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!

4th of July

Hey guys! Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th! I am all disoriented about what day of the week it is, so weird the 4th landing on a Wednesday. I'm at home right now waiting for a repairman to come fix my AC (more on that in a bit) sitting in bed, drinking iced coffee and wearing a Kiehl's white clay face mask. Tough life. So I said I'd try and take lots of pics over the holiday, here you go!

Tuesday night we went out for our friend Kyle's (far left) birthday in Buckhead

The group got bigger as the night progressed

We did the Red, White and Brews Buckhead pub crawl, every spot had a different shot to take. I only partook in two of the stops, I tried to be semi responsible and call it an early night.

Because I had to get up at 6:50 the next morning and didn't want to vom or pass out while running the Peachtree

Lori and I looking lovely en route to the race. I tell you what, figuring out driving and logistics for the PRR is stressful! They close Peachtree Road from Brookhaven all the way to Piedmont Park starting at like 5:30am, thankfully I spent the night at Lori's who lives in Brookhaven so I wouldn't be freaking out trying to figure out how to get over to the start of the race from my condo. Me + Directions + Not knowing different and creative ways to get around in Atl + Early morning + Having gone to a pub crawl the night before = Would have been a disaster of epic proportions

But we finished! Was definitely glad to have it done. My dad emailed me my finish place and time - I finished 11,866 out of 57,754 total finishers with a time of 59:08. I didn't pass out or vom so I consider it a success.

Hanging out waiting for the rest of our group to finish

Just a few people came out for it...

 As I'm trying to make my way home from the race later that morning (stupid street sweepers) I received a call from someone in my building informing me that my AC was leaking into the unit below me, happy 4th to me! I came home to discover a giant ice block up in my AC, so I put down lots of pots, pans and towels. I had never noticed this and had not seen any problems. Somebody is coming out today to hopefully fix it.

After dealing with my AC drama and taking a much needed nap I headed over to hangout at Chrissy's pool, it ended up being a very fun and relaxing day.

 Scott/Kitty used a carrot to cut off a piece of cookie cake -

No comment about that

After pool time we walked over to Truffles for dinner (Chrissy/Pony and I had the black bean burger and mac and cheese that was delish)

Then watched the fireworks at Lenox -

Pony and baby bwown beayah ♥

"Living free in America!" he yelled oh, once or twice.

Kitty bought everyone ice cream from a scary truck

My Bratz pop cycle thing, I threw it on the ground after a few bites.

Pretty fireworks! Thankful to live in a such a great country and city :)

Weekend Pics

Friday night celebrated Allison's birthday at Figo - How time flies!

Looking like twinsies as usual

Birthday tiramisu ♥

 dfdf

In case you haven't noticed I just started using my Instagram app, I know I have such an artistic eye

After dinner I headed up to Roswell for the weekend, some pretty hydrangeas in my parent's yard I snapped the next day before it started raining the rest of the weekend.

Just bein' Annie

 

Tim and Chris flew in for the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day - Whenever they are in town there is never a shortage of beer to be found around the house. On Saturday after some of us went to the Roswell Arts Festival we sat out back and watched the rabid chipmunks and squirrels and drank beer and ate snacks.

 

Annie thinking, "Is this some kind of sick joke? Why am I still outside? I don't like to be away from my couch this long, let me inside, betches!"

Mother's Day dinner at Bella Italia with the fam

Please note Chris's sweet smile :)

 

I gave my mom this thermostat cover from Etsy, it's super cute but was a little lop sided :/ So be prepared to make some adjustments if you order one. I want one in a fun color like this one. Just think if it weren't for Pinterest I wouldn't even know about thermostat covers, how did I survive before pinning?!