Oh Dearie Me.

Well, I had a wonderful weekend, despite some unfortunate happenings

earlier in the week. 

Dinner with my beau (and imagine that I said 

that like Scarlett O'Hara, it's fun) and awesome friends

at Mugshots on Friday night. 

It was great to finally get to know 

some people that I don't usually get a chance to 

hang out with.

Getting plenty of sleep on Friday night through Saturday

and waking up to watch a classic on ABCFamily, 

Rookie of the Year. 

Don't underestimate that film. 

It's great.

("Hey, pitcher! You got something hanging out

of your nose! Pitcher's got a big butt!")

Lunch in Odenville at Charlie's BBQ

and benchmarking with Jesse. 

Family time with the Scotts

and trippy-trip to Workplay 

to see The Civil Wars w/Lucy Schwartz.

Whole show=AMAZING. 

I had never seen Lucy Schwartz

perform before and only knew one of her

songs, but she blew everyone away. 

She is an amazing pianist

and she has mastered a loop

machine that would rival Imogen Heap. 

The Civil Wars, of course, 

did not disappoint

again (last show seen in August at Workplay). 

pic by Andrew Clements

They sang most of the songs from their 

new album, Barton Hollow, 

and were amazed

when everyone starting singing along. 

And not to brag or anything, 

but the crowd from Saturday night

was referred to as the best crowd ever. 

Just sayin'.

Haha.

More weekend news coming up later! 

Donut hate on me.

Saw this and loved it. 

May use it as a valentine's day card. 

Christmas Chutney

It's Wednesday already? 

December is just flying by. 

Did you see that there's only 9 days left until Christmas!

Yeah, the countdown is to your right. Over there----->

There's still a ton of things on my list

to pick up before Christmas, 

but hopefully they will be completed fairly soon...

let's say December 24th at 6:00pm. 

Plus there's a whole new dynamic this year.

I've got to split Christmas time between two different families this year. 

Woooooooooo! 

I'm still very excited. 

Can't you tell?

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Santa Bag

A whole new level has been added to my Christmas season. 

My procrastination cannot win in this case, 

because waiting until the last possible moment

to plan a wedding is probably a bad thing. 

Just sayin'.

My mom still hasn't met Jesse's parents, 

so that will have to be NUMERO UNO

on my to-do list. 

After looking at The Knot

and bridal magazines, 

I'm going to suggest to Jesse that we elope. 

That will most likely not happen though. 

Haha. 

Before all that begins though, 

I have paused to stare at my ring...

and think about the future. 

It's filled with hopes for a big family

and lots of love. 

Is that crazy cheesy?

Oh well. I'm cheesy now. 

Before you know it, 

I'll be wearing those teacher sweaters

AND not ironically either. 

On second thought, 

probably not. That thing is hideous.

Whistling Wedding Waltzes.

So... how was your weekend?

Mine was quite eventful. 

Yes, the rumors are in fact true. 

Jesse proposed to me on top of a mountain

on December 11, 2010. 

(Pause for screaming)

One of the great things about Saturday

is that I didn't even see it coming. 

For serious. 

We went looking for benchmarks...

you know, like we do. 

We found a couple of benchmarks 

and ate lunch in Oneonta

at ol' Guthrie's. 

(You want chicken or chicken?)

We got back on the road and

Jesse asked me if we should find some 

more benchmarks OR

if I wanted to get a surprise. 

I, of course, picked the surprise, 

because that's a no-brainer. 

He drove us to Camp Sumatanga, 

because he went to camp there

as a child and was a counselor 

there as well, and he 

wanted to show me all of his favorite spots. 

On the way up the mountain, 

he began to whistle "Chapel of Love"

and I thought that was kind of weird, 

but dismissed it because he was calm, cool, 

and collected and the road we drove up to 

was Chapel Road, so there you go.

Anyway, 

we arrived at the top to this view:

I thought it was great, 

so I began snapping pictures

of the chapel and the great view down below

(you can see the camp and the river from the top).

In the back of my head

I was thinking that this would be a great

place for Jesse to propose to me, but

didn't want to jinx it, 

so I just continued walking around the area 

and taking my pictures.

I saw that people had written on the rocks

(one said "[Girl's name], I love you. Will you marry me?")

and I almost started crying because that was so sweet

and Jesse asked me what I was thinking, 

but I didn't want to say anything, 

so he wanted to tell me what he was thinking...

He said 

that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of 

his life with me and got down on one knee

and asked me the best question ever. 

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And of course, I said 

YES!

Scarf Weather

Is it ok now? 

I mean, even if it wasn't, I would 

still be rockin' one of my many scarves. 

They are my favorite accessory. 

Haha, I loved that I found an owl scarf picture.

I really want to order these and send them to everyone

for Christmas.

Ornament Overload

Why does Christmastime always seem 

to carry an ever so slight amount of stress with it?

It's just there.

Hovering over you, waiting to pounce,

so that when you are truly in a bind, 

that stress will settle onto you and 

you will snap. Boom. 

