HAPPY National Margarita Day!

Let's start this out by saying I certainly don't need a day to drink margaritas, but I'm definitely using it as an excuse to talk about them today! I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of margaritas, so I thought we'd talk about some of my favorite places to get a margarita. 

Obviously, my favorite place for margaritas is going to be my back porch. Maybe tied with poolside somewhere. Here's my go to margarita recipe. Simple, straightforward, nothing fancy. NOW let's talk fancy though. 

This. This margarita is from Chantico Burrito on the Marietta Square. This place is awesome. This was their summer margarita that hung over into fall a little bit. It was a peach puree and some spicy salt and oh my goodness was it delicious. They make all of their margarita stuff fresh, nothing leftover or mass produced. Even their house margaritas are all made fresh, no big batch sitting up on the back of the bar. 

Los Magueys is up in Paulding county by my dad's house. It's your typical little neighborhood Mexican restaurant, which is why it's delicious. They also have a pretty heavy pour when it comes to the tequila, which really is the way to my heart, if we're being honest. Plus. They have this dish called the Maguey Special which is rice drowning in cheese dip with shrimp and chicken or pork. YUM.

Last, but not least, we have El Taco in the Virginia Highlands. El Taco is a fun little place, they have a salsa bar, tasty food, and a fun little giveaway where everyone gets tokens and they spin a wheel at the top of the hour for prizes like free queso. They do make their house margaritas in a large batch, but the pitchers are super affordable and delicious. 

What are your favorite margaritas? Any favorites in the Atlanta area that I missed? Anyone craving a margarita at 8:30 am now? 

Accidental Watermelon Margaritas!

So, remember last week I showed you about the watermelon shot glasses? Remember how the video made it look all easy peasy lemon squeezey? Welp.

My first clue should have been when I walked up to the giant bin of watermelons + thought "okay, so you *thump* it to see if it sounds "solid" to know if it's ripe" then I thought "wait. what the hell does a solid watermelon thump sound like?" that was a good start. Miracuoulsy, I picked a ripe one. Like. oh man, makes your mouth water to think about it ripe. Anyways. It started out great. I managed to cut only the watermelon, right down the middle! 

Simple enough, next step is to cut that half into a square! I can do that! I flipped it over, cut it into a nice square, then when I went to turn it back over to cut into the shot glasses, it fell apart. (remember what I said about how ripe it was? also, my pinterest projects have a habit of falling apart.....) Then I'm left with a bunch of oddly cut watermelon pieces + nothing to do with the tequila! ENTER A SOLUTION! 

Obviously margs are always my backup plan, since it was a zillion (err 85) degrees, I thought "hey, why not frozen ones?!" So I hunted down the blender, chopped up the watermelon, filled it up with ice, and you know, a hefty amount of tequila, and hit blend! 

Pour in a fancy glass until after your take the picture, add an umbrella, and enjoy!! 

You know what they say, when life gives you lemons, make margaritas! (wait, that's not right is it?) Well, there you have it! A pinterest fail turned tasty margarita for a nice sunday funday by the pool with an old book. What are you sippin' on? 

Thursty Thursday Tequila Things!

FIRST OF ALL. Let's talk about that alliteration. You're welcome. Anyways. I don't have anything super fancy to share in the way of new drink recipes. I've been doing a lot of Corona + liiiime (i will be your maaain squeeze..) because -- no dishes duh. ANYWAYS. The internet has been all about tequila lately (or maybe the internet is targeting me....) and I had to share some of the best stuff! 

I was adding songs to my never ending country music playlist, I thought "oh, I should totally add all of the country songs about tequila!" because, you know, it's my brain doing the thinking. I discovered this Kenny Chesney jam + I have no idea how I haven't heard it before. One, I am pretty sure I bought all of his CDs in the early 00's, two, it's about tequila, and three, it's perfect. 

THIS WATERMELON SHOT GLASS. It even suggests you fill it with tequila. stay tuned, I'm totally trying this ASAP. 

You know how there are "suggested pins" on Pinterest now? Well mine are usually one of two things. Travel destinations or tequila drinks. I pin all sorts of other stuff, but Pinterest know's what's up man. Thanks to those pins, I've discovered this post about boozy popsicles. So we'll see how those compare to my deep fried tequila shots.

