Going the Distance

Recipe: Panko Crusted Honey Mustard Salmon

I promised you guys a while ago that I'd share my yummy and SUPER easy salmon recipe with you guys, but then Thanksgiving happened, and then after-Thanksgiving happened, and really I just didn't do it. But, I'm here to share with you now!

I saw this recipe on Pinterest (duh) from Cooking Classy

What You Need:

- 4 6oz salmon filets

-1 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard

-1 1/2 Tbsp honey

-1 clove minced garlic

-3/4 C panko bread crumbs

-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

-1 tsp lemon zest

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-salt and pepper

What You Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, dijon mustard, and honey.

3. In a shallow dish, mix together the Panko bread crumbs, lemon zest and parsley, then drizzle with the olive oil and mix evenly.

4. Working with each piece of salmon, brush the top and sides of the salmon with the honey mustard mixture and then season with salt and pepper. Flip it over into the Panko bread crumb mixture and press. Brush the bottom of the salmon, season with salt and pepper and flip it over in the bread crumb mixture. Repeat with all salmon filets.

if your filets are larger like this, cut them so they are 4 filets, otherwise they will take forever to cook through the middle

5. Transfer the filets into the baking dish and cook for about 20 minutes, until it flakes easily, and the middle of the salmon does not look cloudy. (The fork should slide in. If there's a jelly-like feeling, put it back in for a few more minutes).

Squeeze some lemon juice on top and garnish with the lemon slice. Serve with whatever veggie you like!

That's it!! Easy peasy! And SO delicious! I've already made this meal twice and it was even better the second time!

If you're scared of making salmon at home, don't be! It's one of the most forgiving fish to cook and this recipe is suuuuuper straight forward!

A Better Me

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Things I'm Committing to in Order to be a Better Me:

~have faith. Everything happens in His timing, when it's supposed to. This is a lesson I continue to learn and will probably always need to remind myself about. It's so easy to get caught up in what you want, when you want it (now now now!!!) but there's always a bigger plan. Sometimes, you just need more faith.

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~don't take my work home with me. Including the stresses. This year I have some really tough parents who have been causing me to stress out more than in other years--even talking about it gets my heart racing sometimes. I need to work on leaving work at work, and not letting it take over my thoughts or ruin my days. It's just not healthy.

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~stop responding to other people's negativity. If they want to gloat, hold onto grudges or be unnecessarily rude, that's on them. I don't have to be a participant. And I won't be anymore.

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~listing and looking for the positives. It's SO easy to get bogged down by the day-to-day when things are tough, but focusing on the small, positive things every day, and actively looking for them, can really help to turn your perspective and your outlook around.

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~making the time for healthy things, even when I'm tired, stressed out or unmotivated. Those are the times these things help out the most, and they do you the most good!

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~making sure to show the people in my life--those who are my rocks, my cheerleaders, my strength, the ones who take the time to include me in things, and make sure I'm doing ok--that they know how much they mean to me.

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Life is certainly a journey of learning.
I'm on the journey, and becoming a be a better me in the process.

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Hey, Friday Faves!

Phew! It's been a crazy busy week overall and I'm pumped that it's Friday!!
Before I get to my favorites this week, did you guys see Peter Pan Live last night?? I saw the first hour and then couldn't watch anymore, but reading the live Twitter feed was SO hilarious, it made it worthwhile.

Anyway, let's talk about my faves this week!

{1} Christmas Decorations are Up!

I posted about this on Tuesday (you can read it and see everything here), but I'm loving that our Christmas decorations are up and everything is feeling festive outside and around the house! Something about Christmas decorations that makes everything feel more cozy and magical!
Now the tree in Rockefeller center is lit up, and the National Christmas tree in DC, too! I can't wait to go into DC and see it, along with all of the trees for each state that are decorated with special things from each place!

{2} MG's birthday

MG's birthday was on Tuesday and I had some presents all ready to go for him--two Moscow Mule cups and a long sleeved biking shirt/jacket thingy. I wasn't sure how excited he would be about them, but he was pumped about the shirt jacket (said it was something he'd wanted but never would have gotten himself--win!) and he's been talking about Moscow Mules for weeks now since having one out at dinner a bit ago. We also went out to dinner at Mike's American Grill on Tuesday night and stuffed ourselves silly with delicious food! Overall, despite the crappy weather I'd say it was a birthday success. MG makes 33 look good!

{3} Book Club/Wine Exchange

Saturday I have book club with some friends, but we didn't read a book recently so instead, we are all just hanging out and bringing wine to do a Holiday Wine Exchange. It's gonna be fun to see what kind of wines everyone brings, and to catch up with everyone before the holidays take full effect and there's no time! And then I have a massage scheduled for the afternoon, which isn't a bad way to spend a Saturday!

{4} Holiday Perspective
It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and sometimes it makes us lose focus on what's truly important. I saw this online this other day and I loved it, so I thought I'd share it with you guys:

Isn't that such a good perspective??

{5} Wedding

Borrowed from Here Isn't she stunning???

I saved the best favorite for last: one of my bloggy to IRL friends is getting married on Saturday! Lynn, I couldn't be more happy for you, and can not wait to talk to you on Saturday, and to see all of the gorgeous pictures from the day. I know it's going to be beautiful and you will be breath-taking. I wish that I could be there to celebrate with you in person, but I know that you will be surrounded by family and friends who love you dearly. I'm there in spirit and am so so so happy for you, my sweet friend! Sending you nothing but tons of wishes for a lifetime of love and happiness together with your almost-husband, your little peanut and fur babies! Love you!!

