Happy Fourth!!

So much to catch up on!! I pretty much never have the computer these days since Ellis is using it to study for the bar, but hey, who needs computers in the summer? :)

Ellis and I had an AWESOME Fourth of July. We went camping--without the Brode this time--with a big group of friends. SO MUCH FUN!!


We went to a GORGEOUS little reservoir called Spring Valley, just 25 minutes away from home and totally FREE!! We canoed and paddleboarded and talked LATE into the night around the campfire with a newfound friend, Mark, who showed us how to gut and cook fish.

Had a BLAST with Rachel and Lenora on the paddleboard!

Simon taking it easy

Ellis, Parker, Ethan, and Nathan

Parker, Mark, Rosalie, and Caleb gutting the fish

Fishing was pretty much the big event of the trip for a lot of the guys--they fished for dinner, fished in the dark, and Caleb was up at 6 AM Monday morning to fish!

Dinner was super exciting for me, because 1) I've never had fish caught fresh from the water, and 2) I've never even had fresh-water fish PERIOD. So I got to try something new, and felt pretty hardcore peeling fresh fish flesh from their creepy poky spines.

Here are some of us cooking dinner.

Such a blast! Can't wait to do a trip like this again!!

Baked Bree Valentine's

This Valentine's Day was pretty much all about food....it was up there with Christmas with tempting treats and candy. I'd never thought about Valentine's Day that way before, so I'm not sure if this year was more food-centered in and of itself or if I'm just way more into food than ever before (I can't believe I used to be a picky eater!).

But at any rate, all day we feasted on recipes from my new favorite food blog, Baked Bree!We started on Sunday with her AMAZING peanut butter cookies! I'm so excited to now have a go-to peanut butter cookie recipe...the best part is that she adds butterscotch and chocolate chips!

I'm not generally a fan of sugar cookies, but these were just so PRETTY. So I just made them and didn't eat any. And I learned a valuable lesson about icing--you can't just wing it with a Ziploc bag and a random icing tip or you will end up with a HUGE mess all over your kitchen.

Ellis and I are HUGE Asian food fans....Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian...anything we can get our hands on! So we had to try Bree's Indian Butter chicken.

I have to admit I TOTALLY cheated on this. The recipe calls for garam masala, which I couldn't find at the grocery store, so I totally just grabbed Trader Joe's premade Masala Simmering Sauce and added some additional ginger, garlic, and onion. Regardless of the cheating, Ellis LOVED it and I did too--I think this is gonna be one of those recipes like Soy Chicken that makes it into the menu cycle every 2 weeks! Hope you enjoy Baked Bree as much as we are!

{all photos from Baked Bree}

some weekend V-Day ideas

I love Valentine's. I mean, it's always been fun, but our first year in VA Beach, my friend Jenna got me totally HOOKED on it! She mails out Valentines to all her friends and family every year, so the last 2 years I hopped on that train too!


Last year, I did the Purl Bee's Fabric Window Valentines. Definitely took a while, but I loved how they turned out! Halfway through, my fingers were hurting so bad that I got the brilliant idea to draw "sewing marks" with a pen and not actually sew around the "fabric." (for me, it was leftover wrapping paper instead of fabric) MUCH less painful--and faster!-- after that.

Here are some fun ideas for Valentine's this year! (You have 3 whole days--or more, if you do the belated thing, which is totally legit in my book!)

Valentine Tea Bags from Design Sponge
RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!
so doing this next year

Printable Valentine Cards from How About Orange

Super Cute Bubble Valentines from Armelle

And you would not believe how many places I've seen these--everybody's into these free adorable fruit stickers from Twig and Thistle

I'm probably going to end up doing something simple inspired by this below, also from Armelle. I love things that don't take much in the way of supplies!

Brown Paper Valentine's Tags from Armelle

our one measly holiday tradition

Before we actually get to Valentines Day, I have one more thing to say about the Christmassy holidays. Since Christmas is always in the midst of finals and travel for us, we haven't done much in the way of traditions--even though I come from a long line of tradition police.

We aimed high this year, asking Ellis' dad to email us their advent liturgy so we could do it every day. That liturgy got as far as our inbox and so we're hoping next year to take that leap and maybe print it out, haha! In the midst of the traveling we were determined to have our own family Christmas, so we managed stockings and wrapping gifts this year, but no wonderfully starchy Christmas breakfast.

However, we DID establish one tradition which we loved. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, one of my FAVORITE blogs, Young House Love, posted about the Thankful Jar they had etched.


