Scenes From MY Birthday Weekend.

Happy Monday Friends.  I am one year older as of yesterday and one year wiser, right??  Unfortunately the weather sucked ass this weekend.  I am talking pouring rain both Saturday and Sunday, it put a little damper on things but I still had a nice birthday weekend.  Sweet Sterling woke up on my birthday and said "Mom, I am sorry its raining on your birthday.  Lets just get cozy and eat cake."  Sweetest thing ever!  Here is what went down.

Thursday night we made the taco casserole I blogged about Thursday.  We always make our own taco seasoning- how gorg is it?  Below is Matt's plate of food.  I always joke and tell him he should be a food stylist his plates are always so pretty!

Friday I hit up DT to do a little shopping with Caycee.  Now that she has lost so much weight girl needed some new clothes.  I managed to find two beauties at F21.

Polka Dot Shirt Dress | Ombre Marled Sweater

Then she took me to lunch at Basil for my birthday.  I love me some Thai food, it was so good!

Saturday I met a girlfriend for some afternoon wine at Bin152 to celebrate both our birthdays.  I wore my new Forever 21 Polka Dot Shirt Dress.

While we were having wine one of our friends stopped by and told us Matt Lee was down the street signing cookbooks.  We promptly closed our tabs and headed off to stalk him.  I was so excited, it is sad how excited I get about meeting chefs.  Matt signed my cookbook and was super nice.  You can see how giddy I am in the picture:)

Now lets talk about birthday gifts.  Baublebar was sweet enough to send me a giftcard that I used for these gorgeous necklaces. 
Gold Essex Necklace |

 Lemon Snow Collar |  Chunky Pink Link Strands

Caycee surprised me with the Tkees flipflops I blogged about last week and ladies these are the best flipflops.  So comfortable and cute on.  I highly recommend them, I see myself living in them all Summer!  Tkees are my new jam.

My mint clutch from Gap came and it is even better in person.  

Sarah From Social Dress Shop sent me this Camilla and Marc Hot Pink Dress I had been eyeing forever!!  It is on major sale now, somebody else should snag one before they are gone!

 I got some gorgeous flowers.  Orchids and Tulips are my favorite!!

I was pretty lucky in the gift department and I haven't even celebrated with my family yet!

Sunday I made myself my own birthday cupcakes.  It is times like that I wish my mom lived in town because she would have made them.  But Sterling and I had fun making them.  I wanted Strawberry, that is my favorite kind and I have a really great and easy Strawberry cupcake recipe!   Recipe coming, if anyone is interested in it!

The rain stopped long enough for us to hit up the Yacht Club a drink before dinner.  It was freezing there but I will say they pour the biggest glass of wine in town!

Matt cooked me a delicious Birthday Dinner.  Shrimp sandwiches with jalapeno coleslaw and spicy mayo.  They were off the hook good.  My man can really cook.

We were trying to recreate this sandwich on the new cover of Bon Appetit but with Shrimp instead of chicken.  Highly recommend.  I am happy to share our Shrimp Sandwich recipe too.

My birthday ended with lots of snuggles with this sweet guy.

  I want to thank everyone who messaged me on FB and instagram wishing me a Happy Birthday.  It meant so much to me!  I had a really great Birthday so thank you!  I am lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.  33 is gonna be a good year, I just know it!
xoxo

To All My Charlotte Peeps

All my Charlotte friends, check it out.  Social Dress Shop is having a Pop Up Shop tomorrow.  Sarah stocks the best dresses in town, so if you are around you should stop by grab a drink and view the dresses in person!  Plus you get 15% off all purchases!

I Wanna Talk About Me.

Remember that Toby Keith song, "I Wanna Talk About Me?"  Well that is precisely what we are going to do today.  I have been inspired by Chassity, Liz, and Alex's posts revealing things about themselves.  It is always fun to learn more about someone.   I love honest posts like that.  In honor of my Birthday being Sunday I thought it would be fun to share some stuff about myself.  So here are 25 things you may or may not know about me!

