Kendra's Kampfire

Friday, September 26, 2014

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday my beautiful friends! Since Friday is everyone's favorite day, I've decided to make this Friday post all about my favorites! And this Friday Favorite is a doozy. If you like ooey, gooey, and sweet, this fall dessert is perfect for you! I made it on Monday afternoon, and Mike and I liked it so much, it's already gone. Whoopsie. But that's what this time of year is for, isn't it? Cooking up cozy meals in the kitchen as we slowly watch our waistbands expand while we think about what we're most thankful for. This is what my holiday seasons consist of...right along with my yearly New Year's Resolution to get into shape...this year will be no exception!

I can't take all the credit, this was Ms. Shay Shull's wonderful post, and the Petrellese household is thanking their lucky stars for her!

Shopping List

1 can of refrigerated biscuits (I used Grands Buttermilk)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 apples, thinly sliced (I only ended up using 1, but you can add more apples if that's what you fancy)

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons cream cheese

splash of milk

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Spray a loaf pan with Pam and set aside

Cut biscuits in half. In a small bowl, combine your sugar and cinnamon together.

Toss biscuits in sugar mixture to coat.

Arrange slices of biscuits and slices of apple in your pan alternating between each

Sprinkle any remaining sugar down over the top of your bake and place your butter on top too

Bake 25 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let rest in pan 5 minutes before removing from loaf pan by inverting it onto a platter.

While the bread is cooling, make your icing. Combine cream cheese, milk and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in more powdered sugar if the icing is too thin and more milk if it's too thick. Drizzle icing over cooled bread.

Trust me, this dessert is worth every single calorie, seriously. If you are looking for an easy, festive, fall dessert, then look no further! Happy Baking!

# Friday Favorites

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Work It Wednesday

Kendra Petrellese 7:47 PM 0 Comments

Alright alright my stylish girls! Today's post is in honor of style! Now, those of you who know me, know that I like to keep my style super simple and comfy. And lately I've been trying to punch it up a little with my accessories. So here is an outfit that is a great transition from the summer to the fall months. As it gets colder, go ahead and add a scarf or a jacket and your look will be complete!

Take a look and let me know what you think!

super causual but still cute

olive tone, perfect for fall!

accessories to punch up the look a notch

blurry picture, but my favorite booties

Shirt: Buckle

Jeans: Nordstrom Rack

Necklace: Premier Designs

Earrings: Buckle

Booties: Cathy Jean

Would love to hear your style tips and tricks!!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Bling Bling

Kendra Petrellese 6:51 AM 0 Comments

Do you love sparkle? Do you love bling? Do you always leave the house with accessories? Are you looking for new ways to punch up your simple style/wardrobe? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then let me tell more about Lia Sophia. Lia Sophia is a company that creates beautiful, high end jewelry, and if you keep reading, some of these beautiful pieces could be yours!

My brother's girlfriend, Melyssa, is starting to sell Lia Sophia and is in the process of building up her business. What does this mean you ask? Well, basically, she gets to build up her jewelry collection while making money, doesn't that sound like a dream job?! She is starting to host parties, and let me tell you, I LOVE going to jewelry parties! Here are some reasons why:

1. It's the perfect opportunity for a girls night! Invite your girlfriends over for some sweet treats, wine, and quality time.

2. Not only do you get to catch up and spend some girl time, you also get to shop for jewelry in the comfort of your own home! No stresses of fighting the masses in the mall to get a look at a pair of earrings with someone hovering right over you, this is a much more intimate environment.

3. You have a professional giving you styling advice. These ladies know their stuff. You can try on every piece of jewelry they have laid out, and they will give you their honest opinion on if it suits you, will show you different ways to wear the pieces, and will help pick out pieces that suit your own personal style.

4. You have the opportunity to earn free jewelry yourself (and let's be real, who doesn't love free bling?!)! After you attend a party, if you decide to host one of your own, depending on how much jewelry is purchased at your party, you will earn 50% of the profits and get to pick out your own jewelry!

Check out some pics from our fun Friday night!

Meagan and I modeling some Lia Sophia necklaces

Some of the spread

Necklace picked out just for me by Melyssa!

The beautiful Melyssa so excited to start her bizz!

Cheesin

Some of the interchangeable necklaces

2 of my Faves

Attempting to put necklaces on each other...this is 1 glass of wine deep

Modeling our bling

If you are interested at all, please comment and ask me any questions and I would be happy to tell you more about jewelry parties!!

