GOODBYE 2017

HAPPY 2018!! 🎊

2017 is officially over! 

The last week of 2017 was nice because the hubs and I got to meet up with family in Greenville, SC!

On Thursday, Nathan and I drove to Greenville, SC, to meet up with my Mom, Sister in law, niece and nephew. Our visit was a short but sweet get together. Greenville is such a cute little city, and it makes the perfect halfway point to meet up with family!

By the time we all got into town, it was lunch time. We ate at Tupelo Honey Cafe. The restaurant was packed and we did have a long wait, but it would have been just as long anywhere else. Let me just tell you, it was worth the wait! Our waitress was really sweet, and did a great job! I had the sweet potato pancakes. Holy Moly were they delicious!! YES, that IS fried chicken on my pancakes...

After lunch, we walked to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express. We hung out for a bit, played some Uno and Clue. Eventually, we were hungry again and walked down the street to Trio for dinner. The service and food was excellent at Trio! They hands down, have the best garlic bread I have ever had in my life! I had the eggplant parmigiana - SO GOOD!!!!

Unfortunately, it was FREEZING outside, so we just couldn't walk around. We went straight back to the hotel and hung out there for a while. One of the many things I adore about Greenville is their Mice on Main scavenger hunt! Throughout the city, there are 9 bronze mice statues! This scavenger hunt is great for kids (and adults like me), which really makes walking around town more exciting!

Lulu found a mouse!

The Holiday Inn Express had a great free breakfast with tons of food options! Our hotel was within walking distance to all of downtown - except it was just too cold for us to do so. Overall, the hotel was perfect for our short visit!

Sisters!

AJ and me!

Family ❤️

Next time, we'll all meet when it is warmer weather so we can truly enjoy all of downtown Greenville! After breakfast and some more hanging out, it was time to head back home.


Sunday, Nathan and I had a fantastic brunch at Holly's Gourmet's Market & Cafe!

Frog in a Ditch with a side of grits!

We had fun looking around McKay's Used Books, and ran some other errands before eventually returning home. It's been too cold with zero snow! 😠

Our neighbors had some really beautiful fireworks going on all night. It was nice to watch them in the comfort (and warmth) of our own home!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years celebration! Here's to 2018!!

QUESTIONS:

* What was your favorite part of 2017?

* What are your New Years resolutions (if any)?

* What are you looking forward to most in 2018?

Beginning the New Year

Hey y'all! We are now 5 days into 2017, and it has already had a great start!

2016 wasn't the best year, but at least it ended well! Nathan's parents were in town, and when they are here, we always have a blast! New Years Eve day was full of fun at the Museum of Appalachia. Although it was a chilly day, it was perfect for walking around taking pictures! The entire area was abandoned due to the cold weather, so we had the place all to ourselves.

After spending all afternoon at the museum, Cancun's Mexican restaurant was our choice for dinner. Yum! We had our margaritas and delicious food.
To stay awake till midnight, we played games like Exploding Kittens and Phase 10!
Midnight finally arrived, and we brought in 2017 together!

January 1st was spent relaxing before getting ready to go to Breakout Knoxville! We chose the Casino breakout game, and broke out with 6 minutes left to spare! We were teamed up with another family of four, so it helped having the extra brains! Our success picture ended up sticking the image on my face, but oh well! Hehe :)

January 2nd, the group of us went to the Knoxville Gun Range to shoot some targets! We had fun, and all did a good job! I look forward to going back!

This morning was chilly, which made it perfect to bake some delicious pumpkin muffins! I haven't baked in a long while, it was wonderful to finally make these again! The recipe comes from Skinny Mom blog - Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I doubled the recipe and used to boxes of cake mix, 30 ounces of pumpkin, and 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce. 

My KitchenAid mixer makes baking a million times easier!

Today we actually had our first flurries of 2017! I can't wait to get some real snow though! :)

I hope everyone had a fantastic New Years celebration! 2017 is going to be amazing! 

Question Time!

* How did you bring in the New Year?

* What are your goals for 2017?

* What are you most looking forward to in 2017?