weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

It’s the last weekend of September, so I had to do it up right with my Weekend Shenanigans! This weekend was full of delicious beer, food and fun with friends!

Warning: Food Porn Ahead!

I kicked off the weekend with Laura and happy hour at Saturn! The orange drink is called the Rocket Booster and it had things like honeysuckle vodka and Tang in it. Needless to say, adult slushies are awesome.

Saturn Bham

The second drink I had was called the Spacehive but it was way too strong tasting for me. When I order a cocktail, I don’t want to really taste the alcohol and that is all I could taste in mine. Same with Laura’s second. If you like strong tasting drinks, then their regular cocktails are for you!

Friday evening Chris and I had Moe’s BBQ for dinner and were excited that all of our shows are coming back on! We had a night in front of the TV and it was relaxing and just what I needed!!!

Saturday morning I headed up to my sister’s house to pick her and the boys up so we could go visit my dad. His birthday was this past week and he had to have surgery this week as well, so I was glad we were able to fit in some time to see him. His fire department was out raising money at a community event so we spent some time with him there.

When I got back home, Chris and I headed to World of Beer for a little bit to catch the Alabama game. I tried the Cheeky Cherry cider from Woodchuck, and of course Tavern Taters were ordered.

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Saturday evening, we stocked the fridge with our fall favorites and  Chris and his friend Jay streamed TomorrowWorld in our basement while I finished up reading Rebel and caught most of the Auburn game. All whilst we snacked on seven layer dip.

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Sunday was Breakin’ Bread! It is an annual foodie event every year in Birmingham. Proceeds go to Camp Smile-a-Mile, so you can enjoy all the foods knowing it is for a good cause. Plus, we always go with Laura and B so we know it is going to be a good time!

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The event was held at Sloss Furnaces this year. The venue was pretty cool, it is an old factory here in Birmingham that still stands today and is used for things like this event, music festivals and beer festivals. You can even rent the space out for weddings too.

It was crowded!!! So many more people this year than last year!

Breakin Bread Bham

Here are all of the delicious eats!!!

Breakin Bread

I got to try Chicken and Waffles for the first time, there was a lamb and feta cheese ball up there, asian style chicken dumplings, a quesadilla with thai peanut sauce, all kinds of meats and cheeses, pork stuffed cornbread, Fatso Bread Pudding (made with a chocolate stout), filet steak wraps, apple fritters, crawfish pasta, korean chicken, pizza and so much more!!

J Clyde had their Fire Truck there that has kegs and taps! So cool!!!

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Even though it was rainy when we first got there, it quit after a few minutes and the weather was perfect! It was cloudy and in the 70’s with a cool breeze every now and then. It really felt like fall and I loved it! The food was fantastic, and the company even better.

Nadine and Laura

Laura and Nadine

I had a great weekend, and I hope you did too!!! Time to buckle back down for reality this week and welcome in October!!!

Linking up with Biana.

friday favorites

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites

Favorite Song: Try Again by Aaliyah When was the last time you heard this song? It’s a great one and speaks the truth. If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.

It also reminds me of this…

Favorite Recipe: I think these baked zucchini sticks with sweet onion dip would be the perfect healthy game day snack to tone it down some!

Baked Zucchini Sticks and Sweet Onion Dip:

via

Favorite Snack: Have you tried the Sea Salt Roasted Chickpeas? These things are delicious!!! I had tried the chipotle lime ones a year or so ago and wasn’t impressed but these….these are awesome!!

Favorite Lust: Has anyone tried the Too Faced foundation yet? I really love Too Faced eye make up but haven’t tried any face products.  I would love to know your thoughts! I am about half way through my Make UP Forever Matte foundation and I don’t know if I love it like I used to.

Favorite Links:

–I obviously had to Peanutize myself! Thanks to P!nky for that!

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–How many of these picture poses have you fallen victim to?

–When is the last time you really cleaned out your refrigerator? LC has some great tips!!!

–Fine out which Law and Order SVU character you are based on your zodiac sign.

–How do you know you were born in the 80’s? You basically relate to every last one of these!!!

 Favorite Funnies:

Hahahaha...:

Wizard of Oz wisdom:

Heard that!:

Ha. I had a guy in Wales trying to imitate Forest Gump. I was trying not to laugh. . And realized my British "accent" must be horrible. What do you say to this post @neeren81

funny stuff from the house of funny Click on the picture to see hundreds more!:

24 Things to Cheer You Up on the Most Depressing Day of the Year:

When someone says I live at WOB on the weekends

How I feel about Tuesdays…

Also how I feel on Tuesdays…

When I have to deal with stupid people…

This weekend is going to be one of bad decisions. Mainly bad food decisions. We are heading to Breakin’ Bread on Sunday and I had the best time last year, so I know it won’t disappoint!! Basically 35 of the best restaurants around Birmingham will be having unlimited tastings all in one place. Birmingham peeps, if you have’t gotten your tickets already…well then I am not sure what you are doing with your life!

