Wonderful week with friends

It was has been a great week! I got together with great friends from HS last week and went to a jewelry party and ordered some goodies = ) Friday night Andrew and I went to a cocktail party the Wien's Family was hosting at their house. It was also their year anniversary and they wanted to celebrate with friends/family. Every couple brought their favorite cocktail. We of course took French Martini's = ) If you haven't had one of these- it's a definite must, YUMMY! There was great food including a roasted pig. It was sad to see them roasting it but oh my it tasted delicious.

                      Andrew & Wiens (aka Dustin) cutting up the pig

                                         Jenn & I

                                  Woody's & Dill's

Andrew had to work Saturday morning for just a bit- when he got off work we went to Fayetteville to pick up Big Kara and start tailgating for the Hog game. Well we were about to leave Kara's when she asked "You got your tickets right?" I just look at her, crap! Forgot the tickets, so back to Rogers we go, ugh! I'm just glad she asked because I would've been so mad if it was 4:30 and we realized it. It was a great game. I just watched the BCS standings and I am one happy girl = ) Now just if we win next week and hopefully kick some LSU booty.
                         Love you both Walnuts ; ) Hehe

                                   

Today was a gorgeous day. It's crazy how windy it was yesterday at the game and down in the 50's. Then today mid 70's plus some wind but felt great. I took my nala girl for a little run/walk, and she was pretty excited. Andrew got home and hung up some of the new stuff I got. There's a store called Vintage Glam and Junque in Downtown Rogers that has some cute stuff. I asked her if she could make a cross for me since the ones she had in the stores didn't match my living room. I finally went and picked it up and I love it!

For my birthday Kara (SIL) made me a board that says "Woody's" and has our wedding date on it. I was excited because I saw these at War Eagle but just got the companies card because it was so crowded. I hadn't gotten around to ordering one and I'm glad I didn't = )

I should've taken a picture before Andrew hung it. The letters behind our names looks silver but they're black. iPhone pictures didn't turn out the greatest of it

I decided to make some yummy creamy potato soup tonight. I did it all by myself (yay!!!) Big accomplishment for me who never cooks ; ) Here's the recipe from my friend Lacey.

Ingredients:

4 large red potatoes cubed 

1/4 onion chopped 

1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic

1 heaping tablespoon minced chives

1 cup milk 

4 cups chicken stock

6 pieces bacon, fried crisp and chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1/2 block cream cheese

Directions:

1. In a large pot bring water to boil. Add in potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. While the potatoes are boiling fry and chop bacon. Set aside. 

2. In a small skillet, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are transparent and garlic is golden brown. 

3. When potatoes are tinder, drain water and return to pot. slowly add milk and chicken stock. Then add onion/garlic sauté, cream cheese, chives, and bacon. Save pinches of bacon to top soup in bowl. 

4. Cook on medium to low heat for 15 minutes or until cream cheese is melted. Salt and pepper to taste. 

It turned out great and was very yummy.

I also made some hashbrown casserole for my work's Thanksgiving Potluck tomorrow! Mmmmm....I'm very excited for some yummy yummy food. 

Have a great week, I'm looking forward to LR this weekend for the game. Oh and Breaking Dawn on Friday night!!!

~Kara~

Fall is Here

I love this weather! Fall is officially here and the leaves are soooo pretty!!! I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here, and then it'll be Christmas time! I need to start getting some shopping done. 

So, Halloween was Monday- I was excited to pass out candy to all the kiddos. Well I guess since our neighborhood isn't all the way developed yet we only had 2 TRICK-OR-TREATERS = ( It was a sad night for me- for 1, because I bought a lot of candy and didn't want all the leftovers at my house because I'd eat it all. #2- I wanted to see all the cute costumes! I took one of my candy bowls to work and it went by quick- thank you everyone! Andrew and I still have 1 bowl left and haven't even made a dent in it- ahhhh!! I might be just taking it to work too. Hopefully next year when the neighborhood gets more full we'll get more kids.

On Thursday the Duggars did a lemonade stand at the Promenade Mall to raise money for Alex's Cancer Foundation. Andrew and another police officer were doing security for them. I had a cancellation so I went to see the Duggars = ) I watch their show all the time. They are a super nice family and Andrew said they raised a lot of money for the foundation.

   Little Jackson was full of energy but really cute. He wasn't real sure about my boots ha

Friday morning I had a couple of clients and then went to Spoiled Salon (in Fayetteville off Joyce) to get a deep tissue massage. Andrew got me a massage for my birthday and I've been needing one for awhile. Especially after carrying the heavy backpacks in Ukraine. The massage felt amazing like always when I go there! I usually get my haircut afterwards by Andrew's sister but already did that recently. So my hair was a little greasy, ooops oh well- I still ran all my errands.

Before my massage, I went to the mall to try find some skinny jeans (which I said I would never buy) but I broke down. I want some tall dressy boots, so figured might as well get some skinny jeans to wear with them. I went to Forever 21 and found 2 pair for $30!! What a deal- I got a real dark pair and a lighter pair, and I love them!! They're soooo much easier to wear with Uggs, instead of stuffing my jeans down in my boots. Afterwards, I went to Mason's and finally found a pair of long boots that I love. They're brown Stephens, like Steve Madden's. I had a $10 gift card for my birthday to use there too, which made it even better.

