Browsing Category

weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

Hello, February!!! I hope everyone enjoyed their last weekend of January. Is it just me, or is January the longest month ever???

Every Friday for the last three years, I have met my “Friday Lunch Club” for lunch at various locations around town. We started out as a foursome and were cleverly named “The Indian,” “The Mexican,” “The Texan,” and “The Yankee.” We are a diverse group, what can I say. I am sure you figured out that I am “The Yankee” by process of elimination. Last May, we said goodbye to “The Texan” as she moved back to Texas. This Friday we said goodbye to “The Indian,” as she is off to India until May. We tried a new to us spot over in Homewood, Crape Myrtle Cafe.

First of all, Crape Myrtle Cafe is located in the back of a book store. You all know my love for books!! I am so going to have to come back here when I am not rushed to go back to the office! Also, we noticed that we were the youngest patrons by about 50 years, no big deal.

I ordered the fresh fruit salad with grilled chicken and it was completely Whole 30 compliant. Hurrah!

Then it was time to take our last selfie and give our good wishes to our sweet, sweet friend on her journey.

Now it is just “The Mexican” and I, but we will continue our lunches!!!

And I would like to take a moment to wish “The Mexican” the happiest, of happy Birthdays!!! Her birthday was yesterday! I know she reads my blog sometimes, and I hope she knows how important and special her friendship is to me. There isn’t a more genuine and spiritual girl out there than her. I cant be more thankful for this group of girls. No matter if we are together or apart, there is a special place in my heart for all of them. The “Friday Lunch Club” has seriously been one of the highlights of my week every week for the last few years. I know we were all brought together for a reason.

Friday evening, I made Chicken Tandoori with California Sweet Potato chips and fell asleep on the couch watching reruns of New Girl. Such a bad ass, I know!

Saturday morning I started a new book, Taste, and cleaned the house. Then we were off to watch my nephews basketball game!!! I would have snapped a picture but my younger nephew confiscated my phone for all his gaming pleasures and basically ignored his older brothers game. The game was pretty eventful with two overtimes and finally ending in a tie! We then went to Logan’s to celebrate the awesome job and chat with my sister! Oh the laughs we had!!!

Chris and I parted ways with them and headed to a variety store in Gadsden where we found all these amazing Snoopy treasures!!! You know our love for Snoopy!!!

We also hit up a few thrift stores and Bargain Hunt in the area. I had to text my sister a picture of the 2gether CD we saw!!! We were obsessed! you + me = us

Don’t even act like you don’t know what I am talking about!!!

We headed to Chris’s parents house that evening to catch up with them, then headed home to get caught up on some of our shows.

Sunday was a day of meal planning, grocery shopping and Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Chicago Med/Fire watching! Why didn’t PD come on? Boo!!!

I hated having to use my free reward drink on tea instead of a super expensive latte concoction but it was going to run out before my Whole 30 was up!!! The unsweetened Passion Tango was a great choice though, very refreshing.

Overall it was a fabulous weekend! Linking up with Biana.

I will be completing Whole 30 this week and I will be sure to give you all the low down on my thoughts, any struggles, slip ups, and will answer any questions you guys have! Hope you all have a fabulous week!

February 1, 2016 by Nadine

weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

Can you believe this is the last Monday of January?! I feel like this was both the longest and shortest month ever. How it could be both, I don’t know?! I sat down to write this post and I was like…what did I even do this weekend?

Friday it started to snow after lunch! Snow is a rare thing down here in the deep south. And now everyone is terrified that it is going to be worse than they predict because of Snowpocalypse 2014. To that, I say:

Oh, snap! Hahaha do people still say snap? I do.

Anyways, I decided to work from home that afternoon since I live about 30 minutes north of downtown. What the weather is doing at my office has no real indication of what it could be doing at my house! The drive home was so pretty!

My views while working….

And then it was over and this was all we got….

Barely even a dusting. Booooo. I was sort of depressed Friday evening since we had no snow to play in so we got caught up on Chicago Med and Chicago Fire.

Saturday morning was for cleaning, then we headed over to my SIL house. Chris was helping our BIL with their network my SIL and I ran some errands and did a little shopping! I scored this super awesome item at Kirkland’s during their green tag sale for less than $6!

My SIL got a lot of cute things for her eat in kitchen. Definitely check them out if you haven’t lately! I basically want the whole store!

Sunday I meal planned and grocery shopped while Chris and his dad installed a weather station. We watched the playoff games all afternoon. I am glad that the Patriots didn’t win. I think I hate them more than most NFL teams. And the Panthers pulled off a big win! I loved to hate Cam when he was at Auburn because…well gross it is Auburn. But he is one hell of a quarterback, right??? And watching him give away all the touchdown balls to little kids really makes my heart smile.