Okay, so who's ready for margaritas + queso now? Because I definitely am. Do you have any tequila recipes I need to try?! 

Heart of Darkness Margarita AND A Giveaway!

You know, I don't know why I thought I would be recovered enough from my vacation to handle a Tuesday. So while I'm nursing a sunburn + dealing with a book hangover (you know the feeling after you finish a good book? you're like bummed it's over + not ready to move on to a new one? that's me.) I'll be sharing that book this weeeeeek! Plus a zillion sunset pictures. Plus a lot of other fun things. but I COULDN'T miss Cinco, where else would you get a margarita recipe?! we're giving away these adorable Kate Spade desk accessories!

SO, when I stopped at TJ's for the wine for last week's sangria, I thought "oh, I can totally grab margarita mix here!" I was wrong. Then I saw that this mango passionfruit juice was called "heart of darkness" so I was pretty sold. Anyways, this is about as easy as my tequila sunrise. I have to be honest, I didn't think that this was going to be as delicious as it was so this is the only picture I took. Hashtag bad blogger. Anyways. It's easy! Fill your glass with ice, pour in your desired amount of tequila, fill the rest up with heart of darkness mango passionfruit juice (no sugar! real juice! it's good for you, duh!) mix it in one of your many stadium cups on hand, splash of grand marnier (let's be honest, I only have that at my bar because my dad needed room in his bar + had a full bottle. so any orange liqueur is perfect, I know you have it because you're making my regular margaritas.) Mix a little more + enjoy!

Okay, now that you're enjoying your tasty margarita, it's time to start entering to win these adorable accessories for your desk!

Your workspace should always inspire and these dreamy, rose gold supplies and notepad definitely do the trick. Enjoy the stapler and tape dispenser (with fun idioms) to dress up any desk place. And use your cute pad for any kind of note.These ladies joined me to giveaway these great Kate Spade items!Amanda | Suz | Liz | Brooke | Kerri Kristyn| Kasey | Daisy | Faith | Nina

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5 Reasons Jose Cuervo is the Perfect Valentine

HAPPY FRIDAY BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYBODY! How appropriate is it that the day before is Friday the 13th? Now, after yesterday, if you expected my Valentine to be anyone other than my number one man Jose Cuervo, I think you need to revisit everything about me.

He's always there for you:: Jose has been there through breakups and mean girls and not getting the dream job. Never makes you think that you're anything but a pretty pretty princess who should TOTALLY dance on that table. Just do it. He's gonna be there cheering you on. 

dance dance dance

He ALWAYS thinks you should have more queso, or another slice of pizza. Just do you girlfriend:: You will never hear Jose say "oh, are you sure you want another slice of pizza?" nope. he's gonna help you call + order another one. He even knows that you secretly have that Visa card number memorized.

pizza is a theme. obviously

He never makes you play games:: "don't double text" "ladies don't text first" "if you ignore him he'll like you more" guys. that's exhausting. Jose is always there. Literally,  just hanging out on the bar cart (that I SWEAR I'm going to blog about. I promise.) waiting for you to need a margarita. You don't have to worry about whether or not he thinks you're being needy or clingy or whatever else you're supposed to be.

sorry emily post

ALLEGEDLY he's even super good for you:: I love it. Every time there's an article about the health benefits of tequila, it's shared with me. Then this happened. I'm a little sad that Elite Daily beat me to that one. Anyways, I bet Jose is the reason I'm skinny. Not the high metabolism or the fact that I think you should walk everywhere.  **side note. it seems every Elite Daily article is about tequila. Why haven't they hired me yet? I could write all the tequila articles. **

hot mess

The only thing better than one margarita is two margaritas:: Seriously. The more, the merrier. You don't have to get jealous over Jose hanging out with another girl because all girls who drink tequila are awesome. End of argument.

drink drank drunk

So, those are the five reasons Jose Cuervo is the best Valentine. Because I can buy myself flowers + chocolates + pizza. Jose + I will be hanging out this weekend, bring some orange juice + come hang out! What are you doing for the lovey dovey made up holiday?

