best.cd.ever

I somehow convinced Bry to let me open one gift yesterday--we had been wrapping gifts all morning and will be doing Christmas early with my family since the two of us will be in Utah for Christmas this year. I gave him a few jcrew items and he gave me the owl city cd! which I said I wanted a few weeks ago and it is amazing people. They have a very postal service sound but it's easy to listen to an hour of their music and will be perfect for the plane ride coming up. I would really recommend trying them out.

Other weekend notables:

Celebrating with newly engaged friends at fun bars downtown

It was the weekend of high school, just about everyone I saw this weekend was in my high school graduation class...which is a good/not so good thing. I still enjoy just a few people from my high school and thankfully they were sprinkled amongst parties

Mad Men: Season 1--still in love

Watching the Christmas at the White House Special: Oprah and the Obamas, amazing

Cheddar popcorn, sundried tomato pizza, chocolate eclairs....enough said

Coming Clean

This is a post for all the single ladies out there (put your hands up!), haha ok enough joking. This is a serious post because I feel like it's time to share my SSB (remember this from sex and the city) yes, thats right, my secret single behavior. Some of you may be shocked, some of you may be appalled, and some of you may kindred spirits (if this is the case, leave a girl a comment of solidarity!).

For the record I know! I am not engaged, or probably that close to being engaged, though the talk of rings has picked up lately. We've looked at a few rings and discussed what I thought I might like, so it's not my fault--this SSB--once you try on a big sparkler I'd like to see you try to tell me the thought of having that thing on your hand permanently doesn't enter your ring-crazed mind every now and then.

So! without further ado I give you my secret shame:

my wedding files











I read somewhere that it's never too early to start collecting wedding day inspiration--obviously I took this to heart. The funny thing is though, I don't even know if I want to have a wedding--I don't like the idea of all that attention on me. Maybe a justice of the peace wedding followed by an awesome party or a destination wedding with few friends and family--I'm just not sure. I know it's supposed to be your decision as a couple and the options are pretty wide open but it seems like after you get engaged its decision making time (x 100)!

Finale

Who's it going to be?

We've had top chef parties every Wednesday for the last 4 months and now it's finally time to find out who the winner is. We sat through the tats and the piercings, not! appetizing Bravo..., through the Robin drama, and the "brotherly" competition. It's time to pick a winner winner chicken dinner!

I really really hope it's Kevin or the good brother, Bryan.


Pick this guy! pick this guy!


Please do not! pick this guy:


The picture says it all...what a jerk!

Prepping

I have been waiting for this to come on for two! weeks---and I am not a cartoon person, unless it involves Charlie Brown. It's tonight at 8:30 on ABC, yay!

We also watched this last friday:


Any other good holiday specials I should tune in for?

Weekend Recap

Our weekend was finally! spent at home, running errands, and doing holiday related activities. Friday night was spent celebrating Bry's application completion to UNC. He'll be applying to a bunch of other schools in the next few weeks as well! I cannot wait to have this process behind us and looking forward. We are so ready for a new city to explore and new job situations. Saturday was costco run/christmas shopping, followed by massive amounts of football watching. Sunday we finished decorating around the apt. and did our cards.


We signed, sealed, and will deliver all of our christmas cards this week!


We pulled out our little silver Christmas tree, circa my 4th year in college. It was decided that we won't get an actual tree this year. A curious cat and a mess of tree needles, left alone for a week, doesn't make for a good combo.


I also attempted these wine bottle decorations, from good housekeeping. I didn't make them into candle holders but used wrapping paper and ribbon in gold and brown to keep the look consistent.


I made this delicious! apple bread, taken from Southern Living.

Here is the Recipe:

Prep: 20 min.; Bake: 1 hr., 6 min.; Cool: 1 hr., 10 min.; Cook: 5 min. Sour cream is the secret to the rich, moist texture of this bread. There's no butter or oil in the batter—only in the glaze.

Yield: Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped, peeled Granny Smith apples (about 3/4 lb.)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake 1/2 cup pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 to 8 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 4 minutes.

2. Beat sour cream and next 3 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until blended.

3. Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to sour cream mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in apples and 1/2 cup toasted pecans. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9- x 5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chopped pecans; lightly press pecans into batter.

4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, shielding with aluminum foil after 50 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.

5. Bring butter and brown sugar to a boil in a 1-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and spoon over top of bread; let cool completely (about 1 hour).

Note: To freeze, cool bread completely; wrap in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

TGIT

Even though I'm on the road for work today and it's soo cold out--the little red netflix envelope I've been waiting for is here! Bry and I started watching Mad Men a few weeks ago and it is sooo good, and incredibly addictive. The characters are all developed so differently and the story always has some new scandal. I love being able to watch a show and go through all the seasons at once. If you haven't tried this one yet, I highly recommend it. The first few episodes are a little intense, a pretty strong dose of 1950s male mentality, but stick with it!, it evens out after that.

And we're back

Everyone setting thanksgiving dinner...

Sorry it's been a while! I took a little vaca from my computer over Thanksgiving but here is the recap--

We had a really fun and relaxing stay in my hometown. We got in Wednesday night after a two hour ride in the car with ms. reagan who screamed and meowed all the way. Thursday was fun--we went to work lunch at the local Daily Bread where they serve meals for the homeless or anyone who needs a hot lunch or dinner. We went through soo much food it was unbelievable. After that we went back home and put in the turkey, watching some football here and there, and getting ready for the big meal. The turkey Mom made was soo good--she used a Barefoot Contessa recipe where you spread butter and herbs under the skin of the bird before you cook it, yum! We didn't do the Black Friday thing...it's just not my style to get up at 4 am, unless it's J Crew related ;-) On that note we did hit both outlets on Friday and found out about the secret! J Crew warehouse sale later that day, I guess it was word of mouth only. We came back, haha, at 3 pm when they opened the floor of the warehouse--it was the best sale ever. I found this coat:


And these boots:


Saturday and Sunday flew by. We didn't do much except well eat...obviously, and take long walks with my parents dog. There is a pasture with a horse barn close to where we live so we took some carrots and apples up to the horses. Overall it was an awesome weekend and I needed the break from work like you wouldn't believe.


The kids...