One thing I have learned over the last 20 days is how strong my willpower can be during this Whole 30 experience. I made Chris homemade baked ziti yesterday for him to take to lunch this week. I did not taste a single bite. Look at all that cheese!!!!!

Nine more days guys….nine. more. days.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! If you are up in the northeast and want to send us some of your snow, feel free too. Let’s do this Monday!

Linking up with Biana.

January 25, 2016 by Nadine

weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

Can you believe the middle of January is upon us?? Not sure how that happened. I am officially half way through my Whole 30 journey!!! Today is day 15. I feel pretty fantastic right now and I am so, so proud of myself!!! If you only knew the temptations I had this weekend that I held strong through.

I guess some of you are off today. Lucky ducks! The real estate market cares nothing about MLK, Presidents Day or any of those other “bank holidays.” So rude, right?!

Friday evening we had turkey burgers and caught up on PLL and New Girl.I also went through our closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes that I haven’t seen Chris wear in a really long time. I am still trying to organize and purge around the house, little areas at a time. I fell asleep on the couch shortly there after, so you know it was a long week!

Saturday I cleaned the house and then we headed to a new restaurant in the Crestwood area called The Filling Station. It is a pizza place and let me tell you….the smells were off the charts amazing and I was sad that I couldn’t have any of the delicious looking apps or pizza that Chris ordered. I stuck to my plan and ordered a salad, with no cheese of course.

I was amazed by my will power. Cheating didn’t even cross my mind. After I was through with my salad, I felt satisfied and it held me through the rest of the day so I can’t be mad about not having that nasty, heavy feeling to lug around after a greasy pizza meal.

It was 55 out but it felt like spring with the sun, so we enjoyed that patio!

We hit up a few thrift stores, check out this book haul!

And I also grabbed Mac a few jackets on clearance at Petsmart because the little dude is cold when he goes out with his short hair. Their coats are 75% off!

He is man enough to pull off fur detailing. Obviously.

Sunday was a day of meal planning and grocery shopping. I got done a few blog posts and things around the house as well. Yay for productivity!

Linking up with Biana. I hope you all have a fabulous week, and enjoy the last of your long weekend if you got one!

January 18, 2016 by Nadine

Gatlinburg, weekend shenanigans

Shenanigans in Gatlinburg

Chris’s family has been going up to Gatlinburg after Christmas for years. I am so happy to be a part of their traditions! We always have a ton of fun, and this trip was no exception! The first half of the week was hot as shit. It was 85 degrees on Sunday when we got up there and I was sweating my ass off. By Thursday it cooled down a lot and we were wearing our heavy winter jackets. We didn’t see any snow, but besides that…I can’t complain.

To counter all of the food and beverages that were consumed, my sister in law and I made a pact that we had to hit at least 10,000 steps on our Fitbits each day. To make this happen, we did some running around the pool table in the loft and around the drive way in the evenings. Our family thinks we are officially nuts, but we did it! We got in at least 10,000 steps each day!

EATS

We ate at the Alamo three times while we were up there. The first time was for lunch right when we got there and I had the baked potato soup and wedge salad. I don’t have pictures from the other two visits but the second time I had the filet and baked potato and the third time I ordered the Black and Blue Blackened Filet Salad and crab dip. Each time was delicious and this is one of our must stops when we are there.

We also have to hit up No Way Jose’s downtown! The restaurant sits on the river and we usually sit in the 21 and up section so we have the views and less noise. We always get queso and I ordered the Javier Favorite which was beef enchiladas.

Our TGIFridays closed here in Birmingham several years ago, and we just love their Jack Daniels chicken appetizer and a few other things so we were sure to stop there! My SIL ordered the Ahi Tuna Crisps on the app menu and those were amazing too!

The best hot chocolate in the world can be found at The Donut Friar.

There is a retro video game store called Control Freak that is located in Pigeon Forge. They moved locations since the last time we were up there and we stumbled across an amazing boutique and the Blue Moose while we were there! We grabbed some Blue Cheese Chips and the nachos and snacked while watching the Auburn game. Chris ordered an 8 Bit Pale Ale to stick with the gaming theme.

The Apple Barn is one of my top choices to eat and I didn’t get any pictures of the food or store….but it is tradition to take a picture in the gazebo there each year! I usually order the soup and a veggie plate which includes their chicken and dumplings. After, we walked around the store and picked up a jar of their apple butter and I introduced my brother in law to the Apple Freeze drink. Not to be missed!!! Trust me on this!

