On the road again

Guess where I am?

Nashville. 

Nashville. 

Nashville. 

Have I ever mentioned that I love this city? 

I love this city. 

Once upon a time, I almost moved here. It never panned out because the economy was in the shitter and then the timing was terrible because a job opened up right after I'd accepted a new one in Boston.  

Ain't that somethin?

I'm fairly certain that's just fate telling me to give it up and move on but I would move here in a heartbeat if I could. 

Sigh. 

Anyway, I'm here!

For work. 

But I'm here!

The city has changed so much since I was here last. Downtown is much busier and crazier than I remember. We went to a burger place in east Nashville last night and it was aaaamazing. If you're planning a trip here, hit up Thr Pharmacy. 

I also realized I can't hang anymore. We weren't out drinking, just had a really late dinner and I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open toward the end. Weak sauce. 

Life lately is still a little bananas but I'm on the verge of a slow down and there is a small little light at the end of the tunnel beckoning me to keep moving forward. The rest of the summer should be a breeze with only a few trips here and there to see good friends which I am totally onboard with. The work trips that require weekends working and late dinners are just too much. I can't wait to get to the good stuff. 

Speaking of the good stuff, does anyone have a summer bucket list? I realized the other day that I didn't make one this year and felt sorta lame. 

So here she is!

1. Campfire and s'mores with Bugsy

2. Camping trip with ma boys

3. Gardening, gardening and more gardening (and canning)

5. Drink a ton of lemonade and grill erryday

6. Beach and fishing trips with the boys

7. Golf. I didn't golf at all last year. 

8. Spend time with friends and their babies before they grow up or go back home for the school year 

9. Drive in movie with Bugsy

10. Maybe add a few more animals to the "farm" (pretty please, PB?)

And do a whole lotta nuffin in between. 

Xxoo

Ma

Miranda

This is all I got today folks.

Happy Humpin Day

Happenins

Because sharing is caring.

1. Have you heard of The Skimm? You can sign up for daily emails that pretty much summarize all of the major headlines in the news. You can appear smart to your colleagues and not have to spend hours reading depressing headlines. Brilliant.

2. Well, it's official. I may need to co-sleep more than Bugsy. I spent an hour tossing and turning last night in my own bed, thinking I was doing the right thing by not going to bed in Bugsy's room. Finally, around 11:30, I said, eff this and drifted off happily with my bambino sleeping across my body with his foot in my face. I'm good. We're good. I don't know why I am beating myself up over this but maybe because we're meant to feel like it's a huge no-no. And not for nothin, everybody's doing it just no one has the balls to say it. 

3. Kingy has changed his name to Bugsy. Did I mention that? We never really called him Kingy and actually called him lots of random things until one day he declared to PB that his nickname was Bugs. So we go with Bugsy and he answers. For those of you that have been following along for a while now, I hope you are ok with change. It's inevitable.

4. Did you buy Miranda's new album yet? And if not, why the hell haven't you? It's goooooood. I'd say I like about 75% of the album and that's just because I haven't listened to the other 25% enough to get on board. Do it. Do it now.

5. Did I share that my boobs are officially A status? As in, homegirl went from a B cup to an A cup (possibly even a double A on special days?). Sad. Then I remembered I fed my babe and that the alternative is boobs that sag to my belly button and need a lift. I ain't down with surgery so I'll take that club membership to the Itty Bitty Titty Committee and go about my buidness. But clearly, I'm not over it because I still think WTF when I put on my bra every morning.

6. Edible things are growing in my garden and in approximately 17 days, I hope to have baby chickens!!!! AH!

The end.

Domestication

Ok, so now that the wedding is over it's game time in the kitchen.

I can FINALLY spend an hour in the kitchen and not feel bad that I'm not outside helping PB.

First, Strawberry Banana Bread from Chew Out Loud

Turns out, Bugsy and I didn't pick enough strawberries for me to make two batches of jam and so I was left with an awkward amount of berries about to go south. I randomly googled this bread and went with the simplest recipe. I can tell you because I've had three portions, it's awesome! I will say that I still favor blueberry banana bread over strawberry but that's just preference. This bread was moist on the insde and crunchy out. We loved it.

Roasted/Grilled Brussel Sprouts

I intended to make skewers but we only have wood sticks (they break) and so that went out the window fast. I whipped this up based on the food network recipe by Alton Brown  and they were pretty good.

I ran out of olive oil right before I made these and had zero paprika so this is what I came up with.

2ish cups of halved brussells depends on how hungry you are.
2 tbsp of melted butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt & peppah to taste
dah of cayenne (more if you're brave)

Mix up all of the ingredients in a bowl and then toss in brussels. Place brussels in aluminum foil and fold into a nice little package sealing them in. Toss on the grill for 20-30 minute and with about 5 minutes to go, give it your best shot to grill them a bit to make them crispy. I dumped the package on my grill and it surprisingly went well. Only a few fell through. Just be careful you don't start a fire or something.

How's that for science?

Beer can chicken

Ok. I don't love this. I don't know what went wrong but I will probably never make this again. I think my expectations were a little high. Or maybe it was because I used bud light? I don't know. The only reason I'm sharing is because maybe you can figure it out and fix my life.

Here.

Let me know and good luck to you.

Just stuff

Well, this is going to sound weird but I was an all you can eat buffet last night.

(sorry, mom)

Y'all. I am COVERED in spider bites.

Spider. Bites.

And by covered, I mean I have like six but good lord, what could have possibly gone on? Did everyone come out of hiding and decide they needed a mid-night snack?

And not to mention, they are ginormous. So that means it was big spider, right?

I hate spiders.

Needless to say, I've started packing up my belongings.

Anyway!

HI!!!!

Holy hell has this month been a whirlwind!

SO the wedding was fun. It was probably just like every other wedding. Dancing, drinking, drinking, dancing, etc. It came together perfectly and I really wouldn't have changed a single thing, except maybe the dj. Yeah, the dj.

But otherwise, it was great. I don't think I was a bridezilla (don't ask my friends) and definitely didn't have expectations that things would be perfect, even though I would have liked them to be because I am Type A and a perfectionist if we're being honest. But it was good. I pretty much danced my pants off all night and wasn't even white girl wasted. Go me.

Thanks to my girlfriends and family that helped make this thing happen. I couldn't have done it without you and I can't say thank you enough.

But I can say, I am so happy it's over.

It was awesome but I'm glad it's done.

And hey, I am a Mrs.

So that's different.

But life is pretty much the exact same as it was before and I am totally onboard with that.

I had a week off after the wedding which was much needed. I spent that entire time napping, playing with Bugsy (I'll get to that later) gardening, visiting people and cleaning. It was glorious.

And I know you're wondering, with all of that vacation time why didn't that slacker post? Well, because I needed a break from life. We worked our balls off to get that thing done and I needed to just do a whole lotta nothing.

Follow that up with a work trip to Orlando after being off for almost two weeks and you could say things were hectic. This week I'm home and playing catch up but am not too overwhelmed. Until I head to Nashville on Saturday for another work conference. I'm not upset about that.

So that's that. That's what I've been doing. More fun stuff to come now that I can breathe and cook dinner and we can all go to bed at a reasonable hour.

And finally, look at how awesome our photographer is!!! You can see more pics here and I'll be sure to share more once she finishes editing. She's the bomb.

Also, her sister killed it in the hair and make up department. She also helped me a ton with decor. I pretty much borrowed, repurposed or used stuff from my house for the entire thing. It was awesome to not spend a forture on making things look pretty.

Book them both if you can. They are both so, so talented.

 

 

My absolute favorite.