Happy weekend, party people!
Don't forget to link up with these ladies!

Book Review: Garden Spells

This weekend I finished another book--Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

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This one was a recommendation from Katie and I'm so glad that I listened to her. The book was just what I was looking for--an easy read, with likable characters, and a cute storyline.

The beginning of the synopsis on Amazon is:

"In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.…"

And beyond that, it's the story of 2 sisters, Claire and Sydney, who each find a different way to cope with a mother who abandoned them when they were young girls.

I really liked the story--it was a bit more whimsical than other books I typically read, but I enjoyed that different element. It seems like people either liked it a ton or didn't like it at all. I read some of the reviews for the book before I downloaded it and someone likened it to the movie Practical Magic, which I could see.

Either way, I rated it 4 out of 5 stars, and I'll definitely be checking out more books from Sarah Addison Allen.

Also, you can download this one from Amazon for your Kindle for $1.99 right now. I actually got it free with some of those settlements/credits Amazon had.

Wino Wednesday!!

It's been a crazy busy week since getting back to real life after Thanksgiving, so I didn't have a post to go up today, but then I saw the Wino Wednesday posts and knew I could easily share with you my favorite wine!

My favorite wine is Kim Crawford's Sauvignon Blanc

I'd never even heard of it until MG and I signed at our wedding venue, and as a little gift, the venue gave us two bottles of the Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc.

We had some later that night or week to celebrate our first big step with wedding planning, and we were both hooked!

Throwback to June 2013!!

I've tried other sauvignon blancs and am not a huge fan overall, but Kim Crawford knows what's up, and it's so tasty.

When my SIL was in town a couple weeks ago, we went out to dinner and Kim C's wine was on the list, so we both had it (she'd never tried it before) and she was hooked as well!

If you haven't tried this one, you definitely should!

Drink up, buttercups!!

Our Christmas Decor

Now that Thanksgiving is done, and it's officially December, Christmas prep is in full swing!

MG and I took the opportunity over the Thanksgiving weekend to put up some decor, both inside and outside, and I thought I'd share some with you!

MG's dad brought down some Christmas lights for us, so we made good use of them outside. It really makes the house look so much more festive!

We put up our small tree from when we were in the condo (probably the last year we'll do one this small), and brought out the ornaments that we had gotten from one of my bridal showers that my SIL's and MIL threw for me last January. They had everyone bring an ornament to help us decorate our tree for our first Christmas as a married couple. MG and I sat and went through them all, unwrapping each ornament and hanging them while we reveled in how loved we are. Here's a snapshot of a few of my favorites:

The Philly Love symbol was what we used on top of our wedding cake, the two married ornaments, and the Sisters Ornament that my SILs got for me, with all of our names on it :)

We now have an entryway and a staircase that we can decorate, so I got to work with some of the other decorations I'd collected previously, and some others from our shower. My mom bought the Naughty and Nice sign which I thought was cute, and my SIL got us the Days til Christmas blocks, and the holiday card holding tree which I can't wait to fill up as the holiday cards roll in!

I also hung Cooper's little stocking from the tiny tree :)

Our little entryway tree has a beautiful crystal angel mistletoe on it. Unfortunately we don't have a way of hanging it in the house without damaging the molding to one of our doorways so MG hung it in our baby tree and I think it looks beautiful.

I also took some of the ribbon and decorations from presents at my bridal shower and saved them. They've been put to use on our banister and adds a nice little touch of decoration when you first walk in.

In our living room, we have a touch of the holidays with a new pillow:

And on our door is the wreath I showed you guys the other weekend, along with another ribbon and an ornament that was too heavy for our tree, but I just loved, so I put her on the door, to watch over us this season, on the other door:

We also have two stockings that my friend is going to embroider for us, but I haven't figured out just where I want to put them yet.

I also want to make some other cute little things, like these snowmen, and then add to them as our family gets bigger:

I'm sure the longer we're in this house, the more decorations we'll accrue, and the more festive our house will look every year. For now, this is perfect and has brought a nice holiday warmth to our home!

Thanksgiving Weekend Highlights

There really is nothing better than having 4 days to enjoy family and be away from the stresses of work. You know, other than having more than 4 days off (which I didn't have, but would not have minded having haha).

My Thanksiving weekend highlights included:

~MGs parents getting into town Wednesday afternoon

~Dinner out in Old Town with them, that started off with a very delicious dirty martini

~Cuddles with the pups after they wore themselves out playing

~Yummy and fun appetizers while Thanksgiving food was cooked on Thursday

~Pretty flowers picked out by MG

~A fully set table, with tons of delicious foods, and a special wine paired specifically for a Thanksgiving meal that we got at one of the wineries we went to the other weekend

~Getting to use so many of our wedding gifts with dinner

~Celebrating our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, but even more fun--in our new house, with both sets of parents!

~Full tummies from all of the delicious Thanksgiving foods!

~Stories shared, laughs laughed and lots of memories made with our family

~Friday morning drive to PA to see the rest of MG's family

~Seeing MG's old house from when he grew up

~Bowling and arcade games with MG's sister, husband and kids!

~Shopping for MG's birthday, running into friends from VA at the mall in PA, foot massages at the mall, and dinner out with the family to celebrate MG's bday