Happy Halloween and the "Sexy _____"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Tonight we are going to a neighborhood block party to hang out and have a few adult beverages before all the kiddos go do their trick-or-treat thing. I have the candy all ready and as long as my husband doesn't eat all of it before tonight, we should be all set! We usually don't have very many trick-or-treaters but I'm still holding out for a big crowd! Handing out candy to trick-or-treaters is one of my favorite past-times.

In other news... have you ever asked yourself "Why does every female need to dress as the sexy ____ on Halloween?" When did Rainbow Bright, Carebears, and Nuns become "sexy"?? I have always taken a slightly different approach to Halloween and for the most part have always been as less sexy as possible. While all the other girls are out in 50 degree weather wearing next to nothing with the highest of high heels on, I've always been warm and comfortable. It's really a win-win in my mind.

Let me elaborate...

Clearly this started at a young age. There is really nothing less sexy than a clothes hanger shaped around your head and wearing your best friend's (who happened to be a boy) shoes. I have to give my mom credit for putting this costume together... I'm pretty sure I won the costume contest at church that year. Score one for Pippi!

Moving into college I was a butterfly and ladybug for the first 2 years. Each of those costumes consisted of wearing whatever I wanted to with wings and a headband. Not too bad. But the best costume by far was when my roommates and I dressed up our Junior year as Snood characters. (If you don't know what Snood is, it was a very addictive computer game popular when I was in college). My mom's creativity must have rubbed off on me because I made all these costumes by hand. I wish I had a better picture of all of us but this old scanned Party Pics is all I've got.

Post-College/Pre-Brett my friend and decided to dress up as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World to go to a party down in Charleston. I have to say these costumes are pretty spot-on. This was also the party where we spotted the "Sexy Carebears". We certainly stuck out like sore thumbs but I think everyone appreciated our creativity.

Since Brett and I have been together we have actually only attended 1 Halloween party together where we decided to dress as characters from our favorite tv show, Survivor. Grubby clothes, signature Survivor "buffs" and a fishing pole. Done.

So in closing, I'm not going to necessarily judge you for dressing sexy for Halloween... if you've got it, flaunt it. However, can we just please keep the integrity and innocence intact of those childhood characters? If you are going to dress as a Carebear, I fully expect a full on bear costume. :) 

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Potato Madness!

When we were heading back from Myrtle Beach a few weekends ago, we stopped along the road and picked up a bag of sweet potatoes from some nice guys on the side of the road. I told Brett to try and get a small bag and low and behold we get a huge bag. So, I've been trying to find some good sweet potato recipes to use these up before they go bad. Here are the ones I've tried thus far.

We still have a few more left so send me any of your favorite sweet potato recipes for us to try!

 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

 

 Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Scrub and pierce sweet potatoes. Bake at 375° for 1-1/4 hours or until tender. When cool enough to handle, cut a thin slice off the top of each potato and discard. Scoop out the pulp, leaving thin shells. (my shells were donzo after baking them so I just threw them out and made the rest in small baking dishes)

In a small bowl, mash the pulp with cream cheese. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Spoon into potato shells. Sprinkle with pecans. Place on a baking sheet.

Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 2 servings.

Overall I thought these were really good. I especially loved the individual portions. However, I typically like my sweet potatoes SWEET so I might add a little more brown sugar or maybe even a tad of regular sugar next time.

Sweet Potato Pie



Ingredients:

• 2 (1-1/2 lbs) sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp light butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 50 to 55 minutes, or until soft. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin. Blend potatoes in a blender and pulse for about one minute to remove all fibers.

 

Place sweet potatoes in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well. Using an electric mixer, mix in sugar, milk, eggs, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve with cool whip and enjoy!

This recipe is so good! Tastes just like pumpkin pie and is a lot better for you! Highly recommend!

 

Sweet Potato French Fries



Ingredients:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Corn Starch
• Olive Oil

Cut potatoes into stripes (not too small but not to big either). Let soak in water for an hour (we skipped this step which may be why they didn't turn out perfectly). Preheat Oven to 425. Put corn starch (about a tablespoon or two) into a bag and shake in potatoes to get them all coated. Lay out evenly on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil (enough to coat). Then using your hands, toss so that everything is evenly coated. Bake for 15-30 minutes. Just keep watching them and tossing them until they are at your desired crispiness.

