who needs kids?

Dogs ruin just as much stuff as children...

I was about to take pictures of the lovely progress the hubs has made on our back porch. Since the dogs {I'm guessing mainly the devil know as Ella-Mae, Shiloh is our well-behaved child} had busted through the screen twice, we had decided to put up lattice around the bottom to prevent future break throughs. This would also be convenient for keeping kids from doing the same.

I have never been so furious. 

it's that time of the year

The time where we go non-stop with no free weekend in sight until at least February. It may be exhausting but it keeps things interesting.

Let's go back to last Friday...

Friday:
After work we hopped into the car and headed to Society Hill, SC. It's in the middle of no where. Trust. It was also the location of our friends' wedding. We met at the horse farm/camp where it was being held to have dinner and rehearse in the dark. Good times.

Bed time: 1am (this is relevant)

Saturday:
Woke up at 6:30 to get ready and then help get the bride ready for an 11 o'clock wedding. The hubs and his dad took tons of pics, but I haven't had the chance to go through them yet. Go here to see the bridals we took.

Around 2:30 we got in the car and headed to the other part of the state for the hubs' 10 year reunion.

Bed time: 2:30am

Sunday:
Woke up around 11 and had lunch at Stax - my fav. We should have just gone home to rest but we went shopping instead. Can't pass up a chance to go to the Greenville Belk.

When we did get home at 5 I took a nap till about 9. I believe I ate peanut butter toast for dinner and crashed.

Bed time: 11pm

The rest of the past week has been just as busy. I'm never gonna catch up on rest.

sophia has some separation issues

I love my kitty. I really really do. And I love that she likes to cuddle, but honestly she could not get any closer to suffocating me.

crazy busy

Crazy:

Remember how I said I might be losing my marbles? Well call me crazy cakes. We got the machine. I know, I know, completely psycho move on my part but it was so dang irresistible especially when they throw 48 months interest free financing at you.

So The Big Mo (Babylock Ellisimo - get it?) has a home currently on our dinning room table. This is only temporary and the hubs said he'll build me a nice table in my craft room. As weird as this sounds I'm so overwhelmed with the possibilities, I can't think of what I want to embroider. I haven't touched it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Busy:

I just realized we do not have a free weekend until October 30th. This weekend is Robin and Matt's wedding, next is the bestie's birthday bash, and then we have football, football, and more football. This year is just flying by!

my dvr is filling up

I've got a nice little stock pile of shows on my DVR right now since I've gotten back into the book-reading-swing of things. I finished The Cheer Leader. I give it a big ole MEH! I should have known better than to try and read a college English class book for fun.

Once I got more than half way into the book I had to finish to see if it would get any better. Conclusion: big disappointment.

Onto the next book:

I'm already in love and I'm only three chapters in. I did have a good feeling that I would enjoy this book seeing as I've loved all his books. Surprisingly though, it has been sitting on the shelf for years. After this book I don't think I have any more, so tell me, what are y'all reading?

i've lost my marbles

Remember how I told the hubs if he got a boat I got a little sparkly? Well I changed my mind. I decided he gets a boat and I get an embroidery machine. If you know me at all, you know I'll use it for everything. Our house will be covered in monograms. Every Christmas, birthday, Easter, and halloween gift will be personalized. It will be awesome. Fair match right? Just wait.

Meet the Babylock Ellisimo {and the heavens opened and the angels sang}. It is the bees knees and I want, I want, I want. It can do everything and because it's the same brand as my other sewing machine the parts are interchangeable. You can design your own fancy embroidered pictures. It has a camera in it to make sure you're not being an idiot and doing it wrong. Sweet baby Jesus and all holy Martha Stewart I have to have this machine!

Then I found out how much it costs...right around the $7000 range. No I didn't accidently add a zero or forget to put the decimal point. It's seven grande. Panic, panic, panic...no, no, no! That's almost double the cost of the boat {almost} and yet I'm still swooning over it. I'm obviously out of my mind because I still want it and I'm making plans to get it. Just call me crazy.

cake balls take two

It was time to try my hand at another round of cake balls. The first time didn't go over so well. Don't get me wrong, they still tasted yummy, but they did not look yummy. I totally got it going on this round.

I couldn't make cake balls for work without making a little summin-summin for the hubs so I made him his own chocolate cake

Have I mentioned how awesome my father-in-law is for getting me my beautiful mixer as a wedding gift? He totally is.

mix it

bake it

crumble it and add frosting

ball it, add tooth picks, and put in freezer

in mean time assemble cake for the hubs

I let my cake balls sit in the freezer over night. For the dipping-in-chocolate process I melted the chocolate in my homemade double boiler (a fancier one is on the Christmas list now). I took a regular table spoon and while holding the tooth pick in the cake ball, I spooned the chocolate on and smoothed it around with the back of the spoon. 

After placed back on the cookie sheet I removed the tooth picks and smoothed over the hole with a dab of chocolate. They were placed back in the freezer to set.

Don't they look gorgeous? So proud!

hot damn

Bed Bath and Beyond carries Essie!