My Favorite Things...

My 9 month old Goldendoodle - Charlie:


Hugging my puppy:


Eating out in downtown Royal Oak (here we are at Tom's Oyster Bar) with Charlie:


Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate:


Flowers from the Farmer's Market:


Cute pictures of Charlie :):


My new Autumn decor from the apple orchard:


Our barn window from the art festival in Frankenmuth, MI:


All 3 together!:


Fall decorations & pumpkins 1:


Fall decorations & pumpkins 2:


Fall decorations & pumpkins 3:


My cutie pie:


My new boots!:

Apple Orchard!

John and I were going to go to the Apple Orchard for his birthday but he had too much fun on Saturday night and wasn't feeling up to it (that's an understatement) on Sunday so we put it off a week and instead we went over the weekend.

Blake's Cider Mill & Apple Orchard

We started off the day with a hayride around the orchard and pumpkin patch. Then we went to the Cider Mill and got some cinnamon sugar donuts and a gallon of cider, and I found a really cute little sign :)

Cute little train that took you to the pumpkin patch


Weird country bear jamboree style scarecrow men


Couldn't wait for that delicious cider

After that we drove over to the apple orchard and picked our crop for the season.

Caught him mid-jump

I LOVE these autumn traditions and am a little sad that it's already come and gone, but now I have lots of baking to look forward to :)

John turns 25!!!

Everyone at Mr. B's for dinner/drinks


Sippin on my Cosmo




Caroline & Tom


Timary & Leon


I bought the birthday boy a shot :) - He had about 6 other shots thanks to Leon!!






Caroline, Tom, John, Leon, and Alison




After Mr. B's we went to Tom & Caroline's apartment. Baxter was NOT happy about a drunkard breathing in his face




Everyone trooped outside to watch John and Mike shotgun a beer - Tom and Caroline's neighbors had this witches hat sitting outside their door so it became the birthday boy's hat








And then they played Big Buck Hunter on the Wii - I think it was a night full of John's favorite things :)

Week in Greenville

I got back from the bachelorette party on Sunday and was able to enjoy the rest of the week in Greenville with my mom, who's a teacher and since it was the week before school started she only had to go in for meetings and to set up her room. Such great memories - I miss her already but it was easier to leave knowing I'll be back soon for Kacie & Genevieve's weddings.

posing with Charlie


Charlie sitting in the Reedy River at Falls Park - mom and I took him for a walk downtown and he just laid right down in the river!!


Charlie with his duck

On Tuesday I drove down to Atlanta to visit John while he was training - he had a lot of down time in the evenings so I got there around 5pm when his training was finishing for the day and we went out to dinner at a really great sushi place, then went to the pick up some dessert at the Cheesecake Factory and we brought it back to the room. We were also able to enjoy a private evening swim in the pool since no one else was apparently in the mood for a swim! It was a very nice visit with my hubby :)

Our delicious sushi!


Charlie enjoying mom's lovely back yard

Mom and I had such a great time meeting for lunches and then going to the pool in her neighborhood for an hour or so to just bob around in the warm water. We went to Olive Garden for lunch one day and it was absolutely incredible - I've been to Olive Garden a hundred times but for some reason we just had the best meal with sharing appetizers and dessert and coffee - yummm. Then we went to Stella's in Simpsonville for lunch another day and it was also amazing. I was able to grab lunch with Lindsey at Strossners one day which was also a lot of fun. We also had some great dinners - the first night I got into town we met at Blue Ridge Brewing Company downtown, then another night we went on a culinary "Tour de Greenville" at the Cazbah, High Cotton, and Sobys.

Me, Linds, and mom at Soby's on our Tour de Greenville :)


At Brown Street for a cocktail


Brown Street


Lastly - we stopped for a "blow job" shot at Muraski - never thought I'd be doing that with my mom but she's really our best friend so it was the perfect end to the night :)

I drove home all day on Friday and am already looking forward to getting back down there in about 2 weeks for the weddings!!