Guess what? We are finally married! I say that because we officially had our LAST party celebrating our nuptials. With any of these events like getting married or having babies or whatever else, there are always about a million parties tied along with it. There’s the bridal shower, wedding shower, bachelor party, bachelorette party, wedding, reception and on and on and on. And since we got married in Jamaica with just a handful of people, my mom wanted us to have one here to invite family, friends of family and all that jazz. So we finally had our LAST party and we are totally fine with that! It’s time to just be married and enjoy the little moments.
And we’ve decided the little moments should be filled with more vacations. I’ve talked about this already but we are planning a Key West and a Costa Rica trip this upcoming year! The CR trip isn’t until Spring 2017 and Key West will be in the fall since we are trying to first save up for some landscaping all while adding money to a vacation fund at the same time! And since landscaping contractors seem to all be busy AF until after summer, we won’t be enjoying out backyard much until then. But we also plan to get a hot tub so we like the winters more here in Colorado. I think snow is pointless in the downtown areas (snow is made for the mountains, where you can do sh*t in it) so we decided to invest in a hot tub so we can spend our snowy evenings hanging out in the heat and chatting about our days instead of staring at a TV. Eeeeeeek, I can’t wait!
So to save up for all these fun things we want to do, I started looking at all my monthly expenses. Which, well, is not fun. Sometimes not knowing is way more exciting. But I decided to look at my grocery bill. Because…I go to Whole Foods way more than I should. Especially since I grocery shop a few times per week to keep up with recipes for you guys. So I figured out what I was spending on groceries and decided I needed to promise myself to not shop there anymore. Sure, special occasions, but not on a regular basis. They are just SO obnoxiously expensive. And you end up buying random snack sh*t that’s so not needed. I’m excited to see how much I can save on groceries this month while completely staying away from WF.
I’ll miss you, Whole Foods, I’ll miss all your snack sh*t.
You guys. I go to Vegas this weekend for a Bachelor/Bachelorette party. There are about 30 people going so it’s gonna be real messy. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to drink much after drinking this past weekend. But what else do you do there at the pool all day long in 1 billion degree weather? Drinking just makes me a mess and makes me feel bloated, which is NOT how I want to feel in a swimsuit all day long. I want to be excited because it’s celebrating such an exciting event, but I can’t help but worry I’ll be the wet blanket that wants to stay sober. What to do, what to do.
Funny I’m talking about not drinking in a post that includes a cocktail. You’re lame, Juli.
Grilled Pineapple Jalapeño Margaritas
Ingredients
For the rim
- lime wedge
- salt or sugar
For the jalapeño simple syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup honey (or agave if you are ok with that)
- 2 jalapeños, sliced
- juice of 1/2 lime
- zest of 1/2 lime
For the margaritas
- 2 cups diced pineapple, grilled on grill pan or grill
- 1/2 cup lime juice
- 3/4 - 1 cup silver agave tequila
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- To make your life easier, get the glasses ready first then set in the freezer until you are ready with your drink. Use a lime wedge to wet the rim of a glass then place sugar or salt on a plate and dip the rim of the glass in it and all the way around. Then add crushed ice to the glass. Repeat with 4 glasses. Place in freezer.
- Place all the ingredients for the simple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat to let cool completely.
- Place pineapple on a grill pan or grill and grill for about 4-5 minutes per side, until grill marks appear. Place in fridge to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Once pineapple and simple syrup have cooled, place in the both in the blender (for less spice, remove jalapeño peppers from simple syrup - I removed just a few for garnish) along with lime juice, tequila and vanilla extract. Blend until completely smooth and combine.
- Pour margarita mixture into glasses filled with crushed ice and garnish with extra grilled pineapple and jalapeños.
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More Margs, Please!
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My husband and I just did the same thing – noticed our grocery spending was obnoxious for a family of 2! We also decided to cut back by not going to WF and we nearly cut our grocery bill in HALF! Good luck – vacations are more fun than WF anyway!
oooo I love the cut it half note! i hope it’s the same for us!!
your comment about balancing not wanting to be a wet blanket & not wanting to drink….I FEEL IT. if I’m not wanting to drink, I just don’t talk about the fact that I’m not drinking. the less attention I draw to it, the less time people waste on encouraging me to “have fun!” “just do it!” “you’re in Vegas”, etc. and everyone spends more time actually enjoying themselves.