Thursty Thursday :: The BEST Tequila Sunrise

I stumbled on this Thursty Thursday (ps, spelling it that way is really what sealed the deal for me...) linkup a couple of weeks ago when Lauren was co-hosting + I have been saving this post for the Thursday before Valentine's Day ever since. OBVIOUSLY I plan on spending some quality time with my Valentine, Mr. Cuervo, so I thought I'd share the best way to make a Tequila Sunrise. From the expert due to the sheer volume of sunrises I drink.

Okay. This is probably one of the easiest cocktails out there -- both to make + to mess up. Here's what you need:

• Tequila
• Orange juice (fresh. good orange juice. I get really bummed if it's the kind that comes from the soda wand. #orangejuicesnob)
• Grenadine. (OR A BOTTLE OF MARISCHINO CHERRIES IN THE SYRUP.)
• bonus :: cherries or fruit of some kind because yum. 

NOW. This is very important. I like to do ice, tequila, then orange juice -- that way I don't really have to stir it. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to mixing drinks. Make it as strong or as orange juice-y as you like. I'd recommend the normal ratio -- like a three second pour to each glass. Once you have the orange juice + tequila ratio to your liking add just a splash of grenadine. JUST. A. SPLASH. That stuff is like, 4565% sugar okay? Orange juice is already kind of sweet + tart, so that's more sugar. If put too much grenadine it's gonna make your teeth hurt. Stir + enjoy!!

GUYS. I made that. HOW. COOL? Also, it's a fact that we don't have any cups in our apartment that didn't either come from pint night, a brewery, or my sticky fingers. So none of them match. Which makes them all match right? What are you drinking tonight?

Humpday Confessions

First of all. I got a text message from my dad this morning as I was getting dressed saying "I need you to hurry so you can take me to the hospital" -- so I didn't even brush my teeth before leaving this morning. Sorry. that's gross. Anyways, I made it all the way in + he didn't end up needing to go to the hospital. REGARDLESS. I apparently still don't have my act together for WODW. So go check out those ladies anyways, because I bet they have some great stuff to say about "snowfall" (spoiler alert, my snow post would have been me complaining about how much I hate snow anyways.) So I'm going to hashtag some of my confessions this week. READY GO.

I haven't brushed my hair since probably Sunday. I workout in pigtails because my hair is so thick that's pretty much the only option that doesn't give me a headache but holds all of my hair. I really want to know how Ariana Grande doesn't have the worst headache all the time with that ponytail. Am I the only one who gets a headache from having a ponytail on too tight? Maybe my hair is just really heavy or something... #longhairprobzzzzz

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I managed to schedule posts into next week, but somehow forgot Monday AND Wednesday of this week. I don't even know how I made that happen. It's like I super planned for myself + then didn't think about what days were in a week. My life is #spacecadet honestly. 

THEY DON'T KNOW THAT WE KNOW

Yesterday I drove near some really angry people. Like on my way to the barre I was trying to let this guy turn in front of me because I wanted to try to parallel park but I would block him from pulling into the place he was trying to turn. He YELLED AT ME for trying to let him go because there were pedestrians (who were also waiting for him to turn). I almost cried you guys. #LOUDNOISES

SNAPE

I'M REALLY EXCITED FOR THE POSTS I HAVE SCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW AND FRIDAY. They're kind of Valentine's Day themed, but way better because it's my take on the man I love + have loved for TEN YEARS NOW. #suspensebuilding #butnotreally #Ibetyoucanguess #spoileralert

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Rumor has it, it's going to get cold tomorrow and I'm not happy about it. I am a little happy that I'll have a good reason to hang out at the apartment + eat pizza + drink champagne all weekend instead of going out though. #pizzaismysideguy #andandre #DONTTELLJOSE

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Okay. I think that's all I have today. MAKE SURE YOU COME BACK TOMORROW. I made a gif all by myself. That's really probably the most important part. What do you have to confess today? Do you like snow?

DEEP FRIED TEQUILA SHOTS.

Apparently part of my new blogging plan is to include more recipes. That was a total surprise. but. These are too fantastic not to share. So when this was first posted on Oh. Bite It, at least five separate people sent it to me, because obviously. So I had to try it! Honestly. it's super easy and they taste like funnel cake. You don't even taste the tequila.

