Fuzzy

Here are some fuzzy pictures taken with my camera phone from this past weekend. And yes, the top item on my Christmas wish list is a new camera!

 This was taken after the Seminoles shut out NC State this past Saturday! This was after the game while we were waiting for the crowd to thin out. I realized I hadn't taken a single picture the entire time we were there. It was a GORGEOUS day in Doak Campbell Stadium, and a shut-out game made it even sweeter!

My girl Tab who sat with me at the game. She is an FSU Alum, I am just a hometown girl cheering for my second favorite college team. 

This deliciousness is homemade PUMPKIN CREME BRULEE and was heaven on a plate! I was so proud of myself for making this from scratch. It was not as hard as it sounds like it would be. I realized too late that the torch I had intended to use for the final step of caramelizing the top didn't come with butane, so I went with plan B and turned on the oven broiler. Visually it didn't look as crisp, but I promise you it tasted just as delicious! Click here for the recipe I used.

And last but not least... my sweet little Darcy. I rarely get a shot of her with her eyes open, and this was just too sweet not to share! I think she had just been eyeballing my pumpkin creme brulee and plotting a way to sneak a taste after I set my dish down. Hehe!

Hope you're not in a Halloween candy sugar coma this morning! Despite the abundance of left over candy in the office, I only had two milky way's yesterday, and none yet today. The key word there is "yet"...

Cheers!

If you start thinking that your week begins on Sunday, suddenly Monday's aren't so bad anymore- Day 26

My BFF, Mindy, said this to me this weekend, and how much of a difference that has made for me today! I had a fantastic weekend visiting her (and her baby bump!) despite the rainy weather all weekend and didn't want to leave! I had so much fun in fact, that I didn't pause to take a SINGLE PICTURE the entire weekend! Bad blogger! Now that I am blogging, I need to remember to have that camera in my hands at all times.

I arrived at her house Friday afternoon, and after surveying all the updates she has done to her house, we took off to go antique shopping in Leesburg. We went to an amazing shop, then I took up the rest of our time in the candle shop across the street. Have you heard of Swan Creek Candle Company? We have three stores (that I know of) around my area that carry some Swan Creek merchandise, but there is an outlet store in Leesburg and I was in candle heaven! If you have never heard of these candles, let me just tell you, they are made from American soy bean wax, and are the best smelling candles. I even prefer them over Yankee candles.

http://www.swancreekcandle.com/

I received my first one as a gift about two years ago, and it was in a decorative pottery jar, so not only do they smell divine, they look fantastic as well.  I had the hardest time on Friday deciding which scents to bring home with me, but I finally decided on a small Lavender candle for our bedroom, three Lilly of the Valley votives for the bathrooms, and a tall French Vanilla Bean for our kitchen. I also bought my first Christmas present, a tall Snickerdoodle candle for my mom.

Friday evening we ventured to downtown Mt. Dora and had dinner at the Saucy Spoon. I had the salmon which was served with roasted vegetables and grits. It was great! After a nice meal we rode up to the Mt. Dora Brewery. I had heard Mindy and her husband talk several times about the brewery, and I was excited to see first hand what the buzz was about.

Mount Dora Brewing

We sat out on the patio in the back of the brewery where we could have fresh air but still hear the music from inside. I tried the Rockin Rabbit Red, which is an Irish Red Ale made from organic ingredients including orange blossom honey. I am not usually a red ale kind of girl, but I enjoyed this one very much. You could definitely taste the honey.

Saturday we trekked down to Orlando to the Mall at Milena to make a stop in Pottery Barn Kids to check out some baby bedding Mindy had been eyeing online. We of course made many more stops, including a late and long lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. We split pizza and an appetizer and yapped like we always do, but better since we were in person instead of over the phone.

Sunday we went to church and I assisted (rather poorly, I might add) while Mindy taught Sunday school to a rowdy group of first graders. Then we went to the service, which was fantastic, followed by lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Then it was time to pack up my car and hit the road to head back home.

I love every second of my weekend with my best friend, specifically starting out my week beginning with Sunday morning at church. Watching those first graders learn about Moses and then listening to the Pastor speak about seeking God has made a big difference in my attitude this Monday morning. Today I am thankful for best friends. Even if we live 4 hours apart, she always finds a way to touch my heart and help make me a better person.

Thanks for a super weekend Mindy Sue! I can't wait to see you soon!

Do you have a long distance BFF? How often do you get to see each other?

Cheers,

"F" is for Friday and Fabulous Friends- Day 23

I am out of the office today and on the road traveling to visit this awesome girl

We have a busy weekend planned, and I can't wait to see all the updating she has done to her home, go antique shopping, have lunch in little town Mt. Dora, and most of all spend time with my BFF!

