Georgia Southern is Back!

I'm so proud of my alma mater Georgia Southern. This weekend the Eagles took down our rivals, #1 ranked Appalachian State. My only regret was that I wasn't in Paulson Stadium to see it. Check out the last play...it give me goosebumps!

Ready for the Holidays

This year it feels like I am ready for the holidays even earlier than usual. That's probably because: 1. We were so frugal this summer on one income that we really didn't do much 2. This summer was so stinkin' hot that I'll take any kind of relief from the heat.

I can't wait for...

Fakesgiving with friends

Thanksgiving with Family

Celebrating my birthday

Eating tons of food

Listening to Papa Frank read the Christmas story

Christmas Ornaments

New Year's Eve

I also can't wait for Christmas music (I'm already listening), decorating the house, drinking warm tasty beverages in red cups from Starbucks, Christmas shopping, baking, and sending Christmas cards! What are y'all looking forward to?

Halloween Weekend

We decided to head up to Atlanta for Halloween Saturday at the last minute to visit the Hubs's best friend and his wife (Stephen & Amanda) who are expecting a little one in December. Most of the visit was pretty regular, staying up late chatting and catching up and making the requisite trek to Ikea and Trader Joe's for treats. I love me some Two Buck Chuck...If we only had one in Augusta!!!

We also ended up at a pretty fun Halloween party Saturday night. Stephen's old band was playing together while everyone was in town and there was even a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Zombieland.

Amanda and I with my favorite costumes of the night, the Yip Yips from Sesame Street!

Me (sans fancy costume) and Amanda (pot bellied piggie)

Amanda and Stephen.

The coolest part of the night was the 'coffin buffet' for all the food. Mr. Skeleton consisted of: rice krispy skull with frosting, french bread arms and legs, cheesecake, chilli and dips for organs, and nuts! All surrounded by chips and cupcakes on the outside.

I'm so glad that November is finally here, honestly that was my first thought this morning. The weather is cooling off and the holidays are right around the corner. Can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Thursday Tidbits

I'm feeling pretty random today and since I'm still a little foggy from antibiotics and cold meds this is about as 'together' as I can be.

• I've been sick all week, which is no fun. It has been a little nice to catch up on rest at home, but daytime tv isn't as good as I remember it being and the Price is Right, just isn't the same with Drew Carey.
• It still doesn't feel like fall in our neck of the woods. We enjoyed one nice week of cool weather at the beginning of October but now it's back up in the 80's during the day. It just doesn't feel fall-ish if I'm still wearing shorts on the weekends and no tights at work.
• Since it has been so warm lately and I've been sick I haven't cooked much. If it would cool off, it would certainly put me in the mood to bake.
• I can't believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. I'm really looking forward to enjoying time with both of our families this year, decorating, and shopping for gifts!
• I've been super slacking in the exercise department lately and I've really got to do something about that. I think if I could just get myself on a schedule it would help, it just takes so much more effort to workout than it does to sit on the couch and watch the Real Housewives.
• Speaking of the Real Housewives, I really enjoyed the ladies from D.C. (except for Michaele, of course) and hopefully Beverly Hills will be fun, too. So far, I'm really liking Kyle and Linda.
• I found some fabulous new $2 sunglasses last week and thought I'd try them out on the way to Papa's wedding. I do love a good bargain!
• 
  I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Goin' to the Chapel

We hit the road to LaGrange, Georgia this weekend to visit my family and watch my Papa get hitched! My grandmama passed away about 5 years ago and as much as we miss her, we really didn't want my grandad to stay lonesome.

Kate and I enjoying the reception

The wedding was really sweet and tons of fun, plus it was nice to see family that we only get to see a couple times during the year and meet some new family!

...and here's the happy couple!

Congrats Papa and Mrs. Lynn!

Weekend Roundup

So, it turns out that fall has been much busier than summer! It's great since this summer kind of sucked and I'm really looking forward to changing leaves and cooler temps. This past weekend we were totally lazy on Friday night, staying in and watching Couples Retreat for the 14th time on HBO. Saturday I had to work a bit, although I can't complain much, my day consisted of working at the Hispanic Festival...

...and then at the Greek Festival! Mmmm...lamb on the spit!

And Feta Fries!!!

I came home and caught up on a little football, thankfully, South Carolina beat Bama although my Georgia Southern Eagles lost to Wofford. We decided to take a last minute camping trip at the lake, so we packed up the truck and hit the road. It was really nice to get out of town for the nice and sleep with the crickets. Hopefully the weather will get just a little bit cooler and we'll be able to enjoy some more camping trips this year! Check out the view right as the sun was going down...

