Let's see… what have we been up to at the Baker house? I don't feel like going into detail (not like there's much anyway), so here is quick roundup with pictures!

How adorable is this? Kalyn asked me to be a bridesmaid with this fun balloon adventure-in-a-box. I can't believe the balloon made it all the way from California… especially since USPS was in charge!

We celebrated Jillian and Austin's upcoming wedding with a fun couples shower.

Post-shower, a handful of us went to Atkins Park for some late night fun.

Adam was thrilled to watch UGA beat Auburn at my parents' little shindig, but my mom was still the cutest fan.

I had to go on a last-minute work trip to Charlotte, so took the chance to finally see a Hornets game with Natalie. Michael Jordan was sitting 10 rows in front of us… no big deal.

The new Restoration Hardware flagship store in Buckhead held a fancy pants opening party. That place is INSANE.

One of SIX levels…

I hadn't spent some QT with my favorite little man in awhile, so I bombarded the Causey house to steal him. We had a solid 10-15 minutes of being awake and not crying… a new record for me!

Adam finally had a Saturday off, so I put him to work! (Just kidding, I didn't even have to ask him.)

Saturday night, Adam and I met up with Aimee, Doug and some of their friends for a night out in Dunwoody. First stop, taking over the band at Dunwoody Tavern.

Madi eventually met up with us and we finished the night at Steak N' Shake.

Ruthie loves human food (obvi) and fell asleep begging for my lunch on Sunday. What a little weirdo!

We all celebrated Kelsey's birthday at Pasta da Pulcinella on Sunday night, followed by some Key Lime Pie and watching Adam change Jude's diaper back at the Bakers. This provided some good laughs!

They both survived!

Let's zoom in on the difference in hand size. So adorable!

That's about it! And other than obsessed over the Cilantro Lime Cauliflower rice, I haven't really made any new recipes. I did just finish our Thanksgiving dish, but I'll save that bad boy for the next post.

Charlotte -> Nashville -> Charleston

Like I said, October was/is nuts. I left on Tuesday, October 7 for a whirlwind work trip. First stop, back to Charlotte! Initially my meetings in Charlotte were supposed to be the prior week so I could just stay through Natalie's birthday. Of course, they were postponed, but I still had the work event in Atlanta on Sunday night so I couldn't just stay through until my meetings the next week (are you keeping up?).


Whittney and I went for a walk before dinner while I was in Charlotte - they live so close to the Carolina Panthers stadium!

After a yummy dinner at The Summit Room on my last night, we headed to Angry Ale's for some trivia. And guess who won? THIS GIRL.

After my week in Charlotte, I headed to Charleston on Friday morning to get a little work done there before the weekend started. Adam rented a car and met me there after work - which means he arrived around 1am. To kill time, I hung out with my favorite redhead - Miranda.

We went to a really cool bar called the Gin Joint, then headed over to start our own little dance party at Mad River.

The next day was planned around Georgia Football (of course). I researched the best UGA bars in Charleston, and luckily one was right down the street from where we were staying!

We got to Sullivan's Island in the morning and decided to walk down to the beach before we posted up at the bar. It was WARM - like, 90 degrees WARM.

 Home Team BBQ on Sullivan's Island! Not the worst place to spend your day.

And Georgia won - great day!

After taking a quick snooze, we got ready for our night out in Charleston. After a quick drink at Social, we headed to the Market Pavilion Rooftop Bar. It's our tradition to go every time we're in town.

We finished the night with dinner at Cypress - so yummy!

The next morning, we headed over to The Grocery for a quick mimosa and snack before walking around Charleston. It's our favorite city and we fall in love with it every time we go! (Can we move there, please?)

The whole reason we were in Charleston is because I donated water to the No Kid Hungry Charleston dinner and got two tickets in return. The dress code was Cocktail Casual (what does that even mean?), so we saw all sorts of outfits.

The dinner was in this beautiful tent on the water - great night!

We headed home on Monday - just in time for me to turn around on Tuesday and head to Nashville. I couldn't leave town again without spending some QT with my favorite little man though!

In Nashville, I was working with Distributor Reps - which means they know they're getting a killer lunch out of the suppliers when they volunteer to do it. My guy picked Wild Ginger for some sushi. It was AMAZING! Fried beyond belief, but so freaking good!

I was alone on my trip to Nashville, so I thought it was worth a try to call The Catbird Seat on Wednesday morning to see if they had any openings that night. (Side note: This is one of those places where reservations only open up 30 days out and fill up like THAT.)

Lucky for me - I got a call back and they had an opening for me at 9pm! Someone recommended I grab a drink downstairs at the Patterson House before dinner - so I happily obliged. 

I've never eaten out alone before and was a little wary, but it actually ended up being so much fun!

Here's the entrance to The Catbird Seat… you open a random wooden door and there's this little table with a candle - and an elevator.

And here we are! A couple fun facts about The Catbird Seat.

• The restaurant only holds 20 people 
• You sit around this "bar" where all of the chefs are cooking right in front of you. There's literally no kitchen. They do everything right here.
• The chef, Trevor Moran, is Irish and came from Noma (no big deal, only the best restaurant in the world).
• There is no menu. You show up and eat whatever they're making that night (add drink pairings, for an additional cost, of course).
• My meal was 14 courses. 14! By the end, I was only able to eat a bite of everything because I was so full.
• My meal and drink pairings - for just me - was $220. (Thank you, work!)
• It was the coolest experience ever - not to mention the food was so delicious! I actually preferred eating there alone, because I spent the whole time talking to the chefs/beverage director/hostess and learning more about everything that goes into it.

