Busy, busy, busy!

Hello all!
How are you? I am good! Just staying busy, as you have probably guessed. I always think summers are hectic, but once the weather cools down, I am reminded that I have lots going on at the end of the year too! Do you find it's the same for you? Between the move and such, there's also friends and family visiting (or us leaving to visit), shopping, weddings, holiday parties... Not to mention we have opened up our home to all our friends, family, and neighbor's every Wednesday night, for what we call our "midweek mingling sessions." I make a bunch of food and pull out the party games, and we just enjoy each other's company. It's been such a fun way to get to know people and form new relationships or strengthen existing ones. I have definitely felt an abundance of love these days.

To add to the mix, I am cohosting a baby shower next month, and a holiday housewarming party in December, too. Plus Chris' birthday is the same weekend as Thanksgiving, and we will be going to Myrtle Beach to see his family.

Just this past Saturday, I hosted a Stella & Dot Trunk show. Have you seen their stuff? I had never heard of it until my friend became a stylist for them, but I guess I am just out of the loop. They have been featured in all kinds of magazines, not only for their amazing, fun jewelry and accessories, but also because of their business model. I called the trunk show our "Bubbles & Baubles Brunch". It was so fun! Really casual, and just a good way to introduce friends to my friend's new business, while catching up over snacks. And I think I did an alright job as hostess, if I do say so myself! First of all, our new place is perfect for entertaining. The food was close to the jewelry, which was close to the sitting area. Nobody was separated from the group. I served champagne and various juices (mimosas!), coffee, apple muffins, chocolate muffins, fresh fruit, croissants, and fig brie. Yum!


This was a great way to get a bunch of ladies together for a chill morning of girly things. We talked about our kids, tried on jewelry for each other, and laughed a lot. It was a small, intimate group- less than 10 of us. I had so much fun and would do it again in a heartbeat. Plus everybody loved the jewelry. I wish you could have been there. It was the perfect way to start off a busy weekend.

My friend, Allison is the stylist who sells the gorgeous jewelry. She always looks great, and only partly because of the jewelry! She did a great job styling up the ladies. Allison is not only a fabulous stylist, but also a wonderful mother to her son, and a great friend. She is also a breast cancer survivor. She is so active in all kinds of things, and I wonder how she does it all. I was so happy to help out her side business by having a great time with my friends! Check out and "like" her Facebook page!

If you are interested in checking out the jewelry, go to http://www.stelladot.com/allisongresham and take a look! There are lots of great styles, and this is a great time to look. Not only will you probably find great gift idea, but you'll probably find something perfect for that upcoming holiday party! If you shop this week (Before Friday 11/18), you can even select my name as the hostess at checkout and give me referral credits (which, would give me more towards free jewelry, and I would be so grateful!)

Here are a few pictures from the trunk show, and some of me, too, so you can see where my hair is at.

don't you love these?!?!

some of the jewelry

shopping

and mingling

 After the brunch, a bunch of us went out to eat, and then that night we attended a housewarming party in the neighborhood. It was a fun filled Saturday. Here is me later that night. Can you tell I was tired?!

So, my hair is doing something... but I'm not sure what. It just looks like curls, but I think you can at least tell I'm attempting to loc my hair, now. Lol. I am seeing April's sister this Saturday to finally get groomed. I need it. I have beds creeping, and also just want to look like I have nice, groomed hair right now. I have to have a change, cuz I am getting in a FUNK about it! I will be sure to take some pictures and post them next week.

 I know one thing, it's definitely growing! Remember this? Back in April?

 Doesn't seem that long ago, does it?

So, looks like this pace of one post a every week or two may be where I'm at for the rest of the year. Please bear with me! I haven't forgotten about you. Once I feel like my hair is doing something, I will have more hair posts to write about, too.

 I absolutely love this time of year. I love layers and sweaters, scarves and boots! I love hot drinks and warm desserts. I am so looking forward to decorating too! And lots of time with friends and family. I hope you all are staying warm and happy. What are your favorite things right now?

I'm about to hit the shower

But before I do that,  this is what my hair is doing.

up close

See how thrilled I am? lol. And yes, I need to do laundry like whoa.

I have dead ends/white tips. Can you see? That's so gross, and what am I supposed to do about it??

Can you see why I just am not feeling this look? I am, oh.. about 8 months in already, and just feel like nothing is happening up there. I am gonna wash and retwist without heat, so you may not see the results until tomorrow. Maybe this evening.

I am hoping someone joins us for dinner tonight, cuz I have a ton of chicken in the crock pot. I am experimenting with whatever I have on hand. Chicken breasts, OJ, ginger, garlic, white wine, mustard, curry powder. I'm adding some apples later cuz I have a bunch that need to be eaten. Serve it up over rice... what do you think? I hope it turns out ok. Anything I'm missing??