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Laura and I at Breakin’ Bread last year!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!! I will see you back here Monday with food porn, no doubt!

Linking up with Amanda.

goals

Setting Fall Goals

I shit the bed hard on my goals this summer. I kind of new that was going to happen! I usually keep it simple this summer and I was trying to be an over achiever.

Summer Goals

Body

1. Continue current exercise schedule of running 2-3 days per week and strength training 3-4 days – Done and done!

2.Be able to go up in weights by August – I am ready to go up in weights, just haven’t purchased them yet!

3.Get fitted for new running shoes – I plan to do this soon. I got a fitbit instead which I had planned to do for my fall goal, so I am calling this a win because I sort of switched goals.

Mind

1. Complete the summer reading challenge – Yay! I swapped a few books on it but I got it done! I have already reviewed all the books in Show Us Your Book link ups, so I didn’t feel the need to link up with the list this week.

2. Read each of the monthly Literary Ladies book club books– I read the first one, Saint anything, but I didn’t care to read the second book by Judy Blume so I guess this is a fail. Life is too short to read a book you don’t care about!

3. Watch a documentary-fail

Home

1. Continue to gather stuff for the gallery wall – I haven’t purchased anything new but I did find an anchor I liked and plan to order soon. We ended up purchasing a shelf for the living room and decorating it instead.

2. Find a storage solution for the hand held game cartridges -fail

3. Get some plants going – fail

Food

1. Try three new recipes – grain free apple muffins, Thai peanut spaghetti squash, Cajun shrimp, Korean chicken, Bourbon Maple Kielbasa, Browned Butter Sage Sweet Potato Gnocchi

2. Eat at three new restaurants –  Humphrey’s, BJ’s Brewhouse, Five Points Public Oyster House

3.Continue on grain free/process free plan – I did great until my beach vacation. I shit the bed for a few weeks and hopped back on a 80/20 version.

Fall Goals 

Body

1. Get new weights

2.Get fitted for running shoes

3.Make eye doctor appointment

Mind

1. Watch a documentary

2.Read the rest of the books on my Netgalley shelf

3.Take a class, webinar or attend an event that will stimulate my mind

Home

1.Collect a few new fall decor items and decorate the house for fall

2.Collect items for the gallery wall

3.Get indoor plants

Food

1. Try three new recipes

2. Eat at three new (to me) restaurants

3. Bake a pie from scratch

I am super excited to have a girls night tonight!!! I have been looking forward to it all week. And a long week it has been, right? What are your goals for this fall?

Linking up with Joey

confessions, fall

Confession – I LOVE FALL

It’s September 23rd!!! IT’S FALL!!! It is also my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!  How cool would it be to be born on the first day of the best season of all?

It is no secret around these parts that I love fall and everything about it. I am excited for cool, crisp mornings with the fog lingering over the mountain. The crackling of the fireplace. The smell of the leaves as they change colors and fall from the trees. Football season is upon us. What is not to love?

All of the pictures below are clickable to take you to the link where I found them if you are looking for the recipe, store or what not.

Fall Fashion – I love fall colors! Jewel tones seam to suit my pale skin best and fall is all about some jewel toned things. I love metallic polishes, leggings, cute booties, and cozy sweaters.

Fall Scents – Anything pumpkin, marshmallow, spice, sandalwood or Leaves from B&BW is what my home smells like pretty much all of the time.

Fall Recipes – Pumpkins, and soups and chilis oh my!!!

Clean-Eating Maple Pumpkin Scones -- these taste like pumpkin pie for breakfast! SO easy & nearly 4g of protein!:

My favorite chili recipe

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Fall Beverages – I love apple cider and hot chocolate.

Warm apple cider for adults Apple cider and smirnoff carmel vodka.. delicious!:

How To Make The World's Best Hot Chocolate. As if they didn't mention it enough in the article, you're gonna wanna add extra milk.:

Fall Decor – Pumpkins, burlap, leaves, pine cones, anything burnt orange or dark red. Basically all of the fall things. And don’t forget cozy blankets and throws!

