Anniversary

A year ago today Scott and I had our first date at a local BBQ place. We were both a little nervous, but when our knees touched under the table I knew there was no looking back. That was the start of an amazing journey.

And what a journey it has been! From our first kiss to traveling across the US to meet my family, it has been a wild ride, but I ride I wouldn't change for anything! There has been a lot of growing and trying new things, laughter and tears, but most of all there has been tons of love.

I am so excited to see what the future holds for us :)

Happy First Anniversary honey, I love you to the moon and back!

Shooting

Guns. I am not the biggest fan in the world. I wasn't raised around them and really just don't understand why people have them other than for hunting. Scott on the other hand is an avid gun enthusiast. He enjoys target shooting and after a little nagging I was invited to go along with him while he sighted in the ones he is going to use for deer season this year.

Shooting was really a lot of fun and I wasn't that bad at aiming! I wasn't a marksman by any means, but I hit the target almost every time and even knocked down a metal gopher target on my first try!

Although it was fun, there is a healthy amount of fear/respect that I have for firearms. Safety was of course our main focus and between Scott and his buddy we were shooting with, I was given a lot of important information. 

While I still don't love the idea of guns and definitely don't want one of my own, I was so glad to be able to shoot one for myself. I look forward to the next time we are able to do it!

Garden

Our garden is officially out of season. It has been for quite some time now, but Scott finally mowed over the remaining tomato plants and weeds.

Honestly I was pretty sad. That garden was a great investment and provided not only us (seen here), but our family and neighbors with lots of fresh produce. I can't wait until next years planting season to arrive. I already have big plans!

County Fair

The Fair.
Corn dogs, funnel cakes, cows, award winning jam, rides, carnies.
The Hickory fair had all those things and more! Scott and I have been talking about the fair for quite some time and somehow it snuck up on us without us noticing!

The fair grounds aren't to far from our house, and that's where the flea market that I love so much (seen here) takes place.  We happened to be talking to friends who casually mentioned the fair and we knew we had to go before it was to late!

Friday night we headed to town for a night of fried foods, bright lights and lots and lots of people. First stop was the animals. I LOVE farm animals and wish we had a cow. They had an area to feed them and of course I jumped at the opportunity! We also watched a demonstration of how they used to cut wood using the power from old tractors, which was pretty cool. Next up, the blue ribbon showing! Did you know people really do enter big tomatoes, or homemade biscuits to see who's is the best in the county?! I thought those days were long gone, so I made Scott look at everything that had been entered with me. Who knows, maybe next year I'll enter something!

After spotting a hunting buddy of Scott's and eating some of the delicious BBQ he was serving up in order to raise money for a local school, we met up with John and Mary (who went to the hunting house with us) for a stroll and some tasty treats!

Now I don't remember ever having a funnel cake, elephant ears - of course- but never a funnel cake so that was the mission of the night. We all settled in and got a different tasty fried thing and boy oh boy was everything good! Between the 4 of us we got a fennel cake with cinnamon & sugar, red velvet funnel cake, fried Oreos and a corn dog.  Yummm!!

We also watched a man being shot out of a cannon. It was pretty intense and not a job that I would want, and piglet racing.

It was a perfect way to spend a warm summer night.

Freezing Corn

Now that we have this HUGE freezer to fill I can take advantage of some of the great deals I've found lately! Our local grocery store had corn on 5/$1 and I had bought a few ears for dinner and discovered it was a great batch!

A few days later I went back, filled my shopping cart (aka Buggy) and asked the cashier not to judge me by the amount of corn I was purchasing. Once home I shucked all the ears on the back deck, broke them in half, boiled for 7 minutes, cooled in an ice bath for 8 (and by ice bath I mean I use the frozen water bottles and packages of hot dogs in place of ice because we didn't have any), let drain on a towel for a for minutes and bagged & labeled.

I am so excited to be eating fresh (well fresh frozen) corn in the winter months! 

Deep Freeze

For a long time now Scott and I have been talking about getting a chest freezer, and after a bunch of research and a 'Yeah God' moment we found one on super sale and snatched it up! Woot for online one day deals and extra online coupons!  Umm hello deal of the year...

Scott wants it to be able to put a big ole deer head (or two) in it, I on the other hand want to use it for our summer harvest (well next years at least) and extreme couponing. Ok, maybe not extreme, but Scott's Aunt is teaching me how to get some good deals.

It is huge! We read that it will run more efficiently if we have it full so right away I filled empty milk jugs with water and froze them. Scott had other ideas and surprised me by coming home with a car full of frozen goodies! We won't be going hungry anytime soon that is for sure!

Finished Product!

I finally got around to finishing the desk & chair I found for the spare bedroom!

At first I wanted to do some wild color since our house is so neutral, but instead I embraced our color pallet and went with a crisp black and white. It also helped that we had a big ole 5 gallon bucket of white left over from the trim in the house. After a quick trip to grab a few cans of black spray paint I was in business!

Sanding the desk and chair ended up being quite the chore. With both sporting thick coats of varnish, my arms got a nice workout. Next time I try to do a project like this I'll invest in a electric sander.

I also updated a little night stand that I've had for years. It started out a lovely pale pink (why I didn't paint it years earlier I'll never know...) but now fits in with the rest of the house!

I absolutely adore how everything turned out! I sit at my new desk and watch the world go by out the window. Scott has his hunting room and now I have my little hideaway too! I love the little details that have been added as the room comes together. On the night stand sits the little turtle Eliza and Lucy made me when I visited last year, the pillows on the bed are from Krystal while she was in the Middle East and my most favorite picture of Scott and I on my desk! I still have big plans for the room, my next project in the chest at the end of the bed.

Now we are just ready for some visitors! 

Soldiers Reunion

Scott's mom Vanessa called to see if I wanted to join her at the Soldiers Reunion Street Fair and of course I said yes! Who doesn't love a street fair?! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and although it was quite different from the street fairs I have grown to love in Portland (Fremont Fest, Mississippi Street Fair) as there we lots of confederate flags flying, but I had a lot of fun!

The festival is set up around the town square which features the old court house/ history museum. The street was set up with different vendors an local businesses showing off their homemade gifts and whatnot. Although I didn't end up purchasing anything, we did sign up for all of the free raffles and I even won a dance lesson!

We stopped for lunch at a BBQ vendor and it was bomb to say the least. I got a huge cheese steak and after making a mess of myself, decided that if ever I was having a party, these guys would be at the top of my catering list!

It was nice to spend time with Vanessa, and fun to see one of our neighboring towns during their highlight of the year. It is a week long festival and have events from a parade to 5k run to live music in the square. Next year I'll be watching out for this to return and plan out my week!