Meet "Newman"

No, I didn't get weak in the knees when he looked me so pitifully in the eye as if he was saying, "I need a home. Will you love me?" But my Aunt Steph and Uncle Mike sure did fall for it!

This is Newman, the newest addition to the Pitts family. I deemed his cute, crinkly little self blog-worthy! His name comes from the fiercely blue-eyed actor Paul Newman.

I think his nerdy little name suits him perfectly.

He is a little cross-eyed sometimes, but that's ok, he's just a little baby.

He loves to give sweet kisses... and his puppy breath is even sweeter.

Did I mention he's a miniature weiner dog? We say he looks like a miniature cow.

And thankfully, he will always be tiny!

He doesn't like to be put down. He will stand at your feet and look up at you until you pick him back up. I love it!

Little Mr. Newman is the sweetest little honey bunny, and I thought y'all would like to meet him!

Holiday Appetite

'Tis the holiday season, so food is on my brain. Well, it's always on my brain but whatever. I've been cooking a lot of it and eating a ton of it. As I type, we are cheerin' on the Bulldogs and I'm pretty sure the neighbors are getting annoyed and sippin' on some hot chocolate with marshmallows.

My belly is stuffed with moose chili and white bean crostini. "Where did you get moose meat?" you may be wondering... Well, my Dad killed a moose {at 10 yards} with his BOW last year in Canada and we have thoroughly enjoyed the meat. It's very similar to beef, but BETTER! It's very tender and lean, and not "gamey" at all. We are so proud of our Dad.

It's finally cold here so a bowl of moose chili is just what the doctor ordered! {Pardon the pun!}

On Thanksgiving Day, we made brunswick stew. Instead of boiling the chicken for it, I decided to take Ina Garten's advice and roast the chicken breasts. Oh my word y'all... why have I never done this before?? I usually roast whole chickens and it's always way too much meat for the two of us and I can never get the skin good and crispy... Although I think that problem stems from not having a legit roasting pan but who cares now because I'm hooked on split chicken breasts. These weren't boneless skinless by the way... They were bone-in, skin-on... therefore they were juicy on the inside and the skin was crispy on the outside. Perfection!

It's so hard to make food look as good as it tastes when your photographing it but PLEASE just take my word for it. Not to mention, it doesn't get any easier than this:

Preheat the oven to 400. Generously salt and pepper the chicken and rub each with olive oil. When the oven is preheated, roast them for thirty minutes or until you poke the largest one and the juices run clear. Let them "rest" for about ten minutes so all the juices can redistribute in the chicken. It's simple as that!

Next time I think I'm gonna stick thin lemon slices underneath the skin... I'll let you know how they turn out.

On another food note, Williams~Sonoma has all their pumpkin bread and butter on sale for 30% off and we took full advantage on Black Friday. It made for a delicious breakfast this morning.

And the game is now over and so is this blog post... WRAP IT IN MAROON AND WHITE!

Just us girls

It's Thanksgiving Day and it's just us girls...

No, we did not take this picture today... Today we have been "roughin" it and I would have received great wrath for taking pictures and posting them on this blog. We are actually "roughin it" in this picture come to think of it.

The boys {Dad and Aaron}, are in Alberta, Canada hunting for the week. {It's the peak of the rut up there}. It was reported that Rocky Mountain House was the coldest place on Earth this past Tuesday. Yes, colder than the North Pole, Antartica, Alaska, you name it. Thankfully they were well prepared and are bundled up. This was the state of our living room on Saturday night.

We sure do miss them but we're making the most of our girls-only week. It's been really really fun! We've been cookin' in the kitchen, staying up late talking, watching Netflix movies, going to the movies... it's kind of nice to have a week of nothing but chick flicks and "chick food" as Aaron calls it.

Today we had plans to drive to Jackson to spend Thanksgiving at my Grandmomma and Grandaddy's house {just like we do every year} with all our family but at 5 am this morning, I had a dental disaster {you readers who know about my dental history will know the exact kind of disaster I'm talking about! No laughing ok?!!}. So anyways, our big Thanksgiving Day plans went down the drain and my outlook of the day was turned into this.

I was looking so forward to seeing my family I don't get to see very often, eating Grandmomma's good cookin' and Grandaddy's turkey... I was bummed.

After my little pity party, I decided to turn my frown upside down and be THANKFUL today... We made ourselves a small Thanksgiving feast of Brunswick stew and pecan pie.

We've been doing a lot of this-

... and a lot of this-

It's a good thing we've been bums all day because we will be needing our energy for midnight tonight. Yes, we will be getting a head start on Black Friday at the outlets in Foley. It's gonna be hardcore!

Back to today... Remember a few posts ago, when I said I loved hot weather? Well I still do, but not on Thanksgiving. I was playing around with my camera in the yard this morning and it looks and feels like dadgum springtime here! See for yourself!

Rocky decided to model in a few... He thinks he's a lion.

