Who Called It? {We All Did}

And my husband would probably want me to interject at this point that he doesn't talk like that in real life.  He loves talking like a "tween" on text.  :)  Cracks me up.

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween.  No shocker there.  (You've seen our house)

And we still love getting dressed up!

This year I was a ballerina and Ian was Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

He nailed it, right?!

Everyone had creative costumes and we had a blast all hanging out together at our friends' house.

Did you dress up this year?  Go to any fun parties?

Also, this is your last day to give me some input on what you'd like to see me do for my 30 Before 30 ... IN 30! challenge.  Just comment on this post.  Thanks ya'll!

I Need Your Creativity.

I need your help!
At the beginning of the year, I will be celebrating a birthday ... a BIG birthday!  Turning 30 is pretty exciting to me and I can definitely say that I've loved my 20s.

A lot of people -- who are not procrastinators -- do a "30 Before 30" list.  One that includes really big "landmark" things, perhaps skydiving or getting a tattoo.  Don't worry mom, I won't be doing either.

Alas, I am a procrastinator.  Hey, at least I own it!

So I never came up with this type of list, but here's what I am going to do --

A "30 Before 30 .... IN 30!" list.  Yep, the 30 days of November will be my timeframe to cross things off my list.

These things don't need to be crazy or wild or big, but just fun ... i.e., give spinning class another shot, or share a special family recipe in a blog post.  But I need and want your input!

Is there anything you'd like to see me accomplish or post about in November?  Put your creative thinking caps on, and let me know!  I'll post my list of 30 items on November 1st.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Oysters, Pumpkin Pancakes, and Gold Chains

I was a little bit absent this past week, but this is what I was up to:

Cheese fries.  Yes, not any ol' cheese fries, but hot crunchy fries at MJ's Raw Bar & Grill in New Bern, NC.  Hot crunchy fries covered in hot crab dip, melted cheese, and bacon. 

Can you blame me for being absent?  I was in a food coma!

And of course we had oysters.  Raw, yummy oysters.

We ate them "Rooster" style where you stack a saltine with the oyster (I dipped mine in butter first), horseradish, cocktail sauce, Tabasco, and a jalapeno slice.  And a squirt of lemon.  Spicy and TDF.

New Bern was quaint and cute as always.  Here's the view from my hotel room.  Pretty, right?!

It was a great trip but I loved returning home yesterday evening.  Ian and I watched American Horror Story (anyone watching it?!  It's freaky ... and it sucks you in!) and had Moe's.  Fancy.  :)

This morning, after sleeping in til 9, I made us pumpkin pancakes topped with honeycrisp apple slices and a little shake of pumpkin pie spice.  They were delish!

Today we just ran a lot of errands and got the last-minute details of our Halloween costumes wrapped up for a party tonight.  Any guesses at what I'll be?  I might post some clues on Twitter, so follow me - @alizadventures.  :)

I came home to find a package at the door ... look at who it was from!

Yes, my books from Dr. Laura Berman that she told me she would send me (wrap-up of that fun story in this post).

All I have to say is that my husband is walking around the house now in a bathrobe and a gold chain right now.  Thank goodness it's part of his Halloween costume.  Time for me to go get changed into mine!

Carvin' That Pumpkin

It's pumpkin carving time ... whoo hoo!

Pumpkins + Cottonwood pumpkin ale rimmed in cinnamon + pumpkin seeds in the oven = perfection

Old School Fun

Know what we did Friday night?  We walked to the nearby high school and went to their homecoming football game.

They played against one of the best teams in the region, another Charlotte high school team.

Our friends Lindsay and Casey joined us.  We snacked on M&Ms and Ian bought us girls hot chocolates ... complete with marshmallows on top.  It was chilly outside but I sipped on my hot chocolate and watched as the new homecoming queen was crowned. 

Ahhhh, memories.  No, I wasn't homecoming queen.  But I was on the court!  Don't worry, I have proof.

That's a true flashback to the fall of 1999.

ANYWAY!

I'm not gonna lie ... on Friday night I was a little jealous of the high school girls running around in skintight leggings and Uggs, texting and giggling and holding hands with boys.

And then I remembered that they had curfews.  And I still got to hold hands with a boy, and I didn't have to worry about him breaking up with me via text.  And I took a sip of my hot chocolate and smiled at the fact that it had a minibottle of Baileys in it ... which I can do because I am over 21.  :)

Cape Madras -- I Need Your Help!

I have a favor!  A big, big favor.

Cape Madras is running a competition on their Facebook page where the person with the most "likes" of their fall photo will win $200 in Cape Madras gear!

Ya'll ... after no-shopping month, I could really use a few new pieces in my wardrobe :)

Please take a sec to click here and like the picture of me and Drake?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=612491964314&set=o.59650043280&type=1&theater

Pretty please?!

The deadline is this Sunday at 10pm EST!

Welcome, Weekend

Happy Winesday

It certainly is chilly here in Charlotte!
Last night I joined my girlfriends for a wine flight at Fabo.  Yummy.

We all chose the flight of red wines and they were delish and the perfect comfort to a windy, drizzly, blustery day.

Love my friends and love that we can have so much fun in a quick jaunt out to celebrate Winesday!

Did you celebrate?

Weekend In The Mountains, Part II

When our friends arrived in the mountains, the party started!

We first headed to a nearby trout farm where you can catch your own trout out of a stocked pond and then leave it there for a few hours for them to smoke it.  Then you just pick it up and serve it cold with little forks, lemon wedges, and capers -- sounds perfect, right?!  

Sadly, we learned this year that they no longer offered the smoking option, due to some sort of government restriction.  Which kinda makes me wonder about the other times that Ian and I enjoyed this smoked trout.  Hmmm.... not gonna let my mind go there.  So we decided to just head back to the house, but not before I snapped this cute and candid picture of our friends Kim and Cass (you saw their wedding in this post).

When we got back to the house, the guys headed down to the stream to fish for a little bit, and we girls sat out on the patio and had some girltalk.  I also took a break to pour us all some Honeycrisp Apple Sangria that I made -- recipe found here -- after spotting this lovely concoction all over the blogs & Pinterest.  It was absolutely wonderful, and all of the girls loved it.

After a while the guys came back from the stream and decided to shoot a little bit.  The house is at the very top of a mountain, and we always make sure to shoot right into a side of the mountain that juts upward so there is no worry about a stray bullet hitting something or someone.  We may have guns, but we play very safely with them and take shooting targets very seriously.  Okay, off my soapbox now.  :)

Ian and the guys shot first, and then I wandered outside to take a turn too.  I shot a small revolver belonging to one of the guys that has a gorgeous mother of pearl grip.

We had shiny silver cans on tree branches to use as our targets.  I can't claim the below picture as my own shot, it was done by a shotgun and not a pistol.  Pretty cool regardless.

When the guys came inside, we all lit a fire and played our favorite game, Taboo.

For dinner, we cooked steaks on the grill with roasted onions and potatoes and butternut squash soup.  For dessert, we had the cupcakes that I made for Ian's birthday.

Cupcakes, might I add, complete with trick candles.



And afterwards we hopped in our swimsuits and spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub.  Perfect weekend in the mountains!