Vlog Friday: When I Grow Up

Today's Vlog Friday topic is twofold: What was your dream job when you were little, and what is your dream job now?

Here's a hint regarding my answers to those questions: match the following pictures of me to each of my answers!

{second photo by Evan Hampton}

Yep, that first one is of me circa 1993. In the second photo, I'm the one second to the left...yes, the pale one...

I always wanted to be a dancer. Now, it's something I just do for fun, but I did choose a career that involves a lot of movement!

Oh, and I thought of something else to add to my dream job list: I'd love to get paid to do this! I mean, I spend enough time blogging...why not? ;) What about you? What are your past and present dream jobs?

We Vlog Friday. Do you?

• Marsh Mellow Goodness
• Adventures in Love and Happiness
• Folly Life
• Forget Me (Not)
• Blogimony
• Of Food and Friends
• Heart on Homestead
• Kimberly Michelle
• The Little Things
• Life's Journey with a Smile

Bless Their Nest

My husband and I recently attended a wedding/housewarming shower in honor of our good friends, Stephen and Caroline (otherwise known as the collective "Stepholine"). They just bought a home together, and they're getting married this fall, so there's a lot to celebrate!

The shower was held at Caroline's aunt's home in Roswell, a suburb of Atlanta. Caroline's aunt was going for a "Bless Their Nest" theme, as we showered our friends with gifts while surrounded by garden-themed decor with little birdie details. But Caroline's aunt also happens to be from New Orleans, so there was a bit of a "bourbon" sub-theme going on. And I did not have a problem with that.

Wanna see the adorable details? Of course you do!

How gorgeous is that?! This lovely spread included shrimp cocktail, beef tenderloin sandwiches, honeybaked ham sandwiches, and deviled eggs. Everything was delicious!

The foyer featured a wishing tree so that guests could leave marriage advice and what not. I'm pretty sure we just wrote something inappropriate about drinking.

After the nearlyweds opened their gifts, it was time for dessert, which included petit fours, bourbon brownies, and Mexican wedding cookies.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when Caroline's aunt prepared Café Brulot, a New Orleans tradition involving coffee, bourbon, and a match. I have to say, I have been to quite a few showers and I have never seen anything en flambe! This was a very exciting first for me.

Once the bowl of liquor and spices was ignited, Caroline's aunt scooped the flaming mixture into demitasses full of coffee.

And here we are with the happy couple!

I love how we're coincidentally situated in height order. We absolutely love these guys, and can't wait to see them get married in just three months!

SFC: Week 11

We're down to the second-to-last week of the Spring Fever Challenge...which makes sense, because it sure doesn't feel like Spring anymore! Let's see how I'm doing with my goals.

What have you done this week to help you achieve your goals? 

1. Create a realistic plan to buy a house within the next year.  We met with our real estate agent last night to determine a timetable for house hunting. With a goal of closing/moving in early November (bumped up from our original idea of February), we decided to start looking now and hopefully find ourselves under contract by August or September. The ball is officially rolling!

2. Maintain a minimal level of clutter.  This has been pretty easy this week because we haven't been home much. You see, Dave's birthday is today (Happy Birthday, Dave!!!) so we've had a lot of celebrating to do!

3. Act like newlyweds in order to feel like newlyweds. We've definitely spent a lot of quality time together this past week. We had a date last night to Farm Burger, and we've done a lot around the apartment together.

4. Make more good meals.  With summer produce entering its peak season, we've had lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Yay for summer salads!

5. Remember why you're building your family's roots in Atlanta.  We had an Atlanta-filled weekend between ICE and AUM!

What did you do this past week to make you feel good about yourself?

It sounds silly, but I painted my toenails. I've been meaning to do it for a while, and they look lovely.

With one week left, what is your plan?

We're going to get a list of houses together to go look at with our real estate agent, keep cleaning in preparation for moving (eee!), and go out to a nice birthday dinner tonight!

What time of day are you most productive?

I'm probably most productive late-morning...either that, or the second wind I always seem to get around 9:00 PM. I try not to be productive then, though, because otherwise I stay up too late!

Fun Question: What are you currently reading?

I'm reading My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD. The author is a neuroscientist who has a stroke, and she wrote the book to describe how it felt, what she thought, and so on. Her perspective really interesting because she had so much knowledge of the brain in the first place. As much as I'm enjoying it though, I might take a break from it to reread HP7 in preparation for the film...


