Busy, Busy Bees

To say that the past few weeks have flown by would be an understatement. It has been a non-stop parade of meals, parties, traveling adventures and house projects. Here is a sample of what we have been up to.


We celebrated one Thanksgiving at the lake, and then one on the farm. I definitely take up more space in the kayak 8 months pregnant!


Don't worry, had I fallen in, this girl would have pulled me to safety.


We took at little road trip to Western North Carolina. We saw the Biltmore all decked out for Christmas (I counted 32 trees!) and ate in as many restaurants in Asheville as we could.


Once home, we continued wrapping up little projects all over the house, like in our bedroom, which has finally come together.


And of course, there has been much to do as we count down to Baby Bonds' arrival (give or take five weeks!). We've painted furniture.


And hung light fixtures.


And sorted tiny and precious baby things (and perhaps done a little daydreaming about who will be wearing them soon). Today I'm determined to finish decorating for Christmas - more on that to come!

PS. We also watched Auburn beat Alabama and rout South Carolina to earn a trip to the BCS National Championship Game. WAR EAGLE!

Day 1077's event

If you're in the Southeast and looking for something to do this weekend, there is a great event happening in Chattanooga, Tennessee (easy driving distance from Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, and Greenville, South Carolina). Crafted by Southern Hands is celebrating Southern innovators like Alabama Chanin, Billy Reid, Blackberry Farm and Yee-Haw Industries at Warehouse Row. Personally, I'm pretty excited about Blackberry Farm's Sam Beall's cooking demonstration on Saturday afternoon (you're not surprised, are you?).

Happy Weekend!

Dreaming of Blackberry Farm (Again!)

June is our anniversary month and with its arrival, I can't help but think of my favorite dream anniversary destination: Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. And today in particular, the beautiful Suzanne Kasler-decorated barn.

If you're like me and won't be making the trip anytime soon, you can bring home a little bit of Blackberry by shopping the Farmstead Catalog or picking up the cookbook. Hint, hint, husband!






PS, I posted about Granny Smith Green's trip to Blackberry Farm here and here.

Day 865's New York recap

Our New York trip came and went last week. Thanks again to everyone who offered suggestions. I think I mentioned this, but it was a work trip for me, and Wes decided to take a vacation (his first since our honeymoon!) and come along since he'd never been to the city. Unfortunately, I spent all my daylight hours (and more) in the office during week, and really just had Saturday to enjoy. But don't worry, Wes took full advantage of his time there. He took a food tour of Greenwich Village, went to several museums, saw a taping of Letterman, even appeared on the Today Show! In the evenings, we ate a lot, and saw In the Heights, which was fantastic.


On Saturday morning, we headed to brunch a Sarabeth's, which several of you noted as a "must-do." I was oddly excited about this (I love brunch!) and it did not dissappoint. As you can clearly see, my apple cinnamon French toast with bananas was decadent, and I am now on a mission to make my own French toast this delightful, as there is a serious lack of brunch establishments in Birmingham.


And since we braved the morning chill and sat outdoors (thus avoiding the wait), the view didn't hurt either. I could have sat there all day, but I had an entire city to see.


We took a stroll through Central Park and I was delighted that many of the trees still had their leaves.


Then we visited the Frick Collection and walked around the Upper East Side.


I had hoped to be able to take tons of pictures (it's fun and relaxing for me), but in general, found the city pretty difficult to photograph. The streets are so busy, and I found it difficult to capture the full breadth of what we were seeing and experiencing. Next time, I'll know to devote some time specifically for playing with the camera, as opposed to trying to fit it in while hurrying from place to place.


Of course, I had to see what all of the fuss over Magnolia Bakery is about.


We admired the view from the Top of the Rock.




And then stopped at the local "Auburn bar" so Wes could have a bourbon drink while we caught the last quarter of the game. Just because we were in New York City, didn't mean it wasn't gameday! We ended the day with dinner in Greenwich Village.

Day 845: so tell me ...

