san fran, take 2!

so a few weeks ago, nathan and i got the chance to go back to san fran for a salesforce training. we went a couple days early and enjoyed seeing the city. let me just say- san fran is incredible. i mean,  great vacation spot. there was so much to do and see, so much to eat, and the weather and atmosphere was just spectacular. we got there early saturday morning, picked up our rental car, and headed into town. traffic was crazy, so we parked and started to walk and then, among the masses of people, realized it was fleet week, which is this awesome expo of the navy, marines, and coast guard. there were men (and women) in uniform everywhere, and the harbor was full of all sorts of ships. plus, there were constant airshows going on, including the blue angels. it was pretty cool. so we took that in a while, ate some in-n-out, and enjoyed the city. we added it up and walk at least 9 miles that day, and it was great!

sunday, we did more of the same- although we did drive across the golden gate bridge to explore muir woods, where the red woods are. they were HUGE, and quite beautiful.  they were ancient (many of them older than our country!) and quite tall. it was such a refreshing morning, soaking in God's incredible creation. 

the rest of our trip was just as fun- we ate at some incredible places, tasted many yummy cupcakes, plus i learned quite a bit at my salesforce training. nathan had to go home on tuesday so mom flew out at the same time and she spent the rest of the week with me. we did more of the same- good food, cupcakes, and sight seeing.  it was such a great trip- time with two of my favorite people doing some of my favorite things!

mom and i went to see the sea lions, we shopped, saw the "painted ladies" and the place where full house was set, shopped, ate more cupcakes, and probably my fav, took tea at this awesome tea house. it was fantastic- just all of it. i love my mom and this trip was quite special.

if you're heading to san fran, let me know- i'll tag along :)

back to school: viking kitchen edition!

so last night, my mom joined me here in the city for a little event that i was quite excited about. i love my mom, and i am always enjoying her company (in fact, i am quite thankful for her! read about that here). she invited me a few weeks ago to join her and a ladies group that she is a part of for a cooking class. i, loving all things kitchen & cooking, of course agreed and put it down in my planner. so last night, we met up at lenox and headed over to the viking cooking store on peachtree. wow! what a cool place! we walked in and headed back to the teaching kitchen, and i felt like i was on the set of a food network show. joining 10 other ladies and the head chef, we spent the evening preparing meat in many different ways, and finally, after about 2 1/2 hours of prep, enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

i have attended other cooking classes before, but this one was done quite excellently. it was the perfect balance of instruction, fun, hands-on-ness, and yet not too intense or stressful. we relaxed over cheese and crackers, and could visit while we chopped onions, stuffed pork chops, prepared popover pans, and reduced cabernet for cabernet butter. i picked up some grilling tips and made some new friends, and went home with a full belly!

i would definitely recommend these classes if you have a viking store near you. definitely fun for a date night, birthday present, just because, christmas present, anniversary present, team building exercise- really, i cant think of an occasion it wouldn't be great for!

in addition to learning (& eating!) we got to do a little bit of shopping. mom picked me up a few "sweet treats" as well as some for herself. my personal fav? i'll let you guess:

did you guess the hot pink colander? duh silly! of course that was my fav!

all in all, a great night. check out their schedule here.
bon appetite!

my birthday extravaganza!

so as many of you know, yesterday was my birthday...the big 2-3! i know, i know- i'm getting old :)

let me just start by saying that i have been blessed with some incredible people in my life. my friends, my family, and now my husband- they are all just great. as much as i enjoy a good celebration and a day all about me, i can't help but reflect on all the special people who have played a big part in my 23 years on this earth....from the dr that delivered me to the people i currently have on speed dial- and all the folks in between. i am truly blessed.

tuesday, i took a half day off work and mom and ash met me to go do a little shopping day at perimeter. early that morning though, ash called me and had a surprise for me- she had made me a pumpkin apple streusel cake for breakfast and brought it by the office for us to enjoy over coffee (well, i had coffee). it was so delish! i didn't get a pic, but it was super yum- i enjoyed much of it!!!!!

we left and noon, not in search of much but wanting to just enjoy some girl time, we enjoyed looking at all our favorite stores and i even picked up a few fun things- my favorite of which might be the pink glittery le creuset spatula :) mom also treated me to a beautiful mirror to put over our dresser- i had been on the hunt for one. i've posted pictures at the bottom so scroll there to see!

after several hours of browsing, mom, ash, & i stopped by our place so i could show them our improvements and awaited the arrival of nathan, charlie & dad.

 the six of us then headed  to dinner at what i now believe i can say with some certainty is my favorite restaurant in atlanta- floataway cafe (check out my review on yelp here) and then stopped by cafe intermezzo for a little dessert before heading home (their bosco is thebomb.com, i mean, really!) nathan had stopped by floataway on his way to meet us and dropped off some beautiful stargazer lilies for our table - what a sweetie he is! :) amazingly enough, i got no pictures. sad day. however, here is one of the pretty flowers!

yesterday, i enjoyed a day off by the pool with mom & ash (& hannie for a little bit). it was so nice just to relax and not have to be anywhere! mom had picked up an incredible cake from one of her friends who bakes and sells pound cakes. can i just say yum?! chocolate pound cake + a cappuccino mousse whipped cream frosting= ahhh!!!!!

yeah, it was pretty good! so poolside, i enjoyed some great chats with mom & ash (including many about her exciting news) as well as some yummy serafinos salads.  ash gave me this incredible homemade wreath as a present, which will be going on our door as soon as i repair the 9 that i knocked off

beautiful!  after getting a whole lot of sun (and even a nap) it was time to go home to see my love who had gotten off work and picked up chinese take out & cupcakes for dinner!

nothing says love like general tsos chicken & fried rice :)

nathan got cupcakes from this new little bakery that just opened on monday- they were pretty good too!

he selected 2 chocolate, a salted caramel on chocolate cake, a caramel on yellow cake, a strawberry, and a white chocolate raspberry. yes please!

i chose to enjoy the salted caramel one first (nathan had a chocolate one)- it was great!

for my birthday, nathan is going to get me an iphone 5 when it comes out (we're thinking august?). i've never had a smart phone (in fact, i have a 2 year old samsung flip phone, but i'm not going to lie, most days i really love and appreciate its simplicity!)

all in all, great birthday. great folks. great times. 

i love my life.

here's some mirror pics, because, i know you were interested :)

pretty, huh?

thanks for all the birthday wishes!!

my new baby!

ok, well, not quite a BABY. but, my new pride and joy :)

this weekend, my awesome mom treated me to a little bit early birthday present...a sewing machine! 

i have enjoyed sewing even since i was a little girl, and while in college, a few friends and i joined the local quilting guild and would spend our evenings sewing (by hand) quilts and odds and ends (side note- i never finished anything). 

since looking around on pinterest (and getting a late but INCREDIBLE wedding gift), i got inspired a few months ago and decided that i wanted to take up sewing again. so, what a perfect time to get a sewing machine!

mom, jamie, teague, and i packed up saturday morning and headed to the quaint local sewing shop, The Scarlet Thread (i highly recommend it if you are looking for a sewing store in mcdonough). after looking around for quite some time, i settled on some fabric for my first project (jamie had already helped gather the machine and things i would need- shes the best!).

for a machine, a baby lock came highly recommended. its funny, normally i'm a big researcher and i try to know everything i can about something, but this time, i just trusted jamie (so that was a pretty big deal for me!). i haven't used it yet, but just getting it out of the box was so exciting!

so here's to a source of infinite blog posts! i'll keep you posted once i get all the tape off and sew something :)