Easter, lovely Easter.

Before I start this post, I would like to state for the record that I love life right now and am so excited that summer is so close! So close.

Anyway, here we go...

This first picture starts off our Easter Sunday with my great-grandmother, Wilma Palmer. This is on my mother's side of the family. Granny is 87 years old, and lives in Murphy, North Carolina (about 2 1/2 hours from Atlanta). You wouldn't know it from the photo, but Granny is sharp as a tack. I'm serious. She remembers everything - and can whoop some tail with sports trivia.

Haha, Granny, you kill me! Look at that pose. Right after we took this first photo I said, "Granny, the camera's right there. You're deaf, not blind." and she laughed.

The photo below is half of the supper spread.

First of all, we have Ben's deviled eggs (yes, Ben made them! He is a pro.). The large pink platter is, yes, you guessed it, ham. You can't tell from the photo but these were GIGANTIC pieces of ham. Tradition states that the oldest man in the house cuts the roast (turkey, ham, whatever). Since my dad wasn't there, it was up to Ben this year. This was his first attempt at carving the ham, and let's just say he started from the wrong side of the roast. He did a great job, considering. We also have Granny's baked beans (on the right), mashed potatoes up front, and the creamed corn has the lid on it. I burned it, which Granny warned me not to do and I did anyway. Whoops.
The other side of the table - ignore the ham, you already know the story.

That speckled looking dish on the left is actually Granny's sweet potato casserole, with honey, coconut and marshmallows. It was fantastic! What was not fantastic, however, was the green and brown thing at the center of the photo. This was canned asparagus, and was softer than baby poop. The cheese sauce on top, however, was delish! Good job Beth.
The aftermath: dishes overload. There is no dishwasher, for the record.
This is Beth and Daniel having a splash fight. Daniel is Beth's boyfriend, and is a great guy. We love him!
Andrew was not amused. He just wanted to dry the dishes, not flirt with Daniel.This is my Aunt Ramona (aka Uncle Mona) and her wolf-ish boyfriend Jeff. They were busy chain-smoking on the back porch. Yet another amazing photo of Granny. My goodness she is photogenic.
Some of my favorite memories in Murphy, growing up, are sitting on the back porch with the family. On this particular day we sat outside for quite a bit, which was lovely and the weather was gorgeous. Granny asked Ben to make a pot of coffee, and a few minutes later said, "I can smell the coffee, it's ready." So I went in to get her a cup, and found the coffee maker smoking and sputtering. It literally had exploded all over the counter. This is Granny examining the coffee pot. She laughed it off. This is my favorite part about Granny's house - her fridge. In the photo below you can see the entirety of my mother's family from infancy on.
I know. I know. Isn't it amazing? Mom and Dad, circa 1979. This is their engagement photo (I believe)! Ben said later on that night how much I looked like my mother in this photo. I was so flattered - she's gorgeous! Dad, however, is looking a little sketch with the 'stache.
ps. The best part about this is the name magnets that Granny puts next to the photos of people on her fridge.

Below we have a photo of the whole gang, minus Ben, because we couldn't figure out how to turn on the photo delay button. Many thanks to Erin for figuring it out. Anyway, the first photo in this series is without Ben.
Then we decided that he could hit the button and jump into the photo and make it on time. He literally hit the button and slammed down on his butt. Below we have the first try...
And here we have the second...
What can I say? The look on Granny's face is priceless. She was so amused that Ben kept jumping into the photo. I am grinning like a six year old on Christmas morning and Andrew is obviously amused, which is rare. It was awesome.

Thanks Granny for inviting us! It was a great day.

another house - ma's house!

Today we're going to take a trip away from the little green house and visit my parent's house in Avondale, Pennsylvania. My father was promoted at work and they moved back in December - and I came for a visit! Below is a photo of the countryside on the way out to their house...I mean mansion.

They live in a neighborhood called Brittingham (I cannot say "Brittingham" without speaking in an absurdly over-the-top British accent).

Here we have my parents' big brown house! 6 bedrooms, 5 baths...it is huge. I call it "Chez Louie." They just removed the slats/deck from the front porch and plan on adding stone to the facade (I believe).

