don't mess with texas!

Last week we got to spend some good ol' quality time with our amazing friends in Texas! Kellan and Shelby (or Shellan and Kelby if you've had a few drinks) moved out to Dallas last year and we were pretty bummed about it, but at least they live in a cool city that we can come visit and have a blast in.

First stop, the Stockyards in Fort Worth, to see the Cattle Drive. I loved the speckled ones!

Texas is all about the food, right? So we HAD to get a Whataburger. It was mandatory, and we were not let down. Damn, these things are good! 

One day, we ventured over to the Bishop Arts District and I was in love. Quaint little stores mixed in with local restaurants = heaven. I could have spent all 4 days here and been a happy camper!

Society was definitely my favorite shop. It was so tiny, but packed with so many goodies! I wanted everything. 

Back to more food! Kellan's favorite bbq restaurant in Grapevine was a hit. Their mac 'n' cheese wasn't even fair. Everything was perfect. And they had Cheerwine, in a glass bottle, so Bradley was happy! 

On Friday we drove to Austin. It's a great city to visit regardless, (my mom and I went in 2013 for Quiltcon!) but my brother just moved there 3 weeks ago, so I especially wanted to go! And this weekend happened to be SXSW, so it was perfect timing!

First Stop in Austin was Home Slice Pizza. So good! I need another bite of Shelby's eggplant pizza!

And then we got cupcakes, because they're my favorite, and who turns down a cupcake? We came across the cupcake truck that mom and I visited in 2013, Hey Cupcake. They were even better than I remember. I got lemon with strawberry frosting. Amazing.

And we crammed in some time at Room Service Vintage to see if we could find anything that we just had to have! Unfortunately all the stuff I loved was huge, and wouldn't fit in my carryon- like this couch! I was obsessed. 

Making this post showed me how much stuff I don't have pictures of! Shelby and Kellan kept us so busy the entire time! I guess it's good that I actually enjoyed the time there instead of worrying about a certain shot. We had so much fun and definitely want to come back. Thanks so much to my best friend for having us!!

thankful

This year was filled with the best food, friends, and family. For some reason, Bradley and I actually took on the impossible job of hosting thanksgiving at our house. Oh my goodness, we bit off more than we could chew! We ended up eating a great meal, but we were behind by about an hour. Maybe next year I will downsize on the number of sides? Ahh, probably not. I love having a little bit of everything! And we had killer leftovers. #winning.

what a weekend!

You know that feeling when you are so glad to be home? Yep, I had that this weekend. I had a great time weekend visiting my dad and then my best friend in Raleigh, but coming home Sunday ended up being such a long day.

An hour into my 6 hour drive home I got a flat tire. This lead to a very creepy old man hitting on me while he changed my tire. AAA should really screen these people. No female, driving alone, wants to feel like she is going to be raped. And then I couldn't drive home on the spare tire (or over 50 mph,) so that lead me to buying a new tire at walmart. Thankfully, this all happened about 30 min from my cousins, so they joined me at walmart and then fed me some good ol' chicken and pastry. Also nice was cooper keeping me occupied with his adorable sleeping positions.

Before Sunday's unforseen adventure, I did have a great weekend in Raleigh with my bestie. Of course the first night we had Cheesecake Factory. It's one of my favorites, solely on the fact that they have free bread. That's pretty much how I rate restaurants. 1. Do they have bread. 2. How good is the bread. And 3. Do you have to pay for the bread. It's safe to say that Cheesecake Factory is at the top of that list. Saturday was jammed packed with shopping, first hitting the sale section at Anthro, where we snagged some good markdowns and volcano candles for each of our birthdays. Then for dinner she took me to this yummy local Italian restaurant, Bella Monica.

Their bread is out of this world. We inhaled it so fast that I didn't get a picture, but trust me on this. It comes cut like a piece of cake, slathered with olive oil and topped with herbs and sauteed onion, and you eat it with a fork. Oh my god. Probably the best bread ever. Then we split their calamari, but it wasn't what you usually get. It had no breading and wasn't fried. It was seared in basil. Sounds kind of odd, but so. good. For my entree, I stuck to what I knew would be perfect, and got a margherita pizza. All in all, Bella Monica was such a win. I'll definitely be begging Mal to go back the next time I visit!

our thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2013 really tricked me! A few months back, my mom let me know that she and my stepdad would be spending thanksgiving in California with his kids. Um, but we always do thanksgiving here. I'm not so good with change, you see. This left Bradley and I stranded. Where do we go now? My dad's? His dad's? His grandparents? Our friends in SC? Stay here and eat with my brother? So many choices, but we couldn't decide. Then my stepdad had some health scares (no worries, he's all better now) about a week or so before thanksgiving, and they decided not to go to California. And one by one our family made it work to be here for thanksgiving. We had the whole crew! I just think it's so funny because none of us were going to be together and then it all worked out in the end :)

via

This past year my mom has also had some health issues that have led her to go gluten free and dairy free. We were so proud to say that our entire thanksgiving feast was gluten free AND dairy free! I mean, who does that?! And the best part... everything was SO GOOD! And I bet if you had been a guest at our table and I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have even known. 

