You know you're grown up when you become Costco members.

Happy Monday!

This weekend was a perfect mix of productive and relaxing.

On Saturday, I got my hair and eyebrows done, we explored Whole Foods, then had lunch with friends at Souper Jenny. We also got our first carwashes since moving (yes, we have lived here for 8 months), and paid an interesting visit to Cactus Carwash in Buckhead.

Buckhead is one of the wealthier areas of the city, and lets just say there were literally NO cars like ours (a 97' Camry and an 02' Sentra) in the vicinity. I can honestly tell you that I've never seen so many BMWs, Mercedes, Lexuses (Lexi?) or Audis as we saw this weekend, and I did feel a little embarrassed when the carwash guys popped my trunk only to find the mini-Christmas tree and snowman ladder I've had in there for over a month now:]

 These sunflowers from Whole Foods were so pretty. I resisted buying them, but not by much.

My lunch at Souper Jenny. I had My Dad's Turkey Chili, and the California Love sandwich (avocado, goat cheese, sprouts, tomato and spinach on a french baguette). 

 Thomas had the Creamy Cauliflower soup and a turkey sandwich with swiss and arugula. So good.

Sunday was a day of giftcard spending! We went to Bed Bath & Beyond (I spend my giftcard on a new coffee mug), Ulta (I spent my giftcard on the polish below), and Costco.

Becoming Costco members made us feel like such grownups. I've been stubborn about getting a membership, even dragging Addy to order contacts with me so that I could get a discount. This weekend we broke down, and decided to just join already.

We did set some strict spending boundaries (based on the time we used our Sam's membership to buy a lifetime supply of Toaster Strudel), and on our first trip we bought only some essentials. Also, hotdogs...

Left: Alpine Snow (a pure white used for nail design) and Did It On Em' (a bright green from the Nicki Minaj collection). 

A 'restaurant' after my own heart--two Costco dogs and two drinks for $3.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and that you start off the week well!

Kinsey

Na Na Na Na Na Na - You Say It's Your Birthday!

Na Na Na Na Na Na - It's My Birthday Too!

But seriously, today is my birthday. For those of you who don't know (probably no one because I talk about it all the time), I'm turning 22!

21 was an amazing year. I planned a wedding, graduated college, got married, went on an amazing honeymoon, moved halfway across the country, got a new job, and (I'm sure) much more. 22 will hopefully be much less hectic, but just as memorable.

Although this is out of order from my Valentine's Day post, Thomas and I celebrated my birthday last weekend with a date to Fogo de Chao, courtesy of a giftcard from my parents.

Sidenote: My last box of contacts ran out a couple of weeks ago, and I've been intending to order more while crossing my fingers that I didn't lose/destroy the final pair. Of course, on Friday night, I inadvertently closed my left lens in the lid of my contact case, ripping it in half. Contact lens drama: if anyone was bound to have it, 'twould be me. So, I've been wearing my glasses--and stumbling around blindly--since.

Here I am before the big date.

We didn't make reservations, so the wait was kind of lengthy. We didn't mind though--we'll never complain about getting to spend some extra time talking and people watching. Here's Thomas in front of the wine room.

I know this isn't the first thing people think of in reference to Fogo, but their salad bar is amazing. Here's Thomas' plate.

And here's mine. The chicken salad was soooo good.

I promise you I ate more meat that night than I have ever before. This is a fraction of what I consumed. I couldn't even get a picture of Thomas' plate, because he was a ravenous beast.

Here I am sippin' my caipirinha.

And here's Thomas in a food coma.

Our waiter was so sweet. I mentioned early on--as I always do--that my birthday was coming up in a week (to my credit, he was checking my ID, so it came up in conversation). Without even being sneakily or obviously asked, he brought me a birthday flan! I'm not a huge fan of flan, but this one was great.

I'm sure I'll have more details after my actual birthday celebration(s), but this is all for now. I know 22 will be great!

-Kinsey

Valentine's Delight

Hi there!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Last week was crazy, and this weekend I didn't find the time or topics to blog about until it was too late! Oh well, fortunately this week will have lots of blog worthy subject matter, as Valentine's Day and my birthday are only one day apart:]

This Sunday, I got a wild hare to make homemade Valentine's. Fortunately, I have an amazingly sweet husband who gladly cooperated--even when I decided we needed to make Valentine's to and from Jack and Charlotte too.

Here's what we did:

First, we gathered the supplies. My Mother-in-Law has an amazing amount of fabric stored up from years of collecting. I'm really envious of her collection, but I realized while crafting this weekend that I have a similarly stocked craft supply selection. Just look at all of the stickers...and these are only the ones that applied to V-Day!

Here's the card Charlotte made for Jack. Two little known facts: Jack's (made up) middle name is Keats, and Charlotte has amazing handwriting.

Here's Charlotte's card from Jack. Turns out Jack has sad handwriting, and writes lots of his letters backwards. The paw print in the middle of the heart is really his (proof below).

Don't worry, animal people--the paint was non-toxic and safe.

Here is Jack's Valentine from us (Thomas hand painted it!)

And, here is Charlotte's Valentine from us, made with leftover paper from our envelope liners.

