what happens when husbands are given internet access

i am aware i'm lucky that i married a handy man. not by profession....but he is a man who is handy. living 1/4 of a mile from home depot doesn't hurt things either.

so last week when we were discussing having peeps over saturday for football...i  thought busting out the fire pit would be fun. apparently....our  2 year old DIY firepit that took us 15 minutes to make, and consisted of a hole and a circle of bricks was NOT cutting it anymore.

and so...he gets online and finds directions for making a sweet new one.

first we had to dig a hole.

then we had to put down sand, then pavers and more sand.

then we built the walls the next day with cement blocks. for $75 and 3 hours...not too shabby right??

plus, now the dogs can hang out outside with us when we roast marshmallows, because they can't get in the fire. and trust me when i say....bojangles ALWAYS tries to get in the fire.

anyone else have a boy in their life who gets crazy ideas and has to do them IMMEDIATELY??

also, congrats amy, leah and jessica...i'll be emailing you your shutterfly codes shortly!!

the time i almost had a stroke at target

for at least 2 months....i have been lusting after a pair of boots. a pair of gorgeous black riding boots that were a fraction of the price of the frye's i've also been lusting after, but would rather not pay $300 for right now (maybe one day though....maybe one day) on target.com.

a few weeks ago they had a buy one, get one 40% off...but i didn't bite the bullet.

AND THEN THEY DISAPPEARED OFF THE SITE!!! i was crushed, they were only online so i thought hope was lost.

then they returned...and still i didn't bite the bullet. i was just trying to be a good girl, and not drop the cash just yet.

yesterday....the universe totally rewarded my patience.

because as i'm browsing the shoe aisles, wasting time...i spy on a shelf a tiny glint of silver...like a pirate's treasure or something.

you see that button? oh yes....MY BOOTS WERE AT THE STORE!!!


aaaaaaand instead of being $70....they were marked down to $35, presumably to get rid of them since they're only online unless someone returns them to the store.

my heart started racing a little....would they be my size? would i love them on my little chicken legs as much as i love them on the website?

YES ON ALL COUNTS!!!

i was clutching those bad boys in my greedy little hands like a crackhead taking one last hit before heading to rehab.  like a toddler pageant queen clutches her giant crown. you get the idea...i wanted them a lot.

aaaaaaand then....i may or may not have scoured the shelves, found them in brown and tan, and then pranced my little self to the checkout as fast as my soon-to-be-booted-up-in-style legs could take me!!

so a big shout out to whoever decided to buy a bunch of boots online and hate them...cuz this girl is all the better for it!

can you send christmas cards with wedding stamps?

the first year the hubs and i lived in our house...i was on christmas cards like white on rice. we had fancy engagement pictures, we had a nice permanent address, AND getting addresses together to send cards was like super-secret-recon for wedding prep.

then we actually got married. and i was a total slacker, and was barely getting over writing thank-you notes. then last year....i was just lame.

but now....now i am DETERMINED to get back on the card train. come hell or high water, i WILL be sending out christmas cards. and thanks to the awesome people at shutterfly...they will not have to be old-school construction paper creations made by yours truly.

cuz see...they have ALLLL sorts of christmas cards to be personalized...if only i could talk the hubs into letting me pick out an outfit for him, and have someone take his photo.

i LOVE this one, the simplicity of the black and white, and the pictures in the tree shape...so different, and so fun!

of course, there's ALWAYS the option of leaving ourselves out of the card....and featuring the four-legged members of our household. BUT do they frown upon tranquilizing your dogs to force them to pose and be on a holiday card? cuz our boys...they are wiiiiillllldddd!!

and there's always the option of managing one good photo, and then having fancy red and green words over our pretty little heads.

the best part of shutterfly's photo card promotion? four words for you...

