Lately

Traveled to Nashville NC for Thankgiving

Then headed to Asheville for a weekend

Went to favorite bar and tried a new one

Finally went to Irregardless. So good.

Caught up with these guys...

...and these two!

Finished our bar

Decorated for Christmas

Redid my chalboard

Broke out my favorite boots (from high school!)

Christmas cards

Brunch outside in 70 degree December weather

Ombre hair for winter 

(ignore my look of concentration...)

I am counting down the days until the long break NC State gives it's employees for the holidays. It feels like everyone is starting to check out - I already have holiday parties on both my work and personal calendars up until Christmas. I'm only sad that J and I have to be apart for a week, but we will survive!

Working towards Christmas

Almost a year ago (December 26, 2011 to be exact - I have the receipt) my mom bought me a bunch of yarn and handed me a pattern from 1985 and told me the only thing she wanted for Christmas was for me to knit a stocking for my 10 year old sister. See, my grandmother knit me this intricate, red white and green, huge fair isle Christmas stocking when I was born. It even has my name knit into it - not stitched on top, but carefully planned and sketched out onto the actual pattern from 25 years ago.

Three years later, Chris got a matching stocking with his name.

Eight years later, Jenny got a matching stocking with her name.

Three years later, Emma got a store bought stocking. My grandmother has some serious arthritis and there was just no way she could recreate the stocking - I believe she had given up knitting a few years before Emma was born. I know it was hard for her to knit Jenny's stocking.

{Emma's name in stitches}

So ten years after that, Mom finally asked if I would knit Emma a matching stocking. My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 8 or 9, but I had never done any fair isle work. I understood the basic concept, but it was definitely an accomplishment to read and follow a detailed pattern.

{Christmas trees, candy canes, hearts}

{almost finished}

I think it is really more of a gift for my mom than for Emma. They will both be excited but Mom will be happy to finally have four matching stockings for her kids after 25 years!

Cheering myself up

Tuesday wasn't the best. Everything at work was tedious and dragged on, the gloomy rainy weather put a damper on my energy and by the time I left, it was already getting dark out. This time of year is not my favorite. Plus, J was originally off work tonight, then it turned out he had to go in. So what do I do when I'm bored, alone and kind of down? Cook elaborate, time consuming meals.

{the beginnings of cornbread}

{used two massive jalapenos}

{I won't say how many pieces I ate after this picture was taken}

I just bought a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and added a few things. Instead of the milk it called for, I added a whole egg and two tablespoons of greek yogurt. I put greek yogurt in everything I can - I love it - but it works especially well when it is substituted for eggs, oil or butter.

I also added cherry tomatoes, green onions, a huge jalapeno, chopped crispy bacon, black and cayenne pepper. 

Next up, roasted cabbage. This recipe has been all over Pinterest for a while and I had a head of cabbage that needed to be used, so I figured I would try it.

{cabbage with lemon juice, bacon, pepper, worcestershire, and olive oil}

{wrapped up in foil} 

{20 minutes later}

These were amazing. Super tangy and tender but still crunchy in places. I loved it, but I love all vegetables - we will see what J thinks when he gets home later!

Not pictured because it was so simple and I ate it so fast: baked chicken smothered in a mix of orange marmalade and cayenne pepper.

{wrapped up a little plate for my boy}

The Weekend

This weekend was three days long for me - my favorite kind of weekend.

{Friday night at Fox's with one of J's old friends}

{Ended Friday with some live music at GSP}

{Farmer's Market trip on Saturday with M}

{Sunday night wedding - congrats Kathy and Andrew!}

{My date}

{Lego grooms cake}

{Of course J had to get a little dancing in}

For some reason I missed highlighting last weekend. Here are a few pictures.

{tailgating with M}

{NC State game}

{decked out in our red}

{Ended Saturday with Vietnamese}

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. J's parents are coming this weekend and then we are headed to Asheville the weekend after Thanksgiving. I have to think about what I want to make this year!

I've Been Juicing

I keep saying that in conversations because it just sounds like I'm a body builder taking steroids and I think I'm funny. But really - I've been juicing all the produce I can get my hands on! My best friend M moved recently and gave us her juicer that she never used. My first thought was all the awesome healthy juice I could make to help us get more fruits and veggies in a day, but J immediately thought cocktails. Haha of course - he has big plans to make some ginger/cucumber syrup or something -we'll see if he gets around to it!

All the produce I bought to experiment. Oh, and beer to counteract all the healthy stuff!

I read that the best "bases" of any juice are carrots and apples, because they produce the most liquid and sweet apples cover the taste of any vegetables you throw in.

Not the prettiest

My favorite combo so far has been:

- One apple, with skin

- Two carrots

- One stick of celery

- 1/3 cucumber

- Juice of 1/2 lemon

Carrots turn the whole thing orange!

