All or Nothing

So one time, I had to change the password of the email address I use to log into my blog. That happened 11 months ago, and I always try to enter my original password, and Gmail always kindly reminds me, "You changed your password over 11 months ago." I know this should be helpful and friendly, but it makes me feel judged and moronic. Like, you are NOT better than me Google. My password is whatever I want it to be. So that by the time I log in and set to post something new, I feel like a shell of a person and probably much like a real writer... tortured and haunted.

Anyways. As a live events producer, I oversee the planning, creation and execution of large scale creative elements. Much of the time, this includes purchasing necessary supplies. I know everyone at Target by name (obviously this because of my penchant to shop there professionally, not the least bit because of personal habits), frequent Hobby Lobby, Michael's and AC Moore. When I'm tasked with making a white spandex tent for two aerialists to hoist to a remix of Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen" in order to house 8 dancers... what?! Yeah, that's what I do.

For a recent element, I needed to procure about a thousand yards of black grosgrain ribbon. So, I began my typical route through local craft and fabric stores. When I got to Michael's I hit the ribbon jackpot... spools and spools of it. So I loaded up my cart, thrilled that I could make fewer stops than I originally planned, and headed to the register. When I got there, the cashier looked at my cart, then at me, and I expected the typical questions about what I'm doing with that many whateveritemsIwanttopurchase (pipe cleaners, a billion yards of canvas, a trillion small stones... you name it, we've bought it). Instead she looked at me accusingly and simply stated, "You can't buy all that." Perplexed I stared back and being positive that I was misunderstanding her said, "What do you mean?" "That's all our ribbon. There won't be any left." "...." "If you buy it all, no one else can." "Riiight," I answered back, struggling to keep the condescension low. "This is a store. You sell ribbon. I am a customer. I want to buy ribbon. I want to buy all of it. And I can pay for all of it. I didn't know there was a quota reserved to share." "Well, it's just not considerate," she begrudgingly muttered as she began scanning ream after ream of the grosgrain. I was stunned, but also suppressing laughter. I mean, dang greedy capitalism that allows me to purchase goods from your store to make you money... ??? Am I right, y'all?

What's Left to Ponder?

The last time I tried to buy a pack of lighters, so that I could have the ability to instantaneously light the multitude of candles in each and every room of my house, I was carded. I couldn't figure out why I needed to present my poorly-complexioned identification for the purchase, but the cashier explained to me that since you have to be 18 to buy cigs, you have to be 18 to buy lighters since they light them. Uh huh. So does that mean I have to be 21 to buy a koozie because it could house beer? 21 to buy a lime because I could be pairing it with both gin and tonic (ohmygoshgivemeoneofthoserightnow)? Those thoughts, of course, led to deeper and deeper pontifications, resulting in the big question of the day: do you have to be 21 to buy O'Doul's**? It's nonalcoholic but housed in the beer cooler. Looks like beer, smells like beer, gives you a gut like beer, probably tastes like beer but without the best part of beer - the buzz. My goal for the week is to find someone in high school, send them into the store and see how successful they are.


**my high school/college boyfriend's dad was nearly addicted to O'Doul's. We'd go over to his parents' house and find his dad on the couch in the bonus room, shirtless, with O'Doul's cans scattered around. He was like a non-alcoholic drunk, which was probably sadder. I wonder if he ever knew there wasn't alcohol in them. 

Things I'm Not

A lot of people argue that bloggers must be pretty self-involved, and I agree with them to an extent... you spend your own time writing about yourself for other people to read, loading the best pictures of you, with details that you don't even tell your mom in your daily phone conversations and giving your opinion on things that don't matter. It's like Facebook on crack. But I don't blog because I want people to virtually love me. I blog because it's good for me. It's good for me to have a little corner of somewhere to just... do. To just share. To document. 

The reasons I'm not a very good blogger:
1. This blog doesn't have a theme or direction. It's not a house blog. It's not a wedding blog. It's not a mommy blog. It's certainly not a fashion or beauty blog. It's not inspirational. It's not about fitness. It's not very funny... it may used to be, but it's not anymore.
2. I update as often as Jennifer Aniston doesn't wear black... meaning, rarely. 
3. I don't have a great camera. Any pictures that I bother to load are iPhoned (yes, it's a verb) and usually with an Instagram filter.

