Christmas 2012.

The holidays come and go in the blink of an eye! All of the anticipation leading up to it and then just like that - it's over.

 

Where do I begin?

 

Christmas Eve we made three stops. First to my uncle's church where he plays the drums in the band. Now this is not your typical church..this is a church where they have a loud music, back up dancers and the congregation dancing and clapping to the music. I was beaming with pride watching my uncle up on stage. My absolute favorite part of the service was when they sang "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee"...but the Sister Act version. That song gets me pumped up! haha

 

Second stop was to my step-grandmother's house. I love going over there to see everyone on her side of the family and walking around to look at pictures of my sweet Grandaddy. :)

 

Third and final stop of the night was to my Grandma Charlotte's house for dinner and to celebrate with my Dad's side of the family. We have gone over to her house on Christmas Eve probably since I was born.

 

Christmas morning, I used to go straight to my parents house first thing in the morning to open presents with them, but this year Cameron and I started our own traditions. We woke up, turned on some Christmas music, made a pot of coffee and exchanged gifts. It was actually really nice to just sit down with him and have our own quiet time together.

 

First stop of the day was to Cameron's grandfather's house on Johns Island. Mimosas, bloody marys, breakfast casserole, sausage and waffles for breakfast. YUM. And lots of kiddos running around! I love it.

Grann and Marin

Cameron's niece is a big Carolina fan and I love it!

The newest member of the family.

 

 

Next we drove to Summerville to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate and eat an early dinner with my mom's side of the family. Lawd that was some good eatin'! After dinner we sat around the table and opened gifts. Then we took a few pics in front of the tree before we had to skip out on dessert and head to our last stop of the night.

Sis and her MK purse.

The fam.

The cousins.

Last stop of the night was back to Johns Island to Cameron's parents house. It was an entertaining evening because Cameron bought his older cousins a bug zapper that they once "played" with back in the day. I say "play," because it's a painful bug zapper! It shocks the crap out of you! They all chased each other around the house with it, acting like little kids again.

Cameron's not taking his eyes off of it.

 

Sweet Marin, our flower girl.

Marin & Kaylin singing songs to everyone.

My new family. :)

 And now, I'm sadly back to work yesterday and today. BUT starting tomorrow, I'm off for 5 days to celebrate my 29th birthday (Saturday) and the New Year!

 

Bring on 2013!

One Year Ago Today...

What started out as a normal day of cleaning the house and getting last minute Christmas presents together, turned into my amazing boyfriend asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. :)

 

 

Now we're 14 weeks away from being husband and wife!



Friiiiiiiiday.

Happy Friday before Christmas! I still have a few small things to pick up to complete my gifts but you better believe I will NOT be going to the mall or Target.

This is somewhat of a last weekend (ok, just Sunday) recap post since I never got around to it this week. 

Went to brunch on Sunday at Fat Hen. I had one of the top 5 best sandwiches of my life! It was the "PULLED BBQ DUCK SANDWICH with house made BBQ sauce, blue cheese bacon cole slaw and pomme frites."

 

Then, Emily and I went to our friend Stephanie's house for her 2nd annual Cookie Exchange! This year everyone brought sugar cookies and decorated them at her house.

Later that night, as if I wasn't emotional enough from the horrific Newtown events, I watched The Bachelorette wedding of Ashley & JP. I could not keep it together! That, my friends, is a tear catcher placed across my face.

I can't believe I just posted this awful picture of me.

What's on your agenda this weekend?
Saturday is shopping and a Christmas party and Sunday we're going to a friend's baptism of his son and celebrating our engageiversary!

Wedding Wednesday: Groomsmen Gift Ideas.

PS - Tomorrow marks our 100 day countdown! Yippee!!!

Day of Silence for Newtown.

A Rainbow When We All Needed It.

I have never been good with words or expressing my feelings, so today I will keep it short. 

Friday for lunch, my boss took us all out to for a Christmas celebration. Half way through, I checked my phone and came across the sickening news. Not many details were released at that time, but I was immediately shocked at the fact that something horrific like this could happen at such an innocent place. 

It didn't really sink in until yesterday when Cameron and I watched a news briefing online that showed the pictures and names of these sweet little children. I lost it.

 

But today, as all of the mommy's and daddy's were dropping their kids off at school, the most wonderful thing appeared. A rainbow to assure them that in the midst of all of this tragedy, He is with us and always will be.

Borrowed from 95SX's Facebook page.

If that's not a sign, then I don't know what is.

Random Friday Thoughts.

Happy Friday!

Random thoughts for your viewing pleasure today:

  

-Yesterday was my Aunt Sharlene's birthday. My cousin Sam looks more and more like her everyday. We love you and miss you, Aunt Sharlene!

