IOP

3 days until...

I'll have my toes in the water a** in the sand! Can't wait!

No farms No food

For the past few months now Matt and I have been going to the Farmer's Market almost every Saturday, and I love more and more each time we go. The atmosphere is wonderful, perfect for a Saturday morning with coffee in hand and the people are friendly. The produce there is so much better than anything you can get at the grocery store, so fresh, straight from the farm. When the economy is as bad as it is now you have to stop and think about people like these farmers. They farm for a living, that is it. I have made a pledge to myself to buy everything that I can from the Farmer's Market, and why shouldn't we all? It tastes better, it is a fun place to go, and it supports our local economy!

This is a bumper sticker, I ordered one today!

FIngers Crossed

"God has a plan for us all and if its meant to be, it will be."- unknown

no time

Kiki has no time to blog, she has no time to do anything. Be back soon, I hope.
Happy Tuesday! (It's better than Monday)

Grandmas' Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Just like grandma makes it...I love this recipe and it is dear to my heart (not good for my heart). This is not an everyday or even every other week recipe, it is a once in a blue moon recipe. BUT it is a have-to-have, especially on a Monday!

Needed Items:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 (little,mini carton of buttermilk)
all purpose flour
Vegetable Oil
S&P
Season Salt
Cast-iron frying pan

Get it Cookin:
Cut chicken breast into "fingers"
Set up an assembly line for yourself...bowl of buttermilk, large plate of flour, clean plate
Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in pan (med-high)
Dip chicken into buttermilk then into flour and REPEAT (repeating this is the key to crunchy)
Place breaded chicken onto clean plate and season with S&P and season salt, use this very liberally to give the chicken good flavor!
Cook chicken in hot oil about 5 mins on each side, until golden brown!

"Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting."  ~Author Unknown

I wonder?

"I wonder?" is a question/statement that I sometimes use at the end of a sentence. I know it may sounds a little strange, but I think it makes perfect sense. My mom and sister always make of me when I use it. For example, I might say..."Is it going to be sunny tomorrow, I wonder?", now I know that technically I am asking two questions here, I obviously wonder about the weather before I state "I wonder" but this has become a habit. I thought about it this morning as I look out the office windows into the dark, rainy sky and hope that it will be the same tomorrow. While daydreaming about rainy days I asked myself, "Will Matt be ok with me laying on the couch watching lifetime all day tomorrow, I wonder?". I already know the answer to this question is no, but I will do it anyway :).

"Crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts."Jake Gyllenhaal
xoxo-Kiki

Life is better with doughnuts

It is true,life is better when donuts are involved and especially at work. It is a cloudy, perfect Friday to stay in bed but getting to work to find doughnuts makes getting out of bed worth it!

I might have two.

So happy that its Friday and tonight we are staying in, grilling out, and couching it.

It will look something like this:

Turkey Burgers with grilled potatoes.
Grilled Potatoes:

Needed Items:
8 small red potatoes
Extra V. Olive Oil
Your favorite seasonings
Grill pan (for the outdoor grill)

To Do:
Wash and cut potatoes into bite-size pieces
Mix 1 tbs. olive oil and potatoes in bowl
Sprinkle with seasoning
Grill on Med-High heat for about 25 mins, until golden brown and crisp!
Here's to a weekend full of food!

"Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?" ~Author Unknown

xoxo-Kiki

Hopeful for a lazy weeknd

I feel like for the past few weeks I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cutoff.  Don't get me wrong I have loved all the planned weekends of fun with friends but I am ready for a weekend of nothing! I heard it may rain this weekend, which would only add to my laziness, so I say bring it on!

"You can't teach people to be lazy - either they have it, or they don't. "

- Dagwood Bumstead

 

xoxo-Kiki

To teach or not to teach?

To teach or not to teach, this is a question I have been asking myself for years now and I have finally made the decision to teach! I am enrolling today and will begin class this fall to become a preschool teacher, and I could not be more excited!

Just call me Ms. Woods :)

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo-Kiki

Topsy Tail

Many of you might think that the Topsy Tail is a thing of the past, but let me tell you now...it is not. I personally love it, right now my hair is too short to have one, so I gave one to my friend this weekend, and I remembered instantly why I loved it so much. The Topsy Tail will be making a come back, so learn it, live it, love it!
Here's a little how to video!
TOPSY TAIL: HOW TO

When in a bad mood, have a chocolate

Who knew it could be that simple? I found out when a box of these arrived at the office this afternoon, it (they, I had two...it was the serving size) brought a smile right to my face. It is the new truffles by Godiva ( I had a carrot cake truffle and a strawberry tarte truffle)...to.die.for.

