Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Solomonsons!

Meet our newest addition, Elf on a Shelf, Hingle McKringleberry! Hingle spent Thanksgiving with us in Memphis and will be spending the rest of the Holidays with us through the New Year! He’s already gotten into some mischief so I’m sure he’s going to be a handful!

So very thankful and happy to be home with my family. Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Jimmy Johns $1 Sub day! Had my first JJ Sub about a month ago and I am hooked! Love love love the Beach Club with Salt and Vinegar chips…..best putting the chips ON the sub! Yum!

Andrew and I went to a pumpkin patch at Scottsdale Farms up in Northern Georgia this weekend. We really just happened upon it after eating an early lunch over in Milton. Such a cute place with TONS of fall and halloween decorations, a pumpkin patch, hay rides, face painting and an indoor shop full of old vintage decor. Inside, there was also the Bella Luna Cafe, serving a variety of breakfast and lunch items, beverages, coffee, ice cream and desserts! So much fun!

Just found out on November 8th, they will be having a Christmas open house with seasonal refreshments, wine tastings, live music and decorating demonstrations!  Sign me up!

This year, the Pope High School Band got to travel to Charleston, South Carolina to perform in the Wando High School Invitational…..being my first trip with the Pope Band in my 3 years of teaching with the greyhounds! Let me just say Charleston is one of the most gorgeous southern towns I’ve ever visited and would love to go back and actually visit for a weekend with my family. Tons of shopping, great architecture and the BEACH! Here are some fun photos I captured while Alexis and I shopped around at the Historic Charleston City Market, then later on at the beautiful Isle of Palms.

Today was one of those days you wish wouldn’t end! Temperatures were in the upper 70’s, still a little warm for my taste, but better than the 80 and 90 degree weather we’ve had throughout the past 4 months. Yesterday was officially the first day of FALL, my absolute favorite season. Football, leaves changing, cooler temperatures and PUMPKINS! Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin beer, pumpkin bread, pumpkin candles, pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin! In the spirit of the fall season, I decided last week to start decorating the house with a bunch of fall goodies I have collected over the years, as well as some new DIY additions!

Today, Drew and I spent the morning like we do most Sunday mornings…..cup of coffee in hand and just relaxing and enjoying time together, which rarely happens this time of year with both of our busy schedules. After a good 2 to 3 hours of doing nothing, we decided to meet Heath, Dan and Jenny (Elizabeth’s sister) for lunch at the Olde Blind Dog Irish Pub in Milton, GA.

Milton has such a beautiful, charming little downtown area with cute little shops, restaurants, bars and businesses. After driving through downtown Milton last winter for a guard show, I’ve always wanted to come back, but just never found the time. The Olde Blind Dog was by far one of the coolest and yummiest places I’ve eaten since living in Atlanta! Drew ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich (which I had never heard of before)……..pretty much a funnel cake sandwich……ham, turkey and cheese sandwich deep fried with yummy goodness and sprinkled with powdered sugar! YUM! We also enjoyed some pretzel bread with beer cheese, tobacco fried pickles, a couple omelets, a meatloaf sandwich and a bowl of blackened chicken pasta with red pepper cream sauce! I definitely recommend to anyone who happens to be in the Milton area in the near future!

Thinking we couldn’t possibly fit any more food into our bodies, we decided to wait a bit to leave until we could make a little room for something sweet! We headed over to a small ice cream/candy shop called Scoops. They had everything you could think of in the name of sweets……candy, cupcakes, truffles, ice cream…..you name it! I was practically drooling on the glass trying to pick what I wanted! In the end, Drew and I split some deeeelicious Butter Pecan ice cream while we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with friends.