Picture borrowed from Sam's FB page.

 -Here is our Christmas card this year! Cameron had a rule that we couldn't do photo Christmas cards until we got engaged so I was really pumped to order them this year! I was really impressed with Minted's quality and how fast I received the cards in the mail!

-We received a Christmas card in the mail on Wednesday from Cameron's brother, sister in law and neices. The card was super cute and his neices both look so old (they are 5 & 8), but my favorite part was how the envelope was addressed. I'm going to be an aunt! :)

 

-I got a bonus from work yesterday - thumbs up!

My car is in the shop today - thumbs dowwwwwn!

 

-I am not happy with Rugs USA. We ordered a rug for our dining room the day after Thanksgiving when they were having a 75% off sale. Received it the following week and it was the complete wrong rug. They have been so slow in getting back to us via email on how we go about returning the rug for our correct one. I called customer service on Wednesday to follow up and was told that our correct rug was now on backorder until December 31st. Not cool!  I just told them to refund our money. It's so frustrating because we have been trying to find a rug for that room for forever! Remember this post?? We never exchanged it for a bigger size because it was always on backorder. I kind of wish we would have now though since we would have it by now and not be going through this all over again. Hopefully we can just find one in a store and be done with it.

-Looking back for that rug post made me realize I haven't done very much updating to the house lately. Once we start to receive things off of our registry, I promise to decorate like crazy and post some updates! :)

Ok, that's all for now! Have a great Friday and a super fun weekend!

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Gift Ideas.

Before I got engaged, I always liked to see posts on gift ideas for the wedding parties. And once I got engaged, I created a "note" on my phone where I could save gift ideas as they popped in my head. My bridesmaids are getting one, kind of two, of these, but I can't spill the beans on which one(s) yet!

-Necklace or earrings to wear the day of the wedding, and after.

-Solemates to wear on their high heels for those outside weddings! 

-Monogrammed pashmina from Marley Lilly in case of a chilly evening.

-A cute clutch to keep lipgloss near by! Or your drivers license in case you get ID'ed halfway through the wedding reception like me! :)

-Any girl would love a monogrammed necklace!

-Monogrammed handkerchief to fold around the bottom of their bouquets and to keep afterwards.

-Monogrammed Tervis Tumbler, because you can never have too many tumblers!

Notice a trend? :)

For the married ladies, what did you give your bridesmaids?

For those of yall who have been bridesmaids before, what has been your favorite gift you've received?

Tasty Tuesday: Alton Brown's Granola Bars.

When my parents met us downtown for Second Sunday, my mom gave me a baggie of these granola bars she made. Once Cameron and I got into them later that day, we immediately devoured them.  They were so good! Naturally, I asked my mom for the recipe and she led me to Alton Brown. This man always has great recipes.

 Alton Brown's Granola Bars

Recipe found here. 

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup (apparently you can find this at the regular grocery store)
6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries (My mom used Craisins.)

Butter a 9 by 9-inch (or 9x13) glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. 

Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. 

Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 

Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Weekend Recap + Menu Monday.

Monday again already?!? I need one more day to sleep in!!

 

Friday night was lowkey - grilled some steaks, picked up this sweater from Target, and saw Skyfall.

 

Saturday was my work Christmas party. It wasn't a blast, but it was nice talking to everyone outside of work. The food was good!

 

Sunday we went to brunch at Sunrise Bistro with Emily, Caroline & Andy, then we headed downtown for Second Sunday on King Street! It was Cameron and my first time going to Second Sunday and we loved it! Ok, maybe I enjoyed it a tad more than Cameron since there was a lot of browsing in the store. Loved seeing all of the dogs, familiar faces and discovering new stores.



Me, Emily & Caroline with our King of Pops popsicles. The chocolate sea salt is SO SO GOOD!!



 

15 days until Christmas!!

Hope everyone has a great week!

 

----------

Also, as requested by Emily, Menu Monday is back!

 

Monday - PW's spicy Dr. Pepper BBQ, spinach gratin & sweet potatoes
Tuesday - Chicken & artichoke pasta
Wednesday - Lasagna Soup
Thursday - Working event until 7pm aka whatever we can find in the fridge
Friday - Homemade pizza
Saturday - Friend's Christmas Party
Sunday - Buffalo chicken soup

Friday Lovin'.

It's Friiiiiiiiiiiday! Finally! 

I'll be spending all day today getting ready for our company Christmas party tomorrow night and I'm real excited about it!  And Sunday we're planning on going to Second Sunday on King Street!

Here are some things that made me happy this week..

