Where Does the Time Go?

Sometimes I don't feel like I get a break. We're so busy all the time!

But, I'm so excited that it's fall. I love the cooler weather and all the changing leaves.

 A few weeks ago I finished up a pottery class I've been taking through Millsaps' community enrichment series. At the last class, we fired our pottery and sat around and had a party until the items were ready.

 The type of firing we did was raku firing, which means once the pottery comes out of the kiln (like below), the glaze still has no color. You throw the pottery into something that will smoke (a trash can with wood chips, pine straw, or newspaper) and the smoke is what gives it its color. Very cool! I'm going to photograph my pieces and I'll post soon!

 We've had a lot of construction going on at our house. Our landlords are taking care of some deferred maintenance (mostly fixing some areas of rotting wood and repainting the whole exterior of the house) and we agreed to fix some old boards on the deck that had seen better days. Thanks to MG and Ryan, we got it done in no time! They were a huge help.

 We also got a new door leading on to the kitchen from the deck, which doesn't seem that exciting, but it makes such an impact on the room. If you can't tell, this is a door that has blind built into the window. We have been wanting this since the day we moved into the house. We had investigated inserts and all kinds of things, but never pulled the trigger. The guys had to replace the door frame because of rotting wood outside and when the new frame went in, the old door didn't fit. We told them that if they had one with this type of window in stock, we'd pay the difference. Luckily, they did. 

 This brings in so much light, but we can close the blinds off when we go to bed. The cat has been enjoying it too.

Of course, I couldn't have a post without posting a photo of her. She's decided the recliner is her chair...

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Lately

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here! I've been working pretty non-stop and have just gotten a break. Luckily, I was able to take some comp time and have tomorrow off!

So what have we been up to? A lot, really...

We met up with Paul's parents and took our nephews around to play at Wellsfest...

 Tried on crazy wigs at Target (because, why wouldn't you?)...

 Had my first pumpkin spice latte, like every other American...

Got the cat a new fort...

 Enjoyed some time at the fair. I even got chocolate covered bacon on a stick. It was pretty decent...

 Worked on some projects in a community enrichment pottery class I am taking through Millsaps. We had to make a slab pottery piece with inspiration from something. Mine is from inspiration from our DC trip - the National Museum of the American Indian...

 I told Paul that I was open to a recliner, as long as it was pretty. We found this beauty at GLO, a furniture studio in Fondren. Hubba bubba...

 Paul wasn't convinced at first that he liked it, but the cat has decided it's her new favorite spot.

 But, I think it's safe to say it's been well received.

Hope you guys have had a great week!

DC

It's so weird to think that this time last week we were in DC! We had such a great time and got to spend a lot of time with my best friend, Sital, and her boyfriend, Kiger. I didn't want it to end!

We were lucky enough to stay at her company's apartment, not but a block from her. It's the closest we've ever been able to stay to her (in the past, she and the company both were in different apartments blocks away) and it was so nice to text and meet her at the corner for dinner.

 This is the view from her roof. The big buildings to the right are all of the Securities and Exchange Commission buildings. You can see the capital building peeking out right past it. If I had kept panning to the right, you'd have seen the Washington Monument.

 Saturday morning, we headed out to one of our favorite places in the city, Eastern Market. We had brunch at a great place that brought us out a skillet full of cinnamon rolls. Incredible.

 We had lots of great food throughout the trip. After going to the International Spy Museum that day, we headed over to Shake Shack. Paul had a peanut butter shake and I had a chocolate. I just had to see what they tasted like together.

 That night we had a four hour wait for our dinner at a hole in the wall (but really great) ramen/dumpling place. So, we hopped around on H Street while we waited. We went and played bocce ball at one place and then headed to a bar with an indoor put put course. All of the holes were themed after monuments. It was pretty cool. After a bit, we got the text that they were ready for us (mind you, it was about 11 p.m. at this point).

 Tokki Underground is really small - only seats about 25 at most. We were ready for some food!

 We tried a couple of different dumplings and a bowl of ramen.

The next day, we found out just how much we love kayaking.

 Right at the iconic Key Bridge in Georgetown (ahead in this photo), you can rent single or tandem kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes. We loved it!

 How many people get to say they've kayaked the Potomac? We rented tandem kayaks with Sital and Kiger and paddled down stream past Roosevelt Island and were able to see Watergate, Kennedy Center, and the Lincoln Memorial. Very cool!

That afternoon, Paul and I visited Arlington National Cemetery.

 I still can't get over how many headstones there are.

 This is the view from Arlington House overlooking the river (from Virginia back towards DC). That road right there is leading to the Lincoln Memorial.

