In full-fledged Christmas spirit!

Many of you shared gifts that you have bought/ plan on buying for your significant other and I thought I would share what I have in mind for S. He is an avid golfer and a huge UK fan so he's not too hard to shop for :)

The first thing I thought of and am definitely getting him:

{via}

{via}

He not so subtly hinted that he wanted one of these (he doesn't know it yet, but I was already planning on buying him a new one)

{via}

He really needs... (the case that it is)

{via}

I know he really wants this, but not sure if I"m going to get it for him yet..

{via}

 A few other ideas I've had for him...

{via}

{via}

I think this could be a great idea for a guy.. Did I mention that I recently subscribed? I'm super excited and I think a lot of guys would love to get a little package in the mail every month with some goodies to try out. Don't get me wrong though, by no means is S the metro type (totally the hunting, fishing, hiking, manly-man-type), but I think he would still secretly like this ;)

{via}

I can't wait for S to come to Connecticut this year (I went to Kentucky last year) and we are still planning a trip to snowy Vermont for New Year's :) I still can't believe that I will be able to go home for over two weeks (16 days total). Just one more reason why I LOVE my job. I don't even think my teacher friends can say that!

He won't actually get there until a couple days after Christmas, but will still be there for at least a week. We have yet to get a tree for our apartment (it will probably be a mini tree this year) and I am sooo excited to go to the Festival of Lights at James Island County Park again this year. My favorite part is the fire pits where you can make s'mores, my favoriteeeee<3

From two years ago:

Who doesn't love Christmas lights on palm trees?

Last, but not least, tonight is the Navy Christmas Ball! I'm leaving work a little early to get ready and cocktail hour starts at 1900 sharp. There may or may not be a little pre-gaming going on before that ;) We picked out a new suit for S last night as they are not required to wear their dress uniforms to this event and he looks super sharp and handsome, can't wait!

Pictures to come!

Hope y'all enjoy your Friday and the weekend! Anyone have any fun plans???



Weekend Update!

I am back in blogging action after our long weekend to Kentucky. I wasn't ignoring anyone, promise! I just got caught up this morning replying to comments, etc. I have however, been pretty good about keeping up on my reading. Looks like some of my blog peeps got to participate in some really fun Halloween/ Fall festivities :)

Where do I start?!

**Warning - This post is going to be photo overload of puppy cuteness.**

Wednesday after work, S and I hit the road to Lexington, KY to stay with his family for our long weekend.

NC Blue Ridge Mountains

We got in pretty late so we slept in a little the next morning until we had to get up and drive to Louisville to pick up our new little fur baby!

Now the purpose of our trip to Kentucky was not originally planned to pick up our little guy, but to go to the fall Keeneland meet to watch some horse racing. It just happened to work out perfectly that we were able to locate a family who just had a litter of German Short-haired Pointers in the area around the same time. I had been a little apprehensive about getting a puppy, but after some discussion, GSP was the breed that S and I decided on.

I'd like to introduce you to Gunner!

To be honest, he was a lot bigger than I expected him to be! He is 11 lbs right now and growing every day.

After spending the rest of Thursday at home, we decided to take Gunner on his first hike at The Pinnacles in Berea, KY. It was a relatively short hike and he did a great job! S and I had to take turns carrying him, but we knew that was to be expected.

 I couldn't believe how far you can see from the lookout!

 

 Tired little boy!

Beautiful fall day!

 After our hike and dinner on Friday, we got a bonfire going in the new fire pit. It was a beautiful night.

Saturday was Keeneland day and my first time attending a horse race. It.was.awesome. Out of 10 races, I picked at least 3 winners, but we still didn't really win a whole lot. We were betting very small amounts just to make the races a little more interesting. I had an awesome time.

It was windy and COLD. I was so happy that I opted to wear jeans and boots instead of a dress. The girls that wore short dresses and bare legs looked ridiculous on an overcast, freezing cold day. I was soo happy

to wear my cozy new scarf that I purchased from Etsy!

 The horses coming out to the track..

 And they're off!

It wasn't that crowded (probably because of the weather) and we got there early so we claimed our spot right up against the fence in front of the track. We couldn't have been any closer!