And finally, this week's positive picture!

That's the Freekware logo for Freeky Friday, my new blog series with Concrete Jane, where we answer about a positivity-themed prompt every Friday. When we kicked off the series last Friday, we ended up getting twenty participants! It was so exciting to read through everyone's enthusiasm. This week, I hope it will grow even more! 
If you'd like to get involved, you can participate three different ways:

• Write a blog post using the badge html above, then comment on my post with a link to your post
• Tweet your answer using the tag #FreekyFriday
• "Like" the Freekware Facebook page, then comment on there with your answer

All contributions for the month of June will be entered to win some Brownie-covered Oreos as well as a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society in your name. So, if you blog on all three remaining Fridays in the month of June, you'll be entered three times! If you blog, tweet, and comment on Facebook all three Fridays, you'll be entered nine times!

This Friday, 6/17, we discuss the next freeking positive topic:

If you were making a positivity playlist, what three feel good songs would you include?

Be sure to tune in next week for the conclusion of the Spring Fever Challenge! 

Indie Craft Experience

I don't mean to brag, but I had a pretty awesome weekend. In addition to attending another Atlanta Underground Market, I went to the Indie Craft Experience (otherwise known as "ICE-Atlanta").

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ICE isn't your usual craft show. It's basically Etsy in real life...with a DJ and some food trucks outside.

Have a look for yourself:

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ICE is a craft show filled with modern artisans, their crafts ranging from kitting to jewelry-making to ceramics to printing. This year's event was held in Ambient Studios in Mechanicsville, a neighborhood I like to refer to as a "diamond in the rough" because they host many similar events, but parts of the area look like this:

A crowd formed quickly as I waited for the doors to open. Everyone wanted to be first in line, as the first 250 scored a "Swag Bag" filled with goodies!

 Inside the studio, colorful and exciting booths filled the floor. I loved how each booth was decorated in each crafter's style. They really took every opportunity to express themselves, and that's what crafting is all about!

After about an hour of perusing (and buying), my friends and I were sweating a little and decided to cool off with blueberry-lemongrass popsicles from The King of Pops.

Even though I was drawn to so many lovely and unique items, I had to resist the urge to buy it all (stupid house fund). I did, however, support a couple of local artists by purchasing some greeting cards from Viva Greetings and Liddabits. I'd show you pictures, but what if one of those cards is for you? :)

Have any of you fellow Atlantans gone to ICE? Have you attended a similar event in your hometown?

Atlanta Underground Market: Chocolate Edition

Once upon a time, my husband, Dave, and I traveled to South Florida to spend Christmas with our families. We opened presents Christmas morning at my mom's house, then drove over to Dave's mom's house for another gift exchange. We had left our dog, Chelsea, at my mom's house...and Dave had left his very full Christmas stocking a little too low. We came back to find Hershey's kisses wrappers scattered about, and a very bloated, very smug-looking corgi. How she managed to unwrap the chocolates remains a mystery to this day, but we weren't concerned about that at the time. We were concerned about a 30-pound dog ingesting nearly 6 ounces of chocolate. We raced to the emergency vet, as it was Christmas Day, where they fed her lots of charcoal, the universal antidote. As we drove back to my mom's house, Chelsea still had the same smug look on her face. She had learned nothing from the experience. All she knew was that she got to eat chocolate, and then she got to go in the car.

Why was my dog this excited about a trip to the vet? Because chocolate is awesome. And it's versatile, rich, exotic qualities appeal to nearly everyone on God's green earth. And if you disagree with me, you should probably just stop reading right now.

Oh good! You're still here! Then you probably want to hear all about this past weekend's Chocolate Market, co-hosted by AUM and Sugar-Coated Radical!

The event was held Saturday, June 11th at Sweet Auburn Curb Market, the site of the original AUM. This month's Market differed from previous ones for two main reasons. First of all, each dish had to include chocolate (think Iron Chef). Secondly, there was booze.

Before making the rounds, we stopped by the Curb Market's coffee shop: Café Campesino. Since I work right next door, I'm able to frequently enjoy their 100% organic, 100% Fair Trade brews. But this time, I noticed something that I hadn't noticed before.

