it's christmas time, in the..... country

Back so soon you say? Well yes, I am trying to keep up with this for a little while. Hopefully I'll have a longer run than last time. I just finished making Aunt Jo's cream cheese braids, well actually they are Nancy Hollingsworth's but since I don't know who she is I call them 'Aunt Jo's' .. It's a two day process of mixing and dishes and flour all over the kitchen and it is so totally worth it.

Every year at Christmas our neighbors, the 'other Clarks', bring us a cream cheese braid and it was technically supposed to be saved for our Christmas Day Brunch, but in recent years I have been eating part of the middle out and sliding it back together so you can't tell I've been secretly devouring it at night while everyone sleeps. My mother probably thought they were just getting smaller every year. HaHa! So finally last year I begged my mother to ask 'Aunt Jo' for the recipe. I will post it under the recipe tag. :)

We had a Christmas oyster roast here on Saturday night and I discussed my ideas for a book club, etc. I had one taker on the book club, then someone's husband mentioned that people around here don't really read, and he meant that they can't, so I didn't feel so bad about my previous post. Then my sweet friend Katherine said that she was recently invited to a Pinterest party and everyone made a craft. Maybe I should really follow through with that idea. (Windsor: I'll let you skype in!)

I thought that Brent and I were really missing out on the social scene around these parts but I was informed that one doesn't exist, unless you are in the crowd that goes to places like Goast Island or the strip mall bar in Sumter, but we are most certainly not. And then I discovered that not only is there no social scene, but people don't even really entertain. I guess I will have to start the trend. I did hear that there is a supper club that we are not a part of, so I am determined that even though we don't live in Manning that I will find my way into that supper club. Or just steal the people I like away from that one and start my own. When else will I be able to use all of my fine china and my 16 foot dining room table?

I could keep rambling on, but it is lunch time and I will have to eat some more cream cheese braid and do laundry. Then start wrapping Christmas presents and pack to go home tomorrow. There seriously isn't enough time in the day...

[[cream cheese roll is NOT low fat... as my stomach hangs over my jeans. yay me. i feel like the truvia commercial of the woman eating doughnuts as they sing "jiggle bell"..]]

seriously, it's been three months?

I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I can't believe that it has been three months since I have last written. Trust me, I have gotten plenty of grief about it but it hasn't hit me yet that it has been so long. So much has happened since September 16th.. WOW! Let's see, I've gotten married, gone on a honeymoon, quit my job, buried both of my grandmothers, celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now getting ready for Christmas. One of my best friends had a baby, one graduated from college (finally after 8 years..), three friends have gotten engaged and another is now pregnant. Time sure flies by! As I write this, Birdie is attempting to climb in my lap, she is completely unaware that she is no longer the tiny baby puppy that used to sleep in my lap while I worked at the computer, she now weighs almost 70 pounds and is barely 9 months old!

You would think now that I am a stay at home wife that I would have more time for stuff like this but I seem to always be busy and on the go. I have turned 'staying at home' into my full time job. I have a whiteboard in my office that I have turned into a schedule of sorts. It lists all of my household duties that must be done Monday through Friday. (I get the weekends off* haha, I wish!) For example on Wednesdays I vacuum and mop all the floors in the house and do laundry. Since these tasks don't take all day I have time to pay bills, unpack boxes, organize, take care of and keep up with our three sweet adolescent dogs, go to the grocery store, bake, cook supper, run errands for Brent, blow the leaves out of the yard, wrap Christmas presents, do dishes... you get the drift. It's not as glamorous as you may think. Sometimes I wish I did still get up and go to an office every morning instead of cleaning up dog poop, picking up socks and dirty washcloths, and playing maid all day, but like they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.

I think for the start of 2012 I will incorporate going to the gym and getting my nails done into my weekly schedule. Maybe one day this place will have a book club or garden club, although I'm not even sure the women down here my age read, much less tend flowers or a garden. I am by no means insinuating that they cannot read, just that skimming magazines or gossip columns probably seem more fitting. At least we have Pinterest now so everyone has suddenly gone Martha Stewart and people are cooking and making crafts. Maybe I should start a Pinterest club! We can all get together and make t-shirt scarves. :)

I jest, I jest. I am still getting used to the idea that I am going to live here forever. Before Brent and I got married there was always still the option to take off, but now I'm here to stay! I do love living on the farm. I love that our front yard right now is a giant wheat field and our back yard is a pond. The dogs are free to run and play and we have no neighbors or traffic going by, well, unless people are coon hunting. Then we might have someone in our back yard, but for the most part it is a life of solitude. The only thing I wish is that we had Harris Teeter and Target close by and somewhere I can dress up to go. I look sadly at the shoes in my closet and I know that they are totally jealous of my crocs and they want to go out and be seen. I could always start incorporating some of my fancier things into my church outfit, but then again.. I live in a super teeny tiny small town and people love to talk. I can hear it now "Did you see that girl Brent married in church on Sunday, who does she think she is?"

So for now I will just continue to wear my fancy shoes around the house and drink champagne in my pajamas. I have a secretly fabulous life. xx

taking a deep breath

It's been almost a month since I last posted. *slap on the wrist* The meatloaf turned out great. And by great I mean, Brent LOVED it... I however still can't bring myself to love it, it's hard enough to like it. Maybe if it was covered in cheese it would be different! :)

SO.. the past few weeks have been crazy. I feel like this is the first time I have actually been able to sit down and take a breath. On the other side of the screen is my to-do list and the massive list of gifts that I need to write thank you notes for. I have moved all of my stuff from the office at the farm to my office here at the house. That way I am here to meet all the people that keep showing up to fix various things and when I'm not super busy I can run downstairs and change out the loads of laundry.

The wedding is in two weeks. Yes, TWO WEEKS! I've got a million things going on with cakes and dresses and hair appointments. In the mean time I am constantly unpacking boxes, trying to organize and clean out all of our stuff that keeps piling up at the house, and clean up after all the people that have been over at the house and shop. I probably do an average of 4 loads of laundry a day, vacuum the living room at least twice, and then clean up after the dogs.... sheesh!

I think everything will calm down once the wedding is over and people get used to us living out here and realize that this is our home and not the fun place to come hang out all the time.

I am using the computer Brent gave me for my birthday so I have no pictures on here, but I will upload some at some point and start posting some good stuff again! I hope everyone is doing great.

:* xox

today i will tackle meatloaf...

Today is a day for the books. We have started moving into our house and tonight will be our first night actually staying there. So in honor of our first night, we are having our first meal. The first meal I will ever cook in my new kitchen. I wanted something hearty, something with meaning, something we will always remember. So I thought I would try to cook meatloaf. (eww, yuck, gross)

Meatloaf is something that I have normally in the past refused to eat. Something that I want nothing to do with and something I am totally not interested in. However, Brent loves meatloaf. I figure I will have to make some compromises in this marriage so I am starting with meatloaf.

Maybe I will like the meatloaf if I made it. Maybe it won't be dry. Maybe the sauce in the recipe I have chosen will be out of this world. Just maybe. If all else fails, I make amazing mashed potatoes. :)

I'll take pictures tonight and post tomorrow!

it's been two weeks already??