Let me just say sorry in advance. 

And...moving on!

Decorations are going up around campus

and town and I love it!

Christmas Cheer is Here at UA!

This week also seems filled with

Christmas-y activities. 

The annual Christmas parade is tonight

and Dickens Downtown is tomorrow night. 

Exciting. 

If campus looked like this at night, I would camp

out every day until Christmas. 

You doubt me?

The boys (aka my roommates) decorated the house

yesterday and needless to say it doesn't look like this:

But it was pretty darn close. 

Very nice job, guys. 

You thought I was going to say it looked bad, didn't you?

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Momma, what's vacation?

Are you ready for Turkey Day? 

Or ham or pork day? 

Whatever your meat or meatless preference may be day?

Or are you one of those people that complains

about the origins of the holiday and ruins it for the rest of us?

Maybe you would win an award here.

Or maybe you should just:

And I might just bake you a pie

or make you some fudge. 

Ask Jen if I won't make you some

fudge. I'll even make your favorite flavor of fudge. 

One thing I will absolutely not make is this:

Gross.

Anytime cupcakes look like food...just...blech. 

Why would you eat something sweet disguised as something savory?

I'm going to be eating the real thing, instead of an imposter.

It's a phony!!!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

And a crazy Black Friday! 

And an even crazier Iron Bowl!

Is that too many exclamations? 

Nah. One more won't kill ya.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now, it's your turn to say "Happy Thanksgiving" back. 

(Any You've Got Mail fans out there?)

Oh, and by the way, I'm so happy that Jesse gets to come home with me 

for Thanksgiving this year. 

All pics courtesy of weheartit.com

Crunch.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Mine seemed to stretch from Thursday to Sunday

with a brief stint at work on Friday. 

Jesse and I finally got to attend an Alabama game!

(My brother, Dylan, also went!)

A night game versus Georgia State!

And sad to say that GSU didn't have a prayer to win

as Bama beat them 63-7. 

I did get a little bored in the 4th quarter, because Saban 

pulled all of the "good" players and had the 3rd stringers in

for practicing/experience purposes.

And we definitely copied Conan's "photoshoot"

with his real-life Jersey Shore employee. 

Hahaha.

And I took a bro/sis pic with Dylan, too.

Every time I see my brother, I think of this scene from Tommy Boy.

More to come on my great weekend...

Including:

-A trip around Alabama searching for benchmarks

and snapping pictures of cool fall scenes.

-A viewing of Harry Potter 7 Part I

-A thanksgiving cooking lesson

Have a great morning!

fait accompli

Fact of the Day:

(Brought to you by mental_floss)

Food chemist William A. Mitchell

 helped invent Tang, Cool Whip and Pop Rocks.

Brittni Fact of the Day:

(That you probably don't care about)

I'm feeling a bit flu-y. 

I hope it passes quickly. 

I feel like chillin' at home like this

feline here.

Except my eyes will be closed and 

there will be snoring

and an occasional trudge downstairs

to fix myself some chicken noodle soup.

With saltines...ooh, I love saltines.

Sadly, that will not happen today... 

I must continue to work and 

help the students. 

I hope they appreciate it. 

And also, I hope they don't get sick, too. 

That would be unfortunate. 

Prayer of the Day:

Please pray for my friend. 

She's got some serious health problems

and needs fervent prayer for healing. 

Tumeric

I watched the premiere of CONAN on TBS last night 

and let me tell you...it was hilarious. 

This is the cold opening of last night's show

with a special appearance from 

one of my favorite Mad Men.

I really hope that Ricky Gervais is
wrong and Conan gets to keep this gig
for a long time to come.

Also, I'm feeling really lovey-dovey
today, so I am providing you with
some of my favorite love songs
over here---->
Enjoy.

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Whatever happened to Shelley Fabares?

I made my first "slow cooker" meal last night for small group. 

Pot Roast. 

And let me tell you, 

I want to make all meals this way

from now on. 

It's sooo easy. 

I got the recipe from Campbell's Kitchen. 

Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, water. 

Chuck Roast. 

Set for 8 hours.

Go to work.
Come home. 

Die from deliciousness. 

I also made cheddar biscuits

from the original Red Lobster recipe.

Those are "slap yo momma" good. 

And for dessert, 

Pecan Bars, 

because seriously

what is the month of November

without pecan anything?

Answer me that.

Have you made anything especially yummy lately?

Have a great Friday and

a wonderful weekend!

Wildfire

Favorite Pic of the Day:

Thanks, Carli!

I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I was like, "Dude, you have to wait."

I lost my favorite necklace ever. 

It was a cool wooden heart with a bead on it

that I found at American Eagle. 

Don't hate on AE. 

It was an awesome necklace.

You'll be missed.

On a different note, I'm still loving
that Back to the Future is celebrating its 25th anniversary
with a new blu-ray edition of the film.

Check this out.

Tempted to ride it?
Well, don't. It's a cake.
You'll ruin it.

