ivyPINK

Mani Monday & Cherry Picking

For 4th of July mine & my BFs family went

Cherry Picking at Tree-Mendus in Michigan

Of course I had to paint my nails CHERRY themed!

I used the Winstonia 118 plates & I free handed the one on my thumb. 

There was an abundant amount of cherry trees & all sorts of them might I add

it was a really fun experience since I've never been cherry picking before.

Would I go again just to eat some cherries?

Eh, I'd rather just buy it the store.

On the way home we stopped by for some ice cream at

Bubble Ice Cream in Michigan City, Indiana

and I had the BEST lemon meringue ice cream ever

that I'm still dreaming about it.

Do you know where I could find a Lemon Meringue ice cream near buy?

I hope you guys had a great weekend.

Happy MONDAY!

 

xoxo ivyPINK

The Lobby (at the Penninsula Hotel)

The Lobby was an AMAZING dining experience

for many reasons....One was the view

The second reason is the FOOD

I'm not really a fan of beets at all, BUT this Roasted Beet Salad

was exceptionally delicious. The texture was so unique which included

Ricotta, spelt and pistachios.

It's definitely worth a try if you want something crisp & fresh.

This Ricotta Gnocchi with serrano ham was also very yummy

The Mr. really enjoyed it.

I ordered the Slow Cooked Copper River Sockeye Salmon

which our waiter had suggested since the sockeye is a seasonable fish

I have to say I HAVE NEVER HAD a more delicious salmon it

literally melted in your mouth it was so moist & the portion was just enough.

 

Of course the Mr. ordered a NY Strip Steak and

braised oxtail with black garlic & fava beans

I'm not a huge fan or steak but this steak was so juicy & flavorful that

I actually asked for a few more bites :) Mr. said this was one of THE BEST steaks he's ever had.

He pretty much always ONLY orders steak wherever we go so I'd take his word for it :)

The third BEST part of The Lobby & the reason I chose to take him here

is the CHOCOLATE BUFFET!

The buffet is every Friday & Saturday night for 9pm-12pm

It.is.SERIOUSLY.worth.every.penny.

{If you love dessert that is}

umm....peanut butter & jelly macarons need I say more?

This was my buffet haul lol

our waiter suggested to just take a bite from everything so you can sample

as many as possible, even with that tip in mind I was pretty full from dinner

this put me over the edge.

I would really suggest going to The Lobby just for the dessert portion

or dinner & no appetizers because you just get so full.

Happy stuffed US :)

The VERY last reason why our experience at The Lobby was exceptional

was because of our waiter Eric. He was so attentive & kind &

his service is the main reason I would most definitely go back & suggest The Lobby

to friends and family. I have never had more amazing of a service any where else.

Oh one last reason....the music that evening was a live guitar duo

that played current songs it was so pleasing! During dinner the Mr. & I had a competition

to see who could guess the song title 1st :)

I so want that duo to play on my wedding (someday) LOL :)

OK thats all!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo ivyPINK

Crazy Week

Last week was my BFs birthday

I have a lot of pics to share but I can only upload 5 at a time from my phone

so ill upload highlights for now & post more in detail later ;)

"ADULT PINATA"

I filled it with mini plastic bottles of liquor, flasks, playing cards

and lots of candy :)

I surprised the BF with a balloon "present hunt"

On Friday the evening before his birthday I took him out to eat to

The LOBBY seriously this needs a whole seperate post on its own (it was that good) 

pictured below....appetizers and dinner

*THE CHOCOLATE BUFFET*

{drools}

I.die.

more soon. promise.

 

xoxo ivyPINK

Disneyland

This picture pretty much sums up how I felt about being at Disneyland for the first time lol ;)

can I just say how much I.LOVE.MY.PINK.MICKEY.EARS?!?!

We took this lil princess for her 1st time at Disneyland as well

It was such a FUN day hanging out with my girlfriends

Princess Cinderella, Ariel & Aurora :)

& I can't forget about my BFF Sue

.....and my boyfriend :)

He's the BEST ever thanks hunny pie for my Disney Day! xoxo

I LOVED the Disney parade it was so fun & colorful,

 we got  lucky with great seats last minute

My favorite ride at Disney

Small World! The one at Disneyland is way better than

the one at Disneyworld from what I remember!

They have cute small world Disney characters throughout the ride :)

I found a video!!!! (* I did not realize that ride was 10 min. long) LOL :)

My favorite treat at Disney...

MICKEY MOUSE BEIGNETS

(found at Cafe Orleans for sit down or to go at Mint Julep Bar)

it's no Cafe du Monde BUT it's definitely cuter :)

I want to go back already :(

If I lived in SD I'd def be a seasonpass holder lol

That's all about my Disney trip :)

xoxo ivyPINK

Rachel Zoe Meat Salami Crack

Yum...ever since I saw the episode with

 Rachel Zoe's "salami crack"

I've been salivating about tasting it.

I finally decided to try baking it today &

it's a super easy appetizer recipe.

Here's what you'll need

1 medium to large Hebrew National salami

1 large jar of Smukers orange marmalade

1  1/2 C of honey mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up

In a small bowl combine the orange marmalade and honey mustard

Slice sausage most of the way through – but not all the way. You can make the sections as wide as you would like

I prefer thinner sections because it comes out crispier :)

Lather the meat with the mixture make sure to really get in between

Bake for 60 minutes and check every 20 minutes

& spoon the sauce on the foil over the meat

It should look something like this....

for the 1st 20 minutes I baked it with the foil covered

I uncovered it for the rest of the 40 minutes.

this is what it should look like when it's finished :)

Enjoy! seriously so yummy. :)

 

Happy Monday!

xoxo ivyPINK

Marvy Uchida 2013 Class

I just wanted to show you guys our classrooms before and after

I tried the panoramic option on my phone look how nice it came out :)

Here's a close up of our class bags

LUCKY students got huge punches to take home ssswwweeettt!