If you were heading to New York City, what would you absolutely not miss? I'm headed up in a couple of weeks. I'll be working during the day, but Wes will be making the rounds (he's going to tag along since he's never been before). Since I'll only have post-work hours and the weekend, I want to make the most of it. There's a lot I'd like to do and it's a little overwhelming, so I'm hoping you people can help me narrow it down. So, locals and city-lovers alike, I'm all ears!

Photo here.

Day 748

After the wedding, I headed down to Fort Morgan, Alabama for a few days with my dad's side of the family and a few friends. It was fun to have a few kiddos to play with on the beach, and despite my desire to play photographer with 5-year-old Hunter and 3-year-old Casey, there were too many kites to be blown and holes to be dug in the sand to sit still. I did manage to get a couple of good ones, I think.

Day 737's hometown tour

We spent the long holiday weekend at my dad's river house near my hometown (or what I consider my hometown, at least): Fayetteville, Tennessee. In high school, I thought I was a displaced city girl. And now that I live in "the city" I really enjoy time spent in the country and have all sorts of romantic fantasies about what our life would be like if we moved out of town. Maybe we would live downtown and have a little bed and breakfast in a big Victorian house. Or I could have my little store and Maddie could come to work with me every day. Or we could have a little farmhouse with a big garden and a couple of miniature ponies (because they are so dang cute!). Isn't the grass always so much greener on the other side?!


But I digress. We started the weekend with dinner at The Restaurant, which is kind of in the middle of no where, but has great food. Dad and his wife Ellen know the owners by name, and that a reservation is a must if you want to dine on Friday or Saturday nights.


I headed into town on Friday morning to hit up my favorite spots before meeting everyone for lunch. Sir's Fabric is always a must-stop. There is room after room of remnants, and you'll be hard pressed to find anything over $5 a yard.


On the West side of the square, Magnolia Mall is sure to delight.


I can always find something I need to bring home in a place like this.


In the front windows are buckets and barrels full of marbles. Mom used to bribe us with a bag of marbles each if we behaved while she shopped.


Next door is Dragonfly Gallery, which is full of local art.


Lunch at O'Houlihan's is a requirement for any time spent in Fayetteville. It's a charming little sandwich shop with a beaded board ceiling and schoolhouse-style pendants. It's also where I bought the blueberry tea I served at my sister's shower last weekend.


They have the most delicious German Chocolate Upside-Down cake in the world -- they use pecans instead of coconut, and top it with a raspberry sauce. Delightful! Unfortunately, they were so busy on Friday that they sold out of cake before I could reserve my piece. Tragic!

The rest of the weekend was spent lazing around on the river, but I let my camera battery die and couldn't document any of that. I guess we'll just have to go back for cake and pictures another time.

Day 720's pretties

I've been meaning to post about New York, but there really isn't much to say. I only had an hour or two here or there to wander around, and didn't go far since I had my laptop, purse, and a huge umbrella in tow, and was wearing a trench coat, to boot.

One morning I ducked into Anthropologie to admire the always-impressive merchandising, and thought this Central Park Chinese dogwood covered in raindrops was pretty. See? Not much.


Though I did sneak a photo of offices for the Web site I'm working on for the next couple of months. That was exciting!

Day 711's explanation

Where have I been? Well, mostly in the Time & Life building working hard for the money. Took a little foray into ABC Carpet & Home to have dinner with a friend and then promptly accidentally deleted all of my photos (irritating!). Be back in action soon!

Day 692's pretties

California's coast is filled with such wonderful color and texture. I just couldn't get enough of it. By comparison, Alabama is very ... green. {click to get a better look if you'd like}









From the top: fog rolling in along Highway One near Carmel, pretty flowers against dry grass in Old Town San Diego, hexagon-shaped terra cotta tile (love!) in La Jolla Shores, beautiful coastline between Carmel and Big Sur, gorgeous sea weed washed up on Nautilus Beach in La Jolla, assorted vegetation, kelp on Nautilus Beach, a quince-looking flower, and ice flowers.