A Lovely Lake Weekend

A few weekends ago we took a quick trip to the lake with my parents and sister (yeah, yeah... I'm way behind on blogging). There was lots of fun to be had: pretty views, dinner on a boat, jet skis, and swinging into the lake on a rope! How about I paint a picture with.... pictures?

Best thing about working (rather than law school)? WEEKENDS. Beautiful, sunny, glorious weekends.

Garlic Lime Pork Chops

I used to think I didn't like pork chops. But really, I think I just hadn't found the right recipes yet. This recipe makes a delicious, mouth-watering dish that convinced me once and for all that I actually do like pork chops. Plus, the lime makes it so summery and seasonal!

Recipe adapted from here. 
Ingredients:4 lean boneless pork chops (4-6 oz each)4 cloves garlic, minced1 tsp cumin1 tsp chili powder1 tsp paprikaJuice of two small limesLime zestSalt and pepper1/4 red onion, chopped1 tbsp olive oilFresh cilantro (optional, for garnish)
Directions:1. Trim any remaining fat off the pork chops. Put the pork chops in a large bowl, and season both sides with the garlic, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Squeeze the lime juice into the bowl. Sprinkle lime zest and red onion over the pork chops.2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge overnight (at least 12 hours or so). 3. Heat olive oil in a pan over the stove. Place marinated pork chops into the pan and cook over medium high heat for about 4-6 minutes per side, or until browned.4. Garnish with cilantro and serve! 

(in the bowl, ready to marinate)

(cooking in the skillet)

(nice and browned on one side)

(it's delicious served with cilantro lime rice!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

My First Trip to Los Angeles!

I always have a hard time making time to write blog entries during the summer. I think it's because the weekends are so busy. Usually, I knock out four or five posts all in one sitting on a Saturday or Sunday and schedule them to post throughout the week. Unfortunately, that strategy doesn't work when your weekends are full of trips and weddings/holidays/birthdays/etc.!

One of those weekend trips happened a couple weeks ago - I went to Los Angeles! The law firm I'm working for sent all their summer associates from all over the country to LA for a few days, so I ended up going on my very first business trip and my very first trip to LA!

We stayed at the Beverly Hilton, and I got my own room because I'm the only female summer associate in the Houston office!

We spent most of our time there at the hotel (listening to various talks and stuff), but there was some fun stuff too. One night we had an 80's themed costume party. Some of us got together and went as the characters from Mario Brothers. 

I had quite a bit of fun being Princess Peach!

There was plenty of good food (and drinks)...

Sprinkles Cupcakes truck

In n Out Burger truck

Some kind of delicious taco truck... I can't remember what it was called!

Dinner at The Churchill in LA

We had a couple hours of free time one day, so we took a quick trip to Rodeo Drive... so many fun stores that I can't afford! Haha. 

So, now I can say I've been to Los Angeles. I feel like I still need to go back and see it again (because we hardly left the hotel while we were there), but it was still fun to get out of the office for a few days and get to know the other summer associates a little better.

Oh, and also, I saw Russell Brand in the hotel. And he was having some sort of marketing party for an upcoming movie. And the party had brownies and cookies and stuff. And there were leftovers, so they were giving them away. And I got to eat one of Russell Brand's brownies. And it was my second-coolest random celebrity encounter ever (the first being when I met one of the Trading Spaces designers in New York and she actually took a picture with me). I know, I know... I'm totally lame. 

I'll get better about the lack of blog posts... I'm just trying to get myself on some sort of blogging routine that works with my current day-to-day schedule!

Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken

I don't know about y'all, but I love easy recipes that taste good. There's something really wonderful about just throwing some ingredients together and sticking it in the oven. This is one of those recipes - easy, but tasty!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
2 apples, peeled and grated
Juice of one lemon
1/3 red onion, chopped
6-8 slices bacon

Directions:
1. Combine BBQ sauce, lemon juice, onion, and grated apple in a small bowl.
2. Wrap each chicken breast with two pieces of bacon. Place the chicken breasts in a glass baking dish.
3. Spread the BBQ mixture over the chicken breasts. Cover the dish in foil.
4. Bake (covered in foil) for 40 minutes at 350. Remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes.

(grated apple)

(BBQ sauce mixture)

(chicken in bacon)

(ready for the oven!)

(all done!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Craft Room: Painted and Furnitured!

The craft room is now painted! What a difference it made too... I'm absolutely in love with the gray. SUCH an improvement. I'm also loving all the Ikea furniture. So far, so good with this room! 
Here's my pretty gray craft room in its almost-finished state:

Here are the fabrics that I'm using for pillows and seat cushions:

This little nook still needs some curtains. The chair on the left has a finished seat cushion, but I still need to do the other one. I think I'm going to refinish the chairs in a similar dark wood (the current finish is faded and scratched, so they need to be refinished, but I really like the color so I think I'll stick with it). 

Here's my sewing machine desk! I spray painted that chair in a purple that I thought was perfect, but it's SO NOT perfect. Haha. I'm planning on repainting it something darker and moodier (more like the sofa color). Right now it's a little 16-year-old-girl-ish, and it's driving me crazy! Of course, I still need to figure out a better place for the printer too (rather than it's current spot, precariously perched on the filing cabinet). 

I'm SO happy with these bookshelves. I can't wait to put pretty things in the open one and fill the closed one with lots of storage stuff! 

So, that's where the craft room is at right now! What do y'all think? I'm super excited to hang things on the walls, make some pillows and seat cushions, get organized in there, and replace the light fixture. Lots to do!