Asheville again

We took another trip to Aheville, this time with a couple of friends. The main reason was to see the Rusko show (which was uh-mazing!), but we also toured Biltmore (my second time, their first), ate at LAB (where the menu was completely different, but the food and beer still tasty), and visited the NC Arboretum. As always, we had a great time. I love taking trips with my husband!

the creamery at Biltmore Village. I haven't had an ice cream cone in years!



these flowers were at the NC arboretum.  You can't really tell, but the Coralish pink ones glittered. How do flowers get metallic in them? Crazy beautiful.

these begonias were HUGE!

iced chai and a St. Peters porter at  a fantastic restaurant near the hotel. (Sunny something....)

I'm here, I'm here!

I know this is a blog, not a photo album. J I just have not had a chance to sit down and write. Between working (boo!), Thanksgiving (yay!), Christmas shopping, decorating, wrapping presents, holiday parties, and cuddling cute new babies (more yays!), I have barely had a chance to catch my breath. I apologize for the lack of hair updates, too. Seems like I blog more about random things that I love in my life than anything else. Which reminds me- I’ve had such good food lately. But, we’ll get to that.

So. My hair. Today, at work, I snipped off my ends. It was bugging me that I had an inch or more of super skinny twists of synthetic hair. So I got rid of them. I feel much neater. J And I emailed Lockstar about that build up I was having. April responded quickly, which is HUGE to me, as I am all about good service. She explained that she used a product for twisting that must not agree with my hair and offered to remove it and retwist. She also assured me that it was not harmful to my hair, which is good to know! I didn’t bother to go in. Since it was at the back of my head, where nobody ever sees my roots anyway, I just tied up most of my hair, leaving the bottom few rows down, hopped in the shower, and shampooed the heck out of them. I also used an apple cider vinegar rinse, and smushed them with a towel to try and get the gunk out. The hubs said there was still a bit in there, but that they looked 10 times better. And I’m satisfied with that. I’m going into the salon today for a groom, so we’ll see what April says. She did tell me that they use two different products for twisting, and she knows which one she’ll be using for me from here on out. I didn’t take any of my adornments out of my hair today, so she will probably think I’m crazy coming in with all of these beads and such. But, as long as they don’t get washed down the drain, I really am ok with that! I love going to get my hair done. This will be a great way to end a work day. Joy!

The breakfast pictures I posted yesterday? Those were from this new eatery in Ballantyne called Skilletz. Holy Cow. What a great lunch. Well, breakfast. I was so happy. There was thinly sliced steak, loads of provolone cheese, two over easy eggs, potatoes, peppers…. Mmm-mmm good! It was called the “Philly Cheese Steak Skillet”, and it was simply divine. Even better than lunch though, was the dinner we made at home. Let me back up a bit. On Thanksgiving day,

(and we won’t talk about the deliciousness that was had that night,) my dad was watching some show that was talking about the best restaurants in the US to get steak. Now, I’m not a huge steak person, but I learned all kinds of steak-y facts that I had never heard before. I had no idea that there were aged steaks, and that it could be dry aged, or wet aged. Ever since that day, I’ve had a hankerin’ for a steak. And it better be an aged steak. I gotta see what all this fuss is about. So I looked at some menus, and decided that my poor wallet couldn’t afford a real aged steak. L But then- I looked up the local butcher shop, and they have all different cuts of 21 day dry aged beef. Hallelujah!!! I picked up two filets last night, and we grilled them. Served them up with some asparagus and baked potatoes (mine was sweet).

Heaven!!! I mean, simply divine. Angels sang with my first bite and everything. These steaks were, as my husband and I say, “gorgeous. Just gorgeous.” I almost died. Ok, maybe not, but I was certainly in heaven. They were sooo tender (my teeth just sunk right through them), and had such a fantastic flavor. I can tell you that every bad thought I have ever had about steak melted away with the first bite. I’m not kidding, I sighed with pleasure every time I put a piece in my mouth. I maybe went a little crazy. Hahaha. Then I would bite some potato, eat some asparagus, chew a little…..and then my heart would beat faster in anticipation as I speared the next bit of steak. Yes, it was that good. Go get some. They didn’t even need to be marinated. I’m never going back. Aged steak all the way. I called my dad and told him to go by the butcher shop to get some for breakfast. (I really did. He laughed at me.) Now, I can’t wait to try wet aged steaks! J ….steak.steak.steak.steak….

