Step Back in Time...

I have made it fairly clear to JNS that I do not appreciate public ridicule. It's funny how he feels the same way but he doesn't appreciate public praise either. It's true...he's not trying to be humble or gracious in regard to compliments or kind words, he honestly gets uncomfortable if he is praised in front of others. So, I'm simply avoiding the humility and anxiety he would endure by reading an anniversary post by skipping all the typical praise one might offer their spouse on their special date. Don't think I'm heartless by not mentioning how wonderful he is...cause he is one special guy, but he would die if I proclaimed his greatness in front of anyone else. :) What I do want to share (and what he will be relieved to know that I am sharing) is our awesome trip to Serenbe. Serenbe is a community located just outside of Atlanta that consists of residences, restaurants, shops and guestrooms all on a large 1,000 acre piece of property. The buildings are energy efficient, they have preserved greenspace, and the restaurants serve many foods that are grown on the property. Often when I think of the eco-friendly version of building construction I think of modern, unattractive designs, but Serenbe has created an ideal setting that is not only beautiful, but has preserved history and accommodates community living.

The Guesthouse

We stayed in the Guesthouse. There are several rooms within the Guesthouse and all the rooms share a common area (the only place in the building with a TV - how about that?). The buildings are precious. The Guesthouse is actually a restored 1930's horse barn - the Main House is a restored Farmhouse from the '20s. They serve breakfast (we had a yummy french toast breakfast) and afternoon tea. Then they leave "evening sweets" in your room at night...they put all the right touches on the experience.

Our Guestroom

JNS getting tea in the Main House at "tea time" - So cute!

If you're looking for a great getaway and don't want to travel too far - this is it! The farm and country setting is so relaxing and all the charming details make this an unforgettable treat. (Ryan, if you're reading this post...you will love this place!) Not to mention you truly feel like you are stepping back in time and savoring the little things.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Last week we had some four-legged guests at the Scott B&B. My friend, Emily, has two pups (Gabby & Cooper) that came to stay with us from Monday-Thursday. It was Mulligan's lucky day - he had two friends to play with ALL day in his very own house! :)

Gabby is two years old - a beautiful King Charles that offers lots of snuggles! She crawled right in my lap soon as I sat on the couch. :) When she wasn't busy getting her cuddle on, she could be found chewing on a bone or stealing a bone out from under Cooper or Mulligan's nose.

Cooper is about six months old - another King Charles...he is all boy. He was a great playmate for Mulligan - they boxed, wrestled, and played tug-o-war most of the time. Look at this precious face.

We had our hands full with three dogs, but it was so much fun for all of us! The Ruthven pups are welcome here anytime. :)

These are a few of my favorite things...

It's been a wonderful Christmas season! We've had a blast celebrating for the last few weeks and I cannot believe that it's already time to start taking down the tree and putting away the decorations. In effort to keep the spirit of this season alive, I wanted to mention some favorite things from this Christmas that made the holiday extra special.

First things first...who doesn't love some Mariah Carey Christmas tunes? Everyone knows her original album is a must have in any Christmas music collection. I was extra excited this year for her release of her 2nd Christmas album, and let me tell you it does not disappoint...another mix of upbeat classics and great new additions!

So even though this picture doesn't do justice...I LOVED our tree this year. We got it at Home Depot and it definitely is our best one yet (you know, in our lengthy history of 3 trees). Nevertheless, this simple fixture in our family room was one of my favorites this Christmas.

A fave every year is the opportunity for fellowship with friends. In addition to the White Christmas Party we hosted a few weeks ago, we went to the Dadakis party that Alex & Cassie (but let's be real, mainly Cassie) ever-so elegantly prepared, had our small group progressive dinner (us girls above - look at Sal's super cute baby bump!), and hit up the Magical Lights show at Lake Lanier with the Hall's. Friends truly are the greatest presents. :)

Of course, a standard favorite is our precious little buddy...Mully! I took about 10 pictures of him in this Santa hat and in every one he is making this face of disgust. Hilarious.

As always, time with our family is such a blessing. Between our visits to extended family functions or bonfires with my in-laws, we spent such quality and treasured time with our parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, and more! Since there were too many pics to post from these events, look for a post later about Christmas with our family!

Wishing you and your family had a happy, healthy and fun Christmas!