Andrew and I went to get some Christmas ornaments for our black tree. This year we're going to put it in our extra TV room/Hog room and have a Hog Christmas tree. I've been wanting a bright green, pink or blue christmas tree for the living room. Well the one's at Hobby Lobby are skinny trees (like Charlie Brown) and I want a full one for the living room. We went to Wal-Mart and got a big white one with white lights. Having all the stuff makes me want to put them up now, but I'm afraid I'd get sick of them by the time Christmas gets here. So I'll wait until after Thanksgiving! 

We played South Carolina this past Saturday and it was Homecoming too. Since it was a late game Andrew decided not to go since he had to be up at 6am for work Sunday morning. I called my friend Sarah and she was excited to go. We got to campus around 1 to start the tailgating with friends and eat some yummy food! It was a pretty nice day except for very windy! I got bundled up for the game so hopefully I wouldn't get cold. It really wasn't that bad, only when the wind picked up but it didn't last all night. I wore my red sequin Uggs to the game for the first time. I was shocked not to see lots of people with them on. They were very toasty for the weather.

 Whit, Sarah, Big Kara and I posing with the player- photo courtesy of Mark Wagner

There were red/white pompoms for every seat in the stadium (well maybe not visitors seats, I don't know) but it was a great crowd cheering on our Hogs. The pompoms looked cool waving in the air.

After the game, I went to bordino's to have a salad and tini and finish watching the LSU/BAMA game. It was a good game and I'm so glad LSU won. Now we just got to beat Tennessee and hopefully beat LSU. 

Today my work had our Patient Appreciation Carnival. It was windy and a little bit chilly but turned out great! I'm bad and didn't take any pictures except for my yummy caramel apple. We decided to do a stand for caramel apple making this year. I LOVED IT and maybe had 2 = )

                                DELICIOUSNESS!!!!

~Kara~

Nashville Weekend

Wednesday (after work) me, Whit, Bib (Whit's Aunt), Jeremy (Bib's fiance) all left to go to Nashville for the Hog game/mini vaca! Bib had found us a house about 2 miles from the Vanderbilt stadium. We arrived in Nashville around 1a.m. Thursday morning. It was an 8 hour drive, but I slept some so it didn't seem to bad =)  We had an awesome trip and I look forward to more. Here's some pictures of our awesome 3-story house!
                               
                        Whit and I's bathroom (top floor)

                      Other side of bathroom

                            Our bedroom

             Other side of the room, our favorite was the fireplace 

                       Now let's take a stroll down the stairs = )

                       The main floor- sitting room

                  Bib and Jeremy's room

                  Another view of their room

                        Their bathroom

                         Dining area

                                    Kitchen

                Now let's go downstairs- these stairs were very steep!!!

  Downstairs living room- where we spent a lot of time watching ESPN

                         One of the bedrooms

            Boudreaux and Kendra's room (Jeremy's best buddy)

                                    Downstairs bathroom

                           Pool table time

                    Whitney doing some fancy moves 

Thursday and Friday was rainy, nasty, cold days in Nashville. We went down to broadway for a bit and ate lunch at Margaritaville- they have the best nachos and you can split them between like 5 people! Not lying, they're huge!

After lunch, we drove around and decided to go to the Parthenon. 

           

                                        Statue of  Athena

                               Look how tiny we are

                              Jeremy being silly

                     TITANIC!!! We did this as it was pouring

                        Bib with her cute mini cart

Every year we go on trips for a Hog game, we buy the mascot as a souvenir. Well this year it was Mr. Commodore. We bought the mascot on campus and was asking people what his name was-NO ONE KNEW!!! It amazes me how no one cared about the football game that was happening on Saturday. I know Nashville has a lot going on, but not even Vanderbilt University cared about the game or knew what their mascot's name was!!! We finally found one girl that knew his name. Anyways, we took little Commodore everywhere with us and took silly pictures (yeah we're crazy, but it was fun).

Thursday night we decided to try out Maggiano's an italian restaurant. It was so yummy! Mr. Commodore got to come along as well ha.

                      Yummy, pumpkin cheesecake

                                 He got to swing! weeeeee

After dinner we went back to the house to meet up with Jeremy's friends Boudreaux (matt) and his gf Kendra! And of course we watched the World Series- what a crazy game!!!

On Friday, Jeremy/Bib/Whit and I got up to hit up the outlet malls. We didn't go too crazy, but I did find another pair of sunglasses!! Yay! After shopping we went to eat at the Loveless Cafe- it's very popular and has been on the Food Network Channel. They're known for their biscuits, but I think all their other food was way better! Whit and I shared chocolate chip pancakes, hashbrown casserole, eggs and bacon. OMG I'm craving it just thinking about it.

                                    Game 7

Saturday we got up early and was ready for GAME DAY!! It was crazy how empty the stadium was and reminded me a lot of War Eagle. There were tons of HOG fans though which made it better. The game definitely almost gave me a heart attack and I'm so glad Vandy missed that field goal!

 People in the stands dressed up as some of the SEC teams

                                    The crew

       

We got back home on Sunday afternoon. I was so so so excited to be home. From being in Ukraine a week, coming home for 2 1/2 days and then leaving again- GEEZ made me homesick! Andrew and I didn't get to see each other much during those 2 days I was home due to his work schedule, so I was very happy to be back home with him! Now his work schedule is like mine so it worked out great! I'll definitely be home for awhile- no big trips for me! 

I'm very excited that the next 3 games are HOME! Well one is in LR, but close enough! We better bring our A-game this weekend for SC! Have a great week! 

~Kara~