A family-filled, super fun weekend!

My weekend was so busy and so fun!!

After a snow-filled Friday night-in cooking up another Hello Fresh meal, I cleaned up the house and headed to be early, because Saturday was gonna be a big day!!

This Hello Fresh meal just might be my favorite so far , so I had to include it!  It was called Warm Grain Salad.  Barley, butter beans, shallots,  avocado, and grape tomatoes in a mustard, vinaigrette topped with basil.  So good, so easy..and perfect for a Friday during Lent!  I will definitely be getting these ingredients and making this again!

On Saturday I was fortunate enough to be able to go see Aladdin on Broadway! (Score for me that my cousin broke up with his girlfriend...LOL!!) It was an awesome show! Highly recommend the show when it comes to your city.

It was the 8 o'clock show, so we ate dinner beforehand. The rest of my family, (who I went to the with) were already in the city for the day, so I met them all at the restaurant after my train got in and I cabbed it! (I actually walked 10 minutes looking around for the place!) It was a really nice, laid back restaurant and since we had plenty of time before the show, it was just nice to chat and eat and drink, and chat and eat some more. My aunt Uncle and two cousins live in Pennsylvania, so we don't see them nearly as frequently as we like. So that was great!

The drink menu was really cool.  Specialty cocktails and Mocktails were named after shows:

Drinks like the OZ-mopolitan was named for Wicked 

Stormin' Mormon for the Book of Mormon 

And the Rye 'n King for The Lion King

We were thinking that The Best Friggin' Margarita in the City, might've been just that but now I'm thinking it's named for the best Little Whore House in Texas which was on Broadway in the 70's and 80's.

The mocktails were cute too!

Sippin' like Pippin' and Mary Pompins.

After dinner, we headed out toward the show. Stopping in Times Square to “soak it all in” as my aunt said! 

 Little known fact.... the New Year's Eve Ball that they drop in Times Square is actually up there all year round. When it's time for the celebration each year, they go up and change the lights for the year!

The view of the ball as we were waiting to head into the show

Aladdin was really phenomenal! The guy who played the Genie was absolutely hilarious and stole the show. The magic carpet ride was my favorite part. Very cool. Someone at work today asked me if they changed it from the movie. The story is much the same but the show has some elements updated for today and a new song or two. The Genie had an extra song. It was just really, really cute! I was so happy to go!

After the show, I stayed in the city with my sister and her family, who had been in there since Friday! Then I got up bright and early and headed home to my town's St. Patrick's Day parade.

Three seconds after I walked in the door, the rest of my family showed up at my door, ready to go to the parade. It was chilly out but a bright, beautiful day! It was a lot of fun. And we had a prime spot in front of my favorite place in town. It wasn't too crowded, so the kids were able to stand right out in front and had a great view of the whole parade.

Some fun pics from the day

The bagpipe bands were my fave!

And pretty cool that a beer Company has their on Pipes and Drums Band

There's players on the float and Mom screams for the duck! 

The old time cars, trucks,fire trucks and even an old time ambulance were fun too!

My niece actually got in the parade for a hot second with...this guy

My sister and BIL's niece was in the parade with her twirling group!

Photo Shoot at my house after the parade...

Following the parade, everything was so crowded, so we headed back home. My dad and I stopped in the liquor store to pick up some Bailey's (being the awful hostess I am, I had nothing IRISHY to serve).  We hung out a little. My sister and her family had to head home, as they were going to a birthday party later on in the day. My other sister and I convinced my mom and I to go back out to the bar and listen to the Irish band that was playing. Because it was still only 2:30 and we had the whole afternoon ahead of us.

When we walked in, it was still crowded, way more crowded than the first time (and I thought mom was going to kill us!) but my sister was able to wind her way to the front of the bar and after about 20 minutes of standing, by some miracle, 3 people left! So we hopped in their seats and settled in for an afternoon of fun and music. We love our Irish music!! Mom only had a diet coke but before we left my sister thought it would be funny if mom and I did a shot together! I picked an easy one: Baby Guinness! This is how mom does shots....

Because according to her it's to good not to sip and it's a waste of money!!

#shemayberight

All in all it was a great weekend!!!! I have so much fun with all my fam. I wish though that Monday didn't arrive so quickly, so I could've stayed in bed today! But already, it's here! THANK GOD for COFFEE!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Linking up today for:
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs
Manic Monday with On the Daily Express and More Pieces of Me
Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle