our weekend…

make sure you link up with Carissa today!!!

My weekend started on Thursday! After work I rushed home and packed my things and left for Clemson.  I arrived pretty late and extremely tired!  I went to bed soon after I arrived.

On Friday we got up pretty early and headed to Clemson’s campus for my brother’s GRADUATION!!!!  I can not believe that he is a college graduate!!!  GO Evans!!!  We are so proud of him!  He is going to return to Clemson this fall to pursue his masters in Construction Science and Management!  

me and the graduate

our clemson rings

the fam

After graduation with growling stomachs we went to lunch at the Blue Heron!  I just love the shrimp and grits!!!  We had a great time just talking and eating!

After lunch we headed to the frame shop so that Evans could get his diploma framed (that was our gift to him)!  I know that it is going to look great once it is all together!!!  I can not wait to see the final product!

Later on Friday evening I took my brother and some of his friends to a party.  We stayed out too late for me…I dont think I could make it in college now 🙂  

Then on Saturday I got up and made my way to Simpsonville for one of my college friend’s bridal shower! The shower was beautiful and the food was so delicious!!  It was at Stellas Southern Bistro in Simpsonvile.  We had corn and potato chowder, crab cakes with southern perlou, and flourless chocolate cake.   Colin and Ashley are getting married in less than a month and I can not wait to share their special day with them!

the group

the sweet favors!, hens and chicks

After the shower I headed back home.  The rest of the weekend was been spent catching up on the DVR and relaxing.  We even cooked out on Sunday for dinner!!!

Reminder:  

One week from today marks my week long Blogiversary celebration!  I am going to host a giveaway each day of the celebration so make sure you stay tuned!!!!

Our weekend…

{make sure you link up with Carissa}
Friday…

I had to work on Friday 😦

I think my days of getting Fridays off are over for a while…but at least I have just gotten approved to earn some overtime 🙂

After work I went to lunch at the tea house again! Having lunch at the tea house can turn any day around! I could have tea and scones everyday…I’m not sure my waist or thighs would like that very much though!

Saturday…

We spent all day on Saturday around the house.

Andre did all of the yard work and I cleaned the inside of the house

(no fun stuff but necessary stuff)

Then we caught up on our shows and just hung out!

Sunday…

My mom and dad came to see us for mother’s day!

We took them to Newspring for church! The service was really incredible and I really think my parents enjoyed it!

Then I cooked a late lunch for my mom…

I cooked BBQ jalapeno poppers, fresh pasta with spinach and ricotta, and derby pie!

My mom really enjoyed her lunch!!!

and I did not mind eating all of the great food either 🙂

Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood and the pond.  It felt really good to go on a good long walk after that delicious lunch!

I am so glad that we got to spend Mother’s Day together!!

Then my dad hooked up a tv in our kitchen so that I can watch food network while I cook!!!!  (and watch the news in the AM while I blog, eat breakfast, and pack lunch)

This weekend was a great one and this week is bound to be a great one as well.  It is graduation week and my brother is graduating from CLEMSON on Friday!!!!

little scott things…

Happy May!!!!

May 1 marks a day of peace and closure for so many Americans.  I feel that celebration is not warranted for this occasion, but that we should remember all of those lives that were lost on 9/11/01!

via

I got a library card last week!  

That means that I can visit the library during my lunch and catch up on all of your BLOGS….isn’t that wonderful!

My brother is officially done with is bachelors degree

He graduates in 2 weeks!!!!

I can not believe that I am old enough for my baby brother to graduate from college!

One year ago today…

I was getting my trail bridal hair and make-up done

Friday we went to see Water for Elephants at the theatre!  I thought it was pretty true to the book.  I really enjoyed it.  I would recommend both the book and the movie.  

If I had to choose which one was better I would and will always choose the book.  

I always enjoy the books SO much more than the movies.  

(The only exception is the Green Mile…wonderful movie)

Hope you have a great day!!!!

