Pie Time

Even though I have been crazy-busy, spending time together at home at night cooking a good meal is one way I have tried to add some balance back into my world. We both love to cook over here, so dinnertime is a perfect stay-at-home date night opportunity. It is nice to have a beer or a glass of wine, turn off the phones and laptops, talk about what happened that day and really just sit down and relax. Good food makes it all the better, and so when I can pre-plan out a few meals on a weekend, it makes it easier to sit back at the end of the day and just make whatever is scheduled on the menu. It also cuts down on the impromptu "I am tired and want pizza" nights. Cough. Tonight. Cough.

Last week, we went almost the entire week without eating any meat, just by accident. I attempted to have a nice balance of meals, but from mushroom soup to veggie chili, meat just wasn't calling to me when I picked out the recipes last Sunday. What's awesome, though, is that we didn't even miss it. We tried out three new recipes, found two keepers (that mushroom soup was ehhh) and I had some fantastic, healthy leftovers for lunches, too.

Believe it or not, that pizza above is made out of cauliflower! This pizza crust was a bloggy find that I pinned and nearly forgot about, but my mind kept coming back to it. I am so glad we tried it, because it was healthy-ish (note: there is definitely some cheese involved) and it leaves room for some experimentation when we make it again.

Things we learned and/or I have noticed in the original blogger's comments since making it:

1) A pizza stone, while helpful for regular crusts, didn't do much for this crust. Ours did not hold up to picking up and we had to eat it with a fork and knife casserole-style. Next time, I am going to stick to the nonstick pan they recommend and see if that makes a difference. The recipe does note that it's not a sturdy pizza though.

2) The crust has a lot of natural moisture. Put another pan below it in the oven in case it drips at all (ours did), or use a jelly roll pan instead (a pan with edges). Some readers suggested squeezing out excess moisture from the riced cauliflower too.

3) There is so much cheese in the crust, stick to lots of healthy, natural toppings and sliced mozzarella instead of grated cheese. You really don't need much more than that. We used basil and canned tomato sauce and it was heavenly.

4) Triple the proportions of the recipe to make a full-sized pizza. We used almost the entire head of cauliflower this way, but it definitely ups the cheese and egg count, so be sure to count that in any calorie or WW points! You will get a lot more servings out of it this way.

Enjoy! You can find the recipe for this great cauliflower pizza crust here with Lauren Conrad, but originally here over on Eat. Drink. Smile. (love that blog! This cauliflower recipe sounded fab, too.). 

Patterns of Possibility

It's been so much fun being a homeowner. I have been in the condo for just about four years! I can't believe it sometimes. It seems like just yesterday my parents came along with me to the closing where I signed a bajillion papers, and then we popped open a bottle of champagne and stood (there was nowhere to sit, ha!) in the new place, dreaming of all that it would be.

Fast forward all these years later, and a lot of our friends and family have been busy buying homes of their own. It's been cool for us to check out the new places and watch as these homes transform from empty to cozy just like ours did with the additions of some furniture, some paint and some love.

This weekend we stopped by a local urban development with some relatives to check out their new townhome. While their place is still just beams and see-through "walls," the model home was fully decked out for us to check out and get a sense of what their finished product will look like. The home itself was gorgeous, but what really grabbed my attention was the fabulous decorating the realtor had done.

Can I just move in tomorrow? That little sitting room looks like a perfect blogging spot for a mid-afternoon break.

Seriously, it's as if they know me. This whole place was amazing. The colors and patterns are exactly what I would do if I was starting all over again. Don't you just love the grays and yellows and creams? It's all so cheerful!



That circle couch? Oh. My. Goodness. I have found my new love. Too bad that would take up a majority of the condo's living room, ha! I will keep this one in mind for "the next home" down the road sometime.

Hitting up model homes is a great way to find some great ideas for your own home, even if you don't have the means to re-do an entire space. After seeing the rugs in that townhome, I realized that a new living room rug would "complete" our own new look (I have been thinking looks like this or this or this), and that has moved up on the decorating priority list. The window treatments were also inspirational, and were easy-looking enough that I could potentially make my own! Summer project anyone?

Coming up tomorrow -- a foodie experiment that I can't wait to recreate and tweak! Here's a sneak peek: 

Just A Thought

It's the weekend, y'all, AND it's a three-day one!



Enjoy it, everyone!

Tie Me Up

Even though I love accessories, there are some that are perplexing to me. Chunky bracelets are one category. I physically can not type while wearing them, so most days I wear to them to/from my desk, taking them off as soon as I sit down. Need a new Diet Coke? Put them back on. Time for a meeting? Gather up the bracelets and stack them back onto my wrists. It seems silly, but it's functional while still being fashionable, so I don't really care.

The scarf is another one of those things. I have collected a few pretty ones in the recent years that are meant to be worn year-round and indoors (as opposed to their cold weather sisters), but I always seem to be fiddling with them slash half-choking myself when I wear them. Some of my friends throw scarves on effortlessly. And I could never figure it out.