But, I'm still here years after I launched it. Not even sure who, if anyone, still reads. Alas, here's what's on my mind on this Monday in Charlotte.

1. Are skinny jeans ever going to be out again? This child-bearing hipped girl is just tired. So tired of swathing my lower half in a style that isn't actually very flattering to anyone. Except Miranda Kerr (I hate how much I love her). I went shopping a couple of weeks ago for some trouser or wide legged jeans. I found one lone pair on a clearance rack at Gap. Naturally, they're the best fitting jeans I've maybe ever owned. I asked the salesclerkette if they had any more, because you know I'd have bought all of them. Wouldn't you know it? The cut is being discontinued because they aren't in style anymore. Kick me in the face. And the hips. 
2. In the same vein, am I the only one that can't find gems at Forever 21 that it seems like everyone else can? Maybe I just don't see the potential in things. Maybe I assume it's a grown up version of Limited, too. I want to love it. I really do. But I get so overwhelmed. There's SO much inventory. 
3. Check out my favorite crockpot recipes lately. They've been saving us the past month:
Curry Chicken Vindaloo
Fiesta Chicken
Chicken Tikka Masala
4. And some desserts!
Chocolate-peanut butter whoopie pies
Coconut lime sugar cookies
Snickerdoodle brownies
5. Y'all, really, this is the lamest. What do y'all want to read about?

In the Heights

In 2013, I'm focusing on time in our marriage. It's a commodity that is precious and rare for us in the season that we're both in. Working bizarre and opposite schedules can take a toll. Thankfully we're both incredibly committed to maximizing the time we're together, but in 2013, I want us to be creative. I don't want to fall in a complacent routine of Redbox, couch time or each doing our own activities. So on Friday, we had a rare day off together and hopped in the car to journey to Asheville. 

Asheville is an easy 2 hour drive from us, and we got to enjoy great conversation on the way to town. We had a truly wonderful day - first stop was Tupelo honey for breakfast (fried egg BLT for him, and, most probably the culinary win of the whole day, a pimento cheese, maple pepper bacon, jalapeño cilantro pesto and asparagus omelet for me). It was cloudy and chilly for our start, so we spent a few hours strolling along, popping into different shops and galleries and generally oohing, aahing and making fun of various wares. 

We stopped for a late lunch at Lab, a delicious brewery and restaurant in downtown. We shared kale chips drizzled with honey and house made chorizo sausage nachos and each sipped a house brewed beer. When we were sufficiently satisfied, which wasn't hard, because it was delicious, we mosied back to our car and headed to Odd Fellows, a local antiques and architectural salvage shoppe (naturally, that's the sort of joint that requires fancy spelling). 

We finished just in time to get to Highland Brewery where we enjoyed a few more brewskis and a tour of this regional favorite. It was fascinating to learn about how beer is made and how such a seemingly small operation is actually a big player in the craft brew market. Another short drive up the road brought us to the Biltmore for a glass of wine in the estate wine room. 

Finally, we ended our trip at Curate, a new Asheville hotspot serving eccentric Spanish tapas. We scored a seat at the counter, so my chef hubbers could survey the exhibition kitchen below. We loved everything we ordered... I couldn't even actually tell you what it was. Though, standouts included the calamari sandwich and the almond cake dessert that featured rosemary and olive oil ice cream. Sated and tired and happy we headed back to Charlotte. 

Despite all of our wanderings and stops we only managed one picture at the end of our breakfast. I was excited to head to the highlands and try out a current Pinterest fave of red plaid and a fur vest. I was more excited for a truly delightful day with my love, and I can't wait to find some more destinations near us. A 2013 replete with these day gems is just what we have in mind.

This One Time I Used to Blog

One of my 2013 goals is to refurbish this dusty little blog and bring her back to her once semi-shiny glory. But, seeing as it's the 10th of January and this is my first post in months, well, it's progress.

