Kale Chips = Deliciousness!

Yes, you heard that right, kale chips are delicious. Yesterday I was browsing a new blog that I found from an old friends facebook page, Salootay, and I came upon a recipe for kale chips. Since I am recently on a kale kick, I thought this would be a healthy snack to make when I got home from work. Plus, any excuse I have to hop in Whole Foods for some fresh veggies is good for me!

The chips were delicious and I am going to be sure to make them again. It was hard not to eat the whole batch myself, but I had to stop and pack some to go with my lunch at work today. Click here, Salootay Recipe for Kale Chips, to get the details on the recipe. I promise, you will not be disappointed. Happy healthy snacking!

Valentines and Picasso

Valentine's was spectacular! My day started out with these beautiful roses delivered to my office from my dad. After work Josh and I had plans to go to the High Museum of Art to see the From Picasso to Warhol exhibit. It's a bit hard to convince Josh to go to a museum, so I decided to trade roses for a trip to the museum! (I secretly knew my dad gives me roses every year, so I figured these were enough right?!)

You will have to excuse the poor picture quality. I was scared to take my nice camera to an art museum because usually you are not allowed to take pics. I snapped a few with my camera phone, sans flash of course, but it's just not the same.
For those of you who might not recognize the sculptures above, these are from one of my most favorite artists of all time, Constantin Brancusi. My favorite piece here is the "Bird in Space" sculpture in the back on the higher column. It is magnificent! I was probably the most excited about seeing his work and of course there were also a couple pieces of furniture created by Frank Lloyd Wright that I might have drooled over as well.


Picasso is Picasso! Seriously, I don't need to tell you who that is right?

It was fun seeing all the famous Campbell's Soup Warhol creations as well. There were so many of them and I loved looking at each one.

Warhol's self portrait print is pretty spectacular. Love all the bright colors and overlaying of the colors. Very cool to see up close and personal.

This piece entitled "The Dance" by Henry Matisse was much bigger than I expected. I has seen pictures of it before, but it did not prepare me for the actual size. Love, love, love this one.

After the museum, Josh and I grabbed a quick bite at the Haute Doggery! If you are ever craving a "gourmet dog," it's the place to go.

Suddeth Christmas 2011

After a few nights in Florence, Josh and I made the next trip to Charleston for the Suddeth family Christmas. I guess I was a little tired, because I don't have as many pictures to show for it, but I did manage to get some cute ones of the kids.

Jeddie and his family had just moved so it was fun to celebrate Christmas in the new house. Mom and Granddad made the trip from Columbia, and dad came from Summerville to share in the fun. It's always a great time when we get together and I love watching the kids grow up.

Ripley has grown so much. Above you can see her relaxing while checking out her new Tom's. I personally think she should be in a commercial for them!

Ripley loved Josh and here you can see her relaxing while Josh holds her.

Cokey loves the camera. She might be a model one day and I can start her career! Just kidding, I am so not that good of a photographer, but I will take credit for it if she makes it big. I mean, she is the cutest right?!!

Adelaide was a trip. She loved her new doll and Jeddie is in the background watching his new movie. He was so into it that it was hard to remember to close his mouth. We kept telling him flies were going to get in! Didn't work though.

After the trip to Florence and then the trip to Charleston, Josh and I were exhausted, but it was work every yawn and mile we drove home back to Atlanta to create more memories with both of our families. I look forward to the next time we get to see them all.

Hesley Christmas 2011

I know it's February 16, and yes, I am just now letting you know how awesome my Christmas was in 2011. Let's just say that I have been a little out of touch, but it's time I refocused and dedicated more time to letting you guys in on all the fun I have been having. (I mean, I do sort of tend to have a great time!)

Ok, let's rewind to Christmas 2011. Here are some pics from Florence, SC with the Hesley family x-mas:

Josh loves his white jeans, maybe he was hoping for a white christmas. I say wear white whenever you want, even if the rule is being broken because it's after Labor Day. Whatever.

Here is Josh's family. From left to right we have Sam, Jack, Linda, Elizabeth and Josh. Pretty cute family! Nilla, Catie, Perry and I were ousted from this pic apparently!

That's ok, we made this picture. Nothing like some fun sister(in-law)ly fun after vino and dinner before Santa comes. The next pic involved picking Nilla up, but I liked this one better!

And of course we can't leave out the life of the party. Catie and Perry make Christmas magical! What adorable little nieces we have. I love them so much.

Decking the Loft

Tis the season to "deck the halls" or loft as we like to say here in our home. Friday night, like we do every year, we loaded Hunny up and headed to get our Christmas tree. It was a little chilly out, but not too bad, so that was nice. Our first year here in Atlanta we bought our tree from a random temporary tree salesman, but since then we have learned that Lowe's has some pretty reasonably priced and great looking trees. Yes, we take Hunny to Lowe's.

Above you can see Hunny and Josh on their mission to find the perfect tree. The dog loves smelling all the trees and gets tons of attention from the other customers there on a similar Holiday mission.

We finally found the perfect one. Just off the truck and ready to be loaded up on top of the car to be taken home for Hesley Christmas 2011.

There she is, just hanging out, waiting for her arms to settle a bit before she is decorated. She looks lonely and bare, but don't worry, she has a date with decorations the next day.

