Oh! You hung the socks!

Dan: "Oh! You hung the socks!"
Kelley: ....stockings?


What I did:

What Dan thinks I did:

Wouldn't be Christmas without hanging the socks!

Date night: pumpkin challenge

Dan and I found ourselves very confused when we realized that we didn’t have plans last Saturday. What do we do with ourselves? If I get bored, it usually becomes a complex endeavor – like “let’s re-do the mancave!” I still owe yall pictures from that, by the way. Either that or I pout to Dan that I am ‘in a rut.’ Dramatic much? Nope.

What went from “lets go to this bar” to “lets go to dinner” to “lets go to Total Wine and pick out our own beer to save money,” got very interesting when I became overwhelmed by the number of pumpkin beers at Total Wine.

How would anyone choose?! You don’t just keep cases of pumpkin beer around. But when it's fall, and you want a pumpkin beer, which six pack do you get?

Challenge accepted.

We grabbed every pumpkin beer that they sold as a single.

Nine. Nine pumpkin beers were about to compete for our affection. It was going to be a glorious night.

On the way out of the store, something attempted to throw a very large wrench in our plans. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. 4 pack. 

How can we pass it by? The rules: 1) Must be pumpkin, not harvest or fall. 2) Only singles. 3) Buy all of them. No singles anywhere to be found. We left Dogfish Head and its deliciously-orange case behind, to not break rule 2, and proceeded with our night.

The line up of fierce competitors:

Our set up was elaborate because, if you are going to do a pumpkin challenge, you have to do it right.

Fall candle? Check.

In-depth scoring sheets? Check. 

Pumpkin-orange shirt for Dan? Check.

I don't mean to brag, but we are connoisseurs when it comes to these tastings and know all the correct terminology when discussing beers.

Trust me, “night ruined” is not a good tasting note to receive.

Each beer had to be tasted, scored on a scale from ‘yuck’ to ‘yummy’ and could be re-tasted as many times possible until we ran out. Then, a favorite had to be chosen.

Dan easily went with “Shipwrecked.”

I apologize for the picture. He apparently confused “Here, pose with your favorite beer!” with “Quick, I’m taking your high school hockey photo, if you smile, you’ll get beaten up.”

I, shockingly, couldn’t decide.

I like most all of them! Cottonwood was delicious, but a little light. Sam Adams was delicious, but a little heavy. Shipwrecked was great, but had so much of a clove taste, that I could only have one. Blue Moon and Buffalo Bill were, as always, delicious. UFO did disappoint. But I liked the Unita, and didn’t think my night was ruined, as Dan so eloquently put it. 

Approximately 4 days later, Dan came home with the temptress herself: the 4 pack of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

She's beautiful.

Winner. Done. Hands down. Our favorite.

So there you have it. Our super professional opinion. Dogfish Head is not ‘nooooo’ nor ‘night ruined.’ When describing a beer of this caliber, we like to use the technical term ‘delicious.’ It’s not sold in singles because, trust me, you will want all four.

If you don’t believe me, have your own Pumpkin Challenge. (It’s capitalized now, because it’s a thing.) Let me know what you decide.

Happy fall, yall!

My birthday

I love birthdays. Mostly because of the cake. Any excuse for a cake. And when it is my birthday, I get to pick out the cake, and that’s the best of all.

I was lucky enough to extend my birthday almost a week. It started the day before my birthday with my friend Sam decorating my cube with those ecards. Have you seen them? They are pretty funny.

These were all geared to being old, and birthdays. My favorite said, “Due to budget cutbacks, we’d appreciate you not telling anyone when your birthday is, so we won’t have to buy you a cake.” … well.. its funny if you work where we work.

She made lime green and pink cake pops, with funfetti cake inside. It was all vanilla, the exact opposite of what Sam likes. THAT, my friends, is a good friend.

The guy in the cube next to me is absolutely brilliant at what he does, but English is not his first language. So he stops by my cube and says, “Ohhh. So funny cartoons.” And leaves… And every time he walked by, he said,“Ohh. Cartoons. Very very funny.”

He had no idea that it was my birthday. And Sam and I laughed every time he did it.

Then he sees the cake pops, and goes “look at those lollypops! Did you make them?” And I said, “Jose, do you think I would make my own birthday lollypops?? Sam made them for me.” And he smiles, “Ohhh congratulations Sam” ….. still no idea it was my birthday. Made us laugh.

Then my actual birthday started with Starbucks and Chick-fil-a for breakfast, followed by opening presents.