You know that little counter where coffeehouses keep sugars and creamers? Well, this café also had some simple syrup. As a former barista, I've seen what this stuff can do to a drink. Even amateur coffee drinkers know that you can't really mix sugar with iced drinks...not even confectioners sugar. For cool drinks on a hot summer day, this stuff is a must have. I'm glad Café Campesino realizes that, and I hope it becomes a standard throughout all coffeehouses!

Once we had charged up with some caffeine, we began our chocolate-themed tour. We started at the Curb Market's own Smoothie Blender Café, where we enjoyed some savory and creative chocolate dishes. First up, a chocolate chicken stir fry:

The chocolate and ginger was an exotic and delicious combination. The veggies were perfectly crisped, and the gentleman serving up this unique dish was a delight to chat with. Next, we tried the chocolate BBQ ribs.

I apologize that the preceding is such a terrible picture. When I get 300 followers on here and 1,000 followers on Twitter, I will buy a real camera. Until then, you get to deal with my Sony Cybershot. :)

I also got to sample a bite of their lemon basil white chocolate ice cream, which was very refreshing. 10 points for creativity at this place!

Next, we visited Sweet Auburn BBQ, where we had mole pork tacos.

I really liked this dish because it highlighted the chocolate, but allowed Sweet Auburn BBQ to stay true to their roots. The mole was delicious, but it complemented the pork, who was still the star of the show.

Next up, we visited Kushina Catering for some Ethiopian veggies. I sampled some delicious soup rich with cumin and undertones of cocoa. I also tried their salad, which featured heirloom tomatoes and a balsamic chocolate vinaigrette.

How gorgeous does that look?!

We finished our savory journey at Saucy Spirits. Saucy Spirits specializes in gourmet chocolate jellies, which they showcased beautifully on caprese and stuffed peppers.

I tried the chocolate mac & cheese. I know, I was skeptical about it at first, too. The jelly was indeed chocolate, but it primarily tasted of cabernet. The wine paired nicely with the sharp crumbles of cheese throughout the penne. I wish I had asked what kind of cheese it was!

We then began phase two of AUMing, and transitioned from savory to sweet. We started with the co-host Sugar-Coated Radical, where we sampled chocolate-covered cherries.

There was really earnest about their ingredients. They were fresh, pure, real. The gentleman serving up samples seemed very passionate about his creations, which is always nice to see. Plus, he looks kinda like Dave Grohl, and that's pretty cool.

We then visited Dr. Sweet's Cake Emporium, a bakery that specializes in gluten-free products. My friend, Jonathan, ordered one of these lovely spicy chocolate cupcakes.

As you can see from the look on his face, the heat came after the bite. What a twist!

We then visited one of my AUM favorites, Cake Balls by Nikki. I decided to follow Jonathan's lead and try something called the "Caliente."

The fiery-colored sprinkles say it all. Well, they say most of it. My friend Emily's face says the rest.

Please excuse my husband in the background. Yes, these pops were feisty! Again, the heat came as an aftertaste, but it went well with the moist chocolate cake.

We finished up our dessert course with Bear Maker Bakery. You may remember them from the second AUM, where they served Bananas Foster "lazy pops." These treats were cupcakes served in a push-pop container. Not only was it adorable, it was mess-free! The Bananas Foster lazy pops were good, but this month's dish completely topped it.

Flourless chocolate torte, Madagascar vanilla buttercream, an strawberries marinated in balsamic. It was even more flavorful than it sounds. The spicy sweetness of the strawberries married so well with the rich creaminess of the vanilla...and to top it off, there was chocolate. Perfect.

They also offered samples of bacon buttercream, which basically tasted like bacon coated in confectioners sugar (and that's a good thing). If patrons were craving more than just a sample, they offered more bacon buttercream sandwiched between two adorable cookies:

Between the cute piggy sandwiches and the flavor-packed torte, I think it's safe to say that Bear Baker Bakery won this round of AUM. I hope to see them again in the future.

Next, we ventured outside to sample some booze. Hooray booze!

Standing outside the Curb Market, I could see the floor where I work. This made drinking a little weird, but I got over it. Quickly.

We started with some wine from Chocolate Shop.

The wine was actually pretty good. Even though it had tones of chocolate in it, I think it was versatile enough to work with meals beyond dessert.

Next up, we visited Innis & Gunn, where we tried two different beers.

