number 38

brrr! in lieu of this lovely weather we've been having, i have been in the perfect mood for belly-warming food! saturday, mother nature kicked it off with a gusty overcast day. we had some fresh veggies in the fridge that needed to be used, so after a little searching, i found a great recipe for mexican zucchini cheese soup. sound strange? it is! it's like runny cheese dip with veggies. but who doesn't love cheese dip? haha. andrew and i both ended up liking it a whole lot, it had a little bit of spice, but with the weather the way it's been, that spice is appreciated.

ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

2 (14.5 ounce) cans Rotel tomatoes

2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/4 inch slices

2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/4 inch slices

1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

12 ounces processed cheese food, cubed

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and saute the onion and garlic until tender. Season with oregano. Mix in the chicken broth and Rotel. Bring to a boil. Mix in the zucchini, yellow squash, and corn. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until the squash is tender.Mix the cubed processed cheese into the soup. Continue to cook and stir until cheese is melted. Season with pepper.

i did make a few adjustments to the original recipe, only because i love Rotel and know it makes everything better! i thought the cilantro might be overpowering with all the other flavors as well. the soup really hit the spot. i love those people who take the pictures of their pretty food. i tried. i failed. my soup wasn't as pretty as i had hoped. will we have it again? maybe? i froze the rest so we'll be having it again sometime! it's so different - not something that my mother would have made.

yesterday was even COLDER! did someone say chili? yes! please! i whipped up some of my mom's chili when i got home from work. VERY SIMPLE!

ingredients:

1 package chili seasoning (any will do, but my mom uses this: from food lion, kroger, etc.)

2 lbs. ground beef

1 can tomato sauce

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 can Rotel

1 can chili beans

directions:

brown the ground beef with the onion, drain the fat. to a large pot, add chili seasoning, tomato sauce, and rotel. once the beef is brown, add this to the chili mixture. let simmer for 15 minutes, add the chili beans, then let simmer for another 5 minutes.

ENJOY! with shredded cheddar cheese and saltines! YUM! easy chili = good chili! andrew accuses me of never eating leftovers. this chili alone will help me prove him wrong!

what's your favorite "warm-me-up" food?

number 37

if blogger had status messages mine would say this: sitting on the couch with a glass of wine watching my husband do billy blanks tae bo.

how supportive am i!? he's currently on minute 10 - 17 is the record to beat, and 30 is always the goal. i know our first floor neighbor is liking us A LOT right now with all of these jumping jacks! i've decided to do something productive with my down time - share minimoon pics with my blogger friends!!

andrew and i spent the sunday-wednesday after our wedding in asheville, north carolina. it's only about 3.5 hours from danville - a nice relaxing little road trip. we left a little later than planned on sunday, due to the fact that there were still so many fun people in town!
we arrived at our cabin and it was exactly as we expected - i would post pictures of the cabin, but the pics from the website definitely did it justice! we even took advantage of our hot tub on the very first night!

i think monday was my favorite: we spent most of the day meandering around downtown asheville, trying to get acclimated and seeing the sights. we had lunch at a charming sidewalk cafe, bistro 1896. delicious - i had my old standby, the chicken salad sandwich, and the suprisingly tasty thai chili carrot soup. andrew had the turkey, berry, and brie sandwich which was amaziiing - i had a little sample.

*andrew is on minute 22!!! woohoo*

monday night we chose a restaurant that had great reviews in all of the asheville events magazines, the lobster trap. i highly recommend this venue if you're a seafood lover as we are. we started off with some lobster toast - yes, it IS as good as it sounds. and a sampler of their raw oysters. now, up until this point, i had assumed that an oyster was an oyster, slimey and bland until you add a little cocktail sauce and a cracker. i was mistaken.

we sampled oysters from le soleil, nh, nj, and ma. i have no idea where le soleil is, but they were by far my favorite. small little guys, but PACKED with flavor. we sampled some of their house brewed beer and hit the road to visit as many asheville places as we could! along the way, we stopped at the flying frog bar and jack of the wood - a local favorite. andrew learned this little tidbit: apparently asheville has the most breweries per capita in the world! i haven't found any validation for this online, but it was interesting to say the least.