Get Your Drink On

Of course, what is vacation if you don’t partake in some adult beverages?! We visited the Smokey Mountain Brewery, which was probably the worst beer I have ever tasted. Other than that, everywhere else was wonderful!

We hit up the Mellow Mushroom both at The Island in Pigeon Forge and the one in downtown Gatlinburg for some great draught beer!

And of course, when in Tennessee…you must drink Moonshine! The Ole Smokey Distillery offers free moonshine tastings and each year we are up there, I prove to be the cheapest drunk around. That’s right, this free tasting consists of about 12 different shines and by the time we are done trying each of them…I am usually pretty damn buzzed. For free! They have really cool flavors like apple pie, blackberry, maple, hunch punch, etc. Plus they give you a cherry that was soaked in shine.

WALK AROUND DOWNTOWN

One of my favorite things to do is to walk around downtown Gatlinburg and check out all the shops! We always stop at the Space Needle arcade and Fannie Farkles too!

The Island

Another favorite area of mine to visit is The Island in Pigeon Forge. There are so many cool shops to walk around in, a super cool magic store, an awesome arcade, and a beautiful Ferris Wheel and water show!

Mini Golf and the Mirror Maze

There are mini golf and mirror mazes around every corner in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. The best put put is at the Magic Quest though because it is inside black light golf!!! I got a hole-in-one on the last hole!!!

The Alpine Coaster

I hate heights. I hate roller coasters. I am basically chicken shit. So when I was talked in to the Alpine Coaster, it was a pretty big deal. No matter that my five year old nephew was excited and not scared at all to ride this thing but I was shaking with an elevated heart rate while we were standing in line to board. I figured YOLO and went along with it. But look at this thing!!!

I made Chris take a selfie with me while we were waiting. You know…in case it was my last picture ever because I might die. I willed Gracie to my sister and my MK purses to my SIL.

Each night we come back to the house and hang out with each other. Of course, there are always Mario Kart competitions each year. I am sure you aren’t surprised that we tote the game system and projector up there to play! I also got to spend some time with my 3DS, something I rarely do anymore.

I had such an amazing time, as I always do. It is so special to get to spend so much uninterrupted time with our family. We always create so many memories and look forward to the trip next year.

As for me, it is back to reality today. I took yesterday off to pick up the dogs from boarding, grocery shop, meet up with my sister to get our mail she had been collecting and sit around waiting on the Charter guys to hook us up with some faster internet. Hurrah! I started Whole 30 yesterday and still alive to talk about it this morning. So far, so good. Though I have a feeling I will be a cranky bitch by lunch.

January 5, 2016 by Nadine

Chattanooga, Christmas, Gatlinburg, Knoxville, weekend shenanigans

Shenanigans in Chattanooga and Knoxville

Well hello there!!! Happy New Year!!! I took a bit of a blogging break the last two weeks and enjoyed the holidays and our vacation in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Gatlinburg.

Oh, and also the Alabama shut out over Michigan State! ROLL TIDE!!!

So I am going to do a quick recap of Christmas, Chattanooga and Knoxville today and come back tomorrow to see a lot of pictures in Gatlinburg. I will let the pictures do most of the talking!

Can we start with how sucky mother nature was to the south the week of Christmas?? Go home mother nature, you’re drunk. Tornado warnings during Christmas dinner was not my jam. Neither was 80 degree weather. Either way, Santa was extra nice to me this year!

The day after Christmas, we headed up to spend the weekend in Chattanooga and Knoxville. We had to hit up Taco Mac in Chattanooga. Taco Mac was one of my favorite places to hang out when I lived in Atlanta and Chris loved it too. When we were heading over there, we realized there was a World of Beer across the street, so you better believe we popped in to say hello there too. Beer flights for all!

We then headed up to Knoxville and checked in to our hotel and walked around town. We were just two blocks over from the coolest area of town that had a ton of shops and restaurants. There was even an ice skating rink set up! It was weird because it was 75 degrees and they had to keep clearing the rink to scrape out the water!

After walking around, we decided on Stock and Barrel for dinner. Burgers and Bourbon…what more can a girl ask for?!?!?!

If you are ever in Knoxville, I HIGHLY recommend Stock and Barrel. Our burgers and crab dip were amazing and the bourbon menu is huge! Plus, the prices aren’t ridiculous for what you get. We certainly needed that walk back to the hotel when we were done!

We had so much fun in Chattanooga and Knoxville and will certainly be visiting both cities again. Tomorrow I will be back with our Gatlinburg Shenanigans!

Linking up with Biana.

January 4, 2016 by Nadine

Older Posts

Newer Posts