Ours didn't turn out perfectly but even the blogger who I got the recipe from said it takes a few tries to perfect it so we may try again soon!

Now, we also made several dipping sauces to try out with the fries (one was included in the above recipe and the other 2 I got from my friend Lauren):

Honey Mustard 1/4 cup low-fat mayo (can also use fat-free or olive oil based)

1/4 cup dijon mustard (whole grain dijon is good too)

2 tablespoons honey

  

Siracha Mayo*

Mix together 1/2 cup of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper. (I sometimes don’t add the pepper and will add salt and lime)

 *If you can get over the fact that you are basically eating straight mayo, this one was my favorite!

 

Chipotle ketchup:

1 cup ketchup

2 to 3 tablespoons pureed canned chipotle in adobo (depending on how spicy you prefer it)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prayers for the 2-1

It was a sad day in Gamecock Country on Saturday when our player Marcus Lattimore went down due to a devastating blow to his right leg. As many people have said, this is so much more than football and a game. I don't know Lattimore personally, never met him, never spoken to him but he has been a true leader to our team and shown incredible courage and character over the course of his time at USC. Nobody deserves an injury like he has experienced, but especially not him.

I wasn't inside the stadium when it happened but I was out tailgating and the entire mood shifted when he went down. But It really is an incredible thing seeing how the Carolina community (and rival teams) have come together to support him and pray for him. He will definitely go down in history as one of the most loved Gamecock football players of all time.



This is the banner that you can sign at the Horseshoe.



You can mail letters of encouragement here:

Marcus Lattimore

c/o USC Athletics Department

Rice Athletic Center

1304 Heyward Street

Columbia, SC 29208

There is also a special service on the Horseshoe today (Monday) at 5:00 where you can come out, hear a few people speak on Lattimore's behalf (including the student body president and Coach Spurrier) and also sign a huge banner they will be sending to him to have while he recovers. Because not only does Marcus need our prayers and support for a full recovery... it is also his 21st birthday today!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Prayers for a quick recovery to Marcus! I am no NFL fan but I can't wait to watch you on Sundays in the near future!

So much respect shown on the field by both teams. It was really incredible to watch.

The Friday Five: 10/26/12

Five things I am loving about this Friday:

1. Baby Giraffes: Unless you have been living under a rock (or perhaps don't live in Greenville or surrounding areas), you know about the Greenville Zoo's latest edition, Kiko, the baby giraffe born Monday night. A million people watched the birth on the online webcam so Greenville has become quite smitten with this new little addition. I of course got all my coworkers invested as well so today we are going to take a little field trip to the Riverbanks Zoo and feed a few giraffes of our own.

Baby Kiko and Momma Autumn

2. Date Night: Tonight Brett and I are taking full advantage of a free Friday and going to Solstice for dinner. If you have never been before I highly recommend it. Definitely one of my favorites in Columbia.

3. Sore no more: I can finally walk about without a severe limp so now I can finally decide when to go back and take another Pure Barre class.

4. Sweet Potato Pie: Is it ok to brag about how great of a baker you are? No? Too bad - I made a killer sweet potato pie the other night and may have to sneak a slice (or two) when I get home today... no judgements please. (I plan to share the recipe next week!)

5. Weekend Activities: We have a lot going on this weekend; noon game tomorrow, wedding shower, Brett heading to the lake, and a Halloween party with all our friends and their kiddos! A lot of fun and a lot to be thankful for!

Hope everyone has a great Friday and weekend as well!

GO COCKS!!!

No, it's not a bar with drinks.

When I told all my friends about Pure Barre opening up they immediately asked "like a juice bar?" No, not like a juice bar - like a ballet barre people!



A Pure Barre studio opened in Greenville right after I moved and was thrilled when the phenomenon finally made its way to Columbia! For those of you not familiar with it, the technique is to use small isometric movements of the body to create long, lean muscle with a lot of these exercises using a ballet barre. You can read more about their technique here.

I danced ballet my entire life from a little girl, through high school, some college and even a few sporadic classes here and there since college. Since I grew up in a ballet studio, I have always hated working out in a gym. Seriously, it is so foreign and awkward to me I just can't deal. So I was beyond excited to try out this new style of workout classes. I immediately emailed my girlfriends to try and find a brave soul to try this out with me and then scheduled my first class.

