What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!  Link up for What I'm loving Wednesday!  It's my first full week of my new job so I'm a little crunched on time.  There are still many things I'm loving (besides the fact that it is 10:30pm and my roommate is making us brownies).

I'm loving...that it's almost time for football season.  GO [CLEMSON] TIGERS!

I'm loving...George Bush.  That's right.  After watching the 9/11 special documentary on NatGeo on George Bush's reaction, I fell in love with his genuine personality!

I'm loving...these fun, Pinterest, houseware idea finds:

I'm loving...a three day weekend coming up..yahoo!!!  I'm so pooped from work already and it's only Wednesday!  I'm excited to go to Charlotte with the boyfriend, not too excited that we are going to find him an apartment to live in FOUR HOURS FROM ME :(

I'm loving...Adele!  I know I'm a little late but I finally purchased her ENTIRE c.d. and I like, like, like!

I'm loving...this new blog!

Shocking Saturday!

Hey everyone!  I wanted to talk about some shocking events from my Saturday.

Shocker Number one: The amount of money we saved!!

  My mom and grandma came to visit (yay!!) which means a couple of things but mostly: watch out deals, we are going to find you!  And that we did.  After a great dinner on Friday night [my favorite-Cheesecake Factory], we were ready to hit up almost every store in Buckhead.  Three generations of bargain hunters...some damage is about to be done!

They have trained me well.  Just as they have said to their husbands, I now say to my boyfriend: "It's not how much you spend, it's how much you save.  

Here's a little example from just one of our stops on our excursion:

Ladies and gentlemen, that is $754 that we saved!  

A few of the items we got along some of our other stops for [of course] great bargains:

New decorations for my work desk.

Coffee table centerpiece: $5 wooden balls & $5 metal tray.  Love.

Shocker Number Two:  [Warning: This will make your stomach turn]  What my boyfriend found in his cous cous at Saturday night's dinner outting:

That. Is. A. Bandaid.  OMG.  Not. Okay.

Ya'll..this was a really nice, popular restaurant in Buckhead and this bandaid was at the bottom of his bowl and Boyfriend picked it up by accident with his fork.  Yikes!  We were mortified!  Our meal was free, to say the least.  The manager handled things the best he could, I suppose, with $75 gift card to us and fired the kitchen worker on the spot.  Still...wow! I'm not sure what worse you could find in your food?


Well, I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Any shockers happen to anyone else??

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm so thankful for so many things this week!!

First, I'm loving...my lovely new job!  It's only day two but I can tell it's 

I'm loving...our tv stand that is almost complete!  I especially love the new frame/quote addition.

Speaking of our apartment coming together...I'm loving...our curtain rod and curtains.  It really makes our den so so so much more homie.  In my last apartment at Clemson, we never got curtains because we had nice wooden blinds but, people, trust me, curtains make all the difference in the world.

There's some fun things happening with my family...

I'm loving..that my little sister's dream finally came true and she got a puppy!  Well, a three year old mut named, "Zoe" (pronounced Zoe-ey).  Apparently she is super sweet and gets along great with my 4 and 5 year old brothers, is already potty trained and doesn't get on furniture.  I can't wait to meet her next time I go to visit Clemson!

I'm loving...my parents' are getting a new driveway!!  Woo hoo!! If you notice, there is a lot of driveway at the house I spent the past few years of high school in, so a new driveway is just like a great new face lift for their house.  Can't wait to see the finished product!

Probably most importantly, I'm loving....that my cute little grandmommy and my mom are coming this Friday night!!

My grandma is the most stylish 76 year old you will ever meet!

Love my mom.  She is my best friend and I cannot go through a day without calling her!

Some other exciting things..

I'm loving...the fact that I'm officially a legal driver in Georgia.  That's right, after a whole week of gettin' the run-around from the government, I finally got myself Georgia car insurance and the right documents in my possession (who knew I needed the ORIGINAL title).  The only unfortunate part is that Georgia just voted on a new license plate that I barely missed..so I'll have to wait until I renew.  Just look how cute it is (without the "In God We Trust" I believe:

I'm loving...my boyfriend.  He has been working so hard (I'm talking until 9pm or later most nights) and I am so proud of him for his dedication to the career he is awesome at!  Also, he took me to one of our favorite restaurants last weekend, Two Urban Licks, and I am so thankful to have someone so great to love.

Yummy date night!

Two New Recipes!

My roommate is amazing in general but one of her very best assets is cooking!  She introduced me to this coconut banana bread recipe and we made three, yes three, loaves this weekend!  It's weird because I really don't like bananas.  Or coconut...at all.  But this recipe is so moist and I think both of these ingredients just make the flavor pop more, but not too banana-ie or coconut-ie at all.

Banana Coconut Bread (Cooking Light)

Note: We did not do the lime glaze and it still delicious!

So moist!

One loaf for us and two loaves to give away!

Also tonight I tried out a new recipe I found from Gina's Skinny Recipes. I love anything I can put cheese and sour cream on and this recipe is perfect because it is very low-fat!

Soooo easy!!

1. Put all ingredients (which are mostly straight from cans)  in crock pot and place raw chicken breasts on top.  Turn on high heat for 6 hours (or low heat for 10 hours if you have a long day at work).  
2. Simply shred chicken and mix shredded chicken into ingredients 30 minutes before serving!
3. Serve with yummy condiments.  We did it with rice but next time I would just stick with lettuce, sour cream and cheese.

What it looks like in the morning and then...

What it looks like when served!  DELISH!

Bargain Hunting Weekend

I've had a very productive bargain hunting weekend and wanted to share my finds with ya'll!

My bargains started off at the Dollar Tree!  Personally, I think Dollar Tree doesn't get enough credit for their deals.  Just about half of their items are incredible for only a dollar.  The other half, not so much. Big shout out to The Bargain Blonde for inspiring me with her Dollar Tree post!  [You all need to go read this post, every word is true!  And be sure to vote for her for the Most Valuable Blogger]

First off, cute cards, tissue paper and gift bags are about three times as much anywhere else!  Balloon size bags and plastic forks/spoons?  Same deal!  PS-the basket on the left is one of three for my next D.I.Y. project!

Check out these cute jars with decorative balls in them!  Great addition to our tv stand of knick knacks.

Yes, get a good look...(Please note "Knocked Up" on the tv)...these babies were from Goodwill!!  I ventured in there with high hopes but high skepticism as well.  Sure enough, found these (with balls included) for only $5.84 & $4.34!

But that's not all...got this lamp for $7.56 at Goodwill.  The shade alone would be $15 at Walmart.

Anyways, I hope ya'll had a great weekend and hope this post inspires you to bargain hunt!