Dan wrapped every one of his. And then flipped them to the ‘good side’ before I took pictures. Reason #584395 why I love him.

My friend Shelley was passing through town and brought a huge shiny balloon, champagne and Hershey kisses. She knows me so well.

 

So Dan and I had champagne.

And went to Zebra for dinner. If you are ever in Charlotte, and have an excuse to spend too much money on dinner, go. It is honestly the best restaurant I have been to. I wore a lime green dress, because I am a firm believer that no matter how old you are, it is socially acceptable to wear a lime green dress on your birthday.

Take 1. Proof that I should invest in a tripod.

Take 2. Much better.

We came back for ice cream cupcakes from marble slab.

How brilliant is this? Have you ever wanted to try 4 different ice cream cakes? Because this is your chance.

Or you can order 4 full cakes, just invite me over. Please.

On Monday, my friend Landon brought by cupcakes for the Bachelor Pad. Can you believe it’s the season finale? What am I going to do with my Mondays? And I might have eaten a cupcake for breakfast the next morning.

My parents were in town Wednesday. (We are camp for their dog, Lily). So we went out to dinner with them, and opened a few more presents.

It was such a wonderful week and I am so thankful to all my friends and family for the birthday wishes.

I hope my next 25 years are just as perfect as the first!

Happy Anniversary!

One year ago today, Dan and I said I do, forever.

ABJ Photography

Isn’t that a crazy concept? That you have a best friend, forever. That you have someone to laugh with, forever. Someone to be with, and cherish and hold, forever. Someone to love no matter what slips, sags, falls out. Forever.

ABJ Photography

ABJ Photography

I have heard the wedding toast, “May you look back on your wedding as the day you loved each other the least.” And it is so incredibly true. Well, maybe not the least. That could have been day one when Grace said, “this is Dan, he is in my chemistry class.” That might be the least. But I fall more in love with this man every single day.

ABJ Photography

And to those people who say that we are just newly weds, to wait, those feelings will fade, and we will eventually stop liking each other, I say, “We’ll see.” And smile. Wondering if they ever felt this way. And if they did, deciding (maybe naively, maybe not) that they couldn’t have. Or they wouldn’t be so cynical today.

ABJ Photography

But anyway, we are newlyweds. And life is amazing. And not hard. And we enjoy every second together. And we couldn’t be happier.

ABJ Photography

I always think of the Brad Paisley song Then: “What I can’t see is how I’m ever gonna love you more, but I’ve said that before.”

ABJ Photography

So, Dan, here’s to one year of marriage. To loving you even more. 

ABJ Photography

And to the very beginning of forever!

ABJ Photography

Extreme couponing

Okay, not extreme at all. But using a coupon is pretty extreme for us. Don’t get me wrong, we are frugal people. Mom, I said ‘frugal,’ not ‘cheap.’ We like to buy when things are on sale. I like to price check. Shop at Trader Joes for the staples, and then, anything I can’t get, run over to Harris Teeter. And I LOVE a good garage sale. But we aren’t good with coupons.

If we run across a coupon, we will cut it out. And by run across, I mean, it has to slap us in the face, and maybe be handed to us with someone saying “here is your coupon for a free Starbucks!” At this point, we put it in what we have deemed ‘the coupon drawer.’ It holds our straws, fabric samples, and other miscellaneous items. We will then wait until precisely a week after the expiration date, and yell in misery that “WE FORGOT TO USE OUR FREE STARBUCKS!!” And then, drown our sorrows in a not-free, really-too-many-dollars latte. Whew. I feel better.

Rinse. Repeat. 

Our weekend started with an “extreme double coupon week at Harris Teeter” commercial. Dan was hooked. We had to try it. This was our week. 

Harris Teeter doubles one-dollar coupons on any day, but this week they would double up to two-dollar coupons (ie four dollars off). I envisioned myself finally starting that stockpile of trial-sized off-brand body wash to last us until 2030. They would all be free, and I would have extra money left over for shampoo. We would fill an entire shopping cart for $2.83. Today was going to be a great day.

We started by emptying the coupon drawer. “Four dollars off your Double Shots that expired YESTERDAY.” “Five dollars off any purchase at Harris Teeter that expired last month!” “Expires in January 2012!” “Do we EVER go through this drawer?!” “Hey look, a penny!”

