Happy Friday

Good Lord, It's Finally Here

IT'S FALL!

I feel like yelling at fall like a mother who has lost her child in a department store. Fall!? Where have you been? Bad fall. Bad, bad baad fall. Don't you do that to me again! You hear me? Do you know how worried I was? You stay right here from now on.


Fall is my most favorite season of the year. The clothes! The leaves! The air! Ahhhhh, I can finally breathe! And Alabama's record high summer sure doesn't help. Fall, I shall embrace you with every fiber of my being...

I'm so excited for it that have decided to embrace Jeggings! It's Fall..we're all having fun here..let's go crazy...rock on, Weeew.

Ok, seriously. Who am I kidding. Really. Really Rachel? Jeggings? I got a little ahead of myself. Jeggings + 5'3" stumps don't really work. But I was seriously pondering the thought because fall makes me do crazy things. Fall makes me feel all wild and free and windblown.

 Another reason why I love fall is the pumpkins. You gotta love the sight of a pumpkin. Every time I see the pumpkins sitting, waiting to be carved, I immediately squeal and squeeze Josh's arm at the thought of a romantic pumpkin carving evening.What do men not get about the romantic pumpkin carving evening?  Sip some wine, gently carve the faces, laugh and play and maybe throw a seed on each other, right? Right?

Um. No.

Our 'romantic pumpkin carving night' usually starts off well. We have our advanced pumpkin-carving template and carving utensils ready to go and we have a whole lot of hope. Then the carving begins....

We quickly lose patience and start stabbing the hell out of our pumpkins, angry that it is taking so long... covered in pumpkin goo. We realize our advanced pumpkin carving techniques have turned into us just trying to make a normal looking pumpkin face with a freaking steak knife. Then, the top doesn't fit or either falls down into the pumpkin and we're even more frustrated. I guess you could say it's not that romantic. But in my mind, every year, I have hope. So this year, it's going to be soo romantic. I can feel it.

And after it's all said and done, the throwing of the rotten pumpkin is quite enjoyable.

 And the Octoberfest brews! Mmmm...gotta love 'em.

And the leaves!

And the dog costumes!

So once again, I embrace you fall. You're going to be so much fun this year.

Try This. ( Via BetterRecipes.com)

My childhood best friend, Courtney Riggin, won a recipe contest yesterday on betterrecipes.com! Check out her interview here.

HEALTHY SALMON AND WILD RICE DINNER 

Courtney says, “It’s so easy, yet it’s still elegant enough to pass as a last-minute or week-night special occasion meal or as a quick, simple family dish. Plus, it’s healthy and really dresses up the salmon flavor for those who might want the nutritional benefits but don’t necessarily enjoy the fishy flavor.”

Ingredients:
1 package of quick-cooking seasoned long grain and wild rice mix
Olive oil
4 skinless salmon fillets (about 2 lbs total)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup peach preserves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Cook rice according to package directions. Preheat oven to 350°F. Drizzle a 13×9 inch non-stick baking dish evenly with a little olive oil. Lay fillets in baking dish. Combine the next four ingredients and rub onto the top of each fillet. Bake for 20 minutes or until salmon is opaque. Just before serving, microwave the peach preserves on high for 15-20 seconds in a microwave-safe container. Remove and stir in cider vinegar. Divide seasoned wild rice evenly among plates and lay one salmon fillet on the side of the rice. Use a spoon to spread or drizzle the peach sauce evenly over each fillet. Number of Servings: 4

Her blog, Scattering Lupines, is full of fun recipes and interesting daily tidbits as well..http://scatteringlupines.blogspot.com/

And lastly, enjoy this random pic of us at my wedding. Every time I'm around her I can't help but to squeeze her half to death!

Happy Weekend!

Watch Out! It's A SUPER HARVEST MOON!

For the first time in almost 20 years, northern autumn is beginning on the night of a full Moon. NASA is calling this a "Super Harvest Moon" and getting everyone all excited, including me.

I am a H-UGE space nerd and drive everyone crazy with my launch calendars and space gibberish. It's annoying. I know. I have a girl named Judy to thank for that.She was a much older girl who lived down the street from me and had no friends because she was so weird. And I found her fascinating. She taught me about stars and boobie traps and what to do if you are an 8 year old kid stuck in the woods and and all you have is a spoon.

Anyway...

NASA has me all pumped up so I'm on my way to a dark field with hubby and best friend Patrick armed with telescopes and beers.

It will probably be like this:

But never seeing a Super Harvest Moon before I'm anticipating this:

The Funniest Blog I've Ever Read:

Sandwiches inevitably end up one of two ways:

This morning my best friend introduced me to the funnies blog I have ever read. I literally couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard and I've seen a lot of funny shiz.