I’m suddenly hungry. I hate to run, but I promise I will write again soon.

breakfast for lunch

mmmm :)

feeding the workers. :) (such a mom... )

these are soy nuggets with mustard and sweet chili sauce.... :)

... breakfast...

Asheville!

Last month, as I realized the year’s end is looming up ahead, I also realized I had to use up the remaining vacation hours that my (very corporate) job had given me. So, I timed those hours with Veteran’s Day, packed up the hubs and the dog, and headed on up to the mountains. We had a beautiful 3 days. The weather was around 70 the whole time, and there was still brightly colored fall foliage on most of the trees.

The drive from Charlotte was smooth and easy. It took about 2 hours, and was quiet and traffic free. We stopped once to take let the dog out, and pulled into our destination mid afternoon.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the tiny town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, called the Madison Inn . I have always been hesitant about staying in a B&B. Something about going downstairs in the morning to eat in a small kitchen with a bunch of strangers with morning breath just doesn't appeal to me... But this place was recommended by some friends, so we checked them out online and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad we did. We loved this place.



We arrived at the inn, and walked in to find the front desk was basically the hostess station of a dimly lit restaurant. Actually, at the time, it was a dark restaurant. They are not open for lunch, so only the desk area was lit. We were greeted by a lady that we came to enjoy talking to during the short length of our stay. After checking in, we let Aramis stretch his legs in the dog run, and proceeded up to our room. All of the rooms in the inn are themed. We were staying in the "fine arts room".

It was comfy and quiet. I think there was only one other room occupied while we were there. We really had a good time. That afternoon, after we checked in, we went to downtown Black Mountain to see what there was to see. Downtown is tiny! Like, 4 square blocks. And super quaint. There was an Apple a Day- an all organic cafe where the stuffed avacado was Uh-mazing. And at the homey Veranda cafe, the sweet potato corn soup almost made me cry it was so good. Haha. Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but it was so good. And they had all kinds of cool gifts and knick knacks to look at, which is good, cuz that place filled up quick! There were people milling arround outside waiting to get seated when we left our early lunch on a Thursday afternoon.



We went in the fun general store, the yarn shop, the dog bakery, artisan jewelry stores, and so many more cool places. I don't know how they fit so many neat things in such a small area!


It was on to downtown Asheville the next day. It was just as artsy, if not more so, and much, much, bigger! There was art, and food, and beverages galore. There were a few different places we stopped at to try flights of their craft- beer!

This was at one of our favorites of the trip- LAB (Lexington Avenue Brewery). They had good food (we had frog legs, sweet potato frites, jalepeno hush puppy funnel cake, white meatloaf, curry pastries, and more!) and a great range of beer. Even the types of beer I tend to stay away from, like IPAs, were pretty good. We were both was pleasantly surprised.

Wall street was lined with vibrant gold Ginko trees.
We went into several galleries, ran into a re-plant from Charlotte that my husband knew, and met lots of interesting people. There were dreadheads everywhere. I might have got a case of whiplash from looking at all of them! I bought some beads from a couple of the many bead stores, and strung them in my hair. We wandered through hippy stores and looked at all kinds of quirky things and people. Standing on a streetcorner, some guy in a truck actually called out of his window and thanked me for existing, lol. I guess my fierce beauty made his day. Haha.

mmm beer! Before we left the next day, we went to the Asheville River Arts district. We looked at more artisan crafts, wandered through some very cool galleries, and then took a 5 minute drive to the new and improved Highland Brewing Company taproom and brewhouse. It was awesome. They have a huge, clean space, where they have live shows weekly, and of course we took the free sample filled tour of the brewery. We also got to sample their newest seasonal- one day before it's official release. If you get a chance to try the Cold Mountain, (or any of their beer, actually,) I highly encourage you to do so. Yum!

Before we headed home that night, we ate at the restaurant at the inn. We had great service, a quiet, warm, and comfortable ambiance, and great food. We even left with a cake recipe made from a highland beer- which I made last night. It was so good! Straight from the menu, this is what we ate:

Chicken Piccatta $14.95
Twin boneless breasts… dusted in seasoned flour and pan sautéed to a golden brown..topped with our made from scratch Piccatta sauce, a delicious combination of sweet cream, fresh lemon, garlic and capers

Chicken Madison $15.95
Our signature dish… boneless breast of chicken, stuffed with herbed cream cheese, baby spinach
and diced artichokes… dusted in seasoned flour and pan sautéed in butter to a golden brown…
drizzled with Béarnaise sauce!

We took a pumpkin pound cake home that was scrumptious!

Aaand, then we drove home. We got home late, and worked the next day, but we had a great time. Definitely a good spot for a short trip. We'll be sure to go back again.