date night: vegas edition

Howdy folks!

Since the freakin' weekend is about to grace us with its presence once again, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite date night destinations with you guys!

Most of our weekend evenings consist of chipotle, an intense game of cards while listening to some tunes, or binge watching New Girl. However, every once in a while we will bust out our fancy pants and have a night on the town. When that phenomenon occurs, these are a few of our favorite places to go: (these are not in any kind of order, just so ya know)

1. Hugo's Cellar, Downtown Las Vegas

If you want to experience a whole lotta old school Vegas charm, this is the place to go. You are waited on by the most charming and adorable old men who look and dress as though they used to hang out with Frank Sinatra all the time and the food is absolutely delicious. Every lovely lady that walks through the door is given a single rose and the atmosphere is very intimate with candle lit tables, dim lighting, and brick walls. It's the perfect spot for a romantic night out. 

2. Park on Fremont, Downtown Las Vegas

Park on Fremont is a must for a sunny, warm day/evening. We love sitting outside in their patio area and they have really good beer. It's also a great spot if you're not in the mood to get really dressed up. Which is almost always the case for me. Jeans and a t-shirt are totally acceptable for this date night destination. 

3. The Velveteen Rabbit, Downtown Las Vegas

I love this sexy little bar. They don't serve food so eating before or after is a must. Their cocktails are absolutely delicious and the decor is to die for. It's a bit of a hipsters paradise but if you can look past the weird guy reading alone at the bar, it's a great place to cozy up to your date and sip on some gin and juice ... laaaiiiid back ... sorry. I'll stop there. withmymindonmymoneyandmymoneyonmymind. 

4. Don't Tell Mama, Piano Bar, Downtown Las Vegas

I'm a sucker for live music of any kind and I really love piano bars. In fact, I've never met a piano bar I didn't like. This one was voted the best in Las Vegas and it's conveniently located right next to a bunch of really fun restaurants and bars. It's a small bar so finding a seat can be challenging but it's worth checking out!

5. Cirque Du Soleil - The Beatles, LOVE

If you want to see a show, this is the show I would recommend. We saw it on a group date with close friends and it was so much fun! I have seen a few Cirque shows on the strip and this is by far my favorite. 

6. Serendipity 3, Ceasars Palace

Every once in a while Joel and I make our way to The Strip. It usually only occurs when friends are in town. When we are playing tourists on The Strip, Serendipity is a must. I know you've probably heard it a million times (especially if you live here) but their frozen hot chocolate is SO GOOD.

*Other little stops we try and make when we are hanging out on the strip include: Sprinkles Cupcakes, Pub 1842 (MGM - their nachos are amazing), The Fountains at Bellagio (duh), and now that we have one ... Shake Shack! 

7. View Wine Bar and Kitchen, Tivoli Village

This is another great spot for a romantic little meal. I really love Tivoli Village and so far I have loved all of the restaurants we have been to, so if you don't want to try this one, just pick one of the others. You can't go wrong! 

8. Vintner Grill, Summerlin

Super chic and trendy. My first time at Vintner Grill was for a day date with one of my gal pals and it was fantastic. I didn't know what to expect because it's literally tucked away in the corner of a bunch of office buildings, but the food is so good and the atmosphere is lovely. They also have outdoor seating, which is always a plus in my opinion. 

9. Commonwealth, Downtown Las Vegas

I feel like I am riiiiiight on the cusp of being a little too old to go to Commonwealth. Okay, so that's totally not true but it does start to feel like a nightclub if you are there past 10 o'clock on a weekend. However, if you're in the mood to shake your tail feather, the roof top deck/dance floor is awesome. 

10. Herbs and Rye, West Las Vegas

We went here for the first time to celebrate the end of another long semester and we fell in love. They are known for their extensive list of classic cocktails and the food is realllly, really good. Go during their happy hour and make a reservation if you can!

A few of our other, less exciting, go to's: Yardhouse, Frank & Fina's (one of my favorite local mexican restaurants), Samba Latte (great spot for a day date), Chicago Brewing Company (my favorite chicken tenders everrrrr), Banger Brewery and Archie's Thai Bistro.

