off to san francisco!

wheels up! off to san francisco!

this afternoon, im leaving to spend the weekend with friends outside of San Francisco, then 5 days in SF for DREAMFORCE 2011, then flying down to San Diego to visit some more friends, and ending my trip with a 24 hour stop in LA to visit another friend. if my friends would stop moving to california, this wouldn't be such a major trip!! see you sukkas in 11 days - i'll be posting in my down time (umm...so ya, talk to ya never)

'lasagna'

This "lasagna" is soooo easy and delicious!!! i put quotations around lasagna, because there are no noodles. the various veggie layers act as my noodles.

make this as you would any lasagna. brown the meat, put in the layers as you wish (sauce, cheese, meat,  uncooked veggies - in whatever order. just put the sauce at the bottom so it doesnt stick!!)

in mine, i used yellow onions (diced at the bottom mixed in with sauce), yellow squash, red bell pepper, and zucchini. and then for my cheese i used 4cheese italian (reduced fat!) and a bit of shaved padana cheese (i think?? it's like parm). and ground turkey - but you could use ground chicken or beef as well!

hmm guess which side is mine, and which side is sissy's?

 bake at 400 degrees 25-30 minutes, covered with foil. then take the foil off and add the cheese to bake for another 15-20 minutes. i put mine in the broiler on hi for about 4 minutes at the end to get that crunchy, browned cheese effect!

make this! and enjoy!!!

lusting over....

la mer wrap watch - need it.

this hammock on the water - pleaseeeee. i'll even take that extremely american golden retriever.

DIY confetti art, yes please.

these gold/crystal champagne glasses are to DIE for. need.

i really do realize how lucky and blessed i am to have what i have. but that doesn't mean i cant lust for more....

flights booked!!

remember when i said i was heading to Turkey for work? well, my friends, flights are finally booked! it's official - i'll be in europe from sept 17th-sept28th!

ankara, turkey (not nearly as cool as the other places :))

istanbul, turkey

places i'll be visiting: include (have to add: a flight through munich during oktoberfest - 4 hours of people watching!) Work: Ankara, Turkey; Istanbul, Turkey & FUN: Athens, Greece; Santorini, Greece!!! ahhhhhh!

athens, greece

santorini, greece

any suggestions, tips, places to go, people to see?!?! i'll take anything! can not wait!

Friday!!

{*via}

i've been a terrible blogger this week and last - life is too freaking busy (aka - too busy watching dance moms and russian dolls on lifetime). i'll be back next week with a few recipes and some pics from yet another bachelorette party that i'm attending this weekend!

cheeeers to friday!

i miss them already.

most of the girls are spread across the country (luckily, most are on east coast!) - and i miss everyone already. still cant get over the epic weekend in NYC!

let's hear it for NY!

sneak preview of an AMAZING weekend celebrating jessica's upcoming wedding

we are at Beekmans Beach Bar and Beer Garden (something like that)

these streets will make you feel brand new

heading to NYC in the morning for a long weekend to celebrate jessica's bachelorette party with these ladies!! we have all been great friends since high school! jessica's sister, tracie, is an event planner in NY, and her and jess' other sister, rachelle, have planned QUITE the weekend for us! i can't wait to share the details when i return next week!

cant wait to see these two get married in november! i'll be the bawling bridesmaid. i am so so so happy for Andy and Jessica, they got together (at my house..thank you very much) during beach week after senior year of high school and have been together ever since. i love them both to death. me and andy used to ride the bus together in 6th grade when i moved to darnestown. i met jessica freshman year of high school when we tried out for poms together and made the team.

<3 love - its a great thing.

new favorite {bottomless} brunch spot!

