New York City!!!!

I know it has been quite some time since I have taken the time to sit down and write, but life has gotten super busy!  I have been traveling a lot for work, and spending time with my wonderful husband.  We have been working on small projects around the house to get art work up, cut the bar for downstairs, hosting plenty of dinners at our house, and so much more.  One of the main trips that I took was a trip to New York.  After spending some time in Boston, I drove down to New York to visit my sister and brother who both live there, and cousin who was nannying for a month for baby Rose.

My cousin Jana and I were on babysitting duty for a portion of the weekend since my sister was studying for her bar exam the following week, but we also got to spend a lot of time exploring the beautiful city.  I'll try to remember all the fun we had, but the best times were spent with little Rose in the park seeing how much she had grown in the past year!  She is now pulling herself up and standing, babbling away, and eating real food while making a mess.  She is so cute and is growing up so quick.

BEAUTIFUL CENTRAL PARK

Rose with Aunt Jana

One of the best experiences we had was a boat tour.  We had not booked anything in advance, so when we got to the peer, all of them were booked but the 45 minute Beast tour.  Since we had committed to taking a boat ride to see the city from the water, we went for it, and had a blast!  It is a speed boat so you are going super fast, and you definitely get wet, but we accomplished what we wanted.  We saw the Statue of Liberty from up close, took a ride around the city on water, and saw a beautiful view!  That day we were in charge for dinner so we cooked dinner at home, then headed out to the Empire State Building to see the beautiful city at night.

We met up with Amber at the Empire State Building after exploring Grand Central Station and stood in line for quite some time before getting to take the elevator up.  The wait was totally worth it and we saw the most magnificent view!  It was a bit cold and windy but the views are breathtaking.  Jana had been in NY long enough to know what a lot of the buildings were even at night, so we loved looking out onto the city.

We also took some time to explore time square and bought some chocolate at the M&M store for my cousins.  Time Square has a crazy exhibit where they have cut ours in the body shape that we enjoyed taking pictures in.  We also took some time and walked a good portion of the Brooklyn Bridge.  It actually wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it would be so we enjoyed walking across the bridge!  We also stopped by the 911 memorial and which was breathtaking, and really reminds you how lucky we are each and every day to be surrounded by loved ones.

Z

911 Memorial

On Saturday we got to spend some time with my older brother.  He lives in Brooklyn so we ventured over to visit him for brunch and then walked around the flee market, farmers market, and the neighborhood to see what a cute little town he lives in!  I absolutely love Brooklyn and it has so much to offer.  He lives in a beautiful apartment with some friends and we loved seeing it all.  We also went to a church on Sunday that has a Slovenian priest.  We also explored Little Italy and bargained at China Town for some killer deals. It was so cool meeting the Slovenians in NY and socialize with them for a bit before grabbing some ice cream after church in the west village.  Before I knew it, it was time to head home to Atlanta, but it was so amazing seeing my older brother and sister as well as my cousin who spent so much time with me!  I can't wait to see them again, hopefully soon!

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes in my life.  Most of the time when I get the urge to make them, I simply Google a recipe.  None of them ever disappointed, but none of them ever stood out either. A while back, I was making ice cream sandwiches from scratch and I ran across a recipe that used vanilla pudding, so I decided to try it.  I immediately froze the cookies after they cooled so that I could make the sandwiches and never even thought to try them unfrozen.  Needless to say, we knew they were awesome cookies even when frozen, because they were not hard as a rock.  I made sure that the next time we were at the store we picked up pudding so that I could make them again when the urge hit.  Well, I wanted to make something this weekend that could last a while and was simple and quick to make.  I struggled finding the recipe again, but finally ran across it again.  Now that I have found it again, and successfully made the softest, best tasting chocolate chip cookies ever, I want to make sure to put it down on the blog so it will never get lost again.