When we got home from Keeneland, S's mom whipped up some awesome chili, I made this cocktail, we got a fire going in the living room fireplace all while snuggled up with our new little pup and watched Avengers (again). It was the PERFECT fall evening. Oh, and it ended by taking a dip in the indoor hot tub, can't forget the best part!

We got back on the road around noon on Sunday to get back to Charleston. All in all, it was a great autumn weekend! I will leave you with a few more pictures overflowing with cuteness.

He lovesss playing with his lamb.

 Good morning horses! (S's family has six horses!)

 They were actually quite interested in him...

Gunner and Katie

 Sunset over the farm.<3

The end.



InstaTuesday!

Hey y'all, sorry I've been a little MIA since last week. Even though I've been feeling better, I've had this headache that just won't subside. It comes and goes all day long and makes me want to do nothing but lay down with a pillow over my eyes :( Anyway, today has been a little better which is a good thing because I have lots to do before we leave for Kentucky tomorrow!

Weekend update: Friday night, we didn't do too much, just stayed home and made a yummy din with shrimp cocktail and pork tenderloin on the grill. We vegged out at home for the night because we had planned on getting up on Saturday morning to head up to the lake for the day/night. It was a beaUTiful day so we rigged up the Ranger and took her out.

It was a REALLY windy day on Saturday so the lake was pretty choppy (it's a huge lake, btw). I had been out on the boat before when it was choppy like that, but this weekend was the first time I ever got sick from it! I had gone down in the cabin to get my phone out so I could take some pictures and when I came back out, I started to get a headache. Shortly after that, I started to get reallyyyy nauseous and it went downhill from there. I was trying so hard to not get sick and begged S to take us back to shore. Luckily since we were planning to stay the night and had rented a cabin, I went and laid down for about an hour and napped. That was the only thing that was going to make me feel better. It was such a bummer. The boys took the sailboat back out for an evening sail (3 dudes = so romantic) and even though the lake had calmed down a lot, I just didn't want to chance it. So I stayed behind and baked them cookies :)

Sunset on the lake..

I didn't sleep that well on Saturday night in the cabin for some reason so Sunday was kind of rough. I had wanted to go to Boone Hall Plantation to pick out pumpkins and do the corn maze, but I just lost all motivation and we ended up staying home all day and watching football.

Since we weren't planning on going anywhere, I decided to make a crock pot meal and try out a new recipe for Chicken & Dumplings. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but here is the recipe that I found on Pinterest.

{Bubble Crumb blog}

It.was.awesome. S has a collection of recipes from his mamaw, but hers uses an awful lot of Crisco so I decided to try this one out. He LOVED it. I wouldn't change anything about this recipe, it came out perfect. I got a little nervous before I put the dough in for the dumplings that it might come out to watery. No worries though, as soon as the dumplings cooked a bit, it thickened right up. I highly recommend it!

Yesterday was a typical Monday. S was supposed to have a softball game, but it got cancelled. I was supposed to work out, but got lazy again. I was also feeling a little overwhelmed thinking about all the things I needed to do before we leave tomorrow. So as if I'm not feeling overwhelmed enough, let's add another Pinterest recipe to the mix. Last night I decided to try out another one called Spicy New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. They are not lying when it says SPICY!! We love spicy, so it was okay, but our mouths were on fire (in a good way).

 Here is the picture from the recipe.

{Return to Sunday Supper blog} 

And here is my picture!

I was pretty impressed with myself, I'm not going to lie. I followed the recipe exactly and found that I probably could've used a little more sauce so I added a little more olive oil/chili sauce/worchestire/hot sauce/etc. until I felt that I had enough (not a whole lot more of each). I also didn't refrigerate 4-24 hours like the recipe suggested because let's be honest, who has time for that? I think it came out just fine. I also made New Orleans yellow rice to go with it and crusty french bread like the recipe calls for :)

S was pretty impressed and proud of me for trying some new recipes. I think we'll have to add these into the regular rotation as they are both fairly easy (especially the crock pot recipe) and I can't wait to try out some more!

Does anyone have any favorite recipes that they have made recently or found on Pinterest???

   

Weekend update!