Last night was that first class and today I.Can't.Move. Like, can't roll over in the bed, can't brush my teeth my body hurts so bad. Needless to say it was an amazing workout! I kind of had it in my head that since I did ballet for so many years I would breeze through. Oh man was I wrong. I actually thought to myself during the first set if I would even be able to make it through the whole hour. But I prevailed and it felt great! It showed me how incredibly out of shape I was but also reminded me how great it feels to work out and actually be sore for a change.My friend and I are both going to get a package and try one class a week for awhile until we get used to the workouts so hopefully we can keep at it.

They have studios all across the country and quite a few in SC so I definitely encourage you to try it out! I only hope your first class is as rough as mine was (and if it isn't, please don't destroy my ego in telling me).

Weekend Recap

Friday after work we headed down to Myrtle Beach to meet up with Brett's dad, brother and sister-in-law for one of their cousin's weddings. The wedding was Saturday afternoon at 3:00 which at first we were a little bummed about since the game came on at 3:30. But after following the first quarter of the game online, we quickly realized it was a blessing we didn't have to watch that ugly game and just enjoyed ourselves at the wedding.


The reception was at a house in North Myrtle Beach. Absolutely gorgeous location!

 

All the little details of the wedding were gorgeous as well.

Sunday we woke up bright and early and grabbed a bite to eat with Brett's dad then headed on home. Most of the day Sunday was spent laying around the house and catching up on Netflix movies but we did venture out long enough to pick up our pup from the kennel and get a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch the church we have been visiting (Trenhold Road UMC) does every year. I didn't get any pictures of it but if you are in the area go check it out! 

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!

Let us wear jeans!

In my previous life in advertising our dress code was "client appropriate" as in, wear whatever you want to wear to work unless you are seeing clients, then dress to their usual dress code. So my week would start off by wearing a nice pair of jeans, heels, a cute top and by the end of the week it was ratty jeans, flip flops and a tshirt (yes, sometimes the old sorority function shirts came out). In my new life in the corporate world there is a strict no jeans policy... except for the few times a year we have a jeans day - like today!

So this begs the question, "Why can't we wear jeans to work?" Most of my time is spent sitting in a cubicle working at my computer so why do I have to dress up every day to do that? I understand the "client/meeting appropriate" and if you have a big meeting/presentation/client visit then yes, by all means you need to look your best but for the other 90% of the time, why not wear what you want and be comfortable?

Let's face it, jeans aren't just for the Marlboro Man and construction workers anymore. These days women dress up jeans more and more (and probably spend more money on them than dress pants). So why not wear them to work?

I enter in my evidence:

Nothing is dressier than a pair of these trouser jeans.


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You can even do a cute pair of skinny jeans and dress it up with a fun blouse and cardigan.

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This look would be a great look paired with a black blazer.

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Love this look for winter!


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And of course Princess Kate can do no wrong! She knows how to dress up a pair of jeans!

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I rest my case.

Just my Luck!

So just when I got all excited and shared my hallway rug purchase I get this email...

Grrrrrrr! Guess it's another month of the stained rug we all know and love hate. Sorry to all our visitors who come to our house prior to November 27th. I assure you there will be a "rug has arrived" happy dance when it's finally here.

Hallway Progress

As mentioned before, last weekend we spent a lot of time working on the house and the majority of that was in our hallway. In our little bungalow we have 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom all which open up to this hallway area. The area really serves no purpose so you can’t do much with it but with it being open to all the rooms in the house it has to at least look decent. But it sat for over a year; unpainted, no furniture, 2 random pictures hung on the wall and a rug with stains all over it. Awesome.

View of room before yellow. See those lovely rug stains I said were there?

I really didn't mind the brown color that was in there previously but I just felt like we needed something to brighten it up a bit. And boy did it get bright!

So back in August I had had enough. Brett was out of town for the weekend so I had free time on my hands and figured I was going to spruce up the place a little to surprise him. I finally found a table I loved at World Market (and on sale) and knew we had some left over paint from our living room so thought “This is going to be perfect!!”. WRONG. The table turned out great however the paint job was a disaster. Seriously. The color looks great in our living room but with the hallway being so much smaller with a lot more light, the very light yellow/cream color in our living room was now a bright canary yellow in the hall. Gross.

