Thankful Things Thursday Remix

Hi! Apparently I've gotten in the habit of only posting weekend recaps or my weekly "Thankful Things Thursday" post. This has got to stop! I promise I'll stop being so busy and I'll be back to more consistent posts! I've got some good ones planned already!

I think I'm going to shake this post up a bit. Instead, we're calling it "Things I'm Looking Forward To Thursday: Summer Edition!"  Since we've finally gotten through to the other side of busy season and I can return to my social life, I realized I've got a lot of things to be excited about this year. I love making lists, so let's just combine the two!!

April

• Atlanta Braves Opening Day/Civil Wars Concert
• Clemson Spring Game
• End of Busy Season Audit Party
• Upstate Beer Festival
• Trip to Litchfield (hopefully!)

May

• Lauren and Rachel's Birthdays
• FAMILY VACATION to Arizona for Memorial Day (yay, Grand Canyon!)

June

• Father's Day
• Mom's Birthday

July

• Independence Day by the pool
• Week-long trip to Litchfield
• MY 24TH BIRTHDAY
• Ryan's 25th Birthday (two days after mine)
• Trip to San Antonio to see Ryan's Dad's family and 3 high-school friends
  

August

• Trip to Dallas to see Ryan's Mom's family

September

• Labor Day Weekend
• Clemson vs. Auburn in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome (Labor Day Weekend)
• Official start of college football!

October

• Dad's Birthday trip to the mountains
• Half Marathon #2 in Greenville
• Halloween (not a favorite of mine, but people seem to get really excited)

November

• Three back-to-back home games in Death Valley
• Thanksgiving! (Tied with Christmas for my all-time favorite holiday)

December

• Christmas Eve & Christmas Day
• New Year's Eve

This post has gotten me so excited about the upcoming year! I'm pretty excited I have this blog now so I can journal things before they happen and as they happen (and include pictures)! I have so many things to look forward to and be thankful I'm able to travel and enjoy time with friends and family. Hope you all are excited about the rest of 2012, too!

Weekend Update ~ Easter

Hello! Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I had a great weekend full of friends, fun, happy hours, delicious food, and of course, the blessing of Easter! 




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On Friday, I worked from home, but only had to work about 4 hours to hit my weekly total. The morning involved a much-needed mani/pedi. Lauren and I had bought a Living Social for a local salon for a pedicure with wine. Unfortunately I made my appointment at 10 am, so the wine was semi-socially-unacceptable. I opted for coffee instead.



OPI's Cajun Shrimp

 

After work, I started baking some Easter treats! I found the idea on Pinterest, but basically all you have to do is melt a Hershey Hug on a pretzel and then top with an M&M! So easy! Actually, the hardest part is just unwrapping all those Hershey kisses! I ended up taking them to work Monday morning and they were gone before lunch. If you want to get rid of sweets, take them to the office!

All plated for Easter dessert!

Friday night involved happy hour at Ale House with the work crew, and then bar hopping for the remainder of the evening with both my work friends and Ryan's. I believe our stops included Nose Dive, Ford's Oyster Bar, Corner Pocket, and last but not least, The G-Spot. Side note: The G-Spot is a pretty seedy bar. But Ryan and I had our first kiss there. So we return for nostalgia sake. And sometimes, the music is good for dancing.

Saturday was a lazy day! I really wanted to drive to Asheville to see the tulips at the Biltmore. Unfortunately, you can only buy one ticket as admission (for $64) and Ryan and I weren't in the mood to tour the house while we were there. Bummer :(

Here's a picture my dad took of the garden several years ago:

Instead, we decided to spend a day enjoying our own city! We went to lunch at Luna Rosa. This place has the best gelato and the food is actually pretty amazing too! I had a grilled cheese panini and Ryan had the eggplant tomato bisque. We had to finish our lunch with gelato (caramel latte crunch for me and peanut butter cup for Ryan). 



Pretty flowers at our outdoor table

 We spent the next two hours sitting at Falls Park on a bench and people watching (one of my FAVORITE things to do). It was so nice to just relax and hang out and chat. The weather was gorgeous! Here's a few pictures:



Hi ducks! You're cute. Let's be friends.

Saturday afternoon was spent napping while watching the Masters. Ryan and I met one of my coworkers, Trent, at Liberty Tap Room for appetizers and dinner. We ended up making friends with the waiter and stayed for hours. 

