Pumpkin Bread

Over Thanksgiving Break I got on a baking kick and wanted to share my new favorite recipe.  I remember eating pumpkin bread as kids with my oldest friend Brooke, and was so excited when she put her grandma's recipe in our wedding recipe box.  It's super easy to make and absolutely delicious.  Thanks for sharing, Brookie!

Grandma Jean's Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 cups flour

3 cups sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. all spice

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 (15oz) solid canned pumpkin

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift all of the dry ingredients together.

3. Beat the eggs and oil and then slowly add the dry ingredients.

4. Add the canned pumpkin and mix well.

5. Bake in 3 well-greased loaf pans (or 5 small ones, like I did) for 60 minutes.

They make great holiday gifts and freeze well. 

Enjoy!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  We had a great holiday break full of family, friends, football, and lots of food and are definitely not ready to go back to work tomorrow.  :) I only snapped one picture the entire week...

See Santa behind us? Since it's after Thanksgiving, CHRISTMAS has officially invaded our house, and I thought it should invade the blog, too. :) 

"Today (one year ago) was a fairytale" -Taylor Swift

What a special day!

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are surrounded by family and friends, yummy food, and good football. :)

Second, today marks the one-year anniversary of our engagement! Time has flown by, and I am so incredibly thankful that the man who got down on one knee a year ago today is now my husband.  I often think about that day and the sheer joy and excitement it brought.  Gaines planned the entire thing perfectly and being able to spend the entire weekend with him, my family, and his family was icing on the cake.

Just in case you want to relive the engagement weekend, too, here's our story (get it!? am I wearing that out?) again: 

Right before heading home for Thanksgiving Break, Gaines and I said goodbye and I expected to see him in a week. On Wednesday my family headed to our river house, where we always spend the holiday.  After a day of hanging out together, my mom started to get dinner ready around 5:45pm.  She looked in the 'fridge and said "Oh my gosh! I forgot the onions for the steaks!"  so my sister and I said we'd run to the store. As we pulled into the driveway ten minutes later, Dales looked at her phone and said she needed to call her friend back and would be right in. Thinking nothing of it, I went inside with the onions, but my first thought was that my mom, dad and brother weren't inside like they had been earlier. Two seconds later, I realized that Gaines was standing there next to candles and my favorite flowers with our song playing in the background.



I ran over to him, and he said sweetest things before asking me to marry him. :)

I...

said...

YES!

After about five minutes he called my mom, who walked in with my dad, brother, and sister, who had been hiding at our neighbor's house....followed by his mom, dad, and sister! They had driven up from Georgia that day,  and we all spent the rest of the weekend together...

ate a great Thanksgiving meal...

and snapped a few engagement pictures.

  It was absolutely perfect! 

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. :)

Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving right around the corner tomorrow, I wanted to jot down a list of things I am thankful for.  I am blessed in so many ways and want to always remember the little (and big!) things in my life. 

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 So, here is my list of 50 things (not comprehensive and not in any order) that I am thankful for:

1. God

2. My husband

3. My family

4. Gaines' family

5. My friends
6. Health

7. Our house

8. Love

9. UGA
10. Freedom

11. Music

12. Laughter

13. Pictures

14. Electricity

15. Contact Lenses

16. Vacations

17. Phones

18. "The Rivah"

19. Internet

20. Ann Taylor Loft

21. Weddings

22. Target

23. Warm bed

24. Coffee

25. College football

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26. Lazy Sundays

27. Seafood

28. Television

29. Wine

30. Jewerly
31. Us Weekly

32. My car

33. Prayers
34. Good books

35. Sunsets

36. Pizza

37. Memories

38. My job

39. Blogs 

40.  Running

41. Surprises

42. Holidays

43. Encouragement

44. Great shoes

45. Dogs

46. Running water

47. Optimism
48. Yesterday

49. Today

50. Tomorrow

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Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

NYC

I just got back from the best weekend in New York with my mom and Dales. We hadn't all been there together in a long time...

so we soaked up every minute.  Mom and I took the train from Richmond to the city on Friday (which is definitely the best way to travel!), walked around while Dales was at work, and found a great lunch spot on Madison Avenue. 

When Dales came home (her aparment is way bigger than I imagined!) from work, we walked to a fun sushi place for dinner and spend endless hours that night talking and laughing until our stomachs hurt. 

We woke up early Saturday morning, grabbed Starbucks, and walked through Central Park. It was such a great place to people watch and thankfully the weather was gorgeous. We spent the rest of the day walking and chatting and shopping and eating.  A perfect day if you ask me. :)  The only touristy thing we did all weekend was take this hilarious pedal taxi to get to Bloomingdales.

We went to a neat Mexican restaurant for dinner on Saturday night, spend more hours gabbing, and enjoyed a great brunch on Sunday.  Dales' place is super close to Sutton Place, so we walked by the fabulous apartments and stopped by to enjoy the great view of the East River and Queensboro Bridge.

I am so thankful to my mom for arranging the entire weekend, and I am so proud of my sister...

who went from being an NYC tourist all those years ago to an official NYC resident. :) 

Empire State of Mind

With nine days off for Thanksgiving Break (I know, I know, you hate me) and Gaines on a Father/Son Fishing Trip at the coast...

I am off to the city that never sleeps!!!

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I haven't been to NYC since I was young, so I cannot wait to explore the city with my two favorite people-- one of which is our own personal tour guide now that she's a New Yorker. ;)

In the words of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys...

 "These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York."

Be back Monday!

Guest Bedroom Update

A couple of months ago, I posted pictures of our guest bedroom and mentioned that yellow pillow shams would be coming soon.  After two orders, one cancellation, and five months later, I finally have them!

