Good morning!!  You guys, life has been crazy these last couple weeks.  Between getting sick (ugh!), traveling for work, making Christmas cookies, sending out Christmas cards, getting ready for a holiday charity event we are hosting, and trying to enjoy each moment, life has been going a million miles a minute… and with the holidays right around the corner, I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.  🙂 

I’m not complaining one bit… all of these things are good (besides getting sick), but it has left me with little time for blogging.  So here I sit today with a million pictures on my computer, a million thoughts in my head, and a limited amount of time so today is going to be a hodgepodge of thoughts. 

We are still loving the Predators games and attending as many as we can.  I was able to go to one last week with my daddy and we had a blast!

 

It sure helps when they win!!

I can’t get enough of this sweet girl.  I find her in this spot all the time and don’t have the heart to move her.  She is so gentle and just wants to be loved on all day long.  

Yall, if I never see another cookie ever again, I won’t be mad about it.  My mom and I finished up our Christmas cookie baking last weekend and I am officially exhausted.  

But seriously, how cute are these gingerbread men?

Chocolate covered pretzels made the cut this year as well. 

And more cookies… 

They are never ending… 

Jonny even helped a bit!

We gave platters to neighbors and family. 

And filled 60 boxes to give to friends and coworkers! 

They all loved them and were so grateful, but I am not baking another cookie until next Christmas. 😉 

A couple of weekends ago we got to try a new-to-us restaurant with a couple of friends called The Butcher and Bee.  We got all (yes all) the small plates and a couple larger plates and shared everything.  It was amazing!! The food was delicious and it was fun to try a bit of everything!

I channeled my inner Khloe Kardashian and made my cookie jars pretty.  My husband is appalled that the cookies are for decoration only.  He keeps sneaking them when I’m not home. 😉 

I know you all have seen a million pictures of Riley in our front yard just lounging, but one more won’t hurt. 😉 . My dogs are so funny and have such different personalities.  They both get super excited to go out, but once we are outside Callie does her business immediately then whines to go back inside (she is the same on walks and pulls me the whole way so we can hurry up and get home…) while Riley takes his sweet time, marks every tree, pole, fire hydrant he can find, and then plops down in the sun.  We usually just let him stay out there until he comes to the door to get let back in.  He just LOVES to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine.  

Since it is getting a little colder outside, I have been making a lot of soup/chili lately.  My favorite is this black bean/sweet potato chili.  I use the recipe as a base, but then switch up some of the ingredients each time.  I used fire roasted canned tomatoes last time and they gave it such a great punch of flavor.  I always make at least a double batch and freeze it to have on hand.  It is so nice to not have to cook every night especially when it gets dark at 4:30pm and I am ready for bed by 7pm. 😉 

Last week, Jon and I had a date night at Zanies comedy club.  I bought us tickets to see Matt Bellassai a couple months ago and had been counting down the days every since.  Have you guys seen his whine about it videos?  He drinks wine while complaining about things like fall, facebook, coworkers, etc.  He is hilarious!  We also got a copy of his book at the show so I am excited to dig in for some laughs!

The lighting was terrible in there, but here is proof my husband went!  When we walked in he quickly turned to me and said, “I am the ONLY guy here!”  While that wasn’t quite true (there were maybe 5 other men in the audience), it was pretty close.  He was a trooper and enjoyed the show.  

When I got home from traveling for work last week, I noticed Callie was acting a little guilty funny.  I couldn’t find anything wrong or out of place so I just played it off.  

Then I walked upstairs…. bad girl!  She chewed up this thing that goes under the door to keep air inside a room.  She does NOT like to be left at home and usually goes with my husband to work 4 or 5 days a week.  This particular day he couldn’t take her and she was not having it!  When she does stay home, she likes to sleep in our bed or in her bed in the master bedroom.  Well my husband doesn’t like the dogs on our bed so he closed our bedroom door.  Poor thing tried as hard as she could to get in the bedroom.  I can’t even be mad at that face for a second.   

On Monday night we had plans to meet my cousin’s brother-in-law downtown for a drink (he was visiting Nashville for business) so we decided to take the opportunity for a date night.  A friend suggested we try 5th and Taylor for dinner.  It is a nice, big open concept restaurant and the food did not disappoint.  

We both really enjoyed our meals and the fun atmosphere!

I am off to get ready for an event we are hosting on Saturday to help the homeless in Nashville.  I will share all the details about it early next week!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!! 

Questions:

1. Have you tried any new restaurants lately?
2. What is your favorite holiday treat?
3. If you have a pet, have they chewed/ruined anything you own?