One Year

I'm excited to be back at blogging.  It's been exactly one year since I posted here.  There are a lot of reasons I took a year off, and it wasn't entirely planned.  I would love to tell you more about that, but not just yet.  I made a list of the top ten things that happened this year.

1. Today is our 3rd anniversary!  Woohoo!  I love you David!

2. It's almost been a year since we MOVED!  It was a LONG process due to many different life changing events happening at once, but we finally finished!

3. I started a new job!  This year I made a huge transition, high school teacher to middle school teacher.  There are things I love about both, but the world of 8th grade social studies stuck to me like glue, and I loved it.  And those sweet adorable kids.

4. Husband passed the bar!! Woohoo, real lawyer status!  He also started a new job.

5. Husband and I did a lot of renovations on my grandma's house.  It took a lot of energy and time, but we got it done!  We also revisited the last four decades through wallpaper, it was an adventure.

6. We went to a lot of UGA games... GO DAWGS!

7. Husband and I bought a truck!  Merry Christmas to David!

8. We took a couple vacations this year.  We took our new truck on a winter vacay to Asheville.  It was a much needed and refreshing break.  And at the end of the school year, we went to St. Simons for a few days for some sunshine!

9. I went to Washington, D.C. with my parents for my spring break!  We had a great time!  We did a lot of walking, taking in the monuments. David and I are headed back later this summer.  We have had a lot of fun planning our trip, now we are just ready for it to get here!

10. I joined a special new little family called OrangeTheory Fitness, and it has been an awesome new beginning.  More on that another time!

I hope you will continue following my at SimplyIndecisive.  I look forward to sharing some new things to you!

Beach Time!!

I've been missing for a few days, but with a good reason I promise!

For an extra long weekend, the hubs and I packed up all of our beach belongings and headed to Santa Rosa, FL with three of his college roommates and their wives.  And we had an incredible time.  The beach was beautiful and food was yummy.  I haven't laughed so much in a long time too!

We ate at the Local Catch the first night and the boys made a low country boil the next night that was incredible! We dumped it out on newspaper and quickly ate up the fresh shrimp.

Later that night we went putt-putting! A lot of us had not done it in forever and it was definitely entertaining!

The next morning we went to Another Broken Egg cafe, seriously the best breakfast I've had in a looonnnnggg time! We briefly hit the outlet malls and then camped out on the beach into the evening.

That evening we went to the Great Southern Cafe in Seaside, FL.  We spent some solid time thinking about where all the Truman Show was filmed in the downtown and shopped while we waited for dinner. The waitress recommended a dish called Grits a Ya Ya. It was a featured dish in Southern Living. And I can tell you, there is a reason it was featured... It was SO GOOD!

David and I had a great time catching up with everyone while getting our tan on.  It was a great trip!

year 1 for the love doves

It's been awhile, but I have been throughly enjoying my summer vacation!

I may not have mentioned it before, but my precious puppy chewed through my computers power cord (so long ago I'm seriously embarrassed to admit how long it took me to get a new one).  So let's just say, for awhile I've been bumming off the hubs power cord.  Unfortunately, our computers are different and it just wasn't strong enough to do the job.  TODAY I broke down and got one!  So my blogging should be more up to speed now.

David and I turned this past weekend into a LONG one to celebrate our 1 year anniversary!  We left early Friday morning and drove straight to Savannah.  Since we were very early for our hotel check-in, we put on bathing suits and headed over to Tybee Island to catch some sun and explore.  

When we arrived at our hotel, there was a problem with our room and the hotel was unable to help us out with another room...worst nightmare when on vacation in a busy town.  We were refunded all of our money and set up in a BEAUTIFUL Bed and Breakfast in the Historic District.  It was quite literally, the last room for rent in town.  What seemed like it was destined to be a disaster, turned out to be the best thing that could have happened..  The President's Quarters Inn was beyond our expectations.  The staff was so helpful and kind.  Breakfast was yummy.  And the location...it was perfect.  We could walk everywhere!

After finally getting settled, we headed down to River Street to eat at Fiddler's.  David had been before and loves there steamed seafood platter.  We got one to split and it truly hit the spot after a long day!  I tried my first crawfish (mudbug) and I thought it was okay!

The next morning we got up, enjoyed a beautiful breakfast outside and began touring!  Being two history nerds, seeing and touring the house Sherman stayed in when he came to Savannah was on our list of things to do.  The house was beautiful and the tour was so fascinating!  After walking through countless squares and shops we decided to grab some lunch and head back the to beach for a little more sun.  We ate lunch at B&D's burgers.   It is rated as 1 of the top 10 best burgers in the U.S.  And it truly lived up to expectations!

That night we dined at Huey's on River Street and walked around some more.  If you can't tell, I got a little sun (or burn)!  After dinner, we went on a ghost tour in a hearse.  It was a really fun experience!

On our anniversary, David and I explored Savannah more, shopped, soaked up some more sun, and ate a wonderful dinner at the Olde Pink House.  The house was converted into a beautiful restaurant.  We dined in the ballroom with chandeliers, mirrors, and gold and silver paintings.