Next weekend, my grandad is getting married, so it should be just as busy and fun!

Wish I Was Here...

It's going to be a beautiful day in Statesboro, Georgia at Paulson Stadium. Wish I was there cheering on my team...

GO EAGLES!

Brain Dump

...Inspired by the Blue Eyed Bride and Tale of a GRITS

• I haven't blogged for a while because this was one of the worst summers I've had in a while. Except for a quick trip to Florida to visit a set of in-laws and a fabulous visit up to Columbia and Charlotte to see DMB, it was rough.
• I'm throughly ready for fall weather, gatherings of friends and fun!
• After this terribly hot summer, I've realized that summer is not as fun when you don't have a job that gives you a summer break (like all the fabulous teachers in my life) or you are trying to save money and skip vacation because you are living on 1 income.
• I'm finally ready to get back in the kitchen. I got a little bored cooking the same thing over and over this summer, which is entirely my fault since I have plenty of cookbooks. I'm hoping to make one new recipe every other week for the next few months.
• In addition to fall weather, I'm ready for fall baking season. I am anxiously awaiting cooler weather so I can use my kitchenaid mixer and bake a ton of delicious goodies in my kitchen.
• Football season is here! We are huge college football fans and try to tune in or go to as many Georgia Southern (our alma mater), South Carolina, Florida, South Florida (Matt's other alma mater) games as we can.
• I'm trying to get all of my photos and music reorganized and backed up. It makes me nervous to think about losing any of it.
• I've realized that I'm completely addicted to tv and need to start reading more books before my brain rots from overexposure to trashy reality tv and random crap.

4th of July

We went down to Gainesville, FL on a whim and visited Matt's mom and grandparents for the 4th of July. His grandparents have just been moved to assisted living and they seem to be adjusting well, which is good for everyone. The place is really cute, too! It kind of reminds me of a dorm for seniors. Everyone has their own apartment and they have all sorts of social activities. They even have cocktail hour some days! They had a photoboard set up for the 4th of July so we took a few photos for Grandmom and Grandad. Here's me and Matt's Mom being patriotic:

After Gainesville we headed down to Ocala to grill out and shoot fireworks. On the way we stopped in Micanopy (a really tiny town on 441) to try out a pizza place I'd been wanting to visit. Blue Highway certainly lived up to the hype, and if you're in that neck of the woods, I suggest you try the thick crust pizza. It was to die for. It was so good, that I got carried away eating it and forgot to take a photo of the actual pizza.

Since I grew up in South Carolina shooting fireworks, I don't mess around. This year the grand finale was 'Red, White, & BOOM'!

It was so great and much needed to get out of town and enjoy a change of scenery for a while. We've kind of been up to the same old-same old too much these days, and it was amazing how relaxed I felt just after the first hour of being on the road. I hope everyone else had a fabulous 4th of July!

Palmetto Cookies with Royal Icing

After learning that one of our coworkers was leaving Augusta to move to Charleston last week, we decided to throw her a little farewell party last night. The theme was the lowcountry, of course, and I was so excited that I had a chance to use my new palmetto and crescent moon cookie cutter.
I used store bought cookie dough, since I was a little pressed for time and put it in the freezer ahead of time to make it easier to roll out and cut cookies and once they were baked and cooled I iced them with royal icing.

Here's the recipe I used, it's super easy!

Royal Icing:

2 large egg whites

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

3 cups of sifted confectioners sugar

Combine egg whites and lemon juice with blender. Slowly add sifted sugar and mix until icing thickens. Mine turned out a little thick at first so I added a few teaspoons of warm water to soften it up a bit.

This was my first time icing cookies with homemade royal icing and although I need to work on my technique a little bit the icing tasted delicious and I think the final product turned out pretty cute!

Now I'm on the hunt for a South Carolina shaped cookie cutter. Wouldn't those two be so cute paired together?

Twilight Fever

I still haven't seen Eclipse, which is fine by me. I enjoy Twilight, but you probably wouldn't call me a 'Twi-hard'. I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed the midnight premiere with all the 15 year olds screaming about Edward and Jacob every time they are on screen.

I did see this lovely mini van on the highway last week and had to take a photo to share. Either the kids are super huge Twilight fans and their parents support them or the entire family adores the books and movies.

If you can't read it text on the top of the van's rear window and monogram it reads: 'And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.' That's some serious Twilight love!