I do sincerely apologize for the lapse in my writing lately. As we are getting in the final stages of the house we have been crazy busy! When I last wrote they had installed our cabinets and were coming to do the countertops... Now they have installed the granite, finished the plumbing, the appliances are in, and we spent the past 4 days putting polyurethane on the doors, trim, and the entire master bathroom. Needless to say I feel the effects of the fumes in my nose, throat, and lungs.

Now we just have to finish any woodwork and clean out the house so the guy can come and wax our floors! Oh yeah, and we have to wire up the lighting under the cabinets and get the house inspected... oh! And find mirrors, finish putting up the hardware in the master bathroom, get two or three more door knobs.. wait, did I say we were getting close? Maybe not that close.

I will post some pictures of what the house looks like now probably tomorrow. I need to take updated ones where the faucets are in and stuff so you can get the full effect! In the meantime I have managed to lose my spiral index card thingy with all of my important phone numbers in it AND my brand new ray bans. Sometimes I don't know if I am going or coming.

My brother is in town and coming to visit on Wednesday. I am very excited for him to come and see the house. He hasn't been down here in well over a year so he has never even seen what it looks like or where we are building. And he gets to meet all of the dogs! ..... Speaking of the dogs. I have learned that they love pizza. I can get them to do just about anything I want as long as the word 'pizza' is involved. I have started calling Lainey "Cheesey" and I finally figured out yesterday that when she is being bad and doesn't want to go in her pen, if I say "come here Cheesey... you want some PETE-ZA?!" she runs in her pen and sits down like a good girl. I only hate that when she finally figures out I don't have any pizza she will sprint away and hide in the woods like she used to. I will probably have to invest in Pizza Hut soon.

Last week I took some photos with Megan Manus in Sumter, just for fun, and they turned out really great. I didn't buy the digital files but Megan will be putting some up on her blog if you want to check them out. http://meganmanusphotography.com/blog/ ALSO I had my first dress fitting at Hayden Olivia. It was fabulous. Luckily they are having to take the dress in about 4 inches so that made me feel pretty good since last time it barely fit perfectly. I am SO excited about the dress. It truly is magnificent. Afterwards I roamed the streets of East and West Boulevard waiting on my friend Weldon to get off work so I could finally see her place and see Louise and spend some time catching up. I spent about an hour in the shop called Paper Skyscraper and bought a lot of neat things! When Weldon got home we visited for a bit and then went out for sushi (yum! my favorite) and then I had to make the long dreaded trip back down to Summerton. I wish I lived closer to my friends.... well wait, let me rephrase, I wish my friends lived closer to me! :)

Hopefully tomorrow I will get to see Lacey and visit with her. She has never been down here so I am excited to show her the house and the farm. And then my brother! SO it will be a good two weeks! Also this weekend our dear friends are giving us a shower, which will be much needed since we are hopefully going to move in SOON! I promise I will write more now that things are slowing up a bit. I will at least be taking more pictures so I can share some things with everyone.

xox

my office is a racetrack

Happy Monday y'all! As I sit here right now Hank and Lainey are running wide open in circles around the desk in the center of my office. I can't tell who is chasing whom since it changes every time they turn a corner or run behind the chairs a different one is in the lead! Every now and then they take a break and slosh in the water bowl.

It's been almost two weeks since I have written and a lot has happened! They came and installed our cabinets last week and they look fabulous. Next the granite people will come Thursday to install the countertops and then it's only a few more little things and we will be moving in! I'm shooting for the week of August 15th. It would be fabulous if we could at least start moving that week since my parents and my brother will be here! (and they can help us move, of course!) When the house is complete I will post a few pics for those of you who might never make it down here.  ;)

Along with the house plans are the wedding plans and we are down to 60 days. I would say two months, but I am a procrastinator and two months sounds longer than 60 days so I have to think in terms of days now so I will get things done! I have about 5 or 6 different to-do lists (they have a lot of overlap) but it makes me feel better to write it all out and be able to cross things off.

After much debate over wedding shoes I have finally gotten a pair. They are totally NOT what I thought I would get but I am in love with them. I have been saying for the past year and a half that I wanted blue heels and I ended up with gold glitter flats from J Crew and they are SO comfortable.

I spent a little time today going over the marriage license process, the name change process, and then changing my residency finally to say that I truly live in South Carolina. Yes I know I've lived here for well over a year but for part of that time I was a "student" and I didn't need to get a SC license. I didn't want to go through the DMV deal twice so I figured it was best just to wait. It's ONLY 60 more days.....

Both of my wedding dresses came in on Friday. Weird that they came in on the same day but I am so relieved that they are finally here and we can start the fittings. I need to get one of those "It Works" fat wraps just incase I've gained weight. Hopefully I can loose a few more inches before we get down to the nitty gritty of alterations. I think my main problems are length and bust, not waist, so that's a relief. I would definitely have a hip problem but the ball gown covers that up! :)

I'll post a few sneak peaks of things under the Photos tab. I honestly don't have any new recipes at the moment. Sadly. Mom came this past weekend and helped me clean my house and pack. I swear we could be on an episode of Hoarders. While she was there she made my favorite Chicken Tetrazzini. I will post her recipe under the Recipe tab! It is delicious!!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying cool in this blistering heat wave!

taking life by the ears...

 

Today marked day one of corn cutting season. It's quiet around the farm now that everyone is off in the fields and riding on the combine this morning with Brent brought back great memories from last year. Everyone is getting along today which is a God sent blessing from the heavens. My life is better when they all get along and I am sure that everyone else's wives and girlfriends feel the same way. We had a severe lack of rain and a lot of the corn didn't reach it's full potential. I am praying for rain daily so the cotton and soybeans will make a good crop.

I thought that the cabinets would be ready to install this week but it seems that they had a bit of a problem with our wood having too high of a moisture content so they are coming the first of next week. I don't know when we will ever be able to move into the house. I am starting to get a little discouraged, but I know everything happens for a reason.

Brent's birthday is this week. He is finally turning 25! I think he has said he's 25 for the past year so now he'll probably think he's turning 26. I am a big proponent of celebrating birthdays, especially my own ;) so it's been frustrating that they are going to be harvesting corn and we can't really celebrate. I guess when they get finished for the day we will have a late supper for him Thursday night and he can open his presents. I got him some really awesome stuff! Although I can't put it on here just in case he happens to read this before Thursday!

We had Laura's baby shower this past weekend and I also got to visit some old friends in Howards Mill. The baby shower turned out great and Laura got a lot of wonderful gifts. It was great to see all the girls even if it was for just a few hours.

I hope everyone has been doing well! I will update again soon with more pictures and recipes!

  

it's almost monday again already?

It's the end to another wonderful weekend and time to start a new week. I feel like the weeks are just flying by and we are in a permanent state of chaos! Life around the farm is always busy but it seems more so than usual these days. We haven't even started cutting corn yet so I should probably enjoy it as much as I can.

