Weekend Recap

  On Friday, I had to work so I finally got home around 11:30 and Pat and I caught up on The Sing-Off. Do you watch it? Because you should start if you don't. I'm rooting for the oldies, Northshore, and the Dartmouth boys; that lead singer can rock it. If the Dartmouth boys don't win (too many, maybe?), then I definitely think he needs to get himself another group and sing; I would buy his cd for sure. And the old guys, well, I just love them. I think they are adorable and they are the quintessential a cappella group.

Mustache glasses

We found Stephen!

  We spoke to Erin who ended up having two tickets to the Decatur Beerfest on Saturday. Erin has been to this festival for the last four years and raves about it, so I was excited to see what all the buzz was about. And it definitely lived up to the hype! Stephen was on a bachelor weekend for one of his friends and we met up with them down there for a bit. The square was a really great location for this festival because even though it was packed, you didn't feel like you were jammed in there with everyone. We got to sample a few really good beers and a couple not so great ones which Erin and I poured out. We rode the Marta down there and unfortunately because of the unpredictability of public transportation here in Atlanta, it took about an hour, but we finally made it and started a great afternoon! The weather was beautiful and not too hot and we enjoyed walking around the square.

The brewery that was the reception site for Kevin this summer

Love this girl!

Boo.

ATL from the Marta

  We finally headed back and ended up getting back to our house around 6pm, just in time for Pat to start mourning the would-be loss of his team. Allison came over and we rooted our Tigers onto victory. It was ugly and I think I suffered several mild heart attacks, but we will take it!

After the exhausting game!!

To Buy or Not To Buy

Are clogs still in fashion? Pat said no.

Look, a fleur-de-lis! *Sigh* I am in love though Pat said at 5 bucks each and "Emily, we don't have any more room for glasses," a big fat no. :(

What do y'all think?

A taste of Fall

So I finally got around to making pumpkin bread today to usher in Fall, but today feels like we went straight to winter!! It's so cold today that I broke out my sweatpants! Brrr! Before I'm going to bed, I'm enjoying a piece of my pumpkin bread with a cup of spiced tea. And a huge happy birthday to my wonderful Mama today!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you today!!

Football Night

When Auburn played MSU a few weekends ago, Pat and I invited Kat and Dave over to our house to eat dinner and watch the game. Kathryn is my very best friend, aka my bestest, and we have known each other since the 7th grade. She went to State while I attended Auburn and when we started college, we tried to always go to each other's university for the game. This game always comes down to the very last minute causing craziness and this year was no exception.

After the game, we played a little Hand and Foot to bring on the night while Wrigley slept on his bed.

For our appetizer, I made spinach and artichoke dip with homemade baked bread and it was de-licious!! I kind of forgot to snap a few pictures when the entire plate filled with bread (it looked so nice!) and the full dish of dip. Oh well! We were hungry and devoured the entire thing in about 10 minutes. You definitely need to try these! The bread was freshly baked and it was even more amazing being so soft! I used the bread recipe that makes four loaves, but shaped it into a baguette instead of a round and I think it honestly turned out better.

For dinner, I made some Bourbon chicken over rice from a recipe I found on food.com and it was good, but I made it again for just me and Pat and added some stir fried vegetables in it and it was much more substantial!

Printables:

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Bread

Bourbon Chicken

New Fall Soup

  I've had this recipe for a while, but haven't ever tried it after I printed it out. With yesterday being so dreary and a little cooler, I was craving a good, hot soup. I made a wedge salad of sorts with some blue cheese, tomatoes over lettuce with Ranch dressing for me and Blue Cheese dressing for Pat.

  I used Rachael Ray's recipe for the soup and it was delicious! Reading through the recipe again though, I just realized that I completely forgot to add the mozzarella cheese on top of the chips! I did add a dollop of sour cream on the top to provide a little calm from the heat. Tonight, I'll have to remember the cheese. Patrick really enjoyed this soup as well, so it's a keeper!

Rachael Ray's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Two Years Old

  Today, my little man is two years old! I can't believe it!! We slept in until noon and then I got back in bed and Roo got in his bed in our bedroom and we watched a little tv until about 1:30. I finally decided that I needed to get a few presents for Wrigley, so I got ready to brave the nasty weather we were having today.