I ordered a dress from Rent the Runway (click that link to sign up for RTR and receive a $20 credit on your first order!) for my bridal shower that is being held in January! I wanted to go the non-traditional not white route and I thought this Trina Turk dress was super cute. 

 This brownie brittle I snatched up at my last Harris Teeter run. They are SO good. Other than chocolate chip, it also comes in toffee crunch and traditional walnut. Go get some ASAP!

I received a gift card to Urban Nirvana LAST Christmas and still hadn't used it until yesterday. I was waiting for that *perfect* moment to get a massage, but never got around to it. And call me crazy, but I'd rather splurge on some fancy shampoo & conditioner, than get a massage. I'm weird like that and so that's what I did yesterday. 

Have a great weekend!

What are your plans??

Anthropologie Gift Ideas Under $50.

Anthropologie Gift Ideas Under $50 by megan-l-smith featuring pearl jewelry

Wedding Wednesday: Updates.

Rather than posting my long checklist, I've decided to give a little summary of what I got accomplished in November and what I am planning on accomplishing in December!

The biggest thing that we checked off was our food tasting (it got bumped up a week)! And let me tell you - it was GOOD. We did not leave hungry and our guests will not leave the reception hungry either. I won't spill the beans on everything we're having, but you KNOW I've got to have my fried pickles! :)

Also in November, we received the pom poms in the mail that we'll be using for our send off and got even more excited about using them after seeing Amanda's wedding video because she used pom poms, too, and they looked like so much fun! 

I also finished the shopping for all of my bridesmaids gifts!

In December I plan to:

-continue working on putting together the invitations

-purchase Cameron's wedding band

-stare at my bridal portrait pictures daily (my mom told me not to admit this haha)

-attempt again to get our passports

-celebrate our engage-iversary!

-start getting extremely anxious when we hit the 3 month countdown

Tasty Tuesday: Spinach Artichoke Alfredo Pizza

Not gonna lie, I had all intentions of making this for dinner last night, but after a trip to Costco and the grocery store it was getting too late, so I just picked up a similar frozen version instead. :) Don't judge.

Spinach Artichoke Alfredo Pizza

Picture and recipe found here.

 

This recipe makes one pizza heavy on toppings or two pizzas lighter on the toppings, whichever you prefer.

 

½ pint (1 cup) heavy cream

½ cup butter

2 tbsp cream cheese

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1½ cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

6 oz of fresh spinach, roughly chopped

1 can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and squeezed dry, roughly chopped

1-2 tubes/recipes of your favorite pizza crust

 

Preheat oven to 425° if you're using homemade dough. If you're using the stuff that comes in a tube, follow the cooking instructions on the label.

 

In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together the cream, butter, and cream cheese until fully melted.

 

Stir in the parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Continue to cook and stir for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place spinach in a saute pan with a tablespoon of water over medium high heat and saute until wilted.

 

Once spinach is fully wilted, place it onto a clean kitchen towel and wring out all of the liquid by twisting the towel into a ball with the spinach inside. Once you've squeezed out all of the liquid, add it to the sauce.

 

Spread the sauce over the pizza crust. You might have some left over for dipping depending on how saucy you like your pizza.

 

Place artichoke pieces over sauce then top with mozzarella cheese.

 

Bake for 15 minutes or until you start to see the cheese browning. Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.



It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! {and a Very Special Birthday}

Good Monday morning to you! We had quite an eventful weekend and I don't foresee the next few weekends in December slowing down either. Christmas parties galore! 

Here is what we did this weekend...

Friday night Cameron's work had their annual holiday oyster roast. I need to find out exactly where they get their oysters from because they are maybe the best I've ever had, year after year. After the party, we went to Voodoo in the Avondale area for a few drinks. If you have never been to Voodoo and ordered the truffle oil tater tots, please go immediately. And pair them with the duck sliders. You can thank me later. :)

Saturday I had to work a wedding and was also hired to set up & coordinate the reception. This is not something I normally do, but if it's a smaller wedding and the price it right, of course I will. The poor bride was so nervous and anxious that her stomach was messed up the majority of the night and actually wound up leaving her own reception early. I felt so bad for her. 

Sunday was a very special day. We celebrated Cameron's grandmother's (whom he calls Rara) 92nd birthday! We ate brunch with her and other family members at the Country Club of Charleston and my chicken caesar salad was delicious!

After brunch, Cameron and I went to go pick out our Christmas tree! He had strict orders on no decorating for Christmas until it turned December. We picked out our tree in beautiful 74* temperature, hence the reason Cameron is wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops. :) I had the best time just decorating the house with him and listening to Christmas music.

Did you decorate for Christmas this weekend?