want to win this???

Pink Nothings is sponsoring another great giveaway...

Enter to win this 8-inch Rachel Ray skillet in this awesome green color.

The giveaway ends at midnight on November 22nd, so hurry on over & enter to win!

Good luck!

opportunities...

Have you ever had an opportunity fall right into your lap?

It happened to me today....

just when I thought I had things figured out...

just when I thought I plan...

just when I thought I knew what I had in store for me...

God has quite a sense of humor!

That's all I'll say for now.

I love this quote...

"Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity."

it's here, it's here!

The holiday season is here!

I know that it's official because I stopped by Starbuck's last Friday for a skim white chocolate mocha & here's what I got...

that's right-the Starbuck's holiday cup...a true sign that the holidays are here!

I also saw a commercial for Chick-fil-A's Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake the other day. Yet another sure sign!

And, peppermint ice cream is officially in the frozen food case at Kroger. It's my favorite but you can usually only find it around the holidays.

Since I'm not quite ready to decorate our house for Christmas (well I am, but don't have time just yet), I instead decorated my blog for the holidays!

44 days until Christmas!

learning about Nashville...

Being the curious person that I am, I've been doing a little searching about Nashville...you know, the important things to know like is there a

Chick-fil-A & a Hobby Lobby!

Things I've learned so far:

(1) Nashville is the 2nd largest city in TN with over 1.5 million people.
(didn't realize it was quite that large!)

(2) Nashville is in the central time zone, meaning they're an hour behind us.

(atleast it's only an hour)

(3) There is a Hobby Lobby!!!
(huge deal people, I've been living without one in a 100-mile radius for over 4 years...this could be a dangerous thing!)

(4) There is indeed a Chick-fil-A...hooray!

(5) There are Krogers & SunTrust banks.

(I don't want to switch banks-it's far too complicated & that's

one less thing we'll have to deal with in the moving process.)

(6) Nashville is the Music City Capital of the World.

(I knew that, but maybe you didn't :-))

(7) Residents of TN do not pay state income taxes,

instead they pay exorbitantly high sales taxes...almost 10% in some places. (oh dear!)

(8) This month's Southern Living features Arnold's Country Kitchen, one of their picks for the best Southern Diners...their specialties are apparently fried green tomatoes & banana pudding.

(yummy...2 of my favorites!-We will be checking it out)

Random info, I know, but hey, these little details are very important!

November already?

It's so hard for me to believe that it's already November.

With my favorite month of the year gone, I'm looking forward to the Christmas season.

As usual, Chris is warning me that I'm getting too excited about Christmas too early...in my book, there's no such thing!

Again this year, I've fallen behind in where I want to be in my Christmas crafting projects...surprise, surprise!

I'm trying not to worry about it too much.

I'm determined this year to enjoy the Christmas season & not focus too much on what I can't get done.

I have been sewing a few things lately, some of which will be Christmas gifts...

*these awesome fabric key chains
*the ric rac kitchen towel below-this is one of many!

*aprons like I shared a while back

I'm hoping to have time to keep sewing some more fun gifts...
I'd like to try my hand at these personalized embroidered towels--I want to make one for every holiday & season!

I'm pretty stumped on what do to for Christmas cards this year...

Last year I didn't include a picture in our card & I regreted it, so this year there will be a picture.

Next dilemna---which picture?

Sadly, I don't have a great one of Chris & I that I think is Christmas card-material.

So, I've got to get one...

Hopefully by next weekend we'll have the perfect picture & then I can go from there!

I love this wreath...I hope I'll be making one in the next few week to adorn our front door..this looks too Easter-like to me, but I love the idea. Check out the tutorial here.

The countdown 'til Christmas is on...49 days!

what i've been up to...

I've been very busy for the last few days. Here's a recap...

Last Thursday & Friday I was in Columbia, S.C. at Fort Jackson for my cousin's graduation from Army Basic Training Camp-goooo 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment Bravo Company soldiers!

It was quite humbling to see hundreds of future soldiers on the field in front of us.

When I wasn't working or traveling last week, I was sewing a robe for "my king". We searched for couples Halloween costume ideas for a while before we agreed on being fast food mascots. Chris was set on being the king of Burger King and I chose the Wendy's mascot.

The robe turned out pretty good considering I've never made anything like it before & "my king" was pretty demanding in his specifications :-).

It certainly kept me busy!

We had a great time though, as you can see...

Sunday afternoon I threw a bridal shower for a sweet friend from work, Ashley.

We had such a fun group of friends to celebrate with & we had a wonderful time!

And, finally a must share recipe from the shower...