1. I was 30 lbs heavier in College.  When I delivered Sterling I basically weighed what I did while I was in college.  Can't believe I am showing this but here is a pic.  I was a big girl and look how skinny and baby faced Matt was.  I ate and drank all the time.  Please laugh, I know how fat my face looks and I really should have re-thought the strapless dress.   But you know what I had fun and I wouldn't change a thing- except you better believe I won't ever weigh that again!

2. I only applied to two colleges, North Carolina State and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I always wanted to be a Tarheel and go to Carolina (the real Carolina).  I actually got deferred from Carolina first round and was all set up to go to State and room with my best friend.  I got in Carolina in May and promptly ditched my plans at NC State and never looked back.  I wish Sterling would go there but boy needs to get a scholarship since we are now out of state!

3. When I was about 14 I started collecting Absolute Vodka ads, I collected so many I made a border around my bedroom.  My parents were so good about letting me hang what I wanted to in my bedroom.  Those ads used to be so cool.  I wish I had saved them all now.

4. I am terrified of flying.  I hate it but I will do it.  It makes me break out in a sweat even thinking about getting in a plane.  I hate that feeling when the door closes and locks and you know you are stuck on there.  I have issues.

5.  I have major anxiety about alot of things but I won't ever take medicine for it.  I don't even like to take tylenol for a headache

6. My wedding dress was basically the first dress I tried on.  I knew exactly what I wanted.  My mom made me shop around to make sure,  but I knew.  5 years later, I still am happy with my choice.

8. Matt and I met our freshman year of College.  He was in town in Chapel Hill visiting a friend and we met at a fraternity party.  We shared a kiss and that was it. He left the next day to go to back Wilmington.   I didn't see or talk to him til 4 years later, but I talked about him all the time.   He ended up transferring to Chapel Hill.  We ran into each other again and that was it, together forever.

9.  We dated 6 years before we got engaged.  We have been together 12 years now.

10.  I am the oldest of three kids.  My sister is 2 years younger than me and my brother is 5 years younger than me.  My whole family lives in Charlotte, I am the only one in Charleston and I miss them like crazy.

11. I only drink 1/2 a cup coffee each morning.  Too much caffeine makes me shaky and anxious.  Then for the rest of the day all I drink is water or unsweet green tea (and wine most nights).  I don't drink any sweetened drinks.

12. I am the least athletic person in my family.  I am not good at any sports.  I was a cheerleader in Junior High, but lets be real I never did back flips or cartwheels or anything, I was always the base of the pyramids.   This picture is up at my sweet grandfathers house- and yep that is my real hair color.

13.  We had a blow up doll at my Bachelorette Party (Peter Pecker).   This picture was cropped out for obvious reasons:) I had to carry him around all night and the funny thing was his face was actually a photograph of a real persons face plastered on the doll.   He was one well traveled doll.  He went to all my friends bachelorette parties from Las Vegas to Miami.  Can you imagine if the airplane officials found him in one of our suitcases?  Peter was the hit of the weekend.

14. My favorite band is Mumford and Sons.  That CD is usually on in my car.

15. I am an online shopping freak.  I love getting packages delivered to my house.  I return 70% of what I order but it is nice to try on in your own house.

16.  I am a morning person.  I like to go to bed early and get up early.  I am usually in bed by 9 most nights and up around 6- 6:30.

 17. My all time favorite song is the Gambler by Kenny Rogers. 

18. My celebrity crush is Adam Levine.  Normally I am not a fan of tattoos but on him me likey.  He is so sexy.

19. Before I had Sterling I was an Architectural Rep for 7 years.  I would meet with architects and designers repping a few lines of countertops and hardware.  Sometimes I wish I had gone to design school.