Friday I went to finalize everything for the cabinets and I am SO excited about them. The man said they would start on them Monday (tomorrow) and they would be finished in a week. So hopefully that means just a few more weeks until we can move in! I'm hoping once we live there people will stop showing up to 'check out the house'. I am not a fan of unexpected visitors and was always taught to call before you drop by. I think that chapter of Emily Post didn't make it in the etiquette books down here. It usually goes something like this "Heyyyyy there I heard y'all were building a place back here. Billy Bob told me it was real niiiice. I'm Fred from yonder down the way and I just happened to be riding through and I thought I'd just come and take a look for myself and see what y'all was building back here." It's seldom that I know the people that I find wandering around in the yard and letting themselves into my house but they seem to know who I am and even if they don't, they're friends with Jim Bo's cousin that lives over in Silver and Betty Sue gave them permission to come on by. The last guy was trying to pick the lock to get into Brent's shop and thought it was ok to just break in since he had permission to go over there, even though he didn't receive the said permission from myself or Brent.

But who doesn't love good ole country living. I reckon' I'll have to post up with a shotgun and be the crazy lady with wild signs everywhere. I recently read a book called 'Forty Acres and A Fool' and the man in the book had the same problem we are having. He wrote about how the locals would trespass and hunt on his property and joy ride down his road. We have the joy riding and right now the random people fishing in the pond. In the book, the man puts up signs saying 'Beware of the Monkeys!" ... Wendy suggested I try "Beware: HIV patient on the loose" ... it's worth a shot!

Aside from the craziness at the house and the farm, some friends of mine from college are orchestrating a baby shower for one of my best friends, Laura, and that will take place this weekend. I went to Florence on Friday to pick up some things and I will head to Charlotte tomorrow to pick up a few more. I am so excited to see everyone again. It's been two months since we've all been in one place together and I'm just tickled that it is for a baby shower. Laura and her husband Ben are having a little boy and he is due to come into this world on October 20th. Hopefully he will get to come and visit Aunt Carson and Uncle Brent on the farm! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a happy July 4th. I am heading to bed to watch some more Harry Potter. The new one comes out Friday so I am catching up with the old ones and Brent is learning who the people are and what's going on. After two days of HP he is developing a British accent and calling Lainey "Hermione" ... but he pronounces it "Her-whiney" :) God Bless y'all!

sweet summertime

I just realized I hadn't even posted pictures of Lainey! Wendy and I had a great, but long, trip to Missouri. It literally took exactly 16 hours. The worst part was when you are going towards Branson on "Old 76" and it's like driving through the mountains for 3 hours on scary curvy roads! But we made it safely and without too many bumps in the road. So here she is: 

Lady Jane Cogdill aka: "Lainey"

So far she has been a good pup. She has had a few accidents in the house but I think it's mostly she is trying to communicate with us that she has got to pee but I just think she's whining because she's bored or hungry or just being whiney. I guess I need to be more in tuned with her needs! She loves to swim in the pond and the lake and enjoys her new brother and sister, Hank and Birdie, and biting their tails and chasing them around the yard. She is very relaxed and laid back and starting to get protective, which is a good thing. Brent and Gavin came to the lake last night and she barked and growled at them until they came in the door and she figured out who they were! She is sweet as can be.

She also enjoys laying out on the boat :)

I had a request for some ideas for July the 4th menus so I'm going to include a new tab at the top and make that a separate post. I have been doing a lot of recipe searching lately. My good friend Stephanie gave me Southern Living's 1001 Ways to Cook Southern and I finished reading it last night. I have also been checking in on Tasty Kitchen and The Pioneer Woman as well for new ideas. 

I can't wait to get into the new house so I can start cooking again. I have been cooking more than usual at the lake, but mainly sticking to pasta dishes so there is less clean up. Last night Brent requested a late night snack of fettucine alfredo and surprisingly I had everything to make it! Mainly because I used the Alfredo sauce in the jar but some good ways to spruce up stuff like that is some good fresh parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. I also cooked the pasta noodles in water with chicken base and salted it well. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. We are headed to the beach on Friday for a few nights. My brother is flying in from Vermont on Saturday and I haven't seen him in a while so hopefully we will go play some golf on Sunday before Brent and I head back. 

I will post some festive recipes next. Have a fun and safe July 4th holiday!

who am i?!

It's one of those days where I wish I was back in Raleigh. Yes, I hate to say this but it's just one of those days. We decided to let Birdie sleep in the bed last night, which was a terrible idea since Brent had just given the dogs rib bones before bed... So around 4AM Birdie projectile vomits on the comforter. (Thankfully she happened to be on Brent's side of the bed at the time..) So naturally I leap from the bed, grab the dog and the comforter, and run to the door. Then I proceed to clean up the dog throw up, put a new comforter on the bed, console Brent as he is very disoriented and not sure what just happened, gather the dogs, put them in the pen, wash my hands, and try to go back to sleep....

Then 5AM comes around and it's time for Brent to get up. This time I was disoriented and wondering why someone was yelling at me about clean pants when it was still dark outside and I remembered "oh, we live on a farm and get up before the chickens do..." so I yell back that all the clothes that are folded in the laundry basket are clean and attempt to go back to sleep. Then the dogs start to bark and by now it's almost 6AM so I let them out in the yard. Sure that they wouldn't be eaten by an alligator that early in the morning, I tried to take a quick nap. Unfortunately our horrible neighbors were at the lake with their dogs and the chaos ensued. I quickly dressed in gym clothes, ran outside to grab the dogs, threw them in the car, and drove to the office. 

Nothing was new in the folders or the voicemail or email so I took the dogs to the new house to put them back in their pen. We have no water right now so they dogs will have to deal with the bucket of water that was already in there until I can figure that one out. I can't water my garden and frankly the garden is so huge now I don't even know what to do with it. My vegetables were so big once again that they were no longer good so I threw it all out into the woods. I picked the few squash and zucchini that still looked decent and put them in a crate and while fighting the gnats and the heat I jumped into the car and nailed my head on the top of the door.

I sat there for a moment and truly just missed Harris Teeter and Cameron Village and the mall and sushi and the convenience of having my bank right around the corner and getting my nails done and then I remembered how much I hated all of that when I was there. I dreamed of having a garden and dogs and living the good life in the country and I remembered something my uncle Bill told me once.. "the grass may be greener on the other side, but the bull shit is still there too," very smart that man is! 

So now I am back in the office making my to-do lists and updating spreadsheets and I thought I would take a moment to write in here. Our house is a wreck, literally, the dogs have destroyed the yard and the laundry is piled to the ceiling. We come home, unpack, pack again, and head back out the door. We just got home last night and already I've got to pack up again to head to Missouri. I have to be in Branson on Thursday morning so I'm going to try to leave early Wednesday morning and drive it in one day. It's the same distance as it was to Maine and to Wisconsin so I'm pretty used to that drive! Brent has to work so his mother has offered to go with me so we will be on a long road trip this week! But we will come back with my beautiful Lady Jane (whom we will call 'Lainey'). Then in the midst of the fourth of July, my Dad's birthday, Laura's baby shower, and Brent's birthday we will have to start packing up the house and starting the big move! I am praying we will be able to move in before they start cutting corn. 

