Yearly Anniversary Photo

I realize this post is about 4 months overdue... my 1st wedding anniversary was in May. 

We went to Riviera Maya in Mexico to celebrate - it was amazing.

We're young newlyweds who are madly in love and I wanted to start a sweet tradition to document the progression of our relationship.  I've seen several anniversary picture ideas, but since we were traveling abroad, we kept it simple.

The plan is to take a picture just like the one on the right on each anniversary (the picture on the left is from our wedding in Key West).  The chalkboard will show the date and where we were at the time.  The chalkboard was about $5 at Michaels - good investment!

We're hoping to take a yearly vacation over our anniversary each year, so hopefully the location in each picture will be different.  But if we have it take the picture in our back yard, then that will be fine too!

I have a large canvas print of this wedding picture.  I think I'll make a canvas of our 1st anniversary picture and hang it next to the wedding picture.  Maybe create a wall of anniversary pictures over the years?  I'll post an update after our 2nd anniversary in 2013!!

We actually renewed our vows in Mexico - I'm not sure we'll do it every year, but we got some sweet perks at out resort so we did it :)  I'd like to do it every few years.  Anyway, just because I can, here are a few pics from our vow renewal ceremony.  For some reason we decided to do it at night, so as you can see the lighting wasn't very good so, sorry the pics aren't the greatest!

Do you have any anniversary traditions?

Sunday Football Week 2: Taco/Nacho Bar

Week 2 was a big success at The Nagel Bar and Grill.  If you're just joining us, we get together with a big group of friends for football every Sunday.  

A new refinished basement, 5 TVs with all the games playing, and a fun food theme each week.  See here for more on our Football Sundays.

This week we planned a Mexican Sunday - a taco/nacho bar, margaritas, Modelo beer, churros, and more!

Margaritas

I'll start with the Margaritas... I had to make them "virgin" with the tequila on the side since my dear friend Tisha (who is 1/2 of the hosting party) is preggers.

I don't really know who to credit for the recipe - it's just Limeade (made from the canned concentrate) and OJ.  We used about 3/4 cup of OJ per can of Limeade, but you can adjust to your taste.  Set it out in an easily accessible pitcher and mix a shot (or seven) of tequila in each drink.  These were really delicious and even the Pregnant Lady approved!  

Taco/Nacho Bar

Last year we did a Mexican theme, but this year I came across this Nacho Bar idea and figured we could make it to include tacos too! We started with a crock pot full of ground beef and set out a variety of taco shells and tortilla chips.

Add plenty of toppings - onions, tomatoes, olives, jalapeños, and lettuce.  I found these little ramekins at Goodwill a few weeks ago and they were perfect!

 We had a few people bring a couple different types of salsa too.  And of course, don't forget the shredded cheese and sour cream.

Churros

 The churros were the hit of the day!  I made these using this recipe. They were not nearly as pretty, but there sure were delicious!  I sprinkled half with cinnamon sugar and half with powdered sugar.  Super yummy and surprisingly not as hard to make as you might think!

Week 2 - Mexican week - was perfect!  Everyone had a good time and plenty to eat.  The taco/nacho bar was perfect for people sort of grazing all day.  By the end of the day, everyone was in a food coma!  

Next week: Oktoberfest

Sausage, Sauerkraut, German potato salad, pretzels, and more!

Click here for Week 1: Appetizers

Sunday Football Week 1: Appetizers

My friends Rob and Tisha are awesome.  

They just spent a gazillion dollars and 6+ months of their lives on their basement. All for me.  Well, me and about 15 other people (but mostly me) - all so we could enjoy our Sunday Football.

In our group of friends, we have fans representing the Colts, Giants, 49ers, Bengals, Redskins, Ravens, Bears, and Steelers.  So Rob and Tisha set up 5 TVs in their house and play all of the games - all day long.  It's basically heaven.

We also have a food "theme" each week.  Last year we had fry-day (all fried foods), sushi day, a Southern boil, and mini-food day - among others.  This year will be bigger and better.

I'll be sharing our food selection each week.  Please try to contain your drooling.  And if you live in Indianapolis - drop on by for the best Sunday Football get together on this planet.  Boom.

Week 1:  Appetizers

We've started off the year with a simple theme.  The basement is still undergoing it's final touches, so we decided to keep thing simple to break it in.  Also, please make note of the bar in the picture above - we made that.  It does not suck.

Appetizers in attendance:

Beer Cheese Dip
Homemade Pretzel bites
Guacamole
Chips and Queso
Bacon wrapped little smokies
Crab-stuffed mushrooms
Pizza rolls
Rosemary bread

Of course I made the beer dip with Yuengling.  And it was amazing.  Here's the recipe.

Also made soft pretzel bites - super yummy.  Here's the recipe (we doubled it).

I don't have the recipes for the other apps, but if you're interested let me know and I will get them!

Be sure to stay tuned for next week:  Taco/Nacho Bar

It will be spectacular.

Bachelorette Party Game: Drink If...

I recently helped throw a Bachelorette Party for my sister-in-law.  We had an absolute blast!

Mustache shots!

We did the South Side Bar Crawl in Pittsburgh's "bar district" called the South Side (duh).  We had a hotel room for the out-of-town guests and convened there at the beginning of the night for some pre-gaming (i.e. cheaper drinks).

Beautiful bride pre-gaming at the hotel

Now, I hate games.  Like reeeeeeeally hate games.  But I thought this one was actually pretty fun and it was a great ice breaker.

I got the idea from this website, which has the game for purchase.  I didn't want to buy the game, nor did I like all of their ideas... so I created my own!

Here are the rules to the game:
Read each line one by one.  Each gal drinks if the criteria applies to them.  It's that easy!  Now some are simple and tame, and others are a little more racy and may require an explanation.  I think the game too about 40 minutes, since we were all chatting and sharing stories throughout the game.  Have fun with it!

Click on the game below for a printable version!