I especially liked the darker one, which was their rum cask brew. I thought it was interesting that the bottles were clear, when so many beer bottles are brown or green glass. Apparently, beer hates light, which is why darker glass is typically used. That being said, the part of the beer that reacts poorly with light is the hops. These beers had a very low hop-content, so the clear glass was fine!

Next, we tried Bakon vodka, a vodka infused with, well, bacon!

I liked the liquor on its own, but I didn't care for it mixed with chocolate milk. It wasn't the chocolate, it was more the milk that bothered me. Bacon and cream was good as a dessert earlier in the evening, but it didn't work for me as a cocktail. Perhaps Bakon with chocolate sans milk would be good? (Dear Bakon, if you make a new cocktail consisting of Bakon and Yoohoo, you must call it the Dr. Princess. Thanks.)

My husband disappeared momentarily, then snuck up behind me with this:

That's a chocolate-raspberry popsicle from The Pop Shop. I decided to join him, and I got a chocolate curry pop. It was really different, in a wonderfully exotic way! It was spicy, but not in the same way that our earlier spicy chocolate desserts had been.

Overall, I think these Markets just keep getting better and better. The vendors seem to really bring their best, and Michaela does a really great job of ensuring lots of variety. I really liked the fact that every dish revolved around one ingredient, and I'd love to see more "secret ingredients" in the future! What about the chick pea? Or pork? Or GOAT CHEESE?! Yum.

When I got home, my dog wouldn't stop sniffing my shoes, which I'm sure smelled like a chocolatier.

She had tasted the forbidden fruit before, and now could not stay away. Too bad she's a dog and chocolate is bad for her. Oh well, more for us!

Freeky Friday: Summer Blockbuster

<center><a href=http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freekware/128889363837099" target="_blank"><img alt="Freeky Friday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpaq7asyZrZmjOXZoCbekE3PK0cbJacPHTaPN7H5WUCCovaAZpkwLZqDun2Om3PDS9k4ETcNEsJE-QGaLtOojNS2Vav9T-iKvlAL77cAwgjJPqZQ8RetN9rJEChzj4pZa0kz5P6j0t6EU/"/></a></center>

Welcome to our first ever Freeky Friday post! This week's topic:

We're all getting psyched for summer. What plans are you most looking forward to?

Okay, I know I helped to come up with this topic, but it was a tough one to answer! What am I most looking forward to? Well, a lot! Summer is always such a busy time. I'm really excited about next month's quick beach trip with some of my best friends. I have a lot of weddings coming up this fall, which means lots of bachelorette and shower-related fun this summer. Freeky Friday is all about positivity, and I can't think of a more positive problem than having too much to look forward to. But most of all, I'm looking forward to a little visit from my sister, Amanda of Concrete Jane and Cake Walk & Coffee Talk, and some movie plans that we have together.

Amanda is my only sibling, and she recently made a pretty kickass Maid of Honor. This is the first time we'll be hanging out post-wedding, that is, sans wedding planning. No DIY projects, no errands to run, no massive to-do list, just straight-up summer-style chillin'.

What makes this particular visit so exciting? Well, we have some big plans...plans that have been in the works for so many years, we simply had to experience them together.

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Y'all, words can not express how excited I am to see this movie! I wasn't nearly this excited when I saw Episode 3 of Star Wars, or Return of the King, or...wow, I'm sounding like a bit of a nerd, huh?

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I know some of you feel me on this one! If there are any Harry Potter fans out there reading this, I dare you to watch this without getting goosebumps:

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Yep, the thing I am most looking forward to this summer is simply watching a movie. It's not just any movie, though; it's a franchise I've grown up with and identified with. Except for that whole magic part. I can't really relate to that...but it'd be awesome if I could.

Are you getting freeky this Friday? Then tell us what you're most looking forward to this summer! You can participate three different ways:

• Write a blog post using the badge html above, then comment on my post with a link to your post
• Tweet your answer using the tag #FreekyFriday
• "Like" the Freekware Facebook page, then comment on there with your answer

All contributions for the month of June will be entered to win some Brownie-covered Oreos as well as a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society in your name. So, if you blog on all three remaining Fridays in the month of June, you'll be entered three times! If you blog, tweet, and comment on Facebook all three Fridays, you'll be entered nine times!

Be sure to come back next Friday, 6/17, for the next freeking positive topic:

If you were making a positivity playlist, what three feel good songs would you include?