I hope this list was helpful for my fellow desert rats and at least inspiring to those of you who don't live here. 

Get out there this weekend and date your honey! 

Oh and if you have a favorite spot that didn't make my list, please share! We are always looking for new places to try.

Bye now!

a few good reads

I have a really long list of stuff I should be getting done for class but I don't want to do a single thing on that list, so here I am ... sharing some blog joy with all of you. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This weekend was an emotional roller coaster for me so I over indulged in sweets and did some serious spring cleaning. My house looks spectacular and my pants don't fit. Success? Maybe.

Anyway, here are some fun reads for you from me. 

Happy Hump Day!

This engagement made me smile! Her faces are so funny.

As someone who deals with a little bit of anxiety from time to time, I thought this article was insightful.

I'm a proud taker of naps. Here are some thoughts on stepping up your nap game. 

A long list of how to's ... 

This winter has been more like spring for all of us in Vegas. While the temperatures have been wonderful, the air is still really dry and it has been terrible on my skin and hair. This coconut oil hair mask is on my list of things to try this weekend. I'm really hoping it helps! 

How to fight with your spouse in 9 steps and not destroy your marriage.

For all of you tea drinkers: what a cup of tea looks like in 22 different countries.

 I made this on Monday and it was delish! Comfort food for the win.

to my valentine ...

I love you today and every day. Cheers to our first Valentine's Day as Mr. & Mrs. and the many, many more to come. Xo

 pc: pamela ruby photography

a story about poo

Yesterday I shared with everyone how excited I am to jump back into blogging and keep anyone who cares up to date on my little family and our adventures, experiences, ups and downs, etc. Today I am sharing a story about poop with all of you. I'm so sorry, but these are the stories of my life. 

Ready? I'll keep this short and sweet.

This morning while making my way to Starbucks for my every.single.day iced latte, Monk was kickin' it in the back seat, I was on the phone with my little sister, and everything was a-okay. That was until I smelled something foul yet all too familiar coming from the back seat ... I glanced back and realized that my darling (and supposedly potty trained) pup had pooped ALL OVER THE BACKSEAT. Now, before any of you suggest that I burn my car and refuse to ever sit in the backseat again, I had laid down a blanket and no poo actually got on my seat. So relax about it! 

Luckily, this story has a happy ending. We made it home safely and my car is once again, poop free. Monk, however, is grounded and lost his car privileges for two weeks. 

The end. You're welcome. 

This was taken last weekend, when he didn't poop in the car. 

Look at that face!

back at it

Hi friends!

Boy has it been a while. Since writing last life has been a little bit crazy and really wonderful!

Joel and I are enjoying married life and have been on lots of adventures since tying the knot, Monk is doing better than ever (and by better than ever, I mean he literally just chewed up all of the toilet paper in the bathroom), and I am in my last semester at UNLV and will be graduating in May. Yaass!

I stopped posting on here shortly after my grandma passed away last year, because if I'm being honest with myself, she was the only person reading this blog ... hah. :) She would call me every day that I posted to talk about what I wrote, rave about how much she loved seeing my pictures and thank me for keeping her posted on what was going on in my life. She was seriously the best ever. Miss you, grams.

Anyway, I've been really itching to write again and share recipes, stories, things I've learned about life and myself since getting married and whatever else pops in my head and decided it was time to jump back into it. Hopefully my mom or sisters will feel the need to fill in for my grandma! ;) Hint, hint family.

So yeah man, I'm back!

Xo

Taken while we were in New York last month for my birthday. We finally made it over to the 9/11 fountains.
They were breathtakingly beautiful.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Summer is right around the corner! Unless you live here in Las Vegas, then Summer started about two weeks ago. Ugh. 

This is, of course, the time of year when everyone starts worrying more about their diet and working out so they can fit into that itty bitty bikini (which I know nothing about, you'll find me in a full length poncho at the pool). However, I do like to feel really good this time of year and kick up my health routine since it's not as easy to cover up a bad weekend with a cozy sweatshirt when it's 100 degrees outside, although I've tried. 

