What I'm Loving

Why hello Wednesday.  It's so nice to see you.  Is it just me or is this week kinda flying by?  I'm not complaining.  Tomorrow is the last day of February and all I can think about is spring time and warm weather.  Even though it's just around the corner, here in Chicago it is hard to think that it's coming anytime soon.  We got another few inches of snow yesterday so it's looking like winter more than ever.

Looking forward to beautiful flowers and baseball season

With warm weather on the way, I am also looking forward to transitioning from winter to spring and summer fashion.  It will be nice to star wearing only one layer instead of wearing multiple layers in hopes to keep warm on my walk into work.  Here are 5 ways to start transitioning into spring/summer fashion:

Pin

Why not get some more use out of your boots?  I personally love boots and that is my favorite part about the weather changing and becoming a little chillier in the fall, it means I get to dig my boots out and start wearing them.  I think this outfit is a perfect transition into spring fashion.   The thing about spring is that it begins to look warmer outside but it is actually still kind of cool (at least in Chicago).  This outfit looks springy but the boots and scarf will keep you a little warmer.
 

Pin

The colors in this dress and the bright blue color of the shoe definitely scream SPRING to me.  Pair it with a light sweater and you're all set!

Pin

I think this mint color is going to be pretty popular this spring season.  I know I've seen several things in this color that I'm dying to purchase.  This wedge is adorable and the color is perfect for spring, but it is close toed so it's not too summery and your tootsies won't get cold.

Pin

I'm loving this combination of mint and coral.  Both are awesome colors for the spring.  It doesn't hurt that the shirt is blooming with a beautiful floral print.  You definitely couldn't get a way with wearing such warm colors in the winter.  The off-white blazer will keep you warm in the chilly spring air and the nude heels are to die for!
 

Pin

Now this outfit is kind of pushing the limits as far as spring fashion is concerned, but I enjoy it.  Everything about it looks more like something you would wear in the fall and winter except for the shorts.  The black blazer, scarf, and booties are more fall items but the shorts are definitely spring/summer items.  I guess if you just can't wait to get those little short shorties out to show off your legs (if they're not translucent white after being hidden from the sun for months like mine) then more power to you!

And now I am depressed after seeing all of these images of spring fashion because today I am wearing the most wintery outfit you could probably find.  Sweater dress with a sweater over it, snowflake print leggings, and Uggs.  Oh well, at least I am warm.
 
While we're on the subject of things I love, wanna know what else I'm loving right now?  Jennifer Lawrence.  That's right...I'm hopping on the Jennifer Lawrence bandwagon.  I've liked her since I first saw the Hunger Games and since one of the first interviews I ever saw her give because she just talked about how hungry she was.  She's definitely not your typical Hollywood actress, she's awesome.  Even if she wasn't famous she would still be awesome but that's why she's so cool, because she acts like she isn't 22 years old and the hottest thing in Hollywood right now.  Oh not to mention, her acting skills...not too shabby either.  Read this article and you will be jumping on the Jennifer Lawrence (or stalking the shit out of her) too.

Will you please be my BFF?

Ok so now I guess I'm expecting all of the snow to melt tomorrow and for Jennifer Lawrence to come find me so that we can go shopping for spring and bond over milkshakes like BFF's are supposed to.  Hey, a girl can dream right?

XO. Tarah

Linking up for Random Wednesday and Oh, How Pinteresting

P.S. Wanna follow me on Pinterest? You should click here! 
 
 

Currently...

Currently I am...

Reading: e-mail's, blogs, and Vogue.  I really need to invest in a good book to read.  I love reading but I haven't read a good book, or even a bad book, in a really long time.  It's time that this changes.

Writing: well this blog post obvi!  I haven't written much else lately.

Listening:  'Thrift Shop' by Maclamore is my jam lately.  I love anything that has a good beat and makes you wanna dance.  This song does just that.  Also, as I stated last week, I watched 'Pitch Perfect' 3 times last week.  Therefore, the entire soundtrack to that movie has been stuck in my head for about a week now, and I'm not complaining.

