Viva Las Vegas

Tonight, I will be on a plane with some of my absolute favorite people - my hubbs David, bro bro Brince, sissy Abbye, her BFFFFFF Stacey, and our bff friends Colby and Jamie Smithson. We are heading to Vegas to celebrate Abbye and Stacey's 21st birthdays! While they both celebrated in Madrid where they were living this summer, we needed a real American party. Vegas it is.

I cant wait to take a picture under this sign...

...With these three people...

....And these two fun friends....

....Celebrating these two precious birthday girls!

My first trip to Sin City was with my parents and Brince when I was 14 years old. We stayed at the MGM for a night and saw a show there. We'll be staying at the MGM again this trip, but visiting a bunch of other hotels. My 4th year in college, my bffs and I all went to Vegas for Spring Break, and followed it up with a trip the following year too. We've stayed everywhere from the MGM SkyLofts, Stratosphere, Best Western, Tropicana, Hard Rock Hotel, Harrah's and Sahara! jajajaja  Later, David and I took a trip with a bunch of friends from home and had a great time once again! Here's a few pics from past trips!

Our first girl's trip to Vegas back in March 2006. Man was that fun. Biba las begas!

Our second trip to Vegas in March 2007 - so much fun too!

Where we had dinner with this guy!

And our most recent trip to Vegas was with this super fun group in 2007.

Look for a full run-down of our 21st birthday trip next week! What happens in Vegas....never happened may stay in Vegas!

fun times!

We had such a nice weekend! We did a lot but it was all fun. On Friday, David and I headed south on 985 to meet Hollie, Wesley, and Kim for wine and apps before meeting everyone at Noche for dinner. We met The Kings, The Wages, Renee, Alyssa, Amy, and the Muller Stones for a fun dinner. Afterward, we hung out on the patio at Hudson Grille. On Saturday morning, us gals all gathered at Bella Bridesmaid to try on dresses for the upcoming Muller-Stone wedding! So fun! After a great lunch at Buckhead diner, we found The Dresses at J.Crew. One more thing the bride gets to cross off her list! yay!

I then cruised back to Gainesville to join David at the JayCee's Beer Olympic Saturday at the Smithson's place. Sunday was spent on the lake again - great weekend!

The new Noche in Town Brookhaven

Buckhead Diner - always great! A classic!

Here, the ref is explaining the next game to the participants. Each guy was paired up with a partner - David's partner Steve was super nice, and his fiance Olivia was adorable. They competed in CornHole (David and Steve didn't fare so well in that game), team funnel, the obstacle course, and Beer Pong. David and Steve were the Beer Pong Champions!!!! I am so proud!!

The slip n slide - the last leg of the obstacle course

Jamie's Boot-Cup-Trophy says 1st Place Corn Hole Champions. Quite the trophy. He's giving David a pre-course pep-talk!

And here's David finishing out the course! He and his partner came in second behind the ref and his teammate; but the ref's wife was the time-keeper so I'm pretty sure somethings fishy there.

A few more snap shots of the race...

Wow! That took a lot of energy!

Here's our favorite new Kindergartner!!!!

David with his trophy!

My favorite kiddo!

Summer Dining

Good morning to all of my blogger friends! David and I had a nice relaxing weekend at home, and were able to head out on the water a bit between all of the erratic summer-shower-weather. I headed into Atlanta yesterday afternoon to check on one client's progress, and have a meeting afterwards with another client. Keep your eyes peeled for updates on my projects on my other blog.

Anyway, I digress. David and I hosted our great friends Brian and Callie, and my sister in law Amanda. Callie and Brian needed a break from their move-in madness, so we all took a sunset boat ride before sitting down for red-wine-fest dinner. I had very sweet compliments on the meal, so I wanted to share a few of the recipes! Our main course was Gena Knox's Shrimp and BLT Tacos - always a hit! But, I had several summer salads available and even a summer chili!

Shrimp Tacos
1. tortillas
2. grilled shrimp
3. sauteed bell pepper
4. grape tomatoes
5. lettuce
6. turkey bacon
7. Avocado creme - 2 avocados, 1/2 cup FF sour cream, 1 jalapeno, cumin, the juice of 2 limes, and a tablespoon of water. Mix in blender or Magic Bullet food processor

Smoked Salmon-Butter Bean Salad
1/4 lb smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
1 can butter beans, drained
1 small red onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can green chilies
1 pkg. frozen green peas, thawed
parsley to taste
oregano to taste
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup FF Italian dressing

Mix all ingredients in bowl. Add more dressing if desired.

Two Corn Green Chili
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped bell pepper
mild chili powder
cayenne pepper
1/2 cup bouillon
1 cup frozen baby Lima beans
1 can green chilies
1 bag fresh spinach
1 can whole kernel corn
2 cans white beans
2 cups brown rice
cilantro to taste
lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey
1 packet of taco seasoning

Brown ground beef and sit aside. Cook onions, garlic and bell pepper with seasonings in bouillon over medium heat about 10 minutes. Add Lima beans and cook another 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and summer for 10 more minutes.