Farmers Market

Check out my goodies from the Farmers Market. Summer crops are here!

Pretty soon my tomato garden and herbs will be ready to go. There's nothing better than fresh tomatoes during the hot summer months!

Neutrogena Sunscreen Review

Light Daily Sunscreen

In the past few years I have tried to be very diligent about wearing sun protection daily. That used to mean using a daily moisturizer with spf in it, rarely higher than spf 15 or spf 30. I thought that if I used anything higher it would have to be in the form of heavy, greasy sunscreen. I was wrong!

I have been using the Neutrogena Ultrasheer Liquid Sunblock every day for the past week and I am very please so far. It smells really fresh and it doesn't feel too heavy. During the week I wear it under my makeup and it doesn't make my skin oily. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works this weekend while we are outdoors most of the day.

Would you like to review UltraSheer®, too? Then go to http://www.giantwavepool.com/ultrasheer!

Or get $2 off your UltraSheer® purchase at http://www.neutrogena.com/suncoupon.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the product mentioned above for free for review purposes from Tidal Labs. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Fabulous Giveaway!

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! I will have a full post coming soon about all of our weekend shenanigans. Until then, please venture over to Miss Janice's blog and check out her giveaway in celebration of National Iced Tea Month. Such a great thing to celebrate, in my opinion. It's only the most refreshing beverage evah!

Versatile Blogger Award!

Sarah at Honey, Sugah, Dahlin' was kind enough to give me the Versatile Blogger Award. (Thanks, Sarah!) We've never met, but I feel like we'd be friends since she is also a Georgia Southern Alum. GO EAGLES!

The rules are:

1) Thank the blogger who presented me with this award…done!

2) Share 7 things about myself.

3) Pass on the award to 10 bloggers I have recently discovered and love!

So here we go! Seven random things you might (or might not) want to know…

Here are my seven things:

1. I (like Sarah) have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks. I do cook a lot, but I should probably make myself some kind of deal that I won't buy another cookbook until I've tried 50 new recipes or something like that. Maybe that should be my challenge for the summer.
2. I collect carnival glass. My friend Andy probably thinks it's a little bit old lady-ish of me, but that's fine. I like it because each piece is a little bit unique and it reminds me of my Granny Grits (my great grandmother).
3. One of my favorite places in the world is St. Augustine. My husband took me there to celebrate our first year of dating and we've been back many times since. It's so laidback, you can walk practically everywhere, there are great outlets and the drinks are cheap!
4. I love photography and hope that one day I'll have the opportunity to turn it into an occupation instead of just a semi-part time occupation.
5. I'd love to live at or near the beach at some point in my life. Maybe even just for a summer...seems like you'd almost have to be in a good mood if you lived close enough to the ocean, right?
6. I am a proud Southerner, but if I had to choose any other culture to be a part of, it would be Italian. I love Italian food and could eat it 24/7 and the people seem like they really enjoy life. Plus, how pretty is Italy in the movies? I hope I get to visit one day!
7. I am obsessed with being frugal. I subscribe to 'frugal' blogs, print coupons, clip coupons and I'm always on the lookout for a deal. I rarely pay full price for groceries, clothes and a lot of other things. I love to save $$$!

And here's who my recent favorite bloggers are:

Katie at Tale of a G.R.I.T.S.

Amanda at I Love You Days

Leslie at lmstoehr

Mrs. M at My Life as Mrs. M.

Stacey at The Bowman Family

Katie at Don't Warn the Tadpoles

Brandie at Brandi Nell the Southern Bell

Tammy at Sprout! Coming Soon

Lori at Baby Hennesy

Carolina Girl at Ramblings of a 30 Something Year Old Carolina Girl

Finally Friday!

Thank goodness it's Friday! It felt like it would never get here this week. This weekend I'm looking forward to:

• gorgeous weather
• buying a few summer treats for myself at CVS (nail polish, etc.)
• grilling out hamburgers
• heading downtown to see what the Saturday Market on the River is all about
• starting a new book
• relaxing

It should be a fun weekend in Augusta! Have y'all got any weekend plans?

Wordless Wednesday

Mother's Day 2010

Summer Lovin'

One of my favorite things about summer (which is really right around the corner here in Georgia!) is home grown tomatoes. I love tomatoes all year round and will practically eat anything with marinara, salsa, or any other kind of red sauce. I also like to just slice up tomatoes to enjoy as a snack. Salt or no salt, I love them either way. I might be a little obsessed with them, especially my own plants. There's just something about tomatoes that come straight out of the garden and into my kitchen during the summer!

