Tahiti, NYE 2018, and Food

Tahiti, NYE 2018, and Food

Rule #275: Tahiti can sometimes look like the inside of a bar.

I actually showered a few times in the past couple of weeks. You’re welcome, John Q. Public. It’s amazing what a little conditioner, 10 lbs. of makeup, and some accessories can do for a girl.

I also got to ‘sneak’ away for a margarita. By myself. At a bar. I had to do about 319 errands/returns after Christmas. I accomplished a whopping THREE of them, my friends, so I rewarded myself with a beautiful little Margarita by Mandy. Not really. Pretty sure the guy’s name was Miguel. But, he was wonderful! Sometimes you just need a little “I’m going to sit at this bar for 20 minutes while someone else makes my food and pretend I don’t have 12 loads of laundry waiting for me at home” time.

No caption needed. This is my daughter.

I was super excited to have family over for some Chicken Pot Pie action! It’s still one of our favorite things to make for company because you can prepare a whole bunch at one time and do most of the hard stuff ahead of time. Also, it’s stick-to-your-ribs comforting.

For New Years Eve, we got super wild. We got a babysitter (my Mama), we rented a hotel room (we had points), and we stayed up until 2 am (and we recovered for 8 days afterward). The hotel was pretty chic though! I loved this accent wall in our room.

We stayed at the Hyatt Centric in the Woodlands, and we’ll definitely be back. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend their ‘NYE Party’, but the accommodations were pretty fantastic.

I mean… who could pass on a room that has a bowler hat lamp?! This was obviously Jon Boy’s side of the bed. Mine had a leg lamp like the one in A Christmas Story. (Okay, not really. But that would’ve been a nice touch.)

Look Ma! I washed my hair AND wore makeup!

I had a few questions about how I do my hair! I can’t curl my hair to save my life… not that I’d ever be in that situation, but you get the idea. I do love my Beachwaver Pro because it’s extremely fool (idiot) proof. You just put small-ish sections of hair into the clip, push a button, and voila – it curls your hair for you. I did all of these locks in about 15 minutes… and that was actually taking my time. Definitely worth the money! Plus – it usually goes on sale during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale in July – PSA. Annnnddd these pumps are the best of all the pumps because they’re A) classy and B) comfy. They’re also on sale right now. I have them in 3 colors now!

It was SO much fun and SO nice to be out with our sweet friends! We had a blast talking, eating, and drinking without interruption. It makes me feel like we should do NYE every Saturday! Except maybe with a bedtime of 10 pm!

Look at us… feelin’ all young and not tired!

Caption: The girl taking this picture was freezing on the rooftop bar and had possibly already partaken in the NYE festivities quite early.

Result: shaky photo. But – it’s a shaky photo of some 30-something parents out on the town and not asleep at 9!!! We look good!

Now is the portion of our evening where we divulge what we’ve been eating the past couple of weeks. The Diet Train (choo-choo) is leaving the station. We’re jumping on the New Year’s tradition of losing allllll the weight and never eating annyyyyyy of the carbs. Ha! May the odds be ever in our favor. Here’s what we’re reaching for these days:

Pioneer Woman’s Chicken in Mustard Cream Sauce

Lemon Parmesan Broccoli

Italian Meatballs [we froze 4 full servings from the leftovers]+ Broccoli Rice with Pesto, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts

Tried a new one and holy low-carb happy taste buds was it a hit! Twice Baked Cauliflower – DEF coming soon to ze blog!

We had it alongside some Garlicky Sauteéd Kale (recipe also coming soon – super easy though) + Roasted Pork Tenderloin that I marinated in my friend, The Basic Ginger’s, Cilantro Sauce. I roasted it on a rack in a roasting pan, covered, with a little chicken broth in the bottom at 400 for 40 minutes. We served it alongside the sauce (the picture shows guac, but we ultimately decided the sauce was wayyyyy better than the guac). Corey actually asked for seconds after he inhaled the first round AND ate the sauce like it was his final meal.

So, basically, we’re 30-something parents just trying to navigate the fog of the post-holiday-season “What day is it?!” mentality! I hope we’re not alone, folks. I’m super pumped about the content for the blog this year though! I’ve got some great recipe ideas (some you’ve seen up there in this little post) to share with y’all, some bittersweet memories, a couple of rants here-and-there, and the possibility of a story about Tequila and a Motorcycle Gang. Who knows?! 2019 is the Year to Embrace Your Weird. I’m declaring it!