20.  I hit up TjMaxx and Marshalls once a week.  You have to go often to find good stuff.  I love digging thru and trying to find a bargain

21. I love to collect glasses.  Especially tiny ones.  I love drinking out of small vintage glasses.  These tiny purple glasses are some of my favorite.  

22. I am not outdoorsy or adventurous at all.  I have never been camping or hiking, and really I don't care too.  Matt had to talk me into Snorkling on our honeymoon,  even that scared me.

23. When we went to NYC  a few years ago I made my family eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bar Amercain because I was so obsessed with him.  Would you believe he actually stopped in that night?  I could not believe my luck, I quickly went up to stalk him and sweet Matt grabbed my camera to get our picture.  Random but he was way shorter in person than I thought he would be.  But it was the highlight of my trip!

24.  Meat weirds me out.  I could almost be a vegetarian.  I love hamburgers but don't like steak.  I also hate pork tenderloin and most chicken. I think it is thick meat that grosses me out.  I do love all fish and shellfish and bacon!

25. I have only been out of the country once (unless you count the Virgin Islands).  I went to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with my family when I was 21.  It was neat to see a foreign country and wow was it gorgeous over there,  but I much prefer travels in the USA.  I had a panic attack about the 8 hour plane ride home and seriously didn't think I would make it.  A lady had to coach me on breathing exercises.  I survived but may stick to shorter flights from now on.

..........................................................................
There you have it a few random facts about me.  Now I am off to celebrate my birthday.  I have a fun morning DT planned with my girl Caycee and then wine with a good friend tomorrow and alot of quality time with my boys.  I thankful because 32 was a good year, here's to hoping 33 is even better. 

 

Pinterest Made me Do It

Hello, my name is Natalie, and I am addicted to Pinterest.   Any time I have a spare minute I am scrolling thru on my phone or ipad pinning stuff.  Cooking, home decor, DIY projects, you name it and I pin it.   It is such great inspiration!  Lets face it Pinterest makes me way more creative than I used to be but it also makes me feel bad like I am not doing enough sometimes.  I have yet to do one Easter Craft with Sterling or even buy stuff for his Easter Basket and that is all I have seen on there lately.  I know Matt likes it because I have found so many great recipes on there.  My credit card probably doesn't like it because it makes me want to shop more.  Either way I love me some Pinterest and I am sticking with it.

 I wanted to share a few things that were a result of my Pinterest addiction.

:: L E M O N  R O S E M A R Y  S U G A R  S C R U B::

I pinned this awhile back and finally got around to making it this week.  It works great.  I made two batches one with kosher salt and one with sugar to see if I liked one better.  Honestly I loved them both, only thing I will say is the Kosher Salt one seems to exfoliate more.  The original recipe called for Thyme but we have a big Rosemary bush out back so I subbed Rosemary.  I think the Rosemary pairs perfectly with the lemon.  This was so easy to make and the almond oil really moisturizes well.

 

:: B A K E D  T A C O   C A S S E R O L E::

This casserole is the bomb.com.  Seriously Matt and I devoured it.  Highly recommend you make this asap, a great recipe.  I am making it again tonight!

:: G A P  S T R A P P Y  S A N D A L S::

I saw these and promptly clicked on them, saw they were from the Gap for $39 and thought no brainer, these need to be mine.  They look so much expensive they are! 

:: B L O O D  O R A N G E  I C E  C U B E S::

I have been on a real Blood Orange kick lately.  Juicing them primarily til I came across this ice cube idea.  I made them and use them in my water.  Makes drinking water that much more fun.  I think they would be killer with champagne poured over them.  I have yet to try that but obviously need to.

:: R O R Y  B E C C A  G E M M A  M A X I   I N   M I N T::

When I saw Sarah from Social Dress Shop had pinned this lovely number, I  knew she had to be mine.  The perfect easy breezy summer dress.  It is sold out pretty much everywhere in the Mint color,   but it is now back in stock in a few sizes at Social Dress Shop.