Coffee Punch

1 tablespoon of instant coffee
½ cup of sugar
1 ½ quarts of boiling water
Mix the above ingredients & cool completely.
Add the following:
1 quart of milk (2% or whole, not skim)
½ tablespoon of vanilla
4 ounces of chocolate syrup
Pour this mixture into containers and store in the refrigerator. You can make this the night prior & store until the next day.
To make punch-Put 1 ½ quart package of Breyer’s vanilla bean ice cream in a punch bowl & pour half of liquid mixture over it. Mix until slushy. Repeat with a second 1 ½ quart package of ice cream and other half of liquid.
Serves 20-25 (Recipe can be halved or doubled)
It's soooo delicious!

big news!

Well, we have big news!

Drumroll please.....

WE'RE MOVING TO NASHVILLE, TN!!!

Chris was offered and has since accepted a post-doctorate fellowship in the Vanderbilt Medical Center Department of Pharmacology.

He will be doing research on medications to treat central nervous system disorders...interesting!

We had been playing the waiting game for quite a while and are so happy to finally know what's in store for us.

We're especially happy that we'll be able to stay in the Southeast & that we'll be closer to our families (4.5 hours as opposed to 6.5)!

I do get a bit overwhelmed when I think about all of the things we'll be tackling between now & July to make our move happen...selling our house, finding a new place to live, me finding a job, exploring our new city, and all of the other tasks that go with moving to a new state.

But, the position doesn't start until August 2nd, so we're in no rush to make too many other concrete plans.

We're just enjoying the assurance that Chris will be employed after he graduates!

Only 6 months until I'm married to a PhD!-I'm oh so proud of him!

God is so good & I can't wait to see what else he has in store for us in the months to come...

lovely!

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend in the Smokey Mountains with these lovely ladies (yes, including myself)! We enjoyed relaxing, each other's company, nature, and of course-eating!

The fall colors were just beginning to show.
I think this-coming weekend and the following will be the peak season. A few more favorite pics from the weekend...

I can't wait for the 2nd annual ladies' retreat (or the semi-annual retreat :-))

tastes like fall...

I cooked my first turkey last night...well, sort of!

I cheated and used a boneless turkey breast to make this recipe...

totally tastes like fall.

Moist & Tender Turkey Breast

1 4-5 pound boneless turkey breast

2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 fresh rosemary sprigs

½ teaspoon of ground pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled

¼ teaspoon of salt

Place turkey in a crock-pot. Place rosemary & garlic around it. Combine spices and sprinkle over turkey (I also added oregano and minced onions).
Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours until tender.

I served it with fresh green beans and homemade mashed potatoes...wish I had taken a picture.

It was beautiful!

winner!

I came back yesterday from an awesome ladies' mountain getaway & found out that I was a lucky winner of 2 of the Days Ago timers featured in the Pink Nothings giveaway last week...yeahhh!!!

I can't wait to put them to good use so I can let you guys know just how awesome they are.

I must say that I love winning things!

another success!

Another sewing success...

I whipped up these p.j. pants for myself yesterday.
I love them!

I got the pattern all cut out Sunday night & got very nervous on Tuesday when I reviewed the directions because they made no sense to me at all.

I got discouraged & put it away until yesterday when I gave up on the directions accompanying the pattern & turned to the good 'ol WWW.

I immediately found a great tutorial that seemed to work with what I had already cut out for my pattern.

I was nervous about trying them on for fear that I had done all of the work & they wouldn't fit...

but they did...yeah!!!

I even got 'brave' & trimmed the leg of each with this adorable ribbon (not a great picture, I know, but you can atleast see the ribbon).

I'm definitely hooked on sewing...if only I had more time for it!

finally...

Here are a few after shots of my front-porch re-do...

I guess it's hard to tell from far-away, just how much better it looks.
The paint definitely looks fresh & here's another close up of the "new" light fixtures I can't get enough of...

Can't wait to share the pictures of our newest home update from the weekend...check back soon!

success!

Here are 2 shots of my 1st "real" sewing project...

I call it "real" because I actually used a pattern, although a very easy one.

My first few projects were table runners that didn't require patterns.

I'm so happy with the way the apron turned out.

I'm thinking it's going to be a Christmas gift for some lucky person!

Next on the sewing block---pajama pants for me!

Days Ago giveaway...

Check out this awesome invention...

Days Ago timers!

The timers help you keep track of how long open food has been in the fridge (we all know we have a hard time keeping track of that!),

when you last took your medication,

when you last made your baby's food/froze breast milk,

when you did your last self-breast exam,

when you watered your plants...

They make several varieties that attach to containers differently...

magnetic timers, suction timers, timers with bands attached to them.

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month,

they have created a pink timer to remind you to do self-breast exams.

10% of the proceeds of this timer are donated to the cause.

Pink Nothings is sponsoring a giveaway where you can win 1 of 6 of these awesome gadgets.

Hop on over there to enter to win before October 10th...

Good luck!

October!

(courtesy of Kari at UCreate)

October is here...my favorite month of the year!

I can feel fall in the air...

it's still 66 crisp degrees at 12:15!

I can't wait for some time outdoors this weekend & our girls trip to the mountains next weekend...what fun!

HAPPY OCTOBER!