Catch the Sun

Today we are headed to Hilton Head Island to spend the night with my grandmother- she is the matriarch of my dads family and is all around a wonderful person! We then head to Savannah to celebrate our anniversary! Our first year has been filled with so much happiness, love and learning!! Still feel like the luckiest person in the world to spend everyday with my best friend.

This summer has been my favorite part of our first year. During the school year James gets stressed and school-studying-outlines-finals seem to get into James' mind and never leave! It makes me so proud to be married to such a hard worker- both in the classroom and at work- but in the summer it is just work occupying James' mind and he is stress free and so much more full if fun energy!

Part of our 'last summer of fun' has included a lot of traveling- we love being on the go! We have been to Atlanta, Charleston, Conway and Boone! Now we are headed for another trip and I can't wait!

We have also been walking our neighborhood or going to the gym together- love that USC employees have access to one of the gyms on campus for free!!- and we've both lost weight!

Since neither of us had ever read the books or seen the Harry Potter movies we decided to do that together this summer! Mine all come from the library- if you don't have a library card GET ONE, free books and DVDs at your disposal will save you some serious cash on Amazon that you can use for a new Kate Spade bag instead...- and James reads his on the iPad. What a mix or modern and old school are we!! So we read the books and then rent the DVDs from the library to watch- yes they have a huge selection of DVDs to enjoy!- its been such a fun thing to do together! We are on the third book now and will have to put them on hold while on our vacation!

I am blogging from my iPhone so I will leave you with some unorganized pictures to enjoy!!

Wine and new hair cut look- my salon pours a heavy glass of wine before I get my hair cut- love it!

A new favorite guilty pleasure of mine- how amazing are hazelnuts?!?

My awesome monogram koozie that my mom gave to all of the ladies at my cousins lingerie shower- thank you Lisa!!

Moaning Myrtle from the second Harry Potter movie!

Breakfast of champs! Toasted everything bagel from a place near campus with egg bacon and cheddar cheese. Wash it down with a coke zero and you have the perfect breakfast to cure any overly happy happy-hour.

I will try to post from Savannah! Y'all enjoy your weekend!!!

What's cooking

So even though I went on a mini blogging break I was still cooking!

While searching for gifts at TJ Maxx with James one weekend I found something amazing! An ice pop mold!

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I was so excited and at $6.99 for a kitchen item that I wanted- so was James! After getting on the Cooking Light website we decided to make these - Chocolate Pudding Pops. A bit labor intensive but perfect for a Sunday night - they tasted amazing and were pretty light for a dessert!

Pudding pops and Harry Potter!

James and I had gone to our friends house for dinner a few weeks ago and I was just blown away. Cam, our wonderful hostess (who has a baby but you would never know because she is a skinny mini) had gone over the top with the meal. White sangria (that she made), homemade dips (that she made) and delicious sides to go with our grilled meats (chicken for the ladies and steaks for the guys!). We had a great salad - complete with candied walnuts (that she made) that were amazing- she made twice baked sweet potatoes that were out of this world - she had piped the sweet potatoes into the jackets, presentation looked like a restaurant and our final (and my favorite side!) was the prosciutto and pastry wrapped asparagus. 
The meal was amazing but what was even better was the company and the fun we all had just chatting and also holding sweet baby Thomas. Of course we over stayed our welcome and were there forever but we just did not want to leave! No pictures of the food but I will leave you with a great picture of James and I with baby Thomas - who was such a good baby now James and I want one! maybejustalittlebitalot

James and I with baby Thomas!
side note- James' step mom made my bracelet! Its a necklace that I wear
double wrapped on my wrists! I am obsessed with it!!

Anyways, the reason for that long story, besides to talk about what amazing hosts Cam and Tommy were, was to say that after dinner at their house I decided I needed to step up my game in the kitchen. If Cam can do it and she has a baby and a whole other being to take care of, I can do it as well!

