Dog Days Are Over

Whaaaaaat?!

Another night out in Carrollton. This time to celebrate one of the favorite’s birthdays.

Happy Birthday, Alison!

First up, dinner at The Corner. Om nom nom nom. Have I ever talked about The Corner here? I don’t think I have. All you need to know is it is amazing. When you first walk in, you might be a little thrown off by the “décor,” but one bite of their bagel chips and spinach dip or the “Rosemary’s Baby’s Daddy” sandwich and you will understand. The food is absolute heaven.

Brittney Oooooo!

After dinner, it was to Alison’s to get ready before heading out to Uncorked. You’ve probably caught on by now that this is our go to place. There isn’t much left to say about the night. Good times were had by all. We sang. A lot. With the whole bar. They were playing pretty decent music Saturday night. We shut the place down. Where everyone else went is beyond me. And we descended the stairs (from hell) to Florence + The Machine. Love. Anyway, here are some pictures from the night!

C-Rock.

Sam!

"And we're the three best friends that anyone could have."

Kisses from the birthday girl! Wait, shouldn't it be the other way around?

And that is absolutely where the night ended ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

The Greatest

So, I rented The Greatest two weeks ago. This movie is not only full of win as far as the actors are concerned, it’s full of win in general. It's sad. It's funny. It's heavy. It's refreshing. It's honest. It's inspiring.

I adore Carey Mulligan. Absolutely adore her. She hasn’t made it to the level of adoration I have for Kristen Stewart yet, but really, no one ever will. Sorry Carey, nothing against you, she’ll just always be my number one. Just know that you and your dimples are a close second. But I feel like Carey and Kristen share a lot of the same qualities.

Susan Sarandon, she’s been around the business for a while. I love her. In my opinion, she’s one of the better actresses out there. And I haven’t really seen her in anything lately so it was good to see her in this. And she did a wonderful job playing a mother who is grieving the loss of a son, of a family really, all the while having to accept an addition, or two, into that crumbling family. I couldn’t really figure out if I should love her or hate her or just feel sorry for her character.

And Pierce Brosnan is really a pretty decent actor. I last saw him in Remember Me, but really, before that, nothing really sticks out about him for me. Except for obviously Mrs. Doubtfire! I thought he was great in Remember Me. And he didn’t disappoint in The Greatest either. He does anger well. He does intense situations in general well. And I thought him and Susan’s chemistry together was pretty good.

Aaron Johnson. I don't know much about this kid. Except that he’s 20, married to a 43-year-old, and just had a baby. What? I’m not jealous at all! But seriously, have you seen those eyes?! Ridiculous. I love that there were flashbacks with him before the accident because it really would’ve been a shame to not have him in the film. I loved the quirky interaction between him and Carey. I loved the way he looked at her (with those eyes). And I loved the way they loved. If only for a day. A few hours really. It was real. It was honest. And it was heartbreaking the way it ended. There are so many what ifs with their situation.

Michael Shannon. Can this man do no wrong?! Honestly, he’s pretty brilliant in everything he does. I last saw him in The Runaways where he played eccentric (crazy?) music producer Kim Fowley and these two roles could not have been more opposites. But of course, he rocks them both. It was kind of strange though seeing him in such a subdued role after TR.

Overall, it was a great little ensemble of a cast. They all had great chemistry together. And it was a great story of first love and the loss of love and the battle to piece a family back together after a tragedy.

If you haven’t yet checked it out, I’d definitely recommend it.

Have you watched any good movies lately?

Weekend with Reese

Friday night after work I headed to my sister's for the weekend. I was sad Reese was already out for the night, but got to wake up to this the next morning:

"You're silly, Aunt Jamie"

After showers, baths, breakfasts and naps were all said and done, we headed downtown for some Georgia Tech tailgating. It was a perfect fall morning for such an event.

Mini-me was out.

Seriously.

Oh, now she's awake!

I wonder how many pictures they'll have like this by the time she's 18.

About an hour before the game, Reese and I packed up and headed back to the house so Jess and Joe could go to the game. First time babysitting the niece! Woo-hoo!!!

After only sleeping for about 20 minutes after we got home, we just hung out. Oh, and we got a free viewing of the air show going on at Dobbins.

Try getting in infant to sleep with this flying over the house...

Soon, it was time for a bottle. And baby girl was HUNGRY!!

Milk coma.

With all the noise going on, it was really impossible for her to get a decent nap in. Eventually we both crashed on the couch for about thirty minutes.

I could hold her like this forever.

