Friday Five: BHG Cover, Lunch Date, Dinner Date, New Fave Necklace, + Leopard Make-Up Bag.

 {one}

Back in 1989, Cameron's parents entered a home improvement contest through the magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, for their back porch that Cameron's dad built, and they won! With that win, they landed the cover of the October 1989 issue. Cameron definitely gets his "handiness" from his dad.

Cameron's dad, Cameron, and Cameron's brother, Travis

 

{two}

Yesterday I had the day off, so in between loads of laundry, I got Leslie out of the house and we went to lunch with 8 week old Baby Cate in tow. We discovered that she loves the Van Morrison station on Pandora, which might be a lifesaver for Leslie. Look at that cute little smile! Please excuse my lack of make-up.

{three}

Last night, I had a wonderful dinner with Shelby, Ally & Caitlin at Al di La! Shelby and I have been friends before we even started our blogs (our husbands went to high school and college together) and Ally happens to be Shelby's husband's cousin, so we've hung out a few times before, also. But it was all of ours first time meeting Caitlin! We must have all clicked because we were there for 3 hours. :)

Being that it was restaurant week, below were the three courses that I chose. 

Beef carpaccio with fried capers

Tagliatelle with duck confit, cremini mushrooms, and truffle oil

Tiramisu with toasted hazelnuts

{four}

The necklace that I wore to dinner is one of my new favorites and it was given to me by my aunt and uncle for my birthday. But I can only wear it with a few things because it is SUCH a statement necklace. Of course I'm drawing a blank now on what website it's from since I deleted it from my Pinterest Wishlist board.

{five}

Since I lost my make-up bag back in November, Cameron gave me a new one for Christmas that I LOVE. My friend, Savannah, actually put it on my radar because she was giving one to her Mother-in-Law for Christmas. It's from Stella & Dot and it comes in lots of different patterns. 

For once in a long time, we have no plans this weekend! 

I do have a new house project in the works so maybe I'll take care of that.

 Have a nice weekend!

How I Spent 2013 {Part Two} + Libby James Giveaway Winner!

Part One.

{july}

Celebrated Dallas' 1st Birthday

{august}

Greyson was born!

Celebrated Kristen's bachelorette party in Charlotte

Attended Hootie and the Blowfish's soundcheck, hung out on Darius' tour bus, and sat VIP at the concert!

Hosted Katie's baby shower at our house

Tailgated in Clemson for the Clemson / Georgia game

{september}

Met April at the Farmer's Market

Found out Emily was having a boy!

Ashton was born (same day as Emily's gender reveal)!

Kristen and Cal got married!

Photo by Oh, Darling!

{october}

Ashley's baby shower

Leah and Adam got married!

Brady was a lion for Halloween

{november}
Kate and Grant announced that they are expecting!

Saw Will Hoge at the Music Farm

Cate was born!

Celebrated 5 years of togetherness with Cameron and Brady's 8th birthday

First annual Supper Club Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving

Attended the Carolina / Clemson game where Carolina defeated Clemson for the 5th year in a row!

{december}

Celebrated Cameron's grandmother's 93rd birthday!

Attended the annual Pearl Harbor event on the Yorktown - Cameron's grandfather is one of the last few living survivors

Attended Frankie and Amanda's baby showers (same day)

Supper Club Tacky Sweater Christmas Party

Christmas

Roman was born!

Celebrated my 30th birthday

Celebrated New Years Eve at The Reynolds'

Can't wait to see what 2014 has in store and to watch all of my friends' babies grow, grow, grow!

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Congratulations to Shannon, who got married in Charleston the weekend after us!

You won a free wedding album from Libby James! 
Thank you to everyone that entered! If you did not win, do not fret, you can still get 20% off of an album until February 15th with the code FRIEDPICKLES14!

Apple Pie on the Rocks + Weekly Dinner Menu.

Apple Pie on the Rocks

Picture and recipe found here.

 1 oz Vanilla Vodka

1 oz Fireball Whiskey

4oz Apple juice

Pinch of  ground cinnamon

Brown sugar for the rim

Ice

Cinnamon stick for garnish, optional

Wet the rim of your rocks glass just a little, and gently sugar the rim with brown sugar.

In a martini shaker, pour the vodka, Fireball, apple juice, and ground cinnamon together with a handful of ice cubes.

