5th Anniversary dinner at home and a lazy Weekend

We had a very low-key weekend.

Brad was sick most of the week fighting a nasty cold so we didn't make any real plans.

Plus, Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary.

Even though we really celebrated it last weekend up in the mountains, we still mapped out a in home celebration like we have done every year since we got married.

We both love to cook and have fun doing it together so we always find a fun, fancy meal to prepare.

This year, after 5-years of talking about doing it, we made a beef wellington.

My cousin made this for our Christmas dinner back in 1999, and I have dreamed of it ever since.

BUT...

It's not an easy thing to cook so we have both been really intimidated by it.

We finally bit the bullet though and after a lot of research and looking at recipes I decided instead of doing an entire loin we would do individual fillets.

SO GLAD we did, because it was still a ton of food.

The version we made included sauteed mushrooms, onions and garlic to put on top of the fillet then instead of pate we decided to wrap them in prosciutto instead.

First off, you have to prepare everything and let it cool.

That includes pan searing the fillets and letting them cool.

 While everything is cooling we rolled out our store bought puff pastry dough.

I think next time we'll roll it out even thinner that what we did, but this was our first time so we didn't have a clue.

 From there we did it a little different than most because Brad wasn't sure how we were going to everything up.

He laid down the prosciutto, then the mushroom mixture on top then laid the fillet down on top, in order to have the folds be at the bottom.

You then add egg yolk wash to the sides to make sure it sticks.

 Then folded it up like a package.

We then cooked them for 10-minutes at 450 then knocked the heat down to 425 for another 10 minutes.

 While they were cooking I started the cheese risotto for our side.

I threw asparagus into it at the last minute.

 When they were done, they were beautiful!

As was the entire meal!!

It was so downright tasty, that I hardly ate the risotto, which tends to be the first thing I go for.

 And, you know what?

It wasn't as hard as we thought!!!

We are totally doing this again.

It would be a great Christmas Eve meal.

 #perfection

I am seriously proud of us for finally doing it!

 For dessert my niece sent us a king cake from Ambrosia in Baton Rouge.

We were so stuffed from dinner we saved it until the next day and am seriously dreaming of it right now.

Cream cheese filled, pecan praline.
Over half of it is left and I'm not sure whether to splurge and eat it, or take it to work.

Speaking of the next day we did a whole lot of nothing.

Watched movies, had lunch out, then a play date with the neighbors.

Brad stayed home because he still wasn't feeling well, but Shelby and I had a great time hanging out with Ayden and his parents.

 On a whim at the last minute a friend called and asked me to grab a glass of wine, so I did just that and my cousin and her husband came and met us.

Sunday we were super desperate and we looked online to find out what there was going on in town and we found a wood carving showcase.

We seriously took Shelby to this!

LOL!

Yes, we are crazy, but it was something to do and it was pretty interesting.

This was my favorite.

Wine stoppers.

$75 a piece.

Super cool.

 This is my favorite?

I asked her what they were.

LOL!

A Tree for Every Season

Last week much of the South experienced a blast of winter weather.

While we were hoping for snow, unfortunately we got ice down where we live and that's about it.

It was enough to cancel school and keep us at home.

Of course, we both have laptops so we both tried to work in between trying to entertain Shelby.

 One of the ways I did that was to go ahead and convert Shelby's tree in her room for St. Patrick's day.

She helped...

 I plan to convert the tree for Easter too, then after that it will go in the attic until next Christmas.

As you know, the tree was decorated for Mardi Gras and we actually converted it on Fat Tuesday.

I was given a hard time for not waiting until Ash Wednesday but it just seemed to easy to do it then because of having the day off.

Not to mention, it kept her busy for a couple of hours.

 I think it turned out perfect!

Festive!

Now to brainstorm about how to decorate for Easter!

Shelby's First Symphony Concert

While we were spending a weekend in the mountains my parents spent the weekend here in Charlotte with Shelby.

My Mom wanted to do something fun and special with Shelby on Valentine's Day so I started looking around and noticed that the Charlotte Symphony was having their first 'Lollipops' concert of the season on actual V-day.

They only have 3 a year and after talking to a few people who have been before I knew it would be something fun for them to do with her.

It was Uptown at the Knight Theater here in Charlotte so my parents bought tickets and made their way into the city.