As we walk in, you can immediately tell what my mother's taste is. She and I have a really similar taste - although she has a knack for artwork that I haven't quite mastered yet.
Dining room - she painted that mirror herself.
The living room. See the painting to the right? She painted that based on a piece she saw at Pier One. And the paisley rug - so my mother's style.Family room. This couch is amazing - I really could live on it. This is the kitchen. Lovely!
This is my sister's room. Note the girly bedspread and guitar. This is Myles and Jacy's room - or as my dad put it, "the NURSERY."
Put the brakes on, Dad, we haven't gotten married yet!


Below is a photo of the myriad of doors you must walk through in my parents' wing of the home. Yes, "wing" accurately describes their part of the house. Well hey there Regan! As usual, he has a ball in his mouth.
Here's ma in her office - the desk was intended for my dad's office upstairs but was mistakenly put in mom's office by the movers. Not that we mind!
Ah, yes, the family photos. This used to be on bookshelves at the old house, but is now condensed and in mom's office. Don't look at any fat photos of me. Thanks.
The morning before I flew home, mom and I went to Kennett Square, a nearby town. It's cute! It kind of reminded me of Madison, Georgia. One street, neat shops, good food. Below is a picture of me in front of Sinclair's Sunrise Cafe. It was delicious - I had an omelet, mom had a wrap, and the waitress was very nice.

This is a picturesque view of downtown Kennett Square. There's a foodie store called Tallulah's that has great food and CHEESE! Man, I love cheese.
We went to a store and I found these for my future herb garden. Mom is bringing them to me because I refused to bring them on the plane. They're metal and I was convinced that TSA would confiscate them as weapons. They didn't have Basil - hence "Herbs."
There is also a great bookstore there operated by the Senior Citizens of Kennett Square. These people were a hoot - there was an elderly Russian lady who kept yelling, "IT NOT RESPOND" when she was trying to run my credit card. Anyway, below is a wall of cookbooks. I was in heaven.
All in all, mom's house is gorgeous, Kennett Square is adorable, and I had a good trip. I will post more about Philly and my travels later.

"I got floe in my teeth."

As I write this, Ben is going to get me a beer out of the fridge, because he's sweet and I feel like having a beer. It is freezing in our house right now, so this is asking a lot. We have a space heater, which we have been keeping in the office and have consequently camped out in here for months. It's like being dipped in an ice bath everytime you open the door. Thanks for the beer, love.

Things in the little green house are going well. We've been working pretty hard these last few weeks and I'm looking forward to my pseudo Spring Break next week. I say pseudo because I'm working half the week, but that's beside the point. I'm off to Philadelphia to visit my parents this weekend, and am so excited!


In other news, we won FIRST PLACE in trivia! Each week, we go to Twains and make a valiant effort to win something, anything, really. And we won! It was amazing! Below is a picture of me being excited about it. This is Jeff and Ben celebrating. Again, we have the "I'm doing something funny and I'm amused with myself face." I actually really love it when he makes this expression, as much as I pretend to hate him and his stupid little face. Wait, did I just say that I love it? So confused.
Also, I forgot to tell you in my recap that we went to the cabin, looked at the waterfall, got soaking wet, and had a great time. And then it snowed.
That is all.

update part 2

Okay, so from late January on...

Around the beginning of February, I went to Orlando for my annual work meeting. Below is a picture of Elizabeth, myself and Stacey. We all went to Tech School together and are from Texas, Georgia and Colorado, respectively. I love these girls because we're all so different (location being a big part of that, actually), and yet we have so much in common because of our jobs.
After I got back, we spent a great few days in Athens looking at chapels/reception sites and found one! Below is the Day Chapel at the UGA Botanical Gardens. It is absolutely beautiful.
This is the inside of the conservatory at the botanical gardens - where we will be having the reception for our wedding. I get so excited just looking at it!
In early March (on my birthday, actually) we had a toga party. As you can see, we went all out on our fabric. Erin is rocking the lilac, I am continuing the gold theme (see the post below with my gold tights), and Karen is very tropical. The three musketeers, we be.
Ben and I went skiing with my family for a weekend (you can see the trails on the mountainside) in Stratton, Vermont. It was awesome! This is where I found out that I truly loved Ben because I kept wanting to vomit every time he fell. I guess you don't know you love someone until they make you want to vomit when they get hurt.
I'm sorry I don't have more pictures from the trip. Like I already said, it was awesome.
We had an impromptu cookout last weekend, which are the best ones because although the food is random, it always ends up being delicious. Hmm...what do we have here? Above, you see hot dogs, an avocado salad, roasted fennel and carrots, grilled portabellos, and asparagus. Below, we have Anna's famous blue cheese and bacon deviled eggs, a tasty pasta salad (in the background), and before you an array of peppercorn crusted steaks with gorgonzola chive butter.
Jealous? ;)
Above is a picture of my front room on Saturday morning, and I just thought it was so lovely I had to take a photo. The light shines into the room and it's so quiet and peaceful in here. I made a cup of coffee, sat on the couch, and read wedding magazines. Birds chirp. It is amazing.
Oh! Hey there Jasper! Here's a photo that got stuck down here for some reason - this was at the cookout. He matches the floor. I love this dog.
Lastly, I felt I needed to show you all this fabulous chair that my future mother-in-law gave me. I have two of them, they are antiques, and I will throw myself in front of a moving car to keep them in my life forever.