Sunday was Easter! Ryan, Trent, and I headed to Anderson to the church I grew up in, First Presbyterian, and then had Easter lunch with my family. The church was packed so I'm glad we got there early for a seat. Lunch was delicious! We made our usuals: honey baked ham, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and rolls. My mom made these precious "easter baskets" for dessert! 

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend with their families!

Thankful Things Thursday

Hello there! I've been a bit MIA this week, but for good reason. Bobby's dad's funeral was on Tuesday in Aberdeen, MS, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. The trip was a whirlwind. Jordan, Michael, Ryan, and I pulled out of Greenville at 10 pm Monday night. We drove 5 hours to Jasper, AL to crash at a hotel. We slept about 3 hours and were back up again to shower and hit the road. We got to the church about 2 hours before the funeral. We spent some time with the family and it was great to see them and hug them all. The funeral was a great testament to Mr. Dale's life and what a great man he was (I, of course, bawled through the entire thing). After the burial, we joined the family for lunch. I'm so happy we got to give everyone a big hug and express our love and sympathy for them. We were back on the road by 2 pm and pulled back into Greenville 24 hours after we had left. I've been catching up on sleep ever since!

But on to regularly scheduled blog programming (which will probably be a very short post)!

I'm thankful for birddogs. For everyone wondering what the heck a birddog is, let me explain. It's one of the best foods ever. There's a restaurant in Anderson called JC's which makes the ultimate birddog. A chicken tender in a hotdog bun, toasted with cheese and bacon, and covered in honey mustard. Y.U.M. In case you're having a hard time picturing this, don't worry, I managed to get a picture before I scarfed it down.

I'm thankful for thunderstorms. We've had lots of rain showers in the afternoon this week, and it's given me a perfect excuse to climb in bed when I get home from work. Which reminds me...

I'm thankful for my bed. From Thursday to Tuesday, I slept in a different bed every single night. Insane. I was so exhausted from not sleeping before the funeral, I climbed in bed last night at 8:30 and I'm not ashamed to say I was in my pajamas by 6 tonight. 

I'm thankful for weekends. And this weekend can't come soon enough. It's also Easter! I'm going to enjoy the Masters on tv and take naps and sleep in on Saturday! During busy season, the weekend was just another opportunity to work (yuck) so I'm back to taking full advantage of my Saturdays! 

I'm thankful for quotes. I love them actually. I have a word document on my computer where I save all my favorites. Just when I needed something uplifting on Tuesday, I saw this on Facebook: "I was sure by now, God, you would have reached down, wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day. But once again, I say 'Amen' and it's still raining. And as your mercy falls, I raise my hand and praise the God who gives and takes away."

I'm also 100% thankful for my friends and family. I'd be lost without them. There has been such an outpouring of love and support this week and it reminds me just how lucky I am. God blessed me with an incredible support system when things are tough.

I'm glad you hung around for this semi-sad post today. Hopefully recharging my batteries this weekend will have me back to normal! Until next time!

Weekend Update ~ Cooper River Bridge Run

Happy weekend everyone! This post is coming to you from the beach! It's actually cloudy this morning so I'm inside horizontal on the couch blogging while Ryan reads through The Hunger Games.  I read the book when it first came out and can't wait to see the movie, but Ryan wanted to read the book before we went to see it. I handed over my kindle when we got to the beach Friday and he's been immersed ever since! That book really does suck you in! Here's how my weekend has looked, starting from the beginning!

Friday, we woke up early (the downfall of the working world - sleeping in is hard to do) and decided to watch the sunrise from the hammock. It was such a perfect way to start the day.

I ended up working for a little bit while Ryan napped in the hammock. We ate a quick breakfast and headed to the beach for a quick 2 mile run. I love running on the beach! It's just hard to get used to the humidity down here! After the run, we made a quick change into our bathing suits and were back on the beach in 30 minutes. Ahh, the weather was perfect! We spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun.