# Bling

Friday, September 19, 2014

Wake Up and Smell the Roses

Kendra Petrellese 7:18 AM 0 Comments

Roses, Dahlias, Lilies, Carnations, the list goes on and on. I am lucky enough to have an amazing aunt who works in a nursery part time (score!) and was kind enough to offer to take her flower-stupid niece shopping for wedding florals. We went to the Flower Mart in the city, and boy did it not disappoint. It was like an outside strip mall, but once you walk into what looked like a small shop on the outside, it was a continuous warehouse that went on forever!

We weren't going to decide on anything yesterday, it was moreso for me to get an idea of what I might want. Together with my Maid of Honor, we set off and started browsing, and holy cow! *Disclaimer: As the bride, this is the one area that I am not familiar with. Before talking to my MOH, (who just got married last month, check out my post on her wedding here) I didn't really realize that my bridesmaids would have different bouquets than me, and the centerpieces would be different as well-that's a lot of different flowers to pick out! There were so many different colors and choices, it was a little overwhelming, but so fun. We were able to pick and pull different flowers to see if their colors mixed well, and if the textures meshed, it was like playing with furry legos!

I had an idea of colors before going in, but after seeing the different types of flowers, I think I have changed my mind. In fact, the flowers are actually leading me to change the colors of the bridesmaids dresses-stay tuned for that decision later! After yesterday, I think I'm leaning towards a white-ish flower as the main floral, surrounded by different pops of color with some texture thrown in-like maybe some eucalyptus, some dusty miller, or some kind of small succulent. And for the centerpieces, I want to have a flowy element to give it a little bit of a whimiscal vibe. But! All of these are just ideas, my next step is to contact our florist and see what she can do with my vision and go from there, I will definitely let you guys know what we decide on!

Cool view driving into the city on a chilly Fall morning

I LOVED these dahlias! Soft but yet it has color

Some pretty texture and greenery I might throw in

I thought these were so fun, so tiny but also so vibrant and full of life.
Would be cute to stick in to some bouquets if the colors work

I loved these dahlias as well, would work as a rich pop of color to a light colored bouquet

This amaranthus is so GORG in person! I loved the idea of having this in
the centerpieces so it drapes onto the table like a weeping willow, and it has color!

I fell in love with this flower, and it is making me contemplate changing my
bridesmaids dresses, can you guess to what color??

Snapdragons were my Nana's favorite flower, so I am going to have a few sprigs of this in my bouquet so I have a touch of her with me on my wedding day as she watches us from Heaven

My Rockstar Aunt

My Beautiful MOH!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

# Weddings

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Falling for Fall

Kendra Petrellese 7:03 AM 0 Comments

Ok. It's official. I am addicted to Hobby Lobby. I could get lost in that store. It is AMAZING and a Pinterest's fan dream! It is no secret that I have an addiction to Fall, it is by far my favorite season; pumpkin spice lattes, crisp weather, cuddling up with a fuzzy blanket, pumpkin spice lattes, scarves, boots, baking, did I mention pumpkin spice lattes?! The season just warms my soul, and makes me really think twice about all the things I am thankful for. One of those things are a fiancé that lets me feed my own addiction before it is technically even Fall. When I asked him when I could start decorating our house, he told me the first day of Fall, but I was able to convince him to let me do it a week earlier than that, and I marked that day on my calendar and here we are!

Every time I walk into Hobby Lobby I get so excited, but today reached a new level-40% OFF ALL FALL DECOR!!! WHAT?!?!?! *Faints* I couldn't contain my excitement, I grabbed a cart and headed right over to the seasonal section. Even though my tingling fingers wanted to grab everything in sight (remember how I said I had an addiction), but I decided to peruse all of the aisles before I put anything in my cart.

Like I said, I LOVE Fall, so when I decorate the house, I like to decorate it more "harvesty" rather than Halloween, so that way we can enjoy the decor all the way into November for Thanksgiving, rather than having to switch out the decorations after Halloween for Thanksgiving, and then again for Christmas. Not my style, I like to make things as easy as possible.

So instead of grabbing all of the cute purple and orange "trick-or-treat" decor, I kept the colors more of a neutral pallet, grabbing mostly oranges, browns, and whites. This is the first Fall season that I've lived in the house with Mike, so I was able to get creative with what I bought. Because I'm not working at the moment, (see my Fun-Employment post here) I made sure that I gave myself a budget, or else I would go crazy. So I decided to start small, and once I got all the decor up, I could make the executive decision to go out to finish the look.

I think I have a pretty good start, our house doesn't have too much extra space to put up cutesey things, but I did my best! I didn't think it was that much until Mike got home and said he felt as if Michael's threw up in our house (clearly he was over-exaggerating)-just wait until he sees what I do for Chrismukkah (I'm Christian and celebrate Christmas, and Mike is Jewish and celebrates Hannukah, so I'm going to decorate for both holidays)!

My cart at Hobby Lobby-whoopsie!

