post #62 - Christmas Recap

Merry belated Christmas, everyone! I hope you're all recovering from the hustle & bustle of the holiday.

I was so blessed to head to Philadelphia and West Virginia this year to be with my extended family. After splitting our 10 hour drive and spending the night in Richmond, we finally arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas Eve playing games and eating with my cousins, aunt, and uncle.

{driving through DC}

{brother and me}

Christmas Day was spent helping my aunt prepare to host all of the family at her house. I love going to Philadelphia for Christmas not only for the family time, but also for the delicious Italian food! I'm more than happy to embrace this part of my heritage.

{jo & me}

{my brother & me}

{my cousin doing one of the most important christmas preparation...fixing nails!}

{tomato pie...not the same type of tomato pie we have in SC!}

{cheese}

{wings}

{tons of pork}

{crab claws}

{shrimp, antipasto}

{roast beef}

{endless food}

Not pictured...copious amounts of appetizers floating around + more desserts than anyone could ever eat.

It was so much fun spending time with family that I rarely see, especially my cousin's two precious children.

The day ended with only one minor snafu (a large parmesan cheese down), but it was definitely a great time that we'll look back on for years to come.

{improvising on a dust pan}

{God's work}

After that, we headed back to my hometown - Morgantown, WV. It was quite a long drive back, as we had to take a few detours through Amish country while we were in PA. I've been there before, but it was fun to see my husband's reactions.

{my brother & I loving what we're seeing}

{horses and buggies, anyone?}

It's been great to hang here and just be at home again. Even Milly fits right in!

{out with my brother...I'm getting too old to hang with these youngins!}

Now, we're headed to the mountains for New Years with some of my college besties. We're going to ski and celebrate all of the big happenings of 2013 (including an engagement, yay!) and enjoy being together.

I'm looking forward to blogging more regularly in 2014 - here's to what will hopefully be the best year yet!

xo!

post #50 - Washington, DC Review

50 Posts!! Is this a milestone? I think so!

As I mentioned in post #49, I spent Wednesday-Sunday of last week in Washington, DC. I hadn't been there in many years, and when I found out that I was going for work Wednesday-Friday, I decided to stay the weekend and hang out with my college roommate. We had such a great time!

Friday Night -

Went to an awesome tapas dinner, then drove around town.

{beautiful capital}

Saturday

Went for a walk through the awesome fall trees to Georgetown. We got coffee & a cupcake and chatted.

{best. pumpkin. ever.}

{cupcake deliciousness from baked & wired}

{coffee can be beautiful, what?}

Then, we headed back, got ready, and headed to Disco Brunch at Level One. We saw this man along the way - only in the city!

{yummy, cheesy hash brown casserole with chopped applewood bacon, sour cream, scallions, a whole bunch of cheese, and a fried egg on top. i also added guacamole.}

I had the bottomless mimosa (are you surprised?) and the "Gurl, It's a Brunch Bowl." Seriously, one of the yummiest breakfast items I've had in a long time! Our service was great and I had a fun time getting to know Polly's friends.

After that, we hopped around to a few fun places. We ended up going to a wine and cookie tasting called Cookies & Corks. Best idea ever, right?! By that point, we had been running around the city for most of the day. The tasting paired different wines with different cookies, and all were delicious!

All in all, we had a wonderful time! It was so much fun hanging out and catching up. Is it possible to still be recovering?

I'm definitely still catching up on sleep!

Check back tomorrow for my Five on Friday! Don't forget to follow along on Facebook, BlogLovin, GFC, etc! :-)

xo - Morgan

post #49 - Mountain Weekend + New Car!

Hi sweet friends!!!

Did you think I disappeared? I practically have! It has been a crazy few weeks!

Remember on my last post (a week and a half ago) when I said I'd been super stressed? Well - it's because last Friday, we found out the Bar results! And guess what? I PASSED!! Friday was quite possibly the longest and most stressful day of my life. I was in panic mode all day, and was going on no sleep.

