Baby, It's Cold Outside ❄️

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Brrr...It is a cold start to this Sunday morning! A chilly 24 degrees outside right now!

I LOVE this cold weather! Knoxville actually had some decent flurries on Friday!

Chilly days call for hot cocoa!

This past week has been a lot of fun. I've been able to do a little exploring around Knoxville and check out some places that I have been wanting to go to for a while now! Here's a recap of this past week!

First off, I'm super excited that I can finally make smoothies again! I got a Ninja blender for my Birthday last week, and I've been making a smoothie practically everyday!

To get my chocolate cravings in, I've been making more banana, chocolate smoothies. I add the ground flaxseed because of the health benefits, but mostly because it helps keep me fuller, longer. 

1 banana, chocolate almond milk (about 1/2 cup) , 1/2 tablespoon ground flaxseed, and ice!

Speaking of chocolate cravings...

Last Monday was NATIONAL COOKIE DAY!!

I picked up these gluten-free cookies from Aldi! The brand is Live G Free, and these cookies were double chocolate brownie. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising, the cookies tasted really good! I liked how soft and chewy these cookies were. The only downfall is how tiny they are! 2 cookies = 120 calories. Two cookies isn't bad though when you just need a little bit of dessert!

Cat cuddles!

Now, for the exploring Knoxville restaurants/shops bit:

I enjoy my days off with the hubby, especially since it doesn't happen often enough. I was ecstatic when we had Thursday off together.

Nathan and I have a nice long list of restaurants we want to try out. 

We decided to go to Tandur Indian Kitchen for lunch!

Tandur Indian Kitchen was sooooo yummy!! I certainly love Indian food, so when I heard about Tandur Indian Kitchen arriving in Knoxville, TN, I was extremely excited! When you enter the restaurant, I was greeted by the friendliest staff, offering to explain the menu. I already knew the majority of the menu, so I ordered right away! 

I love Saag (creamed spinach), so I ordered it with chicken. My meal came with either basmati rice or brown (I ordered brown rice), and regular Naan bread.

We ordered vegetable samosas to start out - the mint sauce is delicious! I have to learn the recipe!

Samosas!

Saag with chicken, brown rice, and plain naan!

After an incredible lunch, the hubs and I needed to walk it off. Just down the road is Bearden area, and there are so many local shops that I haven't been to yet!

Fig & Co. is one of the many places that I had been really wanting to check out. I can't believe it has taken me this long to go into Fig & Co.! They had the cutest home decor and very reasonable prices! This is the place to go to get your Christmas presents for everyone!

The staff was extremely friendly, as soon as Nathan and I walked in, we were offered to try some chocolates (we were too full from our lunch), and they also gladly answered any questions we had! I really appreciate genuine customer service; that's exactly what you receive at Fig & Co.!

I bought an adorable fox trinket box, a little "puzzle" reindeer! I plan on going back very soon to get some more Christmas gifts!

Right next door to Fig & Co., is another interesting boutique/shop - Ironic.  Ironic had really one of a kind pieces that I absolutely adored! This advent calendar was super cute (move the mouse to each day of the month)! At Ironic, there was home decor, clothing, some jewelry, chalk paint, and more!

Since we were still in Bearden area, we went into Nadeau (furniture with a soul).

 The staff was also extremely friendly and inviting! 

There were SO many pieces of furniture that I just wished I could take home with us! The prices were surprisingly reasonable for the majority of the pieces of furniture!

I will certainly go back after the holidays, and pick out the beautiful pieces of furniture I want/need for the home!

It's always exciting exploring new restaurants and shops. I have a list of more places so it won't be long till I check more places out! 

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Oh, apparently, the Nutcrackers couldn't handle all the nuts...😂

QUESTIONS:

* Do you enjoy snow?

* Have you had snow/flurries yet?

* Have you finished your Christmas present shopping?

Birthday = "ME" Day

Happy DECEMBER lovelies!

As soon as December arrives, my Birthday comes along with it! 👑

I had been looking forward to having a relaxing "ME" day, and my Birthday was the perfect excuse! 