Easter Weekend

We started our Easter weekend with church on Friday.  Our church had Easter services on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but we decided to go to the Friday service. The message was really good and I enjoyed our first Easter being married and at our new church!
** I wish I would have gotten some pictures…I guess I will make it a point next year**

After church we went for desserts with some of our friends.  I had a great piece of key lime cheese cake!!!

Saturday we dyed Easter eggs and ran a few errands.

Then we grilled out…

we had Greek Burgers

they were SOOOO tasty!!!

no the best pictures of the them

the pita bread is what really made them great!

On Sunday we slept in since we went to Easter service on Friday.

Then we hid some of the Easter eggs for the pups to find.

They had such a great time sniffing them out and then eating them!

My mom and dad came to see us yesterday as well.

I cooked dinner for them and they helped me plant tomato plants.

I will take some pictures of the plants today and post them later…

I have 6 varieties this year!!!

Have a great Monday 

and make sure you link up with Carissa!

Our Weekend…9 month anniversary

{make sure you link up with Carissa}

My random musings from this past weekend!

9 month wedding anniversary

Our 9 month anniversary was yesterday.  These past 9 months have gone by so quickly.  I have absolutely LOVED being married to my best friend!  We celebrated with our traditional French dinner.

This month we had quiche Lorraine, zucchini fritters, and creme brulee.

Creme brulee is my FAVORITE!!!  It was so easy to make and just delish!

The quiche and fritters

the creme brulee  😉

then the aftermath…like 10 seconds later 🙂

{all of the recipes are coming up this week on my cooking blog…so stay tuned}

Monday (today)- quiche recipe
Tuesday- Zucchini Fritters recipe
Wednesday- Creme Brulee recipe

We had such a great anniversary!!!  Our 1 year is just around the corner!!!

Bread of the month

I got another installment of bread on Friday. 

 I was in carb heaven all weekend!!

The chocolate sourdough is amazing!!!!  chocolate+bread=heaven!!!!

I wish I would have gotten like 3 loaves of that stuff…

The farm bread is great too….wonderful as sandwich bread!

bag for our trip to Rome

I have been on the look out for an across the body bag to take on our trip this summer.  I found a great one this weekend (it is a Fossil) and my Nikon will even fit!!!!

And it doesn’t hurt that the print is super cute as well!

Playing with the camera

 I spent Sunday afternoon like I do almost every weekend…

wondering around the yard taking pictures

I have such a hard time getting pictures of them together!

Books Lately

{all book images from Amazon…click the title or pictures to see the Amazon site}

A few people have asked what books I have read lately…

I thought posting about it would be the easiest and most effective way {since I am super lazy}

The Dragon Tattoo trilogy 

great series…I remember the 1st book being a little boring for like the first 2 chapters, but that fact is quickly forgotten once you get into the meat of the story

Princess: A True Story if Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arab

This book is a biography of a Saudi Arab princess.  The good and bad are all in this book.   This is a page turner and very insightful!

The Hunger Game Series

I can not say enough great things about this trilogy…

I just loved it!

I CAN NOT wait until the movies come out

I REALLY hope that they do the books justice

The Help

I will probably finish this book this week and so far…

I LOVE it…

set in the the 1960 South…it really shows how far we have come as a society

Another Weekend…

{make sure you link up “here“}

Friday

Friday did not start off very good, because I burnt my arm pretty bad.  I was reaching over my tea pot and the steam hit my arm and burnt a 2-3 in diameter circle on my forearm.  It hurt SO badly!!!!!  

(I almost put the picture of it up here, but I am pretty sure no one wants to see that!)

After a short day for us both (at work) we decided to finish repairing our sprinkler system.  We only had to replace a few heads.  We got those fixed and now the sprinkler system is now officially up and running properly!  Then it was on to date night! We went to dinner and a movie.  We went to see Hanna and it was great.  It is a must see….probably the best movie we have seen all year.  The story is great but the filming was incredible!!!!  Then we went to Chili’s to eat!

Saturday

I decided that I wanted to do a little sewing, so I decided to make a camera strap cover and kindle cover.  I made the patterns as I went and I think they both turned out pretty good!!!  

