Chairs Before and After!

I have to say I am soooo excited about this Before and After!  Our new house has a Formal Living Room and we have created a sitting area, but it needed a few more chairs.  I searched and searched on Craigslist and different consignment stores and finally found these....

I know they are huge eye sores.  They look like something my grandmother would have had in her house 20 years ago!  But I had high hopes for these guys!  Here is the ottoman we purchased...again off of Craigslist to go with them.

So before picking out fabric and having them reupholstered, I had to get rid of the cherry gloss wood finish.  I decided to go with a dry brush painting method.  I researched and watched a few You Tube Videos.  It was very easy to do and turned out just like I wanted!

Then I chose a checked two-toned blue Romo fabric.  I have been in love with this fabric for months and dying to find a place for it in our house:)  So Ryan bought me the fabric for my Birthday and I have been crossing my fingers that it all would come together and look like I had pictured it in my head:)  I have to say I am in love!

I now constantly find myself just walking by this room so I can peak at my chairs:)  Don't you love it when you come across a cheap find and turn it into something you love!?

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great...long Thanksgiving Weekend!  We started off bright and early with a Turkey Trot....we had to work up our Turkey appetite:)

We then quickly loaded up the car and headed to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year.
Bonus Mom did a great job with the decor and table setting:)

She even made an appetizer in the shape of a turkey!

Ryan taught Jake how to carve a turkey...

Everyone loved the turkey!!

Loved spending time with all these guys....its rare that we are all together.

...and we ended the weekend with another NC State win at home!!!!!! 

We were way behind at half time...so far behind that someone wanted to leave and drive back to Charlotte (hint-it wasn't me!).  After convincing him to stay, we suffered through another bad quarter and then....the biggest comeback in NC State history! 42 unanswered points!!!!!

After a great Thanksgiving and a great game we went home and decorated our new house for Christmas.  It was the perfect way to end our weekend.  We have so much to be thankful for, but most of all I am thankful for my health, my wonderful husband, family and friends:)  Looking forward to the holidays!!

LZ Wedding

We traveled to Wilmington this past weekend to celebrate Leslie and Zack's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and elegant and soooo much fun!!  Since it was so close to Halloween they had candy, masks and shades of orange throughout!

Such a fun night!!  My feet hurt from the next day from dancing so much:)  Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Nichols!!

"Fig"tastic!

As many of you may know we have had several fruit trees over the past 6 years.  At our old house we had both a cherry tree (read about that here and here) and a peach tree.  Well a few days after we moved into our new house we notice we now have a Fig tree:)  So I immediately starting trying to think of ways to use figs...I have never cooked with figs before so this was quite the challenge!  I ended up making a huge batch of fig jam!
First I had to pick the figs and wash them.

I have actually used the fig jam a lot!  Gave it away to some new neighbors and friends...

Put it on a sandwich...

Made an appetizer.....Gluten Free baguette, spreadable cheese, fig jam and prosciutto.

I made thumbprint ginger cookies, covered them in powdered sugar and filled with fig jam!  A friend said "They taste like Chirstmas":)

Ryan grilled a juicy pork tenderloin and during the last 5 minutes of cooking we slathered some of the fig jam on top....you could also do this with pork chops or chicken!

We hope to try some more fig recipes soon!  Let me know if you have any good ones:)

Nighttime on the Lake and Football X 2

We are trying to recover from a jam packed, fun-filled weekend.  We started it off on Friday with dinner and a boat ride on the lake with Ryan's parents.  Although the weather is a little chilly this time of the year, the lake is quiet and peaceful...so relaxing.   So we bundled up and left all the stress of the week behind us.

We woke up early Saturday morning and drove to Raleigh to see the Wolfpack play.  We had a great time at the tailgate with the Robersons!  Little Miss Leighton came and got to attend her first NC State game!

Guess who sang the National Anthem??? Scotty McCreary!!!

We had a great time watching NC State win and passing this little one around and keeping her entertained:)

Here is a group shot of our football family.  This is our 7th season sitting with this crew!  Go Pack!

After getting home late Saturday...we got up early Sunday and did it all over again.  This time cheering for the Carolina Panthers.  Ryan joked that he "won" this weekend getting to go to back to back games:)

We tailgated with some of our friends in Charlotte.  Great weather, great food, great view of Downtown and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

This is the section mascot who is absolutely hilarious and he dances the entire game. And yes...those are pads under his uniform.

The Panthers did not win:(  But we still believe...Yes We CAM!