A large cup of coffee with cream from Dunkin' Donuts helped me wake up, as I headed over to the hair salon!

My first Birthday gift to myself was getting my hair colored. Every time I get my hair done, I go to Natural Alternatives Salon & Spa to see Sunshine. Everyone at the salon is genuinely friendly; they make you feel welcome. Christmas decorations were hung up beautifully, and I enjoyed looking at the cute Aveda Christmas gift packages they have available for purchase!

Getting my hair done was the best way to start the day; it was relaxing, yet fun (as always)!

Sunshine surprised me with the sweetest and cutest Birthday gift!

Now, you can SEE why getting my hair done by Sunshine was EXACTLY what I needed to begin my Birthday!

Photo Credits by Sunshine Carter

Sunshine is incredibly talented! She did the most stunning transformation with my hair with her painting skills. The chestnut tones flow through my hair and are bright, yet natural!

After getting my hair done, I drove over to The Southern Market.

The Southern Market is a great place to check out when you want a large variety of items to choose from! Many of the little shops inside are local artists; which I love looking at handmade, local items!

Most of the time, I could take a long while, looking around at everything, but with their open house it was very busy! Feeling a little too cramped, I decided to head out without any items in hand (this time). However, I'll be back on a less busy day! 😊

Next, I decided to check out Knoxville Soap Candle & Gifts

This was my first time checking out this little shop in Bearden, and it looked gorgeous and smelled wonderful! Knoxville Soap Candle & Gifts has been around for TWELVE YEARS! I couldn't believe I hadn't been there yet!

 Gregory's Greenhouse Productions was stationed in front of the store. His displays of greenery was beautiful! 

How cute are these Christmas trucks?!

Inside the cute and fragrant shop, I met Debra van der Hoeven, the founder of Tiny Treasure Jewelry. 

Her earrings were so unusual, and it's because she uses Kombucha SCOBY! Kombucha is brewed and when it ferments it creates SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) on top. Debra re-uses the SCOBY to make these earrings! The earrings are colored with different things types of paint (from food coloring to water colors) and then dried out!

There were other types of earrings as well, not just the Kombucha SCOBY; but I found them fascinating!

Make sure to check out the website for more earrings!

Kombucha SCOBY earrings by Tiny Treasure Jewelry

Knoxville Soap Candle & Gifts

The decor all around the store was beautiful! I just adore Christmas time!

I was too distracted to take more pictures. There were handmade candles, soaps, jewelry, and more! I really enjoyed this shop! I'll definitely take more pictures the next time I go back!

I had an incredible day of pampering and shopping! My Birthday was a perfect "ME" day!

When Nathan got home, I was FINALLY able to open up my Birthday present! 

An electric fireplace to put in the master bedroom! It's the perfect piece to make our room a little Utopia!

Riley loves it too!

Hygge on point!

We didn't have the energy to mount the fireplace on the wall, but that will be on our to-do list for today! 😃 I can't wait!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

* What do you do for your "ME" days?

* Are your Christmas decorations up yet?

* What is your favorite part of December?

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday lovelies!

I am thrilled that my roses are finally coming back to life! I was getting a little worried, but with the little bit of rain we are getting, it has helped them start blooming! The roses are called knock out roses, which makes them easier to take care and easier to keep alive.  :) They are also absolutely gorgeous!

Speaking of flowers/plants, my sweet co-worker made the most adorable succulent plant holders out of pretty cups! Isn't that such a good idea? I adore it!

Now that things are slowing back down a little bit, I have had the opportunity to check out a couple shops around town.

I stopped at one of my favorite places - Bradley's (A/K/A Knoxville Chocolate Co.)! The home decor is so cute, it's difficult not to buy everything in sight! It is fun to stop in and see what new items they have. Plus, they have scrumptious homemade chocolates! I was craving chocolate, so naturally I picked up one of their mini chocolate sampler boxes. We will see if I can just eat one a day...although it is more likely I will eat all four today! Haha!