So here's where we are in life:
- This Monday will be our 9 monthiversary of marriage... I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying! I also can't wait for the next 900.
- I'm learning so much about the way I process stress... or, don't process it, whatever.
- I'm a freak about coupon. I have to self moderate so I don't become like Mama June, stashing away 3 years' worth of Beenie Weenies. Except for me, it's shampoo, conditioner and mascara... uh huh.
- I'm revamping my wardrobe. Thank you, Pinterest, for being the ultimate fashionable time suck. Our office dress code is very casual, but I realized that somewhere along the line I just got sloppy, and I hated how I felt. Now, I just cut and paste other people's stylish creativity and VOILA. Instant feel good.
- 2012 was the year of the Om. I fell head over heels in love with yoga; however, the madness of working 100 hour weeks in the end of 2012 had me falling off the wagon, and now I'm struggling to crawl back to the mat.
- I can't stop crock potting. My lovely little chef husband knows every time he walks in the door, there will be something brewing in that slow cooker. I'll be sharing some of my favorite recipes in the coming weeks (you know, because I'm a goal achiever, and I WILL post. Dang it).

Meh. Probably a vanilla showing my first post out of the gate, but alas, here I am. And I'm back. Mostly. Well, for now.

All of the Lights

I was doing so well there for a second, eh? I was posting regularly and feeling great about it. Then we made our trip to Maine, and, well, I lost my momentary groove. Surely it took Stella more than one attempt?

Anywho, since we've been back in the South (full of lobster, pumpkin beer and sweet family time), we've been hard at work on the house. As I've mentioned before our house was move-in ready but with a lot of potential to be a prettier abode. We decided to start with some fresh coats of paint and some light fixture swaps. Unfortunately I didn't get shots of all the befores, but here's what we've been working with.

In our kitchen, we started with a huge box of florescent bars. It was extremely 80s, made our ceilings feel low (they really aren't) and just made the kitchen feel shabby. When the painters were scraping the popcorn, we asked them to go ahead and take the monstrosity down. The hubbers and I spent quite a while at Lowe's choosing this fixture. We wanted it to feel bright and not too heavy. This three spot light has double globes that I love. It instantly made our kitchen feel fresher.

Next up was the porch light. Nothing screams dated quite like shiny brass. We still want to change our house numbers, but this swap was a no-brainer, and we fell in love with this lantern at first glance.

Thirdly, we have vaulted ceilings in our master bedroom with an exposed beam running across the seam (heeey, I'm a poet!). It had a pretty hideous ceiling fan attached to it complete with some bare bulbs, woven panels on the blades and just crap all the way around. The bedroom tends to be warmer than the other rooms, so despite the fact that I tend to hate fans, we decided that we need one. I wanted to use the ceiling height to our advantage and pick a statement-style fixture, and behold, we found the combo of both. It's hard to see in this picture but the fixture is gorgeous, bold and has an attractive fan. I'm in love.

And lastly, we have a soaker tub in our master bath, and my less-than-bright-in-desperate-need-of-a-haircut Sadie sometimes climbs in post-shower while I beautify and gets lost. Behold the furry confusion.

Hangin' It Up

My goal for this house is to limit clutter. Much unlike our micro-condo, we have space and storage here, and I'll be darned if I let things accumulate and pile up (but don't like in our dining room right now... it's a clutter catcher). Jewelry is a huge clutter criminal, particularly long necklaces. I sort of hate most jewelry holders, so last night when I was unpacking my pieces, I didn't want to just pile them somewhere and let them sit until I could find a better place for them. I scoured our master suite and found this hand towel ring. Since we don't currently have a hand towel, I decided it was the perfect spot to keep my necklaces organized, neat and untangled. I also set up our new dresser... and see that wire bird thing in front of the picture of my husband? It used to sit on the coffee table with small eggs in each nest. Now, it's the perfect place to display bracelets, short necklaces and earrings. 

Marry & Bright

One of the things I've been most excited about since our wedding is picking out Christmas cards. I haven't sent them out before, and even though we were engaged last Christmas, I wanted to wait until we were officially a family before sending them. Working at a church the size and pace of ours means that holidays are our busiest time of year, so I want to get a head start and order, stuff, and address them before Thanksgiving, that way, in December, all I need to do is drop them in the mailbox. This week I've been searching through Snapfish for cute, bright and cheery cards (I order prints of our wedding pictures from Snapfish and was so pleased with their turnaround and quality). We've pretty much decided on using this picture from our wedding on whatever card we choose (and we'll also be able to 2-birds-1-stone it by announcing our move as well)...

