Do you still have your.....

favorite childhood keepsake?

Last week Scott was in Chicago for business. My little sister was in town from college so she spent the night with me. We laid in bed like little girls and talked until we fell asleep. It was just like old times minus one. The 3 of us girls used to lay in bed talking and laughing until we would get in trouble for not being asleep.

So as we are getting into bed when Chelsea pulls out her blanket from when she was a baby. Mind you she will be 20 on Monday. So in the bed with Roo and I this ratty old thing joined us as well.

Thanksgiving table settings

With Thanksgiving only 2 weeks away I am already thinking about how to set the stage for our family dinner on Thanksgiving. This year Scott and I are hosting Thanksgiving at our house. I am so excited about having everyone at our house together. I realized yesterday that it has been since our trip to the Bahamas since my family has all been together.

While searching the internet for inspiration I found the table setting guide at Pier 1 Imports and thought I would share it with you.

The Everyday Casual table: The Casual Dinner table:

The Casually Elegant table:

I found this place setting idea from Pottery Barn.

This table setting is from Martha Stewart.

Successful Saturday

Next weekend is our Sunday school's yard sale for the orphanage in Honduras. Today Scott and I went through all of our STUFF. We have tons of garbage bags full of clothes. There are 2 things sad about the bags full of clothes, 1. We just cleaned out our house last summer and 2. We still have a house full of clothes. Below is our garage where we are storing the yard sale items.

Woodlands recreate

Scott has been itching to smoke something so today he tried his hand with a pork butt. The flavor was fantastic and reminded of my Papa's meat. Along with the pork we had green beans, baked beans, and cornbread with corn and jalapenos. Scott's favorite thing at Woodlands other than their bbq is their jalapeno cornbread. I decided to recreate the spicy cornbread, and it was really spicy but so delicious.Jalapeno cornbread recipe

1 box of Martha White cornbread follow directions

Add 1/2 of a can of whole kernel corn

Sliced jalapenos (as many as you can stand)

Bake at 400 degrees for 22 mins.

Parmesan tilapia

For dinner we enjoyed a bottle of Chardonnay we purchased from the Childress winery accompanied with parmesan tilapia and roasted potatoes with veets and mushrooms. For the broiled tilapia parmesan recipe click here, I got this from a friends blog. This was tasty and so easy. Enjoy!

Day off Friday

Friday was a teacher workday that I was determined not to work. I took work home last weekend so I wouldn't have to work Friday. Since my husband has a NEW job with an AMAZING schedule we were able to spend the day together. We started with the gym to advance burn off calories we were going to consume during the day.

For breakfast I made Trader Joe's pumpkin muffins. Then we went to the church where we were married to take a picture of the steeple. I wondered why our photographer's never got any good shots and after our visit I now know why. However, I did get this beautiful picture with my new camera:)

Then thanks to a gift card my mom and Chris gave me for my birthday we enjoyed an afternoon at Richard Childress Winery. We had a delicious lunch with a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon on their back patio. It was a little chilly but we were able to withstand the chill in the air. After soup and 1/2 a sandwich we splurged for a strawberry creme dessert.

Can you guess who picked out the dessert?

After a filling lunch we walked the property and took some pictures. We have become throughly impressed with Richard's wines and his vineyard.

Thanks to my sweet husband who took a crooked

picture just for me.

Vineyards

Trunk or Treat

Friday night we went to the church and passed out candy at the halloween carnival. It was a last minute decision and our car looked really pitiful compared to everyone else's. Scott said we had the pretty car rather than the scary car. We now know what we are up against next year. Despite our car decorations we had a great time and we saw some really cute costumes.

Have you seen a cuter ladybug?

Or a more handsome superman?

(I love the gelled hair.)

Such a sweet girl.

The ladies with Maylin and Pierson.