12 Years Ago…

12 years ago tonight a northern boy and a southern girl had their first date, and their lives would never be the same.

Who knew that a bouncy, southern twang talkin’ college student could impress and be asked out by a yankee boy who was 6 years older than her…

I guess it was the sweet sound of the southern twang in her voice, or maybe it was her smile and bubbly attitude {as he likes to tell the story}. But there was somethin’ about those crystal, baby blue eyes that drew this southern girl in hook line and sinker.

It was a match made in heaven. And although he had to work a little bit she caved and these two lived {and still are living} happily ever after…

I seriously cannot believe it’s been 12 years since Eric and I had our first date. It seems like just yesterday he was picking me up after work to hit downtown Athens, GA for dinner and clubbing.

I remember the butterflies and excitement. I remember what I wore {and yes, I know it’s cra-zy that I remember this}. I remember standing outside DePalma’s Restaurant having a drink waiting 45 minutes for a table, and I was STAR-VING!

I remember our table in the corner of the restaurant and how we ate and talked like no one else was in the room. Then we met up with a few friends and hit the clubs for some dancing.

What a great night!

But, I must share my favorite memory of that night. You see, growing up, my Daddy always taught me that when you go on a date a guy likes to have a girl who will eat. It’s not polite to order a big meal, take a couple of bites, and then say, “I’m full”. This was engrained in me for years. Well, this night I was going to make my daddy real proud.

After waiting 45 minutes for a table and not eating much that day because I had school, work, and quite frankly I was poor, by the time we sat down for dinner I was star-ving…and that’s putting it mildly.

Well, I ordered my favorite thing on the menu…a pasta dish. Eric ordered chicken fettuccine alfredo {or something of the sorts}. We talked, and laughed, and ate. Eric pushed his plate to the side with about half of his dinner left. The waitress came by and asked if he needed a to-go box. He simply replied, “No, I don’t thank you, but maybe she…..nope, she doesn’t need one either.”

At that point I looked up to him and the waitress, and looked down at my bowl. I was scraping every last morsel out of my bowl. Nothing was left, and to tell you the truth I might’ve licked the bowl clean if I could’ve.

He kind of giggled, looked at the waitress and then at me and says, “Would you like some of mine?” and started to hand his plate to me.

I was mortified!!!! But I was full, and my mission was accomplished. I ate my dinner and I was quite satisfied.

I guess we all have those fun first date stories and memories. It’s fun to look back and think how times have changed. To think we were just two mere crazy kids entering the dating scene not knowing that God had put us together for a reason.

The story that was will still go on…I am still the southern girl and he will always be my northern boy. So, to celebrate tonight I made a dessert I want to share with you. Just think of it as a sweet southern twang meets northern deliciousness.

Banana Pudding Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 large ripe bananas, diced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tbsp. coffee liqueur

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Meringue

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Press into bottom of a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Combine bananas and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Place over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute or just until sugar melts. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each one. Beat in liqueur and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Spoon tablespoonful's of banana mixture evenly over mixture and swirl gently into batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven, and increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Drop spoonful's of meringue gently and evenly over hot cheesecake. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Remove from oven and gently run a knife around edge of cheesecake to loosen. Cool cheesecake completely in pan on wire rack. Cover loosely and chill 8 hours. Store in the refrigerator.

Meringue:

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. sugar

Beat egg whites and salt at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Add sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until soft peaks form and sugar dissolves (about 1-2 minutes).

 

So tell me, do you have any fun first date stories? I’d love to hear them.

Fish in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

You won’t believe how easy this fish is to make, and it’s simply delicious.

1 lb. white fish fillets {I used tilapia, but you could use cod}

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 cup flour {I used whole wheat flour}

1/4 cup Fat Free Zesty Italian Dressing

1/2 cup sliced onion

4 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/4 cup roasted red peppers chopped

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

Coat both sides of the fish with the flour and set aside. Heat olive oil and dressing in a large skillet to medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until crisp tender.