Mango and Black Bean salad
3 c. cooked brown rice
1-2 mangoes cubed
1 med. red pepper cubed
1 white onion chopped
1 can black beans rinsed
3 tbs. Red Wine Vinegar
2 tbs olive Oil
Cilantro to taste
Mix all ingredients together.
 
Happy Eating!

Wedding in the Valley

On Saturday after lunch, we headed north to Young Harris for Sarah Lamar's wedding at the Brasstown Valley Resort. David and I went there for our first anniversary and thought it was just the most beautiful place; so, we were excited to visit there again. Sarah and I are friends and were fellow cheerleaders in high school, and her parents and my parents are all great friends. The ceremony took place on a small grassy area overlooking the golf course and the valley. The pavilion behind it was the site of the reception. Their band was amazing, and we danced all night!

These adorable floral arrangements were hanging from each row.

How incredible is this setting? The view was breathtaking!

After the sun set, these lovely white lights and round paper lanterns glowed. The mantle was decorated with tons of candles, and the tables with white, green, and yellow floral arrangements.

I wish I had better pictures of Sarah's dress. It was gorgeous!

Our group!

Happy Anniversary to my fabulous in-laws!

Last Wednesday night, David and I headed into Atlanta to join his parents and sister for a night at Chastain to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. The Four Tops performed first, and then The Temptations took the stage. Firehouse Subs hooked us up with enough subs to feed an army, along with plenty of chips and cookies. We had a great time singing along to all of the songs and people watching! And are so happy for Pammy and Pop and their 40 years together!

It was a beautiful night at Chastain, and there was a fun, lively crowd there to watch the Four Tops and The Temptations.

We had a great table!

Family visit

On Friday afternoon, my parents, baby bro Asa, and his gf Sydney arrived at our house for the night. Once they unloaded, we headed down to the boat for a sunset cruise before having dinner. I cooked from Gwyneth's My Father's Daughter cookbook - yes, I am still obsessed. My fam (minus Brince and Abbye) came to spend the night with us before we all headed to Young Harris, Georgia for our family friend Sarah Lamar's wedding at the gorgeous Brasstown Valley Resort. Here's a peek into our Friday night!

Sydney and Asa on our afternoon boat ride.

I had to include a pic of our meal - it was both pretty and delicious. I did Gwyneth's Ten Hour chicken from her cookbook and her Stuffed Artichokes. David grilled us some veggies as a side.

Happy Family Time!

On Saturday, my Dad gave me a much-needed pressure cooker lesson. He's a wiz at the pressure cooker!  We have a freezer stocked with peas and beans, and this makes cooking them for David and I super easy!

After my cooking lesson, we all gathered around to Skype Abbye in Madrid. Her 21st birthday is tomorrow, and since we were all together (minus Brince-o) we lit her a few candles and sang "Happy Birthday". Her birthday present is a trip to Las Vegas with her ultra-cool big sis (me!), bro-in-law David and big bro Brince, along with her bff Stacey! The trip was a surprise to Stace too. Our awesome friends Colby and Jamie are joining us for the weekend as well! We have some super fun things planned for our fun group!

You can see how excited Stacey was! I think she was in shock!

Have yall ever seen this?

Over the past couple of years, I have had countless people ask if I was a child model for a Little Debbie campaign. I would absolutely love to take credit for this, and maybe collect a royalty check every now and again for my overall-wearing-self holding a Little Debbie sign. Recently, I had a friend email me this photo from a gas station in South Georgia, and I wanted to share it with y'all. I have to admit, this little gal and I could definitely be related. I had my mom bring me a few photos of Maggie The Kiddo to post and compare, and hopefully make you laugh a little on this beautiful Monday!

I can definitely see the resemblance between me and this Hispanic Little Debbie, but my beautiful mother doesn't resemble this lady.

Brince will probably kill me for posting this, but I think its absolutely hilarious. We were pretty cute kiddos, but for some reason we're posed and dressed like a 60 year old married couple.

My love of weddings goes waaaay back.

For one last comparison.

I had to share this too. This is David and I with our pre-school class at Mrs. Williams day care. That's a little 3 year old Maggie on the front row in the pink dress. And there's David in the blue polo on the top row. He is 2 years older than me, so he was headed to big school.

For those who care, that's R.G. Lamar, Emily Bennett, Jeffrey Sutton, Mori Goodroe, Eric Vickers, David, Christy Coley, and Lance Henry on the top row (L-R). Jessica Caldwell, Stetson Woods, Mary Neal Hanks, T.J. Gibson, Christina ___?, Christopher Brown, Caroline Coley, and DeWayne Hunter in the middle row. Little Maggie, Jeremy Rhodes, Keri Slade, Phillip Pritchett, Daphne Mixon, Cole Dunaway, Bridgit Newman, and Kyle Whitaker on the front.