White Wine Spritzer

Another Pinterest idea!! This was a simple drink to whip up and is perfect for summer. Although you can hardly call it a recipe, I got it from this blog. Joe and I enjoyed these on a weekend when the temps went up and we needed to cool down. One change I would make next time is less raspberries. I didn't add the whole bag into the pitcher, but we made sure a few made it into our glasses and I didn't care for that. Oh well, live and learn!

White Wine Spritzer

recipe from here

Ingredients

One bottle Moscato wine (chilled)

Equal part Sprite Zero (chilled)

Frozen Rasperries (to your liking)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and service chilled.

Photo Friday #47

Taste of Charlotte was in town this past weekend. Joe and I didn't attend, although we did check it out last year. The event happens to take place right outside my hotel so I bailed out around lunch time on Friday and snapped this picture. Don't worry, I went back to work. Taste of Charlotte is basically a festival of food and non-food vendors. You purchase tokens and each vendor is selling certain items for a couple tokens each. There's some great food from pizza to candied pecans (my absolute favorite last year!)

Cleaning The Washing Machine

As you already know, we're first time home owners. Even though we've lived in the house a little over a year, I still consider ourselves very new at this whole owning thing. Not only does that include mowing the lawn and taking care of the entire exterior, it also means tending to our appliances. When we first moved in we thought there was something wrong with our dishwasher, it wouldn't turn on. Then we realized there was a light switch that controlled it, who knew. It's little things like that we're still learning as we go.

Our washing machine was one of those learning experiences. After using it regularly for about a year it got a mildewy smell that I couldn't shake. Granted, I consider my nose pretty good at smelling. Soemtimes this becomes almost a bad thing. The laundry room is right off our kitchen near the entrance through the garage. We use that entrance every day so the smell wore on me. I made sure to always leave the door to the machine open after each use and I even left the compartment where I put the soap open hoping the water would dry out nicely. Unfortunately that still didn't do the trick. The tray just inside the door would still sit with water and icky stuff started appearing.

What did I do? Well I searched Pinterest of course. I came up with this website on how to give the washing machine a good cleaning. Then one weekend when I had a little extra time I gave it a try.

In my own words, here is what the directions said:

1. Pour 4 cups of bleach down into the soap compartment and run the washer (empty) on the hottest possible cycle. I warn you this might make the area around the laundry room smell like bleach. We started the washer and took off on some errands and returned to the smell. Not too bad, I could handle it.

2. Pour 4 cups distilled vinegar into the soap compartment and run the washer (again empty) on the hottest possible cycle. This cycle will take care of the bleach smell and your washer is good as new!



I wish I had a good after picture for you. I snapped a few, but the lighting by that time of day was not ideal and it didn't show the huge improvement. You can probably tell that we frequently shop at Wal-Mart by these Great Value brand products. Tip: this is a cheap remedy. Give it a try!

Treehouse Vineyards

Ahhh, summer time is here. Joe and I recently soaked up the sun with a trip to the Treehouse Vineyards in Monroe, NC. We actually bought a Groupon months ago to try this place out, but kept waiting for the weather to get nicer. It was well worth the wait. The winery was tucked away in a residential area of Monroe and was kind of hard to find. The Groupon included a tasting and tour for two people, but beforehand we had a little time to kill. To beat the heat we enjoyed wine slushies (I think they called them wine-a-ritas). We sat and drank our slushies while Facetiming with Scott and Amy. Glad you guys called!

Seriously, this was the view behind the main building. The winery got its name from a treehouse that was built by the owner. He built it for his wife and stuck some rocking chairs up there, which is 30 feet in the air. Guests can rent it by the hour and enjoy the view while relaxing with a glass of wine. We never went up there, but heard from some other people that it was pretty neat.

We walked a bit through the vineyard towards the pond. I can't stress enough how beautiful of a day it was. The weather was perfect for this outing.

Each Saturday night the winery has a live band for guests to enjoy. We didn't stick around for that, but it was a great idea. This is definitely a place we will keep in mind for guests. Monroe is about 30 minutes south of where we live so it's not too far away. Totally worth it!

Mr. & Mrs. Will

Did you hear the big news? I have a sister. This is a first for both Joe and I and we love it... well we mean that we love Amy... who just married my brother. Welcome to the family, sis! It was such a beautiful, exciting, and amazing wedding. You get the point. This is basically a (beautiful) mess of pictures. Not many were actually taken by me, but rather stolen from others (via email or Facebook I might add).

The rehearsal dinner was at the Lobster Pot. As expected Joe ate lobster and unexpectedly I did not. They look like a couple ready to make their relationship legal!

The girls. I had the opportunity to meet them all at the wedding shower back in March. They were all so lovely, I'm so glad I got to spend more time with them. It was a fun bunch!

Here is a shot of the shirts Amy gave each girl to wear while getting ready before the wedding. It was perfect! S is for Sara.

And we sipped on mimosas while everyone got their hair done.

The boys also spent some time together before the ceremony. This picture belongs in a magazine, so GQ!

Here is the happy couple right after the ceremony. This was the point of the day where everyone could let out a deep breath and relax. We had a party to attend! Isn't Amy's dress gorgeous?! Her mom hand made the beaded belt. I loved everything about her outfit!

Wait, before the party we had to stick around for pictures. I can't wait to get the professional copies and share some of those! This is really the best picture to show my hair. I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures from the back to remember.

On the trolley we go! You can see the love birds through the window.

Is Scott caught in an off moment or is this an intentional photobomb?? You decide. Either way, a bit creepy I must say.

Poppin' bottles on the trolley.

The one good picture I got of the two of us.

The trolley took us out to Fort Adams. It was a beautiful backdrop, but it was freezing cold. We were all troopers though and got the shots we needed and then ran back to the trolley. Once again, I can't wait to see the professional pictures!

Boys being boys... they had to pose next to the cannon.

We got back to the hotel and headed to the cocktail hour. It was so great to see so many family members there! Once again, kicking myself we didn't take more pictures with the family. Sorry this picture didn't turn out well, Deb!

Again, the very happy couple!!

Amy and her sister, Emily. I love these girls and wish we all lived closer!

Beautiful decor at the head table. All of the flowers were very pretty.

Their first dance.

Amy dancing with her dad.

And Scott dancing with mom.

Cutting the cake... which was delicious by the way!!

After a long night of fun and friends we met for breakfast before the couple took off for home.

Thank you Scott and Amy for a wonderful weekend. Joe and I loved every minute of it and were so happy to be part of your special day. Once again Amy, welcome to the family!!