After we both woke up, it was bath time, her favorite time of the day! Seriously. This kid loves being in the water. It's so funny. And even more than bath time, she loves if you fill the sink with water and let her just splash around after her actual bath.

In heaven.

She was supposed to take another bottle after her bath, but she wanted nothing to do with it. All she wanted to do was sleep. So, I put her down at 7 and she slept until 3:30 this morning. Pretty good.

And I crashed from about 10:30 until 9 this morning! Amazing. And when I woke up, my sister was making pumpkin pancakes that were out of this world. Seriously. So. Good. And to top it off, when Reese woke up from her morning nap, I got to cuddle her for a while before I had to head out.

Red hair twins.

Such an awesome weekend. Wish they were all like that. And to top it all off, I did some much needed (ok, not really) shopping! Lots of new things to pack up for LA!!!! So. Excited.

Hope everyone else had a fabulous fall weekend!

xoxo

This Is Braves Country

I can't tell you how many Braves games I've been to in my life. I can't tell you when my first game was. How many games did I attend in the Fulton County stadium? How many in Turner Field? I don't know. One thing I do know is that Bobby Cox was a constant. He was a great manager. With 158 career ejections, the most in major league history, and ranked 4th with the most wins as a manager, he's a legend.

Last night I was there to see Bobby's 2nd to last game ever.

Would you ever guess we were sisters?

It was a great game. Yeah, we lost, but after Hinske hit that two-run home run, the crowd was pumped. I've never heard that stadium so loud in my life. It was deafening. It was exciting. We thought we had it.

Things didn't work out so well in the end though. And while we lost, we still had hope knowing that the team had another chance to take the Giants the next night.

Here comes Bobby!!

I was hoping the Braves could pull out a win tonight. Just for him. I wasn't ready to see him leave. He cried in the post-game conference. I cried too.

Bobby Cox will always be an icon in Atlanta.

And he'll be missed greatly. Thanks for a great season, Braves.

Thanks for all the memories, Bobby.

Sunny with a high of 69.

After one of the hottest, and longest, summers I can remember in a while, it’s finally starting feel like fall. There wasn’t really a transition into it either. One day it was in the high 90s, the next day we were at 70. And this mornings 45 degrees was a cool welcome. Fall is here. And I hope it’s here to stay.

Yesterday, as a way to celebrate, I spent a majority of the afternoon outside swinging away with a pillow, a blanket, one Golden Puppy, and a book. The book? Catching Fire, the second in the Hunger Games series. These books, they’re amazing, but that’s another post for another day.

I lounged in the swing, wrapped in my blanket with Jacket sprawled out across me as I devoured the book.

It was wonderful. I was nice and cozy and just enjoyed the rustling in the trees as the wind wrapped itself around the branches above me. Eventually the Spotted Dog joined us too and Jacket left me to freeze to death while she snuggled up with Chloe on the ground.

Traitor.

At some point I decided to treat myself to a snack. What better way to celebrate fall then with a nice hot (I burned my tongue!) cup of hot chocolate and an apple with caramel?

It was perfect.

Of course, with this face looking at me, I had to share the apple. Spoiled rotten, my dogs are!

As the sun started to set lower in the sky, I decided to head in and start dinner. On the menu for the night is what I like to call “Corner Café Soup.” I don’t know what else to call it. All I know is late last winter, after one of our three snows (please don’t let that happen again this winter!), Cassie, Alison and I ventured out to have lunch at the Corner. Since it was so cold out, I decided to have a bowl of their soup of the day. I don’t remember what they called it, I just remember how perfectly delicious it was. Of course, the recipe was a secret. But, knowing the ingredients, I managed to recreate it with mom a few days later. It is now one of my favorite soups. It’s easy to make and it’s pretty healthy, what with all the fresh vegetables.

So here’s the recipe:

1 bag baby spinach

3 cups mushrooms (if you're like me, you might want to add more!)

1 cup carrots, sliced

3 yellow squash, sliced

3 zucchini, sliced

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons garlic

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 dashes marsala cooking wine

1.5 teaspoons ginger powder

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 container liquid vegetable broth

1 container liquid chicken broth

6 cups cooked rice

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add vegetable and chicken broth and let simmer. Add carrots, squash, and mushrooms and cook until tender. Then add spinach and cook until wilted. Lastly, you'll add the cooked rice.

Then it's time to enjoy!

Of course you can add or subtract different vegetables to your liking. Next time I think I'll add fresh okra. Yum!

What's your favorite soup to warm you up on a chilly fall night?