Thinking:  I really don't want to work at my other job tonight.  I hope it goes by fast so I can get home and relax a little bit before bed.  Mondays suck because I always work both of my jobs.  It's not a very good way to ease back into the work week.

Smelling:  Burt's Bees chapstick, because I just applied some to my lips, and also coffee.  I sit right by the break room so whenever anyone goes in there and makes a cup of coffee I smell it.  Now you see why it is not easy for me to cut down on my daily coffee intake.

Wishing:  That money grew on trees so that I didn't have to work 2 jobs.  Also, I wish that weekends were longer, the weather was warm and sunny all the time (another snow storm is supposed to be among us tonight/tomorrow), I got to see my family more often, and ice cream was nutritional so that I could eat it for dinner every single night.

Hoping:  Spring time and warm weather come soon!  

Wearing:  Well, this little baller on a budget is wearing a purple Calvin Klein hand-me-down sweater that my roomie gave me last year.  I'm wearing it over a grey and white stripped button up shirt from Old Navy that is probably at least 2 years old.  I promise I don't look like a scumbag.  My jeggings from Express and my brown boots from American Eagle were both just purchased this year.  

Loving: that Vinnie and I both don't work on Wednesday night so we are going to have a date night.  Vinnie just got a promotion at his job so I am planning on treating that boy to a very special dinner!

Wanting:  Girl Scout cookies.  Why the fuck didn't I find a scout to order any from this year?

Needing:  a professional massage, badly.  All of the hours I spend sitting at my desk are starting to take their toll.  I feel like I'm 25 going on 70.  I also need to start really getting my butt into gear at the gym.  I'm going on a trip in less than 2 months that will require me to wear a swimsuit.  AKA, this is why I didn't order girl scout cookies.

Feeling:  Surprisingly energetic.  Normally around 3:00 pm is when I start to lose steam and consider napping under my desk or going in the break room for a little caffeine boost.  But then again, I did catch up on my sleep yesterday by sleeping in until 1:30 pm.  Yep, I'm not ashamed.

Clicking:  Yahoo news to read about the Oscars since I only watched parts of it last night.  And of course Pinterest, duh.

And don't you forget it!

XO. Tarah 

Carnivale!

5 things that make me happy:

1. It's Friday, no explanation needed.

2. Although it snowed kind of a lot over night, it didn't take me 4 hours to commute to work and I was even a few minutes early.  It's also socially acceptable to wear Ugg boots (in my eyes) when it snows.  Yes, I am that girl.  I like my Ugg boots, they are warm.

3. I bought skittles out of a skittle dispensing machine today at lunch.  Did you know this existed?  Amazing!

$3 well spent

4.  I went to the gym 2 days in a row.  Knock, knock...who's there?  Oh, hello Motivation!  I didn't expect to see you anytime soon!  Where the hell have you been?

5. It's almost the end of February, which means it's almost March, which means it's almost Spring, which means warm weather is just around the corner (says the girl who had to wipe 3 feet of snow off of her car this morning)!

As you can see, I am pretty easy to please.  Little things can really brighten my day.  Little things can also really ruin my day.  You know that saying 'Don't sweat the small stuff'?  I sweat profusely from the small stuff.  I'm talking eyebrow, upper lip, armpit sweat.  Anyways enough about sweating.

So remember how my parents came to visit me like, oh, 3 weeks ago?  Well, we had a really good weekend and I totally forgot to share about it.  Therefore, I am going to share about it now.  They came to visit me the first weekend in February.  I love my parents and I really love when they come visit because I definitely don't see them nearly as often as I would like to.  They planned on getting in to Chicago early Saturday morning but they ended up leaving late and the weather wasn't the greatest (and my mom, like me, takes forever to get ready) so they ended up getting to my apartment later in the afternoon.