Move onions to the side of the pan and add fish. Cook 5-7 minutes on each side until fish is flaky.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt cream cheese with chicken broth. Add red pepper, garlic and heat through.

When fish is flaky, serve on plate with sauce on top.

Can you believe how easy that is??? and it’s SO yummy.

Front Door Curtains

Hey, y’all. Happy Monday to ya. I don’t know about where you are, but it’s a pretty cool, and very wet Monday here. I’m loving it. Makes me want to stay locked up in the house and sew…or watch a movie.

I’m so excited to share with y’all today my front door curtains. I mentioned on Saturday’s post that I actually finished them. I’ve been wanting to make curtains for my front door since I saw them at the Southern Living Idea House back in August. I mean who knew that adding something so simple as curtains would really dress up a door. Crazy!

Here’s what my front door looked like prior to Saturday night:

As my Hunter would say…”BOR-ING”.

After seeing the curtains at the Idea House, I knew I had to make some…

I mean, how gawgeous is that? I love how they just add a bit more character to the door.

They used burlap here, and I love the rustic yet chic look they give.

So, I knew I wanted to make curtains, and I wanted mine to be burlap as well. Now, you don’t have to make yours burlap, you can use any kind of material out there…just find one that suits you. I’m sure there are tons of ideas out there on Pinterest.

I bought the burlap and lining and was determined to make these curtains…only problem – I’ve never sewn curtains before. I’ve made curtains, yes. If you remember I made some No-sew curtains for my dining room. I wasn’t sure the tape would adhere to the burlap very well, and now I can kinda-sorta sew, so I was going to figure out how to sew these curtains.

Well, where’s the first place we go these days to find ideas for anything? Google? Google who? We all turn to our trusty friend and side-kick, Pinterest. Looking around I found the best blog that had a tutorial on how to make professionally lined curtains. You can find the tutorial HERE.

Allison does a fantastic job {in my opinion} of walking you through step by step on how to make these curtains. The best part of all, there are visual aids and pictures to go along with each step. This is wonderful for the visual learner that I am.

I would walk you through how I made mine, but why re-invent the wheel? Plus, I couldn’t do half as good of a job writing this tutorial as Allison.

Anyway, back to the story at hand. I was determined to make some burlap curtains for my Plain Jane front door. Well, some rain showers set in on Saturday and pretty much washed the day away and all of our plans for that day with it. But, I was not bummed in the least. I was able to focus and make my curtains.

I tell you, they were not hard, but they were a bit time consuming. There’s A LOT of ironing that goes into making curtains. Along with pinning, sewing, un-pinning, measuring, measuring, and more measuring.

So, it took about 3-4 hours from start to finish {if I hadn’t had interruptions}. When they were finished Dallas and I headed to Target to get a curtain rod, because these suckers were being hung.

I hung the rod {with a little help from my hubby} and hung the curtains to check on the length.

 

Doesn’t it look better already?

I finished the bottoms to with the length and then tied them back with ribbon. Now, in the Idea House, they used rope. Well, I didn’t have rope, and I wanted to make a statement that was me and not just copy everything. I’m a ribbon girl, especially a grosgrain ribbon girl. I pulled out some brown ribbon with white polka dots I had on hand and used that to tie them back.

I stood back and pretty much jumped up and down. I just love them.

They really add something special to my front door.

So, what do you think???

A Little Pumpkin Fun

Typically I refuse to pull out anything pumpkin before October 1. I know it may seem strange, but to me it’s like not wearing white shoes after Labor Day and not before Easter. Call me crazy, and it may be a “southern” thing, not sure, but I won’t do it. Just like I won’t put out anything “fall” or “Halloween stuff” before October 1. I won’t even have a Pumpkin Spice Latte before then either…typically. Well, today I pretended that it was October 1. One day shy won’t hurt me, right?