 We got into the car leaving Cam's house and James said he would love to have the asparagus like Cam made it. So I waited for it to go on sale at Publix and this week it did! While I know do most of our produce and meat shopping at Aldi, if there is something not available at Aldi, I will hit up our awesome Publix.

Bacon wrapped filet, baked potato & prosciutto wrapped asparagus

So dinners have been a lot of grilling but also a lot of good sides! Purple roasted potatoes, garlic roasted broccoli, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.  Not really using recipes but we are greatly enjoying cooking outside! It beats having the oven and stove top on when it is 101 degrees out!

Asian lettuce cups! YUM

Roasted blue potatoes, garlic roasted broccoli and filet!

We have been eating our usual Skinny Taste and Cooking Light rotations but of course we have to add in new things! I saw this Sausage Stuffed Zucchini pop up on Gina's blog and I KNEW James would love it! Thankfully, I was right! I switched our sausage for ground turkey since I had that at home and we enjoyed using our large farmer market zucchinis! It was perfect for a lighter summer meal (calorie wise- two boats were so filling!).

Turkey stuffed zucchini boats and grilled potatoes- amazing zuch. recipe! 

What great things have you been whipping up in the kitchen?!

Catching Up

I am still here! It's been a crazy past month! I have been in Blowing Rock for my family's vacation, home in Columbia and then back to Charleston for an amazing Bachelorette party for my cousin Lu!

I will start by recapping our family vacation to Blowing Rock - I think there were 24 of us (maybe 26?) spread out over 5 houses- we had the best time! From our annual visit to Tweetsie Railroad to our trip to Zaloo's Canoes for kayaking - it was our best year yet! I stayed at my aunt's house with James and my aunt and her Mini Doxie- Max, who served as our entertainment. We had a lots of great family meals together - one of my cousins was in charge of feeding all of us dinner everyone night save one- and even had a shower for my cousin Lu and her husband-to-be Dustin!

Our kayaking trip was an experience.  Growing up we went on "Jeff trips" (Jeff is my dad) when the mountain trip was just for my dad's immediate family - his parents, my aunt and uncle and my 3 cousins.  These trips were usually kayaking or canoeing, in the rain, in unseasonable cold weather for Blowing Rock in July. We would always have some sort of issues- keys were lost, people were hungry+angry=hangry, someone would cry.. you get the idea. So now that we are grown ups we all enjoy these 'Jeff trips' and usually there are no issues.

Well, this kayaking trip for everyone else was a nice 3 mile paddle down the New River. For me, I flipped my kayak (and I am no novice!) lost all my things - thankfully they were recovered by my cousin to be Dustin- including my monogram koozies!- in this process James was also flipped while trying to help me, bruised his knee, broke his shoes and then his diabetes testing kit got water in it. So it was a bit of a worry but thankfully we are all alive and well! Flipping aside, kayaking is one of the funnest things we do each year and I am already getting excited for our kayaking trip prior to my cousin's mountain wedding!

Last year when James and I were to couple to be married we were thrown a great surprise tailgate shower! This year it was my cousin Lu's turn! We threw them a great 'around the house' shower and Lu got some great things for her house to become a home! I know how much she loved monogram goodies so I got her a monogrammed cooler with her new last name and a monogram luggage tag with her new initials plus some great goodies for the kitchen, a frame to match her home decor and a few things from her registry as well!

We had lots of family time with my dad's cousins and 2nd cousins etc. We watched the fireworks, sang songs together, ate wonderful meals and enjoyed the much cooler temperature of the mountains! Can't wait to see everyone for Labor Day weekend for Lu's wedding!

Recent Buys and Gifts!

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Since I have basically been on a shopping embargo I have not been able to buy buy buy like I normally do. Weddings, trips and showers have meant cutting back on my shopping expenses so that we are able to do things for our friends & family getting married! I am a big time gift giver, almost to a fault. If someone has some sort of birthday or celebration, I want to buy them the best gift!  My competitive nature comes out and I just have to get the coolest gift or the most fun or most usable one. Well, most fun and usable in my mind might not be the same as the person I am giving the gift to but really, I try to find something neat that they might enjoy!

