Tomato, To-MA-to

I said a long time ago (okay, if you want to get technical it was back in August- whoops!) I would do a post on the EASIEST, most delicious appetizer ever. If you want to impress the palate this is that way to go my friends-

Ingredients: eggplant, one tomato, goat cheese, olive oil, salt, paper, clove of garlic, and a few pine nuts (don't chips to dip!)

Step One: Cut up your eggplant and saute on low heat with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper (to taste), then place at the bottom of your dish.

Step Two: Dice up a tomato (do not cook, you want this baby nice and fresh), then place on top of the sauteed eggplant.

Step Three: Put your pine nuts in a pan on medium heat (nothing else in the pan) and shake them around, some may call this "toasting" (yeah, yeah yeah... tomato, to-mat-oe) for just a minute then sprinkle then on top of the tomatoes!

Step Four: Break up some tasty (don't mock it til' you try it people) goat cheese and place on top with a bit of thyme.

Step Five: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve with crackers (I prefer pita chips, but whatever works, no need to be picky, this stuff is goooooood!)

Trust me when I say it is  FAB-U-LOUS my friends.

I wish I would have taken an after picture, but I was more concerned with eating it (whatever, don't judge me) so here's another picture:

We made this appetizer for my sister's birthday, so I obviously need to post a picture- Love ya girl fran!

My sister-in-law Erica, me and my sister Christa out for her birthday dinner

Day 7: Today I am thankful for my sister (and sister-in-law, the best I could ever imagine). Growing up we most certainly had our differences... sorry for stealing your markers and your Abercrombie and Fitch shirts, but today I couldn't imagine going through life without having her by my side. 

Until tomorrow,

Marisa

Farmers Market-ing

Fresh fruit, veggies, flowers and beer.

On Saturday, Hunter and I went to the Farmers Market about 30 minutes away and met up with two of my best friends that I don't get to see as often as I'd like ( we'd still be having sleep overs every night if I had it my way), but even spending just an hour or two together is so refeshing, to say the least. 

You know those people that you have in your life that no matter how long it's been since you've been together nothing changes. Yup, their my people and I love them a whole lot. 

Hunter and I got there an hour or so before B and Lex and had a beer (or three). I have to say there are very few things that make me happier than sitting outside on a beautiful day with the people I love enjoying a drink. Call it what you may, I call it bliss.

Best friend and boyfriend, what more could I ask for?

Let me tell you how amazing these veggies were on our pizzas: AHmazing.

B and her sweet little sister Delaney (dontcha just want to kiss those cheeks??)

 Well, this sums us up nicely.

Doesn't get much better.

So everyone's been doing this 'Today I am thankful for..." of November and I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon... five days late (whooops).

Well here we go.

Day five: Today I am thankful for my freedom. Plain and simple. I am thankful to be living in a country where I have the opportunity to vote. So for those of you who haven't- educate yourselves and VOTE!

Oh and as mentioned above, I am thankful for the most incredible friends that have ever walked this earth- love you guys! xo

That's all for now-

Marisa

Pizza party anyone??

Happy Monday, cuties!

 I seriously can't believe the weekend's already over- can somebody please tell me where time goes?? Anyways, I spent my weekend doing a lot of relaxing, drinking, snuggling and eating (sounds like a party, right? Yup, my thoughts exactly) Hunter came in town late Friday night, and left bright and early this morning (and yes, saying good bye still stinks). On Saturday we went to the farmers market, I'll post about that later this week. And yesterday we laid around the house and made some fresh, homemade sangria and pizza on the grill: 

DE-LISH! 

Fresh mozzarella and basil mmmm

Light parmesan cheese

Layer some fresh tomato and mozzarella on top of the sauce and parmesan 

Toss this bad boy on the grill for a few minutes

The real chef (or my mom, whatever) teaching me how it's done

How cute is she?? Right, I know- adorable.

Pesto, roasted red peppers, eggplant and mozzarella- Magic in my mouth

Pesto, steak, roasted red peppers and mozzarella: Holy delicious 

And we all know I couldn't go a post without posting a picture of Tucker- so there ya go!