I am ready. I’m ready for pumpkin spice smells, cooler weather, Pumpkin Spice Lattes (non-fat of course). I’m ready to put out my Halloween/fall decorations and I’m ready for a season change. It’s time, people…let’s do this already.

So today, I decided we’d start a day early. Dallas and I went out for a little while together. We first stopped for a coffee and hot chocolate. I decided I had waited long enough and it was high time for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I ordered one…kinda felt weird ordering it but not too bad. We then set out to have our nails done. Low and behold the 2 places we went to were closed. Humph…

So, we decided to head to Michael’s to see if we could find some craft projects…and boy did we. I found some cute new decorations for the house, paints for projects, lots and lots of ribbons, and some cute pumpkin decorating kits.

She settled on the princess and we got Hunter the pirate…

They are total cuteness.

They cost $1.99 for each one, and they take foam sticker projects to a whole new level. We had to have them.

On the way home we stopped by a road side pumpkin stand. She picked out two small pumpkins for them, and we got a few more things as well.

The pumpkins were 2 for $7.00 and they are the perfect size.

I helped them a little in the beginning because we had to stick pipe cleaners in the pumpkin in a couple of spots to make the hats, hair, and ears stay. After that, it was all them.

They worked real hard on their pumpkins…

Then ta-da, they were finished. They were both super proud of their pumpkins, and I think they are just too cute.

How cute are those two? No silly, not the kids, I know they’re cute; I’m talking about the pumpkins. Aren’t they adorable?

The best part of all…there was no messy carving, and absolutely NO messy paint. Love-it!

So, we have a pirate and a bubble gum loving princess…just like my two kiddos.

They now have a special place on the stairs. I think the best part of all…THEY are my first Halloween/Fall decoration, and I love that they were made by my two kiddos.

What a Week

I don’t know about you, but I had such a busy week. I’m sorry I was a little removed this week and didn’t get to post, but I was running like a crazy woman all week.

I did my normal routine with taking kids to school, volunteering, and crafting a little. I will say my favorite part of the week was that my hubby had two days off work. He had some vacation to use up, and decided to take a few days off this week. We had a great time. We actually went to lunch just the two of us one day, and the next day we went and had coffee after going to the gym. We don’t ever get to spend time together during the week without kids, and I tell you, it was so great. We weren’t yelling over kids to try and have a conversation, and we weren’t being interrupted every two seconds saying that what we were talking about was “boring”. Ha! that’s kids for ya.

I may not have gotten all that I “needed” to do during the week, but now looking back, what I really “needed” was to spend some time with my favorite guy.

I did make a birthday present for Dallas’ teacher this week. I made her a personalized clip board. I’ll post it next week sometime. {I haven’t uploaded the pictures yet.}

Today we had kind of a busy day on the calendar, but rain set it and washed all our plans away. So, instead of going and doing, we stayed home and worked on some projects. I’m so excited. I finally finished a project I’ve been wanting to do for over a month. I cannot wait to share it with you, but for now, you’ll have to wait.

I will give you a hint though. Remember when I wrote about going to see the Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, GA? Well, they did something I thought was so cool. They had panel curtains hanging on the inside of the front door.

I just love how the curtains really add some dimension and character to what normally is a boring part of the home.

Well, this is unfortunately not my house. This is the all too beautiful Idea Home.

However, I did take their idea and make them my own. I would show you a picture, but that would just spoil the fun now wouldn’t it. Stay tuned because I’m super excited to share them with you.

Well y’all, it’s late. I’ve had a busy day sewing, playing with kids, and pulling for my Bulldawgs…it’s now time to go to bed.

A Road Trip & A Farmhouse

Let’s take a trip, shall we?

I love a good road trip. I must because I do them quite often. But, with family and friends who live hours and hours away from me, there leaves no choice but to pack the car and hit the road.

The first week of August, the kids were out of school, and Eric was going away on a business trip…for the week. Need I say more??? There was nothing left to do, but hit the road ourselves. Seeing that I hadn’t been to my parents’ since Thanksgiving, I figured it was time to make a trip.