Great Scott!
That whole thing is a cake.
Again, don't try and walk around the town...
it may not be to scale.

And I am sooo tempted to make
my own version of the
"Jailbird Joey" cake.

"Better get used to these bars, kid."

SNL didn't let me down this past week
with awesome audition sketches for BTTF.



I already have the BTTF Trilogy on DVD,
but I don't think adding a blu-ray version will
hurt anything, do you?

NES Marathon

Didn't realize Brian tried to steal Stewie's jokes... 

Hilarious. 

Soo...uh...how're you doing there? 

Reading blogs today? 

Getting ideas for crafts? 

Watching youtube videos?

Collecting recipes? 

What? It's not funny when I try and do it?

Oh well. 

Whatever.

So there.

You're my best friend.

If you were expecting a beach trip story today, 

here you go.

I know I keep using it everywhere, but I just love this picture.

Jesse caught me hopscotchin' at the best moment possible. 

On the first day (after some much deserved sleep), 

Jesse and I ate breakfast with the gang and 

then set out on our own to search for benchmarks in

downtown Panama City, Florida.

We found like 10 or so... I lost count after a while, 

because I was more focused on looking at the 

old buildings and chalk art (see above). 

We caught up with everyone later in the 

afternoon and played some serious 

ultimate in the non-oily Gulf of Mexico.

Good times. 

We stayed at place called "Venture Out," 

a trailer park for the beach-set. 

Very nice.

Jesse really enjoyed it.

As you can see, he adopted this golf cart

to take us around the neighborhood and across the 

street to the beach. 

I want to move there immediately

for this reason alone.

We were joking about getting jobs extremely close 

to our house after we get married, 

so that we can just drive a golf cart to work.

It's that awesome.

We saw lovely sunsets on Saturday evening...

and did a photo shoot with the group

and even some couple-y pics walking on the beach.

I was telling Jesse last night, while we were looking through 

the "roll" of pictures, that there's not one person 

on this trip that I do not love. 

They are all awesome. 

Just sayin'.

Katie did a wonderful job of "shooting."

We had a fabulous time at the beach....

And hope to get back there soon!

"Escape" to the Beach!

Like what I did there? 

It's punny, cause it's true. 

Hahahaha!

Do I sound slightly nutty? 

Maybe it's all those pecans I chopped this morning.

Or the oreos I crushed. 

Could be that...

Oh yeah, not only did I make the 

Mini Oreo "Halloween" Cheesecakes, 

but I also made another batch of

the pecan pie muffins. 

I'm a bakin' fool today, my friends.

And it's all due to my upcoming trip this evening

to the BEACH!!!!

Yeah, I know it's almost November, 

but it's the beach (1)

and it's somewhere else that isn't Tuscaloosa or Birmingham (2), 

capische? 

Are you going anywhere to get away?

Candy Corn

Working on a sugar high right now... 

Not because of this song, but because 

I have just eaten many, many pieces of candy corn and pumpkins.

They are so good. 

And one of the ceramics profs just gave me a neato gift, 

some ceramic cups that look like communion chalices

almost like these

but they have twists in the stem. 

Very cool. 

It definitely pays to work in the art department

if you like receiving art as gifts. 

If you'll excuse me, I have got more candy corn to 

"not" eat.

And hopefully, I will make the cheesecakes

tonight, since I bought all of the ingredients last night.

Woot!

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And not an ampersand

Having a pretty good Monday, 

for a Monday, that is.

The tasks of the day 

don't seem too stressful

and everyone is in good spirits.

Especially about future plans... 

And some funny news.

Just saw Trent Richardson in the art gallery.

He did not look like this.

Very incognito with his class.

I acted like a goober. 

If he noticed, I do apologize. 

And no one in my office even knew who he was.

Still neat to see an awesome football player, 

for reals.

And coming up...

I'm making these yummy treats tonight...hopefully.

Mini Halloween Cheesecakes.

From Tasty Kitchen

I'm getting excited just thinking about them. 

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I can make a muffin!

So I finally went to Mary's Consignment

yesterday afternoon with Jesse. 

It's a thrift store for bakers. 

I think I remember doing a happy dance when 

I walked into side room of Mary's Cakes and Pastries.

I went to look for a mini muffin pan, but ended up 

getting a cast iron trivet in the shape of a tea kettle. 

2 bucks. 

I'm sorry that I didn't take a picture of it, 

but I found this picture of another one online

and may just purchase this one as well. 

It's an owl. 

And I love it. 

And it was sold. 

Sad day. 

Moving on.

I did make some delicious 

Pecan Pie Muffins

that look like this one

from The Pioneer Woman. 

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I was going to bring them to work with

me today, but my taste testers, Jesse and Jeff, 

tasted most of them. 

Haha. I'm glad they enjoyed them.

I guess I'll just have to make some more. 

Oh well. 

Have you made any tasty treats lately?

If so, I will probably want the recipe.

Just sayin'.

 

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