Decorate your fireplace mantel with fall home decor in warm colors like orange and brown. #pumpkins #falldecor #homedesign:

This listing is for a Fall Mason Jar Floral Centerpiece. This centerpiece serves a wonderful purpose for your fall home decor! It adds just the:

tutorial for monogramming your pumpkin

I am not crafty but I would buy this pumpkin decorated like a football in a heartbeat!:

I love the way mercury glass looks lit up at night. So cozy!!!!

Fall Activities – Taking a drive when the leaves are just right, watching football, toasting marshmallows, visiting a pumpkin patch and baking fall treats are my favorite things!

I also love fall because we got married in November. Just look at nature’s beautiful backdrop for our wedding. We didn’t need anything, the trees provided it all!

What is your favorite thing about fall?

Linking up with Pinky and Katie Elizabeth

about me

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

A picture is worth a thousand words. Ain’t that the truth?!?! There are so many times I will flip through my photo albums or scroll through my Facebook pictures from many moons ago and smile when I remember what was going on when the picture was taken. Elle had a brilliant idea for her link up today to share some of those memories. Do you follow Elle? The girl knows her beauty products and she is just so sweet!! You can read about the link up here.

Because Every Picture Tells a Story wall saying vinyl lettering home decor stickers appliques quotes: Amazon.com: Home & Kitchen:

Engagement

This first picture is very special to me, probably my favorite to date. It was taken at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia. This was right after Chris had started talking about how special Stone Mountain is to him. About how is family had been coming there for years to visit and how he knew mine loved to go there too. Then he started talking about setting things in stone and he said speaking of stones…..and pulled out an engagement ring and proposed to me!!!!

wedding

This looks like a sweet wedding picture, right? Well it is, but do you want to know the real reason we are laughing? We had to get in the car to change locations and I decided to check the score of the Alabama vs Texas A&M game and realized we were losing. We got out of the car and told our photographer friends to hurry up, we had a game to catch!

350Z

We had Adam take a picture of Chris’s 350Z on our wedding day because it was so pretty sitting there by the water. A month later, we traded this car in for his G37. I will never forget the day that this pretty blue car pulled in to the parking deck at 660 in Atlanta and Chris stepped out of his car and I saw him for the first time in person. That was the first day of the rest of my life.

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This picture of Laura and I was taken at World of Beer when we were watching the Alabama game. If you look closely, you will see Laura wearing Auburn’s colors. We may not agree on which football team we want to win, but we can still watch a game together and be friends!! I am surprised my Houndstooth necklace didn’t burn her skin 🙂 

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Chris and I are actually sitting on a Christmas parade float in this picture. Chris was responsible for mixing the Christmas music that would play when the Frozen girls weren’t singing Let it Go on our float. What you don’t know is that Chris agonized over this project for weeks. People he worked with kept changing their mind about what they wanted and he had to listen to Let it Go about 500 times in the span of a few weeks. We still haven’t sat down to watch Frozen because he simply can’t handle hearing Let it Go anymore.

Dog Outtakes

Getting these two to pose for a picture is damn near impossible. Just a sampling of their outtakes.

Nadine

My blog picture was actually taken at Birmingham Botanical Gardens by Laura. Her and I were there to do a photo shoot for a book that we are being featured in and we decided to take some pictures around the gardens for our blogs. No shame in our double dipping game!

Interview Outfit

This might look like just another outfit shot but actually, this was the day that I interviewed for my current job. I had taken a picture of my outfit and texted it to my mom for approval. I got the job, so I guess I did alright!

Nadine and Tracy

Right before my sister and I took this picture, my mom was getting ready to leave and she said “Wait, we have to selfie!!!” My sister and I could NOT stop laughing. It was just so funny to hear her say selfie.

Throw Back Memory

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If you didn’t know anything about this picture, it just looks like my sister, dad and I are outside playing in the rain. And well, we were. But this picture was taken in front of my grandmother’s house on the day of her funeral. I remember sitting inside looking out the window with my sister. We were so sad and my dad came in the room and said, hey….why don’t we go outside and dance in the rain! No shoes allowed! It was the first time we had smiled all week.

I was only 15 at the time, but I just remember it feeling so symbolic to me. Anytime there was a thunder storm when I was younger, my grandmother used to say that it was just people in heaven bowling. If there was lightening, she would say that someone got a strike! Every time it rains, I think about this picture. I think about how freeing it was to just be outside in the rain. And anytime I hear thunder, I like to think that my Grandma Jerry is up there bowling with my Grandpa Carl and having a great time.

Picture Quote

Linking up with Elle