I Can't Believe...

I can't believe... that Dom's nana had a friend coming to stay for week.  That friend? Turned out to be my neighbor at my lake house who I have known literally my entire life. This stuff does not happen! Small world stuff freaks me out. And also makes me really happy.

I can't believe... the ending of Safe Haven! I didn't see it coming, and I really think the last 2 minutes were the best ending of a Nicholas Sparks movie.  Just when I was thinking I'd get out of the movie without tears...

I can't believe... Dom's MCAT scores cleared Tuesday and he's in Sarasota! This has been such a nerve wracking month, and I wish I could have been with him when he saw the news! Update: It was good news :)

I can't believe... how lucky I am to be so overwhelmed by planning my future.  This year will being so many changes, and it's hard because my life could go into so many directions.  I'm overwhelmed because I have so many opportunities, and I'm thankful for every one of them!

 I can't believe... last week when Dom's best friend was here they went out on a Monday night.  Since I had work the next day, I didn't go with them.  They were only going to be out an hour, and by about 2am I was worried and texted to see if everything was okay. They said all the ATMs were out of order so they couldn't take a cab home. Of course I told them to just get a cab and I'd give them cash when they got home. So, they said they had a ride and then both of their phones died. It should have taken less than 10 min for them to get home, so after 45 minutes I was worried again. Turns out, they did not have a ride but didn't want me to get out of bed when I had work, so they decided to WALK THE TEN MILES HOME. Through a not so safe area.  They got home at 5:45. I had been up pacing all night. Then they got to sleep all day while I had to go to work.  Someone was in the doghouse!

I can't believe...I missed my family's Oscar Party! We have it every year, and I almost always win Oscar Bingo.  It made me even more sad seeing tweets from my friends who went to the party this year! Just goes to show my friends only like me for my awesome parents. ;)

My dad and me last year!

What can't you believe?

Sorry, I'm Not Sorry...

Sorry, I'm not sorry I use "sorry, I'm not sorry" in casual conversation. It's the sorority girl in me.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that I will not chit chat with anyone while eating breakfast. I am still half asleep and will zone out on my computer no matter how hard you try and speak with me.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that I like to display the outtakes. It makes life more fun :)

Sorry, I'm not sorry that I will kick you out of the house if you speak during a Rose Ceremony. Priorities, people.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that the original Wagon Wheel will be the only one I listen to, as much as I like Darius Rucker in general.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that I'm completely in love with Hunter Hayes. #jailbait

Sorry, I'm not sorry I like to sneak a feel every once in awhile.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that my idea of camping is drinking in beach chairs. On the beach. Until it's cold and then I go home.

Sorry, I'm not sorry I like my blog friends more than the majority of people I know in "real life."

Sorry, I'm not sorry I get sad whenever I say goodbye to Dom for even an overnight. Call me a sap.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that double fisting is really the only way to go for me.

Sorry, I'm not sorry I will always run back to bed if I get up in the middle of the night. Can't let the murderers catch me. Duh.

We can't be friends if you don't love Kate Middleton.  Sorry, I'm NOT sorry.

Sorry, I'm not sorry that I never say no to a gluten free pizza.

Sorry, I'm not sorry I will never stop wanting to be a Disney Princess.

Sorry, I'm not sorry I call Dom "Daddy" when talking to Tate.

When you drive slowly, I will tailgate you. Sorry, officer...I'm not sorry.

When Blog Friends Become Real Friends

This past Sunday, I had a first in my blogging career.
I finally got to actually meet one of my favorite bloggers in person!
Nicholl and her husband live about an hour and a half south of us in Miami Beach, so what better idea than to get together for margaritas on the beach?

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  She could think I'm totally lame and wonder how I managed to come off semi normal on my blog.  What if I said something stupid? (the sentence, "I don't know if that's a rabbit or a hamburger" might have been said...maybe.) Dom kept teasing that she was probably a big fat old man and we would probably get murdered. Men.

