A Day at the Fair

Happy Friday!!!!! I am getting more and more excited for all of the Fall activities going on already!! Unfortunately since there are so many at one time I am having to miss some of them. :(  I missed yummy gyros and baklava at the Greek Festival last weekend and this weekend I will be missing the Southern Women's Show. Boo. :(  We did make it to the fair last night though!!

This dude was CRAZY. He grabbed the cup out of my hand with his teeth and wouldn't let go. It was hilarious!

A hat made of wood! I thought this was the coolest thing ever!!

Our view from the top of the ferris wheel. :)

Winning me a prize! :)

Fried Oreos!! Yummy!! Oh and believe it or not...my husband ate the funnel cake and all of the Oreos but one. LOL

What's y'alls favorite part of the fair??



what i'm loving wednesday!

Good morning!!! I hope y'all are doing well this morning. We are halfway through the week!! :) Today I thought I'd join this kind of love with her "what i'm loving wednesday" post!

I'm loving that the fair is in town and we are headed out there this weekend!! The sounds, the smells, the food...I just love everything about the fair!

I'm loving this haircolor for Fall!! I wonder how it would look on me though...?

I'm loving that I just got hired to make princess cupcakes for a 5 year old's birthday party!! I haven't completely decided on the design yet but I've got about a million ideas!

I'm loving that my fantasy football team won week 1!!! Woohoo!!! You know the dude I beat is like "Did I really just lose to The Carolina Cupcakes...?" Hahaha!

I'm loving camel peacoats...

blazers...

Burberry scarves...

cowgirl boots with leggings...

I'm loving these hairstyles...

{all pictures from here}

What are y'all loving today?

Tips from a beginner runner!

And by beginner I mean I just started yesterday.

Even though it was my very first run ever, I learned a great deal and thought I would share my findings with you.

1. Choose your dog/running companion wisely. Halfway through our WARMUP walk my dog stopped, looked at me with her pitiful eyes and layed down in the middle of the sidewalk.

{my Ollie girl after our workout}

2. Invest in an iPhone/iPod carrying case that straps to your pants in some way. Wearing your husband's huge camo fannypack is NOT hot.

3. Do not include "Tonto, Jump On It" on your running playlist. Every time they said "TONTO...jump on it, jump on it!" I had to stop and do the lasso dance in a circle. I couldn't help it!

4. Do not yell at the C25K app announcer guy when he says Run. and you are too tired to run. He can't hear you and he doesn't seem to care if you are tired or not. Also you might get a few strange stares from neighborhood passerbys.

5. Don't choose a neighborhood with lots of hills. Somehow it worked out that everytime the dude said Run. I was going uphill and everytime he said Walk. I was going downhill.

6. Do not eat goo goo clusters right before you go on your run. It causes cramps during the running part.

Hopefully my misfortunes can help you to have a more enjoyable running experience. :)

Miscellany Monday

(one) I set up my first ever Fantasy Football team this year! Though I have been a Panther's fan for years...I never really knew what was actually going on. I just loved watching the game, hanging out with friends, going to the stadium... However, I've really started learning a lot about the actual game...and I like it! FYI my fantasy team's name is The Carolina Cupcakes and I'm doing pretty darn good so far! ;)

(two) We had an awesome girl's weekend in Asheville/Cherokee last weekend!! The weather was amazing and the Lady Antebellum concert was GREAT! Here's some pictures from our trip...

(three) This weekend we went to the Blues, Brews and BBQ festival. I had some ribs and a pumpkin spice ale. It was SO good!!! The best part of the day was the pig races!!! LOL

(four) I'm thinking about joining a study with NIH. They will be studying the effect of steroids on patients with Autoimmune Premature Ovarian Failure. I'm kind of nervous about it though!! Have any of y'all done a study with NIH before??

