What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving that my Craigslist furniture is done!! And the guest bedroom is somewhat done! I just have to buy little things like lamps and decorations to complete it. I'll do a separate post later today with pictures!

I'm loving that Shasta Anne is having another awesome giveaway (a $100 Visa card!) Go here to enter!

I'm loving this pic Cameron texted me on Saturday night of some of the guests in our backyard! What do you call that thing they're standing under anyway? A pavilion? I have no idea.

I'm loving the charcoal Duex Lux "Mercer" wallet! Cameron? :)

I'm loving that I'm off work on Friday and I'll be going on my first fishing trip of 2011!

Katie's Bachelorette Party in Wrightsville Beach!

Just a quick recap of Katie's fun bachelorette party this past weekend in Wrightsville Beach, NC!

Emily and I left Friday around 1:30pm and arrived in Wrightsville Beach around 5:30pm. It really wasn't a bad drive at all and it was great to REALLY get to talk to my best friend, other than the daily "how was your day?" routine. :) 

We had dinner reservations at Tower 7, a Baja Mexican grill that was close enough for us to walk to. I ordered the same thing that I usually get from Taco Boy (Baja fish taco) and if there were a competition between Tower 7 & Taco Boy, the winner would have been Taco Boy. It wasn't bad...Taco Boy's is just better. :)

That, my friends, is a Sangrita.

Saw this Great Dane walk by and we HAD to take a pic with him. His name is Beast. :)

After that we headed back to the hotel room for a little lingerie shower.

 

We freshened up and walked to the beach bars, where we attracted a bunch of looks. No, not because we're all ridiculously good looking (kidding), but because everyone is in flip flops and t-shirts and we're in ruffly pink dresses and 4 inch wedge heels. Oh well. 

Saturday we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast and headed to the beach. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to just put sunscreen on my whole body, except my stomach and upper things. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea. My stomach turned out looking like the color of my pink dress the first night. I wish I was exaggerating. On top of that, I had legit hand prints on my shoulders from where I attempted to rub in my sunscreen.

For dinner on Saturday night, we ate at BlueWater Grill. The location reminded me a lot of Shem Creek. Courtney Jo's birthday was Wednesday so (thanks to Savannah) we surprised her with a little treat and a song!

After dinner we took a cab to downtown Wilmington. Christine (sorority sister and Emily's former roommate) and her husband live in Wilmington so they met us out for a little while! We did the usual bar hopping and ended the evening with late night pizza. Perfect weekend!

Me, Christine, Emily

Cupid Shuffle with our Venezuelan friend.

Darcy, Katie, Courtney Jo, Caroline

Cannot wait for Katie & Henry's wedding next weekend!

Tasty Tuesday - 7 Layer Greek Dip

I made this dip for the engagement party that Cameron co-hosted at our house on Saturday! I was out of town, but apparently it was a big hit! I was definitely tempted to taste it while I was putting it together but that would have been hard to do with a layer dip so I refrained..

7-Layer Greek Dip
Adapted by Our Best Bites from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (I used low-fat)
1 tsp. dill weed or Greek seasoning (salt free–go for a mix that just has herbs)
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 c. hummus
1 c. seeded, diced cucumbers
1 c. seeded, diced tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped Kalamata olives *I just used black*
1/3 c. chopped green onions (about 3 green onions completely chopped) *didn't use*
1/2 c. crumbled Feta cheese
1/8-1/4 c. minced fresh parsley

With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, seasoning, garlic, and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Spread in the bottom of a pie plate or a small, shallow baking dish. Then spread a layer of hummus. In order, create layers by sprinkling the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, Feta cheese, and parsley. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Serve with pita chips, fresh vegetables, and/or flatbread.

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving that this is my 201st post! 

I'm loving these pics from my phone..

my little baby 'maters have started to grow!

sneak peak of a drawer - only one coat

this is how i found Brady yesterday..the pants were originally laying on the bed. he must have missed his bubba.

I'm loving that I'm only working a half day today then I'm off for the rest of the weekend (well technically, I'll be back at work Sunday at 5pm for an event. That, I am not loving.)! But it's not going to be all fun and games. Today and tomorrow will be spent cleaning, organizing, finishing my dressers, and running around like a chicken with my head cut off to get the house ready for the party I won't even be attending. :)

I'm loving that this weekend I will be in Wrightsville Beach for Katie's bachelorette party!!!

apparently this is our "dance face" (ps - i miss that tan) (pps - i do not know that guy.)

I probably won't post again until Sunday so I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend! The guest bedroom reveal should be next week! Woohoo!

Tasty Tuesday - Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

I had all intentions of making these to bring to Cameron's Aunt & Uncle's house for Easter dinner, but I worked 8am - 5:30pm on Saturday and completely crashed when I got home. Oops. Instead, we swung by Bi-Lo after church and picked up some cookies. :)

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Recipe and photo from Bakingbites.com

Ingredients: 

Brownies

1/2 cup butter
2-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cheesecake Mixture

8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir with a fork until very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add in the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Batter should be red. If a brighter red is desired, add an additional 1/2 tsp food coloring. Add flour and salt into the bowl and stir until everything is just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
Prepare cheesecake mixture. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Drop in dollops onto prepared brownie batter. Gently swirl two batters with a butter knife.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Cool in the pan completely before slicing and serving, either at room temperature or chilled.
Brownies can be refrigerated, covered, for several days.

Makes 16 large brownies or 24 smaller brownies

Happy Easter!

Two church services + two dinners = nap from 5pm - 8:30pm, watch Desperate Housewives, then back to sleep.

Ipad2, Dresser Paint Color & Knobs

The most important thing about this post is that I could possibly win an Ipad2! Let me explain. I opened up my work email this morning and see the subject "Nine Week Walking Challenge." Not too exciting, right? I didn't think so either. So I opened it up to skim through the email so I could delete it. Well I got to the bottom and it said that the winner will win an Ipad2! I emailed back immediately and requested to sign me up!!

The deets:

-Contest will run May 31st - July 29th

-I will purchase a pedometer from our insurance company (who is actually putting this contest on and who the prize is coming from) for $3.50 (and that money will be returned after completion because I was one of the first 15 people to sign up). The pedometer will stay attached to my hip or shoe morning, noon, night. When I get up to pee in the middle of the night, it will be attached. Brady will get longer and more frequent walks, I will walk in place at random moments, I will wear it under my fancy dresses to weddings I will be attending in the summer. I will do ANYTHING to win!

-I will report my steps every Friday by noon and then will reset my pedometer.

-The winner (me) will have the highest daily average of steps.

you will be mine.

I picked out & bought my paint color for my matching end tables yesterday! The first coat is on and I'm really happy with it! It's Valspar's Golden Moon. I found a pic online of someone who used it on her walls, but it looks darker in her pictures than it does on my furniture.

source

Here's where I need your help. Picking out knobs and pulls. I bought six of these yesterday from World Market but am not 100% sold on them. What are your thoughts?

I also found some on Ebay today, which are less expensive. It won't let me "borrow" the images so if you'd like, go here and here and let me know which of the 3 you like the best!

Here's a reminder of what the dresser and end tables look like (pre-paint).

This will be painted in Behr's Cotton Knit.

Two of these will be painted in Valspar's Golden Moon, shown above.

I appreciate your help!! I am so indecisive!