Just a splash of OJ for color

I LOVE mimosas. They are by far my favorite Sunday beverage. I have tried my share of champagnes and juice combinations and have found many that I like (and a few that I did not like... sorry Barefoot Bubbly). Here is my recommendation for building the best mimosa:

INGREDIENTS:

Ballatore Gran Spumante Champagne

This lovely bubbly sparkling wine beverage is sweet, fruity and very affordable at only $10 a bottle. It's made from Muscat grapes grown around Asti, a town in Italy. It's also low in alcohol which is nice since it is a Sunday beverage afterall. I'm not the only one who likes this-- my friends like it too AND it won a Double Gold Medal at the 2005 California State Fair Wine Competition. I'll drink to that!

Tropicana Pure Valencia Orange Juice

This 100% orange juice is crafted from the top 3% of Tropicana’s Florida orange harvest and contains only the juice from select Valencia oranges. Valencia oranges are known for their deep, rich orange color and great taste. Just like the commercials say, Valencia oranges spend more than a year ripening on the tree. The deep orange color also gives the mimosa a pretty color!

DIRECTIONS:

Mix champagne and orange juice in a large pitcher. Keep chilled and pour into champagne flutes to serve. If you're entertaining (or just feeling like being fancy) add some fresh raspberries for color -- you just need 1 or 2 per glass.

I hope you have an opportunity to try this combination and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you have any other great recommendations!

Cheers!

-Blondie

Changes are a-comin'

Well, it's been quite some time since my last post (oh, I feel like I'm at confession. Forgive me Father, I have sinned. It has been many many days since my last confession.) In my defense, however airtight it is or not, I have been incredibly busy with wedding stuff, as well as some other changes that are taking place.

The wedding stuff is going really well - I had my shower in Chicago this past weekend and had a wonderful time. My aunts put on quite the party and my friends were wonderful, coming out of the city to the burbs, bearing gifts, their energy and cheers every time I opened a wine glass, margarita glass, martini glass, etc. My mom was thrilled to meet my friends - it's amazing how foreign our friends become to our parents as we get older. I always talk about my friends, especially to my mom, and it was great for her to meet them (and, hopefully, them to meet her!)

The shower really made things seem real - not that I wasn't thinking this was really happening, but things just really hit home with all the people I care about around me for such an exciting time. I can't wait to start my life with the fiance and finally live together in the same state, much less in the same house! That might take some getting used to :) We always joke around that we're going to have to get two apartments since we're so used to living apart that being in the same house might make us crazy!

Speaking of crazy, there's lots going on in these next few weeks. Visiting the fiance probably for the last time in Missouri before the wedding, the bachelorette party is the following weekend (BIG thanks for the cutest invitations EVER to Brown Eyed Girl and Blondie!!!), then it's my hair and makeup trial, followed by Easter, my shower on the fiance's side and getting ready with the final preparations for the wedding and our big move.

I'm really going to try to keep blogging during all this, but I fear that it might be all wedding-related, which I can't imagine is always the most stimulating of reads for anyone other than me! I'll work to vary my topics and hopefully not bore everyone to death with the wedding details.

So, to close out on another subject, I need to learn how to cook. With all the stuff that we got at the shower, I'd say about 85% of it was kitchen-related. I don't know what to do with a blender/food processor outside of making margaritas with it. Time to start studying up and talking more with Blondie, my resident cooking-expert friend! Any suggestions on good starter cookbooks or Web sites to be checking out? Gotta fulfill my wifely duties in T minus 74 days! (not that I'm counting) :)

-Big Red

Houston, we have a problem...

OK, so there is no problem, well, not with me anyway... but that is the line that stood out to me most of the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotes. Quite a memorable list which includes many famous lines including "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," "Bond. James Bond," and my boyfriend's favorite, "May the Force be with you." You can check them all out here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI

However, I couldn't help but notice a few important quotes were missing. Here are some of my faves that didn't make the list...

"You can't be the absolute final word on drivers licenses" ... "Girlie, as far as you're concerned, I'm the messah of the DMV." - Cher and the DMV guy from Clueless (1995)

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time." - Frank from Old School (2003)

"I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party." - Cal Naughton, Jr. from Talladega Nights (2006)

"PC lobe letter? What the f*ck does that mean?" - Michael Bolton from Office Space (1999)

"On wednesdays we wear pink!" - Karen from Mean Girls (2004)

"Hi. I'm Elle Woods and this is Bruiser Woods. We're both Gemini vegetarians." - Elle Woods from Legally Blonde (2001).

What are some of your favorites?!

-Blondie