Autumn Table Centerpiece

I'm finally using a "new" piece of china from our recently re-discovered wedding gifts. This large serving bowl measures about 14" in diameter and it's about 3" deep. It would be perfect for serving dinner family-style, like pasta or vegetables. And the felted wool on the table under the dish is leftover from the table linens I sewed for our Little Thanksgiving Dinner for Two last year in Arizona.


Since the felted wool fabric was purchased last year, I'm not gonna include it in my pricing. And, since the dish was a wedding gift, it's also being included as a free fixture. So...
Fabric: $0
Dish: $0
"Zebra" miniature pumpkins: $1 each
Split peas: $0.72 per bag, two bags

I'm at a grand total of $7.44 for the pretty and casual Autumn themed centerpiece. And as a bonus, one of my little white punkins even still has the little curly vine attached!

A weekend in D.C.

This weekend we flew up to Washington D.C. One of Carlton's best friends from college, Peter, was getting married and Carlton was a groomsman in the wedding.

We left Moultrie on Wednesday night and drove to Cartersville. After staying the night at Carlton's parents' house, my dad picked us up early Thursday morning and drove us to the airport. While waiting for our flight, we met up at the neighboring gate with Ashley and Blake Witters, Julie Ahern, and Kevin Allen--all college friends flying out to D.C. for the wedding.

We landed in D.C. some time around noon, checked into our hotel, and met up with the other UGA guys we had chatted with at the airport. We stayed just off Dupont Circle, a beautiful area of D.C. Tt was a very nice neighborhood with great restaurants and easy accessibility to the metro for sightseeing and general getting around.

Hotel Palomar. I have to say, that designer tried a bit too hard to be posh, down to the huge twizzler and snakeskin/cheetah print carpet:

One of us gave Peter (the groom) a call to let him know we were all in town, and to ask where a good place for lunch might be. He smartly recommended a Greek place near our hotel that turned out to be excellent!

Mmmm, tzatziki sauce and fresh feta cheese atop the hot gyro sandwich!

After Peter surprised us there at the cafe, he took off to do his designated weekend-of-the-wedding groom's duties while the rest of us went to the National Air & Space Museum.

Carlton loved teaching his friends about space travel:
Kevin was really interested in space shuttle stuff:
It blew my mind when I actually read all the stewardess rules and regulations:

Thursday night, the group got back together for dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel, and then went back to our room to hang out, watch tv, and enjoy some drinks.

Carlton and I both enjoyed sleeping in very late on Friday. At 10:00 I woke up, and after a short trip out to get Starbucks, I finally got Carlton's eyes to pop open at 11:15. Wedding rehearsal duties for Carlton (including me, as Wifey Tagalong) started at 12:30 when we met at the amazing Pizzeria Paradiso for lunch before heading over to the hall for the wedding rehearsal. Then it was on the metro to Chinatown for dinner--New York strip or grilled chicken, yum!

Isn't this ballroom beautiful?

After all wedding rehearsal responsibilities were over that night, Carlton and I joined Dave and Stephanie McMahan (best buddies, they are, Big Brown Bear and Tall Skinny Ferret), Dave's parents, and Dave and Stephanie's daughter. It was beautiful to see so many Washington D.C. monuments at night. It was even a guided tour of sorts, because Dave's parents lived in D.C. for a number of years and gave a great background story to everything we could see.

The Capitol:

We were evacuated from the sidewalk where I took this picture, and about 30 minutes later we saw Marine One (President's helicopter) and its decoy (or was it the decoy and then Marine One?) land on the White House lawn. Cool!
The Vietnam Memorial was especially moving at night, with the very dim spotlights illuminating each carved name:

Lincoln sat tall and proud:

The Washington Monument was great at night, too. We walked all the way around it on our walk back:

On Saturday, Carlton and I caught pizza at the same place we had eaten the day before (it was soooo good!) and then went back to the hotel for Carlton to get ready. Once he left for pictures, etc I got ready and met up with Stephanie. We headed for the wedding hall at about 3:30, made the 10 minute walk, and made it just in time through the drizzle to get some great aisle seats so we could see all the wedding action.

The wedding, of course, was beautiful! Unfortunately, I left my camera in the hotel, so I'm dependent on Stephanie for ceremony and reception photos. :( The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour, and then heavy hors dourves, dancing, cupcakes, and drinks. Everything about the wedding was classy and very "Peter and Shaun" no doubt about it. Following the reception, believe it or not, they had planned for an afterparty at Dupont Club, a great bar near the wedding hall. Many of the wedding guests headed over there to celebrate with the newlywed couple for a few more hours! (The sangria was so delicious.)