Here's a few of my little cherries from last year:

I posted earlier this spring about my tomato seedlings. This is the second year I have tried to grow my 'maters from seeds to plants. I have to tell y'all, it is much harder than it looks. Too much water, not enough water, or too much sun and half the seedling tray is gone and unable to be resuscitated. Matt was really helpful this year with keeping them watered and sunned while they were babies, but inevitably we were left with about 6 seedlings that were healthy enough to be planted. After a few weeks in the ground we were left with about 2 plants that would be able to make it, thanks to another cold snap, too much wind and a few neighborhood birds that love to nibble on tomato leaves. I still wanted a whole garden full of tomatoes so we filled in with a few tomato plants we found at the flea. (They are surprisingly sturdy so far!) Last night I bought the last tomato to fill the garden and it is a 'Talledega' tomato. I've never heard of this kind of tomato before, but we're going to give it a shot and his nickname will be 'Ricky Bobby'.

Here's Ricky Bobby being planted in my garden:

The first tomatoes of the season growing on my 'early girl' tomato. She will probably be named 'Scarlet O'Hara' because she has lovely green leaves like Scarlet's famous green dress.

Another view of the garden. Last year we tried two topsy turvies as well, and they barely produced anything. I decided to concentrate on plants in the ground this year and I hope it pays off!

I'm working on growing a few herbs too (parsley, basil, oregano, etc.) but those are moving slow too. Hopefully I'll have something to share soon, since they would be a perfect addition to the homemade spaghetti sauce I'm going to try to make after my tomato harvest this summer.

Another busy week!

Last weekend we celebrated our 1 year anniversary (full post coming soon!). On Sunday I spent the better part of the day taking photos for a baby shower and then maternity pics afterwards. I haven't really done maternity photos before, but I think they turned out pretty cute. We had a great location and the afternoon light was really, really pretty.

Monday, my parents called and we went to meet them for dinner at the Village Deli. If you're ever in Augusta, you have to try this place. They have the best burgers and sandwiches and everyone is always so nice. I tried the french dip for the first time and it was so good. Although, how can you go wrong with a sandwich that is dipped in au jus?

This week I hosted (along with one of my coworkers) a shower for a friend at work who is getting married in less than a month. The first half of the week was spent in preparation getting the house ready and wrapping her gift. Oh, and making sure all the food was taken care of! She is a sweetheart and it is sure to be a fabulous wedding. Our theme was a tea party bridal shower so we had tiny pimento cheese sandwiches, fruit and cheese, petit fours and sweet tea vodka!

Our Tea Party spread:

Me and the lovely bride, Stacey

I had a great time inviting everyone over and it was a really good excuse to get the house super spiffy. Hubs said I should start entertaining more so we'd be motivated to stay clean. Works for me!

This weekend should be relaxing, although I'm determined to clean up around the house more and organize. I realized this week that we have too many books. I'm a reader and I'd love to keep copies of everything I've read, but it just isn't practical. For starters, we don't really have the space for a full library. As it is, I keep my cookbooks in their own separate cabinet because I refuse to part with any of them. The rest of my fiction and non fiction really should be passed along to family or friends who'd like to read. Maybe I could do a giveaway or book swap soon. Hmmm...

Spring Fever

I was so glad when April finally rolled around this year. Once March is over, I'm usually ready to start enjoying warmer weather and sitting out on a patio somewhere enjoying a cold beer. April has been busy, but the weather has been gorgeous so I can't really complain.

We took a boat tour on the Augusta Canal and enjoyed the sites one day last week, it was gorgeous outside!

Our old gas grilled died at the end of last summer and we put off getting a new one for a while. Thankfully, Matt found a great deal on a new one and we've been grilling up a storm! it's been really nice being able to cook and eat outside since the weather is so great these days.

The easter beagle brought me lots of sweet treats and we enjoyed Easter supper with Matt's dad, stepbrother and my dad.

Masters week was fabulous in Augusta this year! Matt's dad came to visit and go to the practice rounds with him on Monday. They had a great time since the weather was so nice. Last year when he came it was super cold and rainy, unfortunately.

Wednesday I got to enjoy the course and the Par 3 tournament with my friends Carrie and Stacey.

I hope the rest of April and May is just as fun! I've got a bridal shower that I'm hosting next week and our 1 year anniversary is right around the corner...

Masters Triplets

These guys were my favorites for 'Most Creative Outfit' at the Masters last year!

Masters Monday

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood here in Augusta...