Some of our favorite St. Augustine things...

So Beau and I had a great time in St. Augustine as you already know. A few months before our anniversary Southern Living published an article about some great things to do and see in St. Augustine. And thank goodness they did, that article led us to a wonderful little St. Augustine side street called Aviles. This street is a bit off the beaten path and was definitely our favorite spot in all of St. Augustine.

One of the highlights was Moultrie Creek Studios. This art gallery had tons of original pieces and lots of beautiful silver but he coolest part was the honey. One of the owners of the shop is a beekeeper. Beau and I couldn't resist picking up a jar. She told us all about how she became a beekeeper after years of unsuccessfully growing fruit trees. Originally she tried to hire out a beekeeper but that can be a pretty expensive service. So instead she took up the hobby herself and has turned the honey production into quite a successful and fun side business.

The second great spot was my favorite: Gaufre's and Goods. This quaint little Polish restaurant had so many delicious options it was almost too hard to choose. I eventually settled on one of their delicious spinach pies and Beau settled on a Nutella and strawberry covered waffle. It was literally the best meal we ate all weekend. Gaufre's is a must visit if you are ever in St. Augustine.


Not quite on Aviles but just around the corner was Santa Maria Restaurant. Now the reviews on this place were not great but Beau and I loved the look, the people and the best part of all the ability to feed the fish from our table! The waiter brought us a basket of bread and directed us to the small little cupboard-looking doors at the base of each window. Beau and I had a blast throwing bread out to the (mostly catfish) fish and watching them all scamper after it.

All in all, we had a wonderful time on our first anniversary. I still can't believe it's been one year. We've been so blessed this year and I look forward to all the memories we have yet to make. I'm so lucky to have married my best friend!

Anniversary bliss and wedding fun yet to come!

So this past Sunday Beau and I celebrated our one year anniversary! We have been so blessed over the past year. We had a wonderful weekend. In lieu of any major gifts we decided instead to take a trip. We left on Friday for Savannah and then spent the remainder of the weekend in St. Augustine. It was a beautiful but cold weekend. More on that letter but here are a couple fun shots from the weekend.





Beau and I have several friends getting married in the next couple of weeks. First up are Sydney and Walker (an absolutely amazing couple) and I was so sad to see that rain is predicted for this their wedding weekend. I thought back to my own wedding and complete lack of rain plan. I had a plan if the cake fell over (dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts stacked together) but no plan for rain even after we were all completely drenched at the rehearsal dinner. I thought that a little research on the topic was in order.

The first thing I found was this great website. These photographers had a zillion great ideas about how to make wedding day rain work for you. Not only do they provide idea but also links to great shops where you can purchase the cute items they mention. Reading over her ideas reminded me of some of the great wedding shots I'd seen while planning my own wedding. Tons of cute brides in rain boots and umbrellas. Shots so cute you almost hoped for rain on your big day!

How cute is this shot from Veil Tales?


Sweet Smile also has a ton of great shots from this rainy wedding!


One last shot from a photo website that lists some great tips and photos like this one.


On top of all that I found out that rain on a wedding day can not only lead to some adorable pictures but is also considered very good luck. Why you might ask? Since marriage is referred to as "tying the knot" and wet knots are harder to untie, the idea of rain on a wedding day leads to a strong, tough, and long-lasting union. Thank goodness Beau and I already celebrated the one year mark or else I might have started to get worried that it didn't pour on our wedding day.

Congrats again to all of our friends getting ready to tie the knot! Rain or shine we know that God is blessing your unions as He has blessed ours!

Polyvore fun...falling for grey boots

Find me on Polyvore

First time playing with polyvore...fun!

Apples pt. 2

Well I made a delicious apple cake with caramel icing but I was so busy gobbling it up that I completely forgot to take pictures of it.

As a result, Apple pt. 2 became "I made leaf garland". You guys know I love felt and I hadn't made anything felty in awhile so some fun, fall, leaf garland was in order.

Happy Fall!

You're the apple of my eye...part one!

Today Beau and I did something a little naughty. After sleeping in to the very late hour of 8am we decided to skip church. Skipping church for us means lingering over coffee as we watch Charles Stanley on TV and cuddle with our pal Frankie.

Today, believe it or not, we had a good reason, we woke up to a beautiful morning and decided to head up to the mountains. An important side note here is that Beau and I tried to head up to the mountains to go camping on Friday but alas after we packed the car and made it all the way to Red Top, we found that the last camp site had already been taken. We wandered around a bit trying to find another suitable campground but most of the area surrounding Lake Allatoona had been flooded and so no other campsites were open for business.

Today though camping was not our goal. Today we decided to head up to an apple orchard to go apple-picking.

After scoping out a few spots on the web we hopped in the car and took the 45 minute or so trip up to Ellijay. The drive itself would have been worth the trip. The leaves are not quite changing and the views are amazing. On top of the dozens of apple orchards there are a number of festivals going on at this time of year.