Complete with lights, decorations, her friend Rudolph by her side, and even a couple of presents to guard until Christmas day. She looks 'purdy' if I must say so myself and the smell of Christmas permeates the loft perfectly.

Even Hunny got into the Christmas spirit and donned her Christmas collar for the day. She particularly likes to nip at the various ornaments around the bottom. I think she is trying to find her favorite Golden Retriever ornaments that look just like her. She found one.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone from our family to yours!

Thanksgiving 2011 in Charleston

Thanksgiving was amazing this year. To start the weekend off, Josh and I drove all the way to Summerville Wednesday after work to stay with my dad. We got up Thursday morning and headed to Jeddie and Jessica's for a fun filled day of family, food and cheer.

We got to Charleston just before lunch and Josh said that he wanted to go ahead and give me an early birthday present. I was very excited because if you know me, you know I love presents. Thank goodness Josh gave me my present early because as you will start to see, my pictures are going to be much better and more abundant. Thank you Josh for my new camera!! I am so excited to show you all the pics below that I took.

Isn't Cokey adorable? This is Jeddie and Jessica's second child and she is precious. She is the perfect helper in the kitchen and even became quite the little photographer as I showed her how to use my new camera.

Adelaide is their third child and she has lots of spunk. She pulled me into the bathroom, turned the lights off, and started singing Christmas carols with her illuminated Santa making cool streaks in the darkness. Her favorite is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Ripley is the fourth child and she can hold her own. She loves to bop up and down to music and shake her little booty! I had not seen her in quite awhile and she has changed so much. I can't wait until Christmas to see her grow up even more.

Mom brought Granddad down to Charleston as well. He spent the night in little Jeddie's room, which Jeddie thought was pretty cool. All the kids call him "Little Grandpa" which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. He sits back and watches the chaos of all of us running around and playing with the kids. I am not sure he can hear all that is going on, but mom gives him the low down later. He is just happy to be there and we are happy to have him as well.

I had to get a quick pic with granddad myself. His is the sweetest and most patient person that I have ever known and I can't imagine a world without him. We are lucky to have him in our lives.

Of course we can't forget about Scout. Had to throw one in of him because he is Hunny's best friend and she would have gotten upset if I didn't!

Here is little Jeddie, Adelaide and big Jeddie chilling and watching some football.

Last year Little Jeddie received all of 'my brother' Jeddie's old Star Wars toys. Here he is playing with one of them as Jessica grabs him for a quick picture.

Cokey and myself enjoying the beautiful weather while the boys do something in the yard.

Pretty sure my dad hasn't had to drag kids on the floor around his ankles in a long time. The girls had the best time as did Dad. It was hilarious.

This is my favorite picture of Dad the whole weekend. I caught him in the best smile while relaxing on the porch.

Here goes Ripley again bouncing up and down to music. That girl has more rhythm than me, but I am certain that isn't very hard.

I jumped out from behind the garage and tested out my new paparazzi style camera. Got a pretty good snapshot if you ask me. I love my new camera to death and can't wait to show off more pictures like this one while catching people quickly and not having them to hold their pose for 3 seconds while the flash prepares and the camera focuses!

And then here is sweet Hunny. I can't believe she is 12 and still pretty active. She has select hearing, but this weekend she had a blast visiting at Dad's house and going on road trips galore.

La Boda de Male y Manuel en Mexico

This past weekend we went to Merida, Mexico for the wedding of our dear friends Male and Manuel. Male lived with the Mauldin's down the street from me one summer while I was working at Handpicked and Melanie introduced us. We quickly became great friends as did all of my other buddies! When we heard that she was having her wedding in Mexico there was absolutely no hesitation on our part to be there. We have been so excited and 11-11-11 will always be a date to remember.

The picture above was taken the first night we were there at a place called Rosas y Xocolates. It's an amazing boutique hotel in Merida. From let to right is Caroline, Kay, Susannah, me, Manuel, Male, and Josh. We were celebrating the wedding which was the next day and just happy to all be together again.
The ceremony was at a beautiful church in Merida. The doors were open and the breeze was flowing. It was the perfect night for a wedding. My most favorite part of the weddig was when they draped the bride and groom with flowers. Male's dress was gorgeous as well!

As you can see above, the night got pretty crazy. With the reception starting about 10pm, dinner lasting until after midnight, the partying really got started about 12:30am. We kept the time a secret from Susannah and Kay's mom, Carey, and she ended up hanging until 3am. There were props gallore and everyone dressed up and had a blast. Carey, Susannah, and Kay look great in the party attire!

I had to throw in a serious shot of Josh and myself. Josh was such a trouper on this trip. Traveling with 4 women is an ordeal I am sure and he was very patient. Many thanks to him for keeping us in line and on time!

Josh got the sombrero during the reception and I quickly snapped a pic both with the groom and then the bride. You can tell at this point that Manuel is having a blast.

And here is the pretty bride with Josh!

The night ended at about 5am for everyone and the next day was rough to say the least. It was well worth it though. Even getting pulled over by the cops in Cancun the next day and getting duped out of $75 to get my license back was worth it to have witnessed this matrimony. Note to self, only turn around on Mexican streets at the Retorno. Ugh.

Thank you Male and Manuel for including us. We had such a great time and want to do it all over again!