When I found out that I passed, we decided to head to the mountains with Jo's group of best guy friends. We had such a blast! I did a terrible job at taking pictures, but here is an idea of our trip...

{friends in hats}

{house discoveries}

{take 2}

{our house had the best props!}

{bro'ing out}

{food.}

{entire table of food. and daytime lounging}

{beautiful}

{mountains}

{hunny}

{clemson football}

{handsome hubby}

{besties}

Also - I can't believe we forgot to take a group girl pic! I guess it will have to wait until next year!

In even more news...

Last Monday, we got a new car!!

We found a great deal on the one we wanted and decided to go take a look. We found a 2012 with only 4000 miles on it (who drives a car for 2 years and only puts 4000 miles on it??) and got a real steal! We unexpectedly pulled the trigger and purchased it!

After that, I promptly went to DC for work, letting Jo drive our new car by himself all week. 

Want to hear about DC? Stay tuned later this week!

Until next time!

Xo -

Morgan

post #32 - F5: Beer, Dips, Sundresses, Cornhole, & Friends!

Five on Friday, First Week of Football Edition!

Y'all. This has been such a busy week! I have blogged exactly 0 times since last Friday. I've been slammed at work (yup, week 2, but glad to be busy) and have been getting prepared for the fun weekend ahead! The Clemson Tigers have their first home game this weekend against the Georgia Bulldogs. ESPN GameDay will be in TigerTown and I'll be up bright and early, celebrating hard!

So. stinkin. excited. for:

1. Beer

I've been on a fall beer kick already. Last weekend, I tried Pumpking for the first time at the recommendation of one of my bffs. While it was expensive ($7 for a double bottle, holy yikes), it was extra delicious. I also picked up a few Fat Tire Pumpkicks at the recommendation of the beer guy at Publix. It's lighter than some seasonal beers, and has hints of cranberry and spices. Yumyumyum. Give it a try, I bet you'll love it. We'll start with a few "nice" beers, but quickly move to Bud Light. You win some, you lose some.

[photo credit here]

2. Buffalo Chicken Dip & Funfetti Dip

Yep, after all of the fun appetizers that I posted last week, I settled on two things I've made before. I decided this game was not a time for experiments (some serious, serious tailgating is expected to occur), so I went back to old faithful.

[photo credit & recipe here]

[photo credit & recipe here]

3. Sundresses

There is no better purchase than a wonderful orange gameday dress. Fact.

{lilly pulitzer callista dress} [buy it here]

I die. But really, I die. This dress. Gimme.

{milly gustavia cotton & silk halter dress} [buy it here]

{french connection maxi pleat dress} [buy it here]

4. Cornhole

Self explaining. Nothing like a little game before the game. Can anyone explain why this game is so addicting? This was Jordan's big Christmas gift last year and I know these boards will get lots of use this weekend.

5. Friends
Ready to SQUEEZE these people! We usually spend Saturdays tailgate hopping to see everyone. I'm also thankful for a night game so it will be a little easier to make our rounds.

...and of course, can't wait to play with the cutest Tiger tailgater...my niece!

We'll come home Sunday and take it easy on Monday. I think we'll need some Labor Day recovery. Hope you're as excited about your weekend plans as I am!

In other news, two sweet bloggers, Carolina Belle & From Mississippi With Love have nominated me for a Liebster Award! This is a fun blog post where you answer some random questions about yourself. It's a way for new bloggers who are just getting started to let others find out a little more about you and discover other new blogs! I'll be doing this post next week, so get ready for my silly answers! Hints - when I was little I wanted to be a singer (and actress and doctor and probably a princess). And is my favorite current song still allowed to be Blurred Lines after what Miley pulled? It's just so catchy...

This week I passed 100 followers on my Facebook page! Yay! Are you following Makeshift Margaritas yet? Follow on Bloglovin or Instagram, too!

Happy weekend!!
xo - morgan