Hope you get to see someone special this weekend! 

Cheers, 

"Monday Morning you sure look fine, Friday I've got travelin' on my mind..." - Day 19

Here is a list of things that are on my mind this Monday morning-

1. Fleetwood Mac is on my radio (hense the title of this post)

2. Today is the beginning of a four day work week for me and I feel fantastic!

3. I am so proud of Karah, my running partner, and myself for accomplishing our goal of running 8 miles on Friday! We ran until the sun went down and pushed ourselves to go a little longer and run by the light of the street lamps to achieve our 8 mile goal. Proud to say we did it and have another long run scheduled for tomorrow evening. We are about 20 days away from our big half marathon run, so we need all the encouragement we can get!


via Pinterest.com

4. I am still dreaming of the beach this past Saturday. It was gorgeous! We stayed later into the evening which proved to be rewarding. Tabs and I were treated to a show by a group of dolphins. They were jumping out of the water and were swimming pretty close to the beach. I had never seen one jump while I sitting on the beach. It was so cool! We also saw this sailboat around the same time that the dolphins were turning their tricks. I wonder if it was stirring up fish or something?


phone pic from my droid

 5. Sunday was fantastic. I caught up on all my girly DVR'd shows, did laundry, cooked spaghetti, cleaned the kitchen, took a nap, and got some reading done. I am currently reading Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch. I have two more chapters to finish, then maybe I will post a book review.
 

via Google

 6. I am using annual leave on Friday and skipping town to have a weekend visit with my BFF down in Mt. Dora! I am so excited to visit her and see all the updating she has done to her home, go antique shopping, enjoy long lunches and just see her in general! I haven't seen her in about 7 months, since my wedding! It has been too long, and these two peas in a pod are overdue for a fun girl weekend. 
That's all for this Monday!

Cheers,

"F" is for Friday, and Failure - Day 16

which I have been a big one for skipping two days of posting. So sorry. I don't know what I got caught up doing to be honest!

BUT... let's just relish in the fact that today is the beginning of the weekend!! Time to get your party shoes on!


via Pinterest

So what's on the agenda for this weekend you ask?


 via Pinterest

Well it starts off with an 8 mile run after work today! Can I tell you it has been over a week since my last run, and I could definitely tell when I buttoned my jeans this morning! If I am going to be in any condition to run a half marathon at the end of October, I need to quit procrastinating and get on the work-out ball, both figuratively and literally!

Next up, after about an extra hour of sleep on Saturday morning I am off to the beach with my friend Tabs for our ceremonial the last beach trip of the year!

So sad that summer is really over, but I am so excited for this trip Saturday because the weather is supposed to be phenomenal! Upper 70's and I plan to spend every minute I can soaking up some sun, reading, relaxing, maybe sipping on a cocktail with my toes in the sand. Tabs and I are both beach bums to the core, so we mourn the loss of summer each year and make a point to spend one last day at the beach sometime in the fall before it gets too cold. Last year on our bye-bye-beach day we stayed until the sun set, and I literally had tears in my eyes on the way home! I swear I am such a water baby!

There are so many good football games on this Saturday, and I am hoping to get home in time to catch the evening games! Alabama and Florida are playing in the Swamp, my least two favorite teams ever. I can't say that I am pulling for one over the other, doesn't much matter to me, I am just glad one of them is guaranteed to loose!

You know exactly where I will be on Sunday morning... on my couch with a cup of coffee and watching the news! After which I will catch up on all my girly DVR shows while I have the house quiet to myself!


via Pinterest

 I hope you do something extra special this weekend!

Cheers,

Hello Monday -Day 12

I couldn't sleep last night, the cat was climbing all over the place, knocking my glasses and a bud vase of flowers off my nightstand, pawing at the covers and trying to find herself a spot to curl up on the comforter. The alarm went off too soon and instead of my usual ritual of hitting snooze approximately eight times I hopped up and went about getting ready for work. I got to work at 7:45am instead of my usual 9:00am, and had a mild panic attack when no one else had shown up by 8:10, thinking that maybe there was a meeting I was supposed to be attending that I had somehow forgotten. My office mate came in shortly after my freak out and I was relieved. Folks were just running behind, much like I usually am. Here's a summary of my weekend:

1. Friday afternoon left work and had cocktail hour at my house with Tabs. She brought the cheese and I broke out the crown and ginger with lime. She was headed out on a date so I helped her pick out her outfit and finished my cocktail and hers since she didn't want to be tipsy before she even showed up for the date. I finished my evening catching up with my DVR.