FREE. STUFF. FOR. YOU.

oh yes, i've got three codes for 25 free cards just waiting for 3 of you =) i'll pick 3 comments on friday, and you'll get into the holiday spirit with me WITHOUT having to spend money! (plus, christmas is LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AWAY, and that blows my mind....a lot). it's a little like i'm santa....but mostly just a girl in a red sweater and black boots. white fur trim is NOT really my thing =)

a-maize-ing anniversary trip....aka traipsing through the wilderness

the hubs and i have been married for 2 years....but we've been together almost 6. so, we're not super big on the "let's do something fancy for this occasion"....because, for one, our anniversary was on a monday and nate has been a busy little worker bee lately.

and so, we decided to do a little day trip on friday to get out of town, and just spend some time together. our first stop friday afternoon was the mall of georgia, the biggest in the state. then, being a dutiful wife...i totally googled the nearest fry's because if there's one thing that will make my dude happy...it's a giant store full of electronics. (i got a super cute new camera case out of the deal, so all was not lost!)

but all the shopping and walking was just killing time before the main event. the thing i've been talking up FOR WEEKS. the thing that made me all giddy like a kid...

i mean, look at those eyes! do those look like the eyeballs of a person who is a normal amount of excited?? not at ALL.

those are the crazy eyes of a girl who's sitting on a bale of hay, being pulled by a big tractor....TO THE CORN MAZE!!!!

i not only demanded to be taken to the corn maze...i demanded to be taken to the corn maze AT NIGHT. because daytime corn mazes are for parents, and losers. nighttime is the jam.

look how much fun nate is having trying to violate the corn maze rules! veering off the corn maze path....what a renegade.

and of course...this is me, with our bag of s'mores goodies, afraid we're going to have to bust into our stash because we're gonna have to camp in the corn maze until dawn.

because let me tell you....that maze was HARD!! and it's reaaaaaaalllllly dark in an 8 acre corn field on hog mountain road. HOG. MOUNTAIN. that's how you know it was legit.

i swear to you there were times i thought we were NEVER going to get out. ever.  once we were all done....we realized we'd only been doing the 2 mazes for about an hour and 15 minutes.

but out in the dark? when you don't know where you're going?? that seems like A LOT longer!

anyone else love some harvesty activities? or had a corn maze make you feel dumb?

little less sandra, little more martha

i'll admit it...i'm a cookbook hoarder. i like looking at them, i like having them hanging out on my shelf in my kitchen...BUT i don't cook out of them often. at least not on a regular weekday basis.

but i DO have another secret weapon in the kitchen...the same secret weapon i use to make outfits, and find new jewelry to craft.

of course...i mean pinterest.

this week, i've made THREE new dishes from recipes i've pinned....and they have all been awesome.

kinda makes me a little less like crazy sandra lee (except i do LOOOOVE me some cocktail time...just not of the crazy sandra variety. the regular people kind...not the this-is-loaded-with-all-sorts-of-booze-imaginable-plus-a-nasty-ingredient kind) and little more martha stewart (minus the whole convicted felon thing).

first up, sunday night's super easy dinner of spaghetti with artichoke hearts and tomatoes.  this was super light, but still felt a little rich...AND the leftovers were awesome.

monday night the hubs grilled up some ribeyes, and i baked some potatoes for our anniversary....i was LITERALLY in a red meat coma all night. but it was totally worth it.

tuesday and wednesday meant double-duty for arguably my most favorite kitchen tool....the crockpot. is there anything better than dumping a bunch of stuff in to cook in the morning, and having dinner ready when you get home?? NOPE.

tuesday was crockpot ravioli casserole...which i totally did not take a picture of. probably because i was starved at dinner and went at that bowl of pasta like a crazy person. not the most original of dishes...but it was good.

then last night....OMG last night. randomly, we went from summer to winter in 24 hours here in the peach state...so i figured a nice bowl of soup would be delish. and delish it was.....holy. cow. this was totally a paula deen approved recipe for crockpot creamy chicken and rice soup...BUT i think you could have it as a brothy soup by stopping before the whole "mixing the rue and adding it" step....cuz you don't have to have the creaminess from the half and half and whole stick of butter....but DAMN if it wasn't ridiculously amazing.

AND i'm totally gonna pull a good daughter move and drop the leftovers off at mama's work for her and the dad to enjoy tonight for dinner....gotta keep my spot as favorite daughter, ya know??

if you wanna check out the other recipes i've been pinning away, you can follow my food board here....but he warned, there are NOT a lot of salads to be had =)

happy thursday ya'll!