Here's Trevor (we're on a first name basis) just topping off my Fernet. I'm so fancy.

At the end of the meal, you receive a handwritten menu! The hostess and I were going out for a drink after dinner (see, I made friends!), so I didn't take mine with me. I was so sad! However, she texted me the next day and mailed two copies to me! Yay!

It was definitely a killer way to end my crazy out of town excursions! For obvious reasons, I have no recipes to include in this post. You can just read that "menu" instead.

A Charlotte New Year

We waited until just about the last minute to figure out our New Year's Eve plans, and decided to head up to Charlotte and celebrate with friends up there. This was actually Adam's first time in Charlotte and I was so excited for our little road trip.

We headed up on Monday night and got to Natalie's around 10pm. Perfect timing to have a night cap and watch some TV before heading to bed.

On New Year's Eve, Natalie and I got our nails done (Barbie pink, please) before heading to lunch at Nan and Byron's - cutest place, ever. Adam was already bored with us, so he left after lunch with some of our college buddies to play video games (or something exciting like that). Natalie and I took the opportunity to watch Katy Perry (obviously) and take a nap. We have literally seen the movie so many times we can quote it. Yes, we quote a documentary.

After getting our act together, it was time for the celebrations to begin!

Our NYE tickets didn't allow us to get into the bar until 9pm, so we went ahead and got the party started at the Ranch (aka Natalie's adorable house).

We finally headed to All American Pub, where we met up with more friends and eventually rang in 2014!

We left the bar shortly after the ball drop (as in, we were in a cab at 12:05am) and headed back to the Ranch for pizza. Of course, we watched Katy Perry (AGAIN) and Natalie was inspired to try and execute the splits. Perfect.

Remember how I said we were so impulsive? Well, I actually mean Adam is so impulsive. Remember that time he just bought a car out of the blue? Or when he decided we needed a Mac Book Air right that moment? Well, he also decided we needed to take home Natalie's roommate's foster dog - a pit bull named Chip. After spending the majority of the trip trying to talk me into it, I finally put my foot down and said NO. I'm all for (eventually) getting Ruthie a playmate, but it's not fair to just bring home a dog without her meeting it first. You're welcome, Ruthie.

That was the first and last time I'm allowing Adam to come to Charlotte with me. Who knows what he'll try to talk me into next time!?

Minus the dog incident, we had a great time ringing in 2014 with some old friends! Here's to another amazing year! (New Year's resolutions coming soon... or never.)

whoops

I don't even know where I left off on my exciting life, but it's been awhile. I've had three events in less than one month (whaaat?), with the final one being this Sunday. Have to be honest, working 10 days in row really hasn't been bad because my job is so fun! However, I spent all day Wednesday thinking it was Thursday, so I think my brain needs a break.

Ok, some quick updates...

I went to Charlotte the weekend of August 2 to celebrate my birthday North Carolina style. Per usual, it was so much fun and I could have cried when I had to leave my little Nat. Friday night was bro time.... aka eat a lot of food and watch Katy Perry and Spring Breakers. (If anyone every tries to talk you into watching Spring Breakers, JUST SAY NO.) Katy Perry on the other hand, is our favorite movie. We may or may not have watched it three times in two days, and I may or may not know the choreography to Teenage Dream.

Saturday, Natalie forced me to be active in the morning and take a walk to a cute little breakfast place called Amelie's. I guess it was worth it - it made me feel a little less disgusting for chowing down on who knows how many pieces of pizza the night before. Then we headed over to Melvin's for some pool time (again, I guess that walk was a good idea).

Saturday night we were up to our usual shenanigans, followed by even more shenanigans because it was Morgan's birthday (she was nice enough to let me help her blow out her birthday candles - what a gem).

By the end of the weekend, I was pretty much convinced I was moving in as the fourth roommate. But then Sunday morning came around and I had to make the trek back to Atlanta to attend a wedding at the Greystone for Mallory and Alex.

On Monday, Allison and I met up with Richard Blais at Flip Burger to talk food and stuff. He was nice enough to take a picture with us and with the No Kid Hungry sign. Thanks, dude!

Thursday, I headed over to the CBS Studios to be on hand while a couple of our chefs and sommeliers did a spot for the upcoming Give Me Five event. They were rock stars!

Friday, it was off to Orlando for the final Taste of the Nation of the season! The event was a huge success - raising $245,000 to help end childhood hunger in Florida and nationwide. Holler!

Who knew there were still Dippin Dots around? Ice cream of the future!

Never know what entertainers are going to show up at this event!

Sunday, I was able to spend the day with one of my absolute favorites who lives in Orlando - Barbara. We had a yummy brunch at Spice, then headed to the Farmer's Market for bottomless mimosas and very entertaining people watching. Later in the day, we wandered up to the bars and let me tell you - Orlando takes Sunday Funday to a whole new level. The bars were packed and they had DJs and such. Party time! Too bad I had to head to the airport to catch my flight back home, but not before some moonshine-soaked cherries!

I came home late Sunday night to a "surprise" from Adam. He bought a car while I was gone. I know you can't sense my anger through the computer, but let's just say that I'm ANGRY. A car isn't a big purchase or anything.... Oh, and my phone broke last night so I get to go buy a new one today. AWESOME.

Well, my last event until October is on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to taking a deep breath and just relaxing. There it is. My exciting life.