OKAY you are finally caught up on our lives. It is March 23rd, and I vow to be better about this blog. [insert "yay" noise here]

massivo update

Hey blog! Fancy seeing you here. As I sit here on this lovely first day of spring, drinking coffee, and working in my office, I decided it was time for an update. So, I'm going to attempt to bring it all together in one post.

Where do we begin? I'm going to update you as quickly as possible, starting at Halloween. I was really excited about Halloween this year for several reasons.

1. Couple costumes!

Well, that's really it. I also just like Halloween. Below is a photo of us in front of our fireplace. Can you guess who we are? That's right, Don and Betty Draper, from the AMC tv show Mad Men. I knew you'd get it.
Okay, obviously I am not Betty Draper (aka January Jones) and Ben and John Hamm aren't exactly twins, but I thought we looked cute and went for it. I found my dress and he found the pipe at Kudzu antiques market.

The next day, we decided to have a cookout for the Georgia/Florida game. The weather was lovely, lots of folks showed up, and Georgia lost the game. Aside from Georgia losing, it was a great day. Below is a photo of Daniel and I trying to take a picture where it looks like we're holding the camera, however my sister is taking the picture. We are idiots.
In mid November, my parents moved out of their house. This is a photo of the foyer. I took several pictures before the movers came, and cried accordingly. I have so many happy memories of life in this house.
This year, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our little green house! Both my family and Ben's family were there, as well as Stacey and Myles and Jacy. It was actually pretty fun, considering I'm a list-maker and a planner, as evidenced in the photo below.
We decided to do a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but then do a "twist" on it with new interpretations. For example, we made cranberry sauce (traditional) and onion and cranberry chutney (twist). Personally, I thought it was a resounding success. Our families fit together well, which is a sign of things to come, I feel.
Oh yeah, I voted.


And then we witnessed history...











Reagan came to visit. I regret the day we got that ball out. Man, he wouldn't leave us alone!




Mom turned 50!









And we ran out of candles, so Ben improvised. I love the look on his face. This is his, "I'm doing something witty and I'm amused with myself" face.






We threw an Ugly Christmas Sweater party in December, which morphed into a classy cocktail party. The gold tights were a hit. Take a look at my dollar store tree. Not bad, eh? Christmas was great. I will find photos from my sister and post them, if I remember. We went to Philadelphia to visit my parents in their new home - the house is so gigantic I have my own wing!

Christmas vacation also involved an amazing day of snow tubing with Ben's side of the family. They are really great! It was a fun, relaxing few days in Ohio. I hope we get to go next year.
We also went and visited my family for an evening. The Olive Garden treated us like kings. Below is a photo of my grandmother, aunt Chris and her 3 adorable children, Ellie, Avery and Jake. I think Ben is taking the picture and my uncle Bryan must be in the bathroom or something.

Hey everybody...
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Many thanks to Anna and Gregg for taking us in.

In January, over MLK weekend, Ben and I went to Charleston. The photo above is from the first morning we toured the city. I cannot even begin to explain how cold it was that day. I can, however, explain how much I enjoy the photo above. I enjoy it.
Oh yeah! We got engaged that weekend! ;)

Above is the first photo we took after he proposed. We are so happy. That's all you need to know.
This last photo of the post doesn't bring us exactly up to speed, but I ran out of photos. This is me and the girls. Elizabeth, Anna, Lynnsey and Amy. We went to the lakehouse in South Carolina for a weekend (in January) and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Anna and Lynnsey are new additions to our little green house, and our lives, and frankly, I adore them.


So there you go! You're up to speed, sort of. Life, in short, is beautiful.

Just beautiful.