I found this recipe on one of the many blogs I follow (simplyrealhealth.com) and my first time making it was a total disaster. I thought I could substitute wax paper for parchment paper (you can't, so don't), the smoke alarm was going off because the wax paper was literally burning in the oven, I couldn't get the pizza off of the wax paper so we were forced to eat a little with almost every bite, and I didn't cook it long enough at all.. To make a long story short, it fell apart, I was pissed off, threw a temper tantrum, possibly cried a little ... all while my amazing husband choked down every waxy bite and kept saying "it's not that bad babe!". What a guy. :) 
Side note: I totally realize that I may have overreacted a little. Leave me alone about it. #roughday

My second time making it was much more successful. I made sure to use parchment paper and kept it in the oven for about 5 minutes longer. We were thrilled with the results! My point? If you fail the first time, get back on the cow and try again ... or something like that. 

This is definitely a new staple in the Hiatt household. 

Bonus points: it's gluten free! But that only matters if you have celiac disease. Seriously. 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza 

Makes approx 2 servings

Notes: You will need a clean dish towel to make this crust, as well as a powerful blender or food processor. If you don’t have one, no problem—just boil the cauliflower florets before you blend them.

Crust:

1 medium head cauliflower, with the base stem and leaves removed (just the florets and some smaller stems needed)

½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

2 TB almond flour (or brown rice flour - I used brown rice flour because almond flour is much more expensive)

1 egg

1 tsp sea salt + 1 tsp pepper

*A pinch of dried oregano, red pepper flakes, or basil if desired! I use all three.

To top:

Clean ingredient tomato sauce (I love the Delallo brand but there are a lot of good options), homemade tomato sauce or clean pesto.

Other toppings of your choice: roasted red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes, pre-cooked organic sausage, organic mozzarella, parmesan, feta or goat cheese, olives, etc. Using all pre-cooked toppings will keep the cooking time shorter. 

*For the pizza in the photo, I used roasted red peppers, all natural/organic turkey sausage, fresh parmesan cheese and a little fresh goat cheese.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (NOT WAX PAPER!). In a powerful blender or food processor, add cauliflower florets and blend until smooth. Don’t over process it, but blend enough so that you no longer have any big pieces visible.

Place the pulsed cauliflower in the middle of a clean dish towel. Wrap it up, and squeeze as much moisture out of it as you can. There will be a lot! *The more moisture you can squeeze out the better, it may take a few minutes so just be patient. It also helps to do little bits of the cauliflower at a time. 

Then, open the towel and place the cauliflower in a mixing bowl. Add parmesan, almond flour, egg and spices and mix together. Combine it into a ball. With your hands, flatten into an even crust on the baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 min (depending on your oven), until it starts to brown. 

Remove from heat, add your sauce and toppings, and place back in the oven until done (approx 5 minutes if you pick topping that are already pre-cooked). Broil at the end to brown the cheese for a great presentation.

*While this is definitely a pizza, I find that this is better eaten with a fork. The crust is absolutely delicious but it does fall apart easier than regular pizza crust.

Serve with a delicious side salad and you're ready to go!

Xo

*Recipe by simplyrealhealth.com - I won't lie, I was to lazy to retype this recipe so these are her words, I just added in a few of my own tips and favorite ingredients!

our wedding video

This video is everything. We are so excited about it and feel so blessed to be able to share it with all of you. It's something we will always truly treasure. Enjoy!

Xo



Hiatt Wedding from DunnRite Productions on Vimeo.

life lately.

Hi all,

This blog post is coming to you from a place of peace. After what has easily been the most chaotic, awful, and heartbreaking couple of months of my life so far, I can finally say that things are looking up and the dust is finally settling. 

As most of you know, I lost my Grandma last month. This is the first time in my life that I've dealt with the loss of someone I was so close to. It shook me in a way that I wasn't prepared for (I can't imagine anyone is ever prepared for something like that) and I've had a hard time readjusting. I feel that there are moments in life that redefine who we are and losing my Grandma has been one of those moments for me.