When they finally got to my place, we all sat around the kitchen table and did what we always do when they come to visit.  Got all caught up on each others lives while sipping on a couple of beverages.  One of my favorite things to do with my parents whenever we're together is literally just to sit around with a beer and talk.  We could talk for hours.  I will never get sick of spending quality time with them.  We had early reservations to a restaurant downtown (5:00 is early for me) so we all got freshened up and headed out.

We had dinner at Carnivale.  

image from google images

This place was awesome.  I literally felt like we were at a ballroom in Argentina, not a restaurant in Chicago.  It was restaurant week in Chicago when we went here, so they had a special menu.  We decided not to order from the special menu though.  Our food was all really good and the drinks we had were delicious as well.  I'm normally not one to order a specialty drink off of the menu when I'm at a restaurant but I figured, why not?  'When in Rome' right?  

Our drinks

Vinnie's food.  He got some seafood thing and I wished I had ordered it!

<3

:)

After dinner we were going to go somewhere else to have drinks but since we ate early, it was prime dinner time when we got done so we decided to just go back to my apartment and have a couple of drinks there.  More quality time.  We lounged on the couch with Marley and after a few drinks, some stories shared, and lots of laughter we all headed to bed.  I'm so thankful that we have such a big apartment with an extra bedroom so that my parents have enough room to stay with us when they come visit.  

Sunday morning Vinnie had to work so he got up early and left.  My parents and I got up later and had some coffee and breakfast and hung out a little longer until they had to hit the road and get back home.  I always have so much fun with them when they come visit and I wish these visits happened more often.  Working a second job on the weekends makes it hard to see my family as much as I would like to.  I'm hoping that one of these days, sooner rather than later, I won't have to have a second job and I will be able to make lots of trips to visit my friends and family.  But until then, I cherish the time that we do spend together.  My parents are talking about making plans to come visit me in a few weeks with my brother (who I see even less than them) and I'm really hoping that works out.  

I wish instead of working tonight and tomorrow night I was drinking tasty drinks, eating delicious food, and laughing until I cry with my parents but hey, a girl's gotta get paid.  I got bills yo!  Anyways, if you're ever in Chicago and looking for a place to eat, I definitely recommend Carnivale.  It was such an exciting environment!

Hope you all have a rowdy weekend!  Make sure you drink one (or 7) for this working girl!

XO. Tarah 

 
 

Endorphins make me HAPPY!

Hiiiiii!

So I just realized that today is Thursday.  It's 12:30 in the afternoon right now and this whole time I have been living today thinking that it was Wednesday.  That's a pretty dang good mistake in my book because we are only one day away from the weekend, not 2.  Basically, what I'm trying to say is: Happy Thursday dudes!

I was having a pretty blah blah day yesterday.  Work was dragging, the salad I brought for lunch didn't satisfy my hunger, and I thought I was going to freeze to death on the walk from work to my car.  My energy level was also super low.  I got home and just wanted to spend the rest of the night parked on the couch with Marley and a blanket (and maybe a couple of glasses of wine) but then I realized that was exactly how I spent my Tuesday night and I refused to spend 2 nights in a row being a lazy ass.  I forced myself to go to the gym and I had a really awesome workout.  When I got home from the gym I felt energized and happy (hello endorphins!).  

I then decided to watch 'Pitch Perfect' for the second night in a row and treat myself to a yummy protein shake.  If you haven't seen Pitch Perfect yet all I can say is, GO RENT IT...right now.  It is hilarious.  

Seriously though, the whole cast had me dying.  Also, I'm not much of a Glee/any kind of singing show or movie fan but the music and the singing in this movie was pretty fab as well.  I'm probably going to watch it again tonight.  

I even made myself dinner last night.  I usually only cook when Vinnie doesn't have to work and is home all night.  I am satisfied with a quick sandwich or some mac and cheese for dinner, Vinnie is not.  My man has an appetite and, from what he tells me, he loves my cooking.  If I didn't live with Vinnie, I might never cook.  I pinned a recipe for 'Melt in Your Mouth Chicken' a few weeks ago, mostly because the recipe was extremely easy and it contains ingredients that almost everyone has around the house all the time.  I decided to make it last night because, like I just said, I had all of the ingredients and it is extremely easy, oh and it looks delicious too.

