We're Ringing in the New Year with this Butterscotch Cake Recipe!

Happy New Year!

By now I'm sure your collard greens (symbolizing a prosperous new year) and black eyed peas (representing good health) are on the stove top, but if you're still unsure of what to make for dessert then allow me to suggest a delicious butterscotch cake! It's truly one of my favorites... I got the recipe from my sister-in-law and everyone I've made this for says it's amazing! It's simple to whip together too... below is all you need to know!

On the day AFTER Christmas, my true love gave to me....

Hello dear readers and I hope that all our Christian readers had a wonderful Christmas day yesterday. We enjoyed time with family and friends, and actually, my family is not quite done with our get-togethers!  And that's A-OK with me, as I like to spread out the festivities and good cheer. 

For today's post, at the risk of being redundant, I want to share a few more images of Christmas around our home and a few other places this season.  Christmas cards, cookies, and the Pink Pig, oh my!!  Please indulge me, as I figure that this is my last chance til about 11 months from now to get in the Christmas spirit!

Without further adieu....

The below cake was actually my birthday cake, which was celebrated earlier in December.  Thanks to the hubby and my stepmom for this great cake!  Don't you love the tall candles??

 

Peppermint Wreath

I was flipping through this month's issue of Better Homes and Gardens and on page 39 I saw this really fun peppermint candy wreath. This inspired me to try and make my own so I went to Michael’s today and picked up a few things to get started. I'm not finished with this yet, it takes some time for the glue to dry so you're attaching the candy in stages, but thought I'd go ahead and post a couple pictures since I'm so behind on blogging. My apologies for the delay, but it's been a crazy week and I still have so much to do before the 25th! :) And since I won't be posting until after Christmas I thought it would be best to go ahead and share this in case it should give you a last minute gift idea. This little wreath would make the perfect holiday hostess gift... in fact that's what I intend to do with mine once it's finished! :)

And Visions of Sugarplums Danced in Their Heads...

For today's post, I just wanted to share some Christmas images from around my house.... hope all are enjoying their holiday seasons!

 

10 Holiday Gifts All Under $20!

Forgive me for not getting this post up sooner, but blogging took a back seat to my Christmas cards this week! So much to do, so little time. Anyway, I'd like to share with you some of my top picks for Holiday gifts, and the best part is that all of these items are under $20. I thought this might stir up an idea or two for those of us who love to give, but need to watch what we spend! Read on for my top 10 gifts under $20.

Anthropologie's Voluspa candle. They have several scents to choose from, but my absolute favorite is the Santiago Huckleberry. I could stand around with this to my nose literally all day and never get sick of it. Love this three wick candle, and at $18 it makes the perfect gift under $20.

 

 

 

Christmas planning is underway!

Hello dear readers!

I hope that each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  As for us, we spent 4 days enjoying family, friends, food and good times.  I've been battling a sinus infection (yuck), but let me tell you, that didn't stop me from having a great time with loved ones this past week.  Since just this past Wednesday, my husband and I have enjoyed: a date night at Empire State South (read about sister restaurant 5 and 10 in one of my Athens-centered posts, here), a performance by Yacht Rock Revue - y'all recall how we love this band! - at classic Atlanta haunt Smith's Old Bar, two days of family get-togethers, and a smashing wedding reception for one of my oldest friends and his lovely bride (they married about a month ago on a mountain-top in the northeast - how romantic is that?)  Oh, and lest I forget, we also enjoyed watching another delicious win (4 in a row, to be exact) for our beloved Georgia Bulldogs over in-state rival Georgia Tech.  It was a great weekend for the Forlines!
 

Our Bunco Group Sends Some Love to our Military this Holiday Season!

Each year our bunco group comes together for some sort of charity around the holiday season. Last year, we supported our troops through a group called Operation Homefront where we sponsored a few military families and purchased Christmas gifts for their children. (Read that post here.) This year, we kept with the same military theme only changed it up to send care packages to the troops who are currently overseas. Some of us met up at Target and purchased items such as candy, beef jerky, cans of Chef Boyardee, Hostess Cakes (long live the Twinkie!) and even some playing cards. These things were compiled with some of our own baked goods, magazines, letters of gratitude, and artwork from our children to make up several packages. One of the girls in our group then sorted and shipped these goodies to the various places around the world where some of our military men and women are currently serving. I believe she said one of the packages went to someone stationed on a ship off the coast of Libya. Considering the recent events in this country, it's unnerving when you think about the danger this young man or woman could be in while stationed near such a hostile environment. Our prayers for protection go with each package that was sent over.

Halloween 'Hood Party

Yes, Halloween 2012 is now in the past, but I want to share some highlights from a party a few of us on my street organized in honor of the holiday. The majority of the effort was lead by, the King and Queen of Halloween themselves – The Sokolowskis, who, I might add, were responsible for the very idea of this spooky soiree! Everyone gathered in their front yard so the house you see in my pictures below actually belongs to them. Needless to say, the SPOOKolowskis go all out with their decorations, they even purchased a projector so we could all watch a Halloween movie displayed on the side of their house once the sun went down. And another neighbor took the time to decorate a trailer he hitched to the back of his truck with orange lights. He created seating with hay stacks where the kids proudly sat as they rode up and down the streets parading their costumes for all those whom we passed by. We were suppose to have a jack-o-lantern contest too, but never got around to that... we must have lost track of time due to all the fun we were having!

It goes without saying that I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such awesome families. I love getting together with my neighbors and hope we can make this an annual celebration!

 

Our fabulous hayride!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween dear readers!

Hope you've had a wonderful day, tricking and treating, dressing up, eating candy, having fun with little ones, or whatever else Halloween might mean to you. 

For today's post, I wanted to share some of what Halloween meant around these parts, in terms of decor that is.  ;-)

A look at our front door... some squashes, gourds, and pumpkins (in vintage iron baskets from happy place Scott's Antique Market) alongside some ceramic jack o'lanterns from Kroger and an autumnal berry wreath from Target a few years back and I'm good to go!

 

Foodies Love Food Trucks!

It seems like Food Trucks are all the rage these days. Foodies flock to them not for your usual hamburger and fries, but for a more cultural cuisine. You’re more likely to find a gourmet twist on tacos or an Asian fusion type of menu on one of these trucks rather than some boring hotdog. These chefs on wheels have put a whole new spin on the idea of street food and the masses are really taking to it. There is even a show dedicated to the concept on the Food Network called The Great Food Truck Race. My husband and I watch this from time to time. The good news is you can find a food truck in almost every major city. Atlanta finally came around to the idea too, opening a huge park on the westside of town. I haven’t been there yet, but I hear it’s really fun, attracting tons of trucks which offer a wide variety of food. This park in particular even hosts small concerts on the weekends. You can check out their site here.