A new "do" for summer!!

Nothing like a new haircut to get you ready for those long warm days of summer!! It was long overdue and it feels great!!

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...

the handyman would get here already!! He was supposed to be here at 12:00, and two hours later I'm still waiting. I know this shouldn't surprise me at all, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. Not that I had tons of things to do today, but I'm just kind of stuck here with nothing to do but wait. I can't go for the run I was hoping for this afternoon, because he will probably knock on my door the minute I round the corner of the neighborhood. So maybe I will just read a book, start a movie, or bake something....yes, I know that baking something chocolaty, warm and delicious will create quite the opposite effect on my body than my run would have, but it's soooo much fun!! If I decide to go that route, I will just have to share with neighbors, take them to work tomorrow, or send them to work with Brad, so that we don't eat them all!!

After all of my whining and complaining about waiting on the handyman...why is a handyman coming to my house, anyway? Because we finally SOLD it!!! Yay!!! And he is going to fix the handful of things the buyers requested we fix. It's nothing major, thank goodness. We are already done with the inspections, appraisal, paperwork, etc, so we are really getting excited now. We have to be out by June 25, which means we have two months to find a house. Needless to say, alot of my free time is spent on the Internet looking at house after house after house. Yesterday, we drove by a few that we liked on the Internet. We were planning on going to a few open houses, but most of them were cancelled due to the storms. Instead, we met some friends at the Loveless Cafe for lunch (Can you say DELICIOUS!!!) and then we did a little window shopping. Hopefully we will be able to look at them in more detail next weekend.

So, I guess instead of griping about waiting on the handyman, I should be thankful for the reason he is coming. However, if I end up baking something yummy and eating it, I'm going to blame him for my bad decisions and increased intake of calories for today!! :)

A Wedding Weekend

I think I am finally rested up from a busy weekend of wedding festivities. Our friends, Scott Gibson and Sarah Bishop were married on Saturday at the beautiful Belle Meade plantation.
The rehearsal dinner was Friday night at the Embassy Suites downtown. I wish I would have thought to take pictures of the delicious meal. It started with an appetizer of chips and some sort of blue cheese dip. Yumm!! We had steak, shrimp, rice and some other side dish....it looked like a huge hushpuppy. Still not sure what it was, but it was delicious!! We were so stuffed, I wasn't sure that we would be able to get up from the table, and then they brought in dessert....key lime pie and chocolate covered strawberries. Should I have forced myself to make room for the tempting plate of sugar? Probably not! But did I do it anyway? You know it!! It was definitely worth it. The whole meal was awesome!! Here are a couple of pictures of the hubby and me and of Sarah and me:


The wedding was Saturday evening at the Belle Meade plantation. It was the first time Brad and I had ever been there, and it was absolutely beautiful!! The weather was perfect. The sun was shining, but there was a little breeze, so it wasn't too hot. The bride looked beautiful and the wedding definitely had Sarah and Scott's personal stamp on it, all the way to the recessional, which was to the tune of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." :) We were able to see alot of friends from college that we hadn't seen in a while. Everyone had a great time!! Lots of food, friends and dancing!




Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Gibson!!!

Happy Birthday Adam!!

I can't believe my little brother is 10 years old!! It's so fun having a much younger sibling. Instead of arguments and fights, I pretty much just get to spoil him.

I was a sophomore in high school when he was born. I remember going out to restaurants or to the mall with Adam, Brandi and mom. If I held Adam or pushed him in the stroller people would stare at me with a look that said, "Oh my goodness, that young girl is WAY too young too have a baby." Sometimes they would even say, "Aww, your little boy looks just like you." At first, I was really quick to let them know that he was NOT my baby, but my little brother. But, after a while I got tired of explaining myself, so I would just smile and say, "Thanks!!" :)

Well, now he is 10 years old, going on 20!! And he is so much fun. Brad and I went to Southaven for his birthday party over the weekend. We went to a place called "Bounce." They have all of the huge inflatables. They have a blown up basketball court, jousting ring, slide and obstacle course. I think Brad, Brandi and I enjoyed it just as much as the kids did, they just had alot more energy than we did!! We all had a great time, but by the time the party was over, we were all ready to head home. You can only tolerate fourteen 10 year olds hyped up on soda, cake and ice cream for so long. Ha! Here are a few photos from the big party.






We also went to Adam's baseball practice last weekend. Since we are in Nashville now, we never get to see his games anymore. They are all on weeknights, so it was great to at least see a practice. I tried to get a few action shots...






It was a really busy weekend, but we had a great time!!

A Crafty Monday!!