Original Pin

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

 

1 Mix mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings.
2 Spread mixture over chicken breast and place in baking dish.
3 Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.

3 step directions?  That's my kind of meal.  It was pretty delicious too.  Kind of plain, but you have to kind of expect that with only 5 ingredients.  Mine didn't look quite as delicious as the picture above but it tasted just as delicious as that one looks, and I'm also not a professional food photographer so my skills might be lacking a little there.

iPhone pictures are my forte

My oven tends to cook things a little faster than most but I only cooked these little chickys for about 36 minutes and I'm glad I checked on them when I did.  Nobody likes burnt chicken (unless you're a weirdooo).

The rest of my night consisted of a long, hot shower, a glass of moscato, and some Marley snuggles.  And then my boyfriend finally got home from work and replaced poor Marley with the snuggles.  Sorry Mar, Vinnie cuddles win.

Tonight will probably be almost identical to last night since Vinnie has to work yet again.  Gym, laundry, dishes, wine, tv and snuggle time with Marley.  Sounds boring, but it's a good life people.

On a totally random note, don't you love when you match your whole outfit (including your unmentionables) without even trying?  I realized when I took a bathroom break today at work that my whole outfit, including my undies and even socks, match perfectly.  Today is obviously going to be a great day (minus the 5 inches of snow in the forecast for Chicago tonight).  Whoops, did I just cross the line for sharing too much?

 

Obviously linking up with Katie and Steph today for another edition of SPD.

 

 

Have a happy NOT WEDNESDAY, but Thursday!

XO. Tarah

 

 

  

Our Valentine's Day

Another week has come and gone and I am sooo looking forward to crawling into my bed tonight when I get home from work at 3 am and then sleeping in until noon tomorrow.  Ohh weekend, how I love thee!

Last night was Valentine's Day and it was pretty perfect in my eyes:

We exchanged gifts.  I got Marley edible rawhide greeting cards and a cute little Valentine cat that he destroyed within minutes.  Luckily only the head was filled with stuffing or else stuffing would have been all over our apartment.

Before, After, and during the massacre of Valentine Kitty!

I got Vinnie a new pair of shoes, a cute little date coupon book and chocolates in a heart shaped box, of course.  He got me chocolates and tickets to a BULLS game next month!  I was super surprised and excited!

Hopefully Derick Rose will be back next month!

 
Then we made dinner together.  I made Naked Shrimp Pasta which I found here.

 
It turned out great!  We both loved it and Vinnie even went back for seconds.  On Wednesday night I decided to make the Pomegranate Champagne Punch that I talked about earlier that day because it sounded soooo good.  We drank a couple of glasses of it that night and then finished it off with our dinner last night.  

It was just as refreshing as it sounds!  For dessert we decided to make red velvet milkshakes and they did not disappoint!  Yumilicious!  

We ended our night watching the season premiere of 'Ridiculousness' on MTV (romantic, I know), having a glass of moscato, and giving each other much needed massages.  I wouldn't have had my Valentine's Day any other way.  

Enjoying some Red Velvet Milkshakes. Yum!

 
I love my boyfriend so much!  Hope you all had an equally as wonderful Valentine's Day!  Happy weekending!

XO. Tarah
 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

I belong with you

You belong with me

You're my sweetheart

-- The Lumineers

XOXO. Tarah

Last Minute Valentine's Day for Two

Valentine's Day is tomorrow.  I love Valentine's Day, but I pretty much love every holiday.  Also, I just really love LOVE.  It might only be because I already have the man of my dreams who makes me happy when skies are grey, either way I still love love.  

