Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving spending time with our families this year. It was a nice reminder of how blessed we are with two great families. {I forget way too often!} We got to the lake Wednesday night, and just hung out and ate dinner with everybody at my parent's house. We spent Thursday with my family too. We had a awesome lunch with my family and the Parnell's (Allene's parents). My Dad  fried our turkey and the Lamberth's turkey that morning {one of his Thanksgiving traditions} and it was delicious!

The whole Neighbors clan- Nolen, Me, Katie, Dad, Libby, Mom, Allene and Anderson

Friday we got up bright and early to head to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl! Libby played with Gran and Pop that morning and part of the afternoon. She loves playing with her great-grandparents! When we got to Tuscaloosa our first stop was the Phi Gam house. Back to my Dad's stomping grounds!

It was cold and rainy, not the best weather for a football game.

 Aabama's stadium is super nice! Unfortunately the first half of the game wasn't very fun for us, but the second half was a lot better!! I can't believe we won!! It was so fun!

I didn't get a single picture of us in the game, but I will assure you there was a lot of cheering and smiling going on! Now were off to Atlanta, then HOPEFULLY PHOENIX!!

We got back to lake Friday night. We were exhausted! We spent the last two night with the Lamberths. Saturday morning we got to meet baby Henry for the second time- this time out in the real world instead of the hospital. He is so sweet and Libby loves him so much!

Libby was so excited to finally hold Henry.

They had a photo shoot with their new outfits Bessie got them...

And a picture of our little family!

We have so much to be thankful for. Life is great and I couldn't feel more blessed!

It's Time...

Look who greeted us when we got home from the lake yesterday....

He She is here! This is our first year doing elf on the shelf. We  Libby has named HER........ PRINCESS! What a shocker!! And she made it very clear that the elf was going to be a girl.

 And I'm so glad we have the new plush Elf on the Shelf that you can play with. I knew Libby was going to be dying to get her hands on the "real" Elf, Princess. They even have skirts for the little girls!

Lets hope this Elf on the Shelf thing makes my girl behave instead of misbehave!

Bedroom

I've been planning in my head about bedroom ideas for our bedroom for a while now. We've never had a fully "decorated" room. (I know such a tragic thing!) We have 2 pieces of furniture from Nolen's room growing up, an old couch and of course a bed with the headboard I made. Nothing goes together and I want nothing more than a finished bedroom! It's been driving me crazy for years! I've found that decorating can be REALLY expensive or FAIRLY inexpensive. We will be going with the inexpensive route, and this inexpensive route will be over a period of time. Did you know that you don't get paid for being a student!?

I have several folders of pictures I get out of magazines and some things that I have bookmarked on my computer for inspiration. One of my favorite bedrooms...

my absolute favorite blog Little Green Notebook. Jenny did this room for a client of hers in Rhode Island

my favorite part of the room...

the silver leafed side tables!


Happy Monday! :-)

Raptor Center Field Trip

Wednesday Libby's preschool had their first "real" field trip to the Raptor Center. They went to the fire station last month, but it's walking distance from the church. Libby rode with her sweet friend Avery and her Mommy. I had class and didn't get out in time to pick her up, so I met them there. Libby did great and proved to me that she is a definite girly-girl. She and Avery brought some of Avery's Barbie dolls  to the show, and that was all they wanted to play!

Mary Ann was there from the Crossroads...

The "sleepy" Owl... Amazing how they can turn their heads almost all the way around.

Everyone got excited when Nova came out! Libby did perk up for this because it's the Auburn bird as she would say...

He's a Golden Eagle (didn't know that) not a Bald Eagle. Spirit is the Bald Eagle , but Nova flies at the AU games more than any of the other birds. They said it takes them a full year to train an eagle to fly in the stadium. And they are hoping AU won't ask to have him fly at the SEC Championship game or if we go all the way to Phoenix. They said it's too much of a risk. That wouldn't be a good thing if Nova got lost!

Libby and Avery after the show. They were ready to get back to playing with Barbie's!

Living in Auburn does have nice perks for raising children. Aubie can come to your school,  you can see the eagle that flies at the games and you can take gymnastics where the Auburn Gymnast practice. Pretty cool! I don't see how you live in Auburn not being an Auburn fan because if you live in Auburn, AUBURN is all you get.... Everything revolves around it. Even the fire trucks are orange and blue!

Happy Friday!

Birmingham Magazine

If you subscribe to Birmingham Magazine you might have come across the article on Chris Hasting, owner of Hot and Hot Fish Club and wife Idie. It's a great article with some wonderful recipes. And it's even extra special because my parents and Nolen's parents are pictured in the article. Chris Hastings cooked a delicious meal at his cabin  lake house for The Neighbors, Lamberth's and Hollidays (my best friends parents-there like family.)

Chris and Idie Hasting's cabin lake house.

On the left side of the stairs is Mr. Roger, on the right side Mrs. Beth is in the orange shirt, my mom is in the white shirt with the grey sweater, my dad is sitting beside my mom in the jacket, Mr. Tom is standing beside my dad and Mrs. Cindy is standing at the top on the stairs.

Nothing more relaxing then hanging out by the lake with a glass of wine (and a fire)...

Definitely check out the article if you get a chance. It's a good one!

Aubie

This past Wednesday Aubie came to Libby's school! She was so excited about meeting Aubie. She loves Aubie, but we really haven't been up close and personal with him, so I was anxious to see how she would act around him.