Kinda like the Thankful Tree, where you write what you're thankful for on leaves every day and put them up on the tree (did anyone else besides us do that growing up, haha?), they wrote what they were thankful for on scrapbook paper every day and didn't tell each other what they wrote until they opened the jar on Thanksgiving Day and read their cards to each other.

So we STARTED our Thankful Jar on Thanksgiving Day. I'd love to etch a jar just for this like they did, but this year we kept it simple and used a pretty glass vase a friend gave us just for this purpose. Every day from Thanksgiving till our private Christmas, Ellis and I wrote down something we were thankful for.


And it was SO awesome! Instead of focusing on what we want (like a job!), it helped us focus on what we already have, and not only remember what we had to be thankful for, but when we dwelt on it, it made us enjoy it all the more!

Revealing them to each other was really fun too! It helped us get to relive some of the events of the past month--like getting into Friday Night Lights together (favorite show EVER--you need to watch this), finals, Papa's funeral, me finally starting to cut Ellis' hair at home so we could save the $15 each month, my new camera!

It was funny to see the differences in the way we thought too--a lot of Ellis' were general--like "hurricanes" and "art," whereas mine tended to be really specific, like "for my camera" or "for thoughtful friends that give unexpected gifts like recipe cards."

So yeah, even though this is sorta a Thanksgiving post, it can really be used any time of year. I mean, we did it more as Christmas...it would also be fun for Valentine's--every day writing down a new favorite thing about your favorite person! Or the quirky unique things they do that are kind of annoying, but mostly endearing--like the fact that despite being the cleanest, most trash-taking-out hubby around, Ellis always leaves empty packages in the fridge/pantry, so I am thinking all day about the granola bar I'm going to eat, only to find out....there is no granola bar!

Oh, well, it's just a granola bar--it doesn't matter. It only matters when it's the heavy whipping cream for the coffee! Having to switch to milk is a huge downgrade, but hey, I guess if it's a choice between heavy whipping cream or Ellis, I'll take Ellis. ;)

Brody's First Christmas

We thought Brody's first Christmas was going to be quiet, just Ellis, me, and 2 sets of Brody's great grandparents, but God had other plans and Brody ended up getting to see the whole Littlejohn side of the family plus Anderson greatgrandparents!

He even got to see Uncle Brad!! Sadly Rachel and Soren weren't able to make it, but we were excited to get to see Brad! Brad, Matt, Ellis, Brody, and I stayed with Grandmama at her house, and I had a BLAST getting to hang out with my brothers!! Matt made us watch Shutter Island, which I was terrified to see, but he assured me that it wasn't scary. I spent the whole movie doubting him and waiting to be scared, but he was right! I don't know why the previews make it look like a horror movie, but I LOVED it! No boy will ever agree with me about this, but I liked it better than Inception!


Abbou, Ami, and Tammi came down and Tammi gave Brody an awesome Monster-themed gift, which he loved, but not as much as the wrapping paper, of course. :)


And Emily introduced him to one of our favorite childhood toys, the back-flipping doggy! This dog (and it's previous editions) has been a part of my Christmas since before I can remember!

Ellis, Brody, and I headed up to Asheville to see Ellis' Anderson grandparents in Black Mountain. We LOVE the cute town of Black Mountain, and every time we go there, I always tell Ellis I want to move there!Here Brody and I are at a fantastic Black Mountain restaurant called My Father's Pizza! YUM!

While Ellis and Brody were hanging out with his grandparents, I slipped away to join Mom and Julie at Chelsea's Tea Room, where we've been going at Christmastime for at least 10 years--we always get the same waittress, and I think we must've spilled something big a few years ago, because she didn't seem to like us. She warmed up to us a lot, though, when I told her their almond scones were the most amazing scones I've ever had and that I look forward to them every year and have the cookbook, but have never been able to duplicate them. (No joke--they are the best things EVER.

Christmas Eve we were able to move up to the mountain house my parents rent out. It had been occupied for most of the visit, but it was great to get the whole family together in one spot for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Julie found various fake tree limbs (not from the same tree set) in the basement, stuffed the limbs in a basket, and voila, adorable Christmas tree. Here's Emily decorating it.


Meanwhile, Ellis and Brody did some dancing.


And Matthew smiled in a pic!! I can make one prediction for sure about 2011--this picture will be in the 2011 edition of Mom's Shutterfly photobook. :)

Christmas morning.

Brody dressed up at Grandmama's house. Again, no shoes--toes are cuter anyway. :)

Partway through the afternoon Brody's Christmas turned white, so here he is in his snowsuit! Snow pics to come soon!