I hope it is obvious that we did not get murdered, and we had the best time!
I felt like I had known Nicholl forever, and we talked and drank and people watched (omg) like we had been doing it for years!

Even Dom, who wasn't quite sold on the whole blogging thing, was talking the whole way back about how much fun he had, and how cool Nicholl and Kyle are.

See Dom? My catish friends are awesome. :)

After a few hours and a few more margaritas, Nicholl and Kyle took us to their favorite hole in the wall sandwich shop in South Beach, and I had literally the most delicious salad in the world.
Yes, you read that correctly. I, Robin, ordered a salad and loved it.

 After dinner we walked down Lincoln mall, got ice cream, walked by all the shops and restaurants and talked and talked and talked.

Sadly, a little thing called work forced us to say our goodbyes and head back up to West Palm. :(

The only bad thing about the night was my complete failure at taking pictures...
But that's what next time is for!

Currently I Am...

Stealing... Katie's post idea.  Some may say stealing, I say loving her and Erin's posts and getting inspired.

Loving...The warm weather! It's almost beach/pool weather again, and I can't wait! I'm also loving the sunshine, palm trees and pick up trucks I see every day.  I could get used to this whole Florida living thing.

Listening...to Brad Paisley pandora. Dom is working in the garage and I am blogging. Perfect station!


Sitting... right outside the garage, in a beach chair. Typing away!

Excited for... some possibilities for my education that could completely change the next few years of our lives. AKA maybe no long distance?! EEK.


Drinking...water. Blah. I have been so good at cutting out soda from my diet, and maybe have 1 a week if at all.  But I decided to give it up cold turkey for lent, and just knowing I really can't have it has me craving! So, water it is.

Worried about... work on Monday! I work at a pharmacy, and on Friday our pharmacist quit! No bueno.  I had to leave early, so I have no idea what happened.  I'm half expecting to drive up and be the only one there in the morning.

Trying to...decide what color to do my nails, and what on earth I'm going to wear to Nicholl and my double date blate tomorrow! Or yesterday, by the time you read this...

Thankful for... each and every one of my readers. I am especially thankful for blogging this week because that program I'm excited about? I probably wouldn't have discovered it if it weren't for an email from an amazing reader Chelsea who is going through almost the exact same thing I am, and is about the start the program! If I didn't think blogging changed my life already, I do now!

 Reading...all your blogs! I've got my bloglovin' count down to 184 unread posts. That's progress, right?!

Needing to...schedule appointments, answer e-mails, clean the house, do laundry. I'm going to go ahead and add make a cocktail to that list!

Planning...my future. No big deal. 

Watching... The Oscars! Seriously, love this night! Oh, and ze Bachelor. I must say, I don't have my heart set on any of the girls this time around.  I honestly like them all! So now I'm just anxious to see the shots of Thailand!

Suffering from... wanderlust. I need to go on an adventure and explore.  Even if it's just a few hours away.

Proud of... Dom and the adaptive cycling bike he and 4 others made as their biomedical engineering senior project.  It's a bike that can be completely controlled with one hand, perfect for stroke victims and veterans.  What started as a project has exploded into a business with people and companies all over the country trying to get their hands on the bikes.  It's been really hard work since the five of them are spread around the east coast and are learning about business as they go!

Ready for... My to do list to be finished so we can go out to celebrate Party Nana's birthday!

I Love The South

I know this isn't a surprise for any of you, but I haven't talked about my yearning for the land of pickup trucks and sweet tea in a while.
And don't burst my bubble by telling me not everyone drives a pickup truck. Just let me live in my dreamland, ok?

Well, truth is, I'm a wannabe southerner.