we ended our night at the french broad chocolate lounge where we dined on hot chocolate and a box of truffles. i must have made the comment, "this would be a great first date" about 47 times that evening. definitely one to remember.

tuesday, we brunched at the sunny point cafe. i love asheville because it seems that they take real pride in their community. most of the restaurants and cafes use local ingredients in their dishes. no lie - it was likely the best breakfast i've had in a long time! sausage and cheese omlette and fresh breakfast potatoes. doesn't get much better than that!

we toured the biltmore all afternoon and made reservations at the grove park inn for dinner. just a little picture of our view from our table. whoa. yes way. we dined on the sunset terrace - a heated terrace with spectacular views of the city and the parkway. the food was so-so. however, we probably should've ordered steak. it's no green valley grill!

all in all, it was a fabulous time. just what we planned!

andrew made it to 27 minutes! definitely an "A" for effort!

number 36

i want to share a couple of things that i worked on in the weeks before the wedding. the first being the out of towners welcome bags:
some of our favorite guests were coming from out of town, so we wanted to make sure they felt welcome while in danville. the care package included a few maps and brochures from around danville, a pamphlet with a note from andrew and me and important addresses and phone numbers, a cup with mints and fresh treats, and a few snickers and kisses!

all lined up and ready to go!

custom cups made for the special weekend - we have plenty leftover if anyone wants one (or 5!)

another project that i took on was to take care of my girls. i was puzzled for a long time about what kind of gift(s) to get my bridesmaids. i wanted to get them something that they would enjoy, use, and acutally LIKE. each was a little bit different, but all were simliar - that way no one feels like they got more/less than someone else. each bridesmaid received flip flops to change into for the reception, a little dark chocolate, some tissues for their happy tears, and a personalized notepad* or notecards*.

*like what you see? place your order at theinvitationdestination.com or give us a call!





to come: pictures from our mini-moon and puppy jack - growing up!!

p.s. - what do y'all think about the new blog layout!? mere gave me her thumbs up! (xoxox!) i designed everything myself. maybe i should get into the blog templating business?!

number 35

i'm going to be posting a series of "catch up" posts. basically, a list of those things that were behind the scenes during the making of the wedding day! since, i've yet to upload the pictures from my digital camera, i'd like to share some of my favorite pictures from my AWESOME bridal portrait shoot with jennifer. all of these were taken in downtown danville.

^ this ended up being my mom's and my favorite - as a result, it was the BIG portrait that we had at the reception!














i highly reccommend jennifer to any new bride. she was such a pleasure to work with. really listened to the ideas that i had in mind and adding her own creative, artistic touch. plus she makes you feel REALLY good about yourself - always throwing in an "oh YEAH!" or a "mmmhmmmm" just when you need it. check her out and give her a call - http://www.jenniferfarris.com/. ENJoY!

number 34

well. everything is said and done, and i finally have a new last name. last night was the best night of my entire life, and i have the pictures to prove it. everything ran seamlessly; the food, cake, music, and drinks were fantastic. i have so many fun pictures and little details that i want to share with everyone - when i get a few minutes.

andrew and i are about to head out on our minimoon excursion, but i just wanted to tell everyone how much i enjoyed their company at the celebration last night. andrew and i definitely enjoyed ourselves, and i believe everyone else did as well! we love you ALL! :)

number 33

7 days and counting...

7? 7? you may ask. isn't it 8 days until the wedding? ah yes! oh, but it's only 7 days until MY BIRTHDAY! haha! my birthday just so happens to fall on the day before our wedding day! 24 shining years young! "they" say that the wedding day is all about the bride and what she wants (whoever "they" is), but really, FRIDAY is MY day!

i could not ask for a better birthday present than to have my closest friends and family there on my special day! conveniently most will be arriving on friday morning/afternoon/evening! happy birthday to me!

