Catching Up

So I think the theme of all my blog posts lately is "Catching Up' or "Checking In' (or, F'ing Off if we are calling a spade a spade". Life continues to be hectic and filled with events but I am for the most part on top of my shiz and have been enjoying spring, though from the weather you would never know it was spring (it actually had the audacity to SNOW last week). But I have seen my first crocuses (croci?) so I feel good about it overall. So what's been up lately? I promised to blog about the Bailey's Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Corned Beef & Cabbage I made for St Patrick's Day and then what did I do? I flaked on that promise. Here is the recipe for the cookies (I omitted the nuts and coconut, Also I had to add about 5 minutes to the baking time). They were amazing. a little cakey, a lot boozy, and a huge hit at the office. I would definitely make these again, maybe even experiment with the mint Bailey's for a little extra panache. As for the Corned Beef and Cabbage - I used this fail safe recipe. If you have never made Corned Beef before, what are you waiting for? It is really easy (you basically just boil the meat for 4 hours) and comes out tender and delicious. For an extra kick, I took it out of the pot about 30 minutes early, slathered it in mustard and brown sugar and broiled it for 15 minutes. Magnifique! I know haters like to remark on the fact that making Corned Beef on St Patrick's Day is lame because it's not really an Irish dish - but you know what it's delicious and super simple. I think we should have it every month of the year! Mmmmmm. This past weekend I accomplished another feat of wedding planning, purchasing ALL the decorations for the wedding/reception. My future Mother in Law had been raving about this place near her home that she thought would be the perfect place to get everything we needed. So this weekend I went there with her and my future Sister in Law and well, she was absolutely right. Grenon's Trading Company is this sprawling, cavernous extravaganza of floral, candle and craft suppplies that just about blew the mind of this DIY Bride. Like, literally I dreamed up these somewhat complex centerpieces that involve specific candle holders and vases and a mirrored tray and other random elements and this place had EVERYTHING I needed except for the live flowers which arrive the day before the wedding. We went nuts in there and when we left I had the satisfied feeling of yet another part of the wedding falling into place. I want to say DIYing everything has been a lot of work, but I have had a lot of help and I absolutely love that every element of this wedding is "us". I would also like to shout out to my girl Sky, who facebooked me a few weeks ago and generously offered to give me the cobalt blue bud vases and chair ties she had used at her own wedding (her wedding and mine are similar in many ways, what can I say? Great minds!). Anyway Adam and I picked them up this weekend and they could not be more perfect.' And Sky could not be more cute. Thanks so much again! This is one of the reasons I love blogging. Anyway with all that was going on in New Hampshire this weekend - we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in Portsmouth for some good times. We invited Adam's brother and his wife to stay with us in a hotel downtown and we had a fabulous Saturday night, dining at one of our favorite pubs The Coat of Arms, and then doing a little bar hopping down the main street - to Fat Belly's and Ri Ra. This is another reason I love the blog world. A few years ago Adam and I went for Portsmouth for a long weekend for the first time and I blogged about it. Blog pal Stacy recommended The Coat of Arms, which I had never heard of. And now its one of our favorite restaurants in that area! Anyway this is a short work week today because I am going on an adventure. On Thursday morning I fly out to Seattle for a whirlwind 36-hour trip courtesy of Nintendo! To celebrate the launch of the Nintendo 3DS - the good people at Nintendo and Brand About Town are flying all of their Brand Ambassadors to the Nintendo HQ in Seattle for a celebration. It is certainly a whirlwind trip packed with activities. We have a cocktail reception Thursday night, will be at Nintendo HQ all day Friday and then Friday night they have arranged a lovely night on the town. Then I fly home Saturday and luckily have Sunday to recover. I am looking forward to meeting Brand Ambassadors from all over the country and to seeing a city I have never seen before. To keep up with my 36 hour adventure be sure to check me out on Twitter and Facebook. The West Coast hasn't seen me since 1994 - I am not sure if they will be able to handle me! So that's what's up around here. I cannot believe it's April in like, a day. Where did the past couple of months go? Hope everyone is enjoying the "Spring". I will remove the quotation marks when it gets above 50 :-)