My friend Katherine (hi love!) had a pretty bad month of May so I sent her a little pick me up. She is a big hedgehog fan so I found some cute note cards on Etsy to send to her.  She loved them!

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I got my cousin, Lu, a really cute burlap bag (my gift of choice for all brides!) as a thank you for hosting me at her mountain condo one weekend while James was cruising the Caribbean away.

My cousin's married initials!

I had bought James a 'not father's day gift' - a leather weekend bag from Wilson's Leather Outlet. I had seen a few online and I knew James needed something besides an ADIDAS bag for our weekend trips (we will travel every weekend in June and July save one!!). While James was gone, I had it embossed for him and he loves it! We used it this past weekend in Blowing Rock and will use it again once we are both off work for the 4th of July!

My grandfather had given me some birthday money and I decided to use part of it for some monogrammed earrings. I walked (its so close to our house!) to Handpicked on Devine and spent about 30 mins trying to figure out what I wanted (have you seen their monogram earring selection? so big!) I finally settled on the Round Scalloped Monogram earrings and placed my order. Two days later, they were in the store! Such a steal for $20! If you join their rewards program, there are days almost once a week where your order is half off! This would be a great gift for a  bride-to-be (hint, hint Lu!) or for your friends, $10 for monogram earrings is great!

Another day, another time to wear my new earrings!

Monogram earrings!

Wearing my new earrings in Denver, NC

$1.50 for thank you notes from Michaels craft store in Blowing Rock!

Cute thank you note!

My friend Cam popped in my office this morning and it was a big surprise! For me and for her, I left my make up and CHI in the mountains - all natural look for me! She left me with a muffin she had made - so sweet and such a great pick me up on a Tuesday!

Muffin at work - Thanks Cam!

I had seen a Southern Savers coupon code for the Paper Coterie for a free spiral bound journal! I knew I needed something to keep in my new purse (thanks to my sister and James!) and this fit the bill perfectly! I paid for shipping only, $7, and was able to custom make it using my monogram and some of our wedding pictures, including my favorite - me saying my wedding vows to James!

 

Saying my wedding vows to James

Outside cover- plastic to keep it clean!

Inside cover- cutting the cake and our getaway in our London cab!

The one on the cover is my favorite! Our wedding vows were the traditional Episcopalian vows that I cried while reciting.

I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow. And with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of God.

Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th weekend! What a better way to celebrate the great country of America than to spend it in God's country- The Mountains!

Crazy Life

So did I mention that James was on a cruise with his dad for 10 days? Well cruising for 8 and traveling for 2! I was living the single gals life - eating what I wanted, no sharing the tv. Really, those were the only things fun for that week! I was missing my much better half! I knew he was having a blast with his dad and was just sad I could not go- 7 days off work was too much!

Below are my 'days in the life of a single gal' pictures! Enjoy!! I had a long list of all the things I wanted to get finished while James was away, including hanging frames, mirror for the guest room, bridesmaids dress (with pockets for snacks!!!), made shrimp and grits (James has a shrimp allergy so while he was away - #shrimp up) and basically read til all hours of the night!

I watched USC Baseball

Rented Upstairs Downstairs from the library and finished it in 1 night

Ordered and got in my new monogram earrings from Handpicked!

Watched Baseball in the office

Had James' 'not father's day gift' embossed (leather weekend bag)

Ate whatever I wanted - jack and dill cheese and yellow peppers

Hung a mirror in the guest room

Had one of our wedding pictures printed and framed it

Got my bridesmaid's dress for my cousins wedding! (Pockets for snacks!)

Ate peaches and vanilla ice cream!

Ate an entire Challah loaf from the farmers market at work (low point)

Made Shrimp and Grits!

Read two of the three Hunger Games books (finished the last this week!)

Ate really really really healthy meals (mint water!)

Found a new snack obsession

Watched my beautiful flowers from my FIL bloom!