Friday, March 3, 2017

Five Loves on Friday


Happy first Friday of MARCH, friends! How exciting is that?!  Today's handful of highlights revolve around family fun & scrumptious eats, you know, the stuff all good weeks are made of!

One  //  Happy Big 6-0 to my Dad!
My girlies with my dad when we popped by to surprise him with a birthday song and hugs.  These three have so much of my heart! *Happy sigh*


Many of you may know, I am forever a Daddy's Girl!  Celebrating him is a joy and this week offered up a fantastic excuse to as he began a new decade of life!  


Two  //  Celebrate Good Times!  C'mon!

How cute is the pic of my girlies and my parents posing together in front of the birthday signs those sweeties made for their grandparents?  My mom has been a Beauty and the Beast fan since the 90s and my dad is restoring two vintage Chevy trucks right now, so these gifts had their names written all over them!  Sometimes giving gifts is even more fun than receiving them! :)

Both of my parents celebrate February birthdays, sandwiching Valentine's Day in the middle of the month.  This leads my holiday and birthday bash loving family to have a party each February in honor of these three lovely occasions.  My parents prepared a chili cheese dog bar with all the fixings.  We feasted, chatted, laughed, and enjoyed the opportunity to spoil them a bit with gifts.  We also received such thoughtful Valentine presents from them!  (I'd share a snapshot of those gifts, but my sister was unable to make it to the party and I don't want to share any spoilers for her should she read this. ;))   As always, it was a great night with my parents!


Three  //  This Week's Adventures in New Recipes

Remember my goal of trying at least one new recipe each week?  Here's a terrific trio of newbies from my kitchen in week...


I really enjoyed this dip and used it in a variety of ways throughout the week.  We had it with chips (of course), I wrapped it in a small soft shell tortilla for a snack, and when we had tacos I made my own Taco Bell-ish Double Decker Taco using the dip as the glue between a soft and hard shell taco.  I love finding different ways to make the most of leftovers!


After last week's Easy French Dip Sliders I could hardly wait to try another tasty new-to-us slider recipe!  My oldest daughter is a huge fan of Italian sandwiches making this a natural next choice.  A bite or two into one of these scrumptious sliders and she said, "Mom, you have to make these ALL. THE. TIME!"  I'd be happy to!  YUM!


This week I've been fighting a cold.  My tastebuds and sense of smell have been the biggest casualties!  While this cooked away in the crockpot, Jason walked through the kitchen declaring, "This place smells like a smokehouse!"  Sadly, I couldn't smell a thing!  All that to say, I couldn't taste this as well as I would've liked to, but it was a hit with the fam and from what I could tell it was a good pulled pork sandwich.  The aioli sauce was simple to whip up and a tasty topper too.  I anticipate making it not only for this recipe, but for other sandwiches and perhaps burgers in the future as well!


Four  //  Make Everyday an Adventure!

When I spotted this and giddily gasped at Walmart earlier this week, Princess told me, "You need to buy that, Mom!"  She's my penny pincher so getting her approval and even encouragement to make a purchase makes me feel like it's basically my birthday!  Ha!  She was right though, this was a must-buy at just under $5!  As she pointed out, if I saw it elsewhere on clearance for even three times that price I'd think it was a deal.  It's super cute and involves some of my favorite things, so I scooped it right up!  It also had me instantly daydreaming of family bicycle rides and getting this beauty out...

...and that's just what I did!


Five  //  First Bicycle Ride of the Year!


As you may have seen in my Instagram stories we enjoyed our first bike ride of the year this week!  It may have been a quick one, but it felt so good to be out with the sun on my face and breeze in my hair.  I'm happy to be slowly moving out of winter lounge mode.  Spring's a coming!  I'm anticipating its arrival!  How about you?



Thanks for taking time out of your day to pop by and read this post!  Wishing you a beautiful first weekend of this fresh new month!


Earlier this week at Chatting Over Chocolate ...

Direct Link:  Trip Report Tuesday: California Day 5 Part 1 // San Francisco

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18 comments:

  1. That dip and those sandwiches! Hello Friday!! And happy birthday to your dad! Have a wonderful weekend, girl!

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  2. What a darling pillow! I cannot believe it is under five dollars and it looks like your bike! Happy birthday to your daddy, that was the first thing I noticed on your post today was the picture of your parents with the kids and the birthday signs, so cute! You're making my taste buds sizzle over here girl. I hope your weekend is packed full with goodness and sweet moments!

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  3. Happy Birthday to your dad!

    LOVE those sliders!

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  4. Ooo these recipes all look so good! Thanks for sharing! And that pillow is totally perfect. I'm a little jealous of your bike ride it's definitely not biking weather here yet!

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  5. Happy Birthday to your Dad!! Those sliders look so good. Oh that pillow is so cute, I cannot get over that it is from Walmart. Must go to walmart this weekend! Thanks for sharing. Happy Friday!!

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  6. Happiest of Birthdays to Party Mom and Dad! I just love the special times you all are able to be together and celebrate! Those new dishes you tried out look SO tasty! Way to go!!! That pillow is ADORABLE and perfect for your home full of adventurers! I LOVE it! I can't wait for bicycle rides around here too!!! :) Hope you feel better soon, sweetest friend!

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  7. Cream cheese bean dip?! Oh my goodness that sounds good! I love anything with beans in it so that is right up my alley!

    And happiest of birthdays to your dad!!

    I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend, Brenda!

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  8. Happy Birthday to your Mom and Dad! Looks like you all had a great time celebrating! I'm ready to welcome Spring as well and how nice to be outside on a bike ride this time of year. Hope you are feeling better. I thought I was the only one whose sense of taste and smell go away. I so know the feeling! Hope you and your sweet family have a great weekend!

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  9. The recipes look delicious! And what an adorable pillow. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

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  10. Now I am hungry!! Haha. Those pictures of your girls with your Dad are so sweet. I also love that pillow and what a fantastic deal!!! I hope that you are having an amazing weekend so far too!! :-)

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  11. Ooo... That bean dip sounds amazing! And happy birthday to your dad!! :-)

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  12. And now I am starving. A friend of ours brought some very similar sliders to our house for our Daytona 500 party and now I don't need to ask him for the recipe, HA! Thanks for fixing that for me friend. I hope y'all are having a great weekend.

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  13. Happy 60th to your dad! My mom is 60 this week!! OMG I'm starving now looking at those sliders. Nom. Totally normal for 7 am, right?

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  14. Happy Birthday to your dad! All your new recipes look amazing - congrats on trying so many new ones! That's impressive! :)

    Whitney @ Come Home For Comfort

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  15. I too am quite the penny pincher, but that pillow just speaks to me, looks like it's sold out for now though. Which is a bummer, I also have a friend who would LOVE it.

    Love the goal to try new recipes! It's one of mine too, that garlic aioli sounds delicious AND easy. I may have to give it a try, I just bought a big pork butt to use a few different ways this week.

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  16. Oh my goodness those recipes looks delicious! I love the idea of putting the dip on a tortilla for a snack! And that pillow....although I'm not a big bike rider I love the words! Hope you had a great weekend!

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  17. I thought I already commented but apparently I didn't. Please tell mom & dad I said happy belated birthday! :)
    And those Italian slider sandwiches! I'm gonna have to try that out! Yum!

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I would love to hear from you today! I enjoy reading each and every comment I receive. (I do moderate them before they're published. Gotta keep it family friendly! ;)) Let's chat! B.Y.O.C. {Bring Your Own Chocolate!}