i'm so excited. i might do a little jig! *insert funny dance move here*

number 32

13 DAYS! whoa.

last week andrew and i booked our mini-moon. if you're in the wedding loop, you know that andrew and i have been planning on only taking a few days off after the wedding to relax - saving our big honeymoon dollars for the spring and a tropical location! so...check out our digs:


i'm really excited about these 2 spaces. i really wish that it was going to be cold enough to use that fireplace!! sunday after the wedding, we'll be heading south a few hours to asheville, north carolina, home of the biltmore estate. hopefully by the time we arrive, the leaves will be just beginnning to change colors! i know i said that it would be fun to relax, but i would love to put this on the agenda:

this gorgeous sight is located in dupont state forest - about 40 miles outisde of asheville. did i mention it's a 3 mile hike to get to the waterfall? we need a little exercise (outside of the cabin!) i'll be sure to post a lot of pictures once we get back, i know it will be gorgeous!

just wanted to give y'all a little taste of what i'm looking forward to after the big day (besides being a wife, obvi!)

number 31

little people, big wedding.

ok. the headline on this blog refers to my last minute endeavor with the wedding! view below:

aren't they the CUTEST?! i'm so so so obsessed with these!! this will potentially be my cake topper. i had originally decided not to have a cake topper at all, but these little ones changed my tune! i'll post a picture as soon as i have the mini-couple finished!

look at me! 2 days - 2 blog posts! woo hoo!

number 30

i hope everyone enjoyed the pictures from our last post! those who have visited the new apartment even have said that the pictures don't do it justice! andrew will most likely be staying there during the wedding weekend. if you have time, please stop by and take a peek!! we've been hanging pictures and buying small furniture pieces to make it a little more like home, but we can both say that we LOVE it so far!

yesterday was SUCH an exciting day! i had SO much fun shooting my brial portraits. as i said in a previous post, i chose jennifer farris (www.jenniferfarris.com) as my super fantastic photographer and yesterday just made me know even more that i made the absolute perfect decision! i wish so badly that i could give everyone a sneek peak, but of course that would ruin my big debut for the big day!

on the to do list for this week: andrew and i MUST go pick up our marriage license! and on MY agenda, start playing the "name game". i've already told some, but for those of you who are unaware - i am taking andrew's last name; however, i will still be keeping my own!

will be my name as of september 26. to break it down for you: my first name will officially be "laura leigh". anyone who knows me knows that i've always secretly wished i could have gone by laura leigh all along! and to my mom, it's what she's been calling me for the past 23.95 years. needless to say, i'm really excited about it!

fyi. it is officially 19 days until the wedding. AH! i can't believe it! the past 6 months have gone by so unbelieveably fast! i can't wait to have all of my best friends and family together - it's going to be a GREAT time, i'm sure of it!

number 29

hey friendssss! this is more of a picture post. i finally got to the apartment to take a few pictures - we've done a little updating: painting and furnishing! welcome to the living room! this is the first room you see when you walk through our front door! see: andrew's new baby - the 46" sony. we've still got a little decorative work to do, but we've got the essentials down!this is my favorite thing about the living room so far: a really awesome rug! pretty, right?!bathroom, a little on the small side, but it's got a toilet and a full bathtub - what more do you need?myyyy favorite room, the bedroom! andrew's a big blue fan, and this suited us perfectly. the color is eddie bauer's mercer blue. luckily we get a lot of light in the room because it's pretty dark on the walls. definitely the right choice, though.pretty kitchen! this is only room left to paint. right before we signed the lease, they put in brand new kitchen cabinets and new tile floors *yay for us!* we're planning on painting the kitchen yellow pretty soon. i'll post updated pics when that happens.with every awesome apartment comes a weird mural. no? well ours does. the "breakfast nook" comes complete with the french countryside. yes, we have inquired, and no, we cannot paint over the mural. any ideas on how to spruce this baby up would be greatly appreciated!

and lastly, the stinky sunroom. after sweetening it up with about 7 air fresheners, it doesn't stink as bad, but i'll continue to call it the "stinky sunroom" for effect. still haven't quite figured out what to do with this room besides use it for storage. it has a great view of downtown danville....and highway 29.

thats it for now! a little glimpse into the place we'll soon call home! they're putting cable and internet in saturday and that's where andrew will reside until the wedding day! COME VISIT - even though there's no guest room, the couch is BIG!

number 28

hey friends! look what i found in the paper on sunday:

pretty, right? haha! the date is getting close, and iiiii'm getting excited!

blog to post list: pictures of my bridal shower, pictures of the new apartment, and pictures of the past weekend!

i promise they're all coming VERY soon! xoxox