Date Night!

Hot Olives for dinner on the patio, and Park Plaza Gardens afterwards for drinks and Baked Alaska!

New Bench!

I hate to have things undone...it just drives me crazy! We bought this dining table, and chairs right before we got married, and planned to purchase the bench to match, but it was not in stock. So, we have diligently called, and stopped at every Nadeau in the cities of Nashville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville whenever we are in the area in hopes they would have our bench. A little neurotic, I know! But, Nadeau is a wholesaler that imports directly from countries like India, and their shipments are never announced. So, we just kept calling, and dropping in. However, our craziness paid off this weekend when we found the bench in Jacksonville, and put it on hold since we were in Todd's car. So, today we took my car (that hasn't been driven in months) and went to pick up our bench! And, here it is, home at last:

Bashful Bliss and UGA!

A friend of ours in Orlando reps for a company called Bashful Bliss. They make very cute necklaces, that have taken off in the last several months! I just had to share my new necklace, that I am so excited to wear in about a month for football season! I may only get to wear it around our house since I may not make it to any games living in Florida, but that's okay! If we make it to the Georgia/Florida game, you can bet I will plan my outfit around the necklace!

Cami Cakes!

After a trip to Jacksonville yesterday (to get furniture, not cupcakes! - pics of the furniture to come), we have now visited...and eaten cupcakes at every Cami Cakes location! We feel so accomplished! As always, it was such a treat for my sweet tooth to have cupcakes! But, it is even more fun to get the sweet potato with cinnamon cream cheese icing, and red velvet cupcakes we had at our wedding!

Welcome to Miami!

Todd is working in Miami today, so we spent the night here last night. It was just after dinner, and we were in a hotel room, and looking for something to do. We are in Miami -- there are so many things we could have gotten into last night. But, instead we decided to go to a late movie! Which we were actually more excited about than any other prospect, because it is a little nostalgic for us! When we were dating long distance, we would make promises to each other that we would wait to go see certain movies together. The list of movies would get long quickly, and our list of 'to-do's" while together was even longer, especially as we approached the wedding. So, we would run around all day getting things done, and go to the late night movie to cap off our night. I always loved these nights because it was a good way to unwind, and the theater was maybe 3 miles from my house in downtown Atlanta. So, I would change into comfy clothes (only after we were engaged though, I would stay dressed up while we were dating to make sure the ring was on its way and there was no buyer's remorse on Todd's part! haha) after dinner, get a decaf coffee or bedtime tea, and drag myself into the theater for a nice wind down...I'm sure to Todd's embarrassment. And after the movie, Todd would practically carry me home, and I would have to drag myself out of bed for work the next morning! But, I loved these nights, because going to the movies made me feel like a normal couple that lived in the same city and had the time together to do things like go to the movies. I also get the warm and fuzzies when I think about late night movies, because the night we got engaged, we were both so excited we couldn't sleep, so we went to a late night movie on a Monday night! Since we have been married, we still go to movies, just not as much, and never the late showing! Last night was such a treat :)

Emilie Sloan Seattle

As a Washintonian, and lover of all things shopping, bags, and damask...I am in love with these bags I found while in Kentucky earlier this month! The brand is Emilie Sloan Seattle, and Lisa Murphy is the designer who made these bags durable for moms, and Seattle-ites who know that life can get messy...or rainy. I am neither of those, but I still love the laminated cotton bags that are actually not "plasticy" at all and very cute! Unfortunately, there are no stores anywhere close to me that carry her bags, so I will just continue to drool over her pictures online, especially this bag I think I might need (Stasha Carry-All in grey damask)....

Check out more of her stuff at: emiliesloan.com

Cooking, Cooking, Cooking!!

It has been a week of lots of cooking at our house! We had friends over for dinner, I volunteered to take someone who just had a baby dinner, and we cooked spaghetti for about 30 people through a service project for church at a home for teenage mothers in Orlando. As a side note, the last meal was very eye-opening. These girls live in a dorm style setting, on less money than most people pay for their car in a month. The goal of the home is to continue their education, prepare them to care for themselves and their baby, and give them their own independence before graduation from high school. We hope to be able to help out more at this home in the near future. If you get the experience to help teenage mothers, take it - it is amazing what these girls go through, and yet how positive they are!