Thankfully, Pinterest has helped me.

Source: scarves.net via Katherine on Pinterest

I think I shared this site a while ago, but as most things are on Pinterest, I kind of forgot about it until I sat here on the second straight scarf day, annoyed with the thing I had decided to have hanging around my neck. I did a quick Pinterest search and voila, I found a solution.

It adds a different look to this scarf, which I have previously worn just wrapped around my neck a few times, sometimes tight, sometimes loose:

Today, I tried the "fancy braid" and really like it!

Fellow scarf love-haters, I urge you to try out one of these new "looks" for yours and add a new dimension to that outfit!

Lazy but Crazy Weekend

We've got a busy few weekends coming up, there's just no way around it. Days full of brew tours (buy a ticket today and help a great cause!), symphony nights (Love the orchestra? This one could be for you, too, not just for GT grads), weddings, showers and parties.

Totally fun, right? Yeah! But in the meantime, I made sure to spend this last weekend, the one weekend in the near future with absolutely ZERO plans on the agenda, however the heck I wanted :)

Besides lots of sunshine, TV-time and general sitting around (usually with a drink in hand, don't judge), the best part of the weekend is when I picked up this bad boy:

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That's right. After about five years of Blackberry Mc-lovin', my beloved Torch wasn't holding a battery charge anymore. Since I had already replaced the battery once, I decided I could use my upgrade eligibility and make the big jump. And I am so glad I did!

Now I am finally part of the world that includes Words with Friends, Instagram, the Pinterest app and fun custom covers. Speaking of covers, I ordered my own off my fav Erin Condren last night and can't wait for it to arrive. In the meantime, I am warming up my Instagram skills. LOVE this app! Why oh why didn't they figure this out for Blackberry earlier?!

I made meringue! Love that stand mixer.

Instagram and this new phone shows off the condo's paint job much better!!

Homemade pie and soup (and wine...) on a Sunday evening. We are so grown up ;)

So friends, add me to your world. Follow me on Instagram at @bheadbettyonabudget!

Weekday fashion

Stripes plus dots don't usually add up. But when you tie them together with a common neutral, like my orange heels and necklace, they become one!

PS. Yay I got an iPhone!!

Similarities

I ran across this small condo re-do today on HGTV.com, and was surprised and delighted to find that not only is it the home of a fellow A-town lady, but she chose to do similar things with her city home's decor that I did in our condo, too!

I mean, doesn't this ...

look eerily similar to this?

Obvs the flowers on the table help :) I love how she uses the bright end tables, and how she brought in the yellows from the painting with the bright bamboo chair and the patterned pillow!

This makes me love our new condo look even more!

60's, Meet WW

I don't know when I turned "old," but the 10PM showtime of Mad Men on Sunday nights is officially too late for me. Sure, the show ends at 11PM, but then I am sitting there with my mind racing, wondering about the plot from that night's episode and the cryptic previews for the next week's. By the time I am finally falling asleep close to 11:30 or midnight, yep, that 6AM workout just isn't gonna happen.

Instead, we have started watching Mad Men on Monday nights at an earlier hour. Yes, go ahead and do that mental or real eye roll. I don't care ;)  This way, I get to enjoy the show AND hit the gym early the next morning, too. And for me, this is one of those life sacrifices I am trying to do more often. Trying being the key word.

Hold me to this one - I AM going to spin class tomorrow, I AM! :)

While I love even the oddest episodes of Mad Men (and if you aren't a viewer, trust, there are some oddball ones), last night's episode really struck a cord. Betty Draper, housewife extraordinaire, is now a divorcee, remarried, bored with her new life ... and oh my, she is overweight and on WEIGHT WATCHERS.

I honestly forgot that WW has been around for that long! I cracked up as I realized that the show was focusing in on her weekly meetings. Those suburban women were sitting there lamenting the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday (the same things we women do today) and the very end of the show featured Betty eating a bite of stuffing, feasting on that single, solo bite she had allowed herself.

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I got back on WW last week. As you frequent blog readers know, I am on-off-on-off-on the program, going hard for a while (2010) and then light during other times (2011). I know it works, having seen serious Freshman-15-Removal followed by Pre-Brother-Graduation-Momentum. I have a high school reunion coming up this summer, and I am already feeling better about myself because of those WW sessions than I did when I graduated high school.

However, I have found that maintaining things is hard unless I ... 

A) Work out regularly. This should be a no brainer, but I can come up with excuses to skip a workout with the best of them.

B) Don't eat sweets. I have discovered there are days when I need a Highland Bakery cookie. It's a cookie the size of my head. And I NEED IT. And then I am good for a few weeks without it. Today was one of those days. And tomorrow I shall spin as a result.

Me, back in the day.

Me, post 2010 WW!

C) Cut out the booze. Ughgghghgh this is hard. But it is nearly mandatory for me to lose.  

D) Keep the momentum, even when life gets hard. Busy work days equal less time to work out, and also equal higher likelihood that I will binge on easy food like pizza.

