Weekend Stuff

Over the weekend, I managed to get snag TWO of the $10 Target gift cards I previously posted about. I guess it helps that Target is less than five minutes away. And I use the term "helps" loosely.

Yesterday, I spent the day baking with my friend, Amanda. Please excuse the poor cell phone pics, and take a look at what we made:

1. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

We actually made two loaves of this. Amanda took half of this loaf home with her. I have no idea why she didn't want the whole loaf, because it is amazing!

2. Peppermint Bark (while really just following this recipe for Halloween Candy Bark)

This one is delicious, but would probably have been prettier done on white chocolate instead. And if you follow the link above for the peppermint bark, you'll see a variation using green mint chips. We looked for those when shopping for our ingredients because I loved how festive the green was, but sadly, we couldn't find any.

3. Cookie Dough Bites

Not a very pretty picture there, but I had to text pictures of everything we made to my mom. These are simply balls of cookie dough, but they are made without eggs, so they are safe for eating. And they are yummy!

4. Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookies

We have no pics of these because they turned out terribly! And we have no idea why! Into the trash they went.

5. Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows - seen here


These were soooo easy to do (and also delicious), and they were a perfect way to use up the rest of the marshmallows I had after making these melted snowman cookies last weekend:


The hubs helped decorate these little guys and gals. They were so much fun to make, and reeeeeally yummy, but I don't think they turned out half as cute as the ones I found online!

Most of the recipes we used (and more!) can be found through my Pinterest board here. Oh how I love that website! And I suppose my coworkers will be enjoying some goodies this week.

After we finished baking, Amanda went with me to Target to buy stocking stuffers for Jake. That's how I was able to get my 2nd gift card.

That's about it for me. Today was the usual... laundry, groceries, etc.

What did you do this weekend? Any baking? Any Target shopping?

Taylor Swift's Fearless Tour 2009!

What can I say? The concerts were AMAZING! Friday night, Heather Ann and I drove to Greenville to see Taylor Swift (and Gloriana and Kellie Pickler) in concert there. Gloriana was good, Kellie Pickler was fun to watch as always, and Taylor was just plain awesome!!!!!!!

She played most of the songs from her Fearless album and her five singles from her first album. She had eight different costumes (nine at the Charlotte show because she came out in a Bobcats jersey), including one on-stage costume change, and she had an amazing set.

She did several songs on the main stage, then showed up in the back of the arena in the crowd playing "Hey Stephen" before she made her way to the center of the arena, hugging all the fans she passed along the way. Then, she made her way back to the main stage (again hugging all the fans she passed along the way), and she finished playing "Tim McGraw" there. After that song, the crowd stood and screamed for over three minutes both nights, while she stood there taking it all in. She removed her earpieces so she could hear the crowd, and then thanked the audience for that, saying she would never forget it. She then did her hit "Love Story" complete with costumed dancers, and a few other songs before leaving the stage.

She returned with an encore of "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" which is my favorite, and she brought out the members of Gloriana and Kellie Pickler to sing it with her. I loved that part! Her last song was "Should've Said No" where she ended up singing in the rain, like she did once on an awards show. It was so neat because she had words from the song appear in the rain as she sang. Here is a link to a video of her doing it on the awards show. You can skip to the end (around 3:00) to see the rain.



Saturday night, we did it all again in Charlotte - this time including Amanda! Our seats were up sooooooooo high at the Time Warner Cable Arena, it was a little ridiculous. It made our upper deck seats at the Bi-Lo center in Greenville feel like the front row! I enjoyed every minute of my Taylor Swift weekend. Thanks to Heather Ann and Amanda for joining me!

On my way to see Taylor Swift!

A van we saw near the Bi-Lo center

Taylor's bus in front of the Bi-Lo center!

Heather Ann and I in our seats

KELLIE PICKLER!!!

The view from our seats in Greenville

"You Belong with Me" - Taylor's opening song!

That's Taylor's mom there in front of her behind the mic stand

Taylor and her whole band

Kellie Pickler singing "Red High Heels"

Taylor Swift singing "Our Song"

Taylor Swift singing "Fearless"

In other Taylor news, she was recently nominated for FOUR CMA awards, including Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year (Fearless), Music Video of the Year (Love Story), and ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR! She is the youngest artist ever to be nominated in that last category, and after seeing her on tour two nights in a row, I definitely think she should win it! Watch this video for her reaction to hearing all of her CMA nominations announced. Also, I bought a Flip Video Camera like Taylor uses to make those videos, so now I can get started making my own and check that off my list! And congrats to Taylor on her very first VMA win (and the first ever country artist to win one!)!!! I'm not even going to mention Kanye... TAYLOR SWIFT RULES!!!!

Ready for some football?!?!

Carolina football, that is! Football season has arrived! September 3rd was the Gamecocks' first game - away against NC State. One of the supervisors at work (Rick) had a few people over to his house to watch the game. He has a nice setup in his backyard... complete with pool, outdoor kitchen, a television, and SAND! Yes, that's right... his very own backyard beach! The Gamecocks managed to pull out a win for their first game with a score of 7-3. Thanks to Rick for having us over. It was a fun night!

Amanda and me

Some photos of Rick's backyard

This past Saturday was the Gamecocks' second game - away against Georgia. Dusty came over and joined Jake and me at the house to watch the game and have a lil bit of a party. It was a high-scoring game for both teams, but ultimately resulted in a loss for the Gamecocks at 41-37. We had a great time, despite the outcome of the game!

Also on Saturday, all my football tickets arrived in the mail! Now, I am all set to attend the first home game of the season this Saturday against Florida Atlantic. Can't wait to be back at Williams-Brice! GO GAMECOCKS!

Fan mail for Taylor Swift!

Taylor Swift! I. am. your. biggest. fan. You totally rock! And your hair is the best ever. I wish mine would look like yours. How excited I am at the thought of being at two of your shows back to back nights in September! It should be the MOST fun weekend! First, I will be seeing you in Greenville, SC on Friday, September 4th with my friend, Heather Ann... then on Saturday, September 5th, Heather Ann and I will be joined by my friend Amanda for the show in Charlotte, NC! I will be singing along like crazy to all your wonderful songs. And I love Kellie Pickler too! I can't wait!!!!!

Maybe we were separated at birth? :)

-lovelovelove-

L