It has been so long since I've taken time to work on my scrapbooks. I've been making plans to work on them again for months now. So, between wanting to scrapbook and wanting to try out some goodies from Bakerella, I decided that today would be a day just for that!!
I chose one of Bakerella's recipes and headed to the grocery this morning. I decided on Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. Bakerella actually got this recipe from Betty Crocker, but she added her own chocolate ganache as a frosting. This is one of the easiest and fastest recipes I could find there. I wanted to do something simple since I needed to squeeze in scrapbooking too. So, when I got home I started on the brownies and put them in the oven. Then, I headed upstairs to start scrapping. I've been gathering pictures to do a memorial scrapbook of Memaw. This will be the first scrapbook I make that I will actually get to keep for myself. All of the others I've made have been gifts. So I finished my first layout for that today. Here are a few shots of my projects.

These are the only ingredients you need for the brownies, other than frosting or chocolate ganache.

Simply follow the directions on the brownie mix and pour into baking dish. Then follow the directions on the cookie mix and drop cookie dough into brownie mix, one heaping teaspoon at a time.

This is what they look like fresh out of the oven...Yum!!!

Covered in chocolate ganache...

And ready to eat!!!


And here is my finished Layout...the first one for my scrapbook of Memaw

A close up of the journaling

A couple of close ups of the stamping and rub ons



I really enjoyed this crafty day!! Hopefully it won't be as long before I have another one!!

My New Hero....Bakerella

I'm not the best cook in the world by any means, but I do like to try different recipes for dinner every now and then. And I do feel like I am getting better. Brad doesn't seem to complain anyways. Ha!
Through my cooking experiences, I have realized that I love to bake!!! Once again, I'm no expert, but I do get in major baking moods fairly often. Well, one of those moods hit me as soon as I got off work on Friday afternoon. I had good intentions of diving into a cookbook and baking up something yummy over the weekend, but I got busy with different plans and errands and that did not happen. So, I told myself, "Monday, I WILL bake something!!" I am going to make time for it one way or another.
I flipped through a couple of cookbooks earlier tonight and found some possibilities, but as I was looking through the books, I remembered a baking blog that my co-worker told me about last week. The website is www.bakerella.com. As soon as the first picture popped up, I got so excited!! This lady, Bakerella, has been experimenting with different baking ideas, techniques, recipes, etc, for years. She posts photos and the actual recipes so that her followers can try the projects too. She is SO creative and has the CUTEST things ever!!! I can't wait to try some of her recipes!! If you like to bake, this website is a MUST!!
I've always loved baked goods...muffins, cakes, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, bread, anything fresh out of the oven is definitely a weakness for me. My grandma makes wonderful bread. After I got married, she gave me the recipe and I have been practicing and trying to fine tune my bread ever since then. I've come along way from that first batch of rolls that did not rise one bit, but I know that they will never be as good as hers. It sure is fun to try though!! My mother-in-law is a true cookie queen!! Again, I have a couple of her recipes, and I have tried them a few times. They are getting better, but definitely not comparable!! Growing up, many of my birthday cakes were homemade. I'm not talking about plain sheet cakes. I'm talking about a 3D Winne the Pooh cake that was shaped and piped to the very last detail...and so many more. However, this is one thing I have not tried yet, but I do intend to. I am seriously thinking about taking an intro to cake decorating at JoAnn's. How fun would that be??!! I keep telling my self that I need to gather pictures of those cakes from my mom and scrapbook them...what great memories to scrap!!
So, it seems that I've always been surrounded by baking one way or another. Maybe that's why it is so fun to me. No matter the reason, it is one of my hobbies and I can't wait to try out some of Bakerella's creations!!! I will have to take pictures of my own baking adventures and blog about them as I go. Can't wait to see what happens!!! :)

It's been a while...

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything on here. I guess we have just been busy busy!! Last weekend Brad was in New Orleans with friends and I was at my dad's. We both had a great time!! Since we returned on Sunday night, we have been busy with real estate stuff. We got an offer on our townhouse Monday morning. So, we have been going back and forth with the potential buyers all week. It is emotionally exhausting. We were definitely excited to have another offer, but we also knew not to get too excited, so that we aren't disappointed again like we were around this time last year, just in case things don't work out. We sent our final offer to them today. They have until Monday to let us know an answer. If they decline this counter offer, then they just aren't meant to buy our house. We know that in is all in God's hands, so there is no need for us to worry about anything. It will all work out like it is supposed to!!!
In the meantime, I am enjoying this BEAUTIFUL day!! Unfortunately, Brad is at work, and that's a bummer. However, I did have lunch with some friends at Loveless Cafe. It was the first time I have eaten there...and it was delicious!!! (Even if we did have to wait almost 2 hours for a table...yes, two hours!!!) It's definitely a tourist attraction, but it was soooo good. I think I will get out and do a little shopping this afternoon. That always makes for a good time!! :)