In the midst of all of this cooking, our refrigerator managed to stop working...again! But, no worries I still managed pictures amongst the chaos!

Beer can chicken with dry rub for dinner with friends:

Beer ready to go on the stand (holes poked in the top to allow the beer to froth, and steam which makes it so tender!)
Ingredients for the dry rub...cinnamon, black pepper, sea salt, dry mustard, garlic salt, paprika
Dry rub mixed, and ready to be applied to the chicken!

The clucker ready to go...by the way he was only $4.99 at Whole Foods!!!!

On the grill!! The burner on the left side is at medium heat, and the chickie is on the right so he doesn't get direct heat.
Resting before we eat him after about 2 hours on the grill!

Spaghetti Sauce for the girls' home:

I have never cooked for this many people before! Thank you to google for helpful hints on how much to buy, how much pasta per person, etc! I used canned, diced tomatoes to help speed up the process! My poor stove ran for 4 hours on 2 burners so the sauce could simmer! If you noticed the green tea on the left, it was a must have!! My morning started early with a doctors appointment, continued by meeting Todd for breakfast, grocery shopping for the sauce, making two full pots of sauce, making a meal for a family through our church and delivering it, cleaning out our entire fridge when it stopped working, and still delivering the sauce and serving at the home for 3 hours last night! I slept in this morning :)

Oh, and a preview of tomorrow...spa day with Todd and dinner in Tampa! Todd has the day off, and so we are having a staycation :0)

Breck - the professional napper

I almost forgot to post these pics of Breck, from while we were in Kentucky last week. I couldn't find Breck, and went upstairs to find him camoflauged, napping in my suitcase...

Can you see him?

I really don't want to get up, I'm going to just move a bit...

Can you please stop with that flash? I'm trying to sleep!

Okay, I'm up! Now, can you stop with the pictures?

Happy Fourth!

En route to Kentucky and Tennessee, we stopped for the holiday in Atlanta. We made this same trip last year when we were engaged, but spent the fourth in Nashville with Todd's sister, her husband and their kids...oh, and Todd did the first leg of the trip to Atlanta by himself! How things have changed in the last year!!

One year ago in Nashville with our niece, Caroline -- ready for fireworks!!

This year, we started the night in Atlanta off with an amazing rib dinner at the home of the Abregos!! Then, we headed out to the Sandy Springs ampitheater for a night of music. Finally, we topped off our fourth with sparklers, glow bracelets, and more dessert -- what could be better than that?? I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking :)

Good friends, and as always, a good time!

Getting in a little parenting practice with the Abrego's sweet little baby girl! So precious :)

Ending the night in the only appropriate way! I sure do miss Atlanta!

Finally Settled!

I hung the last of our pictures tonight! It seems like there is always a box that sits in the bottom of a closet, or a picture without a place on the wall for weeks after moving into a new home. In our case, as I described in a previous post, it was a wall full of propped up diplomas and pharmacy licenses. After dreading hanging them for the last several weeks (only because I remember how horrible of a task it was at the old place where we hung them up the staircase), I finally broke down and hung them tonight. Todd is out with some friends tonight, so I am sure he will be very surprised when he gets home and the last pieces to our new place finally have a home!

Summer Dinners

We wasted no time using our new grill toys. Last night, we made a pizza on our Wilton Armetale platter. We used wheat pizza dough from the bakery at Whole Foods and topped it with tomato sauce, sauteed onions, fresh tomato, pulled grilled chicken, garlic, and mozzarella cheese! It was so good, and the grill gave the pizza a wonderful smoky flavor. The grill platter was a great investment - we will definitely be using it a lot this summer!

I also made a mixed baby green salad with homemade hot balsamic dressing. It seemed fitting for me to throw some fresh mint, toasted shredded coconut, sliced strawberries, and almonds. We love to make salads at our house, and starting our meal with this summery salad just sounded wonderful! We also opened a bottle of champagne to make some refreshing drinks for the hot grilling! I mixed 2 parts champagne with 1 part pineapple coconut puree, poured over crushed ice, and added fresh mint. Wonderful!!!

To finish off the summer theme, I made a mixed berry cobbler. It had raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries in it, and I finished it with homemade dough, butter, and a brown sugar dusting. I ate mine with vanilla gelato! Yummy! We more than indulged last night! Tonight, we have decided to go a little lighter :)