And then once we get all moved in and settled it will be dove season, deer season, Clemson football season, and time to get married! And then it will be Thanksgiving, cutting soybeans, and then duck season, and then Christmas! Hopefully we will settle down next February :)

back to life, back to reality....

i'm back home again after almost a full week away from the farm. of course a lot happened while i was gone.. my zucchini grew the size of baseball bats, i had okra pods bigger than my hands, and the cucumbers, oh Lord, the cucumbers. well let's just say, they don't look anything like what a normal cucumber does! it rained while we were gone, finally. not sure if it did any good with the corn or not but it will be a great help for the cotton and soybeans.

saturday i had a wedding shower on lake norman. it was my first shower! we have had lots of parties but no showers yet so it was a really nice change. the party was given by some close family friends and was absolutely amazing! the weather was beautiful and they had gorgeous sunflowers and fun cocktails and delicious food. i couldn't have imagined anything better! it means a lot when people go out of their way to do for you and i got some incredible gifts! i noticed a trend that i have had parties and such on my bridesmaids birthdays... one the day before sara beth's, saturday was elisabeth's birthday, and then i think we have another shower on septemeber 10th, the day after weldon's birthday! i hate that it keeps happening, i am surely not trying to steal anyone's thunder. i'm thinking that i'll just have a celebration for weldon after the shower! :)

as for the house, i think our target date to move in will be the third week in july. i'm crossing my fingers and praying hard. that would be a wonderful birthday gift for brent! i had hoped it would be sooner but they can't start on our cabinets until after July 4th so we've got another month to go... everything is pretty much ready to go except setting the cabinets and countertops and finishing up the plumbing. i am so ready to be in. i swear it didn't think it would take us this long but it's been a bumpy road!

i almost forgot to mention that we are about to introduce yet another puppy into our home. not that three isn't enough, four is always better. back in february i wanted a springer spaniel and i wanted one for my birthday. after doing a little research i realized i didn't want a black and white one and i didn't want a liver and white one, i wanted the red and white kind. well that's NOT an english springer spaniel, it's a welsh springer spaniel and they happen to the one of the rarest dog breeds in north america. perfect. just my luck... well we found a breeder in kansas, signed a contract, made a deposit, and now the dog is ready to be picked up. so next week we are meeting Peggy Ruble of Ky-Bryn Welsh Springers in Branson, Missouri to pick up "Lady Jane". the breeder has named her "Lainey" so i'm not exactly what i will end up calling her, but i have always referred to her as Jane so i'll stick with that for now!

i will be sure to post pictures as soon as she is in my arms! hank and birdie are passed out on my office floor right now and i am going to get jack today to try and work on some pointing techniques. i have been told to tie a rag of fabric to a cane pole, 'cast' the fabric out like i'm fishing and get jack to point it. i'll let y'all know how that goes. maybe i could be good at it? i did teach a beagle to retrieve and do tricks so maybe i'll have good luck with pointers!

have a wonderfully blessed day y'all

longest day ever

i feel like today is never going to end! i guess that is what happens when you're up before the sun. i've had a very productive past couple of days in the office with filing and billing and such and now it's almost friday again! 

it's already at a heat index of 100 again today. this has been the hottest week so far this year. my face is a permanent shade of red and i run from the office to the car to avoid the heat as much as possible. we desperately need some rain down here to cool it off a bit and help our corn come back to life! it would be nice if we could hurry up and get all of the wheat out but that's a whole different story. i think brent has cut over a thousand acres already but everywhere i go around here i see another field they haven't done yet. we might be cutting wheat until the fourth of july at this rate! i had hoped that they would finish fairly soon so we could take off to the mountains and relax in a milder climate for a few days but it's not looking promising. next weekend i have a shower at home with some close family friends and the weekend after that is my cousin bonnie's wedding reception/party and father's day. 

on a good note though, my final proofs for our wedding invitations came today and they look amazing. tifany is an amazing designer. check out her work at http://gourmetinvitations.com/. she does some very unique stuff. i am so lucky to have found her! i won't give away what the final invitation and everything else looks like until after the wedding. i want people to be surprised when they get it in the mail. i feel like the invitation sets the tone for the wedding since it's the first glimpse people get into the overall feel and theme. i think ours will make an impression!

the garden is still producing at a rapid pace. i find new squash, cucumbers, okra, and zucchini daily. i'm trying to give it away but everywhere i go people have tons of squash! i think i might plant one more squash plant for late summer and maybe two more okra. i've thought about doing some onions as well and maybe a watermelon! i have to get all of the weeds out first. i'm glad i did the garden this year so next year i'll know what to do differently. 

the house is coming along quite well. they stained our concrete yesterday so no one can go inside for a while. i think they are working on our cabinets as we speak and i need to send the form back in on our countertops. everything else is ready to go. we just have last minute trim work, finishing the floor and stairs to the loft, and finding a shower door! i'm SO ready to move in. hopefully we will get some things that we have registered for next weekend since we need just about everything for the house! 

i hope everyone is having a wonderful week and staying cool :)

friday!

it's finally friday! i wasn't so sure that this week was ever going to end! i just finished with the pay check sheets for the truck drivers and now i'm taking a personal moment so i don't lose my sanity!

in the midst of it being pay day and wheat harvesting, my FIL sold 40,000 bushels of corn to be delivered by today; so it's chaos! there are trucks everywhere and everyone's hair is on fire! i just updated the grain contract so yes, i am taking some time for ME!

i am getting back in the swing of cooking again and getting excited about recipes. i made brownies yesterday and today it's tuna salad day! i included the recipe for tuna salad on the recipe page. two summers ago i had the pleasure of eating some tuna salad at the beach that my friend mimi made. i'm usually not a big tuna salad fan but it was delicious! i have been making it ever since. i've also been craving a big bowl of pasta. my favorite when the weather is hot is to cook up some fettucine and toss it with asparagus or peas and a light cream sauce. i have a good recipe for this as well that i will also include on the recipe page.

i haven't quite figured out how to use this blogger thing with the pages but apparently i can't put posts on a page. i started another blog for recipes and still i can't figure out how to link them so stay tuned! eventually i'll get this all figured out!

it just started raining here. and i mean downpour. big raindrops mean it probably won't last long. i can't remember who told me that, i think it was my friend Weldon. i faintly remember her learning that at camp thunderbird and passing along the info to me during college. OH! and speaking of Weldon! i think she will be adopting miss Louise! [crossing fingers] Brent and I can't possibly keep 4 puppies and it stinks to have to leave them in the pen all the time. Louise is very sweet and mild mannered. she doesn't seem to be as crazy as hank and birdie but she has her moments. yesterday she made an escape from the pen and found the leftover lunch from people who were working on the house... styrofoam was everywhere! and i found her passed out underneath the fan at the dog pens. sweet weeza!

happy friday y'all! i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

and another..

okay so i am falling in love with everything today. i have a bad habit of finding stuff that i can't live without, buying it, never taking it out of the box, and putting it in storage. that way when we move into the house i can unpack everything and still be fresh and excited about it. i have that bad habit especially with anthropologie. i want everything in their store. (especially all of the kitchen stuff) i've already bought the farmers egg crate, the little milk jug measuring cups, etc etc and now they have a few new things that i am obsessed with..... the farmers market basket. it's just like the blue farmer's egg crate, same material, cast out of a real container and to die for! i think i'm going to get the large one in white and the small one in the neutral color. is it sad that i am planning on having a cutesy decorated refrigerator? next i'll be looking for posh tupperware!

it's funny how your tastes change over the years. i can remember when i first saw anthro i thought it was some weirdo hippie store and now i buy tons of stuff there. my mom was saying the other day that she doesn't know what i like anymore or really anything about me in my mid-20's. so maybe i should tell a few things about myself (just for you mama!) that people may not know....