I really wish I had photos of every dish to show you, but I guess we were all too excited! Here's what we had:

Turkey

Honey Glazed Ham 

Brown Rice with Pecans + Cranberries (this year's dressing)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes + Butternut Squash

Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Basil Corn

Sweet Potato Casserole with marshmallows

Maple Brussel Sprouts (Aaren's specialty! So freaking good)

Collards

Cranberry Salad (This weird jello that my Nana always made)

Deviled Eggs

And for dessert:

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Mini Chocolate Chess Pies

Chocolate Chewies

And more sweet potato casserole!

When planning this meal, we also decided to change some of the traditional dishes for healthier options, like instead of a greenbean casserole, we had the roasted asparagus. But we still had to have a sweet potato casserole! That is a thanksgiving staple! Roasting a lot of the veggies was so easy and fast! Just drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. And when it came to dessert recipes we just made a few substitutions. We used Bradley's Meme's Chocolate Chess Pie Recipe but just traded out the evaporated milk for evaporated coconut milk so it was dairy free. And my mom had already been trying some gluten free pie crust recipes, so she was all set. Instead of butter she uses ghee, which is clarified butter. This option still gives you that great flavor.

We had such a wonderful holiday and I am so thankful to have my family in my life. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, as well!

jewish food fest

It's that time of year, again! This past Sunday we feasted on some amazing jewish food at Savannah's annual Shalom Y'all Jewish Food Fest. I had been planning this day for about two months. Our sweet, newlywed friends were going to join us and we were going to make a weekend of it! Unfortunately, work came up and they couldn't make it. Then Bradley was invited to go shooting with his boss. Um, this day comes once a year, and you can go shooting any time! But he wasn't having it. Great, it'll just be me and the pups. Then all of a sudden, they weren't going until mid afternoon, so he could join me afterall! We loaded up the dogs and some blankets and made our way downtown. Savannah is seriously one of the most beautiful cities. We really don't take advantage of it enough. Just taking the time to be outside and enjoy the fresh air was amazing. But we also got to cram our faces with the best food (and forgot to take pictures). Bradley devoured a pastrami on rye, while I inhaled the latkes with applesauce. I also wanted to get the cheese blintzes, but we ran out of time. Guess there's something to look forward to next year! 

imperfection

I have dreams of owning a bakery one day. Making sweet rustic cakes just like this one. Cakes where the frosting is rough, showing that someone made it. They used their hands. You can see the spatula marks. It's not perfect, like it came out of some machine. They have flaws. And little characteristics. They are real. 

No two cakes come out looking the same. Especially the 14 Layer Cake. That one is always different. And each time, we say "oh, this is the prettiest one!" But we love them all. No, my cakes aren't all perfectly level, and no, they don't have the exact same amount of frosting in between each layer. But, they are real. And they taste divine. So, does it really matter? To me, it's all just cake in the end. And as long as it tastes good, I'm a happy camper. 

peachy keen

Last week we got about ten peaches from our local food co-op. This was way more than we could eat before they went bad, so what's a girl to do? Um, make peach cobbler! Now I have seen a ton of people make that dump cake with canned peaches, but we had fresh ones, so I needed a different recipe. After a little googling of "the best peach cobbler," I came across this recipe. It claimed it was the "BEST COBBLER YOU'VE EVER HAD." I'm pretty sure this is because it had cream cheese. So I had to give it a try. One thing I wasn't thrilled about was that it uses a cake mix, but it was quick and easy, so I made an exception.

It turned out really, really good. Soft, cakey crust, with tender peaches and a cream cheese filling.  Bradley was obsessed with it, bringing the entire casserole dish and two spoons into bed for breakfast. I tell you, I love this boy. 

::::::::::::peach cobbler::::::::::::

1 box yellow cake mix (powder)

1/3 cup butter, softened

2  eggs

4 fresh peaches, peeled and pitted

 8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg. Mix with a fork until crumbly. Reserve 1/2 - 3/4 cup for topping. Press remaining dough into greased 9x13 inch glass dish and bake for 10 minutes. 

Cut peaches into 1 inch slices. Combine cream cheese, sugar, 1 egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Layer peaches on top of cooked crust. Pour cream cheese mixture on top. Spread with a spatula. Top with reserved crumbs and bake for 30 minutes. After cooking, remove dish from the oven and allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Then dig in!

festive five

 

 one.

Is this not the cutest little dinosaur that you have ever seen? I don't have any babies to dress up yet, so you better believe my little man is getting a costume. Funny thing is, I think he actually loves it! Normally, he will try and scratch his way out of them, but this one is working for him. 

two.

So like I said in my last post, I am obsessed with decorating for fall. And I can't stop. I don't know, pumpkins and gourds, big and tiny just keep showing up at our house!

I'm running out of places to decorate, so these are actually on top of the dresser in our bedroom. Bradley kind of freaked when he saw them. He thought it was getting a little crazy when I resorted to this because I was running out of room. But who doesn't love a little ombre pumpkin festiveness to help wake you up in the morning? 

three.

I was able to wear a scarf today! It only got up to about 71 degrees. Thank you rain! The thing is, I have much cuter fall clothes than summer, so we need to get the ball rolling on this whole cold weather thing. 

four. 

I have been really good about keeping my nails looking good lately. This raspberry

(sally hansen: cherry, cherry bang, bang) and this warm gray are my favorites. They are the perfect fall colors for me. 

 five. 

We have been participating in soup sunday. This creamy chicken noodle was so amazing!! I love the spinach and big chunky carrots. Next up, taco soup!