Food, Olympics, Food Olympics...and repeat

My weekend consisted of two things: watching the Olympics and eating good food and I loved it!

Friday night we stayed in to watch the Opening Ceremonies. I'll say what everyone else is saying and admit that it wasn't as good as Beijing, but I was still entertained. We used our free pizza and ice cream from my blate at the Reds game last Friday and relaxed with our kitties on the couch.

Saturday I worked on some orders for my Etsy shop, went to the mall, then Drew and I went to dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, The Cactus Pear. Fish Tacos and Mango margaritas and then it was back to the Olympics. Anyone catch the beach volleyball game? That and the women's gymnastics are my favorites!

Sunday I made Hazelnut Macarons with my macaron making partner Courtney and our friend Bekah.

They don't top our Blueberry Cheesecake macarons, but were still ah-mazing. So amazing that they deserve a post of their own so I'll post about these later this week. Oh and then I went home and guess what we did? That's right...watched the Olympics. Sometimes low key weekends are the best kind!

One more piece of exciting weekend news...Gentri Lee asked me to be her blog of the week this week so hop on over and check out her wonderful blog!

The time I got a pony...

I always love going to my Aunt & Uncle's farm because there's always a cute animal running around for me to love on. They own a horsemanship school so there's never a shortage of horses either! When we were younger my sister and I took horseback riding lesson from my Aunt and I wish I made time to ride more! My Aunt Pam is full of spunk and several of her horses have won Grand champion in competitions.

 My Uncle Alan they call the horse whisperer because he is 100% true cowboy, spurs and all.

Being out on their farm with their horses always makes me think of my pony. When my sister and I were younger we got a pony for Easter...we named him Blondie of course.

As you can see below I have always been a take charge person...haha.

 Best Easter ever.

Knock You Naked Brownies

You are in for a treat today...literally. For the Bachelorette finale on Sunday I wanted to make something yummy to take to my friend Andrea's house and I found the perfect thing! Knock you naked brownies from who else...Pioneer Woman. I've been told I should get a commission for how many times I mention her on this here blog. 

1. Assemble your ingredients: 
-1 box (18.5 oz) German Chocolate cake mix
-1 cup chopped pecans
-1/3 cup evaporated milk
-1/2 cup evaporated milk (additional)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
-60 caramels (go ahead and unwrap them before you start anything else!)
-1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on top)
2. Making the brownie mixture
-In a large bowl add the cake mix, melted butter, chopped pecans and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Stir together until mixed...mixture will be extremely thick!
3. Creating the bottom brownie layer
Divide the mixture in half and press that half down into an 8x8 or 9x9 well greased pan. (I also used flour to keep the brownies from sticking)
And my quote was inspired by all those comics floating around Pinterest. Enjoy!
4. Baking the bottom brownie layer
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. While it's baking do step 5.
5. Melting the caramels
Boil water in a sauce pan and place your unwrapped caramels in a double boiler on top of the pan. Add 1/2 cup evaporated milk and stir.
6. The ooey gooey caramel layer
Once the caramels are melted and smooth pour the mixture on top of the bottom brownie layer.
7. More chocolate is never bad
Add 1/3 cup of chocolate chips to the caramel layer
8. Adding the top layer
This was the hardest part in my opinion...take the other half of your brownie mixture and form it into the shape of your brownie pan the best you can. Place on top of the caramel and put back in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes. When cooled add the powdered sugar!
9. Eat one now!

Another Pioneer Woman success and Jef won Emily's heart so we were happy girls. Cheers to that!

A Blate...Cincinnati Style

This weekend was definitely a good one. Not only did I get to go ziplining with my sweet husband, but I also got to meet one of my favorite bloggers, Julie from the Smitten Mintons.

I've followed Julie's blog for about a year now, but with her living in California and me being here in Ohio I never thought we would ever get to actually meet. To my surprise Julie was going to be in Cincinnati for a family reunion and so we set up a blate...Cincinnati style. Her husband Doug is a huge baseball fan so we met at the Reds Stadium for a game. I also got to meet 2 other bloggers Brittany and Emma who also live in Cincinnati. We had a great time showing off our city!

Not only was the weather amazing, but we got to see a Red's Victory and see a free fireworks show!

Julie's first Skyline cheese coney! She loved it!

11 strike outs at the Reds Stadium=Free pizza and ice cream for everyone! You just can't beat that!

 Julie and I were obviously excited about our free food! Speaking of free stuff...Drew ended up catching a tshirt in his baseball glove as well. Win and win.

We ended the night sitting out at Fountain square with Graeters ice cream in hand. It was a wonderful blate! Isn't blogging just the best?

You can check out Julie's post about her Cincinnati visit here.

Ziplining...check

For our anniversary this year we decided instead of exchanging gifts we would cross an item off our Cincinnati Bucket list. We chose to go ziplining and had the best time! We went on the OZone Zipline Adventures at Camp Kern where they had brand new River ziplines!

Here is a map with our zipline course. We did the river tour so all our zipline stops are in blue. We did a total of 7 different ziplines including 2 across the Little Miami River.

We had a brief orientation then we got geared up and headed to our first zipline via a sky bridge.

Our zipline guides told us they would be taking pictures and posting them to a site where we could purchase them later, but I decided to risk taking my camera up with me because...well you are bloggers I don't need to explain myself!  Our guides were awesome and I felt very safe and relaxed the whole time we zipped. Now I'll let the pictures do the talking...

 

We both loved every second of our Zipline adventure together and want to go back again in the fall! Have you ever been ziplining?  

Andrea+Ryan

Last Saturday marked our one and only wedding of the summer. It's weird how as you get older you go to fewer and fewer weddings and more and more baby showers! Drew's cousin Andrea got married and one of my favorite things she did was to have caricature artists at the reception! Here's the day in pictures...

Dress: Dillards, Necklace: Bridesmaid gift, Shoes: Jessica Simpson

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Friday's Letters

Dear Sweet Husband, I'm so glad we had a fun evening celebrating our 3rd anniversary. Can't wait to see what adventures year #4 bring.

Dear Bella Luna, I'm glad we decided to re-visit you. Half price wine, my favorite person and your blueberry, chocolate chip bread pudding made for a wonderful evening.

Dear Zipline, We are visiting you today and my stomach is in knots with anticipation. I can't wait to zipline across the river! I hope I don't chicken out. Ah!  Dear Julie, We get to meet TODAY! I can't wait to give you a hug and take lots and lots of pictures. Dear Reds, Please give us a win tonight!! Dear Knock You Naked Brownies, I can't wait to make you and then eat you at our Bachelorette finale party on Sunday! Dear Husband (again), Are you ready for today? Can't wait to cross another thing off our Cincinnati Bucket list together!

Love, Allison

3 years!

3 years ago today I made the best decision of my life...to marry Drew Renner. I can't imagine my life without him. He makes me so incredibly happy. I am completely myself around him and he makes me want to be a better person. He makes me laugh, he is constantly surprising me with his handiness and thoughtfulness and he is a dreamer, which is inspiring. He loves animals about as much as I do and he loves to help others. He is a "looker" yet he is so humble. He takes care of himself, is disciplined and is very stylish. When I am sad he can turn my blues around in an instant with a look, a joke or a silly voice. We make a great team and I know God made this man just for me. I am forever thankful and honored to be his wife. Thank you for an amazing 3 years hunny...you make marriage easy!

And here's a little video sneak peak of our special day...
Allison and Drew's Wedding Day from Jeff Hill Video on Vimeo.

For even more of our wedding details you can check out our Wedding ABC's.