And here are a few of my favorite card options at the moment...

A Clean Slate

The house we bought was move-in ready. There are plenty of projects that we can sink our teeth (and wallets) into in the future, but for all intents and purposes, it was good to go. 

The biggest negative in the house are the popcorn ceilings in every. single. room. of the house. Those bad boys just made me ill. We were able to get into the house two days before closing and had a painter come out and give us a quote to scrape them all. And at the same time we had him quote painting trim throughout the house. The previous owners had installed crown molding in every room and chair rail in most, but some was wood stained, some was white... just a mismatch. We were eager to get all of that done before we officially moved in. 

When the quote came back we wanted to vomit, so we scaled back the project significantly having the painter and his team scrape and paint the trim in only the main living area, entryway, kitchen and master bedroom. We had grandiose plans to stay in the house through that process. The hubbers and I both wanted to be able to spend our first night as homeowners in our home... see how that works?

Well, as it turns out, popcorn scraping is not as delicious as popcorn consuming, and boy, is it a mess. We had plastic draped everywhere, ceiling dust coated everything, and I had minimal access to my kitchen. In fact, I spent my first evening as a homeowner huddled on the carpet in an extra bedroom with my 2 pups, a pillow, a blanket and my laptop to keep me warm. When the dashing fella of my heart got home from work at 2:00 in the morning, we dragged the mattress up through the mess and were able to camp out there for the next few days. It felt like our home ownership was on pause.

A dusty three days later, the painters had finished and unveiled a mostly-sparkling living space that was ours-all-ours. And I couldn't have been more excited to begin filling each room with our treasures and furniture. A clean slate for new memories.

Simple. Delicious.

When life feels out of control, as it has lately, I get an overwhelming desire to take control in any way possible... to cling to the strands of control I can find. That usually results in ignoring the complete and utter mess around me (half empty... or half full, whatevs... boxes strewn around our new house, for instance) and just make some meals. Nothing exacerbates that icky out of control feeling than several days of fast food. I just crave healthy, hearty, delicious, home cooked meals. 

Last night was that night. I spent the previous evening with my darling Little at Trader Joe's filling a cart full of meal necessities (I'm lightly treading into the world of menu planning, which goes hand-in-hand with my love of couponing). Instead of cooking that night, I just enjoyed a couple of Blue Moons and some delicious crockpot beef that Little had gifted us with.

Last night, though, I was going to own the kitchen and own it hard. I had pinned a recipe for barbecue chicken quinoa salad earlier in the week and couldn't wait to try it. I multi-tasked while I prepped the dish... organizing the cabinets, unpacking a few boxes to find my necessary gadgets, measuring cups, pans and so on and listening to a few podcasts (my favorite way to stay spiritually fed while working in the ministry). The end result (albeit it at 10:45 p.m.) was a tasty, easy meal with plenty of leftovers. A must-make for a busy week.

Barbecue Quinoa Salad:
- Barbecue Chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts seasoned with Cajun seasoning and slightly-more-than-simmered then in a small Le Creuset pan for 45 minutes with Trader Joe's Kansas-style barbecue sauce, so the chicken was able to be shredded with a couple of forks)
- Corn (I used three quarters of a cup of Trader Joe's frozen fire roasted corn... thanks for the recommendation, Little!)
- Black Beans (I used some miscellaneous amount... I couldn't locate a can opener, so I sort of jimmy rigged it open-ish with the counter, a spoon and a knife and just shook out the beans that I could)
- Cilantro (I just threw some in there without measuring)
- Shredded cheese (I had a shredded Gruyere-Swiss blend on hand, but white cheddar of pepper jack would be my recommendation)
- Quinoa (I ended up using 2 cups cooked)

Mix that mess in a bowl, add a little more barbecue sauce (I had extra in my sauce pan after shredding the chicken and just poured some of that goodness in my bowl), then top with avocado. I promise you won't be sorry.