This is the only picture I have of the yellow walls after. The picture actually makes it worse than it really it but I think you get why we hated it so much. (and yes, I am sideways in the picture frame - I was just testing out a few.)

My mom had just repainted their guest bath and after seeing the color she used I knew it would look great in the hall (which is Monroe Bisque by Benjamin Moore but color matched at Sherwin Williams). So, new paint color picked out, paint purchased, problem solved. Except free time was not on our side so it sat… and sat… and I had yellow staring at me in the face every morning for a month just reminding me of my poor choice in paint color.

AND we still had the problem of the rug. That nasty, stained rug that everyone has to see whenever they come to our house. I searched and searched and searched for the perfect rug. Going back and forth on different colors and finally found the perfect one at Pottery Barn (and we had left over money from wedding returns there – double score). WRONG. It was on back order until mid-January. Really?? So back to the drawing board. Then finally I went to a new website called Shades of Light that I found on my favorite DIY blog I follow, Young House Love. Shades of Light is a great site with a TON of rugs (and you guessed it, lights) – some cheap, some expensive but a good selection nonetheless. And yes, I found the perfect one (again). It was cheaper than the one at PB and the blog had a 10% discount code on their site so that basically covered the shipping fee! It’s on its way and I can’t wait to see how it looks in the room!  Let's all take a moment of silence for hope that it works in there....

I'm in love! I may get all my new rugs from Shades of Light!

SO, the perfect rug was found, the paint was purchased and we finally had a free day to get the painting done. And a little paint goes a long way! It looks a million times better in there!! With some new pictures hung, a new rug in route this room is on its way to being complete and I couldn’t be more happy! I still have a few little nik-naks (is that a real word?) to purchase and get the new rug in there but will share the final shot once it is all complete.

BUSY Weekend

Busy, Busy, Busy! As suspected the bathroom project was a little aggressive so we will get that done another weekend but besides that we got a lot accomplished and I feel so much better about the progress on our little to-do list!

It wasn't just a full weekend of work we also had an oyster roast happy hour Saturday before the game (the sad, sad game) and a drive to Greenville Sunday for a wedding shower. There wasn't a lot of rest but we got a ton accomplished and got to spend some time with friends. I could definitely get used to these weekends at home... too bad we only have 4 (yes, FOUR) weekends at home between now and Christmas.
Our (extremely) aggressive list for this weekend:
- Paint Hallway
- Pick out paint color for Bathroom*
- Paint Bathroom*
- Touch up trim in hallway
- Organize desk/office closet
- Rearrange office furniture
- Shop for bathroom: curtain, towels, mat, etc.*
- Clean out/organize pantry
- Put stuff up in attic
- Drop off items to Goodwill
- Yard work
- Fix fence
*Most likely will not happen.

To Purchase:
- Buy fabric and cover chair in sunroom
- Curtains for guestroom
- Curtains for office
- Rug for kitchen
- Rug for hallway

Small Fix-it Jobs:
- Replace/Fix garbage disposal
- Fix door to laundry
- Fix leak in kitchen sink
- Replace blinds in office
- Fix cracked tile in kitchen (or replace the floors...see below)
- Install flooring in laundry
- Repaint laundry
- Repaint kitchen (then the whole house will have been painted!!)
- Fix squeaky doors (bedroom/bathroom)

Our "If we win the lottery list":
- Landscape front yard
- Replace fence
- Redo brick patio
- Paint exterior of house
- Add bathroom/master closet
- Reno kitchen

The list that never ends!

For homeowners across the world, the list of projects never seems to end. As soon as you get one thing checked off, the next one is added. And for the couple who never seems to have a free weekend at home to get said projects done, the list just keeps growing without anything being checked off at all.

However, we hope to fix that this weekend and get a good bit of projects checked off the list. And by sharing our embarrassing long list of items, I hope to motivate myself just a smidge in the right direction. So here goes...