No really, he does.

He's a pretty little lion though.

While we were outside we picked our "harvest" of satsumas. Do y'all eat these gems? They're like a cross between an orange and a tangerine, kind of. They're delicious.

I'm actually about to go eat one right now... but before I do, I will show you what I am most thankful for...

My love...

My family...

My friends...

God's awesome creation...

My health...

Those are just the main ones... there's a lot more. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

And I'm thankful for you readers out there too!

Weekend in the Woods

This past weekend, Aaron and I continued our yearly tradition of spending the MSU vs. Bama weekend  with our best friends... You've probably seen Courtney and Clay pop up in posts every now and then... They've been our best friends since the very beginning.

It was so refreshing to travel "North" and see some genuine fall foliage.

The Calhouns {Clay's family} own land in "rural Alabama" outside of Tuscaloosa and they are so gracious to let us spend the weekend in their cute little cabin.

The boys were in their element and thoroughly enjoyed "playing" in the woods.

... They're such scallywags... we love them though.

While the boys were in the woods all day Saturday, Court and I went into Tuscaloosa for the day for some girl time... which included lunch at Panera, Yogurt Mountain, grocery shopping at Target, and a nine mile run... too bad our race will be three times that amount. We're still convincing ourselves we're not looneys... We try to keep in mind that running is {supposedly} 60% mental!

Saturday night, Court and I cooked up a big pasta dinner while we watched the game. Unfortunately the Dawgs didn't show up near as ready as the Elephants Tide, but it didn't ruin our night... Fun was still had by all!

We cozied up by the fire and roasted marshmallows. Aaron likes his really roasted. And actually I prefer mine that way too... Like, the more "charred" the better.

Courtney and I decided to use Nutella instead of Hershey bars for our s'mores and it was delicious.

Have you ever eaten Nutella? My favorite way to eat it is straight out of the jar, but it was perfect for s'mores.

After such a fun weekend, we all agreed it was way too short. During our long run, Courtney and I were talking about how we miss the days of spending "carefree" time together... Our biggest worry used to be a research paper, a yearbook deadline, a big soccer game... or better yet, where we should go eat lunch, which wave was the best to ride on a boogy board, which mall we were going to shop at... Now that we're "adults", it's so easy to get caught up in the stresses and responsibilities of the working world {and just grownup life in general} and forget how goofy we really are together {not that much has changed} and how hard we can make each other laugh... That's why weekends like these are so good... I wonder how we're gonna feel when we start raisin' little ones?? Lord have mercy!!!

Back in the Olden Days...

Hi there!

Last weekend, we stayed at my Meemaw and Papaw JB's and Papaw took me through his "wonderland" of antique toys...

And this collection is too unique and HUGE not to share. This post will not do his antiques justice but I'm gonna try!

He is a collector... and has been for 20 years... obviously. He has hundreds of antique collectibles and who KNOWS how much it is all worth!

Some "antiquers" collect furniture, some dishes, some guns, some musical instruments, and some toys. After 20 years, he's got it all!  Do any of these photographs make you feel a little nostalgic?

Sandra, this one's for you!!

All you Mississippi folk might appreciate this "velvet Elvis"...

An appraiser told Papaw that if she possessed this she could retire today! And no I'm not telling y'all where they live ;)

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this famous photograph and the story behind it...

He collects old dolls and some of them are so cute! I love their little expressions.

And this evil little one scares me.

Did you know that some of his dolls are close to 100 years old?? He's hardcore.

Well, "Little Tumbles Surprise" is not that old. I played with her when I was little! Do any of you remember her?

I started feeling a bit nostalgic and had to play with her... She "tumbles".

I think this little doll was my favorite... I love her Gerber baby face.

He has photographs of tons of past Miss Americas... Any of you Mississippians recognize the pretty girl on the right?

That's right, she's Mary Ann Mobley!

Moving onto more boyish collectibles...

He has an impressive collection of old guns, some dating back almost 50-100 years.

And there are sooooo many more antique collectibles in his treasure sheds chest, but we would be here ALL DAY if I showed you everything. I think American Pickers on the History channel needs to come by his place. They would have a hay day!

And I don't have all day because I am now a busy working girl! I'm filling in at Bayside Orthopaedics {a.k.a. my dad's clinic} for a few months this offseason and it is such a blessing! The girls I work with are very patient teachers showing this "new girl" the ropes.

Another thing I'm "working" on is a marathon.  Courtney and I are in the midst of training and looking forward to the New Orleans Rock and Roll Marathon in February! We ran a half last year and decided we might as well just bite the bullet and do the full. You may think we're crazy and I'm sure we'll be agreeing with you on mile 26, but we're really looking forward to it!

Ok, so now that I've told the "blogging-facebook world", there's no turning back now!

Well I'm tired just writing about work and a marathon so I'm going to hit the sack.

Goodnight y'all.