A Wedding & an Engagement

Callie (Hutchins) & Tyler Sims were married on May 7, 2011, in Gainesville. Here are some pictures from their beautiful wedding and reception at the Syfan's home.

They couldn't have asked better weather!

Callie's father giving her away

Overlooking the pool & lake

Britt, Megs, Callie, Chels & Jessica

Beautiful!

Mr. & Mrs. Tyler Sims...Callie looked beautiful!

Cupcake stands

Beautiful arrangement as you entered the reception area

Callie & Mr. Gary

Loved the bright colors!

Whit, Alyssa, myself, Brooke, Ellen, Ashley & Britt

Alyssa, myself, Britt, Brooke & Ashley

AND...keep reading....Ellen & Mitch are ENGAGED!! Mitch proposed (on his birthday) on Monday, May 23! Congrats to Ellen & Mitch!

Ellen & Mitch

BOOTCAMP, Day 4

Today marks Day 4 of Bootcamp! On Day 5 I have to turn in my food log - eek - and be measured, weighed, etc. I've never kept a food log before so I'm a little nervous. I think that it has made me eat healthier this week - except for Wednesday's dinner. Austin and I had the Rollins family over and we cooked pork, fried okra, mashed potato's, and macaroni and cheese.

Maybe I won't mention that meal...

I think maybe I made up for it yesterday because I ate at Ippolito's Italian Restaurant for a Chamber lunch and I resisted the bread AND the cookie. That deserves a GOLD STAR. Because I never resist the bread.

Bootcamp is exactly what I was hoping it would be...extremely challenging, difficult and motivating but totally worth getting out of bed at 5 am...and totally worth barely being able to sit down and get out of my car and walk down the stairs...oh yea, and bend down to pick anything up off of the floor.

Happy Thursday! After Bootcamp and a short day of work tomorrow Austin and I are off to Madison, Ga. for the Sliger/Fellers wedding!

Hamburger Sliders = Easy

Austin and I made hamburger sliders two nights ago for the first time ever. We completely stole this recipe from another couple - Aaron and Ashley Stern - that we hosted a shower with last month. I give them all the credit for these delicious mini burgers that I didn't even feel guilty about eating!

Ours sliders turned out great and what a trendy alternative to the full-size burger! So for your next cook out, dinner party or even an appetizer, I highly recommend trying these.

Hamburger Sliders (makes 10)

You will need the following:

2 1/2  pounds of lean hamburger meat
Mini Hawiian-brand slider buns (found in the deli section @ Publix)-or dinner rolls
Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 egg
sliced cheese
pickles

Fire up your grill! Set aside cheese, pickles, and any other toppings or condiments. Mix together lean hamburger meat, worcestershire sauce, egg, and bread crumbs. Make sure that the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout.

Grill sliders for about 8-10 minutes. Place in buns and they will hopefully turn out like this!

Next go-round I am going to add blue cheese crumbles! Enjoy!

On the Go!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to stop making so many plans and enjoy being at home more often.

I'm still trying to work on that. Unfortunately - and fortunately - there are always things to do and people to see! But I am trying to make an effort to just do less.

In the past week, I've been to Dahlonega to purchase new tires, been to Athens to be fitted for a bridesmaid dress, traveled to Augusta, ate dinner in Canton, attended a wedding in Gainesville, and celebrated Mother's Day in Gainesville. I try not to think about the money I spend on gasoline...after all, you can't put a price on fun, right?

My mom and I went to Augusta last Wednesday for Brooke & Andrew's graduation from the Georgia Health Sciences University! Brooke is now a Registered Dental Hygienist and Andrew is officially a doctor! They make their big move to Colorado in June and I'm so excited about their Going Away Par-tay on May 29th! Come by the Mellow Mushroom if you're in Gainesville!

Brooke's new lab coat!

Also in Augusta, I was able to spend time with my family. My mom and I met my aunt Sue and cousin Catherine on Wednesday night at the French Market Grille - my favorite. I had the Oysters Rockefeller and Grilled Shrimp dinner. After dinner, Catherine and I met Brooke and Andrew and their siblings out for drinks at the Partridge Inn.

On Thursday, my mom and I met Catherine and my other two aunts at Manuel's Bread Cafe. The bread, vegetables and eggs are all locally grown and cooked inside the little community located in north Augusta. And thankfully we were able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful afternoon!

French Onion Soup @ Manuel's Bread Cafe

On Friday evening Austin surprised me with reservations at The Downtown Kitchen, our favorite local restaurant.

Jumbo Bacon Wrapped Shrimp @ Downtown Kitchen

Stuffed Chicken @ Downtown Kitchen

Beer Cheese Soup @  Downtown Kitchen

And on Saturday we attended Callie Hutchins' and Tyler Sims' wedding in Gainesville, Ga. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect! Pictures to come!

On Sunday, Austin and I ate lunch in Gainesville with both of our mother's for Mother's Day! These are the lovely flowers my grandmother planted for my front porch!

This pretty much consists of my yard work for the year.

And just in the last week I agreed to be a Local Voice for the Canton-Sixes Patch. If you aren't familiar with what a Patch is, they are a hyper-local news site (specific to whatever area you live in) and they are popping up all over the U.S. They just recently launched a Local Voices initiative - where they are asking local bloggers to, well, blog. As a Local Voice, I am going to be blogging about things to do, buy and see in Canton! Check out my blog posts so far on the Canton-Sixes Patch site. And I just replaced my broken camera - I'm back in business!

Have a great rest of the week! Austin and I made mini hamburger sliders last night. Check back later for the recipe!

Will Play for Tequila

Lunch & afternoon cocktails in downtown Asheville, NC

Lunch @ Lab~Lexington Avenue Brewery

 Staci Townsend and I made the trip up to Asheville, NC to visit Whitney Rice! Whitney was a fabulous host ~ when we arrived at she and Nick's house, Whit had made salad and homemade pizza. We sat around on the porch drinking wine and catching up about old times!

On Saturday morning, Whit took us to Beaver Lake for a 3-mile walk. Afterwards, we hit up downtown Asheville for lunch at LAB ~ Lexington Avenue Brewery. I ordered the flatbread pizza, Staci had the hummus and WhitRice had the portabella mushroom sandwhich. And it was so nice to have Mrs. Heather Ellis Blalock come and join us!

After lunch @ LAB, we went to a few of the shops downtown. Well, only two. We had places to go - like The Vault Martini Bar around the corner. I was able to visit the fabulous Tops shoe store. If you are ever in Asheville, you must go. It's like three stories and they carry every brand name shoe from Michael Kors and Cole Haan to Chaco's. This was my second stop at Tops - I had first fallen in love last May when Austin and I were in town for the Ellis/Blalock wedding.

And check out Austin's new shoes!

While at the Vault, we were sitting around on the patio drinking some Blood Orange martini's when about five or six people sat down at the table next to us. It was obvious that they were a band...so in exchange for a few tequila shots this bluegrass-playing group of people agreed to play us a few songs!

They were so good!

After our mini bluegrass concert at The Vault, we went back to Whit's to shower and sit on the porch.

Then we were off to a house party/30th birthday party for one of Whit's friends!

What a great weekend! Makes me miss my North Georgia days.

And I had to share this sweet picture of Miss Ella! On Sunday evening, we celebrated Austin's grandfather's 90th birthday! This is her singing "Happy Birthday, Cha Cha Cha!" OPERA-STYLE. This little girl sure does make me laugh!

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