The walkway up to our house, I'm not completely sold on the pumpkins on the stairs...

Front Door-
Can you tell I have an obsession with pumpkins?!

Wreath-Hobby Lobby
Door Mat and Hanger-Target

The "P" is an adhesive that I put on the pumpkin to give it a little touch of Petrellese!
PS The haybale is Hobby Lobby too-love!

Our mantle in our front room, a little hard to see but the leaves are lit up and have pumpkins on them :)

Totally stylish pumpkin I had to find a place for

This is at the top of our stairs. The milk crates are there all year round,
but I spruced them up with the leaves and pumpkins

This is on the wall right when you walk into the house

Still trying to figure out something to do to the space on the left, any ideas???

I would love to see pictures of your decorations, and any suggestions you can throw my way, or any sweet finds you have found lately, I would love to hear about them!!

# Home Sweet Home

Monday, September 15, 2014

Keep Tahoe Awesome

Kendra Petrellese 7:03 AM 0 Comments

If you've never been to Lake Tahoe in the summertime-Go. Stat. Most of the masses flock to Tahoe in the winter months to partake in the ski and snowboard activities and to take in the beautiful sweeping views of snowcapped mountains, but if you love the fresh scent of evergreens and breathtaking views of a crystal blue lake, then you will fall in love with the Tahoe Summer.

Our calendars have been so crazy lately, but we made sure that we made time to celebrate our first anniversary (can't believe it's already been a year!). We grabbed breakfast and headed up early Friday morning and it was a beautiful drive with not too many people on the road. After two pee-pit-stops (much to the dismay of my fiancé), we made it up to beautiful Tahoe in about 3 hours.

After showing Mike around the cabin, which my aunt and uncle so graciously let us borrow, we decided to take a walk downtown to grab lunch at a local restaurant. *disclaimer, our trip pretty much consisted of eating, gambling, and more eating-so be ready for a lot of food updates* after filling our bellies with a yummy spiked lemonade, mozzarella cheese sticks and lunch, we made the trek back where I witnessed something I've never seen before; my beloved man passed out on the couch for 2 hours! This from a man who I have witnessed take a mid day nap probably twice in our relationship, so that alone attested to how much he needed this getaway.

Our Cabin

Beautiful Backyard

Once ~~Sleeping Beauty~~ Mike-awoke from his slumber, we decided to take a trip to the grocery store to grab something to make dinner. But instead, we ended up on the windy road that would take us to South Shore, and so our Friday night adventure began. Once we got to Nevada (our first out of state vacay together!) we headed into Harrahs Casino for some fun. We put aside money every month and put it into our vacation fund, so we had a pretty penny to play with. We decided to start with $20 and see where it would take us. I got lucky on a penny slot and brought us up to $100! But after some more fun, brought us back down but we ended up leaving with about $45 more in pocket than we started with-not too shabby for a couple of rookies!

Stopping to take in the views on our way to South Shore

Mike is incapable of sleeping past 7am regardless of it being a weekend, let alone it being a vacation weekend morning, we decided to get an early start. Taking my aunt's recommendation, we grubbed at a local breakfast place, and boy did it not disappoint! After we waddled back to the car, we headed to Squaw Village and took the gondola up to High Camp where we did some sight seeing before heading back down. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and it is so crazy to see all of the ski runs in the summer without any snow, they look so much scarier that way!

View from our gondola ride at Squaw

The Best View is the man on my arm

After some lunch and yet another nap, we decided to head to the other side of North Shore to check out a casino on that side. We weren't nearly as lucky, we only took away 10 big bucaroonies after we got lucky on the Ghostbuster Game (yes, I said Ghostbuster Game), and decided to head out. We grabbed some dinner at a steak and lobster restaurant right on the Stateline, and it was a fun experience for our special dinner, even though we are much more the burgers and fries type. Deciding to call it a night, we headed back to the cabin where we cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie before heading to bed.

I am a big proponent of taking 3 day weekends as much as you can, here's why: 1-you have something to look forward to more often than 1 long summer vacation 2-it serves as a much needed recharge 3-it makes your weekend feel so much longer. It was so nice to getaway for a couple of days and we both came back to the real world feeling refreshed and ready to take on the week. Tell me, where are your favorite spots to take a quick vacay getaway?!

# Vacays

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

My Bad

Kendra Petrellese 6:54 AM 0 Comments

Life happens.....see ya Friday!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Hit It

Kendra Petrellese 6:49 AM 0 Comments

The day finally came! We were FINALLY able to spend a day out on the water and do my favorite thing in the entire world-boating. With all of the engagement parties, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, weddings, and normal family stuff mixed in, our weekends have been extremely busy all summer. But today we finally had the chance to spend a few hours out on the delta and tooled around. It had been a year since I had been up on my wakeboard, but it was like riding a bike, and got right back into the swing of things.