The weather was great on Saturday afternoon/evening so we grilled out!  We had grilled bbq chicken wings (for Andre), sausage dogs (turkey variety of course) with sauerkraut (for me), and grilled veggies (squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions).  

The doggies really LOVE when Andre grills out!  They love to stay right on the deck with him!
and you know I can’t have a post without them in it (: …

Literally like 30 minutes after we got back inside the sky opened up. 

 It rained harder than I have seen it rain in a while along with lots of thunder and lightening.  Some people in Florence even got hail, but we were lucky enough not to get any!

Sunday

I started off by going to church.  It was such a great message about celebrating God’s glory!  There was even a party theme and everyone got party hats and party blowers!!!  I just LOVE Newspring!!!!!  If you live in SC (Charleston, Greenville, Florence, Anderson, or Columbia) then you need to visit…why not just come for Easter!!!  I LOVE MY CHURCH and would love for you to check it out!  

Then we went grocery shopping and got the ingredients to make lemonade cupcakes!  

They are super easy to make…

get some white cake mix and some lemonade…

substitute the lemonade for the water and thats it….easy right!?!

for the icing…I make cream cheese icing (the recipe I use is the frosting from this link)

Then I made spicy chicken rigatoni for dinner.  Go “here” for that recipe!!!

This weekend was a great one!!! How was yours!?!

I also updated my Project 52 and Project 365 yesterday!  Check them out!!!!

Weekend Wrap-up…Misc. Monday Style

Friday

I finally had my first Friday off on the month of March.  I spent the morning catching up on blogs, my shows, and tidying up around the house.  

Then we had a date night…we went to see the Source Code and out the eat.  The Source Code was a really good movie…probably one of the best I have seen this year. 

 We went out to eat at Outback and I got a steak and it was SO good!!  A month with out meat really made that first taste of meat really good!!!

Saturday

Our Saturday was low key and well needed.  We stayed around the house and played with the dogs and cleaned up all day. 

We also decided that I should probably watch the first season of Treme before the second season comes on at the end of the month.  If you do not know…Treme is a HBO series that takes place in New Orleans 3 months after Katrina.  It is full of music and culture…so far (I have watched 3 out of the 10 episodes in the first season) I think it is a great.  I can not wait to finish the first season.   

Then we cooked (in we I mean Andre) on the grill for the first time all year.  I just love grilling weather!!!!  We had bbq chicken, grilled asparagus, and grilled pineapple off of the grill and I cooked PW potato skins and PW jalapeno poppers inside!!!

Sunday

I went to church and then came home to cook quesadillas.  It was my first attempt and they turned out really really well.  We had chicken quesadillas with peppers and onions!!!  I wish I would have taken a picture …oh well.  Then I did our weekly grocery shopping and started some laundry.  We had left overs from Saturday last night and watched HBO’s mini series Mildred Pierce.    

Overall a great weekend!!!!

**Make sure you check out my Project 52 and Project 365!!!!**

Go Link up with Carissa!!!

Miscellany Monday…

{1} Yard Work

We did SO much yard work this weekend and I have no pictures to prove it.  We cleaned the flower beds out, moved liriope, mulched, spread pine straw, and trimmed bushes!  It started raining as we were finishing so I could not take any pictures.  I plan to tomorrow when the sun comes out!

{2} Vegetarian for the Month

Well we are in the home stretch of our vegetarian for the month challenge.  We only have until Thursday!!!!  I am so glad that we tried the vegetarian lifestyle out, but I don’t think it is for either of us.  I like turkey sausage in my pasta way too much 😉  Going out to eat is a pain too…mexican, Olive Garden, and Mellow Mushroom are basically our only options.  I have nothing against any of those places but sometimes I want a little variety!  We will continue not to eat very much red meat and pork, but bring on the chicken, turkey, and fish!!!!

{3} The Tales of Tillman and Tucker

Tillman (my oldest fur child) is guest posting today!  We gave them baths this weekend and he want to tell his side of the story 🙂  Go “here” to check it out (after 8AM eastern)!

