Friendsgiving 2014

This weekend Miguel and I had about 10 people over for a Friendsgiving dinner. This was Miguel's idea, but I love throwing themed parties and so I was excited to help host! I am fully aware that I go a little cheesy with themes, but I don't care, I embrace it haha.  For example, I cut out Thanksgiving photo props that no one used, but Miguel was kind enough to humor me and take a picture as a pilgrim! 

Once people got to our house I didn't remember to take any photos, but I snapped some pics of the food and decor earlier. 

This was the first time we used our new dining room table! We put one of the leaves in so that we could fit more people, but that also meant that there was very little wiggle room as the table took up pretty much the whole length of the room! 

Poor Madison got stuck in the chair closest to the window! Once she got in, she couldn't get out. Especially once we added a chair to the opposite end, essentially blocking the doorway to the kitchen. 

We also set up another little table so that there would be more room, but in the end we didn't get enough extra chairs so it became an impromptu "sweetheart table". 

Publix commercial salt and pepper shakers my dad gave me years ago =)

We also had candles and a fire going outside, but then, of course, it started to rain... pout.

To make the house smell like fall I had a simmer pot of orange peels, apples, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, etc going on the stove.

Our guests each brought a Thanksgiving dinner side or two, so I put my energy towards making little finger foods and things to snack on before dinner. 

These cute peanut butter pumpkin balls were my favorite thing! They were so easy to make! I think this would be a fun activity to make with kids too! And, apart from the pretzel stick stem, they are GF and DF!

Next I had a pumpkin pie dip with graham crackers and apples. I just wish the apples didn't brown so quickly.  This was also pretty simple to make, but sadly, it's not DF. I may still have had a bite or two though...

I also made some GF & DF sugar cookies that I made in the shape of fall leaves and pilgrim hats. They tasted really good to me, especially for being GF and DF!

This pic is pretty blurry, but for drinks I made a cranberry champaign cocktail.  It only has 3 ingredients and is so easy to make! Just don't make the same mistake I did and have the spout of the drink dispenser open when you pour in the juice!

But, of course, the biggest hit of the night was Miguel's turkey! Yummmmmmmy! He smoked it in the Big Green Egg and it turned out wonderfully! 

We had a fun night with good friends and are very thankful to have such a great group of people to celebrate with here in Savannah! Now that we are all warmed up  we are definitely looking forward to this upcoming week celebrating with our families!

Bad Beryl

Tropical Storm Beryl visited us in Savannah today. Holiday weekends + tropical storms shouldn't mix together...

Thankfully, Beryl was a good tropical storm  and didn't mess up our weekend with friends though! 

We've had really lovely weather - though it's a bit more windy than normal =) Smiles for living at the beach!

Saint Patrick's Day Savannah Year 2

St. Patrick's Day in Savannah is crazy. This year we had an estimated 1 million people in town to celebrate. Normally that would send me into a panic... okay I was sort of in a panic... but I really HATE crowds... anyways...


My best friend came into town along with Miguel's twin brother, Juan, Juan's girlfriend, Jessie, college friend, Jacob, and Jacob's fiancee, Katie. We did our fair share of contributing to the tourists =)

My bestie and me!

Friday night a bunch of our friends and their multiple house guests got together at our friend, Jason's, house. When Miguel and I pulled up to Jason's house this is what we were greeted with:

Friends on the roof

Such silliness! Miguel and I didn't climb up on the roof... but we got into the party spirit by wearing some green and a leprechaun hat. =) We didn't stay too late because I had to get up early the next morning...

One of the big draws here in Savannah is the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's a lonnnnnng parade and in many ways feels very small town to me. The allure of parade isn't necessarily watching the parade, but more of the tailgating that goes hand-in-hand with it. This tailgating part of the equation is what had me waking up at 4:30 in the morning! People set up "tailgating" in the squares along the parade route. The squares don't "open" until a whistle is blown at 6:00 AM the day of the parade. This doesn't mean that people don't show up way before that to wait it out though... once that whistle is blown it is a full out race to get the coveted spots. People are nuts about it. Some have had their family "spot" for years, and will fight to make sure they retain that special location. I was determined to get a spot this year, especially since we had such a large party of people when you added all our friends up.  The night before Miguel and I parked one of our cars along the square we decided on. We packed it full of all our big items and non-perishable things we might need the next morning. This was such a great suggestion from a co-worker and Savannah native who has many St. Patrick's Day parades under her belt. It took a lot of pressure off of me to know that all I had to do the next morning was be dropped off (instead of fighting for street parking) and run to a spot. Though we thought we were prepared, the rush of the crowd running at 6 AM startled us a little bit and we were a little late to the game. We didn't end up with a spot along the street with good parade views, but we did claim a good section of the square. 

People setting up their tailgates at 6:00 AM

After Miguel dropped me off and helped me carry stuff out of the parked car, he headed to Jason's house to wake up friends and bring them and coffee back to me to wait it out till the parade started at 10.

A couple of hours before the parade started... getting busier!

I was so thankful for friends coming to keep me company! While we waited Miguel then headed back to our house to wake up our house guests and drag them out of bed to the parade. Miguel was so busy doing all that driving! He's the best!

