Sprinkling in Some Glam: Football Season

It's that time of the year, fall is quickly approaching and everyone in the south is excited about the new college football season! Matt and I as well as our families and many of our friends are very happy and excited to welcome the new season. And with the NFL season starting next week, I know that ours as well as many other's weekends will be devoted to football both days. I love college football and I am very interested in many games. I don't mind the NFL, but I do not get that involved in it...my husband does. With the next several weekends being football fulfilled I try to have as much fun with it as I can. I like to lightly decorate and have fun party food ready for the games. I have mentioned this before, but my team is Alabama and Matt's is Georgia Tech, so this post is a bit biased! Here are some ideas to spruce up your home and entertaining for college football season (many of them are available in your team of choice of course)!...

Fun wine charms so everyone knows which glass is theirs

I love this Alabama serving tray

Georgia Tech campus life tea towel

Super-cute University of Alabama burlap door hanger

This polka dot GA Tech magnetic notepad is great for the kitchen

Adorable paper party plates with some equally adorable napkins to go along...

Love this darling wooden Alabama wreath

I'm pretty sure Matt is going to want me to get this GA Tech welcome mat now

Pretty silver football dish which is great for any team, college of NFL

Charming little GA Tech cupcake toppers

Cornhole is always fun and entertaining for tailgating or football get togethers at home. We could use these Alabama boards along with these GA Tech bags to include both teams :)

Here are a couple of our personal GA Tech goods. We use those jersey salt+pepper shakers all season long and we get plenty of use out of the serving dish as well.

Matt is an alumnus of Georgia Tech and I am a big Alabama fan, but I am actually an alumnus of The University of South Alabama. South Alabama does have a football team now (which began in 2009) and they are in the Sun Belt Conference. I definitely root for my alma mater, but the football team is still new, so the product selection is not quite that broad yet. We were undefeated in 2009 and 2010 and we won our season opener last Thursday! Go Jags!

Happy football season!

oxox,
lauren

*Fun GA Tech wine charms, pretty Alabama serving tray, GA Tech tea towel, cute Alabama burlap door hanger, polka dot GA Tech notepad, adorable Alabama paper plates, GA Tech napkins, super-cute wooden wreath, GA Tech welcome mat, silver football dish, charming GA Tech cupcake toppers, Alabama cornhole board, GA Tech cornhole bags, South Alabama football t-shirt

Friends, Fun, & Football

Last weekend one of my college bff's, Catie, came up for a visit! We had a fabulous time! We had not seen each other since last October so we were excited to see one another and we had a lot of catching up to do. We went shopping, antiquing, and had a few great meals out around Nashville. Catie is such a great friend and we always have a wonderful time together. Lots of laughing was involved, which is always a great thing.

Friday night we had dinner at Virago

We dined on the rooftop and the sushi was really good.

Saturday we had lunch at Marche and then we headed to Franklin to walk around the adorable little downtown area as well as go through a few of the antique stores.

Saturday night we had a great dinner at Park Cafe. Mmmmm.

I had a really great time Catie! Come back and visit soon dear!

Well, I cannot believe Labor Day weekend is upon us. This summer flew by, but my hubby and I are ecstatic about college football starting up! Matt's team, Georgia Tech kicks off their season tonight and it feels like a national holiday around here! Needless to say, I heard "It's Gameday" more than once this morning.

Here are a few cute entertaining products great for the upcoming football season (I'll have a post with more next week)...

Cute Georgia Tech chip and dip dish

Adorable Alabama football sign

Fun football dip bowl

oxox,
lauren

*Georgia Tech chip and dip, Alabama football hanging sign, football bowl

Oldest + Dearest

Last week i went to visit one of my oldest and dearest friends from elementary school, Amy, who I had not seen in six years! She lives in North Carolina. We had a great time together. We had a first grade class together, so we go waaaay back! We were super close from about 5th grade to 9th grade (I moved to Florida with my family the summer after 9th grade). After I moved we still remained to be great friends but life happens and it had been six years since we had seen one another. Something had to be done about that, so we found a good time for both of us and I booked a flight up there. Needless to say, we talked a lot...we had a lot of catching up to do. It was so great to see her!