We don't really feel the need to make extravagant plans for Valentine's Day mostly because we both prefer staying at home, watching tv in our pajamas instead of getting all fancied up and going out for the night.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes getting all dolled up, going out, and waiting for others to serve us can be quite nice.  We didn't really make plans for Valentine's Day this year because Vinnie was supposed to work and wouldn't be home until pretty late.  So originally we thought we could go out for a late celebratory drink or dessert.  It turns out that Lady Gaga is cancelling her concerts in Chicago tonight and tomorrow night so Vinnie unexpectedly has the night off.  But instead of braving the crowds and having to wait an hour for a table (obvi we didn't make a reservation) I have decided to cook a little dinner for us so that we can enjoy the night together in our cozy apartment with our little fur monster (Marley, duh!).  

So now I'm kind of scrambling around for ideas for what to cook tomorrow night.  Luckily I have the night to go grocery shopping and to come up with something delicious.  If you're like me and you're planning on making something for an intimate Valentine's Day for two, I found some cute ideas.

This website gives you a pretty simple, but cute, three course meal complete with a delicious dessert.  Definitely a good idea for anyone who doesn't have a lot of time to plan and cook an extravagant meal.

You can find the recipe for these yummy looking Valentine's Day Mini Cheesecakes along with a bunch of other Valentine's Day treats DIY projects.

Don't have time to go out and buy a last minute card?  Make one by printing out this Valentine's Day print.  You can use this print for several Valentine's Day crafts as it shows you on this website!

Do you want to serve a Valentine's themed cocktail with the dinner you're making tomorrow night?  This drink featured on The Daily Dish's blog looks (and probably tastes) awesome!  It's a pomegranate champagne punch.  I'm definitely thinking about debuting this little number tomorrow night for our Dinner!

Wanna be really sweet (and really embarrassing) and make your sweetie a Valentine's themed lunch?  Here's 10 ideas for Valentine's Day lunches.  We all know I won't be doing this since I can't wake up early to save my life, plus I don't often feel like being nice for the first couple of hours that I am awake in the morning.  Sorry Vinnie.

And if it comes down to it and you don't feel like doing a damn thing for Valentine's Day (AKA you're single or not able to be with your significant other and you feel like stuffing your face with ice cream and crying for a couple of hours) just watch this movie.  Also, remember that tomorrow night is the one night that you should be allowed to make your boyfriend/fiance/husband watch a sappy, girly movie.  It's Valentine's Day, he can't say no (but he'll probably try).

Alright and now I'm feeling all kinds of inspiration to make tomorrow a lovely day for my special Valentine :)  

But enough of the mushiness.  By the way, I haven't always loved Valentine's Day.  One year it ended up being a really terrible day for this girl.  My freshman year of high school.  My first boyfriend I ever had (also my first kiss and the first guy I thought I loved, emphasis on thought) broke up with me on Valentine's Day.  I got a dozen roses from him delivered to my house (first time I ever received roses) and then he called me 2 hours later and broke up with me.  Talk about a mind fuck.  Don't worry, we got back together a couple of weeks later when he was another girl's date to the MORP (prom backwards) dance.  Oh yea, he left that girl for me mid-dance.  And then obviously we proceeded to break up and then get back together for the next 4 years.

Welp, you have it all in this post.  A little mushy love stuff, some last minute Valentine ideas, and a little bad Valentine's Day story.  You're welcome!

XO. Tarah

Why Aren't Weekends Longer?!

How is it already Monday?  Seriously, I feel like yesterday was just Friday.  I know I always say that the weekend flies by (doesn't everyone say this?) but this weekend literally feels like it didn't even exist!  Why aren't weekends longer?!  The answer to this question is the same as the answer to the age-old "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?" question:

How many people now have that terrible Lil Kim song stuck in their head?  Just me?  Ok, cool.

Well, like most of my weekends, this weekend was pretty lame.  I worked Friday night, slept in Saturday morning, skipped going to the gym and chose to sit on the couch and watch movies with my roomie all day Saturday, and then worked Saturday night.  