We had a really fun time hanging out during the parade. We played corn hole, drinking games, and spent time with new and old friends! We didn't end up leaving till 3 in the afternoon... I was pretty sleepy. We all ended up taking naps when we got back to the house. But hey, that's why you visit Savannah on St. Patrick's Day right? To partake in the festivities? If you don't want to be in Savannah and enjoy the events that makes St. Patrick's Day here famous, then please don't come... stay home and go to bars in your own city ;)

Juan and his girl friend

Miguel enjoying spending time with Greg and Juan

I love how much the city gets into the holiday. Everywhere you looked there was green. You looked absolutely ridiculous if you weren't wearing green. I love themes and green is my favorite color... what a fun holiday!

Among the hundreds of thousands of visitors we had this weekend, we happened to set up our camp in the same square as my best friend's little brother, David!

Family love!

So much fun! I watched David grow up from diapers! Now he is starting medical school in the fall! I'm so glad we got to see him!

Look! He's wayyy taller than me now... still strange in some ways ;)

Like I previously said, I was pretty tired later that evening from being up so early, so I didn't want to do much Saturday night. After everyone eventually woke up from their naps, we headed to dinner and then I took Miguel and our guests downtown and then I came home and crashed into bed! Ahhh it felt so good! You know that feeling when all you want to do is shut your eyes and have a heavy, deep sleep? Mmmmm... =)

All in all I had a pretty good St. Patrick's Day... huge crowds and all! And I feel better prepared for next year! Bring on round three, Savannah! One of these years will have St. Patrick's Day here nailed down!

Shamrock

Friday night Miguel and I participated in the March of Dimes Shamrock Run 5k. This was my second ever run. Some friends of ours asked us to run it with them and we agreed but I was super nervous about it. I knew that I would be on my own during the run this time and I was scared I wouldn't have the self motivation to keep going. But I ended up doing just fine! I still had to walk at times, but I finished just shy of 3 minutes faster than the first 5k I ran. =)

This race sort of kicks off all the St. Patrick's Day festivities here in Savannah. It was so much fun being around the buzz and excitement. The city is definitely ready to get the party started! As you can see above Miguel jumped into the holiday spirit and dressed up for the race. =) Oh to have his confidence... 

We got to the race a little early and got to see the event get set up... well I watched as Miguel warmed up. 

City Market started to get more crowded...

I love how people really got into the dressing up part... there was even a dog costume contest which was pretty cute! Among the crowd was a fairy, a leprechaun, men playing bagpipes, and people running around in kilts.

Unfortunately, it rained during the race, but surprisingly I didn't really mind. I generally despise being wet and running so I was pretty sure I was going to be miserable during the event. I'm happy that wasn't the case though!

Before the race

Crossing the finish line... photo credit here

One of the reasons this race is so popular and fun is that it's a big party afterwards, complete with a glass of beer when you finish. Nothing could have been less desirable to me after I ran, but I was in the minority there.

Here are some of the dogs who dressed up... =)

I had a good time last night! After the race we were all wet but happy and met up with some friends for dinner. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm actually kinda, just a little bitty bit, looking forward to running the next 5k!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Yall!

Amador Christmas

Like I previously said, Miguel and I are blessed to have both of our families live in the same city so we are able to spend time during the holidays with both families. Each Christmas Eve we celebrate with Miguel's family. The Amadors love hosting and are so generous. We eat Cuban food and enjoy each other's company. This year they had a total of 20 people over including all my brother-in-laws and their girlfriends, their girlfriend's families, close family friends, and my parents!

My in-laws, Pedro and Teresa, and Brian and Lauretta Kloer

Brothers! Adrian, Juan, Andy, and Miguel

Jessie, me, and Leah... missing Kristyn!

This year Teresa started a new tradition of each guest signing a Christmas tree ornament to document who was there. Love this! 

There were so many people at the Amadors that we had to eat in three separate rooms! The ten parents ate in the dining room, six of us ate in the living room, and four in the kitchen. Each table was beautifully set! Check them out below! 

One of my absolute favorite Amador traditions is having Pedro's espresso after dinner. SO good!!!!

We also ate some wonderfully delicious desserts including truffle and a caramel cake that Leah and her mom made. Ohhh looking at this picture makes me want to eat some right now.....!!

After we ate and everyone left we opened gifts. It's a late night so technically we really did celebrate Christmas on Christmas day. We were sleepy but I don't mind staying up late for Christmas ;) The dogs, however, had a harder time staying up. 

Well, Emma stayed up to watch all the unwrapping... 

 I love those dimples!

Juan gave all his brothers matching shirts so that they could take a picture together to fill a frame he gave his mom. Aren't they cute?!?

The theme of the night seemed to be shoes! Adrian got some snow shoes (he lives in Wisconsin), Juan received some new boots, Miguel got some new running shoes, and I got some really comfy slipper socks!

Adrian's snow shoes

Juan's new shoes vs his old shoes... yeah I'd say it was time for some new ones!

Miguel's running shoes

My cozy and more importantly, pink, socks!

I just have to share how my socks came wrapped...

Thanks, Andy! I love them!

And in the spirit of shoes... maybe next Christmas I'll get Andy some dress socks... ;)

We got totally spoiled at the Amadors! One of my favorite things we got was a new wide angle lens! You can see what a difference it makes below! I took two pictures standing in the same place. The first shot is of our living room (don't judge the hodgepodge of furniture) with the normal lens and the second one is with the wide angle lens! 

What a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for the great traditions and love, Pedro and Teresa!