I hope everyone has an amazing Monday! 

 I'm going to go chug some caffeine now...

xox,

Marisa

My life recently, according to my iPhone.

Morning picnic at the park// Halloween "tailgate"

My best gals at the Farmers Market// Kristina and I at the Wine Loft

Hunter and I enjoying the Farmers Market (with the help of some beer)// A purty little butterfly

My brother's Halloween shave// Picture wall at my grandparent's house

Some new purchases ( t.j. maxinista, obviously)//  The sun shining through after a storm

Shadow of Hunt and I (romantic walk home from the bar, huh?)// My new camera (drool)

Enjoying the time I have with this hunk// Tucker frolicking around on a beautiful day

I know I haven't posted recently, but life has been pretty crazy. These are just a few snapshots of what the past few weeks have looked like (of course, leaving out the all nighters studying for midterms, the cranky mornings and the four hour drives to and from Tallahassee every few weeks- I'll just show ya the nice stuff). Any ways, I'm going to go so I can soak up the last bit of time I have with my sweet puppy daddy before he heads back to Tallahassee. Hope everyone is well, you'll hear from me soon!

xox,

Maris

1:30 pm... A glass of wine please

So I promised I would put up the before and after pictures of the mini bar I made for Hunter for our anniversary, so here ya go people. Talk about a SUPER easy project- Enjoy!

I found this table at a local Salvation Army for a steal. As you can see it needed some serious TLC but I had to have it!

Once I got home I cleaned it for about an hour, legitimate scrubbing was necessary (what's more fun than that?...)

I bought four cans of high gloss black spray paint with primer already in it. I used ALL four cans, doing very light coats, waiting for the piece to fully dry before adding another layer. 

The majority of the items I also found at Salvation Army ( I was jumping for joy...literally). For what I couldn't find there I found at T.J. Maxx (the wine glasses, and cocktail glasses). Hunt was so excited he wanted to take it home right away, so we still need to put a high gloss sealing coat on top but for now, it's just fine the way it is! 

Beautiful water stain, doncha think?

Bought this beaut for a whopping 35$

The finished piece- I really should start using my cannon and not my phone...whhoooopps

I'm all about homemade cards (how can you not love button people??)

He was pretty happy with his mini bar- my goodness I love him. 

What do you guys think about the finished product?

xox,

Maris

Life as I know it

The past few weeks have been... well, awful. I don't want to sugar coat it but grad school is insanely hard. There just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done that needs to get done(Gosh, I sound just like my mother!)

My days look a little like this:

6:30 am- Wake up

8:00 am- Get to school starting working

2:30- Social Group Therapy

3:30- Individual Speech Therapy

4:30- Quickly shove food in my mouth

5:00- 8:00 - Class

9:00-11:00 pm- More school work

11:30 Sleep

Then is starts over again.

I'm going to go ahead and say my parents are THE most amazing people in the world for putting up with me and all the tears.

Yup, and Hunter, well he must be God sent because I am one cranky gal 75% of the time. Love you, sweets!

I have a great bar re-do I finished for Hunter and my two years, that'll be my next post- Don't worry, it's coming soon.

Despite all the lack of sleep, excessive whining and lack of nutrition I've had a little time to relax...

Celebrating my Grandmother's 85th birthday!

Gotta love these faces

My sweet fur child

What my life now consists of...

Coralie and I- love ya corbs!

Best surprise after a 4 hour drive. Such a sweet man

Sweets.

That's all for now!

xox Marisa

Thank you

There's a million things I could say to recap the past two years we've spent together, but the main one is, thank you. 

Thank you for making me laugh. Constantly.

Thank you for teaching me it's OKAY to laugh at myself. (well, sometimes)

Thank you for always being there, even four hours apart. 

Thank you for helping me learn how to forgive. Entirely.

Thank you for being my best friend, and voice of reason.

Thank you for loving my family as much as I do. 

Thank you for being SO easy to love. 

And finally, thank you for showing me every day what true love should be. 

Happy two years my love, I can't wait for more to come.