1. i collect aprons. i have somewhere around 10 right now and still counting. i usually find some of my most favorite ones from anthro. (imagine that)

this is one that my mom gave me for my birthday. the picture doesn't quite do it justice, the blue/green color is much more vivid in person.

2. i'm obsessed with black leggings and black Nike workout pants. i wear them with almost everything.

if i do shop for something other than gym clothes i normally go to Anne Taylor LOFT, Anthro, and JCrew.

3. my favorite place to shop lately is Lowes Home Improvement. i go there multiple times during the week and yesterday i found an entire new section with organizing stuff that i had never seen before so needless to say, i'll be back there very soon!

4. i follow the pioneer woman religiously. and the new tasty kitchen is awesome! (thank you thank you thank you to my friend nikki reese for turning me on to her. it has been the inspiration for this blog, my avid photo taking, and my desire to write a cookbook.)

5. oh yeah, i'm in the process of writing a cookbook. i can't plow ahead as i would like until the house and my kitchen are finished but i am in the process of collecting recipes right now. any good recipes y'all have, please send them my way! i will soon start cooking all of them and adjusting measurements and such. i am SUPER excited about this.

6. i have a collection of nail polish. whenever i get some extra cash i splurge on essie and opi nail polish and i think i have every shade of pink and brown known to man. this is my newest favorite, it's called "sand tropez" ...

7. i LOVE gushers. particularly the watermelon ones. for christmas last year all i asked for was a giant bag of them. so naturally, brent bought boxes of gushers, opened each pack and filled a ziploc bag with them. i was in heaven! it's still my night time guilty snack.

8. i use anti aging products because i am scared to death of wrinkles. if i didn't look so terrible when i'm pale i would stay out of the sun completely to avoid them. i have a deep dark fear of having lines around my eyes and mouth and having a turkey neck.

9. i could spend my life savings at kate spade. i have multiple pairs of shoes, dresses, purses, jewelry, stationary, perfume.... you name it, i probably have it if it's kate spade. that started when they opened the kate spade store at southpark. i went there all the time and loved all the colorful stuff and now i buy everything. i literally collect the purses. my favorite so far is an all gold one that i use most of the time. and then of course my black "baby bag" ... i have shoes that i bought that just sit in the box, never worn, just waiting on the appropriate time and i wear them around the house every now and then for fun.

10. and lastly, since some people don't know this because i complain a lot, i do love where i am. not many people love their job, that's natural, but i do love where i am and where we live. i love the farm. i love summerton. i truly and honestly like the people here and the small town feel. i like that when i walk in the diner everyone knows who i am, sure they probably know all of my business too, but that stuff doesn't matter to me. no, brent and i don't have an exciting social calendar and we don't go out to bars, but that's not what is important to me in life. i wrote a quote the other day that everyone lives their lives differently and that's true. i don't feel like i'm missing out on anything in life by not getting drunk or going out, even when everyone pressures you to do so. i enjoy spending time with brent and doing things together like working in the garden or going for a boat ride or kayaking. everyone grows up at different times and i think my time for that is now. they say that you discover yourself in college but i'm not so sure that is true. i feel like i am discovering myself now and setting the guidelines for the rest of my life. i still love my friends and i crave more time with them, but we all live in different areas and it's harder to get together. i just hope that even though we are miles apart that we will all stay close and know what's going on in each other's lives. that's another reason for this blog. even if it is only a glimpse into my life down here.

cute cute cute

I had to post this really quick. I'm searching Etsy for neat finds and I absolutely LOVED these cute things!

hand painted ABC's by TheArtWagon in Charleston

 I thought that this was SO adorable. My best friend Laura is pregnant and I immediately thought of her nursery and how cute this would be....

chicken doorstop 

 I was looking for different unique things for the house, not sure if either of these would work with the cabin/hunting theme we have going, but maybe upstairs in the loft I can have cutesy stuff like this! :)

and a piggy doorstop by PaintedPheasant

hello darling

summer is here in south carolina. i had hoped that the heat would hold off, but per usual, it's back in full force. we're in the midst of the 90 degree days that come with early summer. it's not yet the 100+ range with full force humidity, but that won't be long... the dogs go out for a short play time and then are fervently searching for an air conditioning vent to lay on or a bowl of water they can attempt to climb in. i think they will really like the frigid wet cold winters down here.

baby cucumber :)

i worked in the garden yesterday and picked some giant squash and ate our first cucumber! i think i let the cucumber get a tad too big but it was delicious anyway. i washed it off under the faucet by the shop and we cut it open with brent's pocket knife! nothing like fresh veggies from the garden. i have tons of tomatoes as well. a bush full of roma's and some big talladega's. i'm not sure what in the world i am going to do with all of this produce but it's abundant! i might try to work on a late summer garden this weekend.

little baby squash!

yesterday was a big day. we went to columbia and picked out the granite for our countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. i am most excited about the guest bathroom granite. it was fun to pick out stuff and we got lucky with some really nice remnant pieces for vanities. after that we hit sumter to pick up our dog pens and chik fil a. we started putting the pens together and realized they didn't give us all of the hardware we need so i have to run back up there today for that. and we also started cutting wheat last night! i think that this is my favorite of all the harvest. it's usually super hot when we're cutting corn and extra dry and dusty and cutting beans is during the fall which is my favorite time of year so i'd rather be camping or kayaking. i think brent favors cutting beans and it is really cool to watch the combine roll through and turn the vines of beans into short stubble. but wheat is so beautiful and really neat to watch when it's cut with the stripper header.

the dogs are asleep at my feet. i think my 1/2 day is up so i'm going to head back to sumter to pick up the stuff for the dog pens, take some fixtures back to lowes, and then come back to clean up the house. hope everyone is having a fabulous week so far! :)

tomorrow tomorrow .. it's only a day away!

love how i said i would update ASAP on the cake tasting etc and now it's thursday. ((sorry)) it's been one of those weeks. no surprise down here!

wendy and i set off to charlotte around eight in the morning on monday and got there fairly early before our appointment so we decided to stop in and see my grandmother. this is my mother's mother and she has been battling cancer so i really wanted to go see her and introduce her to brent's mom. we visited for a while and updated her on what we were doing and got to hear how she had been. it was good to be there, even for only a short time.

we pulled up at 'the wow factor cakes' and amy had a bunch of beautiful white on white and ivory cakes in the window with different textures, etc. so i knew it was the place! i gave her pictures of cakes that i loved and elements on my dresses and we came up with an amazing cake! i won't give details, you'll have to wait until the wedding! after that we headed over to j majors where i got to try on my reception dress again and get it ordered. luckily it will be here before my ceremony dress so there won't be any hassle with doing fittings and alterations with two dresses at two different stores! i am SO excited about both dresses. they are both very different from one another and i absolutely adore them. only a few more months!

