dark at 5 and I'm not a fan. Can it be Spring already??

I'm about to start my LAST week of work... I didn't want this week to come, but I also want to get it over with so bad. So, bring it on. I can't believe this week is finally here! Now, excuse me while I go cry (and all my co-workers were not surprised ;) )

Linking up with Sami, Dana, and Leeann for Weekend Update!

High Five for Friday

Oh Hey, Friday!

I'm so glad you're here.. please be nice. I'm just using you to get to the weekend.

What a week this week was!

{1} This is not a "high" but is definitely worth mentioning.

Hurricane Sandy hit and we are lucky it didn't hit us too hard. We kept power and there were some trees/branches down but no major damage.

Not everyone was so lucky, and everyone affected is in my thoughts.

If you want to donate to a great cause, check out Dani's blog. She is offering donation sponsor spots, meaning she's donating all proceeds from her $4 buttons to Save the Children. Save the Children is a wonderful organization with many program areas to protect children, educate, and provide relief to those in need. They're providing emergency relief for families with children who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Obviously, this organization touches near and dear to my heart. Although I don't yet have children of my own, I'm spending my career serving and protecting children and I feel so passionate about this. Thanks, Dani for this wonderful idea.

{2} We MOVED!!!

I thought I'd never see the day.

We got word last Wednesday that we would be able to pick up the keys on Friday. Yep, that left about two days to pack. We thought we'd be moving but had nothing set in stone so we weren't ready at all. We finally got everything moved in (it was a mess and exhausting) and we're still setting up and unpacking but I'm so happy to be in the new apartment without the nightmare neighbors living above us. 
Thanks to everyone who helped us move- love you all!

Here's our wonderful new view...

And a sneak peek of the mess apartment ;)

{3} Food always gets included in my highlights.

We made this awesome casserole...or something. It was amazing.

I'll be posting that recipe soon!

Peanut butter M&M cookies...

Pineapple pizza while moving! Yum!

{4} Although this isn't from the week, I haven't been around blog land too much so wanted to include Girls Night from last weekend :)

A few friends and I went to dinner at Gordon Biersch for dinner. We didn't know, but the restaurant was brand new and wasn't officially opened. We got to go in, have free dinners and $1 drinks! It was so random and amazing to say the least.

 The pomegranate margarita was insanely good.

We then saw Pitch Perfect. So funny!!!

{5} Last but not least, I have major news!

You might remember me mentioning some "life changes" a couple times over the past several weeks.

I'm changing jobs after almost 4 1/2 years.

I'm so sad to be leaving my wonderful co-workers, many who have turned into good friends. I know we'll still see each other, but still. It's strange to think I won't be seeing their faces every day.

I'll miss the kids I work with so much. That's the hardest part.

I'm nervous, excited, anxious, happy, sad...all of the above! It'll be a huge change but the new job is more along the lines of what I want to do long-term. My last day is next Friday and I get a week off before starting my new job. It's happening so fast...I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this soon.

Maybe soon I'll be able to talk about it without crying???

Since I have the best co-workers ever, they got Charm City Cupcakes for me and another girl who is leaving soon...

Then we went to a goodbye Happy Hour.

{we like to eat sweets and drink, what can I say?}

$5 margaritas, holllaa!

So, as you can tell, it's been an eventful week. Good, bad, and lots of in-between.

I'm so glad we have internet again and I'm back in blog-land. I missed you all!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.