Then we bought a Sunday paper. “This better be worth the four dollars.” “Rule number one: don’t cut out the ones we won’t use, that’s wasting money. It’s the only couponing rule I know.” “There are SO many coupons for kitty litter.” “Cat food.” “Cat Treats.” “WHY DO ALL THE CAT PEOPLE GET THE GOOD COUPONS?!” “Let’s get a cat.” “OMG. We NEED a cat!”

You people are crazy.

Koda threw water at our face. We stopped being irrational, grabbed our wad of coupons, and proudly strolled into Harris Teeter. We got my deodorant for 50 cents. Honey Nut Cheerios for a dollar. Break and Bake Cookie Dough for 50 cents (now, I am ALL about homemade, but compared to the four dollar Oreos that Dan likes, this worked for us). A box of Band-Aids and a tube of toothpaste for FREE.

Now, we weren’t rational the entire time. “This one doubles for four dollars!” “Do we use Neutrogena lotion?” “No, but we should find one for $4 and get it for free!” “It’s all like $16.” “That’s okay. Four dollars off. Four dollars SAVED.” “That makes the lotion $12, is that a good deal?” “No, but maybe we need it. We’re saving FOUR dollars!” (I now see how the marketing strategy of coupons works).

Overall, we saved $100 from our coupons. We probably don’t need toiletries for a few months. And I am not a contender for TLC’s newest show “Extreme Couponing turns Hoarding Buried Alive.” If this happens, TLC, I only want one percent of profits. Although, we do have room in our crawl space and under our fridge for some stock piles.

I consider it a success. We vowed to use the coupons in the coupon drawer (ha, we will see). To check the Sunday paper. And to remember which coupons make things free or fifty cents, and buy then.

Meanwhile, Dan will let you know if $16 lotion is, indeed, worth the four dollars saved.

I'm in Miami, trick

Alright, I lied.

By 27 miles.

But LMFAO didn’t sing “I’m in Ft. Lauderdale, trick” because it’s too many syllables. That’s the only reason. I heard that they, too, were 27 miles from Miami. So I used the same artistic license with my title.

One of Dan’s groomsmen and best friends lives in Ft. Lauderdale. He just finished the Bar Exam, and we had been promising for a few years to visit him. This made for a wonderful, much needed, long weekend.

Another great friend of ours, Merrick, lives in Korea. He was in the states in between school years and for his sister’s wedding. So Dan conned him into buying a plane ticket to Ft. Lauderdale as well. It had been way too long since we had seen Merrick in person. At one point Merrick referred to himself as “Asian.” Which is quite funny. Because, he is not Asian. He just lives in Asia. See below.

So it became the joke of the weekend. Can we say in unison? Merrick. You’re. Not. Asian. Merrick is known for speaking without thinking. And we are known for putting additional words in his mouth to make it even funnier. Needless to say, there were a lot of laughs this weekend.

Brent’s mom lives on the intercostal waterway in an absolutely beautiful house with a wonderful view.

To show our appreciation, we hijacked her boat.

Posed for a picture.

And set sail. Cue the Little Big Town song “Pontoon”. That song was going through my head all weekend.

We took the boat out two days, and spent as much time as possible out on it. We did a lot of this:

B. Trap drives the boat like this:

Safe. I’m sure. Once out of the intercoastal and into the ocean this is our view. (Mom – I know it’s a super boring pictures with no clouds, don’t cringe. At least the horizon isn’t in the center).

Absolutely, nothing. And just what we wanted. We did some backflips off the boat.

Dan attempted a Superman.

And, while we are making fun of Merrick. You didn’t think we changed subjects did you? This is his “front flip.” Quotes are necessary. Don’t want to lie to yall twice today.

He looks like a zombie falling off the boat. Or maybe one of those fainting goats that paralyze themselves for a few seconds and fall over. (Have you seen those videos? I know what you are doing after this.) We very much love our Asian friend.

Next up, I was a super tourist and took pictures of this guy. Have you ever seen these? I guess they pump water with a high enough pressure to get you airborne.  I tried shouting “I want a turn!” but Brent just sped up.

We watched a lot of the Olympics, went out to dinner, grilled out, shared favorite beers, and tried to get Brent to freestyle rap like old times. It is always wonderful seeing friends who know you so well and stay so true despite the distance. I always say that if everyone would pick one city, I would live in it in a heartbeat. Even if it was, heaven forbid, above the Mason-Dixon line. But for now, until my dream comes true, we are having a wonderful time visiting friends in Miami (whoops, second lie), DC, New York, Greenville, Atlanta, Columbia, etc. etc. Maybe even Korea? (nah..).