A Griffin Family Christmas

This year's Annual Griffin Christmas was deemed a Progressive Lunch in Gainesville between my and Amanda's houses. It was so much fun! Uncle Grady and Robert supplied an amazing lunch from Firehouse Subs - so we had lunch and our yearly Dirty Santa swap at Amanda's. After gifts, we moved to my and David's house for dessert and a little cousin slumber party. We missed James, Sally, and Fain!

The most handsome doorman ever!

Amanda's tables looked so pretty!

My handsome hubby!

Ben's elf, Mr. Hollis, enjoys climbing on the Christmas tree.

Aiden + Ben + Wii = occupied kids :)

My cute co-host!

Look at those cutie pies!

Happy Family

The future Mr. and Mrs. Stempler!

Mischievous cousins

How adorable is she?

Cousin Cranium

And now, its time to go to sleep

An NYC party

Last Thursday, I departed Atlanta at 6:30am heading to NYC to attend my friend Sara Lloyd's launch party. I was so excited to see her and help her with the fete' that I didn't even realize how early in the morning it was! I met Sara and her friend Ginny Eldridge at Sara's fabulous apartment on Bowery, and we made a list of all there was to do...errands, lunch, shopping, and playtime. We set out on foot and had so much fun tooling around the neighborhood. After lunch at Freeman's we shopped a little more, then headed back to get things ready for the party set-up. We were able to move furniture around the venue, hang portraits, and get things organized in time to run home and get freshened up. Her party was a total success...it was packed! She had bags for sale, bags for order, and gift cards to purchase. I enjoyed seeing my friends that live in the city, and some that had flown up for the special occasion. My flight was early again on Friday morning, but I was happy to have been there to be with Sara on her memorable night! 

This photo was used for Sara's party invite....just gorgeous! I loved the bubble theme of her photos, and that she used a "bride" to show how great the bags are for weddings!

Sara, Ginny, and I headed to Freeman's for lunch...delish!

And then to a local cupcake bakery afterward.

We packed up a rolling cart to scoot to the party venue...this was too funny!

Look at all of those bags! They're like candy!

The lady of the hour - all dressed up and ready to go!

We hung Sara's professional portraits in a collage on the wall at the venue.

And had her handbags on display too...these were for sale.

This was the crowd right at the stroke of 8pm...it got really packed later in the night! She had an amazing turnout!

Her sweet college and high school friends surprised her by flying up for the weekend and for her special night! So sweet of them!

I was so happy to be there!

Jennie was able to come to the party, as was my friend Holly Jordan and Anna Coleman. Hollie B met up with us afterward....so happy to be with two of my favorites!

Many thanks

David and I began our Thanksgiving holidays with dinner at Brince's house in Macon. We always love being with Becca and Brince, and we had the nicest night talking, laughing and enjoying a little vino. Bec's meal was superb, and we went to bed happy and full. On Thursday, we all got up early to head to Hawkinsville as Datee was hosting the annual Coody family lunch on the farm. David's parents came too, so we were happy to have them there for the day. After a feast at lunch, everyone lounged around and made plates later on in the day for that night's dinner. Friday and Saturday nights were spend watching football and hanging with the fam at the river house. On Saturday, Becca and I took Amy to the Red Tomato in Bolingbroke to celebrate her 27th birthday. Being with those two girls always makes any day fun for me! No Black Friday or weekend shopping for this gal - thinking of taking advantage of Cyber Monday though! ;) 

{The menu and the beautiful chef!}



{The supervisors!}



{The meal was delicious!}



{The Thanksgiving table at the farm. My mom always sets the prettiest tables!}





{Bec with Amy at the Red Tomato Cafe'}



{The beautiful birthday girl with her a la' mode brownie!}

A foggy morning

I thought our foggy yard at 7am looked eerily beautiful...the trees look so different with barely any leaves left!

Comfort food

Lately, David and I have been enjoying the new Gena Knox cookbook - we've joined the Hills and the Kings in trying out some of her new recipes during our weeknight cooking. For three nights, we made something new from Gena's book - the goat cheese and beet salad; the herb crusted salmon; and the roasted trout with okra and tomatoes. And man, it was all wonderful! I especially loved the salmon over cucumber - but I could eat salmon every day! I have included photos of how my dishes turned out as well as the photos in the cookbook. The beet salad was amazing with the homemade buttermilk and goat cheese dressing - my Magic Bullet food processor came in handy again! We paired the salad with a pork tenderloin, squash and zucchini.

{MY VERSION: Goat cheese and beet salad}

{GENA'S VERSION}

{My cute co-chef....this is on salmon night!}

{MY VERSION: Herb crusted salmon, brown sugar carrots, and steamed broccoli.}

{GENA'S VERSION}

{MY VERSION: Oven roasted trout with okra, black eyed peas, and tomatoes.}

GENA'S VERSION

Farm friends

On the days I drive to Athens to work, I pass by this beautiful cow farm. My attachment to this particular red cow has grown...I love his red coloring and white face! I stop at the fence every now and then...sometimes he'll walk up to the gate, and sometimes he just looks at me like "hey there!". Here he is grazing during sunset with his fellow bovines!