When we were getting updates that Aubie was getting closer to her school all the kids were cheering, "Aubie! Aubie! Aubie!" Libby was still excited at this point. (She doesn't look it though :-)

The few kids that ran up to Aubie right when he came in the door...

Libby got very shy and scared when Aubie came in the classroom. She just wanted to stay right by my side... :-)

He was so BIG to the kids. Notice why Libby is in none of my pictures because she was attached to my hip the whole time!

And she was happy to wave bye to Aubie! The had 10 more minutes of school, so Mrs. Rich turned on the music and let them run around and dance. Libby's got some moves!

Maybe next year!

Auburn/UGA

Another great Auburn football weekend on the plains!! We did a little tailgated before the game. My parents were able to come down and be AUBS for the day! I don't have any pictures from tailgating on my camera. I'll post them when I get them! But here are some after the WIN!

With the newly engaged couple!

Thomas and Amber

and Nolen and I

I can't believe football is over (home games at least), and we won't be back to the stadium until next year! Crazy how time flies when you're having fun!!

Who Knew?!?

Horseback Riding

This past Saturday (the 6th) Nolen, Libby and I took a short trip to the lake. There are still so many fun things to do in place of the lake during the winter fall. We went horseback riding, and it was so fun! The weather was really cold, but if you layer and wear gloves it's not that bad at all.  If I'm remembering correctly I went once  2 years ago and once a year ago, so this makes it my 3rd time riding on the trails. And it's so fun every time. I'm definitely no pro, but it's still a lot of fun. Like a said before if you're ever in the Lake Martin area you should definitely consider doing this! Even if you're not big on horseback riding you should still go check out the Stables.  It's beautiful!

We went on a beautiful trail right near the water... This was our guide Stanley (all the horses are his and he works at the stables. He's so fun to ride with!)

Nolen, Mr. Tom, Alexis (Stanley's granddaughter) and another guy I just can't remember his name. I do know that he plays football for Dadeville. Mr. Tom, Nolen? Help me out on his name.

Riding back up to the stables... That's Papa!

SpringHouse on our left... Beautiful!

Libby and Bessie were waiting on us when we got back. Libby surprisingly wasn't scared of the horses.

I rode Lil' Joe, Nolen rode Rowdy and I can't remember who Papa T rode?

When I got off the horse I was a little bolegged. And I was definitely sore. But it was so fun I would do it again any day!

Mirror

Want. This. Mirror.

via Lonny

Have you seen this??

If not, you need to.... it's AWESOME! Libby's a little obsessed and will ask to watch the "read, read, read" video all the time now!

I'm Inspired...

I don't normally "re-post" post, but I just have to share what I found this morning. This precious play kitchen. A spitting image of the PB kitchens (with a much nicer price and maybe even cuter!)

I don't know this lady, but she makes it sound so easy!  Take a look....

I'm not making any promises, BUT I would love to make something like this for Libby. It kind of gives me a big headache when I think about making the whole thing though! Maybe some day...,

A Recipe

I found this awesome recipe that has quickly become our favorite meal in our house. Pesto Vegetarian Lasagna. It's delish. I found it here. Yes, Bethany Frankel. If you don't know her she is was on the Real Housewives of New York City, but now has her own show Bethenny Getting Married? It's trash but I can't help it. She's just so funny and she has a new baby which makes me like her because she's a Mommy.

Anyway, I really like her recipes. She's a natural food chef. She has two bestsellers out there Naturally Thin and The Skinny Girl Dish. And she is really famous for her Skinny girl Margarita.


Here's the recipe:

• 8 ounces whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 15 ounces part-skim ricotta
• 1/3 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/3 cup packaged pesto
• 4 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Set aside.
2. Combine the ricotta, basil, and pine nuts in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.  Spread 1/3 of the pesto into the bottom of the pan.  Cover with half the noodles.  Spread half the herb-ricotta mixture over the noodles.
4. Repeat with another 1/3 of the pesto, the remaining noodles, the remaining ricotta-herb mixture, then cover the whole thing with the pesto.  Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top.
5. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes or until heated through and bubbling.

all via Bethenny

Happy Friday!

Jewelry Organizer

I found this really cute jewelry organizer idea on High-Heeled Foot in the Door. One of my daily blog reads. I'm going to admit that I have a design blog stalker problem. It's true. And it's a problem. I guess there are far worse things to be addicted too. :-)

I went to Home Depot to get something like the Homasote she used. You can only buy a full sheet of it which was WAY too large for what I needed. The HD guy gave me a damaged piece and cut off the  damaged part so it would be smaller. (And he still gave me HALF off!) Score! So I paid $2 and some odd cents for a large piece of whatever it is that I bought.

It still wouldn't fit in my car, so the HD man tied it to my roof. Probably not the safest thing, but I wasn't going far. BUT I forgot to get it off my car and was headed to Alex City the next day... When I got on 280 I realized something was flapping back and forth on my hood. Yeah, not safe and not funny. That could have been a very bad accident waiting to happen. I  went back home and got it off my hood. Thank goodness I wasn't far.

Anyway, this weekend I finally got motivated enough to finish the project. I asked my neighbor to help me cut it. I really felt bad asking him to do another favor for me, but this was just cutting something. It took like 5 minutes.

the board finished and cut

next, I just laid my fabric down and covered it. Lib didn't want to be left out of the picture

the finished product

then, I nailed it in our bathroom behind the door

i used clear thumb tacks to hang the jewelry on

this obviously isn't all of my jewelry, it's just what I had out right that second

If you need a way to organize all your jewelry I think this is your best bet as far as the easiest and cheapest! I spent $4 TOTAL! Amazing I think!