Now that I've found some peace with everything that has happened, I've really enjoyed diving back into wedding plans and projects. It definitely keeps me busy. :) I thought I would be really stressed out at this point in the planning process but I'm not stressed out at all. Honestly, I'm just ready to say "I do" to the most amazing guy I know and be surrounded by all of our friends and family that will be there to celebrate with us. It's just going to be such a special weekend! I know that my Grandma will be right there cheering us on with the biggest smile on her face.

The hardest wedding decision for us to make so far has been choosing a song for our first dance. Just when we think we've got it figured out, we find five more songs that we like. Oy vey. I guess we are just trying to find a song that is both original and meaningful without being super cheesy. Maybe we will just rock out to Kesha for our first dance. I mean, Timber is my theme song ...

We also need to figure out where we are going on our honeymoon. We are seriously considering a California coast road trip, but since we aren't going on our honeymoon until May, we don't know for sure. If you have any recommendations, please feel free to share them with me!
 

trial run for wedding hair + makeup - both done by the amazing Colie Hall.

Anyway, thank you for sitting through this little update. :)
I hope Monday is treating you well.

Xo

a nice little collection of group photos

Hi loves.

While I was going through all of the pictures that the lovely Katie Manoun sent me from Christmas, our shower in KC, and my bachelorette weekend, I realized that she made sure to get a lot of really great group shots! Anyway, since this made me so happy, I decided it was worth sharing and have included some of my favorites! Here ya go, people. Enjoy!

hiatt familia. christmas 2013.

 all of my favorite gals being beachy on my bachelorette trip.

 a lovely shot of everyone who came to our kansas wedding shower! such a blast.

 christmas eve with the wonderful rash family. this one ^ definitely belongs in a frame. :)

with the besties in KC. love you guys!

 a group shot of some cozy feet. yes, this counts as a group photo.

   

another little groupie of my ladies in san diego!

XO

26

Hello friends.

This last weekend Joel and I headed back to San Diego to escape a little and celebrate my 26th birthday. :)

Just like every other birthday I've celebrated since being with Joel, he did an amazing job making me feel incredibly special and loved. I'm very excited about being 26, I think it's going to be my best year yet!

We spent the weekend cruising through some of our favorite San Diego neighborhoods, enjoying the beautiful/glorious/stunning sunsets at the beach, consuming a ridiculous amount of carbs, sampling a few new craft beers, and getting some much needed r&r.

Now that the holidays are over, my bachelorette weekend has come and gone, and Joel and I won't be taking another trip until May, I'm officially in wedding mode. I can't believe our big day is only two months away! I feel completely overwhelmed but ridiculously excited! Here's to hoping I get everything done ... :)

(p.s. for those of you who are invited, your invite will be arriving soon, we may have had a little mishap with the RSVP cards ... #oops)

Have a wonderful rest of your night, everyone.

Xo

my bachelorette bash!

As most of you know by now (due to the explosion of photos on both facebook and instagram) this last weekend I was in San Diego for my bachelorette party! It was easily one of the best weekends of my life and I owe it all to the amazing ladies who showed up and made me feel so incredibly special. :) I especially need to thank Mrs. Lauren Finley and Mrs. Katie Hiatt for going above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. You girls are just the best. Thank you so so soo much!

Now for even more pictures ... :) 

The entire weekend was jam packed with an abundance of belly laughs, sick dance moves, champagne, sunshine, love, and begging every DJ we came across to play Timber (it's just so catchy!). It was so wonderful to see all of my best friends get along so well and just have so much fun together! I hate that it went by so quickly but I'm so excited to see everyone again in March for our big day!

Xo

songs for mama

via

I spent the greater part of today trying to decide on some of the music for our wedding.

Unfortunately, not many decisions were made and I just ended up dancing around to Tay Swift.

When Joel got home I asked him to put a list together of possible songs for the mother/son dance. 