Our (extremely) aggressive list for this weekend:
- Paint Hallway
- Pick out paint color for Bathroom*
- Paint Bathroom*
- Touch up trim in hallway
- Organize desk/office closet
- Rearrange office furniture
- Shop for bathroom: curtain, towels, mat, etc.*
- Clean out/organize pantry
- Put stuff up in attic
- Drop off items to Goodwill
- Yard work
- Fix fence
*Most likely will not happen.

To Purchase:
- Buy fabric and cover chair in sunroom
- Curtains for guestroom
- Curtains for office
- Rug for kitchen
- Rug for hallway

Small Fix-it Jobs:
- Replace/Fix garbage disposal
- Fix door to laundry
- Fix leak in kitchen sink
- Replace blinds in office
- Fix cracked tile in kitchen (or replace the floors...see below)
- Install flooring in laundry
- Repaint laundry
- Repaint kitchen (then the whole house will have been painted!!)
- Fix squeaky doors (bedroom/bathroom)

Our "If we win the lottery list":
- Landscape front yard
- Replace fence
- Redo brick patio
- Paint exterior of house
- Add bathroom/master closet
- Reno kitchen

Dear Santa, will you please bring me a Contractor for Christmas?

Happy Birthday Big Bro!!

Today is my big brother's 31st Birthday! I remember the week of my wedding Mom, Dad and I were all so anxious of the weekend's events, trying to get last minute stuff done and just on pins and needles when one of us said "I'm just SO ready for John to get here and livin' this house up a little". That is the best way to describe my brother. He has a presence about him like no other and when he is around you can't help but know it. Now, I can't say we have always been as close as we are today...we certainly shared (and still share) our fare share of brother-sister-brawls but I don't know what I would do without him. He is so kind, funny, personable and has one of the biggest hearts I know. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!! I love you!

Now... ready for picture overload???

This wasn't my best year...

Waiting for Santa... love this picture!

I know I'm biased but we were pretty darn cute kids!

In honor of Halloween coming up!

In Maui, Hawaii (Almost drove mom to the loony bin to get this shot.)

Rothenburg, Germany (When Dad was working in Germany.)

And back almost 10 years later! (When John lived in Germany.)

In College on Gameday. (Bumming food and drinks from the rents.)

James Taylor concert in college.

Visiting the champagne houses in France.

Final trip to Germany before we finally got him back state-side!

Tasty Tuesday: S'mores Bars

Think Rice Crispy Treats, minus the "Rice Crispy" and adding chocolate and graham goodness. I made these for tailgate Saturday and they were a HUGE hit! Speaking of Saturday... I think this picture pretty much sums up the night.


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 Beating Georgia 35-7 AND becoming #3 in the country... WHAAAAT??? This is just so unheard of for us Gamecocks. We have a tough few weeks ahead of us and the likelihood of us staying on top is probably pretty slim, but we will take it for now!

Ok, so tangent over... Who knew 4 ingredients and about 15 minutes would be so popular together? These little pieces of heaven will probably be a staple from here on out. Quick and Easy!

S'mores Bars
- Box of Golden Graham cereal
- 10 oz. bag of marshmallows (I used the small ones)
- 1-2 cups of chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup of butter

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted and mixed with butter. Remove from heat and add in cereal and mix as best you can with the melted marshmallow sauce then add in the chocolate chips and mix those in. Place in a greased 13x9 dish and press firmly into dish (I used a piece of wax paper on top and pressed it down that way). At this point I also sprinkled a bit more chocolate chips on top - when in doubt, add more chocolate! Let cool completely then cut into bars. What made these even better is they sat out in the heat for awhile at the game so they were warm and a little gooey when we ate them... yum yum yum!

Food Survey

I found this little food survey on another blog and figured I would give it a go for an easy Monday post. Because who doesn't want to read about my food preferences and habits?? Yeah, I thought so...

Breakfast
Favorite cereal as a child? Hands down, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Man that stuff was heaven. Recently I was keeping my cousins and they had some for breakfast and even though I had already eaten and wasn’t even hungry, I had to pour myself a bowl… and of course drink the cinnamon infused milk after.  

Coffee or Tea? With milk or without?
Coffee All.The.Way. Have to have at least a cup every morning. I drink mine with sugar free creamer – usually French vanilla or hazelnut.