And you best believe I'm wearing pearls every day!
It was my love of the South that first connected me with the lovely lady you're about to meet!
Cortne is brand spankin' new to blogging, and she is a true blue southern belle!
It was pretty much the highlight of my life to read her post on being a true southern belle and knowing I folowed almost all the rules!
Except the whole living in the South thing...but I'm working on that one. ;)

Anyways, I knew I had to share her with you all!
The blogging world was so welcoming to me when I was first starting out, so go show some blogger southern hospitality and meet this great new friend!

Hey Ya'll!  

This vibrant, cutie patootie Robin is allowing me to introduce myself on her blog today.

How awesome is she!

So here goes... 

 My name is Cortne, with no u or y.

 I want to welcome you to my 'lil blogging world over at cocoinmagnolia.com

Come on in... pull up a chair, relax, and kick your heels up (or in my case boots).

As we say in the South, everything in life comes through a story.

So, we will gab about adventures in travel,

the occasional (but not always successful) DIY,

crafts with the munchkins,

a recipe to share in a pinch,

and a mindful moment or two that just might bring a smile to your face or a tug to your soul.

Hope you stop by for some chit-chat!

What are you waiting for? Head on over here!

Breaded Buffalo Cauliflower Bites {Gluten Free}

As most of you know, my recipes all have the same theme.

Quick, easy, and delicious!

These cauliflower bites give the satisfaction of eating buffalo wings, but are so much more healthy!

There were even guy approved. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower 
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of flour {substitute gluten-free for the GF version}
• 1 cup of hot sauce
• 1 tbs butter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Chop cauliflower head into bite sized pieces 

•  Combine water and flour together until well mixed, and toss cauliflower through, making sure each piece is coated.
• Place cauliflower on a lightly greased baking sheet
• Bake for approx. 18 minutes, until cauliflower is lightly crispy
• While cauliflower is baking, melt the butter and mix with hot sauce
• After the 18 minutes are up, pour the hot sauce mixture over the cauliflower, and toss to make sure it is completely coated
• Return to oven for another 5-8 minutes, or until crispy.
• Serve immediately and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from here! 

The Meanest Thing Dom Has Ever Done To Me

This was supposed to be a fun recap post of my belated Valentine's Day.
After dating Dom this long, I should have known better.
The upside is he didn't try to kill me on this date.
He did, however, kill my soul.

I think we need to start at the very beginning.
West Palm Beach had some record breaking rainfall on Thursday and Friday, so we postponed our Valentine's Day dinner until Saturday night.

Besides the cold, it was an absolutely gorgeous night.
We went out to our usual City Place, and started with Happy Hour at Mojito.
Think fun, colorful drinks in mason jars. I was a happy camper.
After Cocktail Number 1 we walked over to the restaurant for dinner.

Gluten Free pasta, fresh air, live music.

And Cocktail Number 2! Sounds like the makings for a perfect night, right?

WRONG.

Hold on, I need to go get some wine before I continue.  

Okay, I'm ready now.

So, I was enjoying my delicious meal when Dom asked, "Do you want to try a tortellini?" 

This is when I should have seen something coming.  Dom never likes it when I "cheat" and take a bite of something with gluten, so offering it to me should have been a red flag.

I blame this all on Cocktail 2.

As much as I yearn for tortellinis, I've been trying to be good about cheating, so I said I'd have half of one.

I did. It was delicious. Dom asked how I liked it.

I told him it was delicious, but I didn't get much of whatever the filling was.

And then...The Grin. The one Dom does when he's up to something.

"WHAT WAS IN THAT?" 

He didn't even have to tell me.  I knew from his face he had just tricked me into eating veal.

I don't eat babies of any form. I refuse to eat cute precious animals and somehow wasn't paying attention when Dom was ordering his food.  I blame that one on Cocktail 1.

For the rest of the evening Dom kept telling me how cute the cow was and that it probably had a name and little baby cow friends.

And then I dumped him.

The End.

Truth Be Told...