Interested to hear how you go on your Whole Foods diet as I also shop there a few times a week. So any ideas are appreciated! I have been keeping a list at home and only buying what’s on the list when I go to Whole Foods, except for any in season produce they have. I buy most of our pantry items on Thrive and meat, dairy and eggs from a farm which doesn’t work out that much cheaper but the quality is better and have access to proper pastured animals and raw dairy.
i’m just going to a different grocery store, nothing crazy special, just going to Sprouts instead
That was literally the comment that I was just about to make. You can’t beat Sprouts’s prices and their produce rocks out loud. When I want meat and produce that’s a step up from our local grocery stores, but way cheaper than Whole Foods, that’s where I go.
As for the drinking, I drink club soda with lime in it, if I don’t want to have alcohol (I’m usually DD) but also not call attention to what I am/am not drinking.
My secret weapon for drinking when I don’t REALLY want to be drinking is a Grey Goose and soda with extra limes. Then I feel like I’m drinking and hydrating at the same time. And then every other one I just sneakily get a club soda so I really AM kind of hydrating, but no one is the wiser. I feel A LOT better when I do that, rather than drinking frosty beverages by the pool. I mean — yes, it’s a little less fun. But shit, bloating suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks :)
Have fun in Vegas! (And congrats on being “married married” now. LOL)
I need to start making a grocery budget as well. We went to sprouts instead this weekend and it was so cheap for the amount of protein we got. I just wish their produce was a little better…sometimes I find it not as fresh. Keep us updated on your experiment!
Hi Julie
Did you just recently model for Alex and Ani?
I have no idea what that is lol
I don’t know if this helps you or not (and you probably have had/made this before) but as far as drinking/ not drinking in Vegas when it’s the surface of the sun, you know you will probably end up with some sort of drink, I always just get tequila, sparkling water and a few limes – helps with the bloat and tequila gives that nice buzz where you don’t need to drink a lot of them :) Either way – enjoy!
i wish i could that, but i truly HATE tequila. i had one sip of this recipe and threw the rest out because i hate tequila so much lol
Oh! Ha ha … thank you for the recipe, sorry tequila is no bueno. Damn…what to drink? Prosecco? The Brut isn’t as sweet… I bet you can sneak some splits in :) I don’t know if this helps or if it’s just annoying haha … I hope you have fun regardless! It’s blazing hot here in Phoenix, so we just sweat out what we drink, so awesome…blah.
why not just enjoy the vacation/experience and not worry about alcohol? i’ve never drank before and have a ton of fun doing pretty much anything as long as i am with people i love and enjoy hanging out with. swimming at the pool and tanning an easily be done sober : )
Love those glasses! Where did you get them? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
here ya go! http://rstyle.me/n/bsqzvabq557 and they’re on sale!!
These look SO GOOD. Yum!
http://www.maggiealamode.com
Just drink club soda and lime! I do that when other people are drinking and I don’t want to look lame….add gin and it’s a drink…good cover!
Is it just me or has your blog filled up with pop up ads and annoying advertisements? I understand the income potential but whoa nelly.. Hard to scroll thru now
yes, changing up my ads and testing some out to see what works and doesn’t work!
Just drink sparkling water with lime juice and if somebody asks, tell them that there is vodka in there as well! A white lie just to stay away from bloating! that’s what I do when out for a “drink” with our friends…nobody gets offended! Have fun in Vegas!
lol everyone keeps telling me that but you understand that means I’m still stuck sober in a vegas pool party with everyone else who is drunk, that’s not exactly fun to me
Maybe try rotating between alcohol and sparkling water? Like, one alcoholic drink, then one full glass of water. I didn’t drink for 4 months so now I REALLY notice the negative effects, but if I decide to indulge I know chugging lots of water before bed is key for me to not feel as sh***y the next day.
Hi Juli! I recently stumbled upon your blog after having a nice stalker relationship with you on insta.. but really.. Question – I am having a destination wedding in January, and I ma struggling with how to send the invites for the select few that I want to attend, and how to invite the rest to the “after receptions” – my mother is trying to invite everyone to everything and just hope that the numbers work out… also – side note – I am heading to LA try on Katie May gowns!! – anyway, I’d love to hear your advice on the destination wedding after wedding reception, and if you did anything particularly “wedding” like at the after party or if it was just like – hey come over for a party, which is what I would like to do. Annd.. did you do anything in particular to slim down before your Jamaica wedding? B/c you are legit in insane shape.. Thanks!!
I just invited all the people for Jamaica in an email! then we invited the other people to our reception in Colorado in a separate email. but we didn’t do any sort of wedding at the colorado reception, just some toasts and speeches and food/drink. and no, i didn’t do anything in particular to get in shape, i’ve been working out hard and eating healthy for the past 7 years so i’ve just been the same thing for a while now.
Omg yesssss I love spicy margaritas! Fell in love with them when we lived in San Diego. And I also love pineapple! Can’t wait to try your recipe! Looks so delicious!