Good morning! TGIF 🙂 Have you guys had a good week? Mine has been great- between teaching and a get together with my girlfriends it’s flown right by. Let’s get to some of my favorite things right now.

Five on Friday

1. GALentine’s Book Club Night- Our friend Amy hosted book club this time and in true Amy fashion when it comes to anything holiday/party related, she knocked it out of the park with her decorations and overall festive feel. She and her roommate cooked up a terrific dinner of chicken parm and we had a blast talking about the book (and other random topics) over wine. AND Amy made us all hand-made valentines consisting of a card and a “De-Stress Coconut Oil Body Lotion” which she described as “this tranquil blend of chamomile, lavender and frankincense can help relieve discomforts associated with stress and anxiety”… anyone want to place an order for some? 😉

2. Cuckoo’s Calling– Speaking of book club, this was the book we read this past time and while it took me a bit to get into it, I ended up really getting hooked. I read the last 150 or so pages in just a few hours! We are reading her sequel next: Silkworm- I can’t wait! We are also reading 5 Love Languages since we’ve got a little extra time until the next meeting. Have any of you read either of these?

3. Wine Expo– RM and I were trying to decide what to do for V-Day and when my friend mentioned the Wine Expo, I thought that was a great idea. I searched through some old emails and found a promo code which took $10 off the admission price, which was just icing on the cake (VALDAY16 is the code if you’re interested- there is still availability for Sunday). I’ve been to the seminars a few times, but never the full expo so I can’t wait!

4. Quinoa “Fried” Rice- Alexis over at Hummusapien has done it again. I’ve talked before about how some of her recipes are serious favorites of ours, so you shouldn’t be totally surprised that I’m sharing another one. I stumbled across her Thai Quinoa “Fried” Rice a few weeks ago and finally made it this past weekend. The verdict? Oh, emm, gee you need to go make this ASAP! I followed her recipe mostly to a T except I left out the ginger (didn’t have any) and edamame (couldn’t find any at the store) and then for the dressing I skipped the sesame oil and instead of adding sriracha and red pepper flakes, we used this spicy peanut butter RM had bought a while back which was PERFECT for this recipe. We’ve been happily munching on this dish all week and I think it’s one of the most raved about food item from RM that I’ve ever made. And as a PSA, serving it over kale and with some chicken makes for a FANTASTIC lunch.

5. Athena’s GALentine Buddy Exchange– I love any excuse to “meet” new people and join together to do something fun, so obviously I jumped at the chance to partake in Athena’s GALentine Buddy Exchange. I was matched up with Jess from Champagne Thursday– could Athena have picked a better matchup for the two of us?! Anyway, I received Jess’s package yesterday and it was so thoughtful!

Isn’t this the best package?! And her presentation was on point! Again, thank you, girl!

If you’re interested in what I got her, here it is:

Obviously I had to do some champagne aspect to it, but sadly the post office wouldn’t let me send the prosecco 😦  Jess said she is getting into cross stitch so I got her some stuff to help with that as well as some treats for her dogs since she mentioned those. I hope she enjoys it- I had a blast putting it together 🙂

And that about does it. I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend ahead. It’s a long weekend for me so I’m really looking forward to some extended R&R!

Questions for you: Are you doing anything with your guy or gals for Valentine’s Day? Or anything for the long weekend? Do you have any pets? Are you a cat or dog person? Do you have any “must try” recipes to share?