Right next to Bradley's is a new store called Zi Olive. Instantly, I fell in love! There are endless flavors of balsamic vinegar, olive oils, as well as stuffed olives, Himalayan salt blocks, spices, pasta, and more! You can taste test each flavor of the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Flavors range from fig balsamic vinegar to bacon olive oil! There really are so many options for each person's flavor preferences! They offer samplers of mini bottles! I picked up the "The Employee Sampler," which contains some balsamic vinegar and some olive oil: Fig balsamic vinegar; traditional style balsamic vinegar, white raspberry balsamic vinegar, Meyer lemon olive oil, house EVOO, and Italian herb infused olive oil. I was also very lucky to receive a delicious mini bottle of the blood orange olive oil. Yum!! Besides those items, I had to grab a packet of dipping herbs/seasonings in the Mediterranean citrus herbs flavor. I am looking forward to cooking more with these items! Now I can cook more healthy meals at home, but not miss out on flavor!! It will be fun to experiment with different recipes with the new oils and balsamic vinegar!! :) Zi Olive has the perfect goodies to put together for gift baskets, or to just try out for yourself! I highly recommend checking this awesome store and trying their products!

On Saturday, April 30th from 11 am to 1 pm they will be having a tasting event featuring Chef John Alunni!

For more information on Zi Olive, check out their website: Zi Olive - Knoxville

Question Time:

* Which local shops do you love to visit?

* Do you cook with flavored olive oils?

* Would you try unique flavored balsamic vinegar? Which would you want to try the most?

February!

Hey y'all! Happy February!

Yesterday was Groundhog day! Apparently, Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, which may mean we will have an early Spring!
We haven't had much of a winter anyway (in Knoxville, at least), so we will see if we will indeed have an early Spring or not!


Nathan and I had some time together, so we took advantage of the day and ran some errands. Adulting is awesome, isn't it?

First we stopped at McKay's. McKay's is a used bookstore that also sells used dvd's, games, electronics, and much more. We had a ton of books, movies, and games to drop off and trade in for credit. I love getting credit to the store just for bringing in old books, etc.! With our credit, we ended up buying some blu-ray movies that we haven't seen yet!
I love that McKay's had an adorable tree made out of books! They should keep it up all year round!

I convinced Nathan to stop at The Southern Market! The Southern Market is amazing! It is full of cute and unique interior items/decor. Every single time I go, there is something new I fall in love with. The store is massive, and they have items by local artists/vendors.
Whenever stopping by, it is mandatory to grab up some goodies made by Sugar Mama's Bakery!

Sugar Mama's Bakery 

New Eve Jewelry

I cannot believe I parted with the coffee tumbler that says "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!" I think that will be a must have the next time I stop in the store! :) OR, if you go first, grab it up for me! Hehe!

Ashley Brooke Designs

Ahhh...the honey cookies by Sugar Mama's Bakery are SOOOOO scrumptious!

Sometimes you gotta treat yo' self!
    

;p

Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with New Eve Jewelry! The artist is Megan Craig, a local jewelry designer.  Some of her gorgeous pieces are sold at Southern Market, and I found a necklace that I could not part with. Actually, I wanted to buy them all, but unfortunately I could only purchase one.
You can find more beautiful handcrafted jewelry on her etsy shop or on the main website!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/newevejewelry
http://www.newevejewelry.com/

Below is a beautiful turquoise wired ring which pairs well with any outfit! This ring is by jewelry designer, Danielle Kimberly Robinson - DKR Jewelry. You can find more info on her etsy shop as well!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DKRJewelry?ref=pr_shop_more
or on www.southernmarketshops.com

Isn't it gorgeous?!

I can't think of anything better than Starbucks coffee and shopping on a rainy day! :)

Recently, I finished reading Mindy Kaling's newest book - "Why Not Me."
Her first book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" was hilarious. "Why Not Me" was quite funny, but overall enjoyed her first book much more!

Questions for y'all:

Do you think Punxsutawney Phil is right? Will we have an early Spring?

Do you have any favorite local artists?

What books are you currently reading?