holiday #1

we had a great holiday!! we left Wednesday evening and went up to my families mountain house in highlands with my family. played a pretty intense game of Mad Gab on Wednesday night (if you haven't played it, I recommend it, it's amazing). Thursday we watched the parade, made a huge breakfast, watched the Dog Show (my favorite part!!!), cooked a ton of food, watched Clemson lose a basketball game, ate dinner, and wallowed in fullness the rest of the night. i made some killer deviled eggs and my nanny's dressing. it was so good!!!!!!!! i was pretty proud of myself. friday the girls went shopping and we got some fun christmas presents, then matt and i headed home friday afternoon and went to eat over at his mom's house. it was a really good weekend, until Clemson lost the Carolina game SAturday. We were doing so bad by the 4th quarter that Matt and I left to get our Christmas Tree. It's not a masterpiece, but I'm very happy with it!
i got those really fun, cozy, chenille stockings at Garden Ridge. I really love them. And my mantle COULD be all elaborate and straight out of Southern Living, like my mom would do really well, but I'm happy with it being very simple and "homey." Please excuse my two air freshners in the picture. They were sitting on my coffee table and i didn't realize it. one is fall harvest (from thanksgiving) and one is gingerbread man... they are both delicious smelling. ANYWAY this actually is Matt and my first Christmas having our own tree and stockings and everything. Last year we were living in Raleigh but came home for the holidays and stayed at my mom's and his mom's so we didn't decorate our house in NC. We've been working on...or should I say...Matt's been working on the yard a lot too, and putting spotlights on the house. As soon as I get my wreaths up I will post a picture of the outside!! Hope everyone had as great of a holiday as I did!!

christmas ideas

ive been scanning the web lately to try to find a tree "theme" that stands out to me... our living room is blues, creams, and browns but i dont think i want to be trendy i think i want to be traditional. does anyone know or have you seen any good websites with tree ideas? last year was our first christmas together but we left raleigh and came home on like, the 17th, and didn't go back to raleigh until after new years. so we didn't get a tree and decorate or anything bc we werent going to be there to enjoy it. that being said we have no ornaments, garland, etc. all we have are lights. i just want to buy stuff that is pretty...and practical that we'll use every year. here are a few pretty trees i found... what do you think?

heath report and a good weekend....

a lot of you have been asking what's been going on and im so grateful for the prayers and words of encouragement. To sum it up for those of you who are out of the loop, on Oct. 25th, Matt and I were at Carowinds with some friends and while waiting in line for our last ride of the night, I passed out and had a seizure. after an ambulance ride and boring stint in the ER in Charlotte, Mom came to pick us up and we got home early that morning. They weren't really sure why it happened, and asked me to follow up with a neurologist (who can't see me until November 16th) and my cardiologist ( who can't see me until Dec. 4th).

Since then I have had a few more "episodes" feeling like im going to pass out again, weak, nauseas, etc., but have not had another seizure or actually lost consciousness. Right now, I am not allowed to drive and it's been really challenging. My sweet mom has been taking me to and picking me up from my classes (just like im in elementary school again). Friends taking me on errands, to the grocery store, etc. and Matt has been awesome ! My mom's aunt is a cadiac electrophysiology nurse (a dr. that studies rhythms of the heart) and her and her doctor have been helping me out as well. They've prescribed me to some medicine that raises blood pressure (to keep me from having that woozy, passing out feeling) and sending me a heart monitor to wear for 3 weeks. So we don't really have a firm answer, and it's taking a while to get into see these specialist doctors, but I'm feeling ok . For example:

My cousin, Ashley and her fiance Matt had their engagement party this past Friday night at my grandparents house in Clemson. Matt and I were scheduled to be the band, and I'd been feeling alright at the end of last week so we went. We ended up having so much fun!! It was set up so beautifully and everyone enjoyed our music :) So we spent the night at Mimi and Grandy's in Clemson on Friday and then woke up Saturday...went to Monterreys :) then watched some football until we headed out to the tailgates around 4 . We got to sit in the box with my grandparents so it wasn't too cold, and we got free food and drinks! Around the 4th quarter I really started feeling weak, and tired, and our parking spot was literally RIGHT outside the stadium. I was scared that if we (Clemson) did one more thing wrong, people would start flooding out and we'd be trapped there or in traffic for another hour or two. So we left, and rushed home to watch the rest of the game. Turns out we must have been good luck for leaving, bc the second we did, Clemson started doing awesome!! We got home within about 2 minutes and watched the rest of the game! What a good night!