exciting news for today, my best friend and matron of honor, laura, found out that she and her husband ben will be having a baby boy!! i've predicted three babies so far and i've been right on all of them! maybe i should go into business. she will be due a few weeks after the wedding and we are all SO excited for them!

tomorrow after payroll is finished and i get my check in the bank, i am heading down to ocean isle for a much needed girls weekend! it will be the first time everyone has gotten together in a while, plus some new friends that haven't been down there before so i am very much looking forward to it!

as for the house; the electricians have almost all of the light fixtures up. i have to make a decision about one more in the loft. the ceilings are too low for the fan that we bought so i have to go back to lowe's tomorrow and get something called a "bumper fan" which flush mounts to the ceiling. brent's friend alex has an uncle that does masonry work, so he put in our stone hearth and it looks fantastic. now we just have to get the floor stained, get some cabinets, vanities, and finish the hood extension. oh and have the toilets and faucets and stuff done. the tile guy came today also and he should start on monday laying the tile in the master shower and around the tub. i picked out some beautiful stone tile at the tile center in columbia that should look awesome with the floor and pecky cypress walls in the bathroom. hopefully not too much longer and we will be in there!

dad gave me an old light fixture that used to be in the library at christ school, where he went to prep school. Lord only knows how old the thing is but i am putting it in my loft/office. the electricians had to rewire the entire thing so hopefully it will work!! :)

everything is looking up! get to see everyone tomorrow and have a little time off from the farm. i can't wait!

another wedding post?

yes it is, another wedding post. what else do i have to write about? this weekend my cousin Elizabeth got married in Myrtle Beach and i was sure to pay attention to every detail now that we are getting down to the wire. i don't know how they did it, but her wedding went perfectly (i can only hope mine will be the same). the food was fantastic, the music was great, the photographer was there when needed for different photos, and the wedding cake... oh the wedding cake. brent said this morning "maybe i was just drunk, but that cake was delicious!" and i had to agree. Brent's mom and i are going to Charlotte in the morning for my first cake tasting and i am crossing my fingers that i will be equally amazed as i was this weekend.

i got thinking today as we were riding back from the beach about weddings in general and registering for gifts and the reception and such and an interesting thought popped into my mind. my mother leans on the side of registering for economical gifts that are affordable, but affordable meaning in the $20 range. I've heard many times that no one wants to spend much more than that on a wedding gift. maybe it's just me but i started to calculate and realized how stingy some people are. think about how much it costs the bride and her family for just one person at a reception.... there's the cost of the invitation, the ceremony program, the rental fee for the table, the chair, the plate, glass, silverware and then the food and drink. all for one person. that cost is way more than a measly twenty dollars. BUT weddings aren't just about gifts. there are many people i've invited to our wedding that are suffering during this crappy time in the economy and i just want them to be there to see me get married and i don't want a gift from them. i'm just rambling my thoughts.

it's been such a long weekend and a crazy day. my best friend laura leigh mckenzie everhart turned 25 this weekend, Elizabeth got married, i've had strep throat, we're getting in the short rows on the house, we had a bad storm and my squash plants got trashed.... and it doesn't slow up. it actually gets more busy!

i've got a ton to catch up on at work since i was gone last week with the strep. we're going to charlotte tomorrow. Brent's friend Alex has an uncle that does masonry so he is coming to lay our hearth tomorrow. the electricians are coming to put up all of our light fixtures (that we just bought tonight at Lowe's), they are delivering our appliances this week, hopefully staining our floor and then putting up molding, i'm going to a reunion of sorts this weekend at the beach, then they start cutting wheat so that will carry us into the summer when there are showers and more weddings! busy busy year. hopefully i'll be able to take a breath in october....

i'll update about the cake tasting tomorrow, it's time to hit the hay. OH! and laura finds out the sex of her baby this week! (that's the most exciting of them all!) goodnight loves

ideas ideas

so I'm taking a little break from billing and the copy machine and I'm thinking "wedding accessories," so naturally I look to Etsy for some unique ideas...

first I need a garter... my Mother and Grandmother told me on Sunday that their "something blue" was their garter so I found this:

but then I wonder, am I supposed to wear this thing the whole time? don't y'all know that my thighs rub together? how comfortable can that be?? I LOVE this garter so could someone PLEASE tell me, do I put this on before the ceremony or at some point after?

second; I want a fun headband to wear at the reception. if I'm going to get a second dress that's supposed to be less formal and fun, then I want some cool headwear...

ta da! now this is fun! if I could somehow get the other dress that I want, I think this would look really awesome! (knowing me I won't wear it the whole time, but it would be fun for a few pics!)

I have my first cake tasting on Monday at 11:00 with Amy from Wow Factor Cakes in Charlotte. I'm working up some ideas for her so she can get a feel of the kind of cake that I want. I won't share what I'm thinking because I do want it to be a surprise! 

{pause: there are two flies that keep buzzing around my head and my computer screen, i've been trying to take their picture to prove it, but they are just too fast... how annoying!}

I also need to get wedding programs... ay ay ay. it would be easy to get the same girl that's doing my invitations but I think she has enough work on her hands making 175 of my crazy invitations and sending them out herself! any ideas? 

happy monday (ps, one fly down, one to go!)

wedding belles

If you have ever registered for gifts, you know what a high it can be. Today marked my second attempt at registering at Belk. I think I am cursed. The first time I drove the three hours to Charlotte that had a horrible storm the night before, so the scan gun for the registry didn't work and I had to hand write everything I wanted. THEN the Woodland Spode pieces that I wanted, Belk didn't carry them and they would have to be special ordered. I thought today would prove to be much better, but of course, it wasn't.

I got my scan gun and headed to sheets and towels. I hit a few Ralph Lauren towels and then went back to look for everyday dinnerware. After making my way back down Belk Southpark's four stories I go to scan a beautiful Kate Spade Wickford dinner plate and the scan gun freezes.... The lady from bridal registry reset the gun, I scanned my plate and punched in 12, hit enter and NOTHING. So once again I went through Belk with a clipboard and pen writing down all the lovely things I wanted. I am VERY excited about some of the things on the list though. Mom thought I was being ridiculous registering for Waterford crystal, but if it's not on your list, no one will know that you want it! (It was only two glasses anyway...)

Then we made our way to Pottery Barn where their scan gun worked perfectly. I walked the store over five or six times popping every bar code that caught my eye! I could buy everything that Pottery Barn makes. It reminds me of the Friends episode.... HAH!

Now I'm sitting here making a list of everything I have left to do before the big day. Which includes: rehearsal dinner dress, reception dress (yes I'm having TWO), wedding shoes, wedding jewelry, finish the guest list, find a wedding cake... and the list goes on! It was exactly one year ago tomorrow that Brent proposed to me, May 8th. My how the time has flown by. I thought I had forever until the wedding date and now we are T minus 5 months! SCARY! And we are trying to finish a house...

Pray for me..... and check out my registries! :)

necesitas los clavos?