My cousin has a boat that is docked in a boathouse on the delta, and he offered to take me, the fiancé, and a couple friends out on the water for the day (and the best cousin award goes to...)! We each took a couple rounds on the board and then docked the boat so we could enjoy some yummy homemade sandwiches and some ~~beers~~ water. Once we were fat and happy, we each went another round, and after a few face-plants and massive air jumps, we decided to call it a day. Once we got the boat docked in the garage, my friend Krista and I gave it a whirl on the paddle board (which was surprisingly not as boring as I thought it would be and was seriously relaxing) and had some old fashioned tanning and girl time.

Even though Sundays are usually the day of rest, we were all thankful to have gotten up early, caught that early worm and spend the day in good company. Even though we are only an hour away from home, it felt as if we were on a mini vacay and it was so nice to get away and tear up the water a bit. Even though I am STOKED for fall - pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, booties and scarves, need I say more - I almost wish we had another month of summer so I could catch up on the water time that I had missed. Alas, it was a great day, and am very thankful for the time spent with friends, family, and fun.

My friend Krista, crazy cuzo and her bf Dimitri

Say hello to Captain Kendra and Cuzo Ronnie

Dimitri killin in

Flyin Cuzo

Me and my hunk

The Paddleboarding Goddesses

# Vacays

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Juarez

Kendra Petrellese 6:49 AM 0 Comments

There are a few special days in everyone's life that you will remember forever, and this past Saturday, I was lucky enough to experience one of those days. I was so blessed to witness my best friend marry the love of her life, and it was one of the most overwhelming and beautiful things I've ever seen.

We started the weekend off at the hotel, where all of the girls congregated to get ready for the festivities. We all carpooled over to the church and once we arrived, things began to get really real. We were introduced to the lucky guys that would be escorting us, and even though they had a tough exterior, we could tell they were just as excited as we were for the big day.

The Beautiful Bridesmaids at the Ceremony Rehearsal

After our ceremony run through, the bride and groom were kind enough to treat their wedding party, and their family to dinner before their big day. It was a great kick off, we were able to get to know their family and the groomsmen, and a couple of the bridesmaids flew in from out of town, so it was great to catch up and spend time with them. Before we knew it, it was time to go our separate ways, the guys went to their hotel, and the girls went to ours, and the next time Meagan and Bernie saw each other, they would become husband and wife!

My good friend Jessica who lives in North Carolina, it was so great to catch up!

Gimme your "Meagan's getting married face!"

Let's be real, none of us got ANY sleep on Friday night. All of our adrenaline was pumping and we were just so excited. We were up laughing and blasting Ariana Grande on the radio, it was crazy to think that this was Meagan's last night as a single woman! We woke up and the madness started. Hair and makeup showed up bright and early, and it was mayhem in that hotel suite! 8 girls waiting to get pampered, 4 hair and makeup team members, and one 1 anxious bride. As it always done, it all worked out, all the girls were taken care of, and 2 of our fellow bridesmaids were awesome and got us all In N Out so we could stuff our faces before the craziness started. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the church.

We got there a half hour early, but it seemed as if only 3 minutes had passed before it was time to get started. Watching Meagan step into her wedding dress, and putting her veil on, is a moment that I will never forget. Everyone kept telling her how beautiful she was, and she just became so overcome with emotion that she almost started crying. So we stopped giving her compliments and started telling her that she looked hideous-that got a laugh out of her.

I'll be completely honest with you, I thought I had been pretty strong throughout the whole process, but once we lined up and we're waiting to make our walk down the aisle, I completely lost it and started balling (curse you Cannon in D!). It was like a waterfall effect, once I started, another girl lost it, and then another one bit the dust. But we were able to pull it together, and made it down the aisle without shedding any tears and without wiping out (if you could only see those heels!).

Watching Meagan walk down the aisle to the love of her life, and watching the way Bernie looked at her with tears in his eyes, will be a memory that I will never forget. Meagan has been in my life for almost 20 years, and Bernie for 8, it was an indescribable feeling watching true love become one right before my eyes. They share a love that I have never seen before. He loves her in an unconditional way that I have never seen, and it is clear to see that they are absolutely and 100% meant to be together. After the beautiful bilingual ceremony, it was time to party!!

The reception was full of fun, laughs, and amazing food! It was the perfect way to end such an amazing beginning. There is no doubt in my mind that Meagan and Bernardo will have a long, happy life together, complete with unconditional love, adoration, bickering, and beautiful memories. I am a better person because I have Meagan and Bernie in my life, and I am so honored to have been part of their special day. So cheers to the NEW Mr. and Mrs. Bernardo Juarez!!