I know it sounds silly to say these are amazing, but they really are.  For some reason, the vanilla pudding makes them super soft for many days to follow.  The taste of the vanilla stands out to make them rich and full of flavor.  The one thing that always throws me off is that the cookie dough is super thick, so don't be alarmed by that.  I think it keeps the cookies a bit thicker as well when cooking which is amazing.  So, here we go!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature(1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
 3.5-ounce packet instant vanilla pudding mix (not sugar-free and not 'cook & serve')
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
12 ounce bag (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or white chocolate, peanut butter chips, whatever you would like)

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugars and beat on high until fully incorporated.
2. Add egg, vanilla, and mix until they are incorporated.  Try not to over mix.
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
4. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
5. Using a 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 14 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip - Strategically place a few chocolate chips right on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
6. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
7. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 14 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don't overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving.
8. Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Recipe adapted from here

Let the Party Begin!!!

We arrived at Alpharetta Athletic Club at the start of cocktail hour.  Our wedding party was waiting on us so we headed out to take some fun pictures on golf carts.

As cocktail hour wrapped up, it was time for our introduction.  Although we didn't get to see them, our wedding party put on their best dance moves for their entrances and we loved seeing the video of it!  After getting introduced it was time for one of the most memorable moments of the day, our first dance.  Joe and I both have incredibly talented best friends who can play the guitar and sing.  We had asked them if they would perform our first dance song, and they did an amazing job.  We danced to Hey Pretty Girl by Kip Moore and Courtney and Andy really were flawless.  After our dance finished up, I danced to half of Brown Eyed Girl with my Dad for the father daughter dance, and Joe danced to My Wish by Rascal Flatts.  We finished up the dances and sat down to eat.  A family member of Joe's did our blessing and we were so touched by the effort he had put into saying the prayer.  After the prayer, I finally got to look around at our venue, and the Cherry had done an amazing job.

We had asked them to help us with centerpieces and  flowers to help us save some money, so they had worked tirelessly on our wedding flowers and centerpieces for months!  They collected wine bottles and spray painted them and this took over their whole house!  They picked up all the flowers on their own and we could not have been more grateful and pleased with the way it turned out (plus it saved us a lot of money!)  Joe and my dinner was already plated so we sat down to eat while other tables were called up.  We had asked everyone to write up a note on a card and place it in a wine bottle on their table to be opened on our anniversaries.  This kept them entertained, but we had forgotten to set out pen (oops)!  We are so excited to read them as our anniversaries come up and make our guest book out of all of the notes.

The food we had was absolutely amazing and we made great choices.  After all the tables had been called up, it was time for the speeches.  We had asked my sister and dad as well as Joe's brother, dad, and best friend to do speeches.  Each and every speech was so heartfelt and funny.  We flip through all of our pictures of the speeches and Joe and I are laughing the whole entire time. We are so blessed to have such amazing examples of love in our lives.  After the speeches it was time to dance!

The remainder of the evening was spent dancing the night away with our friends.  The dance floor was packed and our DJ was amazing (http://www.sifient.com/).  We took a break to do the cake cutting.  Nicole, one of Joe's good friends, had made our wedding cake and the amount of detail she put into it was amazing!  The cake cutting was entertaining and Joe smashed the cake all over my face, but not to worry I got him back.  The cake was amazing!  We had a layer of chocolate and peanut butter, a cookies and cream layer, and a white chocolate raspberry layer.  We kept the top to freeze for a year, but the remainder of the cake was delicious!  The evening drew to a close and we ended the reception around 10:15.  Before we knew it, the day had come to a close and we were quite ready to be in our quite little hotel room where we were welcomed with champagne and strawberries.

GT Grads!

Proud Uncle

The Wreck!

I think we need a bigger dance floor...

Looking back, the day was perfect. We really didn't have much go wrong, and the love and support we had from our friends was amazing.  I wouldn't have wanted the day to be any different, but it was a long and exhausting day.  We were happy to have a few days at home before the honeymoon.  Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast with some family and friends, and then I spent some time with my family from Europe.  We ended the day opening wedding gifts and looking at some of the videos that my cousin had taken.  The weekend was perfect and one we will remember for the rest of our lives!