ALL the classes were SOLD OUT

A W E S O M E !

For dinner tonight #teammarvy went to Buca di Beppo

& look at this mean "sampler" dessert

the portions were HUGE!!!!

It was definitely well the served

we had a LONG but rewarding day today :)

Thank YOU to everyone who took the Marvy class

we look forward to seeing you guys next year!

I will post the make and take cards for this weekend

make sure to stop by & visit Dave at the Marvy booth #1301

 

xoxo ivyPINK

 

The 30 List Part 2: FOOD

This was another 30 before 30 goal

I wanted to eat at 30 new places before I turned 30

& I do have more places but they we're out of the country

I kept the list within the US only :)

 

The ones with the hearts are foods that I liked fr the place

the ones with the thumbs up are faves

and the other hands are "super" signs lol :)

Now I'm hungry!

xoxo ivyPINK

Floral Mani Monday

Hi Happy Monday!

First off I wanted to say that this design

took me WAYYYYYYY longer than I had intended

I used this Bundle Monster Plate 323

as the base stamped in White

& painted the layers with Blue,Orange & Peach polish using a thin brush

I just free handed the leaves & topped it with glitter :)

I was inspired by the print on my shirt

I had such an eventful Saturday.....

I went sailing downtown in the morning

with my friend Jonnie

Spotted this sail boat thought it was cute :)

I've been called "poison ivy" only my whole life no biggie. lol 

Then in the afternoon I went to a girl friends house

& we walked to the Square Roots Festival to eat lunch

and for dinner we went to another friends house

and had some Molly's Cupcakes for dessert

How was your weekend?

xoxo ivyPINK

Some Favorite Things

I just wanted to share some of the recent things

that I'm LOVIN' right now with you guys! :)

#1 on the list is this delicious de la Costa Sangria (I'm obsessed w/ sangria)

and usually I buy the "Real Sangria" brand BUT I liked the bottle of this

de la Costa one & it was only $7.99 @ Costco so I thought what the heck?!

& boy am I glad that I bought it! It's so yummy!

I hope they'll always carry this sangria brand!

Oh, & that PINK Moscato is also delicious I just bought it cuz it said "PINK"

I'm such a sucker BUT it really is also delicious :)

Next is another drink....from Taco Bell :)

It's the Cherry Limeade Sparkler

It's like a kiddie cocktail with a twist :)

I'm SO NOT a pop drinker but dang I'm addicted to this!

It's a great thirst quencher for the summer

Oh boy.... don't even get me started this bread its SO yummy

I dreamt about it for over a year since that's when I had it last

from the Madison Farmers market

It's the Hot & Spicy Cheese Bread from Stella's

They bake it right there at the market so you buy it

right when it comes out of the oven

& it's just SO DELICIOUS & totally drool worthy

& most definitely worth it for $8 each!

*wow I just went on their website & it can be mailed! <---TROUBLE lol

 

Next food fave is THIS

Crispy Kale Chips I got my recipe here

BUT next time I'm going to try a garlic infused olive oil

I love garlic flavored things & maybe some garlic salt for some flavor

BUT the original is also really yummy!

 

Fave new treat.....

Switzers candy

It's like twizzlers but with flavor

& I'm hooked on these watermelon ones

I found them @ Crackel Barrel

OK enough about food & drinks geez!

Next new favorite thing is my new

oranized nail plates system! :)

So easy to do, I just used my brothers old baseball card holders

and bought a non slip mat from the dollar store

cut them up to 2 1/4" x 3" and voila!

NOW I can look through my plates faster & easier :)

This is my FAVORITE vintage find of the DAY!

OMG I almost peed in my pants when I spotted it

I'm obsessed with lil luggages & I swear I squeeled a lil

at the store when I found these :)

Pretty much its pristine a lil rust but I can totally look past that

a perfect set of 3 vintage japanese luggage! YES PLEASE!

Don't ask what I'm going to use it for cuz I have no idea heehee

As if that wasn't amazing enough

I found this too gah!!!!

I think the cute luggage fairies we're with me today :)

Last FAVORITE is this pic of my lil munchkin Abbey
she loves EXPLORING outside!

That is all for my list of fave's right now :)

What's your new favorite?

xoxo ivyPINK

Philippines 2012

As promised I'm finally able to upload!

Here's some of my favorite pictures from my trip to the Philippines

I've gone snorkeling to a lot of places but none of them compare

to my snorkeling experience in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

the fishies are so use to humans they just surround you

The locals are not allowed to catch fish in that area to keep the fishes producing

There's literally hundreds of fishes that surround you when you feed them

it's really quite amazing.

Next we took an under ground river tour

The picture above is the opening to the cave.

The underground river is one of the newest addition to the 7 wonders of nature

It is also reputed to be the world's longest underground river,

 It features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 km

navigatable river. Although, on our tour we only went about a mile in.

I also went to a crocodile farm here I am holding a baby 3 month old croc

I was a lot more scared than I look :)

We had to take one of these boats to get to an Island

We had a cook out at the island & I ate lots of these

and of course another one of my favorite parts

was my zip lining adventure :)

I wish I also went cave diving BUT I didn't have enough time

maybe next time!

 

That's all for my Philippine adventure :)

Happy Friday!

xoxo ivyPINK