Christmassy Pine Cones

Our collection of Christmas decorations is pretty small and pitiful. For whatever reason, it didn't seem to matter last year--I was gone at work all day most days, and then we were out of the house by the middle of December until the new year. So it just didn't seem worth the money. This year we still don't have money to invest in Christmas trimmings, but since I'm around the house all the time, I'm feeling the need to make things at least just a little festive.

The courtyard area outside our apartment is teeming with pine cones, so I've been amassing a collection. Every time we go out for a walk, I grab pretty ones and throw them in the stroller. I've got a good number now, so I went searching for some cute ideas of what to do with them!

Here are some of my favorites!

{via Real Simple}

Nice simple centerpiece--man, I wish I knew where my trifle bow was! (Mom, is it at y'all's house, haha?)

{via The Spotted Fox}
Includes tutorial!

{via Twig and Thistle}
Includes tutorial!

Two awesome garlands! I'm thinking of either doing the first one, but with berries instead of pom poms; or the second one with a string of berries above it.

{via Good Housekeeping}

Next up: a slew of inspiration from Country Living!

{via Country Living}

{via Country Living}

My talented crafty neighbor made one of these--so pretty! I especially love that this one is white (my favorite color!)

{via Country Living}

One of my goals this year is to actually wrap presents with instead of just handing my family members stuff or stuffing gifts into bags. (Don't get me wrong--I have nothing against bags and tissue--I'm just curious to see what it feels like to actually cut and tape and even use ribbon)

{via Country Living}

LOVE this! I'm a huge fan of white, red, and robin's egg blue as Christmas colors.


And if you're wanting to spend a lot of time with a glue gun...

{via Country Living}

Hope you enjoy these ideas as much as I did! Can't wait to try some of them out! And then when my new camera comes in, get some pics of our apartment dressed for Christmas! Happy advent season!

Grown Up Thanksgiving

This is Ellis' and my first Thanksgiving as "grown ups." As in the first time I've had to actually help in the planning and organization of the holiday. I've made part of the meal at home with my family, but now I see that it's not the cooking that is the work--it's the planning of the cooking. And the shopping. And actually, mostly the thing that feels grown up is the paying for the shopping. It's totally different to make macaroni pie when your mom buys all the cheese than when you buy all the cheese. ;)

We did an early Thanksgiving in DC with my aunt Tammi this last weekend (which was AWESOME and I will put up pics), and now we are going to do Thanksgiving Day with some friends from law school tomorrow. We are really missing our families out West, but it's kind of exciting to be doing Thanksgiving as adults for the first time!

Another thing that's different this year is instead of the typical sweet potato casserole, I'm gonna be making my aunt's amazing Squash Souffle recipe!

{image via Taste of Home}

Tammi made it on Sunday and it was delicious, and I thought it would be a fun twist on the usual menu. Maybe everyone else knows all about squash souffle on Thanksgiving already, but to me it was new and exciting! (Also, it circumvents any marshmallow v. brown sugar and pecan debates- which is good because Ellis loves marshmallows--all the time with everything, and I don't like marshmallows with anything at any time.)

So here is her recipe!

Tammi's Thanksgiving Squash Souffle

1 package frozen squash (12 oz, I think)
1 stick butter

Cook, in a saucepan over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes
(make sure the butter coats the pan so the squash doesn't burn and stick)

add 1/2 cup sugar, stir with whisk
add 1/2 cup flour, stir with whisk
add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, stir with whisk
add 2 cups milk, stir with whisk

dash of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let sit for several hours. Reheat at 350 for 20 mins.

Maybe I should've waited till I actually made it to post the recipe, but even if mine turns out awful, my aunt's is amazing, so it's still a great recipe! Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

11/28--Edited to Add: Super easy, and turned out yummy! Give it a try! :)

Cute PJs

Gap has some pretty adorable pajamas right now, including these bee ones, which of course I want for Brody.

Growing up, one of our Christmas traditions was getting new PJs and a book every Christmas Eve. Then we would take a cheesy picture of all of us kids in our new PJs and then we would scamper off to bed to read our new book while we waited for Christmas morning to come! I loved that tradition, and Ellis and I want to pass it on and make that a tradition for our kids too! Can't wait till Brody's old enough to enjoy it!

Brody the Bumblebee

So a while back (in this post), I mentioned that we wanted Brody to be a bee for Halloween since his initials were BEE. Originally, I was wanting to try to be crafty and make him a bee costume, but I found this adorable bee costume for 8 dollars at a consignment store, and figured if I made one I would spend at least that much on materials to make one. And given my very novice sewing skills, I figured I'd spend 8 dollars on something that I knew was cute rather than at least that much to make something that might end up looking stupid! :)




Thrilled to be going out and trick-or-treating :P



Happy Halloween!