Then...to make it even better. We got up this morning to come home for church because my sister, Lindsey, got baptized this morning. What an awesome thing to witness. I was so proud of her and excited for her! The sermon was also really good this morning.

To summarize: good weekend over all. still having to take it easy until i see the doctors. glad that nothing really eventful (health-wise) happened. this should be a pretty relaxing week as well. just having fun looking up thanksgiving recipes !!! everyone have a good week, keep me in your prayers! I really appreciate it, and i'll keep you updated!!! -b

a fun questionairre..

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while your blogging?
Candy. I just finished eating some sweetarts. I love the blue and orange ones best!

2. What is one thing you wouldn’t want to live without?
Eyeliner. addicted since the 7th grade.

3. Beach, Mountains, or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
the mountains. hands down. no questions.

4. What’s your least favorite chore/household duty?
there isn't really anything i hate doing, i'm just lazy most of the time. once i start cleaning though, i usually do everything in one fell swoop. i dont really like folding laundry or trying to put sheets on the bed by myself.

5. Who do people say you remind them of?
ugh. Britney Spears. all the time. i've gotten Drew Barrymore twice...i dont think i look like her at all!

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying home with the fam?
I could copy my friend Whitney's answer word for word on this. I like to socialize when I'm in the mood but I'd rather stay home on the couch and watch my tv shows and surf the internet. i love having people over to our house though!

7. What’s your all time favorite movie?
I have three: Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride 2, and The Wizard of Oz

8. Do you sleep in your make-up or remove it like a good little girl every night?
I usually dont even wear make-up (like base/foundation) but I wear eyeliner, mascara, and blush everyday and usually don't take it off. but lately ive been using a new face lotion system my mimi gave me so i've been better about it.

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you’ve never had a chance to learn? What is it?
i dont know about talent but i can do a lot of stupid human tricks. weird thing with my tongue, hold my hands behind my back then pull them over my head. stick my fist in my mouth. im a freakshow.

10. What’s one strange thing you’re really good at?
Directions. I dont know if that's strange but i can find my way around anywhere. i can always tell which way im going in the grand scheme of things

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
hmm, a lot of things but probably that he was singing, playing the guitar, and drinking a beer at the same time. :)

12. What is something you love to smell?
christmas trees!!!!! and leaves burning.

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.
i make a lot of weird noises. like, i do that scratchy throat thing, that's really annoying and sounds like a pig and everyone knows someone who does it and hates it. also i gag a lot, randomly.

14. When you have extra money, what’s the first thing you think to do with it?
shop :)

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest?
i'm a pretty silent laugher. matt is always dying laughing at stuff and says "you dont think that's funny??" bc im not laughing out loud. Anything Ellen says. I love Ellen.

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
j crew if i have the money, ha! urban outfitters, forever 21, anthropologie, old navy :)

17. What’s one thing you’d do more often if you had more time?
if i had more time, i would probably do more of nothing, because i love having free time and not having anything important scheduled or doing homework, going to class, babysitting, cleaning, etc.

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
i think im pretty frugal. i get the bargain shopping gene from my mom, so i love to find a good deal, the problem is, i find too many good deals and turning into a big spender :)

19. Who is your favorite character of all time?
ummmmmmmmmm. close tie between Dorothy and Annie from Father of the Bride :) :)

20. Would you want to be famous?
definitely but NOT for anything bad (like a scandal or nudey pictures or something) haha.

what about you.....:)

one year :)

i can't believe we've been married for over a year!! it has really flown by! we had a marvelous mini-vacay at my grandparents mountain house in highlands, nc last friday through tuesday! it was SO beautiful. the leaves were turning and we built a fire and watched football and just relaxed, the dogs had fun too! :) on the way home we stopped at the farmers market in cashiers and got our pumpkins and some apples. it was such a pretty day! i love fall!! and i feel like christmas will be here before we know it!!!