But that's where the genius part of WW comes in. I can control things if I can keep track of things I eat. Or drink. Even though I had that cookie today, my week is not ruined -- I am just going to hit the gym extra hard tomorrow :)

It's all about the balance. And since I am trying to balance out my life enough right now and keep on blogging here with you, you all get to be the first to hear that I am balancing out the diet right now, too :)

Off to sip some water before bed. See you kiddos in the morning. And I will already have burned a few hundred calories by then. Sweet!

Solo on a Friday

For two Fridays in a row, I have come home from work and have vegged out solo.

And you know what?

It's been awesome. Besides trying to reach my goal of getting to that early AM boot camp class each Saturday morning, my early-nights-in have included some of this:

 

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And this:

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And always some of this:

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A gal's night solo? Sure, it can help you get up early the next morning and hit the pavement. But sometimes, all you really need to make a great night is some really fabulously-shallow virtual company.

Wine optional :)

Happy Weekend!!

OOTD Shots

As always, even though it is itching into the 90's outside, the indoors at the office remain breezy and cool. Layers are still key, even in the spring and summertime!

Here was what I wore yesterday. I threw this together at a very early morning hour before heading to the dentist, and in retrospect, was really happy with how it looked! First, the whole shot. I will admit the colors here are not that great to distinguish it ... but imagine the texture combo of the hearty jeans and jacket with the silky shell layered underneath ...

Jeggings/skinny jeans: Target

Gray military jacket: LOFT (one of my all-time fav buys!)

Purple silk shell: LOFT

Heeled gold and brown sandals: Nine West

 I combined an assortment of jewelry today. The beaded bracelet (LOFT) tied into the shirt, but then the snake chain necklace (H&M) tied into the gold-accented sandals. Together, it all worked.

 

Ssss! This necklace has been fun to add to my outfits. It was only about $10 at H&M this spring.

Oh and um, not the same outfit, obvs. But I got a new hat at the beach last weekend, and took a picture while there to capture the newly-reappeared freckles and the Folly Beach hat! :)

Venues with a View

It's been a busy week or two over here in mystical land of Wedding Planning, and primarily, so far it's all about the big wedding reception venue. We had the Cathedral lined up within days (we Catholics don't mess around!) but now it's time to match up that one special place to go with it for our parrrrtay :) Up North, they stick to venue halls and hotels, primarily, but down South, there's the whole added factor of historical homes, mansions, outdoor spaces and even a neighbor's barn down the way.

Just a note: while romantical for some, I will not be having a barn wedding. I plan on buying a fab pair of designer heels, not boots, to go under my dress :)

All of this venue hunting has me thinking -- what are some inspirational reception venues from the movies? Of course, I immediately thought of ...

When Harry Met Sally's big urban-venue NYC wedding for their besties. Truth: part of me wishes I could do a NYC wedding, and I know my Northern fam would love it, too. But my oh my, if we all think ATL is pricey compared to the 'burbs, I can't even imagine Manhattan.

And who can forget Steel Magnolia's Pepto Bismol pink-perfect tent reception?

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Those ladies. They kill me. Always gossiping about something. That movie could have easily been set in Roswell, GA ;) Just sayin'.

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Ariel got hitched on a boat. Definitely not ideal if it's hurricane season, to say the least, but quite glam for those people close to the water. Too bad I live in land-locked Georgia. The only state that can be so close to yet so very far from the water at the same time. Ughghhg.

Father of the Bride (both of them) did a backyard reception. Remember the opening scene with the dad sitting there, the house destroyed around him? Love it.

Source: hookedonhouses.net via Heather on Pinterest

Oh man, any of the weddings in The Wedding Singer ... ha, hello, New Jersey in the 80's! Hilariously accurate and heart-warming for me at the same time. This movie was all about the reception hall.

Source: google.com via Lynda on Pinterest

The Godfather? Almost, almost my favorite venue! Only at the Godfather's huge Staten Island complex, though, of course, could they have fit in what looked like 500+ guests.

Source: entertainment.time.com via MoviePass on Pinterest

But speaking of hilarious wedding movies, I think one of my all-time favorite wedding venues was the main one from Wedding Crashers! I love love LOVE the New England home and mansion they used - from the elegant dockside happy hour to the post-wedding sailing trip. If I was a NE gal? Yep, that's where I would get married, too.

Source: google.com.au via Cheryl on Pinterest

Vince Vaughn can come, too.

What about you? What are some of your favorite wedding movie moments and spots?

I'm Here...

I didn't die or disappear. I have been here all week, actually. But I have been feeling like this:

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So blogging and other social fun was not in the cards for me. And while I certainly would have taken the place of the sad little girl above (love the little guy with the top hat!), I have been a busy, busy bee this week. No rest for the weary! Each night, I have been almost literally face planting into bed like a certain small, fluffy dog.

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How was your week, friends? What are the big plans for the weekend ahead? I have a Hot Toddy in my future, I believe! :)