(five) I've been pretty down lately. I've just become overwhelmed with work issues, money issues, health issues...I have been moping around and feeling sorry for myself for the last couple of weeks. This weekend I told myself that I had to get up and take charge. I cleaned the house and organized things and have really been trying to change my outlook. I feel a ton better already!! :)

(six) I've been thinking about starting running. It seems every blogger I follow runs and they love it!!! My dog and I both need to get into shape so I thought that was the perfect idea! So...anyone have any tips for starting out?? I know my first step is to get some really cute workout clothes/shoes. ;)

"Hay" Fever

Good morning!!!!! I hope y'all had a great Labor Day weekend!!! We had so much fun in Asheville and at the Lady Antebellum concert!!! I'll share some pictures tomorrow. Today I thought I'd share what I can't get off my mind. :)

"I love Fall! Fall is exciting.

It's apples and cider.

It's an airborne spider.

It's pumpkins in bins.

It's burrs on dog's chins.

It's wind blowing leaves.

It's chilly red knees.

It's nuts on the ground.

It's a crisp dry sound.

It's green leaves turning

And the smell of them burning.

It's clouds in the sky.

It's Fall. That's why...

I love Fall."

- Author Unknown

Happy Fall y'all!!!

pictures here and here

Picture Perfect Memories

Happy Friday!!!! Hope y'all had a great week! Are y'all looking forward to the long weekend??? I know I am!! :)

So remember how I told y'all about how my office manager at work had just stopped coming in? We would call her and she would say she was on her way and never show up. She acted kind of strange and we were really worried about her. Well yesterday I found out what was going on! She called me and told me she was in the doctor's office waiting on the results of her scan. (She is a lung cancer survivor and she has to have periodic scans to make sure it hasn't come back.) I told her to call me as soon as she found something out. So about 15 minutes later she calls me and sounds like a completely different person!! She said everything was fine and that the doctors had had a meeting to talk about a nodule they found last time and they said there wasn't actually anything to worry about. (She hadn't told us about this nodule but we suspect that she had assumed her cancer was back and went into a deep depression.) She sounds a lot better and we can only hope that she is going to be okay now and get back to her life. Please pray for her. :)

Tomorrow morning me and a friend are headed to the mountains! We are going to spend the day in Asheville and then head to Cherokee for the Lady Antebellum concert!!! We have been so excited for this since my dad got us the tickets a couple months ago. This is the first time I will have been in the new amphitheatre so that should be interesting...plus it's my first Lady A concert. I fell in love with them after buying their new CD not too long ago so I know this is going to be an awesome concert! Also, it's supposed to be in the 70's up there this weekend so that's going to be AMAZING! 

I bought the most amazing black blazer yesterday!!! I don't really care if I burn up or not...I am wearing it this weekend. I figured out how to use Polyvore so I can show y'all exactly how I'm going to wear it!! :)

What are y'alls plans for the Labor Day Weekend??? 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I think the red turned out great and of course in true southern style I topped it with cream cheese frosting and candy pearls! :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

•2 1/2 cups of cake flour (NOT self-rising)
•2 tablespoons of unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
•1 teaspoon of salt
•1 1/2 cups of sugar
•1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil
•2 large eggs
•2 bottles of red food coloring
•1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
•1 cup of buttermilk
•1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
•2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar




1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with 24 paper liners.

2. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.

3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, mix together sugar and oil until combined.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.

5. Stir in food color and vanilla.

6. With electric mixer on low, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each.

7. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

8. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 18 minutes.

9. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.



These cupcakes are perfectly moist and perfectly red with just a hint of chocolate. Some people like a lot of chocolate taste but this recipe isn't overly chocolatey. Also, you don't have to use the red food coloring if you don't want to. The vinegar reacts with the cocoa and makes a lovely brownish red color that looks just as pretty!! :)






Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz. of cream cheese, room temperature
6 cups of confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)


1. Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. (about 3 minutes)

2. Mix in vanilla.

3. Add confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition.



YUM!!! This is the best cream cheese frosting ever!!! Of course this is how I make mine because I like it to be thick and my husband doesn't like the tartness of too much cream cheese. You can easily make it thinner and more cream cheesey by not adding as much sugar! :)

If you love traditional southern desserts, you will love the hummingbird cupcakes I made for a baby shower!! I can't wait to share those with you! They have the same cream cheese frosting and they were SO GOOD! Stay tuned!