Monday, October 29, 2012

The Priestley's Lately

Hmmm...sorry for the blog break. Not sure what happened there! Well a quick update of the past few weeks:

We've had our hearts broken several times by UT football. We all made the trip to Starkville, tailgated and cheered on our Vols, but we lost.

Mom and I went to Knoxville for an old-fashioned girls shopping weekend. We went to the Alabama game, but we lost. (However we did great shopping and got to eat at Tupelo Honey Cafe, so it wasn't a total bust.)

Mac and I exercised our constitutional rights and voted. 

I volunteered at the Junior League's Merry Marketplace and at the St. Jude Garden Harvest. 

Mom, Gran and Hannah came to town to attend Merry Marketplace Girl's Night Out. I got some Christmas shopping done and Mom and I BOTH got furs. We were pretty excited.

We got Pepper a Halloween costume for $4 at PetSmart. She is going to be a penguin. Totes adorbs. 

Mac is running like a pro. He is up to almost six miles. I got new shoes and they have hindered my training, not helped it. I hope to get back on track this week. Please remember to donate to St. Jude through our Heroes team if you haven't already! Donate HERE !!

Excited for Trick or Treaters this week and for the holiday season to almost be here!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Life Lesson

Leftover pumpkin muffins plus eggs, cream, milk, and sugar equals Pumpkin Bread Pudding.

But more importantly, one happy, happy husband!!

Updates to our life and marathon training coming soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Seasons are a-changin'!

After several mornings in the 40s and afternoons in the low 60s, I finally bit the bullet and changed out my closets. I am lucky enough to have a spare closet upstairs where I can store my off-season clothes and shoes. I am not sure why I dread this task so much every year, because it is SO wonderful once it is complete.

I switched out my shoes first, and in the process found a brand new pair I had never worn. Yay! Last night I did the back breaking task of carting all my clothes up and down the stairs. I am pretty sure Pepper thought I was insane. She followed me up and down a few times and then just decided to watch from her bed in front of the fireplace. 

However, this morning, when I went to my closet, it was so lovely to see all of the fall and winter clothes hanging there. And equally appropriate, it is supposed to be in the mid-70s today. Ha! Oh well, I am sure it will cool back down soon.

So far, this has been a pretty low key week for me and Mac. On Monday we checked out Central BBQ's new downtown location. Central is our favorite BBQ in Memphis and the new location did not disappoint. 

We have both been running this week, and have both increased our distance. Mac is a trooper and has been taking Pepper along with him. She LOVES it. I have decided that I might need a new pair of running shoes since mince are 3-4 years old and I use them for everything from running to spin class. Oops! I am going to visit one of our local running stores today to see what they suggest!

We have 51 days until the St. Jude Memphis Marathon! If you haven't had a chance yet, please visit our St. Jude Heroes page and make a donation to St. Jude! Click HERE !!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Our First Anniversary

Mac and I had a weekend of anniversary fun! We took a last minute trip to New Orleans, but filled it with all sorts of activities and food! We left around noon on Friday, and after having the all important Chick-Fil-A for lunch, we hit the road.

We made it to New Orleans around 7 p.m. and checked into the hotel. We had late dinner reservations at NOLA, one of Emeril's restaurants. It. Was. Delicious. We split the special appetizer which was an alligator sausage with greens and sweet potato gnocchi. Oh my gosh. It was so tasty. I had the fried chicken with bourbon sweet potatoes and Mac had shrimp and grits. We split the Warm Ooey Gooey for dessert, which was just insane. It was warm gooey chocolate cake with coconut and coffee ice cream on top. YUM. We were pretty much both in a food coma after that. 

On Saturday, we headed out in the rain to have breakfast at Brennan's. We had delicious entrees (I had Eggs Benedict for the first time!) but saved room for the all important Banana's Foster. YUM. We waddled out of there and just wandered around the French Quarter a bit. We hit up the local J. Crew and Anthro (I got a KILLER deal on the vest below), and then went back to to the hotel to drop off our purchases.







After I convinced Mac to not take a nap, we headed back out. We arrived to Cafe Du Monde just as the rain began to pour. We had the rudest waitress ever, but still enjoyed our delicious beignets and cafe au lait. The rain died down a bit, so we headed back out to find somewhere to watch the UT game. We came across this little nook of a bar, Touche. We ducked in and grabbed a seat at the bar. We quickly became fast friends with everyone around us including the bartender, Donna. She was a hoot! She kept us entertained throughout the game. 

After the heart breaker of a game ended, I asked Mac to take me to the Carousel Bar. We tried to go on Friday night but it was too packed. It is in a hotel, and the bar is literally a carousel! I think we stayed there for two hours. We chatted with everyone around us and made some new friends. I met a Florida fan, and he ordered a Pimm's Cup at the bar. I graciously informed him that was a girly drink, but it didn't surprise me because he was a Florida fan. :) After the Carousel Bar, we grabbed a street hot dog and wandered around Bourbon Street. We had such a fun weekend!

When we got back to Memphis, the fun didn't stop. We were flooded with cards and messages from sweet friends and family all day on Monday. Mac brought me some beautiful flowers after work and we exchanged gifts. I stuck with the traditional gift of paper by giving Mac a leather padfolio with his initials, and he surprised me with a bracelet I had my eye on.

We had another delicious dinner at Flight and then came home to eat wedding cake (which was just as tasty as it was one year ago!) and toast with champagne. We then watched our wedding video and I cried like a baby. October 1, 2011 was such a special day and it was so much fun to celebrate one year together!