We finally went inside to shower around 5 pm and then we were off to Charleston! One of my best friends, Rachel, is in medical school in Charleston and we were staying with her for the race. I had made reservations for dinner at Red Drum weeks ago. I had my 22nd birthday dinner there and the food is amazing. I didn't need an excuse to eat there again! Ryan and I were starving, so we ordered the chips and salsa before Rachel and her friend got there. The menu has a southwestern flair (which I knew Ryan would love because he's from Texas) so I had to have a margarita! The lighting in the restaurant is pretty dim so I didn't get any good pictures of our food. I had the wood-grilled chicken breast which comes with mexican cheese, thin tortilla strips, and a avocado sauce. We were so full, we couldn't even make room for dessert, which is a shame because the dessert menu is to die for!

After dinner, we went back to Rachel's apartment for lots of sleep before the race. Unfortunately, right before bed, Ryan and I got news that our best friend's dad had passed away. He's been battling cancer for a couple of months and had slipped into a coma earlier in the day. I had a rough time sleeping Friday night because of my heavy heart, so that 5 am wake up call came mighty early. I think I only managed 3 hours of sleep. 

On to the race! We got dressed, pinned on our bibs, grabbed some Luna bars and a bottle of water and headed to the shuttles. Our shuttle managed to get lost on the way to the start line, and there was over an hour delay for the race. But Ryan and I passed the time, and tried to keep stretching.  Then we were off! We ran over a mile before we got to the bridge but Ryan's calves started to cramp up. We walked up the bridge (which is over a mile long) and ran the rest of the race. We had a lot of fun, and crossed the finish line together at 1:21! Training next year will go much smoother and we're going to kill that time!

After the race, we headed back to Rachel's place to shower and then meet Ryan's roommate Travis and his girlfriend Abby downtown for lunch. They had picked Big Gun Burgers and it was delicious! We ordered mac & cheese fritters for an appetizer. I had a blue cheese bacon burger and a Tom Collins! Running 6 miles requires refueling with food that's bad for you! :)



Water in mason jars!



Fried mac & cheese! Doesn't get much better!

We were absolutely exhausted but I wanted to get back to Litchfield before it got dark and before the Final Four games came on. Ryan took a little more convincing...




Rachel and Ryan post-race

Before leaving Charleston, we ended up meeting one of my friends, Kyle, at an Irish pub. It was great to see him and catch up and Ryan and I enjoyed a Coffee and Kahlua to stay awake for the remainder of the day! We also had to make a pitstop for this picture:

Fun Story: Ryan's last name is Berndt (pronounced "burnt"). As the story goes, freshman year of college, when he was introducing himself to the guys on his hall, they didn't understand what his last name was. So, to make it easier, he said "Berndt. Like burnt toast." And the nickname was born. When I first met Ryan, I was introduced to him as "Toast." I had no idea what his actual name was for at least a month. He was even in my phone as "Toast." But after dating him for a little while, he requested I no longer call him "Toast." So I'm retraining myself and slowly learning to call him Ryan! I saw this restaurant (which is a great place for brunch) and I just had to make him take a picture under the awning!

Back to the weekend! Ryan and I left Charleston around 4:30 pm. We got back to the beach and picked a local seafood place for dinner. Hanser House is a delicious, family owned restaurant about a mile from the house. We bellied up to the bar just in time for tip-off of the first basketball game. Dinner was amazing (I had shrimp and grits, Ryan had the seafood platter) and there were endless baskets of hushpuppies!!




Guess who had the fruitier drink?!

Sunday was a short day in the sun and we hopped back in the car to head home. Ryan continued to read The Hunger Games all the way home, so we could see the movie when we got back to Greenville! It was sooo good! 



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And that, my friends, concludes the weekend! Whew! We packed a lot into one weekend (and drove over 796 miles)! But it was a great weekend and a lot of fun!

Thankful Things Thursday

Happy Thursday! One of my favorite blogs, Ali on the Run, does a weekly post titled "Thankful Things Thursday." I think this will be a great way to take some time each week to be thankful for the little things. They can be silly or legitimate. Either way, it'll be fun for me to reflect back on these posts when I need a pick-me-up!

First, I'm thankful for working 4 10 hour days this week. How has the rest of the business world not caught on to this phenomenon?! I could get so many things done if I had one extra day during the week. And 3-day weekends every weekend? YES PLEASE!

I'm thankful I'll be waking up at the beach tomorrow morning. Litchfield Beach is one of my favorite places. It's perfect for relaxing in the hammock and soaking up the sun. Nothing beats a day on the beach. Hoping for beautiful weather!