Today I'm linking up with some of my favorites (aka Alexa, Jena, Sarah, and Lauren) to give you Two Truths and a Lie!
Well actually, I'm going to give you four truths and two lies.
Tricky tricky....

1. I know how to fix bowling lanes.

2. Vodka Crans are my poison of choice

3. I very much resemble the lion below after blow drying my hair.

4. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I've been skydiving twice.  

5. I can only park to the right.

6. I have never been to Disneyland.

Which do you think are lies? Tell me in the comments and I'll let you know if you're correct!

Blog Love, Bloglovin', And Free Sponsor Spots!

I'm hoping you all have today off like I do, but if not, I hope you're Monday is off to a great start!
I figured there's no better way to start off a Monday than a little housekeeping.

First order of business...
I am now accepting Ad Swaps through Passionfruit! If you head to my Sponsors page you can see all the details.  Basically, you use the code FLORIDA to get a 200x200 space for FREE. Until April 1!
Please remember that this is a swap, so don't forget to stick my button on your blog too!

UPDATE! As of 10am, all 12 spots are taken! Thank you SO much for making a girl feel loved! Come April I will have more options, and there will still be some swap options if that's what tickles your fancy. I know the Ad says you can reserve your spot for March 31, but this ad will no longer be running come March 31.  If you already booked it for then I'll be in touch on what size I'll be switching my swap option to. Otherwise, please wait until April and we can get this sponsor party started!

Secondly, thanks to Florida's famously slow mail (seriously, a card from NY took almost 2 weeks!), I didn't get my Valentine's Day goodies in time for the link-up, but they were more than worth the wait!

Hannah spoiled me with all my favorite things, and the amount of pink was just perfect! Dom managed to get his hands on the caramels, so I'm not sure how they tasted..but I have a feeling they were amazing! ;) Thanks again, Hannah!

Thirdly, I have been using Bloglovin' sporadically for awhile now, but realized this weekend that I never "claimed my blog!"  So now, you can actualy follow me via Bloglovin'. :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I have used Bloglovin' in the past just to follow a few of my favorite blogs so I could read them on my phone.  Then, I read that Kaitlyn used it to organize her blogs and decided to try it too.
I am not joking when I say it completely changed the way I read blogs.

Have you ever opened Blogger and gotten so overwhelmed scrolling through the hundreds of blogs you follow that you just give up, and end up missing out on posts by your favorites?  Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I find my blog roll so daunting that I just walk away.

This weekend I sat down with Bloglovin' and took the 160 blogs I actually follow along and put them into a category.
I used Favorites (the blogs I must read daily, bloggy bffs, Kelle Hampton), 20-Somethings, Mommy Blogs, Wedding/Marriage, Travel, Food, Fashion, and Beauty.

So, if I only have 15 minutes? I click right to my favorites and read through them.
If I am suffering an exceptionally bad bout of wanderlust? I hit travel and go to town.
Want to hear about fun date nights, drunken nights, and hilarious antics? My 20-somethings have that covered.
Bloglovin' will keep all posts marked Unread unless you click on them or specifically say to mark them as read. No more missed posts for this girl. :)

I could not recommend this more if you're like me and are always trying to "keep up" with work, life, and blog land!


Happy Monday!

p.s. am I the only one way too excited for Teen Mom to start again? Why can't I stop watching?
p.p.s. Revenge? OMG.

A Week Of Accidental Drunkenness.

Emphasis on the accidental. Really.
It started on Tuesday when I took Dom on his Valentine's Day date.
I mentioned yesterday that I took him for drinks at our favorite spot and then to see his all time favorite movie on IMAX.

Can you believe our movie tickets didn't say Top Gun anywhere? Don't they know I need a picture for the blog? I guess you'll have to do with a weird dark picture of my feet at the theater. I'm so creative.

The movie was so good, Dom loved it for the actual movie, and I didn't mind seeing a young, still sane Tom Cruise larger than life. Oh, and my Miami Vice? Definitely did its job ;).