This is where we are at with that so far ..

1. Boyz II Men - A Song For Mama

2. Spice Girls - Mama

3. Tupac - Dear Mama

4. Backstreet Boys - The Perfect Fan

5. Dido - Thank You

....

Clearly, we are making a lot of progress with this wedding project.

let me tell you about my weekend.

I hope everyone had a beautiful holiday weekend.

Our weekend was filled with snuggles, full bellies, thankful hearts and pie. Lots and lots of pie.

This was my sixth Thanksgiving with Joel and our fourth Thanksgiving with Monk.

Words simply cannot describe how blessed I feel having these babes in my life. 

Being the domestic little lady that I am, I decided I wanted to go out for Thanksgiving dinner.

It was delicious and I didn't have to do any dishes afterward. 

I baked/bought two pies, one cherry and one pumpkin.

I ate half of the cherry pie in about 20 minutes.

The other half was gone by the next morning.
The pumpkin was finished shortly after.
#ilovepie

Other than that we listened to Bette Midler and hosted a dinner party to celebrate a dear friend.

It was pretty perfect.

xo

119 days

In exactly four months from today, I will be married to Joel.

Holy moly.

Guys, this engagement has flown by. I can't believe we only have a few more months left of being a little engaged couple! 

To everyone who will be there on March 21st to celebrate with us, we can't wait to see you! 

links

Hey, here are some links. Feel free to click on them. Happy Tuesday!

A Week of Groceries Around the World. - Perspective.

Cotton Ball Diet. - Horrific. Definitely something to watch for if you have young children. #teachselflove

Things Hangry People Do.  This is so applicable to my real life. I am the hangriest person i know. I sincerely apologize to all of those who have been effected by my hangry tendencies.

While Their Kids Were Sleeping ... This has been making it's way around facebook so chances are you've already seen it. However, i just had to include it because it's so. stinkin'. cute.

Dining Habits & What They Say About You. Couldn't agree more.

Style Me Pretty: 2013 Fashion and Beauty E-Mag. Congratulations to the lovely, Sam Rosen. Her stunning "all that glitters" wedding is featured! Absolutely gorgeous.

weekend recap: 'twas a cozy one.

This weekend ended up being a rather festive couple of days. For all of you who absolutely hate any sign of Christmas before Thanksgiving, you may want to stop reading this little recap now. :) We spent Sunday jamming out to Christmas music, busting out our Christmas decorations, and putting up our beloved Christmas tree. 

We are officially Christmas ready! Boom. 

Besides basking in all of our holiday cheer, we also did a little wedding prep this weekend. Tuxes for the men? Officially picked out. We decided on a very classic black and white tux. I don't think there is anything more glorious than a man in a well fitted, classic tux. I know all of the guys, especially the groom, will look great in them! 

The rest of the weekend was spent watching Breaking Bad (we are almost finished, which is both thrilling and deeply tragic), enjoying a few happy hour brews, and listening to Joel explain the many, many reasons we absolutely have. to. get. the new Xbox One ... .... .... :)

On a scale of one to ten, this weekend was pretty great.  

Hope you're enjoying your Monday!

Xo

weekend in salem

As promised, here are some of the pictures from my weekend in Salem. Most of them are, of course, of my nephews. Being away from them is so hard on me. I hate that I'm missing out on so much, so when I'm home I make sure to spend as much time with them as possible. :)

Besides goofing around with a couple of cute three-year-olds all weekend, I also got to watch my oldest nephew, Quintin, play in one of his football games. It was so awesome to see him in his element. He is such an incredible athlete. I have no idea who he gets it from so I will just pretend that he gets it from me. ;)

I also made sure to eat as much seafood as I could possibly get my hands on, dragged my family to brunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Salem (Word of Mouth Cafe), had a little day date with one of my best friends and her papa, and spent some quality time catching up and hanging out with my wonderful parents. 

Overall, it was a pretty fantastic weekend. 

The next time I see my family will be at my wedding, which is kind of weird but also really, really exciting! 

Xo