The one food you eat most often at breakfast.
Honestly, I don’t eat breakfast (see coffee note above). But, if I do it’s a bagel or muffin from Starbucks or Dunkin as I pick up a cup of coffee on my way into work. However, breakfast for dinner is a weekly staple in our household and then we have the works: grits, biscuits, eggs, bacon/sausage/country ham.

Lunch

Sandwiches are usually considered lunch food. If you had to choose from a grilled cheese sandwich or a peanut butter and jelly, which would you pick? Man, this is a hard one but I think I have to go with grilled cheese. One of our favorite (and most used) wedding gifts is our grilled cheese maker. Thing rocks!

You can only put four ingredients in your salad (not including greens); what do you throw in the mix? Additionally, which greens and dressing do you pick?

Greens: Love the crunchiness of romaine but I’m really not picky.

Four ingredients: cheese (feta is at the top of that list), something crunchy (either croutons or sunflower seeds), cucumbers and broccoli

Dressing: ranch for sure (especially since I put ranch on practically everything).

One food you cannot live without at lunch.
Diet Drink – I try not to drink sodas too often but I’ve got to have that little bit of caffeine towards the middle of the day.

Dinner
It's the end of the day. You're tired, hungry, and your fridge is empty. If fast food (from a chain) is your only option, where do you go and what do you order?
Chick-fil-A. In fact, there are times when I eat there multiple times in 1 day. And it is usually a #1 with a diet Dr. Pepper (with some chick-fil-a sauce).

TV/Computer on or off while you are eating?

Sadly, the TV is on every night during dinner. Brett and I don’t eat dinner until later at night so we always plop down in front of the TV to catch whatever show we watch together that night while we eat. I know when we have a family one day we will advocate eating at the table with no TV, however for now it works for us this way.

The one food you eat most often at dinner.
We switch it up a good bit but I would have to say chicken just because you can cook it so many different ways. However, we eat a lot of asparagus too (strange, I know but it’s just so easy!).

Dessert
Choose between two American desserts: cheesecake or apple pie. Cheesecake… especially my mom’s recipe! I tried making it myself when we had our dads over for dinner for Father’s Day and it just wasn’t the same as mom’s but I hope to perfect it soon… which means lots of cheesecake in our future!

Choose between two foreign desserts: tiramisu (Italy) or flan (Spain). Can I choose crème brulee instead?? No? Then I guess Tiramisu. There is a place in Greenville called The Lazy Goat who used to have this awesome tiramisu dessert where they have these little bite sized balls of deliciousness for each layer of the tiramisu. So yum!

Ice cream: cone or cup. Cone, especially the waffle variety

Fall Garden

Brett planted our fall/winter garden last week and in 30-60 days we should have some collards, broccoli and cabbage to enjoy! We can usually get some good greens but this is our first shot at the broccoli and cabbage so we have our fingers crossed it turns out. The sandy rock mixture soil in our yard is less than ideal for a great garden but over the course of the last few years, each time we switch things out, we get better results so here's to hoping these turn out!

Along with always planting a few things of his own, Brett is a pretty big stickler for buying locally grown products which has started to rub off on me and we are thinking about joining a CSA co-op in the Spring. If you aren't familiar with these, it is where you can buy "ownership" in a local farm and get a weekly supply of whatever they harvest that week (we are looking into just the veggies but they also have ones for milk, eggs and meats). It is a great way to get fresh (and a lot of times organic) produce while also supporting your local farmers. They can get somewhat pricey and it is a lot of food for 2 people so if we do it, we will want to split it with some friends. Any takers?? I've found 2 local farms in Lexington that offer co-ops: Big Moon Farm and Round River Farms. Has anybody had experience with these or know of others?

I will keep you posted on how our own garden turns out and if we decide on the co-op... I know all 5 of you will be anxiously awaiting. :)



Our fall veggies before making their way to the ground.




Of course you can never plant a garden without a little help.



My Month via Instagram: September



We started the month by going to my happy place: Edisto Island.

and spent a day out on this.

Then football season and tailgating had arrive.

And we spent the first game watching it here.

and playing lots of dinosaurs.

Then we attended the 10-year high school reunion!

Before enjoying more football and tailgating.

And proved we were real fans and went into a game.

Which was great because we got to see this happen before our eyes.

and this... sandstorm and new scoreboard.

But the month wouldn't have been complete without a date night to Rush's... we are true romantics.