FSU Weekend

I am so thankful that we got the spend the whole weekend with my family! Unfortunately, we don't get to see them very much because of the distance so these weekends are amazing. There was a big chance that Stephen might have had to work over the weekend but last minute he was able to come and I'm so thankful he was there too. 

When we got into Tallahassee, we met up with my sister and headed straight over to Thomasville, GA. This little town was about 45 minutes from Tallahassee and it was so adorable and quaint. There were tons of cute boutiques with all sorts of fun knick knacks, but the coolest part was that the buildings and floors were all original/historic.  

We met up with my parents and ate lunch at Jonah's Fish & Grits. This restaurant was adorable and was based off the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale. They also had Christian music playing in the background which was pretty neat. The food was delicious - I had the grits and house salad. The salad was so delicious and the grits were good, but not as good as the grits we had in Charleston.

              

The inside of the restaurant was super quaint and the food was delicious! 

 

I saw this in a store and had to take a picture because it's so true!

This little dog wouldn't move from the dash and had a little diaper on - too funny to not get a picture

After lunch and a little window shopping, we got cupcakes at Small Cakes. We split a cookies and creme cupcake and it was delicious! After cupcakes, we walked around and took some pictures together. Side note: I was super excited to finally get to wear my plaid scarf.

 

After that, we headed back to Tallahassee and went to a few other stores with Caroline then headed over to dinner at the University Center Club which is in the stadium and overlooks the football field. 

This is Brody - he's the resident bulldog at the local sorority boutique on campus. He was too funny to not get a picture of.

Dinner at Doak

Saturday afternoon we headed out to the game and tailgated for a little before heading up to our box seats. It ended up getting cold so we were really thankful for the box seats.

 

Sunday we woke up early, ate breakfast at this neat bagel shop on campus then headed out. The only thing that made leaving not terrible was the fact that we're going to stay with my parents for a whole week for Thanksgiving. Can't wait!!

Stephen and I have started the tradition to stop and eat lunch at Red Robin every time we head home on i-95. Stephen loves Red Robin but there's never been one near where we live and this one is about 45 minutes away from our house so it's the perfect pit stop for lunch or dinner. We ended our trip by splitting a hamburger and browsing through HomeGoods.

Five on Friday: FSU

This weekend we are heading up to Florida State to see my family! I am so excited! The last time we got to see my family was in August, so this trip is long overdue. Today I'm going to showcase some great FSU game day wear - even though I will not be wearing any of this and won't look very festive for the Noles (short story - I don't have any garnet and it's going to be cold).

One

We all met up at FSU last year and had a great time! Here are a few pictures of our trip from last year. 

We saw Jack Nicklaus in the elevator going up to the box seats and Caroline was the only one brave enough to ask for a picture!

Two

If I actually went to FSU, then I'd invest in some great, staple game day pieces. I love this dress! The simple cut, the stripes and the adorable hint of gold on the bottom of the sleeves. Great for a perfect game day.

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I'm loving the back of this shirt. You can pair it with jeans, white pants or a great pair of shorts for the perfect game day outfit.

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Four
Obviously I love me some stripes. I love the cut, neutral colors in the dress and the pop of color in the garnet bow. The long sleeves make it a great dress for chilly games.

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Five

Okay, this doesn't have to do with FSU or football but I had to throw it out there - I have to applaud Carrie Underwood for her performance at the 2014 CMA Awards. I'm (surprisingly) not into country music but I love a few of Carrie Underwood's songs. She's an amazing singer and performer. I had heard about her controversial song Something in the Water when she first came out with it, but I listened to it for the first time when watching her performance on Wednesday. I think it's such a great message and I'm so thankful that she got on live TV and sang a song with such a great/strong Christian message. I cannot believe that people are all over her for it! I hope she stays strong and continues to stand up for her Christian faith. 

Goat Cheese Pasta

On Friday, Stephen and I decided to make this recipe. It is supposed to be roasted red pepper and sausage Alfredo but we ended up adding our own twist to it - mainly by taking out the red pepper and using brats instead of Italian sausage. However, what drew me to pin it was the fact that it had goat cheese in it. I LOVE goat cheese and anytime I can add it to a recipe, I will. I didn't add the full amount of goat cheese the original recipe called for but probably should have since the leftovers were a little dry after heating it up in the microwave.

I was too lazy to get roasted red peppers then puree them in my blender. We also decided against the Italian sausage and used brats because Stephen loves them. The brats added a sweeter flavor to the pasta than the Italian sausage would have. You can honestly use any type of sausage you want - the taste may vary though. 