::  P A I N T E D  F R O N T  D O O R ::

I love my new black front door and this is the Tutorial I used when painting, thanks to Pinterest.

:: F R E N C H   L E N T I L S  W I T H  S H R I M P  A N D  K A L E ::

This is one of my favorite recipes I have found on Pinterest.  We eat it at least once a month.  It is healthy but full of flavor.  We add Sriracha when we marinate the Shrimp and omit the Herbs of Provence.

:: C L E A N I N G  C H A R T ::

I have been trying to follow this cleaning chart I saw on Pinterest from Jenny at Little Green Notebook.  It really makes cleaning simpler knowing what you have to do that day and dividing things up.

:: N E O N  S I L H O U E T T E ::

As soon as I saw these on Pinterest I saved the image and knew I needed one of my little man.  I knew WayWay was just the person to recreate this look for me.  I love looking at the silhouette of Sterling hanging in our house.  Makes me so happy.  If you need a silhouette email WayWay!

:: C O F F E E   T A B L E ::

I spied this coffee table on Pinterest and thought wow that is perfect for our den.  And now she proudly sits in our den and I love her.  And the table is now on sale for $129 such a steal if you need a new coffee table!

Ok so what has Pinterest inspired you to do??  Tell me I am not the only one addicted!

You can follow me and my gazillion pins on Pinterest HERE.

Best Stir Fry Chicken + Fried Brown Rice with Kale

Confession- I can't remember the last time I cooked a stir fry.  I actually love Asian inspired meals but for some reason I never cook them.  This week Matt and I both wanted stir fry, random, but we did,  so I set out to find the best recipe.  Enter my girl Gwyneth Paltrow.  I remembered seeing this recipe in her Cookbook and thinking I should make it.  I also knew GP would not disappoint, love her, love her cookbook and can't wait for her new Cookbook next month!

The prep work took a little bit of time but all the stuff for the chicken can be cut up ahead of time and then you can just toss it together when ready to cook.  This chicken knocked my socks off.  The flavors were incredible.  You can really taste the fresh ginger and garlic and the brown sugar helps caramelize the chicken.  It was so amazing.  It really tasted like Chinese chicken but without all the MSG and weird additives.  It was fresh tasting.

GP recommends you serve the chicken with her Fried Rice with Kale and Scallions.  So I followed her lead.  I added some edamame to the rice and it was excellent.  Both reheated really well the next day as well.  A really healthy spin on a Stir Fry and Fried Rice.

 B O T H  R E C I P E S  F R O M  M Y  F A T H E R S  D A U G H T E R  C O O K B O O K

::B E S T  S T I R  F R Y  C H I C K E N::

• 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch  ( I used flour)
•  Coarse salt
•  freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup peeled and minced garlic
• 1/4 cup peeled and minced ginger
• 1/2 cup minced scallions (white and green parts)
• Pinch red chile flakes
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
•  2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

Toss the chicken with the cornstarch, a large pinch of salt, and quite a bit of pepper. 

Heat the oil in a large nonstick wok over medium-high heat (this is a gentle stir-fry). 

Add the garlic, ginger, scallions, and chile flakes if using them and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 

Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar, sugar and 6 grinds of black pepper. 

Boil on high for 3 minutes, or until the sugar has really caramelized, the vinegar has mellowed a bit, and the whole mixture is dark brown and sticky and lovely. 

Add the soy sauce, cook for another 30 seconds and serve immediately, served with cilantro.

:: F R I E D  R I C E  W I T H  K A L E  A N D  S C A L L I O N S::

• 1/2 lb kale, stems discarded
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely minced
• 3 large scallions, cut into 1/8 inch diagonal slices
• 2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce ( I used 2-3 tablespoons, I love soy sauce)

Cut the kale leaves in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into very thin ribbons (chiffonade). Steam the kale for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, being careful not to brown the garlic. Raise the heat to medium and add the steamed kale and scallions. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring. Add the soy sauce and cook for 30 seconds more.