Adventures in Cell Phone Photography

I have finally joined the ranks of technology-savvy, modern folks everywhere and gotten a smart phone. No, it's not an iPhone, but it does have a decent camera and fun apps. Here's a few photos from the last week or so. Fair warning, I am totally digging taking photos of all my food.

I tried a new wine this week. The Hubs picked it up from World Market. Isn't that the cutest label?

Every now and then we have really nice hoteliers who will stop by the office with treats, like this giant chocolate chip cookie. It was delicious.

I found some classics at the thrift store the other day. Did anyone not read The BSC while they were growing up? Those books were gold!

There is nothing better than ice cold Mexican Coca-Cola, especially in the summer.

Even boring office snacks look artsy when snapped with a fun camera app!

New combo of red velvet and chocolate yougurt from the shop down the street from my office. It's totally healthy because it has blackberries and strawberries on top, right? And the dark chocolate chips are for my heart.

Beautiful strawberries from the Farmers Market.

Hope y'all enjoyed my random week in photos! Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

On hold...

Feeling kind of down and anxious this week, worrying and fretting about when things are going to start to fall together. Soon please?!? Until then, please enjoy a few random photos of the past few weeks. Things have been busy, busy.

I broke in my new Chuck Taylors.

We celebrated Mother's Day with Matt's sis and almost step-sis in Ocala.

Finally visited the Marjorie Kinan Rawlings State Park in Cross Creek. It is gorgeous out there.

We spent Easter with Matt's Dad's side of the family and it was a lot of fun.

I tried the Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Poundcake from Southern Living at Easter. To die for!

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!

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!

Fakesgiving 2009

So, I know I'm way behind and Fakesgiving actually happened weeks ago, but I'm sure y'all want to see how it turned out, right?12 of our friends came from all over (everyone was from out of town but 1, and we even had 2 international guests this year!) and it was a blast!

Kelly's Hubby, Eliot and their puppy dog Mims in her Christmas sweater (E is Scottish!)

Kelly and Mims in her doggy jacket

Thorben and Twyla (He's from Germany!)

Kelly's delicious cheese ball:

Turkey and Mashed Potatoes, my favorite!

Me and the BFF, Andy who is a fantastic cook!

Me and Miss Twy -totally related :-)

Mrs. Mikell and Mrs. Meikle (we're convince that we're Scottish cousins b/c of our husbands' roots!)

The dessert table halfway through the night

(nevermind the papa johns box in the corner-one of the boys who don't cook brought cinnastix!):

Andy brought delicious treats! Red Velvet Cake and Pralines!

The end of the evening was spent around the bonfire with glasses of wine and good conversation:

Fakesgiving Preview

Fakesgiving 2009 was a success! I'm still exhausted from all the cooking, eating and catching up with old friends. Here's a quick look at the bird from Saturday night. Meet Burt the Turkey!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Vanilla

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite things to bake, and since Andy was kind enough to make both of us some homemade vanilla I thought the first thing I would make would be cookies! I made a batch for us to take while we were camping at the lake last weekend and thought I'd share them with y'all. I usually use the Crisco recipe, because the cookies always come out so soft and chewy. You can cook them longer to make them crispier, but we like soft cookies in our house! (I apologize ahead of time for the less than stellar food photography. I'll have to study up on my Pioneer Woman Cooks! photos.)

Here is the recipe*:

Ingredients:
¾ cups Butter flavored Crisco
1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. Milk
1 tbsp. Vanilla
1 Egg
1 ¾ cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt
¾ tsp. Baking Soda
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup pecan pieces

Directions:Heat oven to 375. Cream butter flavor crisco, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl.

Andy's delicious homemade vanilla!

Blend until creamy. Blend in egg.Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, gradually.

(Y'all, I would be so sad without my Kitchenaid mixer!)

Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop rounded Tablespoonfuls (about 2 measuring tablespoons) of dough 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. (I usually cook on stoneware, which doesn't need to be greased either.)

Bake at 375 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies (they will look light and moist) DO NOT OVERBAKE or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies.

Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes.

Remove to cooling rack. 3 dozen 3-inch cookies. Note: if nuts are omitted, use 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Voila! Delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies!

*I did make two substitutions this time, besides the homemade vanilla. I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet and dark brown sugar instead of light because that's what I had in my pantry and they turned out even better than usual!

Sick Day

I stayed home from work today because I have the crud. My scratchy throat from the end of last week has turned into a super froggy throat and my nose has joined the 'sick club' as well. No fun for me. At least I have my humidifier and lots of kool-aid (a sick day staple at my house) to keep me company! If I had any extra energy, I would get started on my Christmas baking and crafts plan for the holidays this year. I can't believe November is right around the corner. I have lots of great ideas that I can't wait to try this year!

And since it's such a cold and wet day outside I decided to put some spicy chili on the Crock Pot so that we could at least have a warm and yummy supper tonight.

Photo Credit

Homemade Vanilla

I made my first batch of baked goods with Andy's delicious homemade vanilla this weekend. I'll have a full post later on this week, but for now, here's a sneak peek at the yummy vanilla.If I had known it would have turned out so good, we would have had homemade vanilla a long time ago. Thanks again, Andy!