Wow, I can't believe I'm actually posting ON TIME about the weekend! Go me :)

Friday night, S and I had a great night. He was craving sushi and I wanted hibachi so we decided on Wasabi downtown. Once we got to the restaurant and I started looking at the menu, I decided that I couldn't pass up their sushi and got that as well. I have to say though, I was pretty disappointed. I should have gone with the hibachi after all. I got the Love Honey roll and some kind of shrimp roll, not impressed.

Also, while at the restaurant (I wish I had a picture), there was a girl that came and sat with a group at a table close by us. I could have SWORN it was Leighton Meester. I was convinced it was her! I was even searching on my phone during dinner to see if there was any news of her being in Charleston. I thought it had to be her for sure. S wasn't too thrilled about the fact that I was doing this, but I have watched hours upon hours of Gossip Girl, it's one of my favorite shows! In the end, I don't think it was her after all, but she definitely has a twin here haha.

Once we got home, we just had a quiet night in. S got the new Tiger Woods game for PS3 so he's all about playing that game. I'll watch for a little, but I'm always so exhausted, I always just fall asleep on the couch on Friday nights (I feel soo old....)

On Saturday, we got up kind of early, S wanted to go fishing again. We picked up some bagels for breakfast and some other snacks then headed back out to the beach. It was a beautiful day and I was hoping that I would be able to get some more reading and tanning in, but it was soooo windy. I pretty much stayed wrapped up in my beach blanked with a hoodie on the whole time. I brought a couple magazines and watched S fish.

After we had been there for about an hour or so, he finally thought he had something. There weren't many people at the beach that day, but it had started to pick up around this time. By the time S had the fish out of the water, there were probably about 15 people standing around him, it was pretty exciting. The fish was a Red Drum aka "red fish" and it was over 36" long and had to weigh close to, if not more, than 20 lbs. Check it out!

 So proud :)

On Saturday night, we headed over to our friends Jeremy and Nicole's house for their "post wedding party". It was nice to see them and a few other friends that S works with. I finally got to wear my skinnies and boots and I can honestly say I was freeeezing that night. I had to crank the heat on the way home, I just couldn't get rid of the chill!

On Sunday, we had invited a bunch of friends over for Sunday Funday. We brought our bedroom tv downstairs so we could have two football games going at once and we had a house full of good food and good friends, it was very fun.

In other news, you may remember me talking about us getting a puppy a little while back. S has been on my back about it for a pretty long time. He goes through phases where he'll talk a lot about it then stop for a while. Well, the other night he brought it up again, but this time he was very serious about it. I think he just doesn't feel right not having a pet to care for since he grew up on a farm with cats, dogs, and many other animals.

We had talked about getting a German Short-Haired Pointer. I think they are beautiful dogs, from what I understand, they have a good temperament and although they are hunting dogs, they make great family pets. A couple days after our conversation, S was talking to his dad up in Kentucky and he said that a friend of his from work just had a litter of GSPs. The owner sent us some pictures and we picked out one that we like. Since we are going to be up in Kentucky next weekend, it worked out perfectly that we would be able to bring it home with us.

We talked about names a little bit, but this is seriously like S's baby and he wants to "wait to see what the personality is like before we commit". We talked about Scout or Gunner, but we'll see I guess haha. Here is a pic of our little guy!

I've never really been a dog person, but I feel this could cause me to convert. I can't get over how cute this little guy is and I know that he's going to be even CUTER in person. All I can think about is taking him to the dog park, on runs/walks, and snapping all kinds of cute little pics. I know that he is going to make S super happy so how can I not love him, too :)

Last order of business: I finally decided on a dress for Keeneland! Now that I am officially obsessed with Rent the Runway, I have been stalking their site for every occasion I can think of. I decided on this little Anna Sui number....

{Rent the Runway}

I know it's quite different from what I was originally thinking, but I think it's going to be perfect and I really wanted something that would match my boots. I didn't want anything with too full a skirt, because I know I will have to wear a sweater or jacket over it and I will also bring tights just in case I get cold. Now, I just need to find a jacket or sweater to wear with it!

Oh, I also made a my first Etsy purchase last week! I wanted it for the racetrack and just in general because I think Kentucky will be a little colder this time of year than South Carolina. I'm really loving the color cream right now (as well as burgundy) and I think it would make a very versatile piece. How could I resist a handmade crocheted scarf for $35! I think it was a great deal.

{Yours Truly}

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Monday!