For some crazy reason, we did not take many pictures over my quick visit, what the heck is that about? I guess we were a bit excited to see one another and forgot about snapping pictures, so we managed to cram a photo session in during the span of my last full day there!

Gotta love the stretch-the-arm-out-to-make-sure-we're-both-in-there-photos! What's two girls to do when no one else is around?!

Out at lunch

While at lunch, we snagged a waiter and got him to take some pictures for us! Yay!

We also visited with another one of my childhood besties, Lily, who just had a baby (he's a doll!) and we had a ball catching up with her! We were in the excited catching up haze and did not think about taking pictures...I am currently kicking myself because of that! Next time, next time I will remember to take some more pictures! It was great to see y'all!

Amy, now come visit me in Nashville pretty lady! For realsies! ;) Love you!

oxox,
lauren

Catty Crush

I love leopard print. There is just something about it. Used tastefully of course. And in small doses, not head-to-toe. It just looks so chic.

Love this, it's so unexpected

Great dress for all the upcoming Holiday parties

I really like this faux-fur vest

Perfectly pretty wedges

If only I had unlimited funds

Adorable little flats. I love the little pops of color!

Really fun welly socks

Great belt that goes with so much

I hope y'all had a Happy Halloween! One of my bff's, Catie came to visit last weekend. I love when she comes to visit because we always have a great time! She arrived Thursday night so we could have all day Friday and Saturday to shop and eat and drink and eat and shop some more! We had a ball. We had a late dinner at Nava in Buckhead on Friday night and yesterday morning Matt told me about an article he read in the paper about how Jennifer Aniston (who has been in town filming a movie, that just wrapped) had dinner at Nava on Friday night as well. We must have just missed her...dang it...if only we had the opportunity to meet her, we could've become her new bff's and she could have dropped that unfortunate looking (i mean, really, how gorgeous is she!?) Courtney Cox like a hot potato! ;) Maybe next time!

oxox,
lauren

*Unexpected staircase, chic black dress, fabulous faux-fur vest, gorgeous wedges, amazing handbag, adorable flats, fun welly socks, skinny patent belt

Better than your average apple a day

One of my bff's, Catie, sent me a sweet and thoughtful "bag of random" (that's what we call it because it's a bunch of random little goodies) a couple of weeks ago! Catie is such a dear friend of mine and we always have the best time together! Well, in this particular "bag of random" she included this super delicious recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread!

Ummm. hello. YUM. :)

This recipe rocks! I made it two weekends ago and Matt went through that loaf of bread so quickly it seemed as if he was scared a "bread thief" was going to break into our home in the middle of the night to steal the bread away from him! He absolutely loved it, and so did I! This bread is great for the Holidays, would make a wonderful hostess gift and is perfect to whip up when expecting company!

So, imagine my sweet hubby's delight when he gets home today and opens the door to the amazing smell (this bread smells sooooo scrumptious, but Warning: it will make you hungry!) of this yummy bread baking in the oven...he is going to be one happy man!

The prepared batter almost ready for the oven

But first, a sprinkling of cinnamon/sugar and oats on top

Ta-da!

Mmmm...soooo good!

Here is the recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread if you would like to bake some up yourself...

Equipment needed:
Stand mixer with paddle attachment
9x5 loaf pan, lightly coated with cooking spray
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 ounce quick oats (about 1/3 cup) *plus more for sprinkling on top
2 eggs
1/2 granny smith apple (cut into small chunks)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (bleached or unbleached)
1/2 cup raisins, or nuts (or both if you prefer)
cinnamon/sugar mixture to sprinkle on top
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light & fluffy
Mix in the applesauce, cinnamon & oats
Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well each time
Stir in the apple chunks
Fold in the baking soda and flour just until the dry ingredients are incorporated
Add the raisins and nuts, folding gently
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle cinnamon/sugar and oats on top
Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean
Remove from loaf pan & cool on wire rack
Enjoy!

*I chose to add both the raisins and the nuts (my go-to is pecans) in mine and it's delicious!

Thanks again for this tasty recipe Catie...i have a feeling this one is going to become requested pretty frequently around here! Love you dear and I can't wait to see you soon!!! :)

oxox,
lauren