The Weekly Collective: Nerding out & why Martha Stewart is my hero.

This past week was full of dinner parties, date nights, friends, and food.  It's rare to have a free weekend in the middle of wedding season, but hey, I am not complaining. Since I didn't shoot any weddings this weekend, Saturday night my friend Drew and I decided to throw a little dinner party for our husbands. Granted it was a very small "party" (it was just the four of us) because to be honest, I don't think I could actually cook a meal for more than four people. Let's face it, if it wasn't for ladies like Martha Stewart, Giada de Laurentiis, and Ina Garten, my poor husband would probably eat nothing but canned tuna fish and eggs, and since he's allergic to eggs, well, you get the point. Anyway I pulled out my handy dandy Martha Stewart Everday Food Magazine and I found some great summer dishes for us to recreate for the boys. Here's the end result...

{Heirloom Tomato Tartlets.  I will definitely be making these again. They were a huge crowd pleaser.}

{Lemony Pasta with Spinach and Shrimp- despite the ugly photo, the pasta was actually quite delicious. This was one of the easiest things I've made, EVER. Simply cook the noodles, throw the shrimp in with the noodles 3 minutes before they done cooking, strain, and toss in fresh spinach, lemon juice, and lemon zest (and of course salt and pepper). Voila!}

We also made a salad in which we actually combined two of Martha's recipes and adapted it as our own. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it so I will have to bring it back on the blog later since a recipe without a photo is pretty much useless.

This week I took my nerdiness to a new level.  Not only did we get our Harry Potter on yesterday, but Will and I have spent most of our free time this week watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As most of you know, my husband is a HUGE nerd. And I mean that in the most endearing way. He reads comic books, is obsessed with Star Wars, and I'm pretty sure he's convinced Spiderman is a real person.  Needless to say I never expected to marry someone with such special interests, yet, here we are.  And since we met I've been forced (I was basically told that not liking Star Wars was grounds for divorce) to get in touch with my inner nerd, and I think I'm actually starting to "get it."

{Kaysha and I getting pumped for HP}

On the subject of Harry Potter, I have to say I wasn't entirely impressed.  Yes, it was good as far as your typical Harry Potter film goes, but as the GRAND FINALE, it disappointed. Of course that's my opinion. I will still forever be a Harry Potter fan, and I am sad to see it end. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

I'll leave you with a cute photo of Will and I taken by Kaysha during our (double) date night...

Happy Monday!!!