it's the perfect night for...

...Russian Tea! I'm already on my second cup.

They make great gifts too!

Okay, it's time for Modern Family. Have a good night!

taking notes

On Sunday afternoon, Paul and I went with my parents to HomeArama in a neighborhood right outside of Charlotte. We had a great time. I definitely took some notes and as you will see some pictures with my phone. Enjoy!

Love this dining room.

Do you come with the house?!?! :)

Dream kitchen and pantry.

two for you

I can't tell you how excited I am to see RAIN! Paul and I did lots of yard work this weekend and our new plants needed this rain. I did some cooking this weekend too and thought I'd share two easy recipes with you.

Cinnamon-sugar biscuits

They are as easy as they sound. Take a can of biscuits and pull/twist each biscuit and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake biscuits as directed on the can.

Next, melt 3 tbsp of butter in one bowl and mix sugar and cinnamon together in another bowl. As soon as the biscuits come out of the oven, roll them in the butter and then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Happy breakfast! We enjoyed these Saturday morning!

Pesto Brie

Place brie in brie baking dish (mine is from here) and cover with pesto (I used Bertolli's). Bake at 350 for 10 min. As a side note, I kept the rind on the brie, but you can remove it too.

I served it with apples and fresh italian bread. It makes a nice appetizer or snack dinner.

So tasty!

welcome fall...

...I love your colors, your tastes and your smells. Welcome.

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in the trenches

I know that there is no sign of cooler weather or rain in the forecast for the next week, but I am seeing trench coats everywhere. I'm loving them. Come on cooler weather...you can do it!

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happy b-day mom

We celebrated my mom's birthday last night. We enjoyed dinner at North Harbor and then cupcakes for dessert. It was such a fun little evening. Happy Birthday mom! You don't look a day over 35. I hope I inherit those genes! Love you!

full calendar

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts this week. It has been a crazy week. I love fall, but it is always so busy. I desperately need to put one of these on my fridge because the one in my brain is not working like it used too. I'll be better next week:) Have a great weekend and enjoy the fall weather!

tweezerman

While in my car yesterday, I noticed that I needed to clean up my brows some. Why is it that you can see stray eyebrow hairs so much better in the car? I don't know how many times I've told myself to keep my tweezerman tweezers in there. If you've never tried these, you should. They are great! Well, that's just a little Saturday morning finding for you. I'm off to clean up the house and then head to the Greek Festival. I look forward to this every year! Mmm...I can smell the baklava already!

perfect weather weekend

Was the weather perfect or what this past weekend? We headed to the mountains for the holiday weekend and to celebrate my dad's birthday. Boy did we enjoy the cooler temperatures! We drank coffee and enjoyed the crisp, cool mornings.

We also made tents and played in them with Leighton which she loves. Leighton finally started calling me by my name over the weekend. For the longest time she would look at me and say 'unc paw', now she says 'amor' which makes me so happy!

Saturday morning we all woke up and hiked the 5 mile Boone Fort Trail. Yes, Leighton came with us. She was in her Deuter and did great. I think Daniel gained a few extra muscles from the long hike:) It was beautiful though.

While on the hike, Leighton decided to throw her 'pappy' (paci) into the river. It was humorous at first, but then we quickly realized that we had 3.5 miles left of the hike...

...so Grandaddy and Uncle Paul came to the rescue and fished out the paci.

Later that evening we took dad out for his birthday and celebrated our parent's anniversary (very belated).

We spent our lazy Sunday in the park downtown Blowing Rock. We had a picnic, shopped and played in the park. Uncle Paul enjoyed napping in the park, but Leighton wanted to wake him up to play some more.

Man do I love three day weekends!

long weekend ahead

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I am so excited about having a long weekend! I plan to spend time relaxing with family, watching some football and playing outside. Happy weekend to you!

lasagna rolls

I have another dinner idea for you. I've made these lasagna rolls a couple of times and Paul and I really enjoy them. They are simple, tasty and make for a nice presentation on the plate so it would be a perfect dish for guests too.

What you need:

8 uncooked lasagna noodles

4 tsp. olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 (8oz.) package of fresh presliced mushrooms

1 (8oz.) package of fresh baby spinach

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Marinara sauce

1. Boil the lasagna noodles in water for about 8-10 min. I added in just a little bit of olive oil so they wouldn't stick together.

2. While the noodles are cooking, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms, spinach and minced garlic. I added in half of the spinach and let it cook down and then I added the remainder of the spinach. Saute' 5 minutes.

3. Once the mushrooms and onions are tender, remove from the heat and place in a bowl. Stir in both cheeses, salt, and the crushed red pepper.

4. Hopefully by now the noodles are cooked. Drain them and rinse them in cold water.

5. Next, lay the noodles on a flat surface, spread 2 spoonfuls of the cheese mixture over each noodle and roll them up.

6. Place the rolls, seam side down, in a microwave-safe dish. Our plates are microwave-safe so I just went ahead and put them on the plates.

7. Pour 1/4 cup of marinara sauce over the noodles. I used Classico's tomato and basil pasta sauce. If you have homemade marinara sauce, I'm sure that would be wonderful too.

8. Heat on high for 30-45 seconds in the microwave. Sprinkle basil on top!

Bon appetit!