It was so great to catch up with an old UGA river rafter friend, Nicole (middle) and make a new friend, Alison (right):

I even got a picture with the bride and groom! Surprise!!! Mrs. Courtney, Peter's mom, splashed in at the last second with her bright smile:

Alas, Sunday morning came way too soon, and Carlton and I were wide awake at 6am to catch the metro back to the airport and fly back to Georgia. Congratulations again to Peter and Shaun! Peter, you did a great job with the music and getting the vows right, and Shaun, you couldn't have been more stunning!!! Everything about your wedding day was beautiful. We wish y'all a lifetime of good beer, living abroad, WW2 stories, and so much more!!!

Oops, I just remembered.

It wasn't until I got home from work tonight that I realized something, um, rather important: we leave for Washington, DC tomorrow immediately after work! (Well, technically, we leave for Cartersville where we will stay the night, leave Vespa "on the farm" with Carlton's parents, and travel to the Atlanta airport at 6am Thursday morning for our flight to DC then.) Which means, I had to pack... TONIGHT! (woops.)

So I started laying out our clothes on the bed, attempting to plan out each day we will be traveling, sightseeing, shmoozing, sightseeing again, wedding-ing, shmoozing some more, and traveling again. Then, panic set in. What's the weather supposed to be like? Rainy?!?!!? Not good. And then there's the time schedule. Rehearsal starts at 2:00, and the reahearsal dinner follows immediately after at 3:30. Generally, rehearsals are semi-dressy, and at night. I originally planned for a cocktail-style dress and heels with tights, but with the daytime hours have changed my plan for that, I think. Plus, Carlton was planning on wearing a suit, and won't that seem a little funny, in the middle of the afternoon, to be wearing a suit to a pizza place? Maybe not in business-minded Washington DC....

Anyway, to calm my panic and disorientation about packing, what to pack, and how to get it all packed without losing my mind, I decided to make a list and sort out all the mother-of-a-mess of clothes I had created on the bed. Thursday: travel and then drinks in the evening; Friday: pizza place for lunch, rehearsal, rehearsal "dinner" at 3:30, evening"meet & greet" in groom's parents' suite for drinks, then night time guys-only drinks in groom's suite; Saturday: morning sightseeing with groom, late afternoon wedding, 5:00 reception, 9:00 "after party" with bride and groom; Sunday: travel, travel, and more travel back to Moultrie. Stress!!! Why didn't I remember that we were leaving tomorrow? Why didn't it dawn on me that we would have to be packed to leave by tonight? Dangit. And all I did last night was knit a sock. Dangit!

I calmed down once I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, wrote out our schedule, and listed off each article of clothing for each day and event for Carlton and myself. Whew! That really helped. Poor Vespa was so stressed out with me, she just conked out on Desert Rose and put all the responsibility for getting the job done on my shoulders for good. Now it's just a matter of getting a few undershirts and socks through the laundry, packing up the train case with toiletries, folding everything up to fit into the one suitcase, and keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't rain too much on Peter and Shaun's wedding day!

Yummo Potato Soup

For the past week or so, I have been in the mood for eating soups. I've had a few soups for lunch at work. And I've been wanting to make homemade chili and potato soup for dinner as well. Because the weather has suddenly turned so cool, I took that as a sign to get cooking!

This afternoon, Carlton actually accompanied me to the grocery store (GASP! That NEVER happens!). Because I had a strict list of aisle-to-aisle ingredients needed to make my potato soup and chili (no time wasted by skipping back and forth between aisles, we gotta be efficient!), Carlton agreed to tag along for moral support and general lighthearted company. (It's always nice to browse the aisles with a goofy buggy pusher alongside or behind you.)

Tonight was potato soup night. I think it turned out pretty tasty, and Carlton agreed enthusiastically. The only other potato soup I ever made from scratch was last year, and it turned out really salty, thick, and super rich... nice for a sinful taste, but very hard to eat as a meal. I was wary about making this recipe because it was derived from a few different recipes I found online and combined, and who really knows how that might turn out? I'm calling it Yummo Potato Soup because I was watching Rachel Ray on TV while I made my shopping list, and her vocabulary could inspire anyone to cook a yummo meal in 30 minutes.

Yummo Potato Soup

- Lots of potatoes (I used a whole bag of medium red potatoes and left on the skins after I scrubbed them really well)

- 4 tablespoons butter

- 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion

- 1/4 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 shallot, diced

- 1/2 teaspoon thyme (I had Herbs de Provence so I used that instead)

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon pepper

- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

- 1 cup half-and-half

- 2 cups chicken stock

- 1 cup milk

- 1/4 cup sour cream

- 2 cups shredded cheese

- 8 slices bacon, save drippings for seasoning

(Because I bought turkey bacon, turned the stove on to cook it, and pretty-much-instantaneously burned it because it was mostly fat free, we didn't have the bacon or its drippings for the soup. Word of advise: use regular bacon because it's real bacon and not some nasty turkey wannabe substitute. Did you know turkey bacon comes pre-cut with a scalloped edge so that when it cooks and shrinks up, it curls like real bacon? Yuk!)