I'm thankful for my health. While I've dealt with some random pesky injuries (my hip) during the past couple of months, I'm glad I'll be able to put one foot in front of the other and run this race on Saturday. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the fact that some people don't even have the ability to run. One of my dear dear friend's father is fighting a battle with cancer each day, so I run every mile and pray for him. It gives me the strength to keep going.

I'm thankful for popcorn. Everyone who knows me knows that I consider it a favorite food. I eat it for meals all the time. In grad school, I lived off of popcorn for lunch or as a snack in the library. I have made trips to Target specifically for the $1 popcorn combo. Can't beat it! I rekindled my love when I ate popcorn for dinner last night. I'm not ashamed! :)




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I'm thankful for sleeping with the windows open. While Lauren and I live on a pretty busy street and the noise is sometimes bothersome, I love sleeping with the windows open this time of year. We managed to skip spring and go straight to summer. We even broke a few records with the high temperatures recently! I'm cold-natured, so give me 80 degrees and sunny everyday and I'll be an extremely happy girl. 




Hello nice weather!

 And last but not least, I'm thankful (actually, excited) for my new Tervis water bottle. I've always loved Tervis cups but the water bottle is a great addition to my collection! The ice doesn't melt for a solid 5 hours and the bottle doesn't sweat AT ALL! It's going to be great on the beach!

Well, I'm headed out for the road trip to the beach. 5 hours in the car calls for lots of snacks! Hope you all had a great day! Almost the weekend!

{Recipes} Baked Blueberry Banana Oatmeal, Oreo Pudding Cookies, BLT Dip, and Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Whew! This post is going to be full of yummy recipes! As I mentioned, I love to cook and try new recipes in the kitchen! I'm currently working through all my saved recipes on Pinterest! I follow a lot of food blogs, so I'm always finding something new to whip up in the kitchen. All of these recipes were delicious, however I probably won't make the baked blueberry banana oatmeal again. Because it's "healthy" and oatmeal actually isn't one of my favorite foods (I've tried countless times to like it but I just can't seem to love it), it didn't have a ton a flavor. It smelled heavenly while baking though! I actually heated up some for breakfast again this morning and ended up switching to cereal instead.

First up: Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas from Skinny Taste

 

Ingredients:

2 medium ripe bananas, (the riper the better) sliced into 1/2" pieces

1 1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 cup honey (or agave)

1 cup uncooked quick oats

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 cup fat free milk (or any milk you desire)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Lightly spray a 8 x 8" or 9 x 9" ceramic baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.

Arrange the banana slices in a single layer on the bottom of the ceramic dish.Sprinkle half of the blueberries over the bananas, 1/4 tsp of the cinnamon, 1 tbsp of the honey and cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes, until the bananas get soft.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, half of nuts, baking powder, remaining cinnamon, and salt; stir together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract.

Remove the bananas from the oven, then pour the oat mixture over the bananas and blueberries.

Pour the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the mixture as evenly as possible over the oats.  Sprinkle the remaining blueberries and walnuts over the the top.
Bake the oatmeal for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal has set. Serve warm from the oven.

(PS. Ryan wasn't around when I baked this Saturday morning, but when I showed him the picture he said, "You put olives in oatmeal??" Haha, he's a mess)

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Oreo Pudding Cookies from The Girl Who Ate Everything

These are probably the greatest cookies I've ever had. I'm not a huge sweets person. I have a tendency to bake things and then not eat them. But these, I could eat them for days (and I have been)! So so good! The recipe said it made 2 dozen but I'm pretty sure we had more than that. Maybe we just made smaller cookies!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (4.2 ounce) package instant Oreo Pudding mix

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Hershey's Cookies N Cream Candy Bars broken into small pieces

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in pudding mix until blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Stir in cookies n' cream pieces and chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.

Using a cookie dough scooper, place golf ball sized dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container. Makes two dozen.

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BLT Dip from Betty Crocker

I made this while we were watching the basketball tournament and served it with tortilla chips. While I was whipping it up, I realized I managed to forget the cream cheese. But I had already mixed everything else together so I baked it anyway. It was tasty without it, but I'm sure the cream cheese would've give it the thickness it needed. Highly recommend for a tailgate or party!

Ingredients:

1 pound bacon, cooked 

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.

Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, and cream cheese in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Crumble bacon into mixture and stir. Add cheddar cheese, green onions, and tomato and mix well. Pour into a shallow dish or pie pan and bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling. Garnish with additional green onions, tomato, and crumbled bacon. Serve with corn chips.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from For Goodness Sake

Last but not least, banana bread! This recipe was relatively easy although it did have a fair amount of ingredients. But the result was delicious! I would definitely make this again!

3/4 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

6 tablespoons white sugar

6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed or whizzed in food-processor

1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips tossed in 1 tablespoon flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9X5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; add a strip of parchment paper to bottom of pan for easy removal.Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. In another bowl or bowl of mixer, mix bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, egg, vanilla, and oil. Fold in flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain, then gently fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into loaf pan. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; carefully remove from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

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Hope y'all enjoyed the recipes (sorry this post was so long)! 

Weekend Update ~ Mountain Weekend

Hi lovelies! I've had quite the busy week/weekend since I last posted! Wednesday included drinks at Nantucket with Lauren's dad who was in town for the day.

Pretty courtyard outside Nantucket

Thursday involved a happy hour at Liberty Taproom for an employee who is leaving our firm.

Friday also was filled with interesting adventures! Our boss had asked me and two other audit staff to be in a video for the Greenville Drive (the minor league baseball team in Greenville). We were promoting the second annual "Drive Business Downtown" event, which involves an afternoon game and then meet-and-greet networking sessions with local CEO's and other businesses.  Let's just say I spend most of my time behind a computer and calculator for a reason...I was not meant to be on camera! I wish I had more pictures of the set, but there wasn't enough time!

Early morning video shoot

After another day at the office, Lauren and I were off to the mountains!! We decided a weekend getaway was much needed, so the car was packed and off we went to Cashiers, NC! Dinner Friday night was at the local brewery and didn't disappoint! I had cheeseburger sliders and Lauren built her own pasta! Post dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of wine and the movie Bridesmaids, which neither of us had seen yet! 

Saturday morning involved some baking. I tried so many new recipes this weekend (4 to be exact), so they'll have to come in a separate post! After breakfast and HUGE mugs of coffee on the porch, we were off to Highlands for some shopping! 

We scored some sweet deals, but mainly just browsed. Our first stop (a must!) was to pick up some Abita Strawberry Lager at a local grocery store. They don't sell it in South Carolina and I was desperate to get my hands on this seasonal delight! I bought everything they had in stock (2 6-packs). It is certainly worth it! 

YUMMMM

This post is starting to look like an Abita advertisement! But (and my sister agrees!), it's pretty darn delicious. Katie has been known to pick restaurants based on whether Purple Haze is on draft (Mellow Mushroom being a favorite of ours)! Moving on...

The weather turned out to be beautiful on Saturday. A girl's day with my bestie and some sunshine was all we needed!

Best purchase of the weekend. TERVIS WATER BOTTLE!

Pretty local church

After we got back home, there was more baking (the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever) and then Ryan showed up and Lauren headed back down the mountain!

After Ryan got there, there was wine drinking, basketball watching (LOVE March Madness), appetizer eating (BLT dip), fire building, and grilling out! Dinner (which I failed to take a picture of) was steak, corn on the cob, and asparagus. Poor Ryan just wore short-sleeves and shorts and forgot how chilly the air can be at night! He grilled our dinner in a bathrobe to keep warm! 

Everything seems so much better with a fire in the fireplace and mountain air blowing through the windows!

Sunday I went for a run around a lake nearby. The views were amazing, but trail running is not my forte. I had some pretty severe hip pain afterwards (an injury I've been fighting since before the half-marathon in November). I managed to limp around for the rest of the day Sunday. But most of the day was spent on the couch watching more basketball and napping. Ahh, what great Sundays are made of! The splits for my run turned out great, but I was definitely feeling it afterwards. Only one week till the 10K in Charleston!

The weekend was absolutely perfect and I came back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle another week! This will be a short week of work, as Ryan and I are off to Litchfield/Charleston for the race this weekend! I'm getting spoiled with all these mini getaways!

The weekend was capped off with a beautiful orange and purple sunset over Lake Keowee on our drive home. 

God must love Clemson with sunsets like these!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Recipe post to come soon!