Mango Caprese Salad...3 ways

When it is a hot and sticky summer (Virginia summers are the worst!) I crave fruits and veggies. Especially when they are fresh. This summer we started a little herb garden and all of a sudden the basil has taken off! To put it to good use I decided to make a caprese salad. Tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil together are to die for! When I saw uneaten mangoes in the refrigerator I decided to incorporate them.

The caprese salad alone, as a snack or side dish was amazing! I could have eaten 10 of them! We had friends coming in for the weekend, so I decided to do a spin off of my mango caprese salad and make it for a vineyard picnic. It was a huge hit!

Then to use up some more basil I made another one. This time it was part of a larger meal. Not quite a 5 course meal, but a fancy meal along those lines none the less.

This Mango Caprese Salad is so simple to make and tastes out of this world. Here's what I did:

-Slice fresh mozzarella into rounds.
-Slice chilled mango into large pieces.
-Take the basil leaves off the stems.
Then layer everything however you would like to serve it. Top it with sea salt and a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Enjoy!

Happy Friday

Here's to a fun weekend of adventures!

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Some other fun things:

25 things/projects you can do with old jeans.

Tan lines. Haha, this make me laugh out loud.

A great DIY for a nautical rope bracelet.

Some more great vintage summery photos to enjoy.

Valentino Resort Wear

I'm loving this Valentino collection of 2012 Resort Wear.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about 'Resort Wear": 'More recently, designers, store buyers, and the media are viewing "resort wear" as a specialized year-round clothing style and fashion season.'

So really 'Resort Wear' is not so much resort anymore, but rather a year-round style.

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Industrial Kitchens

I just love the look of an industrial kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I love a good regular conventional kitchen too. There is just something about all that stainless steel and functional equipment. I love it!

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Stone Mountain Vineyard

Last weekend some friends came to visit so we did one of my favorite things to do in Virginia. We went to visit Vineyards and taste wine!

This vineyard probably tops my list for Virginia vineyards so far. The drive to get there was slightly confusing though. We were definitely on a lot of back country roads.

We finally saw a vineyard sign and thought we were almost there. Little did we know that was just the beginning of a very long, narrow, steep, road to the top of the mountain.

It was all worth it though! The wine was fantastic and the tasting included about 15 wines, oyster crackers, AND dark chocolate. Yum! The rest of our afternoon was spent watching storms in the valley while sipping wine from our balcony perch. Nothing could have been more perfect.

Happy Friday

Here's to road trips this weekend!

Andy and I are heading to Michigan for a week of boating on the lake, fresh cherries, beach campfires, and quality family time. I'll have posts scheduled throughout the week so you don't miss me too much. 

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Some other fun things:

I'm loving polka dots and stripes right now.

A recipe for Smores Cupcakes. Smores are everywhere this summer!

I'm wanting one of these for my backyard on these hot days.

Carolina Herrera 2004

I stumbled upon this Carolina Herrera 2004 Spring Collection and love it! These styles are incredibly body flattering and give me some great ideas for outfits.

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Wine To-Go...

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Wine-to-go...or its proper name Vino2Go is a genius idea! I have just started seeing it around the internet, but I don't think it is even for sale yet. The patent is pending, so hopefully this item goes into production soon! I see future Christmas gifts for my girlfriends. :)

Gold, Turquoise, & Pink...oh my!

I just wanted to share these delicious, beautiful things. I love, LOVE these colors together. And this cake, how awesome is that?!

Iced Coffee

I'm sure you've already seen this version of iced coffee this summer. And if you haven't, then get on board! Not only is it more than simple, it is super delicious!

I worked at a coffee shop all through college and this was actually something we did there. We never offered it to customers, I'm not really sure why, but us employees loved making it for ourselves. We did have a select few customers who knew about it, so they would also order it. Otherwise, it was our secret.

I had completely forgotten about making this kind of iced coffee until Andy made too much coffee the other day. (Now I also see it all over Pinterest.) So I took the extra coffee and poured it into ice cube trays. We forgot about it for a few days, but one particularly hot morning (we don't have AC!!) we remembered the coffee cubes in the freezer.

All you do is fill a cup with frozen coffee cubes and add milk...or in our case Almond Milk. Almond Milk is sweeter so you don't even need to sweeten your coffee if you go this route. Obviously this version of coffee is for those who like cream in their coffee. Otherwise, this won't work for you.

Happy Friday

I hope you have a glamorous weekend!

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Some other fun things:

I've always been a fan of sangria, especially in the summer. These are some sweet recipes to try.

Check out these super helpful tips to making life easier!

I can't get enough of this outfit!

Something for your man: such fun bow ties!

Fall Couture, Elie Saab

Check out this Elie Saab Fall 2012 Couture collection. I love his romantic looks!

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Awaken Your Soul

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Sometimes (roughly 3 times a year) I get down in the dumps about myself, my path, what I'm doing...etc. I think that is normal for most of us 20-somethings. We have so many opportunities that it is hard to always be content with what we have chosen to do. Anyway, I stumbled upon this article last week and it really helped. It is good to put life into perspective and come back down to earth.

Fruity Horchata Pops

I have never been a huge fan of popsicles. I am a HUGE fan of horchata though. That creamy cinnamony Mexican rice drink that satisfies to the fullest on a hot day.

Recently Andy insisted that we buy popsicle makers. You know, the plastic things that freeze the popsicles. So we bought some and they just sat around empty. Finally I decided to give it a go and turn my favorite drink into a popsicle. Now I may be hooked!

Fruity Horchata Pops (makes about 8 popsicles):
-2 cups milk (I used almond milk and it was amazing!)
-1/2 cup cooked white rice
-1/4 cup chopped cherries
-1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
-2 teaspoons cinnamon
-2 Tablespoons sugar

Cook the white rice first using 2.5:1 ratio of water to rice. (Cook about 1/4 dried rice, to get 1/2 cup for recipe.) Add some cinnamon when making the rice. When rice is finished, stir everything together over low heat. Fill popsicle molds and freeze overnight. Enjoy!

What summer drinks do you enjoy? Have you tried turning them into popsicles? I'd love to get my hands on some more recipes if you'd like to share.

Throw Pillows

I've never thought about pillow cases until recently. It is interesting how owning a house can change you. When Andy and I rented we never thought about where we were living, or what it looked like. We spent our weekends carefree out and about being social and doing things. Now, we are constantly thinking about what to improve on the house. Our weekends are spent on house projects, cleaning, and taking trips to Home Depot.

My personal next project is to find or make throw pillows for our beige couch. There is a lot that can be done to beige, so I feel like the skys the limit for what the throw pillows can look like. Here are a few interesting ones that I have found on Etsy:

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