December Mega Post

Here goes cramming the last few weeks into 1 post, I won't even apologize again for my infrequent blogging, a new year will be a fresh start! 

December was filled with lots of delicious food, holiday lunch with my team at The Optimist, first time there and it was of course amazing. Banana pudding and praline beignets for dessert, a very productive afternoon followed ;-)

 Christmas party at Sheena's house!

Her adorable and delish Pinterest desserts -

 Guess who was the center of attention? :-)

Baby Austey of course!

"Get on the green!" they command him and he runs to that green mat, his tail was wagging furiously :-)

A happy hour at Noche in Brookhaven -

 Christmas cookie baking! From Pinterest recipes of course, giant ginger cookies and red velvet (I substituted white chocolate chips for dark). I broke my neighbor's electric mixer making them oops, it was super old and she wasn't mad. I got my own for Christmas :-) And Tim and Shana gave me this cupcake maker!

 Christmas presents all wrapped!

 Spent Christmas week at my parent's in Roswell, a crooked pic of our Christmas tree, I may have had too much wine at dinner haha, another oops.

Speaking of wine I have a new fav that Shana recommended, Vinho Verde, it's like 10 bucks and has a little fizz and is dry and not at all sweet. (Sweet wine makes me sick) I picked up a bottle for New Year's.

 Tim and Shana's first Christmas being married :-)

 All the Bentley siblings :-)

 I'd say this accurately sums up how a chunk of my time was spent last week -

Tim went out and got us Starbucks every morning he was there, married life is suiting him well ;-) I'm still reading the second installment in the Discovery of Witches series, it's really good but very long and dense so taking me awhile to get through.

We did venture out some, we always find ourselves at the Taco Mac down the road every time Tim and Chris visit -

Chris was over it ;-)

Tim's friend Josh looking like a random guy at another table who was not invited to be in our pic, haha

Then "Tana" (Tim and Shana's celeb couple name) headed back to Vermont that night, the weather was very different up there -

Jake's leg is shaved because he recently had surgery for a tumor but he is doing really well and should be just fine!

Chris and I saw the movie Django Unchained that night, it was good but definitely don't see it if lots of blood and violence bothers you. I wanted to see Les Mis :-/ I still haven't seen it someone see it with me please!

The next day Chris said he wanted to go into the city and see some areas he hadn't been to before, unfortunately Atl isn't super walker friendly like NYC but we drove in and made a day of it. We had brunch at the Highland Bakery, then walked around and stopped in some of the stores in the Little 5 Points neighborhood (I bought these TOMS, just classic I've wanted a pair for a long time :-) then went to Paris on Ponce, a giant antique and flee market.

No caption needed and don't worry my mouth wasn't actually touching it

My dad and I bought stuff there but Chris got bored after about 15 minutes which is weird because he just LOVES to shop ;-) Next stop was Piedmont Park, Chris and my dad's first time there.

 It was a cold but clear and sunny day.

We finished the day with SweetWaters at Smith's Olde Bar before heading back to Roswell. The only stop we missed that would have made it a more touristy Atl day was the Clairmont Lounge ;-) Um did anyone see the latest RHOA episode where they went there? I was really surprised they allowed them to film, I've heard cameras are strictly forbidden in there.

The next day Chris flew home (Kenneth from 30 Rock was on his flight) and my dad and I went on a hike up the Amicalola Falls, it is about an hour north of Roswell -

 

 I was sore the next day from climbing up those falls, don't know how all the little kids and dogs I saw there did it!

Weekend Updates

Thursday night (close enough to the weekend) was our first kickball game of the summer season - And we won!

 

Friday night I hosted a ladies book club, about 7 of us got together and we briefly discussed our fav parts of Tina Fey's "Bossypants" and just chatted the rest of the time, haha. We had lots of good food! Allison made her famous red velvet cupcakes much to my delight and some amazing guacamole. I made white peach sangria, Frito bean dip and chicken tortilla casserole.

Not a very appetizing picture haha, but super easy to make, found the recipe on Pinterest

Tim flew in town and has been staying with me, we drove to Prattville on Saturday for my cousin's wedding. It was at this beautiful old mansion -

 

Champagne toast

 

My grandpa, Papa Kidd, double fisting Corona's -

 A candid of my Aunt Brenda and Tim. Shana, Tim's fiance, couldn't come because of her work schedule so I sent her candids throughout the day so she'd feel like she was there :)

At our grandparent's house later that day, I sent Shana these old pics of baby Timmy, haha -

On Sunday Tim and I were out and about all day. We walked to the Broken Egg Cafe for brunch, shopped at Lenox Mall and Target (no Target in Burlington, Vermont), lunch at Five Seasons, yogurt at Yogli Mogli in the Highlands, saw the movie, "Safety Not Guaranteed" (cute and entertaining but wait to rent), walked the belt line trail close to my condo, then grabbed dinner at Whole Foods and rented "The Wrong Guys" that night. Needless to say I slept very good last night, was exhausted from all the running around and indulgent eating from the weekend. Time to get back on track this week!