It's hard to slow it down when it feels so right

 dear nate,

two years ago today...we finally made it official. we became husband and wife.

and every day since then, i've not ONCE thought that saying yes to you wasn't the best decision i've ever made. EVER.

it seems like yesterday...and it seems like a lifetime ago. i feel like i can hardly remember a time WITHOUT you in it. so how is it possible only 24 months have passed since our wedding?

you're my partner, my other half....the one person who always gets me, always makes me laugh, always makes me smile, always makes me feel safe.

i love that i can be myself all the time around you...goofy and stupid, quiet and reserved, loud and obnoxious. sometimes...all of that in one afternoon.

i love that being with you is like having the best roomate ever...cuz you take out the trash and clean the gross dishes. and usually, you only expect a good meal at night, and some good lovin' thrown in for good measure ;)

every adventure life brings us...i know we'll face together. i can't wait to see that handsome face of yours looking down on your first-born child....BUT let's wait a bit for that, whatdya say? some days i can't believe i'm anywhere near old enough to consider being someone's mama...but i know, when that day actually comes...you're gonna be the best dad EVER. you'll teach our son to be a good man, or you'll teach our daughter what a good man is (and probably threaten every male that comes within 10 feet of her until she's 30...maybe longer).

there aren't even really adequate words to describe what you being in my life means, how much better and more whole my life is with you in it.

i said it then, and i will mean every single word, every single day, for the rest of my life.

I promise to care for you and trust you, to cherish you and respect you, to forgive you and be forgiven by you. I will love you in good times and in bad, when we are together and when we are apart.  Your pain will be mine, And your joy mine as well. I promise to be ever faithful, today and for all our tomorrows.

love,
the mrs.

just get me a girdle and call me betty

so technically...i've only ever seen ONE episode of mad man.

on a delta plane. flying to miami 2 years ago.

BUT i have a passing knowledge of the whole thing, and the swinging 60's retro vibe they're all rocking...and rocking well.

and while i'm more of a bourbon girl....i might have to break out the vodka martinis...

because this vintage ice bucket now lives at my house. and i am OBSESSED with it.

granted...i probably won't use it for an ice bucket, cuz it's basically just a big glass bowl and it's not very insulated.

but the pattern. and the black and gold. and the AWESOMENESS. it had to come home with me from the thrift store.

so far, my mother hates it...and the hubs hasn't decided whether it's retro-cool....or old-lady-hoarder.

that's why they don't get to come to my one-woman retro party =)

i hope paula deen doesn't take my southern card away

you can learn all sorts of things off the internet....the daily slutiness of your favorite actor. the lyrics to that song you've always been singing wrong.

 and best of all....things to cook. and how to cook them.

now, what i have to tell you about my latest culinary endeavor HAS to stay between us. because i have a certain southern sensibility to maintain...along with being able to drink bourbon like water, and make biscuits from scratch with no sort of measuring whatsoever...i also have a natural affinity for fried things. savory things, sweet things...i dig it all. but last night...last night i did the unthinkable.

you see...i put bacon IN THE OVEN.

not in the frying pan, not full of spattering grease and filling my house with wafting smell of cooked pig for the next 2 or 3 days.

that's the best part actually...NO BACON SMELL!! cuz you know...that smell is awesome when you're waiting to eat the bacon. but once you've had the bacon, and then you wake up the next morning and you still sorta smell bacon...but not really. it's just....weird.

so, i slapped those strips on a pan lined with foil, and popped them in the oven. turned it on to 400, and 15 minutes later i had delicious crispy bacon, no smell...AND no pan to clean. amazing stuff.

and in case you were wondering, the bacon was PERFECT on this crockpot potato soup. easiest meal EVER.

plus, it had bacon, so bonus points there.

just don't tell paula, okay?

i needed maternity pants...for my food baby.

that right there is why the south is ALWAYS last on the healthiest states list.

paula deen had NOTHING on our dinner saturday night.

a family-sized fried shrimp dinner, with fries and hushpuppies...and oh yeah, an order of fried pickles.

we only eat at this local joint about once a year....but that one time, is totally worth the calories and the discomfort from the gut bomb it brings.

because there were literally 2 shrimp, one hushpuppy and probably 4 pickles left.

someone pass me a salad...i may eat only lettuce for the rest of the week.

yeah right =)

happy monday y'all!