 

 

Ingredients:

- 3/4 lbs of sausage (we just used a standard size package of frozen brats from Publix)

- 1 small to medium size onion

- 1 clove minced garlic

- 1 tbs olive oil

- 1 1/2 cups of milk, plus 1/4 cup for the sauce

- 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, plus 1/4 cup for the sauce

- 8 oz goat cheese (we used 4 oz but I think 6 oz would work best)

- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- 3 handfuls of spinach 

- 12 oz pasta of your choice

- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook your sausage. In the original recipe, they say you need to remove the casing of the Italian sausage and then saute the meat. Since Stephen and I used brats, my recipe will be slightly different. Stephen boiled the brats until cooked through (about 20-30 min). Meanwhile, chop and saute the onions.

2. While your brats/sausage is cooking, place the garlic and olive oil in a large skillet and turn on medium heat. Stir in the chicken broth, milk and pasta. I added a little bit of pepper for taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until the pasta is cooked through (about 15-20 min). I noticed I needed to stir this a few times since the liquid does not fully cover the pasta, some of the pasta on top was Al Dente. If you notice that all of the liquid has been absorbed, add the additional broth and milk that was set aside for the "sauce". 

3. Add however much spinach you choose (we used about 3-4 handfuls), stir into the mixture and cover so the spinach cooks quicker - stir occasionally until wilted. Add in the sauteed onions and cut up brats.

4. Stir in the goat cheese and Parmesan cheese until melted through. Remove from heat and serve!

Monday Rambles

I cannot believe October and November is actually here!! This year has been flying by! I swear it gets faster and faster every year and I've heard it's even worse when you have kids. I need to make sure that I slow down over the upcoming holiday season and enjoy every day and not wish for the next event to come sooner. 

On Nov 1st, the Lord blessed us with the most amazing fall/winterish weather. Even though there were like hurricane force winds, it was cold outside for the first time this season. I broke out my sweater, jeans and boots and loved every minute of wearing them! I really hope this weather stays around, especially for the holidays! 

Beautiful weather and winter clothes warranted a selfie

Since it is now officially November, I had to change my chalkboard for Thanksgiving! I made a few different chalkboards for my wedding using large picture frames from Ikea and chalkboard spray paint. For my wedding, I used chalkboard pens and not traditional chalk so there is still an "imprint" of what I wrote for the wedding. I'm too lazy to spray paint it again so let me know if you know of any other ways to get rid of the imprint. I wish I had better chalkboard decorating skills, but I was pleased that I didn't have to redo this board a few different times.

Here's my last random thought for the day - Kirkland's had 75% off all Harvest and Halloween decorations so I had to run down there during lunch and see if they had anything good. Most of everything was picked through but I did find myself 2 good finds for only $5! I was so excited to find the little mason jar block (last one left!) and it was only $1.50. Anyways, if there's a Kirkland's near you, check it out and see if there's any fall things left to snag at amazing prices. Be careful, they're getting all their Christmas decorations out and you'll want to buy everything.

Five on Friday: Happy Halloween!

One
For the last couple of years, Stephen and I have carved a pumpkin together. This year we got lazy with it and decided not to carve one. After we got a small pumpkin for the pumpkin dip I made this weekend, we kind of wanted to carve it. Turns out this pumpkin was fresh and very hard to carve so we kind of shaved a face into the pumpkin (if you can call it that).

2012 Pumpkin - struggle city

We went to a "real" pumpkin patch in 2013

2013 Pumpkin - Nothing easier than a "H"

2014 Pumpkin - back to the struggle city Publix pumpkin 

Two
Now that you've seen the pumpkins we've made in the past, here are some pretty pumpkins that I'd like to make with fake pumpkins once we have a house and can store them.

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I LOVE this little pumpkin! Perfect for a Thanksgiving table setting via

Three
Apparently we're supposed to get some real fall weather this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! I'm so ready to break out my jeans, long sleeves and dare I say it? Jackets! Random - I know I kind of keep talking about vests but here I go again... I've been wanting to get this vest (trying to hold out for Black Friday) and it dawned on me to get it monogrammed! I figured it's a cheaper vest, not a big deal if it gets messed up, monogrammed vests are super adorbs so why not?!

Four
I recently got a Bloglovin' account and I feel like I've been missing out on a huge portion of the blog world! I haven't used it much regarding reading posts and whatnot so we'll see how it goes. I am happy that there's an app for my phone and tablet so I don't have to go through Blogger to get to my blog list. (If you want) follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking here to stay up to date on all my posts! Stephen's going to make me an icon this weekend like my instagram/facebook/pinterest ones - thank you hubby!

Five
I don't know who else loves the Duggars but I love their show, 19 Kids and Counting. I used to watch it a lot a few years ago, then kind of fizzled out of watching it, then got back into it when the girls got older and started dating. This week Jill's wedding aired and of course, I watched the whole thing and loved it! It was such a precious wedding and it brought me back to my own wedding - except ours wasn't on tv and we had 130 guests, not 1,000+ guests but whatever. Jill looked so beautiful and they looked so happy.

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Even though Jessa and Ben are getting married tomorrow, I'm excited to see Jessa's engagement next Tuesday. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's hooked on the show.