Our destination was the BJ Reece Apple House. Beau and I stopped first for lunch and a cup of hot apple cider each (the day started off surprisingly cool, fall is definitely here). Once we were full of yummy apple cider we headed out to the orchard to pick a 1/2 peck of apples which basically is around a dozen (or was in our case). Beau did most of the picking as he was taller and the good apples were closer to the top. Mostly it was just fun to be out on such a beautiful day and walking around.

Once our bag was full of apple goodness we headed back inside which is really a farmer's market of sorts. Beau got a muscadine slushy...I know, gross right? And we picked out some green beans and okra. Beau had a craving for some fried okra.

We headed in to downtown Ellijay to get a cup of coffee and walk around some more in the beautiful weather. We stopped in at a little store called "Trevor's General Store". Trevor, as it turns out, was the beautiful dog that was lounging around on the hardwood floor. We found what looked to be some delicious treats: five pepper hot sauce and vegetable soup starter.

We made our purchases and could not wait to get home to get cooking. Our original plan was to make cornbread, soup, fried okra and apple turnovers but once we got to cooking we decided our plans were much bigger than our stomachs and skipped the turnovers. We'll leave those for another day. In the meantime, our stomachs our full of delicious food and our heads are swimming with wonderful visions of this beautiful state in which we live. We are so blessed to have so many amazing destinations within only a few hours drive.




Part two: Apple turnovers coming soon!

Lots of fun and a love of tea

So it's been a whirlwind couple of months. I love, love, love my job and it's a good thing I do because it's kept me awfully busy for the last several months. I work for the largest sports endurance training program in the country and on top of that we raise money for cancer! Since this time last year I've coordinated 6 teams that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the fight against blood cancers.

It has been a ton of fun but also a ton of work. This past Sunday wrapped up the fall season with our Augusta 70.3 tri team. We had a very successful weekend with only one gal from the ATL team not able to finish because of bike trouble. I have no doubt she would have rocked the course just like everyone else if she hadn't encountered 3 flats in the first half of the bike course. The GA, SC and VA chapters all worked together to produce an amazing event weekend complete with one of the best local pasta parties I've been to. We raised a combined $215,000 and counting!!!

I've been so inspired by the work I've seen done lately that I am going to venture way, way out of my comfort zone and complete a triathlon next summer. This means swimming, biking and running. The swimming and the running don't scare me too much but I'm super nervous about the biking as I've not been on a bike in about 5 years.

If anything will get me back on a bike though it's the fight to cure cancer so look for me (helmet and all) in a bike lane near you starting next January.

That brings me to my love of tea. I've really enjoyed the challenge of the spring, summer and fall teams I've worked with this past year and outside of being a little sleepy now and then I've not had to deal with any illness. Thank goodness! I owe this all to tea.

When I was younger I loved tea but hadn't really been drinking much tea in recent years. Beau and I have been working towards being healthier since our wedding. We've both quit drinking, we're trying to be more outdoorsy, eat better, etc.

If you pick up any article about cancer-fighting foods you'll find tea. It's full of anti-oxidants and is just plain delicious. Some of my favorite flavors are orange spice, red roobios, and just plain green tea. On top of helping you to stay cancer free it can also

I used to be big on taking echinecea when I thought I was getting ill but lately I've been turning to a special brew from my friends at Teavana. I don't know exactly what you call it but I call it a miracle. Any time Beau or I even feel like we might be getting sick I brew a pot and poof we feel good. Which has led our household to refer to it simply as "Feel Good tea". This special blend of silver needle, roobios tropica, jasmine dragon pearls and moroccan mint is light, sweet and delicious. Not the least bit over-powering like some mint teas can be. If you ever feel yourself getting a little icky, go straight to Teavana and ask them for "feel good" tea. I'm sure they'll know what you mean. It's a bit pricey but worth the cost as it's kept us from colds, flu, etc. for at least a year now.

So now that I've told you about the fun I've had and the way I'm keeping healthy to have all that fun, I'm going to tell you about the fun that is left to come this year.

October 10: Light The Night Atlanta- It's not too late to join a team to raise money in the fight against blood cancer. Or if you don't feel like walking just donate to http://pages.lightthenight.org/ga/Atlanta09/jollysing

October 18: Beau and I celebrate one year of marital bliss!

November 22: St. Pete Half Marathon (I've been slacking on training so I've got to get in gear and get that mileage in)

I hope all is well with all of you!

Veggie Trader

I just think this is the coolest thing! It's a Craigslist for locally grown produce called Veggie Trader. Just register on the site and you can buy, sell or trade fruits and veggies. Obviously just like with any Craigslist transaction you need to be very careful when setting up a meeting location and purchase. Trust your instincts. Hmm. I wonder if someone out there might want some of our excess basil and jalapenos?