Martini? Don't Mind If I Do!

 The Dolce Girls had taken a party break over the summer, but it was time to put an end to that; a martini party sounded like a good idea, and by golly, was it ever! I found tons of great recipes for sooo many fun drinks, but I scaled it down to about 15, put on a fun apron and played bartender!

 

 My four thrift store glasses. I'd love to buy a slew, but I don't have anywhere to store them, so some of the girls brought theirs, and we needed every last one!

 

The "bar"; more juices and champagne were added as the girls arrived. Isn't the 'recipe countertop' a great idea?! Carly found the idea on PINTEREST (of course) for us!

I wrote the recipes on craft paper (from the post office) and cut it to fit the countertop. Then Jack and I cut up a clear shower curtain ($2.50 at Target) to cover the paper. We sealed all the edges with thick packaging tape to protect it from all the splashing that would ensue, and it worked like a charm!

 

By far, the Smirnoff vanilla was the vodka of choice for the night, with the most requested drink being a "Key Lime Pie Martini":

2 oz vanilla vodka

.5 oz key lime juice

2 TBLS coconut cream (like Coco Lopez)

1 oz pineapple juice

Add all ingredients in a shaker over ice, shake well, and enjoy! YUMMMM!

 

Some of the loveliest ladies in Brevard! You can tell we like to eat, and the house was lousy with Pinterest food! Linda made these fantastic pepperoni and cheese rolls; Beck whipped up cookie dough dip with graham crackers, I fixed chicken salad fillos, and Annie mixed up parm stuffed tomatoes (all from Pinterest) just to name a few!

 

More fabulous friends. What a fun bunch! (Ok, the cake wasn't from Pinterest, it was from Publix, and TO DIE FOR! Thx, Janice)

The sweetest gals around, just drinkin' and eatin' and talkin' up a storm!

(the guys even like to crash it!)

 The group is different at every single party (we miss you Foozer!) and we always have the best time. I'm already busy planning the next one ; ) 

Cheers to a new season of Dolce Girls!

 

 

A Week (or so) in the Life of an Ehrig

The title sounds exciting, huh? Yeah, I know, not so much. But Yara asked me at church today how my summer has been, and I was thinking, "It's been summer?!" Oh, I guess it has! The last two + months have been kinda crazy hectic, and the last two weeks have brought even more surprises!

Jax' truck was in need of replacement (witnessed by a number of 4 am phone calls asking, "Can I borrow Dad's truck?" and 130,000+ miles in 5 years), so off to Nissan we went. He is now the proud owner of this beautiful Frontier, with every bell and whistle you can think of! Congrats #1! 

I made this for dinner somewhere in there, and it was really good! This food blogger is one of my favorites:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/07/summer-vegetables-with-sausage-and.html

Then we got THIS bright idea! I had given up group fitness awhile back, and Jack discovered he enjoyed the treadmill much more than he ever thought he would, so after a bit of room re-arranging, here is our new personal trainer! Please, don't tell me yours is a very expensive clothes hanger (it wasn't just you, Laurie!); we're hoping to stay motivated just like my fitness sis, Ann, who's been faithful to hers for years : )

It really is a beastly looking thing, isn't it? It has a fan! It has a bajillion programs! It has a nice stereo system! It has a heart monitoring system! It has 0% financing! Congrats #2!

Then this happened. I KNOW!!! Dang you, Uhaul!!! Like Alex said, he's gonna buy stock! So Lindsay and her little car came home from Tampa, and...

TA-DAH! The new car trend continues! It was meant to be; it had 3 (our lucky number) miles on it, and the salesman's name was Jack. What a cute lil sportster this car is! In her favorite color, with her very own payment book! Yay us! Congrats #3!

More bells and whistles, with a stereo system that shows album covers of the music she's playing. Do not look at that, Linds, keep your eyes on the road! Sheesh.

And then this happened. My beloved Sonata was traded in for an Accord yesterday. We have lots of traveling to do, and the old girl was getting long in the tooth (my old car, not me!), so off to the boneyard she went. Jack (the lucky salesman again) asked if I wanted time alone with her (he could tell the trade-up was bittersweet), so I said my goodbye. But HELLO! new shiny, fun car, we're going to get along great! ♥ That was a quick turnaround! ; ) Congrats #4!

Shameless plug: Ron Norris Honda is the first car dealership where we felt like we didn't "take it in the shorts" as Jack (MY Jack) says! You didn't think the salesman would say that, did you?! They were awesome, and I think they've found customers for life.

Beep, beep! Happy motoring to us! ☺

On The Move (Literally!)

This has been the summer of "big moves" for us. It's actually been the summer of "fattening Uhaul's profits" (three truck rentals in 8 weeks; one trip to Orlando to pick up donated furniture from cousin Doris, and two moves), but their slogan is right: using a Uhaul does 'make moving easier'! Whew!

Al got his promotion and landed a beautiful home in Merritt Island with his best bud Jon. Check out that back yard! I'm jealous! So is Jack, cuz there's ducks on that thar pond!

Their kitchen is awesome (certainly nicer than ours!) Wonder when we'll be invited to dinner? (that's your cue, Al, give us a call!) 

Apparently, this is a great room for a beer pong table. Al and Jon are genuine "pickers"; within days, they found an abandoned ping pong table that needed just a few tweaks to do the job.

"Hello? Is that you, Alex? Sure, I'll be right over!" ; )

Five weeks later, it's time to move Linds again. You may remember my post from this exact same time last summer. No better time to move...summer in Florida! Aahhh, college life!

This is last year's move in (to the third floor). We borrowed a plumber's cart...that was one rough move! And HOTTER than HOT!

But back to this move...load #1 of, I think, 7...where did all this stuff come from?! This lil girl is an excellent packer, though! She had all of her belongings boxed and staged when we pulled into town, ready to go.

Linds and I took care of loading the cart and running it down to Jack to pack in the truck. She was very excited about this move!

This year's move out. This is Jack taking the last load out on his prized new dolly. That thing sure made this move a breeze (kinda) compared to last year! And it was still hot, but nothing like last year.

One last vac of the nasty old carpet. We forgot the poles to the shop vac, so I had to get on my hands and knees, blech! That smile looks kinda fake, huh? It was.

A true Ehrig. Never forget the booze!!! And there's a fridge at the hotel! Cool!

Anyway, we needed a truck again since we took over her desk, a bed, and two small end tables. She had to be out of College Court on the 31st, but couldn't move into her new place until the 1st, so we stashed all of her worldly belongings in the truck for the night, and pulled into our now familiar stompin' ground, the Hampton Inn. We had the best time at the hotel; we all snuggled in the big bed and watched the Olympics for nearly 8 hours, pausing only to hit the "manager's reception" for free food, beer and wine. I KNOW!!! We were in heaven!

The new place. In the back of the building. Down the mossy, wet pathway. Up a few rickety, slippery stairs. Errr, yesterday's move wasn't so bad after all! Just kidding, it went really well. Everything was "in" in less than an hour. A trip to Lowe's for us, a trip to Publix for Linds, and she was set.

It's such a cute place, much nicer than the last. This is our traditional move-in feast (subs or fried chicken), always eaten on the floor in the living room. I dunno why, it just always happens that way, and we love it.

The roomies! (2 outta 3; you made the blog again, Jordan!) Good luck, kiddos, Dad and I miss you!

Well, kinda...

; )