drink : grapefruit basil paloma

to celebrate cinco de mayo, we made grapefruit basil paloma cocktails last night. they were so delicious that i wanted to share the recipe here with you! it's a variation on the original paloma, "the dove." it is a citrusy, fresh take on a gimlet or margarita and the tequila base makes it perfect for this holiday. i substituted the typical club soda for st. germaine liqueur to give the cocktail a floral tone and added my favorite summer herb, basil.

grapefruit basil paloma

1 part grapefuit juice

1 part blanco tequila

1 part st. germaine liqueur

squeeze of lime

muddled basil leaves

throw all off this in a shaker with ice, muddle basil and lime, and shake.

pour, garnish with basil, and enjoy!

this drink is equally as great with gin or vodka, so the liquor is interchangeable. let me know if you try this one.

enjoy and happy cinco de mayo!

xoxo

madeline

date idea: outdoor movie night and firepit

i'm back this week after last week of no blogging. it was a crazy week. to relax during this time of year, we love to pull out our adirondack chairs and have an outdoor movie night. at the beginning of november before the leaves had fallen, instead of our typical date out at a restaurant or movie we decided to stay in.

our s'mores essentials are simple: marshmellows, graham crackers, nutella or reeses cups, fruit preserves, and roasters. when we host movie nights, we like to have options for everyone to get something they like. we recently invested in a projector screen and roku player to stream movies and have really loved it. we hung simple s hooks indoors and outdoors to mount our projector screen. all you will need is a roku player, speaker, and screen or white wall. we used a sheet with grommets for a long time to save up for the screen (which was surprisingly inexpensive). josh made these adirondacks for us to enjoy year round and they are so comfortable even for a 2 hour movie. i will be doing a tutorial on how to build your own adirondack chairs soon!

we chose the woody allen thriller, match point. we love to play thrillers or old movies; it just feels drive-in-esque. the fire is really perfect throughout the movie to keep warm and we brought cozy blankets out also. here are some essentials that we recommend...

1. stump from west elm.com. 2.cross blanket from terrain.com. 3. matchpoint movie from amazon prime. 4. marshmellow roasters from terrrain.com. 5. roku player from amazon.com. 6. firepit from terrain.com. 7. projector screen from amazon.com.

happy monday.

xoxo madeline

fall drink: mulled wine

when the weather gets cold enough, i love making festive fall drinks. this mulled wine recipe is one of my all time favorites - given to me by my sister-in-law, brittney. you can add whiskey if you like the flavor or keep it simple. josh and i will be enjoying this around the firepit this weekend.

mulled wine

ingredients 1/4 whiskey or brandy, optional 1 bottle red wine, i use cabernet sauvignon or merlot 1/3 cup honey or sugar 2 cinnamon sticks 1-2 oranges, sliced 7 whole cloves 1 tsp allspice or ginger, can also add star anise

directions combine all ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes. add brandy or whiskey if you like the flavor. strain and serve, serves 4-6. enjoy!

xoxo madeline

catbird seat

i owe a few promised posts. my little family (my husband and dog) just got done with our nightly routine of walking and fixing dinner together. i said i was going to post my ottoman restyle and got a little too lazy sunday, but then i realized i have still not posted pictures of birthday dinner at catbird seat. it was really a perfect night. the restaurant has a set menu and personalized mine to be pescetarian. each course had a wine pairing (so delicious!)

{outdoor sign and one happy birthday girl}

{oyster + apples, wild rice krispy | hot chicken}

{roasted vegetables, beets, and crispy rice | poached halibut with egg yolk}

{chef + wine pairing | roasted fall vegetables}

{egg with custard + thyme | bourbon beads with cherry crisp}

{pretty + personal menu}

awesome food, awesome night. thank you sweetheart. ottoman restyle tomorrow.

birthday week

So my long awaited birthday surprise date was Wednesday night....

and my husband surprised me with a dinner at the Catbird Seat! I secretly act like I don't like surprises, but I always end up liking the end result. More to come on this dinner on tomorrow's post - basically it will be all food pictures. I wore my new Anthropologie dress. My two best friends and I treated Anthropologie's sale room like it was our own personal shopping experience Saturday and bought everything.

My husband, Josh, surprised me with something I have been eagerly anticipating, an Instax polaroid camera!  I have been playing with it all weekend.

{my new fujifilm instax}

While we were at Catbird, I could not stop staring at this beautiful light fixture (sorry for the poor picture). I knew I had seen it before and have been searching around for it and found it finally.

{lighting at catbird seat}

It is a Lindsay Adelman, lighting genius, of course. Below also in a mint version (!).

{lindsay adelman: click to link}

Since it is is out of my price range and I have been contemplating purchasing or DIYing a Sputnik style, I was excited to find this inexpensive DIY version from her.

{you make it: click to link}

we are relaxing and recharging today (read: spending the day on pinterest) and visiting with friends tonight. have a great saturday.