It’s a very long and hard trip. It’s about an 8 hour drive, but traveling I-95 and I-20 for 6 hours and then hitting back roads for another 2, it’ll wear a girl {or anybody} out.

We had a great time that week. We got to take the kids swimming at a friend’s house…thanks, Sassy! We got to go catch up with my Great aunt and uncle, whom I just adore, we played with BB – a very close family friend, and we had some nice relaxation time too.

One day we decided to take a little road trip…yes, another one.  This trip would only be about 45 minutes. You see, I get a subscription to Southern Living Magazine. It’s a must if you’re a true southerner…especially a southern lady. I love this magazine. It’s like a holiday for me every month when my new magazine arrives. My world stops. Who cares if there’s dinner to be made, homework to be completed, or baths to give…this mama is going to sit and look, and ooh and aah, and read cover to cover. I have a big ole’ stack of them around my house because I can’t bear to get rid of them…they are my National Geographic.

I digress.

Anyway, if you get this sacred magazine {and if you don’t get it…what’s wrong with you? Just kidding}, you know that the August issue was focused on the Before and After’s of the 2012 SL Idea House.

 

What’s even more exciting about this house is that it’s located in Senoia, Georgia which is about 45 minutes from my parents’…perfect for a day trip.

I didn’t have to do much twisting of arms on Mama and Daddy. They jumped right into my idea, and one morning we took off.

We pull into Senoia, a very small Georgia town. Just precious. There’s a small "downtown” area with adorable shops and restaurants that line the streets. It’s actually a pretty popular place to film movies. In fact, if you’ve seen the recent movie “Footloose”. You know, the remake of the classic? It was filmed in Senoia. Other famous southern movies filmed here were Driving Miss Daisy and Fried Green Tomatoes. {Just a little movie trivia for you.}

Being in a little town, it didn’t take long to find this Idea House. I was beside myself with excitement. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I was going to get to tour this house that looked so beautiful in the magazine. I had studied it to a “T” before arriving, so to see it all in person made me super happy.

We paid our $12 to get in and tour. It was a self-guided tour. I asked if I could take pictures, and they obliged. I think I did a little jump at that moment and started snapping away.

The house was gorgeous. Of course it was…it was done by professionals and by people of Southern Living.

We walked around the house ooh and aahing at all the details that were made in revamping this house. You see, this farmhouse was an old farmhouse built in the 1830s. The house was picked up, moved, and an addition was added. I have to tell you, the designers kept the “old” feeling of the house while updating it and making it perfectly modern as well. It was such a great combination.

Let’s take a little walk through.

I love how the family room was open to the kitchen and dining areas. It was one big, bright space.

I love this stove, and would die to have one myself.

The house rambles on and there are so many rooms downstairs. There’s the “Keeping Quarters”.

I absolutely love a stripe on a wall, and to think this gingham was painted is amazing. I might just have to try it…

Dallas’ favorite room was the laundry room…that’s my girl. I think she only liked it the best because the walls were painted with chalkboard paint.

The master bedroom was very soothing. I LOVE this grey tufted bed, and the pops of orange. Not sure how I feel about the antlers above the bed, but am loving the clapboard walls. It gives the house that old, farmhouse feeling.

The cleanliness of this bathroom is great. I do love the white subway tiled shower. And do you notice the color of the vanity cabinets??? They’re almost an exact match of my kitchen island cabinets.

We rambled on and on throughout this house. Here are a few more pictures of my favorite spaces:

Then there was the outside. This girl loves a porch, and the porches on this house just rambled on and on.

There was a cute little nook outside the mater bedroom with a bench. My daddy and I stopped for a quick pose, and then Dallas got one too. Papa G with two of his favorite girls…

I have to tell you, this Idea House gave me so many ideas for my own. I am going to take ideas from here and incorporate them into my house.

