Here Come the Brides!

This weekend, my friend Maggie and I co-hosted a bridal shower for our friend and MCH-colleague Shannon and her fiance, Emily. Shannon and Emily are two of my very best friends in the Bay Area and I wanted this shower to really be something special for them! Most of Shannon's friends here are in our program, so we invited the whole lot of them plus Annie and Lauren, two other friends from school, and celebrated with a Cupcakes and Cocktails-themed fete.

My fabulous friend and neighbor Alyse came over in the afternoon to help me set up. We had a little station where guests could drop off gifts and write date ideas and family recipes for the brides. Then down below, we set up flowers, snacks, and the fire pit. The cupcakes and drink station were both inside the studio to keep away from the bugs! We set out champagne, red and white wine, and a make your own mojito station which I think was a big hit!

Annie made the most gourmet cupcakes -- lemon blackberry with a lemon curd filling and a white chocolate ganache (amazing, right??). Maggie whipped up some delish red velvet cupcakes with legit cream cheese frosting. Shannon, Emily, and I are all doing a nutrition challenge as part of our gym which "forbids" sugar, gluten, dairy, alcohol...all the good stuff. The cupcakes at the front are the ones I made and were challenge friendly: almond-orange base with coconut milk strawberry "frosting" (more like glaze). They were fine, but definitely didn't hold a candle to the other cupcakes! That's right, I obviously tasted everything.

We played some fun bridal shower games and talked until midnight. I never expected to make such wonderful friends in graduate school and am SO lucky to call these girls my pals. Tuck had a great time, too!! 

Congrats, Shannon and Emily! We love you!

Prepping food

I have busy nights this week (book club and gift shopping, yes my life is hard) so I spent most yesterday evening cooking for the rest of the week. I peeled 5 pounds of carrots (some for dinners and some for juicing), roasted two sweet potatoes and carrots, hardboiled six eggs, made bacon for salads and breakfast, and baked three chicken breasts - one with a spicy rub, one with a TJ's seasoning mix, and one with rosemary and lemon.

I gave Rob most of the leftover pork from Sunday's slow cooking adventure, but heated up part of my portion for dinner last night. I was craving something light to complement the pork and decided to make lettuce wraps with romaine from my CSA. I chopped up some tomatoes and cilantro, doused the pork in Cholula, and voila - a filling and healthy dinner.

This morning, juicing was super fast and easy because I had already peeled the carrots and cucumber last night. Today's juice: kale, romaine, spinach, cucumber, apple, carrots (nom). I also FINALLY opened my Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar for a cleansing drink. I've been nervous to try this because I've read about how awful the taste is. I mixed 2 tablespoons with a half a glass of water and a small squirt of honey. I wanted to love it...but it was pretty awful. I choked it down anyway though...we'll see how I feel next week (I'm aiming for two vinegar drinks a day, but mixed with more water in the future).