 We also visited Medgar Evers grave. We think the rocks and flowers left are from this summer when there was a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of his death.

 Back at home, we were getting pictures like this of the cat. What a nut!

 Sunday night, we had an awesome dinner on the roof of Sital's building. (That's the Washington Monument and Union Station in the background) The whole weekend, the weather was fantastic with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the 50s. It was the perfect time to be outside.

 We grilled chicken, corn, asparagus, squash, peppers, and onions. Sital made this incredible cucumber, olive, tomato salad that I need the recipe for!

When we were cabbing back to our apartment one night, we drove by the new NPR headquarters and realized it was only a few blocks from out apartment. We signed up and got to tour the building on Monday. That day was someone crazy because we woke up that morning to hear about the DC Navy Yard shootings a few miles from our apartment.

 Paul in one of the recording studios.

 Here's part of the newsroom. I couldn't take pictures of it, but in another part of this newsroom, there was a large round table that becomes home base during breaking news. There were people sitting around on phones, watching TVs and waiting for more details from the shooting.

Our final thing we squeezed in before our flight for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

 This guy look familiar?

 Let me just say, I would NOT want to mess with this guy.

 They also had a great room filled with gems. I though this necklace was beautiful!

We finally made it home on a flight that night. For the first few days, it was weird being back. I had problems at first with vertigo (which I've never had before). I kept having this feeling like I was still on the subway and it was moving!

This week, we also had one of my favorite event of the year, Symphony at Sunset. It's on the grounds of the Cedars, where we had our reception. There's not a square inch of space left on the grounds when people spread out. This year they played British tunes and I loved their medley of Harry Potter songs and songs by the Beatles.

We're now getting some much needed rain and I'm happy to stay in for the day!

Labor Day

Time is FLYING by. It's hard to believe that school is back in session again. 

We've been slammed with school starting back (for me at work) and the next magazine heading off to the printer.

This past week, we got a sneak peek of a craft beer bar opening up called Fondren Public. You can read all about it here. They make a pretty wicked Darky and Stormy. Makes me excited for our trip to DC in two weeks!

 Because I had been working non-stop for over two weeks straight, I took this past Friday off and it was great to have a long, four day weekend. We celebrated downtown Thursday night with a night at the Museum of Art with the French art/Monet exhibit. We headed over to Jaco's Tacos for charity night with the Jackson Zoo to support them. Don't tell me there's nothing to do in Jackson!

 The cat has really been enjoying us being home too.

 I've been griping for the past few weeks that it's been too early for pumpkin beer. Now that it's officially September, I went ahead and picked up on one of my favorite pumpkin beers, Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale.

 According to Paul, I made "one of the best things I've ever done" the other morning with my version of Monkey Bread. We don't have a bundt pan, so I baked it in a round cake pan. It was pretty perfect if I do say so myself.

 Yesterday evening, we made our way to Renaissance to see Darius Rucker. I'm not a country fan and I really could have done without the opening acts, but Darius Rucker is actually pretty good. He sang a good bit of Hootie and the Blowfish songs and it took me back in time!

Hope you guys have had a great, long weekend. It's already 1 o'clock and we're still in our pajamas!

We're back!

It seems like so long ago we were on the beach, but it's only been a week! We had such a great time with our family for beach week, albeit some rainy days.

 Everybody got a big kick out of Karis this year. She knows who's boss!

 Of course, we had tons of good food, like Ashley's zucchini and feta salad that I want to make again soon.

 Flipping through Southern Living while we were there, we saw a feature on a restaurant in Orange Beach made out of shipping containers and we knew we had to check it out.

The atmosphere was great and the food wasn't bad either. If you go, get the Grouper Sandwich.

 Back in Jackson, we got back into gear and started eating right after all that rich food. I'm happy to be seeing lots and lots of produce!

 We also got obsessed with World Market while we were down at the beach. There's one in Mobile and we made a trip there on the way down and one again on the way up. We found these nightstands and knew we had to have them. Unfortunately, they didn't have them in store, but I went online and ordered them (AND got 15% off plus free shipping).

 I found the best recipe yet for baked oatmeal. Check it out here. Only difference is that I didn't have bananas and just had two peaches, a few strawberries and a few blueberries on top.

 We also got our new cat once we got home. We've had a few rough days, but we think we're through most of it now. She no longer thinks we've kidnapped her, so that's a good sign. I'm still having to work on feeding schedule with her. She's used to an auto feeder and when I feed her once a day, she shovels it down and then throws up. Not pretty.

 Hope you guys have had a great week!