Friday Things

Hello, friends!  Holy moly it's been a while, over a month, since I shared any real life updates, so here are a few things going on in our lives:

We're less than two weeks away from our house closing, and we are so excited!  They're finishing up all the little details, and we're enjoying walking around the neighborhood seeing all the progress around the area.  You know it's summer in Charleston when the afternoon storms start rolling in afternoon.  At least they make for a pretty photo.

Meet Gus!  We have a new resident alligator at our apartment complex.  He's fantastic!!

We've been trying to make a few new recipes here and there.  We did pulled pork last weekend, and Ree Drummond's Lobster Mac and Cheese the week before that.  We saw it on an episode of Pioneer Woman one morning and HAD TO MAKE IT.  The one tweak we made was using cream cheese instead of goat cheese, and it was AMAZING.  We even paired it with the lemon broccolini she makes as a side dish on the show.

I just finished my latest Blogging for Books read: Southern Spirits.  The description is, "four hundred years of drinking in the American South, with recipes," and it definitely lived up to all expectations.  Honestly, I'm a history nerd, so this book was perfect for me.  Plus, having now only spent two years in the South, it was really interesting to learn so much history of the area in terms of alcohol.  There is so much history down here, and so much of the story of the South can be traced to the drinking culture.  My husband is now reading this book and is loving it as much as I did.  I would say that the best part is that it does not read as a textbook, but instead, with the help of recipes every few pages (many of which I have placed sticky notes on to try this summer) and Moss's humor, it's an easy read!

I played in my club championship last weekend .... and won!  You know we celebrated with Bud Light limes at the pool and these delicious cookie sandwiches.

These girls.  Nothing new to say about them, but this photo is killing me with cuteness.  I'm so excited for them to have more space (and porches to spend time outside) in a couple weeks!

Last, but not least, did you enter my giveaway going on this week?  Just in time for beach season, I'm giving away a whole bag of goodies from Southern Proper!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!