{4} Benefit Album for Japan

A benefit album has come out with all the proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross. There are artist like U2, John Lennon, Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Alicia Keys, and so on on the album.  It is sold through iTunes!!!  

Go link up with Carissa and tell us some random stuff!

Miscellany Monday…

On Saturday we went to the basket ball All-Star game in North Myrtle Beach.  One of Andre’s players was selected to play in the game. My mom came to our house to baby sit Tillman and Tucker while we were gone….THANKS MOM!!!!  Tillman and Tucker had such a great time and were worn completely out when we go back home!  It was good to get out of Florence for the day…even though we did not get to eat at my favorite restaurant in MB (Cagneys)….stupid vegetarianism…speaking of that we only have 10 more days!

Yesterday I finally downloaded a couple’s NIV bible on my Kindle.  They handed out 21 days reading plans at church yesterday for John, Mark, and James and I am going to attempt to follow it!  The particular bible that I downloaded also has really great daily devotionals!!!

I am thinking about doing a weekly post about Tillman and Tucker.  I think it would be a great way to document their lives with us.  I am not sure which day I would do it on yet… Would you all like that?  

I am already doing a post on Thursdays about travels….  What are your thoughts!?!

  We are going to revamp out yard this coming weekend.  I usually do not really like yard work but this time I really can’t wait!

Here are some picture from last year…

We are steady working on the Italian Version of Rosetta Stone.  We are hoping to at least be able to communicate when we visit Rome in the summer.  It is actually fun doing the exercises….I am just not very god with the writing part 🙂

I am going to start the Hunger Games series today…hopefully.  I have heard so many great reviews about the trilogy!  I downloaded the first book onto my Kindle over the weekend!!!  Did you read it!?!

I am so happy that it is finally SPRING!!!  I am so tired of coats and bulky sweaters…

Have a great day!!!  Make sure you link up with Carissa!!!

Miscellany Monday…

I have not linked up with Carissa in a few weeks so I decided to change that! By the way today is pi day…so HAPPY PI DAY! 3.1415….I know announcing this holiday makes me a super nerd 🙂

Our month of being Vegetarian is going well so far.  I still have plenty of ideas for dinners…the hardest part is lunch stuff.  I pack both of our lunches each day and I eat in my work truck everyday so nothing can be heated.  That is what makes it so hard…
We realized yesterday that we have actually only eaten fried food once a piece since March 1!  That was chips at the Mexican restaurant that we had last Friday.  

some Vegetarian things I have made for dinner:

fresh pasta rollatini with spinach and ricotta

Vodka Penne

Quinoa with spinach and tomatoes

Mellow Mushroom finally opened in Florence and in Florence fashion the place has been PACKED since last Monday.  Andre and I decided that we would brave the crowds and go on Saturday.  We knew there were so many vegetarian options and the pizza and calzones are just SO good.  Andre got the white pizza and I got a veggie calzone…both were delicious and the wait was really not that bad!  If you live in Florence then you need to go check out our new spot!!

I bought Photoshop CS 5 and Photoshop Elements 9 over the weekend.  I am still trying to learn how to use it.  I am kind of frustrated that you can only bring in a few pictures at a time to edit them and then you have to re save them….boo!

I am happy that Tucker is done with his loaded dose of KBr.  I was worried about the toxicity of the high dose and now that worry is behind us!!!!  I am hoping that the KBr in addition to the Pb will get his seizures controlled.  I know that the drugs may make his life a little shorter but I think that is a better alternative than having seizures every week or so…my mom told me the other day that it is quality of life over quantity!  That is so true even though it is hard to stomach.

He is such a happy boy and loves to play!

If you ask Tillman is doing great…I have not said anything about him in a while…but he is doing well and getting petted as I type 🙂

Getting lunches and clothes ready the night before makes morning SO much better.  I wish I could get in a routine where I did that every night!  I love being able to sit dow and neat my breakfast and not have to rush!  Do any of you have night time routines…like picking out your clothes, packing lunch, etc!?!

I hope that everyone has a great week and make sure that you keep the people affected by the earthquakes and tsunamis in your thoughts and prayers!