Add in the white window panels, and it's a very small update, but an update none-the-less. :)

Happy Wednesday!

On My Bookshelf

I recently finished reading...

[Heaven is for Real]

which is a true story about a little boy named Colton who visits Heaven during emergency surgery.  Thankfully, he lives to tell about his short journey with his family, such as how he sat with Jesus and met desceased family members.  His message is simple, but powerful: Heaven is real, and Jesus loves us. 

Here are couple of my other recent favorites:

[The Help]

which is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi and told from the perspective of three women: Aibileen (the African-American maid), Minny (Aibileen's tell-it-like-it-is maid friend), and Skeeter (the young, white college graduate).  Skeeter publishes a book about "the help," in which she reveals the truth about how African Americans are treated in the South...from their perspective.  It is definitely a must-read (and now a must-see movie!!). 

[Chasing Harry Winston]

which also follows three characters: NYC best friends Emmy, Adriana, and Leigh.  As they come to terms with the fact that they are almost thirty, they decide to make resolutions that will inevitably change their lives.  It is definitely a "chick flick" kind of book, but entertaining either way. 

And of course my all-time-favorite series

(that can't possibly be summed up in a couple of sentences):

[Harry Potter]

I am always looking for good books, but especially before a long Thanksgiving Break.  Any good suggestions?! :)

Story Time

The past couple of weekends, Gaines and I have mentioned how nice it is to not have big plans.  For the past year it felt like every weekend was filled up months ahead of time with things like football games, wedding showers, family events, etc.  and when we didn't plans, we were working hard to fix up the house.    

Not that all those plans weren't fun, but for the first time in months, it seems like we can just enjoy our weekends.  And trust me, we do. :) This weekend, for instance, we:

ate Mexican

watched a movie

slept in

watched lots of football (speaking of, how 'bout them dawgs!!!)

remembered Gaines' Uncle Fred

hung out with family

played cornhole

sat around a bonfire

cooked a big breakfast

tried out a new church

went for a long walk

grilled steaks

and relaxed

On Saturday night all of the Story's headed to Charlie and Melissa's house for a night full of chatting, BBQ, cornhole, football, and marshmellow roasting.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but here is one from our wedding, which shows everyone who was there (minus Michelle and Jennifer!). 

I am so lucky to have such a big, wonderful second family that lives so close. :)

P.S. Countdown to see my family: T-4 DAYS!

Gooo Dawgs

This is the weekend that the DAWGS play the Tigers...

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and I am sick with anixety! Not only do I want to beat the defending National Champs, but I really, really want to see my team play for the SEC title, and a win today could potentially get us there.

Fingers crossed...

and GOOOOOO DAWGS! 'sic em. woof. woof. woof.

#90sgirlproblems

First of all, Happy 11-11-11!

And second, Happy Veterans Day!  I am so thankful for all of the veterans who have served our country and for all those who are serving this very second (including my cousin Ben- love you!).

And last but not least, since it's Friday (which always reminds me of old school TGIF on ABC), I thought it would be fun to share tweets from "90sgirlproblems." I recently started following the hilarious account on Twitter, which relives the "problems" of the 90's. The tweets immediately brought me back to my childhood and instantly had me wishing that decade could continue forever.  Here are some of my favorites:

If I don't become Mrs. Lance Bass, I might die.

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My parents won't let me watch MTV.

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I shot 369 pounds of food, but could only carry back 200 pounds. #oregontrail

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What happens to tamagotchis after they die? #afterlife 

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I've blown in the cartridge 3 times, and Donkey Kong Country still won't work. #nintendo

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His away message is totally trying to make me jealous. #AIM

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I forgot to buy a disposable camera for my school field trip tomorrow.

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Ugh. I just broke my nail playing pogs with my brother.

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I don't have the cute ski suit outfit for my American Girl doll.

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3 minutes is never long enough for the Temple Run. #gobluebarracudas

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I wish I could see The Beets play in concert. #doug

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I'm way too emotionally invested in Cory and Topanga's relationship. #boymeetsworld

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My glow-in-the-dark stars keep falling off my ceiling.

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I don’t have enough keychains for my JanSport backpack.

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I just ran out of beanie baby tag protectors.

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I CAN'T FIND MY FLOPPY DISK.

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Did you flashback to the 90's? :) Are there any others you would add?

You can follow "90sgirlproblems" here.

Hope you have a great weekend!

We Met, We Married, We Moved

Like so many others, I am obsessed with Pinterest.  There are so many good ideas on one website, and I just can't get enough.  One of the very first things I found was this great idea that uses maps to show where a couple met, married, and live...

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While I still wasn't crazy about the hearts, I loved a similar picture I found that showed each map in a seperate frame without the captions...

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Not only did we need something over our bed, but we met, married, and moved to three different places...how perfect!

Conveniently, we already had three black frames that I had bought at Michael's a while ago. One of them was actually hanging over our dresser (with the originial black and white picture inside) and the other two were stuck in a closet.

 With the frames taken care of, I jumped on amazon.com and found three Rand McNally maps, which all arrived at my doorstep within about a week.

I simply cut each map to fit inside the frame, added some wire to the back, and ta-da! It was a simple, inexpensive project that not only matches our bedroom colors perfectly, but has extra special meaning.

We met...

[Athens, Georgia]

We married...

[Deltaville, Virginia]

We moved...

[Waynesboro, Georgia]

I am so excited at how well this little project turned out. :)

Oh, and to fill the empty space above the dresser left behind by the frame, we added a silver mirror that we already had.

Happy Wednesday and Happy DIY'ing!