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.

Naturday

Well, this has been quite the hiatus! In my defense, October has been crazy town. Stay tuned and you'll see…

Let's start with Natalie's birthday (aka Naturday) in Charlotte the weekend of October 3.

ACTUALLY, we need to rewind to the night of October 2… Kelly, Vann and I went to see the first showing of GONE GIRL!! We all read the book, so we were super excited to be among the first to see it.

Ok, back to Natalie (as always). It's our tradition to eat pizza, drink wine and watch Katy Perry on Friday nights together (because we're old and can't handle going out two nights in a row). This weekend was no exception. Added bonus - Natalie got us these matching Katy Perry shirts for my birthday.

The plan for Saturday Naturday was to rent a party bus, go to a haunted house and then to a bar. I do not like scary things, so I was really going out on a limb with this whole "haunted house" plan, but I survived.

Taco Cake for Taco Nat

DLT, please.

Natalie's newest roomie and my love, Whittney.

Party bus fun!

The whole night was so fun. I'm so glad we live within driving distance so we get to see each other pretty often. Happy birthday, princess!

After a weekend of fun in Charlotte, I headed home Sunday morning because Adam and I were babysitting JUDE for the first time!

I love the look on Jude's face - ha!

Passed out little munchkin.

Eeeeek! He's the cutest, ever!

After our fun little babysitting sesh, Adam and I headed to Atlanta Eats Live (work perks!). Before finally wrapping up a very busy weekend.

And now, for the recipe of all paleo recipes. I made this Tuesday night and have officially found my new favorite meal! We've made just the Cilantro Lime Cauliflower "Rice" before, but adding in the chicken carnitas made it the perfect mexican fiesta!

Without further ado.... Chicken Carnitas Burrito Bowl. (I left out the black beans and greek yogurt to make it paleo, and it's still my favorite!)

Go Dawgs (I guess?)

This past weekend Adam and I had been planning to attend the UGA vs. Tennessee football game. I didn't go to school in the SEC and I'm not a huge football buff, but I was excited to go for the whole experience! We were supposed to go with a couple friends who actually went/played for UGA, but at 10pm on Friday they had to bail. Yikes! We weren't able to find anyone to use the extra tickets, so Adam and I were up bright and early on Saturday and headed out to Athens at 6am. We arrived before traffic (the game was at noon - boo!), so we bought some beers and a cooler and headed out to make friends.

Tailgate #1 - Awkwardly standing near an unwelcoming group. 

Anyone? Anyone?

Tailgate #2 - Old man who walked away when we asked if we could be friends. Let's make it more awkward by taking a selfie!

It took us three tailgates to finally find some southern hospitality. Chris (on the left) and his wife, Brittany, were just hanging out by themselves under a tent when we walked up. They were the first people to actually strike up a conversation and were super nice (they even forced us to eat their Chick Fil A). They had a huge group of friends that met up with them, but it worked out because they just thought we were new people of the group. BINGO.

Woo! We did it!

We sat way up high, but it was actually nice because we were seated almost the whole time and could see the whole field! I even used the word "lateral" correctly and Adam was super impressed.

Go Dawgs! (And Adam's whistle!)

No day is complete without sending some kisses to our Jude!

We've heard horror stories about the traffic after games, so we headed out in the 4th quarter and breezed back into Marietta. The day went from potential disaster to super fun day date - and I'm glad it was with that goober husband of mine!

Speaking of Jude... (because when are we not?). Adam and I visited the little munchkin and his parents on Sunday afternoon. 

Here he is, ready for a diaper change because he peed on Adam!! I knew I loved this kid!

And then he was super embarrassed for peeing on his favorite uncle, so he hid in his shoulder. Just kidding. (But how adorable is this picture?)

Look, I'm back on the recipe track! It's happening, people. I made these the other night, but used ground turkey instead of shrimp. I made the mistake of using (way too much) ancho chipotle chile powder instead of what's listed here. It was a little spicccyyyy. (Which I love, but poor Adam was dying.) Definitely a keeper, but maybe next time I'll actually stick to the recipe.

JUDE SAMUEL CAUSEY

Ok, I totally rushed through that last post because the only thing I want to talk about is my NEPHEW! Jude Samuel Causey made his debut at 9:22pm on Saturday, September 20! After an insanely long labor, Meagan ended up having to get a c-section - and she was a total rockstar! (And yes, every sentence in this post is going to end with an exclamation point!)

The midwife finally came out and gave us a thumbs up! Cigars for everyone!

Wendell, I mean PawPaw, is quite the cigar connoisseur and was so excited about these!

Nathan finally came out to personally deliver the amazing news, and told us we would have to wait another 10 minutes or so to see Meagan and the bebe. Of course, at this point it's about 11:00pm and we're all dying of anticipation!

We finally got to the room and Meagan looked amazing! Seriously, I would have guessed she was on a beach vacation. AMAZING! After introducing us to Jude Samuel Causey, it was time to play Pass the Baby! I made sure Adam and I were last - after all, we weren't at the hospital as long as everyone else!

Andddd my heart burst!

 Proud Uncle Adam!!

We love you so much, Jude!!

And now for some other pics Adam snapped... 

Grandma (aka Big Deb) in the role she was born to play!

Aunt Kelsey!

I mean, really? He's so perfect!

The next morning, I walked the dogs and came back to Adam standing at the front door all ready to go and see Jude. We hung out at Starbucks for a bit and then headed up to the hospital to deliver some coffee to the new parents and get some quality snuggling time in before everyone else showed up!

Uncle Adam is kind of obsessed! Who can blame him??

Look who opened his eyes! It's crazy how much more like a little person he looks like with his eyes open.

LOVE HIM!!!!!! I was holding him when he sneezed for the first time, so I'll make sure to remind him of that every day for the rest of his life! Now Adam is determined to be the first one to make him laugh.

And because I obviously can't go longer than a day without seeing my favorite person, ever - I headed back up there last night to hang out with Meagan, Debbie, Carol and the babe!

Hey, Jude!

He has a little jaundice (am I saying that right?), so he had to spend most of the time in this little alien device, but that's ok because I still love staring at him!!

Life's hard!

I did get to feed him and burp him, which was kinda sorta the highlight of my year, so far! Adam was at bible study, so he couldn't join us - needless to say, he was beyond jealous!

How obsessed is too obsessed? The limit does not exist! YOU ARE SO LOVED, JUDE!!!