Busy Bee

That I am...Busy Bee! It's Friday, we made it! I can only hope that being busy will make 5 o'clock get here fast! Work is crazy today, I am single-handily planning our 15 year anniversary party and typing all of the specs for a project that is due Monday! We also have our monthly luncheon today which I am also in charge of, so needless to say I got a lot going on up in here! I am so excited for the weekend, tonight we plan to grill out (steaks), drink some vino and go see Bridesmaids with our friends Jordan and Thomas. I have heard it is hilarious so I can't wait! Tomorrow, just like all Saturdays I have a growing-by-the-minute to-do list! The list includes...framer's market, oil-change (ew), begin antiquing my table, and make apps. for Brittany and Jon's engagement celebration! whew! Sunday Matt's sister Nikki is having a concert at their church in Rockwell to raise money for her upcoming trip to Spain. She is an awesome singer and it will be nice to see them all again this weekend. Sunday is also a very special day because it is Simon's birthday, I can't believe that he will be 10! On a different note I am excited about a new purchase that I made last night, it was a pair of sheer wide leg pants, similar to these...

Mine are cuter!

They are different, and Matt is not a fan but I am! Well that's all for now. Happy Friday!

xoxo-Kiki

“I always give 100% at work:

13% Monday

22% Tuesday

26% Wednesday

35% Thursday

4% Friday”- Unknown

"Act the way you want to feel"

"Act the way you want to feel", this is a quote taken from The Happiness Project and a quote that I try to remember each day. I love this quote because it is so true and can really make a difference. There is no way that anyone can be in a wonderful mood at all times, but I have found that when you find yourself falling into a "mood" it helps to think and act the way you want to feel. It can be hard to act happy, or pretend to be in a good mood when you aren't but if you don't then you will waste a lot of time in this short, short life! So, smile, don't take things for granted and be thankful for each and everyday!

"When you smile, the world smiles back"

xoxo-Kiki

"Hold on, we're half way there"

I am not (at all) a fan of Jon Bon Jovi but the the lyrics to Living on a Prayer are whats getting me through this Wednesday. Also, getting me through is knowing that I will be meeting up with the besties for our "hump day potluck" which used to be a tradition that we are hoping/trying to bring back. Hump Day Potluck takes place each Wednesday and we meet at someones house and cook together, drink wine and chit-chat. It is a wonderful escape from the work week. Tonight I am making a Grilled peach and arugula salad, the recipe can be found here.

#Cannotwait

"Falling Fast"

I am "falling Fast"...for Fall. I am so ready for it, the weather, the football, the clothes...
With this out of control hot weather we have been having I can only dream about the season I love most, but it's days are nearing and I will be ready. I have been making fall wish list and it looks something like this:

Bring it on!

Just Another Manic Monday

Manic Monday it is...they always feel manic after a wonderful weekend comes to an end. The weekends are always great and they are great because you can forget everything on your to-do list and just "be free", free to do whatever your heart desires!
Manic Monday-Bangles
 My weekend started Friday night by going to dinner at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille here, watching the Braves game and then meeting up with friends downtown. Saturday began with blueberry muffins (love), the farmers market, and going to get a new kitchen table! I found one on Craigslist and got it for $130, it is a round old oak table with 4 chairs and 2 leafs that extend the table to seat 6 comfortably, I am so excited to have it and hopefully will begin the antiquing processing this weekend! Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner, we had goat cheese and sun dried tomato brushetta, salad with lots of veggies from the farmers market, lasagna, and peach cobbler..yummo! After dinner we went to our favorite spot the Comet for a few beers and live music. Sunday was the big day..SKYDIVING, I was so nervous the whole way up to Rockwell, even though I was only a spectator. A lot of people came out to watch as Jay (Matt's dad) jumped out of an airplane, this is not my kind of thing...at all, I really don't even like to know that it is happening! First of all the plane was tiny and we watched as it went higher, and higher, and HIGHER! When he jumped all you could see was a dot, and there was silence for about 45 seconds until the parachute opened, it was really awesome to see in the end and once everyone was back on solid ground, I could breathe again! It was great to see Matt's family for the day, and I just hope that Matt doesn't get any ideas about skydiving, because he is NOT going!