Scrub potatoes and chop into bite-size pieces. Put into a deep pot of boiling water at let boil until the largest pieces are fully cooked. Mine were about the size of a nickel, and about 1/4" thick, so they cooked to be soft all the way through in about 10-15 minutes. Once cooked, drain potatoes and set aside until later.

In a very large cooking pot, start by melting 2 tablespoons butter and tossing in the chopped onion, celery, and shallot. Let this cook on low-medium heat until it becomes transparent but not brown. Add in herbs, salt, and pepper, stir well, then move all veggies to the side of your pot.

Toss in your other two tablespoons of butter. You'll make a rue by melting the butter on one side of the pot by itself and adding in the two tablespoons of flour. Stir these together until they create a paste (this is your rue, see photos below), and then mix them in with the rest of your veggies/butter mix. That will make your soup nice and soupy-thick like potato soup should be.

Stir in your chicken stock first to de-glaze the cooking surface of any buttery-veggie-goodness, then add the milk and half-and-half, and then work in your sour cream. At this point, you would also add in your bacon drippings and most broken bacon pieces (saving some for toppings). Turn the heat up to medium-high and let the creamy soup thicken for a few minutes at a simmer. Stir constantly to be sure it doesn't burn to the bottom of your cooking pot.

Slowly add in your 2 cups of shredded cheese, stirring constantly as you add it in. I used Velveeta because I wanted to be sure it would melt in easily and not clump up or be stringy, and it turned out great... plus, Velveeta now comes already shredded!

Once the cheese is melted in evenly, add your potatoes into the soup mixture and turn heat down to low. Cover and let stew for as long as you can stand it... which won't be long, because this stuff smells awesome!

I shredded some sharp cheddar and chopped some green onions to sprinkle over the top, and coated mine in a healthy, fresh cracking of black pepper. (It would have been more amazing with the bacon in the soup as well as some sprinkled on top, but with burned turkey bacon in the trashcan, what can a girl do?) With a little dipping action courtesy of Sister Schubert (freezer section yeast roll goodness wrapped up in a pie dish), this meal couldn't possibly go wrong!

(As a sidenote, I didn't use full-fat, full-sodium products. And as one result of that, we didn't have bacon in the soup, but hey, I could'a saved us from a heart attack for that one. ;) I used reduced fat sour cream no fat half-and-half, no fat low sodium chicken stock, and skim milk as substitutes for the real stuff. The soup was probably a little thinner than it would have been otherwise. I also chickened out of using the real stuff because that's what I did with the recipe I used when I made potato soup last year, and that was the soup we didn't eat because it was too rich and salty in the end I am glad I took the healthier route.)

Ode To A Toilet Paper Holder

Ode To A Toilet Paper Holder

Oh, Toilet Paper Holder, with your handsome brushed nickel finish in your original packaging,
How I ponder where to hang you in our slightly green bathroom.
The previous owners obviously liked you enough to save you from the grimy shelves of WalMart
only to lose decorating inspiration when you wouldn't really fit anywhere convenient.
They left you under the sink in the cabinet instead, alone in a dark and unfamiliar place.
I sit where I should sit for Toilet Paper Holder placement inspiration,
imagining you on the wall in front of me.


But that's right next to the shower and you'd only bruise my knees when I step out all clean.
(Plus, the poor TP would get soaked all the time.)
I turn to my left and spot the side of the sink cabinet.
But reaching that far to the side is like reaching too far back, and it's just plain difficult.


Should I open the cabinet door and hang you on the inside, away from plain sight?
Nah, that would hide your handsomeness. Plus, your screws would go through the door.


I can't just ignore you and leave the toilet paper perched on the lid of the toilet tank.
That would be a travesty for goodness sake!

Decisions, decisions.

Our inherited bounty

Top Finds When Moving Into A House That's New... To You:

(Some of these TOP FINDS are positive and exciting while others are depressing, funny, or gross. But it's all a part of moving in after someone else has just moved out!)

1.) Knife sharpener for both straight edge and serrated edge knives. Since we got a fairly nice set of stainless steel knives as a wedding gift over two years ago, I have used our knives just about every day and haven't sharpened them once. This summer, they didn't even really want to slice through tomato skins, so I knew I needed to hunker down and whip out that long scary pole sharpener that came with the knife set. But, eureka! Upon moving into the new-to-us home, I discovered a fancy knife sharpener in an unemptied junk drawer in the kitchen.