Dreamin' of a White Christmas

This month means so many fun things to me...our anniversary, Christmas, family functions, and lots of hot drinks. :) A tradition we started our first married Christmas was hosting a Christmas party with our friends. The first few years it was just a reason to get together, see friends, eat good food, and be merry. This year we decided to theme it up and go for a big "White Christmas."
All the food and drinks were supposed to be white (or have white in the name), the boys had a white elephant gift exchange and my favorite...everyone was supposed to wear white. I loved that everyone interpreted that in their own way...some wore white sweaters, other wore white robes, meanwhile others just went for the straight up white out (white shirt, pants, shoes - you get the picture) We did manage to get a picture of everyone...even Mully made the picture since he was rocking his white "coat".






For the main course I fixed "White Lasagna" and I must say it's a keeper of a recipe. I found the base recipe here but altered it slightly by adding pesto sauce in the spinach layer. I also made one version without the onion and garlic (my hubby rivals a blood hound with his spot-on detection of anything onion-y). You probably could reduce some of the cheese and make it slightly healthier, but let's be real, that's what makes it so delicious. Anyways - here is a picture of how it turned out - it's a great alternative to the beef/red sauce version if you're looking for a way to spice up your lasagna. Enjoy!




Other favorite moments from the night....the gift exchange, seeing everyone take the theme to heart, and passing out the white ornament party favors (thanks Mom!). Thank you to all who contributed with food/drinks - everything was delicious! The party was so much fun and wouldn't have been the same without all of you there. :)

Gratitude

Over the course of the last week we've celebrated Thanksgiving quite a few times. We shared a meal with John Neal's parents last Saturday before they departed for their week-long trip to Virginia. We gathered at Grandmother & Granddaddy's house on Sunday for the Williams Thanksgiving....and then we feasted one final time on Thursday at Aunt Sheila's with Mama & Papa's side of the family. Each one was perfect in it's own way - but they all shared a similar theme of gratitude. I am so thankful we were all able to get together in one way or another to express grateful hearts for family.

An additional benefit to all of these gatherings, is the spread of yummy food to enjoy. And for someone who loves baking - it's a great reason to spend some QT in the kitchen. Pecan pie screams holiday and I was excited to be in charge of the pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks to Heather & Scott, I have these super cute pastry cutters from Williams-Sonoma that form different little leaf patterns. I prepared the pie and then decorated the crust with the festive leaves for a fun touch!

By John Neal's request, I decided to make some cake balls as well. They basically consisted of crumbled cake mixed with icing, rolled into little balls and dipped in chocolate. I've only made these in the past with Funfetti mix, but I decided to use chocolate cake, chocolate icing and white chocolate this go-round. If you haven't had cake balls before - they're a treat! 1-2 bites of a rich and tasty dessert!

Click below for the recipe http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/paulas-cake-balls The pictures of the finished product on this website are a lot more professional than my version to the right...but don't be deceived, they taste better than they look.

I'm also thankful for my VERY first Black Friday shopping experience. There are many folks out there that probably thought they would never hear the word thankful and shopping uttered by me in the same sentence, but it really was great. Despite the alarm sounding at an unpleasant hour - the experience was full of numerous good deals, a lot of accomplishments on my Christmas gift checklist and a fun time with my mom. No promises that it will become an annual tradition, but I'm not ruling it out. ;)

A few pics of my turkeys from this weeks festivities....



Hope you and your family had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas Cards

Have I mentioned I love this time of year? :)

Christmas is a time that generates happiness and encourages quality time with those you love - it's full of family time, decorating for the holidays, baking sweets, Christmas parties, drinking hot chocolate, wrapping gifts, looking at Christmas lights AND getting Christmas cards in the mail. I think if I had to pick one thing I look forward to most it might be receiving and creating family Christmas cards.

My mom used to (and still does) put the cards in a little basket as they arrive in the mail - the basket would hold a variety of photos of newlyweds, growing families with new babies & grandbabies and update letters. I still go to the mailbox with that same excitement - anticipating the collection of cards & pictures from those that mean so much to us.

This year we plan on getting our own card from Shutterfly and I am SO excited. They have such cute designs to choose from that cover a wide variety of tastes and style preferences.

Take a look at this one - so classy and simple. Just the perfect template for a black & white photo...

And this one captures the element of personality for each family member. Multiple photo boxes leave room for each child to have their spot to shine.