Peach ale from Five Season, was so good

Mid Week Randomness

Sweet baby Pumpernickel is curled up asleep in my lap right now -

Earlier this week when we visited Unboundary and he met Baby H :)

Now get ready for the most random post ever -

Tonight I'm going with a couple of coworkers to Andy Cohen's book signing! It's at SCAD and I have no idea what to expect. Parker and I have discussed his outfit (Parker's outfit, not Andy's) and if we will be sneaking in alcohol in preparation for it, which we think Andy would love.

Admission is $10 or the purchase of the book, have heard it's funny so I plan on buying it.

I just love LA Fitness -

This has been up for months. So motivating to stare into plywood on the treadmill. The only reason I go is for the spin and pilates classes. This past Monday I went to my fav spin class, the teacher plays fun, upbeat music and has a great routine, and the mic hardly worked. Something dramatic/annoying happens every time. 

Yesterday after my lunchtime pilates class I was thinking about what I wanted for lunch, always a decision of utmost importance. The Trader Joe's carrot ginger soup I brought did not sound appealing. After much agonizing about whether to call Jimmy John's I decided to be good and grudgingly made a slow walk to the kitchen, was pleasantly surprised to find tons of leftover grilled chicken salad from Rising Roll (I think) from a client meeting.

My reaction -

Success!

My carrot soup just wasn't going to cut it again today. I think because I have smoothies for breakfast and then I just crave solid food come lunch time. Huh who knew. Mediterranean grilled chicken salad to go from F2O -

Yummmz

I'm trying to be healthy, y'all! And I just realized it's kind of sad that not only do I eat lunch at my desk almost everyday but I take pics of it.

Well while eating my massive salad I read this article on Tiny Buda, 20 Ways to Give without Expectations

I am really trying to be more loving and compassionate to those who I find difficult. (so if you're reading this you're either my family or friend so you don't count :) I feel like I can be so quick to make snap judgements about people and hold onto things that have happened in the past. Not only is that not how I want to live my life but at the end of the day I'm just hurting myself by causing unnecessary emotional suffering. Now I'm talking beyond surface level here, I *think* or at least I attempt to be kind and considerate to everyone I come in contact with on a day to day basis, coworkers, neighbors, etc. However I had a duzy the other day when my CBF (chronic bitch face) was out on a full display. I had a late night working the night before and was hunkered on my ergonomic ball chair with a diet coke and blogging the next morning at my desk at work (now you know why my blog is just so brilliant ;) and this one man came up to say hello and just wanted to chat. I won't go into too much detail on here but this was not someone I particularly wanted to talk to, we don't work on anything together and the extent of our communication has been him commenting and keeping tabs on the fruit in my fruit bowl. ("Oh someone just went shopping!") So anyways I probably gave him a super CBF look despite my attempts at surface level civility. I could blame it on my lack of sleep but I think it goes deeper than that, so I am working on cultivating a more loving and compassionate stance towards people who I may not have loads in common with, who at the end of the day I actually do as we both live on the same planet, have feelings, emotions, needs. (Yes I'm quoting from a love and compassion meditation I listened to last night, LOL)

Ok switching gears to another topic frequently covered on here, things I want.

I really want a basic everyday gold ring, like this one from Anthro -

Knotted Weave Ring

Obsessed.

Found on Pinterest a much cheaper one from Etsy -

Love Knot 14K Gold Filled Ring

I saw a gold ring with a gold circle on it at a booth at Summerfest on Saturday that I really liked too, but didn't like the price tag of 300 and something so much, didn't look worth it to me. And the lady who made it started going on about how the circle represents karma and was kind of intense so I just slowly backed away. Decided a $7 vintage cross to hang up in my condo was a much more reasonable purchase for the day.

Okay I will leave you with yet another quote from "The Now" app I mentioned in my previous post -

Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between those two extremes is peace." -Unknown

I know I'm just so deep. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday and takes time to reflect on how much we all have to be thankful for :)