Now on to this Manic Monday...my to-do list is growing by the second, as it normally does and I for some reason find it necessary to add things that I have already done or am about to do just for the pure joy of crossing it off, which in turn makes my list look HUGE and gives me stress! I also rewrite the list multiple times a day, like when it starts to look "messy", and now I have come to realize that rewriting the to-do list is only giving me something else TO-DO! It has to stop! But no matter how organized or prepared you are to take on the week, Mondays are Mondays, and they will always be Manic!

PS- I know everyone is getting super excited about The Help coming out the first week in August and I am definitely one of those people! I read the book last summer and LOVED it! I can not wait to see the movie, and decided that I am going to read the book again this week just to refresh! If you haven't read it, you MUST!

Smile, it's Friday!

Happy Friday folks! Once Wednesday is over, it feels to me that the week flys by, so here we are and it's Friday!
Last night for dinner I made some awesome (If I must say so myself) chicken tacos. I kind of made up the recipe but here it is:
1 lb. chicken (cut into bit size strips)
1 package of taco seasoning
1 cup water
3 tbs. hot sauce
1 tbs. garlic
1 tbs. crushed red pepper
1 can Rotel with chiles (drained)
*combine all ingredients into crock pot and cook on low for about 6 hours. (Southerner= I love a crock pot)
* I served with whole wheat tortillas, guacamole, cooked red and green bell peppers and onions, Fat free sour cream, Mexican cheese, jalapenos and salsa. Side of black beans.

On to the weekend plans:
Tonight we are meeting some friends out for a "Going Away get-together", Saturday we will be running errands and having friends (newly engaged Brittany and Jon) over for dinner, and Sunday is the reshcedule date for Jay (Matt's dad) to skydive, hopefully the weather will permit!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters."
— Audrey Hepburn

Gotta Love Hump Day

Happy Hump Day! Am I the only one who thinks this week is slowly creeping by? Hump day is finally here though and there is much to celebrate! Tonight is the first celebration for my friend Brittany's engagement, I am so excited to see her (and the ring), hear the story and all about their wonderful trip out west! You can find us at Nolen Kitchen here, they have great food and delic wine...can't wait! In about an hour I will head out on my lunch break (the highlight of the workday) and go to the dreaded WalMart. Usually on my lunch break I go home and make something to eat and catch up on my dvr'd shows, but today I am forcing myself to go to WalMart. As much as I hate going there, I hate even more to buy items elsewhere only to find out that WalMart has it for half the price! So although my beloved lunch break is ruined by WalMart and there will be no yummy fresh made lunch or puppylove from Riley, I will be saving dollar bills! I will just have to settle for the packed pb&j I brought to work. 
ON MY MIND...
Matt and I NEED a new kitchen table, the one we have now is a "two-seater" and not suitable for the fab dinner parties I want to have! We do have a pretty small area for a table but we can def. fit one that seats at least four. He on the other hand has a different understanding of things that we NEED, so I may be only daydreaming.... as I search online for shabby chic tables like these...

Things I am looking forward to....

Ready for fall...here's a preview to what I hope my fall wardrobe to consists of...

Love these items  http://www.polyvore.com/model_love/set?id=25962823

Ew Tuesday (Why is it already worse than Monday?)

I am writing in black today, because it describes my day so far. It started off feeling like a Monday from the get-go...for some reason I was super tired and the sound of my first two alarms just wasn't enough this morning, needless to say I woke up late, which in turn means I do not look my best, which as we all know will also lead to you not feeling your best. I get to work about 8:09am and realize that I have to fix a CRAZY document (spec) asap. I am not very good with computers or any of their systems so I knew this would be a task, but after having almost everyone in the office try to help me and getting no where I decided to just retype the entire thing! Sometimes it is better to start over fresh than to stress out trying to fix something. (words of wisdom!)Now that is over with and I intend for the rest of the day to be much better!
Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."
— E.E. Cummings

