Thanksgiving

All week I'd been looking forward to going down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving:

family.

70 degrees.

no snow.

Copeland's.

cornbread dressing, turkey, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese.

PECAN PIE.

rest.

Georgia vs. Georgia Tech.

warm weather.

And I all expectations were met. Good food, awesome time with family, warm weather (despite rain, it was certainly warmer than 15 degrees), good rest, and a Dawg win!

I got to see some of the sweet girls I used to meet up with at GA Tech and it was so sweet to hear how the Lord has continued to work in them so much! That night we got to see my parents, sister and brother-in-law. We obviously planned everything around food and went out to dinner at family favorite Copeland's. Fried catfish, biscuits, gumbo, red beans and rice! I had to use serious self-control. Not to mention how fun it was to have the whole family together. I loved getting to catch up and laugh a lot. The next morning hubs and I met Mom and Dad for lunch at Food 101 another good one! Mom and I split their fish tacos and chicken salad sandwich. So good. I also snuck a bite of Andrew's Cuban sandwich-yum!

Keeping in line with the trend of big meals, we went out for an awesome dinner with Andrew's parents that night at Dominick's in downtown Lawrenceville. Also the place hubs and I went on our second date 3 years earlier when he shared how much he liked me. Good food and sweet to reminisce with my husband and wonderful in-laws. And who knew? Larry Flynt (you know that sleezy, wheelchair bound, Hustler guy) was shot at the L'ville court house?! We ate across from it. Just a fun fact I learned.

It was great spending time with A's parents- we love staying with them. The next day was Thanksgiving! Which meant more food! We were running around getting food together. I got to make that orzo dish I keep referring to and A's mom made a turkey, homemade cranberry sauce and super good sweet potato souffle with pecans and brown sugar! yum! We spent most of the rest of the day at hub's grandmother's where there was a lot of people and even more food (multiple turkeys, fried okra, mac and cheese, green beans, tomato casserole, orzo, cornbread dressing, coleslaw, fruit salad, sweet potatoes, caramel cake, pecan pie, chocolate chip pie, snickerdoodles, etc.). It was tasty and great to meet and catch up with all the family.

Friday we headed over to Dialogue in the Dark at Atlantic Station. Dialogue is an exhibit that gives a really cool experience of being blind. You go through the exhibit in total and complete darkness and feel what its like to be in a park, grocery store, etc without sight. Really powerful. Here are a few pictures from walking around my old stomping grounds: Atlantic Station.

My in-laws!

Hubs and I

Saturday we hiked around Talulah Gorge and drove around Lake Rabun at all the beautiful homes and boat houses. Here are some pics from Minihaha Falls. And actually there are Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis (we took my parents there in a previous post). Funny- they're pronounced the same way but spelled different.

GA's Minihaha Falls at Lake Rabun

The whole clan at the Falls after hiking the Gorge

Saturday night. I couldn't wait. 7:45 pm. Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. No clear favorite, at home in Athens, Ahh! We watched the whole game and I was so stressed at the end! But praise the Lord, the Dawgs won! And by doing so clinched a bowl game and escaped a losing record. Though this is the worst season Georgia's had in several years, Murray is promising and the defense was on. Here's a NY Times article about the weird ending of the game.

And the next morning it was time to head home. Ugh. Up early, navigating the relatively quick and easy airport lines, in the air for just over 2 hours. Then when I work up from my nap on the plane , I saw the landscape go from brown to white. The snow. It's still on the ground. Reality was hitting me. Back to snow and cold and working (well doesn't really feel like work, but I can't hang out and eat all day).

So here we are now, 2 weeks left on campus. Three weeks until flying back down to Atlanta. I'm excited to bring this semester to a close.

Recipe Catch Up

I've thankfully been able to cook a little lately too...

This week:

• Super Quick Spaghetti Sauce- good without lots of time and especially when Andrew and some college football guys came over for dinner
• Chicken Marsala- this is one of my go-to favs! We make it usually once a month.

This past weekend:

• Butternut Squash Soup- SO good. Alittle too much work for me to do more than once a year though:) Unfortunately I forgot where I put the Minnesota wild rice I bought last week (typical) so I left the rice out. Still turned out great. Lots of flavor! And I got the squash from the farmer's market last week.
• Chocolate Chip Pie- just to make my husband happy! He loves this stuff and has told me multiple times how excited he was that I made it. He's great- and easy to please:) And fyi, I only used one stick of butter (woah, still painful for me!) instead of 1 and a half.
• Instant Black Bean Soup- great for when we had our couples' small group . I spiced it up by sautéing onions, adding some pulled chicken, rice, smoked paprika, and a touch of half and half. We also had some cornbread (thank you Jiffy) to go along.

In the last few weeks:

• Chicken with Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes- only the best for awesome company: Ginnie was visiting :) I was inspired by this chicken + goat cheese recipe and this old favorite. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to stuff the chicken, so I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and browned the chicken breasts on the stove. Then I topped each with some goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and let them finish cooking and the cheese begin to melt. While in the oven, I made a little sauce by caramelizing some red onions and reducing the browned bits from the pan with chicken stock. Yum!
• Baked Asparagus with Brown Butter Sauce- I mentioned it before- so good!
• Double Baked Potatoes- thank you Pioneer Woman! I also mentioned this before too
• Quinoa and Brown Rice- I needed a quick side so I grabbed this bag of brown rice and quinoa mix, then I added feta, scallions, a little garlic and salt and pepper. I was inspired from this favorite orzo recipe.
• Pork Chops- based on this recipe were super tasty too! Though I usually get recipes from searching online, I actually get cookbooks from the library pretty regularly (except for the last few months) and this is from the book "Rachael Ray: 2, 4, 6, 8"

whew- catching up

Whew. It's been nearly a month! I guess that gives you a little insight into my life lately. Busy, busy, busy.

This is the first Saturday in a month that Andrew and I have both been home and haven't had any specific plans. So freeing!

But, at the same time, we've had some really fun things happen in the past few weeks that we're so glad we could be a part of. So here's my top ten from the past few weeks:

10. The crazy weather! It was nearly 70 earlier this week! No jacket necessary. And currently it's been snowing and we've got more than 6 inches on the ground!

9. Getting to catch up with Atlanta friends: girls from Tech, friends from college and friends from staff

8. Catching up with my fellow Minnesota staff wives: I get to hang out with Jen and Holly every other week!

7. Having to read more about resting: being so busy has made me realize my need to slow down and rest!

6. Friends having babies: Samm and Carmela (in Scotland) had baby girls!

5. Our first snow!

4.My hub's commitment watching Georgia games together: Andrew finding a place for us to watch the Georgia/Florida game during the craziness of the missions conference, watching GA vs. Auburn last weekend with a fire (!!)

3. Jason, Andrew's brother came in town

2. Ginnie, one of my great friends, came in town from Atlanta

1. The heart growing fonder: finally getting extended time hanging out with my Hubs!