2. Did anyone else watch Project Runway? This was one of my least favorite challenges ever in the history of the show. Both the challenge itself and the garments that were displayed on the runway I thought were blah. The designers had to create outfits for members of a band. There were eight designers and four members of the band, so they were split in two groups and each band member got two "looks." The poor drummer, both his outfits were pretty bad. I don't know how else to describe the episode, it was just borring to me and none of the outfits were particularly creative. I was not a fan of Oliver, the designer who was eliminated, so I am sort of glad he is gone. Hopefully this next week will be a better show!

3. My relaxing Saturday started out with a massage, I had been holding on to a gift card I was given for Christmas and finally used it. I was in heaven for about 60 minutes, then had to battle it out in the grocery store, then spend the rest of the afternoon running around town instead of on my couch with a glass of wine watching football like i had intended. Oh well! I did however make it to my parents house to visit with my Uncle and Aunt who were passing through town and spending the night.

4. Besides Fridays, Sunday is my second favorite day. Coach has film study at school so I get to spend my Sunday mornings watching the news and drinking coffee. It's my "me" time for the week!

That's really it for today! Hope your week is off to a great start! If not go home today and have a cocktail, you deserve it!

Cheers,

Oh Monday...- Day 5

It felt like moving a mountain this morning when I finally un-tucked myself from the covers after the fifth or sixth time hitting snooze on my alarm clock. I was silently cursing to myself while getting ready because I had to come into work today. However difficult that may have been, I am here now and am ready to fill you in on seven highlights from my weekend. So here you go-

1. This weekend was fantastic and terrible at the same time. It literally felt like a roller coaster. It started Friday with a marathon errand run in record time. Just over an hour and three stops to make, one being the grocery store. I seriously spend too much time in the grocery store, so this was a challenge for me. But I did it and managed to stay within my budgeted time. However when I got home with just enough time to drop off the groceries, feed the cat and scoot out of the house to head to the high school football game, wouldn't you know it was torrential down pouring. I sat in my driveway for a minute trying to figure out how to get two sacks of to go BBQ for the next day's tailgate, two large bags of ice and a few other small grocery bags into the house without getting myself absolutely soaked.

2. The BBQ we ordered for the tailgate was fantastic. I had never been to Piggy's before but my personal review was that it was very good, which agrees with most everything i had previously heard. We got the pulled pork, mac and cheese and baked beans. If you haven't ever been, you should try it out.

3. We also got a whole chicken that no one ended up touching because the BBQ was so fantastic. I can't ever  throw away uneaten food, so I thought we could just keep it in the cooler till we got home. Well, needless to say when i went to clean out the cooler yesterday evening, there floating around in the melted ice with the last few bottles of beer and water were pieces of that chicken. The Styrofoam box which held the chicken had come undone in all the moving around, and pieces of it had been soaking in that water and floating around for almost 24hours. Gross is an understatement. I bleached the cooler three times and my front stoop still smells like chicken water.

4. Both my primary and secondary college football teams lost this weekend. For my primary team, it was just a matter of time before someone was going to get the better of them. For the secondary team, it was a tough break, but the boys played hard and we had a blast in the packed stadium watching the game.

5. I caught up on my DVR yesterday morning while the coach had film study at school. I record a Sunday morning news show, and one of the segments was on penmanship and cursive vs. typing, and how schools are not teaching cursive anymore. I have some pretty strong opinions about this subject that i plan to share later this week.

6. I also caught up on Project Runway. I love this show. I thought the challenge this past week was particularly interesting as well. Designers picked male clients thinking they would be challenged with making menswear. However the real challenge was to make something for their wives/girlfriends. It was funny to hear the men describe to the designers what their wives or girlfriends typically wear, where they shop, what colors they liked. It made me wonder what my own husband would say had we been a part of this challenge. In the end, I thought the best dress won. I would wear Joshua McKinley's black cocktail dress with the phenomenal back in a heartbeat.



http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway



http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway

7. Tonight I am cooking chicken with sauteed mushrooms, onions and garlic, topped with melted provolone cheese and I *might* be adding some bacon in there some where. It is one of my husband's favorite dishes so I am happy to surprise him with it every so often. Not sure what I will serve on the side though, maybe cut up a fresh tomato and sprinkle with some black pepper. I might have a lone package of instant potatoes in the pantry that I can whip up. I know, instant, blah, but we don't eat enough potatoes to justify buying a bag so I just purchase fresh ones when I plan to cook them that day, and keep a box or two of the instant stuff for emergencies.

That's all for this girl today! How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Cheers,

REM