Sunday I got up and decided to be productive.  After some breakfast and coffee, I went to the gym and did an intense elliptical workout, lifted some free weights, did some squats, and some abs.  Today my thighs and butt are screaming at me, but it's a good screaming.  I then made a quick Target trip and was very proud of myself for sticking to my guns and not breaking the 'No Spend February' rule I've created for myself.  I even made myself put back the pair of yoga pants I had picked up and put in the cart.  Good job Tarah.  Of course I still ended up spending an assload of money on cutsie Valentine's Day stuff but none of it was for me.  It was all for Vinnie, my roommate, and Marley of course.  And of course I forgot to buy dog food for Marley, which is one of the main reasons I went there in the first place.

When I got home I decided to continue with my productive day by doing some laundry and making the Peanut Butter Chip Heart Cookies that I just talked about here on Friday.

I have to admit, they turned out quite well and taste so so good!

When Vinnie got home from work we both showered and got ready and went out for a...wait for it...DATE NIGHT!  We haven't had a date night in like a zillion years so I was super excited.  We went to a place called Copper House because it was close to home and they have TVs so we knew they would be playing the Blackhawks game.  We didn't know that it would be completely dead (4 other customers in the whole place) and that they would be playing some weird ass old school (I'm talking terrible acting, black and white old) movie on one of their TVs.  The movie was called "Carnival of Souls" and it had to be made in 1950.  Of course they decided to play the sound to this movie instead of the sound to the Blackhawks game so we were terribly distracted.  But they were really nice and they food and beers we had ended up being pretty delicious also.  Our waitress even gave us a couple of tasty shots before we left.  I think she started to feel bad because it was clear that we were trying to watch the game and pretty strange that they were playing a 1950's horror movie.

When we got home we took the blankets that I had just washed out of the dryer, made a couple of Crown Royal Maple/cokes (have you tried crown royal maple? so effing good), and watched some tv with Marley.

I love this dog but literally 10 minutes after I took this adorable picture, he jumped down because he wanted to play and then realized we weren't going to play with him so he shot back up onto me, spilling my drink all over my white sweater and all over the fresh, clean blankets that I had just pulled out of the dryer.  I was pissed, to say the least.  He made up for it when we all went to bed and he cuddled up with us.

And now it's Monday, I'm falling asleep at my desk (typical), and I've blabbed on for far too long. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week with fresh, clean blankets that don't smell like maple syrup and coke!

XO. Tarah

Friday's Letters!!!

Happy Friday!  We're mere hours away from the weekend!  Ya wanna know what I'm most excited about for this weekend???  Sleeping in!  My exhaustion level is through the roof right now!

Now it's time for some Friday Letters!

Dear Snow:  STOP ALREADY!  It snowed over 9 inches in some parts of Chicago yesterday and last night.  I hate the snow and it just won't stop!  It's supposed to keep snowing throughout the day today!  It's cold, it's slippery, it makes traffic a biatch to drive in, and did I mention it's cold?!

Pretty much what my drive home looked like last night.

And what my street looked like this morning.

 *these pictures were taken from the Chicago Tribune

Dear work:  please go by really fast today and tonight.  Closing the restaurant tonight is going to be really rough.  it's a good thing I brought a redbull for my afternoon snack today!

Dear Marley:  Can you get any cuter!?  Seriously, I love coming home and snuggling up with you.  Thank you for being such a happy, cuddly dog.  That smile of yours makes my heart melt (yes, my dog does smile).

Snapped this pic before I left for work.  Lucky dog gets to stay in bed while Vinnie and I get up early and go to work!

Dear Express:  Why do you tempt me so bad!  I'm trying to participate in 'No Spend February' by not spending any money on ANYTHING that is not necessary (aka food, soap, toothpaste) but with the Express texts and the e-mails I receive from you everyday with awesome coupons and deals, it is very hard to stay away from your website.  FYI it is now February 8 and I am going strong still.

Dear Chicago Runners: It's February, it's freezing, and there's a blizzard outside.  Go find an effing treadmill to run on and stay out of the crazy Chicago weather before you either catch pneumonia/get frost bitten or slip on the icy pavement and crack your head open.  Running on a treadmill might not be the same as running outside but it is not worth dying over people!

