Soak up the Sun

Two weeks ago, I was able to spend a little time at the beach with the Hardin side of my family. As tradition goes, we had a huge steamed shrimp dinner one night! It really is one of my favorite meals, and sadly the only photos I took of my PCB stop are of this delicious spread...
...and the kids enjoying peeling their shrimp on the balcony! We pair locally steamed shrimp with steamed potatoes, corn, the amazing salad from Sweet Basil's, and garlic bread.

Later in the week, we celebrated my Mom's birthday in Hawkinsville. Abbye, David and I cooked this delicious, healthy, summer meal and topped it off with a good ol' Dairy Queen ice cream cake!
Salmon, asparagus, melon, and tomato-celery salad
Happy Birthday to my best friend and Mom!
After our little stay-cation in Hawkinsville, David and I headed south to Mexico Beach to be with his family for the annual Griffin Beach Week. We love being there with his family, cousins, and to play with the little ones. I had to snap the above picture of Mr. Benjy's traveling desk. He amazes me with his technology skills, and was able to work fluidly from this incredible set-up!

This is Christie with her Lizzy and Rodney, and Amanda's Ben on the left. Scalloping is a fun activity that the Fullers do every summer, and I have been lucky enough to tag along a few times. Christie is a seasoned pro when it comes to hunting those little guys, and I love my time in the water with a netted bag, a snorkel and some flippers.

Christie, Jeff, Carrie, Amanda, Mish, and I all grabbed a total of about 100. Its the funniest thing to see their tiny blue eyes before you grab them! Later that night, we had an amazing dinner with freshly shelled scallops (Thanks, Mish!) as an appetizer!
Ben and Rodney are clearly best buds, and they keep us all busy and laughing. Someday when David and I have children of our own we can only hope to have kids that are as smart, funny, and sweet as Ben, Rodney, Lizzy, and Carrie & Jeremy's Baby Wyatt!
The last night of the trip, the Griffins gathered on the sleeping porch that's off of my and David's bedroom. It has beautiful views of the bay and the pier all along the gorgeous beaches of Mexico Beach.

I thought this picture was neat with the reflection in the mirror!


We are so lucky to have spent the week with family - we love yall!
After the photo shoot, David, Amanda, Jeff, Christie, and I headed to the WindMark Beach development for some "young adult time." This is the precious village that has shops, an amphitheater, a bar/restaurant, and a beautiful pier overlooking the bay.
Inside the School of Fish restaurant, the cooks all wore fedoras - love it!
Afterward, the Griffin Beach Week ended with Amanda and Jeff participating in local karaoke at Toucan's. Their rendition of Islands in the Stream was the perfect way to end our vacation!

Goin' to the chapel...

Meredith's wedding weekend was kicked off at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta on Friday morning. It was a beautiful way to spend our morning - and Meredith's PoppieT hosted!
PoppieT treated us to these adorable cloisonne dishes and some chocolates.

Meredith chose a piece of pottery for each of us, and this is the unique vase that she chose for me!

Her guest boxes were so cute - I love this photo of she and Johnathan!

Meredith and all of her bridesmaids in the courtyard...

Everyone having a mani/pedi before the rehearsal!

Tiny Hollie + Big Massage Chair = Funny

The Druid Hills Golf Club was the beautiful site for the rehearsal dinner and reception after the wedding.

The Griffins!

On Saturday morning, all the girls gathered at Baboo's apartment in Atlanta for some lunch and to primp for the ceremony.

Meredith's childhood church, Smoke Rise Baptist, was just gorgeous!

These were our bridesmaids' bouquets - I loved them!

And Meredith's all white bouquet was breathtaking!

Our "midnight" bridesmaids' dresses were so pretty on everyone!

By the end of the day, I had a flat tire - too much dancing!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Roberts! It was a wonderful wedding weekend, celebrating the two of you! We all had a great time being a part of your special day!

The Soon-to-be...

...Mrs. Roberts!

So excited for Meredith's wedding weekend!

Its going to be beautiful, wonderful, and fabulous!