All day I've been thinking it's Tuesday, only to just now look at my phone and have MONDAY May 2 glaring into my face. I have been trying to clean out the office today. In the chaos of working here and building a house my personal stuff has started to mix in with the business stuff and it's not a good combination. Upon going over driver logs I have stumbled upon bills for the house that I didn't even know I had misplaced and in the middle of doing paychecks Friday I picked up some grain tickets and aha! there was our quote from the HVAC guy. I will be going over our budget and the phone will ring, so I will put it on one of my four desks and then there it goes, off into the horizon, only to be found whenever I have already pulled my hair out trying to find it. So today I have taken everything into one giant pile, then separated it into multiple little files. I have expandable file folders for everything but somehow there just seems to be a gap in me holding the paperwork and actually putting it into it's designated spot.

Aside from the office work I am also making Brent a list of spanish phrases and vocabulary so he can talk to the guys working at our house. I made one list last night, but he called me to tell me he lost it and needs another one. I have to break down the words so he will know how to pronounce them as well, so it takes a while. The title of this blog for example says 'do you need nails?' .. I thought that might come in handy seeing as they are nailing up our walls and ceilings today. For Brent I have to write "nay-say-see-tahs lowes cla-vose" and just pray he gets it close to that. This morning he walked into the house, pulls out his piece of paper and yells "OH-LAH!" to the guys and they all stop and stare at him. Luckly Juan shouts out "MUY BIEN!" and everyone laughs. I thought about teaching Brent some bad words but that could be potentially dangerous seeing as his spanish accent is horrible.

The puppies are sleeping at my feet on the air conditioning vent. They really aren't fond of the South Carolina heat (and it's only May 2nd..) so whenever they get the chance they try to find the coldest spot in the house. In our living room at the lake one of the couches is over a vent so usually you can find Hank hiding underneath it.

I broke down and had lunch in the farm kitchen today. I figured it would be okay since all I had for breakfast was a SlimFast shake. I did pretty good, I skipped the pork chop but I did have some mac n' cheese. I couldn't resist. Brent's grandmother had spongecake with berries soaked in sugar and karo syrup, yeast rolls and biscuits with strawberry jam, and brownies for desert. I ran as fast as I could back to the office and had some walnuts instead. It was a close call. The biscuits where placed directly in front of me and she rubbed them all with butter right before she set them down. It's some form of torture she has inflicted upon me knowing I am on a diet. Then she sat down, broke a biscuit in half, doused it with strawberry jam and proceeded to eat it while she talked to me. Needless to say I won't be going back for lunch tomorrow. I will bring a salad....

Just thought I'd share a picture of my hydrangeas. Well one plant anyway. I will take pictures of the garden this afternoon. You can see the rows of sweet corn in the background of this picture but they are much taller now after all of this rain. My squash, zucchini, and tomato plants are all huge now and starting to produce! Now all I need are some chickens, oh wait, my in-law's have those, so maybe I'll get a milk cow.

thoughts on cooking

There was once a day when I loved nothing more than to get out a really long complicated recipe and spend all day cooking. I even loved to cook huge meals with multiple sides and deserts. Now when scanning recipes, if they look long and complicated, I look the other way. At our house we have a tiny kitchen that is not well lit and we don't have a dishwasher. Or a disposal, as I pronounce is "dispose-ALL" which makes Brent laugh every time. And now our lovely place on the lake has some type of pipe or septic problem so we can't wash dishes at all. If you run water in the kitchen sink, it fills up the bathroom sink with black water. So lately we've resorted to fast food, the diner, or hot pockets and frozen pizza. This is a real tragedy to me seeing as cooking is something that makes me truly happy. I guess I could pretend I was still at NOLS living in the mountains and I could take my dishes out to the lake and weave myself a sponge out of grass!

I started thinking about cooking and how it comes natural to some and for others it is something hard to learn. I've been looking through my recipes trying to find some good easy recipes for a friend of mine who didn't inherit natural cooking abilities and I thought, if I put this on here how I've written it down, it could potentially be disastrous. For example, if a recipe calls for certain spices, I never write down the measurements, I just use them according to taste. If you're making lasagna and I just write down lasagna noodles and to layer them in the baking dish, someone might honestly not know that you have to cook them first before layering! For that reason I will attempt to give some fairly simple recipes and go into extra detail!

Spaghetti with Zucchini and Squash
1 Box whole grain spaghetti (I use Barilla)
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove; chopped
2 zucchini; thinly sliced
2 yellow squash; thinly sliced
1 jar of tomato & basil pasta sauce
Black pepper and salt (to taste)
1/2 c. parmesan cheese

First cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. This part makes me laugh. I remember when living with Lacey she yells from the kitchen "how much is a quart?!" and I asked what in the world she was doing, which was trying to boil water for pasta. I've never really read directions on the box of pasta, I've always filled a pot up with water, let it boil, add the pasta and just taste it ever so often until it's cooked. So for this purpose, read the box, and just so you know, 1 quart is equal to 4 cups!

In another saute, sauce pan, or skillet, add the 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Set the stove to medium heat and place the pan on the burner. Add the chopped garlic to the pan and saute until it turns yellowish in color. Then add your zucchini and squash and saute for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the jar of pasta sauce to the same pan, stir frequently, and add some salt and pepper.

The after draining the water and removing the spaghetti from the pot, add the cooked noodles to the same pan with the pasta sauce, zucchini, squash and garlic. Mix it all together and let it cook for just about a minute. Take the whole mess of pasta and sauce and vegetables and dump it in a serving bowl; then top it off with the 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese!

Hopefully this seems fairly easy enough. I think pasta is one of the most versatile things you can cook. If that seems too complicated, you can always go to the grocery store, buy some Buitoni pasta and one of their accompanied sauces. My favorite is their fettucini and the alfredo sauce. Delish! I actually make that a lot which requires minimal effort. To jazz it up a bit I may add peas, asparagus, and chicken, or even spinach! 

I hope this is a good starter! If I haven't explained it fully don't hesitate to let me know! :)

Happy eating!

is it 5 o'clock yet?

It's days like today that make me wonder what in the world I am doing in life. Work is almost impossible seeing as there are FOUR dogs in the office. Yes, that's correct... FOUR! Katie is here, which presents a problem in itself seeing as she can't be anywhere in the vicinity of the pups because they want to try and nurse with their huge razor sharp teeth, and Blake brought his 4 month old male black lab Tucker here this afternoon.

Good thing the office has two sides with a door separating them or I would go insane. Katie and Tucker can't stay in the same room together for very long because Katie paces between the two doors whining and waiting on someone to let her out, but when she goes outside she digs a big hole beside the steps. Tucker jumps around and plays tug of war with the bag in the trashcan, the pile of dirty sheets belonging to the truck drivers, and ultimately attempts to bite on Katie's tail. When all else fails he just removes all of the paper towels from the bathroom trashcan and takes a big poop on the floor!

I of course assumed one of the puppies had "gone poopy" in my side of the office and proceeded to crawl under the desks following the unpleasant scent. When there is no poop to be found I peak into the other side of the office to see Tucker, bless his heart, wildly wagging his tail, standing triumphantly in the midst of his mess. 

Now the entire office smells of dog poo no matter how much lavender spray I can put in the air. I even shot some into the air vent hoping it would filter through. 