Shake 10 times and pour the contents into the glass without wiping off the sugar rim.

Serve chilled and with a cinnamon stick, for garnish.

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On the dinner menu this week....

  

 Monday - Trader Joe's chicken chili verde burritos with yellow rice

Tuesday - Trader Joe's mahi burgers with sauteed Brusells sprouts with pine nuts and parmesan

Wednesday - Chicken and gnocchi (trying out this lemon, artichoke and white wine sauce) with salad

Thursday - Al Di La with Shelby, Ally, and Caitlin

Friday - ?

Saturday - ?

Sunday - White bean and chicken chili

*I'll be doing a Trader Joe's review post soon!

Good Eats Weekend.

Whew, I am definitely in need of some gym time this week. I ate like it was my job this weekend. 

Friday night, instead of having our regular supper club, we moved supper club to Angel Oak Restaurant for Charleston Restaurant Week. Cameron and I had only been to Angel Oak once before for brunch so we were really excited. Then, I checked out their restaurant week menu, and got even more excited. 

For my appetizer, I chose the medley of mushrooms soup with truffle oil. This was SO good. You could smell the truffle oil from across the table. However, if you're watching your sodium intake, this is not the soup for you. Cameron ordered the fried green tomato appetizer, which came with 4 big slices of fried green tomatoes topped with pimento cheese and bacon. I would definitely order both of those appetizers again.

I chose the house made blue cheese filled raviloli with filet mignon tips for my entree, which is seen below. This was another homerun. The filet was so tender, as it should be, and flavorful and the blue cheese was the perfect complement. 

Below is their bang bang shrimp and grits with fried green tomatoes, served over Geechie Boy pimento cheese grits. The couple of people that ordered this at our table were not super impressed, which is a shame because it sounded delicious!

The other half of the table ordered the fried chicken (2 huge pieces!), collards and mac-n-cheese. Everyone who got this was raving about it. 

For our dessert, Cameron and I both chose the banana pudding drizzled with salted caramel. Cameron gobbled his up in seconds, and I left half of mine in the dish. It just didn't blow me away and I was already stuffed to the brim. However, Alicia's chocolate brownie with hazelnut creme blew me away and I probably would have finished the whole thing if I ordered it. 

All in all a great experience at Angel Oak!

-------------- 

Saturday, after running errands with my mom all day, including a trip to the dealership to trade in her car for a newer one, we grilled out with my parents at our house. My Dad and Cameron made a bet over the Carolina / Clemson game and whose ever team lost, they had to have the other person over for dinner, cigars, and drinks. Well, we all know how that game turned out (high FIVE!), so Saturday was the day my Dad cashed in on his bet. 

We had mozzarella, basil, and prosciutto crostinis, Pluff Mud porter, salad, baked potatoes, filets, and red wine.  Everything was SO good.

 Now that all I've talked about this Monday morning is food and got your mouth watering, have a great week! :)

Also, if you haven't already, don't forget to enter the Libby James wedding album giveaway that ends on Wednesday! 

Friday Five: Blog Planning Template, High Heel Lust, Emily 9 Months, Christmas Decorations + Giveaway Reminder

{one}

 Emily from Em for Marvelous (and also Southern Weddings) posted a blog planning template that I think will come in handy for a lot of us. Some weeks I'm racking my brain for blog post topics, other weeks, I have too many. This will help me plan them out and not forget any ideas that pop into my head!

{two}

 Two different people blogged about these gorgeous heels yesterday and I cannot stop thinking about them! Mint + leopard + scallop = perfection.

Loeffler Randall Charlotte D'orsay Pump

{three}

 Emily, the bff, is 9 months preg today!

PS - She convinced me to go to Taebo on Wednesday! And she rocked it!

I love this picture of her sweet pup, Gracie, feeling her belly.

{four}

 I'm ashamed to admit that yesterday I {finally} took down our Christmas decorations. Please tell me someone else still has theirs up so I don't feel like the only one who doesn't take down their decorations immediately after Christmas. 

{five}

 If you haven't entered already, this is a reminder that Libby James is giving away an amazing quality wedding album to one lucky ready! Go here to enter!

Happy weekend everyone! 

I definitely got a little pep in my step this morning when I realized that it was Friday! A weekend full of good eats is in our future and I cannot wait.