New Cabinets

After nearly two months of waiting, my glass front cabinets are finally done! I love them. It's amazing how much brighter the kitchen looks by having the "wall of brown" broken up with my white china peeking through.

Brian is 40!

My brother-in-law, Brian, turns the big 4-0 today. Happy Birthday, Brian! In honor of this monumental event, Alison threw Brian a surprise party at La Paz in Vinings Saturday night. We had a great time. The food was delicious!
Me, Meri and Tara

Dad and Ben

Brian's "Old Fart" costume

Emily and Joey

Beau and Kriya

Tara, Alison and me

Fall Weekends are the best!

Ben and I are really on a roll lately.....we continue to have excellent weekends with friends! This past Friday we picked up pizza at Mellow Mushroom and enjoyed it at the home of Ashley and Will Ragsdale. Ashley and Will lived in the same condo development downtown Greenville as Ben and me we quickly became fast friends. We have so much in common! Ashley and I are both the proud owners of Maltese fur-babies (Maddux and Ritzy are boyfriend/girlfriend), we're both named Ashley, we are both transplants to Greenville due to our hubbies and we're both in the Junior League. Ashley was actually my sponsor during my provisional year. AND, I am a twin and Ashley has twins! Duke and Smith Jackson were just a few months old when I first met them and now they are rambunctious two and a half year old little boys. Adorable! However, I am sad to report that I now am horrible at telling them apart. As a twin myself, this disappoints me greatly. Anyways, we had a fun evening at the Ragsdale house. The boys were very entertaining and Maddux and Ritzy seemed to have a fun "date." In the spirit of the spooky Halloween season, we all managed to get caught up in the movie "The Ring," which was on television. Oh my goodness.....that flick is seriously disturbing!

Saturday morning Christy and Stuart Everett came up from Atlanta to attend the Clemson/GA Tech football game in Clemson. They were kind enough to get tickets for us, too. The game was great....an exciting match which was finally won by Tech. We had a good time tailgating and I have to say that we were all very impressed by the Clemson fans. What a nice bunch of people! Everyone was so friendly and helpful even though Christy's car was decked out with Yellow Jacket garb and we were wearing black and yellow instead of orange and purple. The last time I was in a similar situation was last fall when I attended the Notre Dame/Michigan game in Ann Arbor. Nightmare. Let's just say that the Wolverine fans could learn a thing or two from the Tiger fans.

Ritzy got all dressed up for the occasion!
Not sure which twin this is, but I was so honored that Ashley had them both dressed in the Notre Dame tee shirts I had given them for their birthdays.
Cool pajamas!

Fabulous Weekend

While Ben went to Athens for the UGA/Tenn game this weekend, I headed down to Atlanta for the ultimate girls' weekend! My friend, Christy, is due to have her baby boy in mid-December so she was feted with a wonderful shower at Indian Hills Country Club on Saturday. Making the day extra special was that Carrie Fox Berwick flew all the way to Atlanta from Denver for the occasion. Seeing Carrie is such a treat as she is super busy in CO with her two little boys. I hadn't seen her since my wedding! Saturday evening I dined at SoHo and had a drink at Meehans in Vinings with Carrie, Lindsay, Alison and Paige. We had a great evening. I wish I could see these girls more often! Sunday was spent brunching at J. Christopher's with Alison, Jenny, Sarah and Elizabeth. Like an idiot I forgot to snap a picture. The food and the company were spectacular. Girls, we really need to make it a point to do that more often. I miss you! Sunday evening Mom cooked up a big dinner for the family and James and Debbie. It was the perfect weekend.....I even managed to squeeze in a little shopping.

The guest of honor with Carrie and Lindsay
Carrie Berwick, Lindsay Rinehart, Alison Stephens, me and Paige Hester at Meehans

Friday night Ben and I finally made the trek to Spartanburg to see Laura and Will Ringo's house. They are renovoating a 100 year old home downtown....and they're doing it themselves! Ben and I were so impressed with their progress.....and their pets. Will and Laura have a super cute puppy named Collins (he's a mix of boxer and beagle and probably several other breeds....Jack Russell, perhaps) and a cat named Miller who is a clone of Atticus! The resemblance is uncanny. The even behave the same way (fiesty). After touring the house and playing with the fur-babies we headed to dinner with Kim and Hamp Kinnemore. Fun night!

Collins and Miller sittin' prettyLaura and Will Ringo in their new/old kitchen

Make Your Own Pizza Party

Ben and I invited neighbors Joe and Dana over to our place Monday night for some Monday Night Football and a pizza party. Joe and Dana are quite the pizza makers and agreed to teach Ben and me their skills. I was in charge of salad and dessert while Dana was in charge of all the fixings for the dough, sauce and toppings. The pizzas were delicious! Nevermind the fact that the dough was supposed to chill for twelve hours (oops!), the pizza was incredible. Ben and I fought over the leftovers. Definitely a fun dinner idea with friends!
Joe rolling out the dough while Dana offers support
Who knew Joe was so talented?
Dana made fancy breadsticks with our leftover dough
I love any opportunity to wear my pink apron
YUM!