Okay. So, you'll have to forgive me, because I took all of these pictures like, two days after I got my camera. I'm loving it though, because I can see that in a couple of weeks my pictures drastically improved. So that's a plus right? ANYWAYS. This is so easy. Here's what you need:

• tequila, duh. 
• powdered sugar
• angel food cake (I got mine for $4 with my kroger plus card 'cause ain't nobody got time or eggs for that.)
• oil (I used canola oil, because I don't really know what the difference is + my dad said it would work fine... haha)
• pot 

First things first, this is going to make a mess. Don't say I didn't warn you, okay? I'm asking for a cute little personal deep fryer because I'm so obsessed with this stuff. So what you're going to do is chop the angel food cake up into cute little cubes. They're gonna stay about that size, so whatever you determine to be tasty poppable size. Then, get the oil warm. I test to see if it's ready by dripping some water in it, you'll know if it's ready. Okay! Now the fun part! I poured a bowl of tequila, woo wooooo! So don't soak it! Just dip it in the tequila. If you get it way too soaked it will absolutely explode. It's crazy. So, dip the cake in tequila, drop it in the hot grease for a couple seconds until it turns golden brown, and then take it out! let them dry on a paper towel, you know like bacon! Then sprinkle powdered sugar on top of them and enjoy!! Careful though, the booze doesn't cook out! 

Okay, so I didn't take any after pictures, because I was busy eating my tasty tequila bites. Let me know if you try this out! They're soooo tasty! 

W is for Writer's Block

Guys. I think my ponytail is on too tight today and that's the reason I have such writer's block. I mean honestly, I can't even come up with any good tweets, and we all know I have an opinion on everything. So, instead of me coming here and writing a few crappy paragraphs, I figured I'd let some other folks speak for me. did I really just say "folks"? 

check it out, I made that!

Also. I've decided I need these prints. All of them. For my new bar cart that I'm gonna make.

HOW CUTE IS THIS? THEY HAVE SO MANY MORE!

this one too. actually. there's really just a lot of margarita prints that I want.. but these two fo'sho.

LOOK HOW HAPPY THE LIME IS OMG.

Check it. You can see all of the prints I have to have [and some that I think I can recreate..] right here. The question is, why aren't you following me on Pinterest yet????

Follow Kasey Decker's board B A R || I N S P I R A T I O N on Pinterest.

Margarita Monday!

I don't suppose I can call myself a margarita master without sharing my not even a little bit secret recipes. We'll start off what I'm assuming will be a long adventure in margaritas worth making with the basic + delicious margarita.

I never measure anything when it comes to my drinks. So if you're hoping for a one part tequila, two parts mix guide -- you came to the wrong place. Plus it's all in what you like. For me, I like the taste of tequila + hate paying for that margarita mix.

Here's what you'll need:
- tequila (I'm using Jose Cuervo Gold because that's what we have. Free is my favorite kind of drinks.)
- mix (again, using the free stuff I already have on hand -- when I'm buying I usually go for the cheapest version)
- orange liqueur (Grand Marnier is totally worth the money y'all. You only use a little so it goes a long way)
- fresh lime
- margarita salt
- two glasses (or I guess if you have one of those fancy shakers you only need one glass + said fancy shaker)

Okay! So first, fill the cup you're going to be drinking out of with ice (I also like to keep my tequila in the freezer because the colder the better).  Start with the tequila -- I like to have more than 1/3 tequila but less than 1/2 tequila. So math aside -- after the tequila fill the glass most of the way up with the mix leaving about a shot's worth of room in the glass.

Add a splash of your orange liqueur + using the other glass mix your margarita by pouring from one cup to the other. When you feel like the margarita is mixed -- leave it in the mixing cup + squeeze the lime wedge over your drink + run the lime wedge around the rim of your drinking glass to add salt. Pour your margarita into the cup, add an awesome straw, + enjoy!

Do you have a special type of margarita you love? I tried a pomegranate passion fruit something or other a couple weeks ago + I'm pretty sure it was so sweet it gave me a cavity...