2.) Fleas in the front and back yards. Yup, you read that right... fleas! Poor Little Vespa with her fair pink skin and champagne fur has revealed countless little scampering fleas on her warm little undercarriage. What blood sucking insect wouldn't want to cozy on up on a belly like that? It's a good thing she's on her regular flea/tick/heartworm medication, or I would be even more worried. For now, Hubby is playing his part and spraying the yard with some serious stuff and that should hold down the fort for about 3 months....

3.) Light switches that make absolutely no sense. What. So. Ever. We have a light switch in the house that controls whether or not two other light switches actually work! I swear, it makes absolutely no sense. At all! We flip the switch ON and neither the dining room chandelier or the kitchen overhead lights will turn on. We flip the switch OFF and both dining room and kitchen lights are good to go. See? No sense at all! And what kills me is, the switch is in the living room. Yes, seriously.

4.) A lonely Lurch-like old man next door neighbor who yells at the neighborhood dogs all day. I actually watched our next door neighbor man this morning tromp across the street, shaking his fist the whole way... the way Tim Gunn shakes his fist, or like the President points... with his thumb facing forward. This neighbor man, he marched right up to the fence in the back yard of the house across the street from his and shook his fist and hollered at the dogs to stop barking. They would eventually stop. And then start again once he want back to his house. And the vicious cycle would repeat. While this may seem comical at first glance, I better NEVER catch him in our yard yelling at yippy littly Puppa, no matter what!

5.) An unexpected microwave. I was so excited with hopes that the previous owners would leave behind some of their cute furniture that I actually had a dream a couple weeks ago that they left all of it! Now, that didn't actually happen, but we did turn the key to our new home to discover a rather nice looking microwave sitting on the kitchen counter. Woohoo! That's one more appliance we don't need to buy.

6.) Drippy toilets. Two of them. And that's all the toilets our house has! While my parents were in town, my dad quick-fixed the simple issue with the hallway toilet and it immediately quit running. But he didn't get a chance to check out the toilet in the master bathroom, which is the reason that thing trickled and tinkled and kept me awake for two nights before Carlton and I decided to cut the water to it. My dad's quick fix to the hallway bathroom didn't work on the bedroom bathroom, but in my early afternoon frustrations yesterday I discovered the source! The half-shell shaped clapper plug isn't sealing completely, causing water to trickle constantly. Off to Home Depot we go!

7.) A fancy stainless grill with built-in thermometer and smoking chamber. That's right, guys, they just left it here. It's a good looking little grill, with a retro shape to it, and our grill was one thing we sold before we left Arizona, so this was a great surprise!

8.) Congratulatory wedding gifts left of the doorstep. The couple who lived here before us got married the weekend before the closing of the house. Their online wedding registries weren't updated with their new address until this week. I mean, how tempting was THAT! I had to call them and let them know that a gigantic package addressed to Mrs. Erin & Mr. Ted had arrived on our new doorstep. That Bed Bath & Beyond was calling my name, but I have a feeling those sheets would have been tainted if I had kept them for my greedy little self.

9.) No internet. None until the 14th of October. Carlton is going out of his computer lover's brain, just trying to hold onto that stolen single point of internet from a faraway neighbor's password-not-protected wireless router. Off to the Red Box for another $1/night movie rental!

10.) Unpacking our own wedding gifts after two years of waiting to enjoy them. We've gotten tons of use out of our casserole dishes, everyday china, and other kitchen necessary items. But I have been waiting for the day when we would be finished moving across town and across the country to open all the breakable, expensive, and extra special goodies. They've all awaited their grand opening in my bedroom at my parents' house for over 2 years, and we have had SO MUCH FUN in the rediscovery of all the beautiful (and some incredibly ugly and useless) gifts that were given to us!

11.) Surprise! A washer and dryer! That's right kids, the previous owners left behind a perfectly good washer and dryer. If we didn't have our very own HE front load washer and dryer that I love, we would be even more excited about this handsome somewhat-new set of appliances. This is a great set to sell at our next yard sale, and we didn't have to do anything but wheel them out of the kitchen!

12.) Our first real mail at our first real home. It couldn't have been better: Katie Anne sent us some precious school pictures! This was the perfect first mail to get at our new home! I opened the rusty little mailbox door and one lonely little yellow envelope smiled at me from inside. No bills, no junk mail, no wedding gift cards that would need to be turned over to the previous owner. Just a sweet, happy little yellow envelope with pretty little pictures inside. :)

Thanks, thanks, and more thanks to my fam for helping out so much! How much do we owe you?