Weekend in Review

It's Monday...again. The weekends seem to go by faster and faster, I just hope that they don't eventually disappear! Although super fast my weekend was filled with good times and relaxation. I started the weekend off with a very eventful ending to the workday. Right around the time that everyone was getting ready to leave the office on Friday, a drug dealer decided to do a little deal in our parking lot! My desk is up front by the windows, which look out into the parking lot and I kept seeing this strange guy in a brand new Mercedes convertible drive through and meet people, so we decided to call the cops and before we could all get out of the office to begin our much awaited weekends, the cops arrived. It took the cops about 45 minutes to arrest him and do a search of his car, so we all watched through the windows...45 minutes of our weekends spent at work, at least it was entertaining! The first thing I did Saturday morning was look on the Charlotte Observer here for his mugshot, and it was there (#66, from 7/15/11 arrest) arrested for heroin and meth!!
The "real" weekend began around 6pm when I got home from work and got to watch the Real Housewives of NYC that I had dvr'd. (Love it) For dinner Matt and I went to my favorite place Soul here. If you have never been, you HAVE to go..it is awesome and I mean everything is awesome! After dinner we went home and got to bed early as we thought we had a full-planned Saturday ahead of us. Saturday was supposed to consist of Matt's dad Jay going SKYDIVING! I was both excited and very nervous for this, it is something that he has wanted to do and that was his Father's Day gift. I on the other hand, hate to fly (on a regular airplane) much less jump out of one!! The weather was too cloudy so the skydiving was called off, and will be rescheduled...soon! So the revised Saturday included cleaning, and taking unwanted clothes to Buffalo Exchange here, where they will buy gently used items to resell. With the $ I got there I went to Forever21 and bought a cute leopard print shirt, and saved the rest of the moolah! The rest of the day was filled with a wonderful nap, and a walk in Freedom Park. Sallie, my friend Jordan's precious pup came and spent the day/night with us while she was out of town, so Riley also had a fun filled weekend! Saturday night we went to the Comet here and had there $5 burgers (On Saturdays) and listened to live Jazz band. The Comet is a new favorite of mine, with good music, food,and cheap beer, it really can't be beat in my opinion. After leaving the Comet we walked next door to Ed's here to meet up with some friends for a beer...good times! Sunday was more of a get-thing-done-day for us...we did sleep in a little late and went to get lunch at Fran's Filling Station, which is usually Delicious food but Sunday was different, bad service, unorganized and waiting 45 minutes for a sandwich, I won't be back anytime soon. After lunch we went home, gave Riley a bath, cleaned, wash clothes, watched the sad ending to the World Cup, went grocery shopping, grilled out, and took the pups for a walk. All in all a good weekend! And the best, most wonderful, exciting news came around 5pm when I got a call from Brittany, calling from Jackson Hole to let us know that her and Jon are engaged!! I could not be more excited and happy for them!

PS- I am still trying to figure out how to upload my pictures on here, so they are coming!

TGIF

T-G-I-F...my four favorite letters (when together). 8:40am, a long day ahead but that's ok because the weekend will begin soon! I live for the weekends, no lie. Last night was great catch up time with friends, we started the night at Polished here with new essie colors to match our moods then over to Dean and Deluca Wine Bar for wine and tapas here. Getting a polish change is one of my favorite things to do, you can change your look so simply just by a new pop of color! Polished nail bar on Fairview is in my opinion the best place to go, they have so many colors to choose from and free wine (who doesn't love free wine?). Dean and Deluca Wine Bar turned out to be a nice surprise, while I didn't expect anything inedible, I had only been here to drink so I wasn't sure how the food would be...It was great! We ordered a couple of apps. for the table and I had the crab cake salad...delic. Thursday are a great night to go out with girlfriends and unwind from the week because everyone know Fridays are not "real" workdays! We have a weekend packed of fun, so updates to come Monday!
HAPPY FRIDAY!

How "Pleasant"

As you may know my family moved down to Florida a few years ago for a job that my step-dad was taking, and we all hated that...or at least I did. Florida is just too far away and too hot! Well there is good news...pleasant news I should say....

They are moving to Mount Pleasant, SC. I am overly excited and thrilled to have them back...well close enough! Not only are they back and I will get to see them more they are in Charleston, one of the best cities in the world! So thankful!

I love (this) Thursday!

I love this Thursday (today) because I finally got my state tax refund in the mail and I am going on a nail/dinner date with two of my besties tonight! I have literally been planning my life around this tax refund that I was supposed to get in May, meaning that I have been planning to buy things that I want/don't need but now that I have gotten it I think I may just pay my credit card ( I'm trying to be responsible but it is not fun). Anywho only a little over 3 hours left at work and then to Polished and Dean and Deluca Wine Bar with Jordan and Kaitlin...can't wait!

PS- Thursday is also FABULOUS because tomorrow is Friday!

New to the blog world!

Hey y'all! This is my first blog ever, and almost the first one I've ever even seen! I decided to create this blog after reading a friends blog. I loved hers and figured this would be a great way to keep up with the things I do and think! I am excited to get started and plan to post every chance I get (which shouldn't be too hard because I find myself with a lot of "free time" at work). The name of my blog is "Life according to Kiki", Kiki is the nickname giving to me my by younger (much younger) brother Simon and it has stuck with me since he first called me Kiki about 8 years ago, and this blog will be about my life...so Life according to Kiki!