From the Chicago Tribune

On that note, Dear motivation to go to the gym:  Hello? Are you out there?  I haven't been to the gym once this week (mostly because I think that when it's snowy and cold you are actually required to spend as much time laying on your couch with your blanket, dog, and hot chocolate).  I'm expecting you to be here tomorrow morning so we can end this 'No Gym Time' streak!

Dear Vinnie: You are amazing, funny, smart, and extremely handsome and I am fall more and more in love with you every single day.  I am so blessed to fall asleep in your arms every night.  I am also very happy to hear that you will be off of work early on Valentine's Day so we can at least plan a little something special for that night.  Thank you for always being by my side, even on my grumpy girl days.  I love you more than anything in the world!

Dear Ice Cream: I love you, you delicious little piece of heaven.  I don't care how cold it is outside, I will always eat you (even if I have to do so with gloves and a scarf on).  Last night I enjoyed a lovely combination of ice cream, Pretty Little Liars, and a whiny little Marley who wanted to enjoy you just as much as I did.  Sorry puppy! 

If you haven't had this gelato yet, go get some...NOW!

Dear Valentine's Day:  I don't care if you're a Halmark Holiday.  I still love this day that is devoted to love.  I do agree that we should show love every day but it's nice to have one day where you can really take the time to appreciate that special love in your life.  Although I don't expect anything from my love for this holiday, I am going to enjoy giving him the gifts I bought for him!  Also, I just love hearts.  Heart jewelery, heart decorations, heart shaped treats...love them all!

Recipe on Erin @ Living in Yellow's blog today!

That's all for today!  I know I will definitely be spending this weekend and next week making Valentine's treats, crafts, and cards!  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  And if you live on the northeast coast...hope you survive the 2 feet of snow that the weather forecast is calling for!  Suddenly 9 inches doesn't seem so bad!

XO. Tarah 

SPD: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

First and foremost, who's glad that it's Thursday?  I know I am!  I've been sleeping like crap but all I want to do is sleep because the weather is so gross in Chicago right now.

Cold, snowy, gloomy walk to work everyday.

I'm definitely looking forward to having the weekend to cuddle up in my warm, cozy instead of being woken up by an alarm at 6 am!

Now, on to more important things!  I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I had made Hawaiian BBQ Chicken in my crock pot and how delicious it was.  I also mentioned how I was going to give the super easy recipe later in that week.  Welp, somebody never remembered to do that.  So, today I am linking up with Steph and Katie for the 'Saw it. Pinned it. Did it.'

 

Crockpot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

Original Pin

Ingredients:

4-6 Boneless Chicken Breasts (mine were still frozen!)

1 Bottle Archer Farms Hawaiian Style Barbecue Sauce (from Target)

1 20 oz. can Pineapple Chunks, drained

Directions:

Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray for an easy cleanup!  Place frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot and cover with sauce.  Empty can of drained pineapple chunks on top.  Cook on High for 2-3 hours or Low for 4-6 hours.  Shred chicken with two forks while still in the crock pot so the chicken will be well coated with sauce.  Serve over rice.

*Sometimes I also throw in a chopped up green pepper and chopped onion . . . it tastes good with or without it. 

Seriously, this is so easy.  Only 3 ingredients, thrown in the crockpot for a few hours and *poof* you have a delicious meal.  It's almost magical (hence the *poof*).  It's even easier than making Mac and Cheese.

 
So there you have it.  Crockpot Hawaiian BBQ chicken...easy and delicious.  The next time you're at Target (which if you're like me will be today after work) pick up a bottle of Archer Farms Hawaiian Style Barbecue Sauce so that the next time you're feeling lazy you can throw these ingredients in the crockpot and prepare for your mouth to water as you smell it start to cook.

What would we do without Pinterest?  I know I would be eating a lot more macaroni and cheese...

XO. Tarah