Corey Smith

Forgive me for re-living my college years last night, but Corey Smith came to town and I really love him. And live music. His honesty in songwriting is my favorite thing about him. He said last night that to be a good songwriter you have to be honest, and if you're honest you're probably going to offend someone sooner or later. Well... a few of his songs are pretty offensive, but he plays it off with such charm. For all you other Corey fans who couldn't make it, you missed a good show! He played for a solid 2 hours. Pretty impressive. Being the "list" person that I am, I made sure to write down his set-list as he played so I woudn't forget anything.

He opened up with: 1) Maybe Next Year

2) Party

3) In Love With A Memory

4) $8 Bottle of Wine

5) Broken Record

6) The Redneck In Me

7) Something To Lose

8)Drinkin' Again

9) You Don't Know How It Feels (Tom Petty cover)

10) Backroads

11) Collide

12) Drugs

13) Carolina

14) Great Day To Be Alive (Travis Tritt cover)

15) I Love Black People

16) Every Dawg Has Its Day

17)Harmony

18) This Little Light of Mine (medley)

19) Twenty-One

(exits stage left.....COREY, COREY, COREY, COREY) ....just kidding...that didn't happen (the chanting part). But he did come back and sing a few more...

20)F * The Po-Po

21) The Bottle...Lord, won't you show him heaven after all the hell that he's been through...

22) Desperado (Eagles cover)

And he ended with: 24) If I Could Do It Again

Had fun, Cath and Courts! We'll have to do it again (no pun intended)

Caroline

Fresh Tomatoes

Last week a friend gave me some fresh tomatoes from her parents house in Aiken, South Carolina. She piled them in my bag...atleast 6. "No, no!" I said..."I can't eat that many by myself. They'll go bad!" Well, I ate that many by myself. And I went to Brighter Day to buy MORE fresh tomatoes, but they weren't nearly as good. How did I eat the tomatoes you ask? Cracker Salad.

1 tomato

A little bit of chopped up vidalia onion (raw)

Season with salt and pepper

Add about a tablespoon of mayo

Crumble some Saltines on top and you're done! Quick lunch. Nothing special, but oh so good!

Also, you must try this delectable sandwich....a fancy twist to the grilled cheese. Mozzarella, fresh tomato, and basil- pesto. That was dinner last night. I think I'm going to turn into a tomato.

Here is the lonely tomato plant on my porch that I've had for months now. She is barren and sickly. Thanks for nothing....

Since we're on the subject of food (probably my favorite subject)...Have you ever tried grapes on your cereal instead of the standard banana or berries? Just a little trick I learned at Camp DeSoto. I highly reccommend it.

Enjoy your day!

Caroline

Baby Birds II

We now have 3 babies and they are looking more gray and fuzzy than pink and newly hatched.

FEED ME! FEED ME!

Pinterest

Pinterest, where have you been all my life? For all you people who love organizing as much as I do, this is the ultimate website. Here, you can "organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web," and make a collection of all your favorite things. Its like a virtaul storage shelf where you can stash your ideas and bring them to life at a later date! (Or...maybe they will never come to life, but atleast they are stored and ready.)

I don't really know how else to express the wonder of this site....so if you click HERE you will find a more detailed explanation.

Also, here is the link to my pinterest page so that you can snoop around and see my collection of favorites.

Hurry up and make your own account so that I can see what YOU love.

Caroline

Baby Birds

It all started with me wanting a fern to hang outside on my front porch.

I found a half-way healthy looking one at Piggly Wiggly of all places and it has served it's purpose of making my house (condo) look more like a home. Well, not long after the fern was hung I began to notice that birds would swoop out of the fern and fly away every time I opened the door. I took the fern down, peeked inside, and much to my delight.....there was a nest made up of all kinds of tidbits....pinestraw, moss, dried grass, even a pink wrist band from the bar. Very resourceful. Momma bird has good taste adding a splash of pink to the nest. I hoped that my moving the fern around wouldn't keep the birds from laying eggs and sure enough it didn't! A few days later I found 3 little blue eggs, then 2 more the next day. I've been waiting to hear little peeps coming from the fern. When I checked today, look what I found! Two little fuzzy, pink babies. I

wish the pictures were clearer but I didn't want to disturb them too much. I will check back tomorrow and try to get a better one with my real camera. There are 3 more to be hatched and I'm tempted to sit there and wait patiently for the eggs to crack right before my very eyes. But...I returned the fern to its hook so that nature can run its course and I will try to not look again until tomorrow.

What shall I name them? They have to have names! Any suggestions?

Caroline

My Dream House

Its okay to dream. Lots of my daydreams are made up of having a house of my own and a family to fill it up. One lazy Sunday I drove around Isle of Hope and took a few pictures of my favorite houses around here. None of them are huge or extravagant, but they draw me in for some reason or another. So let's take a look. [Sidenote: If you recognize any of these houses...or if it is your house...I hope you don't mind that I'm sharing. Please take it as a compliment!]

So here is house #1: (same as in the picture above) This one used to be a shack that was torn down and rebuilt. Whoever re-designed it did a fine job. I love the red, tin roof and the double front doors. The yellow exterior with white porch rails looks fresh and crisp to me. The huge oak tree in the front is so southern and the American flag on the side by the palm tree is a nice touch.

Now on to house #2: A brighly colored front door is a new favorite of mine. I've seen lots of people picking up on the trend lately and I LIKE it. Green is my color, so of course I love this front door. The main reason why I am drawn to this house is because of the front porch. They have recently added outdoor furniture with a Pottery Barn-ish look to it, white linen sofa cushions and (you can't see it in this picture) curtains that are tied together in the middle on the far left and right sides of the porch. The wrought iron hanging lanterns also make it very elegant. And when does a white picket fence NOT look good? I think its perfect.

House #3: Once again, the white picket fence, the trellis covered in confederate jasmine, the bright, bold, red exterior with white trim. Rocking chair on the front porch. Its hard to see in this picture, but their yard is always imacculate and landscaped to a T. Its also surrounded by oak trees. How peaceful. This picture really does not do it justice, but I love the barn look of this house- not in an "Old MacDonald" way. Maybe cottage is a better word?

And that concludes my house-hunting....Its fun to pretend...

Caroline

Berry Pickin'

In the true spirit of summer time, Trey and I made a visit out to Ottowa Farms in Bloomingdale and spent an afternoon picking our very own blackberries and blueberries.

We had the best time and the whole experience kind of comes with a sense of accomplishment. When you eat them.....you think: "my own sweat, blood, and tears went into picking this very berry." As we speak I am eating some blueberries on my Honey Bunches of Oats. Between the two of us, we picked 3 lbs. of blackberries and 1 and a half lbs. of blueberries.

Here's the rundown. You go into the sweet little country store and grab your basket for pickin', pick till your heart's content, then go inside to weigh -and -pay. Might I add, they have all kinds of other goods to buy in the country store. Along with our berries, we came out with a seedless watermelon, some homemade peach salsa, 2 lbs. of fresh angus beef (hormone and anti-biotic free!) and a big ol' vidalia onion.

I was so tempted to buy a loaf of fresh apple bread, but I figured I had plenty enough already. No need to go overboard. Another trip is most definitely in order.

Now, what to do with all these BERRIES?

I've been looking up blackberry recipes and I think I found the perfect one on another blog that I follow called Two Peas and Their Pod. They have the most excellent recipes. In fact, I made their Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies on Friday night and they were to-die-for. So, the recipe I chose for the blackberries is Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins. I'm sure its going to make a ton, so I will be happy to share!

Caroline