And for those who cannot bear the thought of creating a card with all the shopping, cooking and wrapping to be done - wait until the fuss has died down and send a card for the new year!

Check these great card ideas out for yourself and spread the joy and fun of the season to your friends and family this year! www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary/christmas-cards

Mully Man

It is hard to believe that this past weekend marked the 1 year anniversary from when we went to get Mulligan. I have mixed feelings because part of me feels like we haven't had him long at all, while the other part of me feels like he's always been in our family. :)

We were scheduled to pick him up from the breeder on a Saturday morning right outside of Louisville, KY. I remember actually getting a little nervous as we pulled in the driveway - I had been begging (and I mean the embarrassing, persistent, annoying-style begging) JNS to get a dog since we got married and all of the sudden I had doubt. Could we handle the dog? Would we be good puppy-parents? Would he like us? Those jitters melted soon as I held the little 8 lb. furball that we loaded up and brought home. We finally had our little furkid and I LOVED him.






Mully on his first weekend at home.

Mully now - he lost the red in his ears, but not the pep in his step! He's our little rascal, energetic buddy, enthusiastic carpenter, garbage man and laundry magician. We love our little Mully. :)

*So Stella*

So last night I hosted a Stella & Dot Trunk Show (jewelry party) and had a house full of fun jewelry, yummy food, and great company. I love jewelry so it didn't take much to convince me to host one, but I truly am a big sucker for gatherings so the real treat was getting to have folks over.

I love anything that gets people together - weddings, family reunions, football games, dinners, Christmas parties, you name it - if it gets some friends or family all in one place for a little while, I like it. :) And last night was really a sweet experience to look around and see so many faces of girls that mean so much to me. Especially my mom - she is always SO helpful to me and my sisters...for instance, she often helps Holly with the girls during the week, takes care of Heather's dogs when she needs it and she spent almost all day at my place yesterday - helping me get ready for the jewelry party! Not to mention she can shop with the best of 'em...She is one special lady. :)

Mom holding baby Reese.

Corey, Laura, Katie & Leen

Katie, Leen and I met in college and were roomies in our years of fun in Pineview; Corey and I were in KD together at UGA; Laura and her hubby, Tim, live behind John Neal and I - all very dear friends that I don't know what I'd do without!

Cassie, Lindsay & Emily

These girls (along with their hubbies) are all in our couples small group through Buckhead Church. I've known Linds since our Freshman year of college...(BTW: that seems like forever ago) and although we just met in August, friendships have already bloomed with Cassie and Emily. Such a blessing this little community has already been (missed you Sal!)

Hadley writing down the grocery list...too cute.

I didn't get any pictures of my awesome co-workers-turned-real friends: Emily & Amy, my manager Diana and her daughter Jessica, my sister Heather, mother-in-law Debbie, or the friends that couldn't make it last night...but you all are such treasured friends and loved ones - you made my night last night by simply being there. Thank you!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE fall. To me, fall is equivalent to the weekend...I look forward to it almost all year much like you long for the weekend ALL week. :) I can't pinpoint one thing that makes fall so great, and maybe that's why I love it so much. It's the crisp and cool weather, the changing colors on the trees, pumpkins, fires, jeans and long sleeve t-shirts, football (not that I'm a die hard fan or anything, but it does make fall feel special), and apple cider. Fall is the gateway to the best time of year. Fall is like Friday...Thanksgiving being Saturday and Christmas could be Sunday - the last quarter of the year is just an extended weekend of fun!

This past weekend we went to the lake with my parents to relax - we had no plans! Normally when we go to the lake, it's summertime and we cook out, we hang out, we go out on the boat or sit out on the dock....I often feel like these weekends FLY by and always leave me a little sad to head back to the routine of normal life. This weekend was different. We had no agenda, no boat rides to take, no dinners to cook or guests to entertain...it was just us...

just hanging out.

View across the lake

What I loved was that we did take the time to do the things that are often overlooked or forgotten because there isn't enough time. We walked around and enjoyed the fall colors reflecting off the water, we drove around and ate lunch at a new restaurant, we tried a new recipe, read, watched a few movies and chatted about whatever came to mind. It really was SO nice and I'm very thankful I got to have this time with my hubby, my puppy and my parents!




Mulligan enjoying the lake this weekend! It's times like this that I wish this little guy had a big yard to run in everyday - oh, how he loves to play!