3 or 4 hours into brunch....we scoped out this table so hard.

heyo! happy monday!

recently, i read about Scion Restaurant (Dupont, DC) on Bitches Who Brunch.  i immediately knew that i'd love this place when i read "make any drink bottomless for just $5 extra". turns out, the food was pretty dang good (two of us got the Kobe Burger and two of us got the Steak&Eggs), and the drink specials far surpassed our expectations once we finally understood how they worked.  four of the eight specialty drinks can be made bottomless - including the bellini&mimosa (those are interchangeable), and then the bacon bloody mary&regular bloody mary (also interchangeable).  the place ran out of orange juice, so mimosa was immediately knocked off our list. the guys ordered bellinis and i ordered a bloody mary  - all bottomless. it was like we were signing a contract since we couldnt switch around. after a few sips of one of the stronger bloody marys ive ever hard, i realized i needed to" buy out of my contract immediately" and switch to bellinis, or my day would end early (which it did anyway, but thats later on in the story).

so....we drank bottomless bellinis - which our waiter, Pablo, served to us in carafe's.  he kept it full and kept our drinks full. bottomless flows until 3:30pm which is nice considering we got there at 1pm on the dot.

our conversations were absolutely hilarious and the actual brunch/bottomless part was amazing. mid-bottomless bellini, we realize the table on the patio has a tap on it (see pic below), and immediately - it had to be ours. we scouted that table until the squatters left, and moved outside around 4, with our new friends from the table next to us inside.  this was just in time for "power hour" in our bottomless-drowned minds.  we realize two key things when we start power hour - 1) iphones arent loud enough to play over dc traffic & 2) power hour is miserable/dangerous when played with an IPA.

anywho - we drank a bit more and this is when i decided it was prob best that i send myself home (around 5:30ish??) - the boys stayed and i hopped in the first taxi i saw.  it was the most aggressive brunch i think ive ever had - and we all know i like to day drink.  i got home and slept til 10:30pm. woops.

taps...ON THE TABLE!? yes, please! the tap counted how many pints you poured, pretty genius.

POURING down rain towards the end of brunch. holllyyyy moly.

i can NOT wait to go back. Pablo - please have my table ready! i'll bring the portable speakers!

some of my favorite daily reads {funny}

hey guys! thought i'd share some sites that have been seriously cracking me up recently!!

Suri's Burn Book

Betches Love This Site

Know What's F*cking Crazy

check them out, they will bring you lots of laughs!

{sign via pinterest, bubbles via pinterest}

Happy Friday! hope you have lots of fun things planned! I am getting Brazilian Keratin Treatment in my hair again, can't wait! and then a champagne brunch tomorrow with friends! other than these few things, the world {DC} is my oyster! <3

LOOK AT THIS DOG!

Minion the horse dog

180lb dog with a bone in your face, thats normal right?

haha this is Holly's dog that I was talking about!

180lb Brazilian Mastiff - holy moly! haha cracks me up, him and holly's husband james are besties! too cute!

Pedro&Vinny's Burritos

read the Arl Now review for pedro&vinny's here

and now my review: A+

here's why:

• fresh ingredients daily
• home made "goose sauce" - mango habenero sauce! (omg!) - and they bottle it for sale!
• home made cilantro habenero sauce! (double omg!)
• combo of the two (....and i DIE)
• reasonable prices - $6.45 for a steak burrito 
• steamed tortillas - REALLY steamed (30 seconds or more), not chipotle flash steamed.
• the owner, John Rider really made the experience special. your probably thinking "how can anything that has to do with a burrito shack be special?" - well - he was super personable, introduced himself and went through the whole menu with us and told us how his DC customers have been ordering for years. i went with all of his suggestions, and i couldnt have been happier.

i'm sorta worried about myself now that i know its walking distance from my house and open til 3am on weekends, but other than that, i'm seriously pumped that this restaurant opened in our Columbia Pike neighborhood!

Just joined Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

i needed to keep better track of all of the millions of blogs that i follow! you guys should follow me there, too!

while youre at it:

follow me on twitter: @madeleinefuster
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yay :)

happy august!

happy august to you, and you, and you! so many days to celebrate! as always, meg from mimi+meg posts the most awesome holidays to these monthly calendars!

my personal favorites:

• international beer day - yes please!
• left-handers day - that's me!
• cupcake day - um, hello, have you read my bloggy?
• goat cheese MONTH ?!!? conveniently, i have some on my salad today for lunch!
• lemon juice day -more like lemon juice life. i'll be sure to use it on the 29th.

enjoy this last month of summer! :)