Weekend Recap.

I've had fabulous weekends the past two weeks!  Which consequently has meant that I have been on the go go go and the amount of blog posts that I have been writing has suffered.  I do have to say that although I love blogging the amount of fun that I have been having has been a welcome exchange.  

Weekend before last I headed North to Indiana for The Covered Bridge Festival with my friend Ashlee.  We ate fried food and shopped for unique treasures.  I picked up some great finds that I will be adding to our living room.

The day started out a little rainy, but the sun peaked through the clouds for a beautiful afternoon.

Usually at The Covered Bridge you will find an interested mix of crafts, antiques, junk, and plain 'ol weird.  We found the weird booth.  Hair at a flea market.

What do you think?  Should I go blonde?

But seriously, its always great seeing Ashlee.  She is such a good person.

This past weekend I had a couple visitors from Indiana!  On their way down to Florida my friend Kristy came for a visit with her friend, Michelle.  She's my only friend who loves movies more than I do!  We went sight seeing in Chattanooga which included Ruby Falls and Point Park.

Oh, the splendor.

The real fun was heading to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium and the Coke museum. 

The aquarium was fantastic.  I saw Beluga whales.

And I touched this nasty thing.  I'm still washing my hands.

The coke museum was by far the highlight of my weekend.   I love Coke.  More than chocolate.  Seriously.

This is where the secret recipe for Coke is kept. Well, that's what they told us anyway.

The last part of the museum included a tasting room where you could try all the different Coke products from around the world.  Don't try Beverly.  I repeat, don't try the Coke product called Beverly.  Barf.

Because if you try it you will make this face and want to spit it out.  

On that note I am going to conclude this post.  :)  Like I said, it has been an amazing past couple of weekends!

I'm linking up with:

 Sami over at Sami's Shenanigans

Alli at Life On Leroy

Lowercare Letters

Fallish Things.

Over the weekend we did Fallish things.  We were fortunate to have our two good friends, Dianna and Tyler, visit from Indiana.  We took advantage of the turning leaves and cooler temperatures to indulge in some of my favorite things.

Scarves, and leaves, and warm blankets in the chilly air.  Homemade apple cider sangria, hot soup, and catching up with my friend that I miss so much.

I think the secret to a great Fall weekend is a warm cozy home, some good comfort food, and cider. Scented candles, a couple snuggly blankets, and something pumpkin won't hurt either.  Sometimes the hubby thinks I stress too much over the details so I have been trying to simplify (for my own sanity) and at the same time not give up some of the fun planning.  I've found that if I add in a couple of key details and let the rest of the weekend unfold unplanned I have so much more fun!

So before the weekend started, I scoured Pinterest to find a few recipes that I though would compliment our weekend.

I found the recipe for this Sangria on Pinterest.  I didn't think to snap a picture until I had already eaten out the apple chunks.  This recipe was great and you can find it here.  I will definitely be making it again.  One of the reasons that I loved it was because it didn't require a trillion obscure ingredients.

I also made this slow cooker cream cheese chicken chili.  It was super easy, very filling, and yummy.  Typically, I don't make meals using ingredients that aren't fresh so this soup with cream cheese and a ranch packet was an indulgence for us.  You can find the recipe at Plain Chicken.  I will definitely keep it in mind if I ever need to feed a crowd.  I doubled the recipe and we had tons leftover.

Picture found at Plain Chicken

Did you do any Fallish things over the weekend?

P.S.  I also put out some outdoor Fall decor and managed to get poison ivy ALLLL over my ankles... I would definitely appreciate any home remedy suggestions!!!

Linking up with:

Birthday Weekend Recap.

Over the weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday!  I'm always telling Caleb that I don't really feel like an adult, but this birthday it really hit me that I am all grown up {well mostly!}.  I've been married and out of school for several years now, we own a house, and our friends are starting to have babies.

Even though I'm a grown-up, I don't think you are ever too old to celebrate!  After all, celebration is what makes life fun!

For my birthday weekend my sister and mother-in-law came down to Chattanooga to help celebrate and we took a mini road trip to Chickamauga to try out a new little cafe that I heard about called Chocolate Therapy Cafe.

We dined on chicken salad, pimento cheese, and fruit before moving on to the main course.  Dessert.

Just looking at these pictures makes me drool a little bit.  We chose to get a platter with a little bit of everything.  Creatively, the platter is called "Family Therapy."  So cute.

The chocolate cobbler was my favorite.  It was like the best molten lava chocolate explosion experience that you could possibly imagine.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On the way back we listened to some good tunes, enjoyed the sunny day, and stopped at a roadside farm stand.  

They had pumpkins!!!

Then on Sunday {my actual birthday} Caleb and I went to Cloudland Canyon.  It was beautiful.  More on that later!

What did you do this weekend?

I'm linking up again with Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Update!

In Between the Busy.

I'm sitting outside right now.  And I'm a little bit cold.

After the summer that we have had this is a pretty profound statement.  Along with the rest of the South, I was excited to look at the weather report and welcome cooler temperatures for the weekend.  Speaking of weekends... its become this crazy habit that Caleb and I squeeze in every little bit activity possible between Friday evening and Sunday evening.  This is one of the first times that I have sat down with nothing to do but relax.

Friday we had our very first dinner guests {aside from family when they helped us move in}.  Caleb grilled his famous chicken on the grill and I took the opportunity it make some recipes I found on Pinterest that I had been dying to try.  I made:

Hasselback Potatoes
Recipe and picture via Seasaltwithfood

They were delish, but I kinda skimped on the butter.  Lesson learned.

Roasted Okra

Recipe via All Recipes

And this recipe is double yum.  When I told my friend that I was going to roast the okra she was worried that it would turn out slimy, but if you roast it long enough its perfect.  It has a little bit of a crisp and is perfectly salty.  Definitely is keeper.

         

Snickers Salad.  So good!

Recipe via One Good Thing.

Since I was using the oven for both of my sides and I needed something relatively quick, this was perfection.  It was a hit and I'll definitely be making it again.  The best part is that you only need a few ingredients.

Image from Indulgy.com

Saturday I was invited to brunch with some ladies that are married to Caleb's co-workers, we went on a bus trip to Jacksonville State for the UTC football game {lets not even talk about that... UGH!}, and then concluded our weekend activities by meeting up to watch the Colts/Bears game this afternoon and buying a new sofa and love seat.  Phew!  Busy Busy!

In between all that craziness, Caleb and I found time to enjoy the pretty weather out on our deck.  There aren't many things better than Sunday brunch and relaxing with a good book.

What did you do this weekend?

P.S.  If you haven't already, check out Operation Beautiful over at Shane's blog Whispering Sweet Nothings!  Its all about learning to appreciate the simple things about yourself.  She will be featuring each woman who enters.  Love it!

I also linked up with Sami's Shenanigans Weekend Update!