The theater is not far from the Panthers stadium.

 One of the big draws for the concert series are the activities they have beforehand for the kids, one which includes a musical 'petting zoo'.

It gives the kids a chance to see, touch and learn about the different instruments in the symphony.

My parents said Shelby was a bit shy, but that's to be expected at age 2.

 I was SUPER excited for Shelby to experience such a thing, and really would have loved to have been there, but knew they would enjoy it too.

 It gives her exposure at an early age to cultural events, something I hope to continue.

 They also had a drum circle, which they said she was very interested in.

 Of course, a few Valentine's Day treats were in order......along with an arts and crafts project they had for kids.

 They had the chance to make their own 'drum'.

 After an hour of activities, it was time for the concert.

The theme was Beethoven.

 In my Dad's own words...

'She was into it......for a while'

My Mom said the last 10-minutes she got bored.

Not surprised.

She has a hard time getting through an entire movie.

Again, she might have been a tad bit too young but I really like she had the exposure!

 They all had a great time!

 But, the highlight might have been this....

Seeing how the air/heat can lift your skirt up.

Marilyn Monroe much??

 So cute and so much fun!

  After the theater, a lunch of mexican was in order.

It's Shelby's favorite.

Thanks so much to my parents for not only taking care of her the entire weekend, but taking her to do such fun things!!!

5th Anniversary and Valentine's Mountain Weekend

Time flies, tomorrow is our 5th wedding anniversary.

People still look at us like we are nuts when we say we got married in the month of February with the weather being so unpredictable.

But, in our defense, we got engaged in July and the Fall was going to be too ambitious with the demand, I wasn't a fan of Christmas time, and then we got into waiting nearly a year.

Neither of us wanted that giving we were in our 30's.

So, winter it was and I actually happen to LOVE winter!!

We went skiing right after our wedding and have tried to make it an annual thing.

Some years have been better than others.

This was our 2nd year in a row to make it happen with a quick trip up to our local mountains.

A 2-hour drive, we have really fell in love with Beech Mountain in the last few years!

We left Friday morning at 7:30am and got up there in time to be on the lift by 11am.

A whopping 10-degrees we both had 5-layers of clothes on and were feeling fine!

 I don't have a ton of fun pictures from the trip, just ones of us mainly.

As I've said before though, this space is pretty much my scrapbook, so I'm going to post them.

 We hit the mountain top bar to try and warm up but it wasn't as warm as we hoped, still fun though.

 Growing up in South Louisiana where we didn't experience Winter I've always loved a snow getaway.

So glad Brad has learned to like it as much as me.

I'm a lucky gal!

 Lunch was much warmer in the lodge near the fireplace.

 Such a great day on the mountain.

Cold, but sunny and not as crowded as it would have been on that Saturday giving the holiday weekend.

 Our day of skiing, and yes, we skiied the entire day, ended at the Beech Mountain Brewery.

Our day ended with a few apps in the condo we rented near the slopes then dinner and drinks out.

 Saturday was Valentine's Day and we planned a day of local wineries and lunch.

Our first stop after sleeping in and lounging around was Grandfather Vineyards.

Such a cute place.

 It was about 20-minutes from our condo in Beech down in the town of Foscoe.

 This was the first visit for both of us and we were impressed with how good their wine is!

 While we were there the snow started to come down.

 (the winery dog)

 We left with a couple of bottles, drove back to Banner Elk, had lunch, then hit the Banner Elk Winery.

 (the winery dog at Banner Elk)

 After that the snow really started coming down, so we headed back up the mountain and back to the condo.

 Our night ended at the Mile High Tavern in walking distance of our condo and by that time the mountain was pretty much shut down to traffic without chains or snow tires because of the weather.

Great weekend!

 That next day, getting off Beech Mountain wasn't for the faint at heart, but we managed and stopped for the Sunday Jazz brunch at Blowing Rock's Canyons.

 Great views, great food, even if they did lose power for 1/2 of the time we were there.

Getting away just the two of us, without Shelby or any another couples or family is really important to both us.

It's great for our marriage and gives us time to reconnect as a couple.

Happy Valentine's Day and 5th Anniversary to us!

Our actual anniversary is tomorrow, so more low-key celebrations are to come!!