Before the holidays get here and everything seems to be busy, busy, busy....soak up all the fun that fall has to offer. It really is the best!

Happy Halloween!!

I really like Halloween - it's fun to have a reason to be festive, eat candy and take pictures. :)

We hung out with the Stanfill's Sunday night and Sally made delicious "mummy" dogs for dinner. Even if you don't like regular hot dogs these are worth a shot. (After all, crescent rolls with anything is pretty good)





Get a load of these two cutie pies...
It's Little Bo Peep & her sheep. :)

Hadley's costume was cracking me up because she carried a cane/staff around the whole night AND actually wore her bonnet too. She made a great Bo Peep.




My mom, being the expert shopper that she is, found this awesome pet costume. I swear when I put Mulligan in this outfit he would look at me like "You're seriously making me wear this? You have GOT to be kidding me." I'm sure there is speculation that this type of behavior is some form of animal cruelty, but let's be real - shouldn't everyone get to wear a pumpkin costume once in their life? Especially when you look this cute....




Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! :)

Mully & Me

Our little year-old pup is a mess. He's a good mess (most of the time) but he's still a piece of work. More than anything, he wants to play - he loves to run outside, play fetch, romp with other dogs and especially go swimming. This is probably pretty common for lots of dogs to crave this level of activity, but even more evident in our little guy that lives in a town home with no yard or nearby lake.


However, he manages to find ways to release this energy when he's at home. A few weeks ago I kept finding little brown pieces of some unidentifiable object laying on the floor. It would be 1 or 2 pieces every few days - totally random. I searched around the baseboards, the legs of our sofa/table/chairs, and I couldn't find the source of these chewed up fragments. One day, when some friends were over, Lindsay found 2 more brown pieces of something - she asked what they went to and I still had NO CLUE what they were. She looked around and discovered they were coming from our floor lamp. No, not the bottom of the lamp like a normal spot for a dog to chew - right in the middle, which means he would lay on the chair and hang his head over the edge to snack on the lamp. Seriously?

I usually leave Mulligan out in the mornings - it's a risk with all the trouble he is known to get into, but after watching him on weekends and when I've worked from home - this is when he seems to be sleeping the most (aka the least likely time to destroy something.) I go home for lunch several days a week and take him out, let him fetch some of his toys to exert some energy and then put him in the crate for the rest of the day. It's not a quick drive from Alpharetta to Dunwoody but it's worth it for him to not be pinned up all day. I think I'm going to die on days when I don't leave the office for lunch- can you even imagine being in a crate all day?

John Neal works too far away to come by the house at lunch, but occasionally he has the opportunity with trips or meetings out of the office. This Wednesday I was excited to know he'd be out getting his flu shot and could go by at lunch and let him out. He calls my afterwards and says "I left him out." Since he says it with some sort of giddiness in his voice, naturally I think he's kidding. He wasn't. It was noon and neither of us would be home until at least 6:30. Mulligan is a mouthy dog - he will chew on anything...I know that, John Neal knows that, probably anyone who knows us knows that. So why in the world would he leave him out for 6-7 hours? Freedom. He hated to put him back in the crate so he decided we should see if we can trust him. I love our dog, but I know he cannot be trusted. Just so you know, I wasn't trying to be Super-Mom, but merely out of concern for the destruction of our house and the safety of Mully, I drove home. Come on - I wasn't about to let him stay out for the rest of the day with kitchen table chairs, recliners, and door casings dangling in front of him for an afternoon snack. So of course I found him sitting in the kitchen looking sweet. But wait for it....not too far away were some wood shavings on the ground. Right above it, a window sill that was missing it's corner. Oh, Mully....



Which brings me to why I love doggie daycare. We started talking our little rascal in August and could not love it more. The owner, Colleen, is great with the dogs and does so much to make the owners feel like their dogs will be loved while they are at work. Not to mention they play in an indoor/outdoor facility with 20-30 other dogs and are flat out exhausted when they leave. I try and take him on Wednesday's because he'll usually sleep into the weekend after he's gone to daycare. All that playing with dogs for a full 10 hours will knock our little guy out. Colleen usually jokes that he gets dirtier than any other dog there...and it's true. We give him a bath after every daycare visit because he no longer looks creamy colored - but brown. One time I honestly didn't even know it was him. Ha.




Despite his tendencies to give Marley a run for his money as a wild and crazy dog - he's our little buddy and we love him!