Aside from the dogs, Brent and I are trying to get our budget in order for finishing the house. We met with our loan officer at the bank today and they want an itemized list of what we lack to finish the house and prices for materials and labor. That is proving to be quite difficult as many of our "contracts" are verbal and sealed with a handshake. They really enjoyed the scrap piece of notebook paper our heating and air guy wrote his price down on and it was contingent on trading a turkey hunt for some of the labor. I don't think First Citizens Bank in Charlotte understands how things work down here in Panola. 

On the up side, Brent has cleaned all of the weeds out of my garden for me and spread snake repellant all around my garden and the house so I need not worry about any encounters with giant rattlesnakes or copperheads today when I go to water my hydrangeas. Yesterday there were two black snakes in our house, yes, inside the house; one even had babies! And a copperhead is living in our stack of black walnut that is drying inside the shop. I think I might venture to the humane society and "rescue" a mean ass male cat to release over there to ward off any unwanted visitors. Only thing that worries me is that some of the rattlesnakes in those woods are so big they might eat the cat! Who would've thought I might have to tote a gun into my own garden for protection. I guess that's life in the country. 

                      ____________________________

To my dearest friend Lacey, I promise I will put up some recipes for you tomorrow! I surely didn't have time to do it today! And don't worry, I'll make it something easy with step by step directions! :)

Tucker and Katie in their hole, tired from all that digging!

the time is now

Yesterday after eating multiple delicious meals for Easter my MIL and Brent's Aunt Scherrie and I were talking about how much we all love to eat and how we all want to lose weight. Brent's family loves to cook, and I mean LOVES to cook. A typical line up of food here at the farm is some type of fried sandwich for breakfast; be it fried egg and bacon, fried bologna, or fried ham, I usually opt for a grilled cheese, and all is accompanied by a coca-cola. Then for lunch comes a plethora of things such as fried chicken, fried pork chops, macaroni pie, always rice, butter beans cooked with "butts meat", sometimes there's fried squash, yams, green beans, cabbage, and always cornbread or biscuits. And to go with that is a big plate of butter and some Karo syrup or grape jelly. (I'm sure your mouths are watering...)

All this sounds absolutely amazing, right? Well when you eat like that everyday and drink sweet sugary tea and coca-cola it has an effect on your body. You start to gain weight, retain water, your blood pressure goes up, and then up goes your cholesterol. Last November I was probably in the worse shape of my life so I decided it was time for a change! I changed my diet and started going to the gym everyday and sometimes twice a day. Then I started working full time. AT THE FARM! So I went back into the grilled cheese and fried chicken routine. Now here I am again at the start of the summer looking and feeling not so good!

So today is the day for a change. Brent carried my small refrigerator to the office for me so I can keep bottled water and healthy food options in it. I am going to get some fruits and veggies to keep in there and things like turkey and yogurt. That way I won't have to go up to the kitchen for any reason and be tempted by the fried chicken legs!

Side note:: Congratulations to Adam and Morgan Barwick! They just found out today that they are having a baby girl!

somebody felt left out..

After proudly showing my blog to my fiance and how I already have a follower (exciting!) he replies "where am I?" .... so here you go ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. Brent Cogdill! My amazing husband to be!

I just took this photo last week during a carriage ride in downtown Nashville. Brent is currently starting a music career, aside from his farm duties. 

He started at a young age ;)

And now he's moved on up to the big time! I took these photos of him at North State, maybe you'll see them on a CD cover one day 

;)

He is serenading me right now as I write this with his guitar skills. Aside from playing the guitar he is a third generation farm boy. 

And an avid outdoorsman and duck hunter....

He is the love of my life and my inspiration for writing this blog. After all, he's the reason I moved down here to become a farmer's wife. 

Rainy day

It's a rainy day at the farm today. If paychecks were finished I would go home and get in the bed and watch movies all day BUT I have to wait around to pay the truck drivers. Since I don't write the checks anymore I have to wait until the new girls prints them, Chris signs them, and then I have to go pick them up and bring them back to the farm to be dispersed. Since my job is finished for the moment I thought I would share some neat things I've found while browsing the internet this morning!

First an amazing breakfast recipe for Scotch Eggs:
1 lb. breakfast sausage
1/2 c. breadcrumbs
8 eggs

Hard boil the eggs (roughly 10 minutes), drain water, and peel the eggs.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grab a chunk of sausage and flatten it out in your palm, then place the egg in the middle and wrap the sausage around the egg until it is completely covered. (Repeat 7 more times)
Roll the sausage/egg in breadcrumbs and place on cookie sheet.
Bake them for about 30 minutes until the sausage is cooked.

Next are some amazing mason jar lights I found on Etsy by BootsNGus! I'm trying to figure out how many I can fit into our house! :)

They make them in all different sizes, shapes, and colors. Very unique and definitely a conversation piece!

This weekend is Easter also, so the scotch eggs would be fun for an Easter brunch! Normally I go to the beach every year for Easter with Mom and Dad but this year, for the first time, I don't think I am going to make it. I've been gone pretty much every weekend for the past month and after my tour of the midwest last week I don't feel like getting in the car again for longer than 30 minutes. So thankfully I will have a weekend to clean my house and catch up on laundry. (And hose off the greenish yellow film that has enveloped our house now that Spring has arrived in full force!)

Happy Good Friday!

Let me introduce you to my life...

We have two new members of the family I want everyone to meet! 

Brent's dad has a yellow lab named Katie that has become very near and dear to my heart so when Katie had a litter of puppies, we couldn't keep just one... :)

We had to keep TWO! 

Meet Hank & Miss Birdie, our sweet little monsters! Don't let them fool you, they have razor sharp teeth and they LOVE to bite your feet! (and hands, and each other, and my plants, the garden hose, the fence, their dog bed.... and the list goes on! but hey aren't they adorable!) 

Soon we will also introduce Jane. (yes, three dogs) Oh yeah, Bailey.. well she has moved to Iron Station with the grandparents. Since we lost Lilly, Lucy, and Belle, Mom and Dad wanted some puppy company that they didn't have to train so little Bailey Purvis moved to NC! 

Maybe I should have called this thing "Tales from the Dog House"

Welcome!

After much long debate about this blog, I am pressing ahead into the unknown! As you can see I know nothing about web design but luckily everything on this site is very dummy proof. I read a tutorial on how to make a header using powerpoint and although there isn't much to it I am proud of it! Eventually this blog will be tied in with another website (I hope) .. seeing as I purchased the domain name! (Whatever that means..) 

I've been looking forward to this for so long I now feel like I have stage fright and I'm not even sure what to say. The only people reading this will most likely be myself and a few of my friends, so what am I worried about?! 

I wanted to use a blog as a way to keep up with my friends and family and let them know whats going on in my life down here in the middle of nowhere. Eventually I will figure out how to post pictures on here too. 

I feel like there was a time when everyone had iPod's and I was still burning CD's and now not only do I have an iPod, I have two Mac computers, and iPad, iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, and now a blog! Boy have I become technologically advanced or what!? 

I think this is enough for a welcome post. I could write a few essays worth of info but I'll wait. Especially seeing as I am at work and supposed to be "working." 

Thanks for stopping by and look for more posts to come!

(my regards to Ina Garten for using the word "contessa" but it sounds so much more regal than plain ol' "lady" .... if I do become famous with this thing I reckon' since she lives in the Hamptons she wouldn't be too worried about some crazy farm wife from South Carolina!)