waiting for the weekend....

not to be a debbie downer, but these past couple weeks have just been ... stressful. i can't remember the last time i had a really good day. dont get me wrong, i have had good things happen several days... celebrating sarah's birthday, cookout with good friends, visit with lindsay temple and baby noah... but i just haven't have an overall good day.

school started out with flying colors. easy peasy, best grade in the class... then i had a test on bones last week that i BOMBED! (not just like naming the bones..but everything about them) a lot of words that sound the same etc etc. yikes. also my math class has started and its all the way in simpsonville and we are doing FRACTIONS right now .... fractions that i did in 6th grade... fractions so easy that i wonder how i was stupid enough not to test out of this MAT101 class. I guess it's better being easy than hard, but just sucks to drive 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back to sit there for 2 hrs. and 15 min. of stuff I've known since I was 11.

sorry for burdening you with my stress. now onto the good news.. it's our one year anniversary on sunday!! we are so blessed that my grandparents were kind enough to let us use the mtn house for the weekend. we're going up to highlands, nc friday and staying until tuesday! matt is taking a couple of days off and i've already told my teachers i wont be in class monday or tuesday (just missing 2 classes). it's going to be so nice to spend some time with matt. between him working and me at school, we really haven't had much time together lately. so i know i havent posted pictures in a while ...when we get back ill have some good mountain pictures to share! cooper and annie love the mtns too :)

so here's to hoping (knowing) the week's going to get better and anyone else having some bad days, pick your head up and truck on ... good days are coming!! :)

-b

where i've been ... and what's going on :)

sorry i am such a terrible blogger. we have still not totally settled down since we moved back. some recent happenings: matt's been working on the yard a lot. it looks so good! we had a lot of patchy grass because we dont get much sunlight in a few areas, but he's been working away and the yard is looking better and better. going to plant some flowers in october. i looked up "traditional anniversary gifts" the other day. you know like... 50 is Gold ... 10 is tin ... etc etc. Well i thought that 1 year would be something cool, but it's paper. a card. awesome. haha. anyway it has a type of flower you are supposed to plant on each anniversary as well, and 1 year is pansies. so we will be planting some pansies this october :)

also we finally painted the kitchen. took a few coats and still have paint on my hands but we're done. we first painted it green and it looked like nickelodeon threw up in there....it was bad...like slime green. so we decided out with the green all together and painted it a cream color called "antique lace" and we're just going to accent it with a lot of bold colors. im a fan. ill post pics in about a week when its done being decorated. i also cleared out and set up the dining room. just need some artwork/mirror on the walls in there. so things with the house are slowly coming together.

class is going well. still feel like im at the DMV sometimes. you would be shocked at some of the things people say/do. i think like 10 people in my 3 classes have had the swine flu or family members have had it. i walk into class with my tshirt pulled up over my nose. i need to go get the vaccine.

Clemson football is in full swing! Though we've tailgated twice already...the first game was hotter than hot and the last game was at noon and raining. So this weekend's game vs. TCU is going to be the first game I actually cook some yummy tailgate food for. I'm gonna crank out some delicious pimento cheese, black eyed pea dip, 7 layer mexican dip, and a to die for spinach dip. I know it seems like Dip Party 2k9 but everyone else brings Chicfila nuggets...fatz chicken...etc etc so I decided to opt out of "must stay warm" meat dishes :) Here is the black eyed pea dip recipe...it's Paula Deen's, and it actually is more like a salsa than a dip, I think ...

Ingredients

• 2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (10-ounce) can spicy canned tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 (4-ounce) jar chopped pimentos, drained
• Corn chips, for serving

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• Pinch dried oregano
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the black-eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, red, green, and jalapeno peppers, onion, and pimentos.

In a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the wine and balsamic vinegars, salt, pepper, mustard, sugar, oregano, and olive and vegetable oils. Shake until the ingredients are blended.

Add the dressing to the pea mixture and stir gently but thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Hope yall have a fabulous first weekend of fall!! I'm so excited for fall, it's going to be awesome. Halloween party, thanksgiving, football, amazing. xoxo

Britt