We had the best time dressing up, taking pictures, and enjoyed dessert.  When our dessert came out, the waitress also brought a giant candelabra.  It was beautiful!




All in all, we had a FANTASTIC first anniversary celebration and trip! Tanning, shopping, exploring, touring, and eating cake- so fun!

Thank you to everyone who helped make our day so special one year ago.  We love you all so much!

Memphis

We've been back from Memphis for a week now, so I figured I'm overdue for a blog update!  But in all seriousness- I've been in detox mode from all of the BBQ eating!  I've been dancing it off at all week at Zumba!

We had such a fun trip! David and I rode with my parents to Memphis, and we stopped in Tupelo, MS for lunch on the way!  Romies had some of the best BBQ ribs I've ever had!

When we arrived in Memphis we immediately got ready for my cousin Mitch's wedding!  Their wedding was absolutely beautiful!  Congratulations Mitch and Lynley!

(They are Ole Miss fans, but we love them any way!)

The next day we toured Memphis! We started with breakfast at the Blue Plate Cafe.  It was fantastic!  We gulped down tons of coffee and omelets. Good fuel for a long day!

We saw Graceland, Sun Studios, Beale Street, and the Peabody Ducks! And obviously- ate more BBQ!  For lunch we went to Central BBQ and had more ribs!

The following picture is from the wall outside Elvis's Graceland! 

The history teacher inside of my got really excited when I found out we were going to visit Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memorial site.  Below is the famous balcony and preserved room that MLK Jr. was staying in.

Next, we visited Sun Studios!  This was a really cool experience.  We got to stand where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others famously recorded their first tracks!  I even got to sing into Elvis' mic!

After walking in Elvis's footprints, we headed over to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous Peabody Ducks as they marched from the fountain, down the red carpet, and into the elevator!  ESPN was even there to record!  It was very neat.  Below you will see the Duckmaster explaining the history of the hotel and the ducks.  And when he finished the ducks filed to the elevator!

After more touring, specifically of Beale Street, we ate dinner at Germantown Commissary.  It was delicious!  One of the coolest things about TN BBQ restaurants is that they have deviled eggs as a side.  YUM!  I was in heaven!  This was an especially good meal! The picture seriously doesn't do it justice.

We were exhausted and went back to catch some sleep for a long day of traveling to come.  In the morning, we caffeinated ourselves and got on the road.  But don't worry--we stopped for BBQ one more time!  We took a different route home and went through Nashville.  We stretched our legs and ate lunch at Jack's in downtown.

We headed home with only one more stop for a little shopping adventure.  The guys weren't as excited about it as my mama and I were, but they were troopers!

All in all, it was an awesome trip! I'm so happy Mitch gave us a reason to check out a new city and explore some others on the way.  It seems like we did a lot of eating--and we did.

But it was all worth it!

So now it makes sense why I've been at the gym maybe? :)

Hope you've had a great weekend!

School's ALMOST Out For the Summer!

I'm purely exhausted....

and it can only mean one thing....

school's ALMOST out for the summer!

While I still have to go into work some, make brand new lesson plans, learn new curriculum, and create common assessments aligned with the standards in my time off.... at least I can do it wherever I want!

Today, one of my cousins, Alex called me!  We talked about what all we were going to do this summer.  We talked about going to the pool and playing with Hazel at the dog park.  It gave me a glimpse of summer and there is no going back!  Above is a picture from Christmas (when Hazel was HALF the size she is now!)  We can't believe how fast our precious puppy has grown!

Hazel is REALLY excited about hanging out with her cousins this summer!

Thinking about summer is getting me through these long and exhausting days.  I am so excited to spend time with the hubby, my family, go on vacation, celebrate our 1 year anniversary, and the most important thing of all, GET A TAN!

 Hazel was also not very happy that I was paying attention to the computer and not her!  This last one is her begging me to play right now! So I will appease her :)

I know we are all looking forward to summer summertime!

homemade hummus

When I had some time off in March, I went to Hollywood Beach in Florida with my mama and grandma.  On our first night we ate at a really good and FUN restaurant, Taverna Opa.

Typically, if you go to a nicer restaurant they bring you complimentary bread before your meal.  Well, at Taverna Opa they bring out a mortar and pestle bowl with marinated chickpeas in it and a side of bread.  At first, we couldn't figure out what to do with it.  Our waitress quickly showed us how to mash up the chickpeas for hummus!  It was the best I had ever had!  I was so in love with it I had to have the recipe.  I was shocked at how easy it was!

Later in the week, my grandma bought me a really nice mortar and pestle so I could make my own (and think of her when I did!)  I have finally gotten around to trying it and it was so easy and YUMMY!

Homemade Hummus

Serving Size: 6

1 can Progresso Chickpeas (19oz)

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of pepper

Marinate the chickpeas in olive oil, garlic, salt, lemon juice, and pepper for 2 to 3 hours.

Drain chickpeas from marinade and put them in your mortar.

Use pestle to mash chickpeas for hummus!

ENJOY!