The others (ours to each other) are still a surprise as we won't be exchanging until tonight. Even if you aren't into Valentine's Day as a commercial, spendy holiday, we had lots of fun making all of these cards for free and spending time together doing it.

Enjoy your day!

-T, K, J & C

A Magical Mouse: The Fairy Tale

You know you're a nerd when your husband gives you a Magic Mouse as a late Christmas gift and, upon opening it, you squeal with delight about how it's "probably the best gift you've ever given me!"

In my defense, the Magic Mouse is, well, just that--magic.

Its sleek surface is for one thing, beautiful, but also quite functional. The Magic Mouse works just like a laptop trackpad, but is substantially easier to use. Click, swipe, or scroll, the last year and a half I've spent using my trackpad exclusively seems like a waste.

I won't keep rambling on about how awesome I feel sitting on my couch and clicking wirelessly, but I will leave you with this image, because I can.

Also, add this to my Christmas list for next year.

-Kinsey

Santa Doggie

On the first night Thomas' family was here, we had a Christmas present palooza! They got us a ton of great gifts, some of our favorites being:

Some deliciously warm house booties.

A really fun helicopter (quite difficult to fly, but Jacker loves chasing it).

A beautiful leaf wrap ring from Sundance (also, if you're wondering, the nail polish in this photo is Glitzerland by OPI).

And some adorable matching pajamas (as well as other clothing I'm sure you'll see in future pictures).

I have to say, though, one of the most fun gifts was Jack's present--an adorable Santa suit! Last night when I attempted to take pictures of the suit, Jack wasn't cooperating. As a bribe, Thomas took the opportunity to give him his heartworm pill (in a hearty spoonful of peanut butter of course). Here are the antics that ensued:

(Please notice Charlotte creepin behind the tree).

Another amazing gift was the stocking Thomas' mom made for me. She collected birds from his dad's baby blanket when they were first married, and has saved them since then to make custom stockings for each child and their future spouse. I have to say that this stocking is one of the most beautiful and thoughtful gifts I've ever received. I love it! Fiiiine, I'll stop yammering on and just show you already.

Here is Thomas' as well. Isn't it cute?! I love the star theme.

Well, this marks the last Christmas/New Years/family visit post. We're sad to see the holiday season go, but we are looking forward to what's the come in the new year and getting back into our now familiar routine. We have lots going on this week and weekend, but I hope to keep up with posting as much as possible. If I don't though, what can I say? I'm probably just sitting around photographing my dog in a Santa suit.

-T, K, J, & C

New Years Eve in Pictures - Part 2

Continuing yesterday's post about New Years Eve Day (which sounds weird but makes sense if you think about it), today I'm going to finish up with pictures from New Years Eve Eve.

After our adventures at Oakland Cemetery, we ventured into Little Five Points to walk the dogs and sit down for coffee. The afternoon was a pretty tiring one, and once we were all back home we busted out out all our Apple products to relax.

After taking a couple of hours to recover from the day's activities, we moved the party over to Mari and Holly's (where there's more than one bathroom). Below is my version of Charleston Cheese.

Other food items included [from left]: poppy seed sandwiches, cinnamon pita chips and strawberry cream cheese, cheese-n-crackers, caramel corn, cookies, chocolate/cinnamon bugles, a bunch of desserts, a cheese platter, 3 onion dip, wasabi peas, cream cheese and jalapeño jelly, and cocktail wieners. We also feasted on pizza pockets like a group of 8th grade boys.

Before midnight struck, we played several games of reverse charades and watched goofy TV shows (i.e. 1980s Fame). Once the peach dropped, we headed outside to watch fireworks and light up some sparklers.

I don't participate in the sparkling myself, so I took pictures instead.

Thomas, however, LOVES a good sparkle.

And I pretended to be holding one for the purpose of this picture.

Andrea did a sparkly routine...

And Tom multi-tasked by drinking champagne while twirling about.

Here's the first 'family photo' from the new year (minus Charlotte since cats hate to party).

After a much needed night's sleep, we headed out to Piedmont Park on New Years Day. We decided to stop at the nearby Hobnob for a snack--we got these amazing fried green tomatoes. They were definitely the best FGTs we've had in Atlanta so far, and aren't they pretty?

After some obligatory eating, we headed to Piedmont for some fresh air. Does this picture look familiar? My family posed in the exact same place last week.

The park was really busy--probably because of the perfect weather--and while at the dog park, we saw several horse drawn carriages winding through the trees. It was pretty magical.

Our New Years was full of family, fun, and celebrating, and we couldn't be happier with 2012 so far. Tomorrow I'll be wrapping up with some assorted pictures from the Mahan visit. Enjoy your work-week!

-Kinsey

2011 Recap

2011 was a great year. We accomplished lots of things, went lots of places, and met lots of people. If I had a bucket list, I would have kicked lots of the things on it as of this year.

Lets recap a bit about what went on, shall we?

The 21st birthday

The engagement photos

The showers

The graduation(s)

The wedding

The move

The tree

The kitty

The job(s)

It was a scary, exciting, adventurous, memorable, out-of-our-comfort zone type of year! And do you want to hear my new years resolution? To spend 2012 napping and recovering.

I hope you all have a safe and fun New Years Eve, and that 2012 finds you happy, healthy, and hopeful.

-T, K, J, & C