On Wednesday night there was no food in the house,  so we went to a seafood restaurant Dom's nana has been talking about.

I love finding new restaurants that are not only delicious, but also have such a fun vibe!
This place definitely had both and we will absolutely be back.

Hellooooo ahi tuna!

The part that really made the night standout? The cocktails.

I got a "Bimini Twist," the namesake of the restaurant, which was Southern Comfort, banana something, orange liquor, pineapple, some kind of schnapps and other happiness. 

What I was not expecting was the feeling I got when standing up from the bar to head to our table.

I was drunk.  On a Wednesday. And not like "Weee I'm tipsy!" 

I'm talking cut me off go to bed drunk.

I have always been a lightweight, but I have never had that happen from just one before. Strong doesn't even begin to cover it.

And then we got to the table and Nana got us another round.

Poor Dom, he had two hammered women on his hand.  

I think he was enjoying it until we were talking about Tate and Nana said...

"Can't you find something else in this house to crawl all over you?!"

I think hearing such a sentance come out of your grandmother is something one never recovers from!

Alas, last night, there was more accidental drunkenness. Okay, so last night's wasn't exactly accidental...but we can pretend.

Dom and I were supposed to go to an outdoor Italian restaurant with fabulous gluten-free pasta for dinner, but West Palm decided to have record breaking rain fall.

It literally downpoured. All day long.  So I decided to postpone it to tonight.

Our Valentine's Day quickly became this...

I'm not complaining!

Well all know when there's a bottle of wine...it does not remain empty for long

Aka...another night of not so accidental drunkness.

Then, while I was watching How I Met Your Mother, I smelled something.  Something strawberry.  Something...chocolate!
I went into the kitchen and saw it with my own eyes...
Dom made homemade chocolate strawberry lava cakes!  In my little cupcake maker, no less.

They were delicious!

I can only imagine what is coming tomorrow, when it's the weekend, and you know...socially acceptable. 

;)

Something That Does NOT Make My Speakers Go Boom Boom

Happy Valentine's Day my pretties!
I seriously love this day.  In a relatoinship or not, I think it's great to have a day where you just celebrate love! Who cares if it's a Hallmark holiday? It's still a holiday!

Dom and I actually did Valentine's Day Part 1 on Tuesday night, when I took him for drinks (or one single drink since it was clearly the bartender's first night and bless her heart...it was a disaster) and then to see Top Gun in IMAX 3D! For someone with a plane phobia...it was scary.
But Dom had a blast! I'm not sure what we're doing tonight...but I can't wait! :)
See how I managed to make today all about me? Heh heh heh!


There is, however, one lovey dovey thing that I can't stand. And it seems to pop up a lot around this month.
Are you guilty?

Also, if you have anyone in your life getting all huffy and negative about Valentine's Day because "if someone really loves you they don't need a holiday to celebrate it" I'm calling B.S. on that one! Please show them this on my behalf.

Happy Love Day, friends!

3 Years Ago Today...My Life Changed.

Three years ago today I stepped on a plane and started the greatest adventure of my life.

Three years ago I was terrified, landing all the way around the world alone, with no idea what was waiting for me.

Three years ago I met people who would suction to my heart, and leave me wondering how I lived without them.

Three years ago (on V Day!) I met the love of my life, even though I didn't know it then.

{Now you see why I didn't like him the first 5 months! haha jk love you babe...}

Three years ago I partied until 4am when I had class at 9am.  I said yes to every opportunity, even if I should have been writing a paper.  I danced on tables, cages and boats.  I "slapped the bag" and discovered passion pop.  I spent nights I will never remember with people I will never forget.

  Three years ago I visited the place where my life technically began... (thanks mom and dad!)

{I'm wearing a dress, promise...}

 ...and found the place where I became the person I am today, found my heart and soul, and know I was born to find.

"No matter how far or wide I roam. I still call Australia home."- Peter Allen