Let me go ahead and warn you though, put down the glass of whatever you might be drinking right now. It will come out of your nose..I promise.

The post "This Is Why I'll Never Be An Adult" is a good one to turn you blue in the face. Enjoy! http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

September 21: Happy Birthday Little Bro!

Twenty Five years ago on this day one of my most favorite people in the world was born...my little brother, Rusty. And while most older brother and sisters are annoyed by their younger siblings, Rusty was my fun little friend who was up for any of my many adventures. In the photo below, for example, we turned our neighbors hill into a mudslide and had our own Double Dare challenge. Happy Birthday little bro, I love you!

Take a peek inside our first little home...

I have just recently finished decorating our new little abode. It's pretty small (or "quaint" rather?), but works for just myself, my hubby and our two mutts. Wanna take a look?

The best thing about our house is everything we own tells a little story. From random shells across the sea, to furniture picked up off the side of the road.

 

This strange (yet lovely) print was given to me by my best friend whose husband (Dan Grillet), is a photographer. Isn't it odd/awesome?

 

I just love my Ikea magnetic knife rack. $14.99 soo well spent.

 

I love mixing old items with new. These green vintage vases were actually found thrown out on the side of the road by my thrifty husband!

 

You gotta love the terrible 80's family photos.

For some reason, the rest of my family didn't get the 'Look as if you are about to get eaten' memo. Or maybe I'm just a tad bit over the top? Ok. Dramatic (if you must).

 

Here's one of my new prints ( with my beloved West Elm print..look how nice they play). Check back regularly for a giveaway!

 

A close up of one of  the vintage green vase (a.k.a the out-of-the-trash find). It cleaned up so nicely!

 

Ahh..relaxing bedroom. It's hard to go in this room if you aren't really ready for bed. It's very calming. We picked a cool, natural palette of rich colors of navy, chocolates, whites and a touch of green for fun :)

 

This is the now infamous crazy clown print pawned off given to us by my sweet mother-in-law. Josh's father picked  him up at a thrift store one day and brought him home, much to her demise. This poor little guy sat upstairs in the floor (faced to the wall) for years due to the fact that my mother-in-law thought he was creepiest thing she had ever seen!

Needless to say, he ended up at our house and is fitting in pretty well around here. I love Mr. Creepy Clown and he's happy that he has a home now.

 

And last but not least, our most favorite spot..our awesome porch!

P.S. Emma couldn't stand it and had to make her photo debut. She smiles so pretty don't ya think?

I hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse into our humble little abode!

Sneak Peek

I hope you all had a very successful week and are getting ready for your fun weekend. I will be hosting a tailgating party for the Auburn vs. Clemson game this weekend...War Eagle!

I wanted to leave you with a sneak peek of Monday's post-  my official house tour!

...and all the while the sad puppy sits and waits for mommy to finish taking pictures ( The toy you see is his favorite, a stuffing-less football)

My New MadeByGirl Print...

Thanks Jen of MadeByGirl!

The Bees Knees

Summer may be coming to an end but the bee and honeycomb trend is just starting to buzz ( excuse the pun). From honeycomb patterned pillows, to bee jewelry, to prints, there's just something about these little guys we can't get enough of...

Via Farnum Ink Studio

Via Luckyduct

Via Modish

Via Alex Monroe Jewelry

Via Evolution Now

Our Featured Article

I was recently married on May 29, 2010 and much to my surprise received a phone call from Atlanta Magazine's editor asking if they could include my wedding in their next upcoming issue! The newest Atlanta Magazine's Wedding  is on news stands for 4 more months, pick one up today!

Also, if you can't catch the magazine, The Beachview Club ( our wedding venue) is now running their ad featuring US in all the major wedding publications, such as The Knot! So exciting!

DIY: Compost

This past weekend hubby took to the big pile o' lumber that he used to build my flower box out of here and built us a compost this time. It turned out really nice! And I'm happy because the pile o' lumber is getting smaller and smaller everyday :)

Notice all of the orbs around me..the spirits must be very proud of our recycling endeavors.

Girl Crush

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...

As I was flipping through the most recent In Style mag I kept noticing socialite Olivia Palermo in almost every single page. And then it dawned on me...I have a girl crush. Josh jealously tries to ruin this girl crush saying that she has some sort of lazy eye but I'm not seeing it, she seems so angelic. Although, once I finally caught an episode of The City  I found myself agreeing with him that she could step up the grace if she just kept quiet a bit more. Shhh Olivia, don't ruin my girl crush, you are gorgeous!

Time to fess up..who is your 'girl crush'??