Fatty Friday: FOUND!

The quest is over, my friends! Bold words, I know, especially since we hadn't realized that the quest was back on. A couple of weeks ago Colonel Brandon suggested a trip to a new place called Stuffed Burger. Based on the name of the establishment, history of past building occupants, and the fact that it's on a less than reputable street for restaurants, I had decided not to patronize this particular burger joint; however, CB is just so nice that it's hard to tell him no. I'm so glad we went because, and I don't think I'm exaggerating here, it changed my life. I didn't want to speak too soon, but after my mushroom swiss burger (the mushrooms, cheese, and grilled onions were inside the patty...hence the name) I was pretty sure we had found it.

Last week we went again just to make sure and after my pimento cheese and bacon burger, I feel pretty confident in saying that Stuffed Burger does indeed offer the Classic City's best burger. A. Mazing.

The ingredients are fresh, quality, and cooked well to make a darn good burger. The potato bun is tops (and bottom) and steamed beautifully. The icing on the cake is that Stuffed Burger also offers tater-tots, kool-aid, milkshakes, and Fountain Cheerwine. They seem to maintain a classic burger joint feel and menu while still offering innovative, creative food. There just aren't enough good things I Can say about this place. In fact, I think we may be going again tomorrow. Yum!

Fondest regards, 

The Lady

Okay, I know I've been terrible! It's been over two months, and I'm sure you've all forgotten about me...except that most of you are related to me, so I hope not. My New Year's resolution is to try to be a better blogger, so I promise to try and post more. Now, I'm not trying to make excuses, but I have been internetless at my home for the last few months. On the one hand, it's kind of annoying to not be able to access the interwebs whenever I want to, but on the other, it's been kind of freeing. True, I don't know what's going on in the world, no clue how to dress in the mornings, and no idea whether Derek and Meredith are going it get Zola back(I will leave it to you to decide which is most important to me); however, I am not a slave to e- mail. People cannot get access to me whenever they like. I've had to be very intentional about getting my work done when I'm actually at work rather than staying up all hours of the night sending e- mails, planning lessons, etc. That said, I haven't really decided how much of a hurry I am in to get my apartment back online.

A couple of other things to catch you up on...on which to catch you up? Okay...

1. Thanksgiving and Christmas with the fam were great. Relaxed and low-key.

2. Football and me are through. I still can't really talk about it beacause it just hurts too bad. You may be able to read about it on Sarah or Sloan's blogs, but I'm pretty sure they're not talking about it either.

3. Things with basketball are not looking good this year. I haven't made it to as many games as I'd like, but they haven't played as well as I'd like, either. It takes two, you know. I'll keep trying.

4. I'm blogging these days from my iPad. Col. Brandon got it for me for Christmas so that I could blog wherever and whenever I want to. He's thoughtful like that. He also got me six boxes of candy cane jojo's. I honestly can't tell you which I'm more excited about.

I think that gets you about caught up. There are a couple of decoraty, apartment renovaty type posts coming up, but I don't have pictures yet. This no Internet at home thing involves much planning ahead...not one of my strengths.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I'll post again soon!

Fondest regards,
The Lady

After approximately 2 months, I have officially completed my 2nd successful sewing project! Pillows for my living room chairs:

First I sewed 2 blue napkins together. Then I did it again:

Then I stuffed them with pillows:

Then I decided they were boring, so I made little yellow flowers to put on them. At this point I was too lazy to sew anymore, so I used hot glue. Don't tell Martha.

I think they're super cute!

Fondest regards,

The Lady

Goodness, gracious. My internet has stopped working chez moi and work has been so busy lately that I just haven't had the time to blog. I am so sorry and completely understand if you have given up on me. In which case you probably aren't reading this apology.

A couple of Fridays ago, CB asked if I felt like being social and getting "the group" together to do something. If you know CB, you understand that it is a big deal for him to actually want to interact with other people. He's usually willing to tolerate other people and attend social functions, but it's rare that he asks, so I jumped at the chance even though I was feeling a little tired. I called B- to make dinner plans and see if there was anything they wanted to do post-dinner. We hemmed and hawed and then, like an idiot, I said, "Why don't we go to the corn maze?!" It was like words were coming out of my mouth while my brain was shouting, "SHUT UP YOU MORON!"

I always think I'm going to have fun at the corn maze and then I always end up cold and tired, wondering why I agreed to walk around a corn field for 2 hours in the dark. Of course, B- said, "Sounds like fun!" So I threw my sneakers in the car and headed to dinner fretting about the impending 2 hours we'd spend playing "Children of the Corn."

My worries were quickly cast aside, however, when we got to dinner and I realized that nobody was dressed for Oconee County. Immediately, I began to think of how we'd get out of it and as we wrapped up our meal I said, "You know...maybe we should think of our options here...I mean we don't have to go to the corn maze. It's cold. And dark. And it takes so long...We could carve pumpkins instead..." Which suggestion was met with much enthusiasm from the girls and groaning from the guys until they realized that they could play video games while the ladies carved punkins and then all were excited about the plan. So that's what we did.

B- was really aggressive with her pumpkin carving. She was determined to get every last bit of goop out. And she did.

K- was very careful with hers.

C- actually dressed for "pumpkin surgery" which may have been overdoing it a little, especially considering it wasn't actually Halloween yet. 