  City Dog Market wasn't open today so I ventured a little further into town and drove to Woofgang Bakery. I was very impressed with the owner and got a little birthday cupcake for Wrigley and two antlers. Next time I go, I'm going to have to pick up a knucklebone for him as I didn't see it until I was heading out the door. I also ran to Petsmart and grabbed a Nylabone, a ball, and a flat raccoon and fox for him.

  I always try to put his gifts in bags with tissue paper because for some reason, he loves sticking his nose into the bags. I probably could just give him tissue paper in bags and he would be happy, but oh well. I made Pat take pictures of us and then made my mom, dad, and sister (and Tucker) get on Facetime while Wrigley enjoyed his cupcake. I think he thought I was going to take his cupcake away from him because once he took the top off, he inhaled the entire cake in his mouth. As soon as he finished the cupcake, he grabbed his antler and has been chewing it every since. He loves the split antlers and especially likes to chew on them until he breaks them into two antlers. I have a feeling this antler will be destroyed by Thursday night.

   Happy birthday, buddy!

Thoughts on a Dress?

I'm thinking about this dress from Zara for a wedding I'm going to. Maybe dressing it up with some fun shoes and jewelry? I might just have to go try it on Friday morning. Feedback?

 

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V-BACK DRESS

An Assortment

I saw this trailer on another blog (A Cup of Jo) and I might need to find this movie when it comes out! I grew up on the muppets and Sesame Street and love a good story about the puppeteers!


Right now, the Roo is laying on his side and barking teeny, little barks in his sleep. Hilarious.

This week I am working a different, later shift and I am trying to get used to it. Next week, I start the shift that I will be on for a while until an earlier 12 hour shift opens up and I'm just hoping I can stay awake that late! I thought I would get up earlier since I don't have to be up until later, but nope, I am loving sleeping in! (My mom will say she is totally not surprised about that one because she knows I like to sleep late and go to bed early.)

Anyways, I made a superb meal for us on Sunday night and I am still reaping the benefits from it tonight! Score, leftovers! You should make this. Easy and delicious!!

The finished product-messy, but delicious!

Onions and carrots after browning

Browning the meat

Before cooking in the oven for 3 hours

On the Menu:
Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast
Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes
Baked asparagus

After 3 hours in the oven. YUM!

I will try to thicken the sauce up some the next time I cook this roast and turn it a little more gravy-like by adding either flour or cornstarch to the broth mixture after I deglaze the pan before I add the meat back into the pot. I also may try to keep the onions more on top of the meat because I didn't like how completely mushy they were. The carrots, however, were so good! I couldn't believe I actually liked them because I normally don't like my carrots cooked at all, but I kept trying to fish out more to eat!

Mashed potatoes baking

Slicing the pot roast (falling apart, not much shredding involved on my part)

I used heavy cream in my mashed potatoes because that is what I had in the fridge, but I also think I could add milk instead of half and half or cream. These potatoes are delicious and very good heated up the next day too!

Over the weekend, I was able to go to Athens to watch UGA play MSU with some of my girls and we had a blast! We drove up on Saturday for our girls' weekend and met up with my bestest's cousin, Amanda, who had driven up to Athens Friday night. Danielle, Kat, and I met up with Amanda right before the game and I stupidly didn't bring any sunscreen since I forgot that it would get hotter than 50 degrees in the stadium. We were in the State section in the corner of the endzone and we all got burned, but I definitely have a great sleeveless shirt burn. Whoops. I guess that's what happens when you haven't gone to the beach in over a year nor been able to get to any sort of pool this summer. Lovely.

Danielle, Kathryn, and me

The score wasn't so great for MSU, but Amanda who went to UGA was happy. We ate at Mellow Mushroom after the game so we could watch the Auburn game and then did a little shopping where I found an awesome gameday dress! War Eagle! We met up with Kathryn's cousin for a bit and then headed to the hotel to rest and watch some more football.

Amanda, Danielle, Kathryn, and me

  After having a great time and laughing our heads off (so glad our neighboring hotel guests didn't report us as they could hear us through those thin walls), we got ready to go downtown for the night. We went to a few different bars and we all just laughed how different it is now that none of us are in college anymore. We had a great time and finished off our night at Pita Pit since the gyro restaurant that Kathryn and I had originally wanted to go to was already closed for the night. I miss having a gyro every week from Pita Pit! It was a nice way to end the night and it was a quick, fun trip!