Congratulations, Bride-to-be!

Happy Birthday America!

Lake Sinclair was packed with water-worshippers there to celebrate the Fourth of July, and this campsite was crowded with tents and RV's. I love their bus though - Go Dawgs!
Baxter joined us this weekend, and had so much fun - no lack of attention for him this past weekend. While he was very skittish of the fireworks, and barked everytime one went off, he loved being right there with everyone.

Real Houses of Lake Sinclair: Hollie, I thought you may like this one too - David and I thought it was a beautiful house.

On Saturday night, David, Datee, Baxter, Aunt D, Claire, Skye and I went to sit on the edge of the water to listen to the band party going on across the lake. The band was wonderful! We got to sing along to "Mustang Sally", "My Girl", and "Be Young, Be Foolish".

The lake was calm and still as we listened to the band and then the fireworks started when it became dark!

On Sunday, Mrs. Cindy Doles brought this beautiful cake for us to enjoy! How neat is this?!?!

Its not a Coody gathering without Datee's famous fried chicken. He has a special batter that he uses, and its a requirement to eat at least 3 - they're delicious! Here are all the men "supervising" the deep fryer!

David and I attempted a family picture with Baxter - as you can see, he's mid-bark right here.

Lunch was ready, and we all ate too much! BBQ, Brunswick Stew, black bean dip, salsa, fried chicken legs, baked beans, potato salad, mac n' cheese, pimento cheese, and corn on the cob - a nap was required afterward!

And my dad did just that!

Fourth of July Food

Later this afternoon, David and I are heading to Lake Sinclair to spend the weekend with the Coody side of my family. With all the aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, etc., there will be a lot of hungry people to feed. I wanted to post what I am taking in case any of you need a last minute recipe!

These sausage English muffins are always a HUGE hit...they are filling and the smell is mouthwatering in the mornings. I like to make them ahead of time and freeze them - it lets you get a few more zzzzzzz's but still pull off a delicious breakfast.

Shopping list:
English Muffins split in halves
Jar of Cheez Whiz
Jimmy Dean Sausage
It all depends on what ratio you want your cheese to your sausage; I use 2 tubes of reduced fat sausage and only half of the can of cheese over 2 boxes of whole wheat English muffins. (6 muffins x 2 halves each = 12 breakfast muffins per box)

I like to place the muffins on cookie sheets then freeze them. Afterward, I will divide them into Ziploc freezer bags. When you get ready to eat them, take them out, place back on a cookie sheet, and cook in the oven for about 25-30 minutes on 350!
My next recipe was featured on here a few weeks ago, but I wanted to include pics this time! You can find the recipe here.


I tripled the recipe for the long weekend.

David loves the "As Seen on TV" section, and the last time we were ooohing and aaaahing over the incredible, life changing gadgets, we decided to try the Vidalia Chop Wizard - we are believers now! Look at how neatly it cuts bell pepper!

I think this is the most beautiful dip! My grandmother Baboo always said it was good to have a lot of color in your recipes and on your plate - she would be happy with this.
The last thing I decided to take to the lake was a little variation of the always-popular Italian caprese salad. Its hard to beat, especially when you have the freshest ingredients.
My basil plants are doing so well, and fresh herbs make all the difference when preparing meals.
Little grape tomatoes pack so much flavor, and are a hint sweeter than larger ones. Fresh mozzarella goes a long way when chopped finely, and a little red onion always add a little something extra.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend celebrating the Fourth of July! Don't forget to wear sunscreen!

Movie Date Night

David and I went to see Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz last night in their action-romantic comedy, Knight and Day. While it was totally over-the-top, it was Tom Cruise at his Mission Impossible best...packed with stunts and car chases. It was really entertaining, and I recommend it definitely for the boys.

Our show was at 7:30, so when we got out it was around 9:30. We were greeted by Twihards waiting for the midnight showing of Eclipse! I really wanted to stay and join them, but I had to work today. Even though David's not as super duper pumped as I am about this latest installment of the Twilight Saga, he's going to go with me tomorrow night to see it! Now that's love!