Then they were done.

And we lit them up.

And they looked beautiful. Except for my poor spider whose leg broke in carving which resulted in improvisation and, subsequently, thunder thighs.

Fondest regards,

The Lady

A couple months ago we shifted offices around at work. Again. This is my third move in as many years; however, I think this one's going to stick, so I've decided to settle in. It's actually my first office, which I hated then because it was basically the church storage closet, but we've since cleaned it out and it's kind of growing on me. Gradually, I've been adding little things here and there to spruce it up and make it a bit more personal. For instance, last week I took back my adhesive chalk board dots from various other offices and stuck them to my walls. I also hung picture frames with colorful paper in them to use as dry erase boards. I also purchased a little end table to put next to the couch, but now I need some chachkies.

I saw this tutorial from a design website Sloan introduced me to, and I decided that those would make a perfect bouquet to add a little office cheer. I found some colorful paper and spent the afternoon making these colorful little lovelies:

I'm pretty sure the guy I share an office with will love them as much as I do. Mm hmm. The only problem was that I  bought the wrong wire and it definitely doesn't hold the weight of the flowers, so I just glued them together and balanced them on top of the vase. Whatever works.

Pop quiz:

Q. Where is the worst place to go when you are in a DIY mood with a limited income?

A. Michael's

I could have spent my entire life not knowing about colored, glitter hot glue and been a happy person. Now I know about it and I don't have it and suddenly my life is empty. Same deal with Martha Stewart's scrapbooking collection. And paint on gold leaf. And metallic spray paint. I did manage to escape without buying anything I didn't need for this particular project, but I am definitely planning the next one. It will more than likely involve some sort of shiny paint.

Fondest regards,

The Lady

I forgot to put my face on yesterday morning. More precisely, I was going to wait until the afternoon, but I forgot then, so I spent the day sans makeup without realizing it. I couldn't figure out why 3 different people asked if I was tired until I got home, looked in the mirror and said, "I do look tired today. What in the...oh...that's just how my face looks when I don't cover it up." It was a real feel-good moment. Maybe I should get more sleep and eat less refined sugar. Or maybe I should just remember to apply concealer every day.

Yesterday's incident was one of those that made me stop and wonder if I'm really cut out for Lady of Leisure-hood. I don't think proper LoLs go out in public without mascara, do they? So, in an effort to feel more Leisahly today, I baked.

Now, most people love fall because of the cooler weather and the excitement of snuggling up in a sweater with a steaming mug of cider and some pumpkin flavored dessert. Not me, y'all. I hate when the weather starts getting cool because I would much rather be by the pool in a swimsuit with an ice cold...beverage. That said, the one exciting thing about the otherwise gloomy prospect of winter is that it's finally cool enough in my apartment to turn the oven on again. I would gladly give up baking for the promise of eternal summer, but that's not an option, so I'm looking on the bright side.

In other news, I hope you enjoyed that photo and food news because it's all you're getting until I can think of another Fatty Friday theme. We're running out of Classic City burger joints and, to tell the truth, I'm kind of relieved. I think I need a burger break. There may be a couple more from time to time, but for now, I think we're on hiatus. Sorry.

Fondest regards,

The Lady

I know it's been a while, but this is my 100th post! I really wanted to take some time to think of something to make it really special...like when you open it, candy would shoot out at you. Or fireworks. Or something. In the end, I decided that it was more important that I just go ahead and post. Sorry that you won't be getting a free puppy with this reading.

To add to your disappointment, I did not take any pictures at Ole Miss last weekend. It was really fun, though. The Grove is a pretty spectacular sight and those Rebs sure do know how to tailgate. As they say, "We may not win every game, but we never lose a party." Truth. And everyone was so nice. In the hotel elevator that morning, an Ole Miss fan told our Red and Black troupe to look for his tailgate and come join 'em for a drink. Georgia fans don't do that.

The rest of the trip was pretty fun, too. I practiced the art of leisure on Friday while taking a nap as the boys gambled in Tunica. Then I got up and went to the pool where I napped some more. Between naps, we ate. It was one of those trips where I felt like I needed to get home and not eat anything for a few days. The first casino buffet we went to was nothing to write home about, although I did get some country fried steak and gravy and macaroni and cheese. That night, though, that was the real buffet, y'all...

The boys and I went over to Harrah's (this is sounding like a classy trip, right?) and went to Paula Deen's Buffet for dinner. Y'all. It was even better than I imagined. There was food everywhere. Everywhere. And the whole place was decorated like a cute Southahn house. It was fabulous and disgusting and wonderful all at the same time. At these buffets, however, we did notice that they are really big (pun intended) on the sugar free desserts. I'm wondering if there's a super high incidence of diabetes in the Mississippi gambling crowd. Probs.

Saturday night was another fab meal. After stuffing myself full of Sloan's Mom's lemon cake and 7 layer dip, we hit up Memphis for ribs at rendezvous. I felt like a Southahn failure because all I could manage was half my pork sandwich and 1 of CB's ribs. After 2 buffets and a tailgate, my tummy said uncle, so the boys dropped me back at the hotel to sleep it off while they went back to Tunica to lose a little more cash.

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. I only had two things on my checklist: Sleep and see the Dawgs win, and both were accomplished.

Fondest regards,
The Lady