In case you’re in the area and would like to visit this beautiful home, it is still open. It will be open until the end of December. I hear they are going to be decorating for Christmas in October sometime. I’m sure it will be breathtaking!!!

We worked up an appetite went to lunch and walked around the little town for a bit before hitting the road again. And then our little road trip came to an end.

I just have one question for you…

What in the heck is this supposed to say???

“Sun”day “Fun”day

Yesterday was Sunday, but there was no sun. In fact it was cloudy and rainy. We had promised the kids we would take them fishing. After looking at the radar on our old friend, weather.com, we saw that where we were heading to fish, it wasn’t raining…well, at least not as hard as it was at the house.

We packed up the van, and headed down to Clayton. It’s about a 45 minute drive. The kids were very excited.

After stopping for worms {for the fish} and bananas {for us} we arrived at the little pond.

We unpacked and started baiting hooks.

These two cuties were so excited.

The first line was cast and within minutes {meaning less than 2}, Dallas had already caught a fish.

Then it was Hunter’s turn. He was a little skittish at first, but he quickly acclimated himself and jumped into the fun.

When I tell you that the second we cast a line a fish was on, I’m not exaggerating too much. I think the most we waited was about 5 minutes, but that was when I ventured away from the platform area.

Because the fish were biting so fast, the kids were constantly reeling in, and we were letting the fish go, we couldn’t bait the hooks fast enough. “We” meaning Eric.

You see, I grew up fishing…bass fishing in a boat, on a lake. I also fished off the pier at Daytona Beach every summer. As much as I enjoyed fishing as a child there were two things I wouldn’t do…1 – bait a hook and 2 – take the fish off the hook. Nope, not this southern girl. Hey, I had a granddaddy and daddy for that.

Well, that all changed yesterday. The sun wasn’t shining, but I know my granddaddy was shining down on me and my daddy’s thinking, “that’s my girl”… I’m sure they are so proud because I learned how not only to cut the worm, but bait the hook, and take the fish off those hooks.

But that’s where I drew the line….I was not throwing that fish back into the pond. They’re scaly, slimy, and they wiggle and jump. Now don’t think I didn’t try. I did. I tried a couple of times, but those slippery little suckers would jump out of my fingers and fall straight to the rocks below. Eric would have to come and fish {no pun intended} them out and put them in the water. Luckily, we didn’t lose any.

We mostly caught brim. I caught the first small mouth bass,

and then Hunter got one as well.

Poor Eric didn’t get much fishing in for himself. I tried to help the kids some so he could cast a few lines, but we were always running into trouble. I was either getting lines unstuck out of the bushes, “tossing” the fish into the rocks, or getting a hook stuck in my face.

Yes, you read that correctly…shhh, don’t tell my Mama; she might worry. It really wasn’t as big of a deal as it seemed in the moment. Eric was about 5 yards from us. I was trying to get one of the kids’ lines out of the bushes. I guess I yanked a little too hard and it jerked out and of course right in my cheek. I REALLY tried hard not to freak out because my kids were right there. I politely yelled, “Honey, there’s a hook in my face!” I was freaking out on the inside! The kids then freaked out. Eric, being my Prince Charming, came to my rescue once again. Luckily it really wasn’t lodged in my skin. It was just kind of stuck there. It didn’t even break the skin…Whew!

He got it out, and I really wanted to cry with relief, but the kids, bless their hearts, were really worried about me. So, I put on my big girl panties, or maybe just a smile and assured them I was fine and everything was ok. I had to get right back on that horse and bait more hooks because by granny there were more fish to be caught.

We had the best time!

I’m so blessed to have had a childhood made of fishing memories just like my kids will. I wouldn’t say it’s “relaxing” as a parent, but it is fun to see the excitement in my children’s eyes as they reel in their “catch” and see how big a fish they caught. The proudness that exuberates from them fills me up.

We might have had a non-sun Sunday, but it was such a Fun-day!