This juicer really sucks all the liquid out though! It sounds like an airplane, which is the only drawback, because I can't juice stuff in the morning when J is sleeping. See all that pulpy stuff left over? Dry as a bone. It is awesome and getting all the liquid out of whatever you put through it.

I promise it tastes better than it looks!

The Color Me Rad Race

On Saturday morning, me and three of my friends got up early and ran the Color Me Rad race in Raleigh. This is the race where you run a 5k, and at every kilometer, you get covered with a different color, so at the end of the race you are just a huge sweaty tired rainbow.

I didn't train or prepare for the race at all except running/walking maybe four or five times in the two weeks leading up to the race, and I am NOT a runner, but when I crossed the finish line I was like "What?!" - the race went by SO fast. They staggered the start times so there wouldn't be one huge crowd of thousands of people running at once - very smart. This also alleviated the parking lot/traffic problems when we were coming and going.

I got separated from my friends around the second color station - I walked though it because when I ran through the first station, I didn't get ANY color on me! You really had to slow down and let the people working there just throw color at you. It is just colored cornstarch, so it wasn't bad to run/walk through - it did get in my mouth a couple of times which was gross!

Before the race - nice and clean!

The race packet came with some sweet sunglasses to protect our eyes. Even though it wasn't sunny, everyone was wearing them while they ran. Some people had crazy outfits on - costumes, tutus, hats, etc. If we run in next year we definitely need to put a little more effort into our race outfits!

After - covered in colors!

I definitely had a fun time running it, but there are a few tips for next year:

1. Sign up earlier! I forgot and had to sign up late, and the price keeps going up and up the longer you wait. I ended up paying $40, which I can't really complain about because it was for Special Olympics, and I did have a really fun experience and got a cool t shirt out of it (NOT the one I ran the race in haha).

2. Keep your mouth closed! I ingested so much cornstarch accidentally by just smiling and laughing through the color stations...ack!

3. Put something serious in your blonde, highlighted hair! I coated my hair in leave in conditioner and olive oil for good measure, then french braided it as tight as I could with it being covered in slippery stuff. See that big  purple clump in the front of my hair? Even with my precautions, my bangs had a reddish hue for a few days. Which is way better than green or blue!

The Weekend, Late

I meant to post on Monday, but Josh was off of work for the last two nights, which is devastatingly distracting to me, because he is rarely home when I get off work. I get sucked into his pjs/lounging/watching Netflix habits and then I don't get anything done! I don't mind though, because it is so rare he is home after I get off work - I have to say, it is really nice to come home to someone instead of an empty house! I can't wait until the day it's like that all the time.

So, the weekend went by ridiculously fast (I can't say the same for this week that is dragging by!) because my parents were here and we did lots of activities with them!

Friday night - Josh worked, I cleaned the whole townhouse and went to bed early. Could not be any more boring. I had to get my sleep though, because on Saturday morning....

I did the color run!

I'm going to write a little more about that later, but it was a blast, and it felt good to have 3 miles under my belt by 9:45 on a Saturday!

Then, my parents and two little sisters got here around lunchtime. They wanted to go downtown to the museums Saturday afternoon, so we did that. It was cold and windy on Saturday - wayyy different from the 80 degree days we had the week before - so it was good to be inside. Emma likes the Natural Science Museum and Jenny likes the History Museum and Josh likes everything, so they were pretty happy. I didn't take any pictures in the museums except for this one:

Haha!

After the museums we ran by Trader Joe's to stock up on some snacks - they don't have one yet in Asheville, and Trader Joe's is pretty much the best place to get delicious, cheap, unique treats ever.

On Saturday night we had Lilly's Pizza - definitely the best pizza in Raleigh! Again, no pictures because we dug in too fast for all that. Josh and I played Scrabble with the girls and my Dad - it is very interesting to play Scrabble with a ten year old!

Sunday we went to the State Farmer's Market to check out the pumpkins!

Of course in addition to pumpkins we also got tomatoes, tons of apple samples, orangeades, sweet potato pie and pumpkin ice cream - lots of fall treats.

I wasn't going to make my family walk around campus on a cold Sunday but Josh needed to go to the library for some printing so I figured I would give them a little mini tour around State. I mean, I spent two years there as a student in grad school and I've worked there for two years next month, so it really is about time they see where I spend a good part of my life!

Dad in one Wolf Ear....

and Emma in the other

Getting a kick out of the library furniture while Josh prints

interactive tables

Mom's favorite room

Mom and me out on the balcony looking over the brickyard

Jenny, just hanging out

Me and my babe in the Farmer's Market

It was a nice, fun busy weekend! As I'm typing this, I'm hanging out at the house on Halloween. It is 7:14 pm and we have had NO trick or treaters! Maybe it's too early? There are definitely families with young kids in this complex. Maybe they went to a ritzier neighborhood for more (better) candy? Hmm, we'll see!