Friday Five & Happy Halloween!

Halloween on a Friday?  Does it get any better?  Halloween has always been a holiday I've loved.  I have such fond childhood memories of halloween, of my dad dressing up as dracula, of hay rides, of fun neighborhood parties.  I just love it and it makes it feel like fall is seriously here!  

{ONE} Date Night at: Treehouse Whiskey and Fork

One thing Michael and I are all about is our date nights!  We figure that eventually these times together won't be anywhere near as easy to make happen, so we are taking full advantage of our free evenings while we have them (before we start adding to our clan).  How cool is this interior?  It felt so neat with the twinkle lights and all the wood elements!!  The food was really yummy and it was a great spot to watch the first half of last nights Panthers game.  Too bad the game didn't have a better ending.  But that first Hornets game sure was spectacular!  Anybody a fan?  We are pretty obsessed!

(so blurry due to the dim lighting)

(they do a lot of whiskey and bourbon cocktails, the hubs was so pleased that I actually liked mine since he is so into bourbon!)

{TWO} This Guy Right Here.

Man, this dude I'm married to is awesome.  He is seriously the best husband and friend a girl could ask for.  I'm constantly amazed by his thoughtfulness and patience with me.  He brought the munchkin I look after a hugo stuffed animal yesterday, holey moley it was the sweetest!  Just love him!

{THREE} Hand knitted headband!

My sweet and talented friend knitted me this headband!  How cool is that?  It's super warm and cozy!

{FOUR} Camille Wineglass from Crate & Barrel

This past weekend after arriving in the mountains Michael asked me if I wanted a glass of wine.  He then came out with the wine in these wineglasses featured on scandal that I've mentioned loving!  I was so surprised that he did that!  He is seriously the sweetest thing...

{FIVE} HALLOWEEN!

I just realized that this is Michael and I's SEVENTH Halloween together.  My goodness the time sure does fly.  I found a few oldschool college halloween shots that made me feel nostalgic!  I think tonights Halloween will be low key, with good wine and a movie.  Fine by me!

Five on Friday! Happy Edition

Happy Friday folks!  I apologize for the lack of posting, lately I've not been in the best spot physically and a bit mentally as well.  Does that ever happen to you?  I've been in a bit of a funk, it's allergy season and I think I've been lacking patience in life.  However, today I feel so much better!  I wanted to focus on some of the happy things from my past week since today I'm feeling especially appreciative of them.

{ONE} Good Food On Montford

This past week my boss (and dear friend) insisted on Michael and I trying this local restaurant and we were beyond impressed.  Good Food is another restaurant from Bruce Moffet (we also love Barringtons, and Stagioni also by him).  The mussels and pom frites were AMAZING, omg the sauce was the most delicious thing we've ever tasted... The pork carnitas, the steamed bun, the korean BBQ...holy moley!  Did I mention it's tapas style?  Also the brownie and PB&J bread pudding were off the chain.  If you haven't been there, seriously go.  Be warned, on a monday night we had to wait 40 minutes and they don't take reservations, seriously worth it though.

{TWO} Nightly tea time

The hubs and I love to go to sleep unwinding with a nice cup of chamomile tea.  I love the chats we have during this time, such a sweet calming ritual.

{THREE} Da Munch!

Oh my goodness, this girl's fall fashion choices are off the chain!  The sweater shawl is from osh kosh! I wish they made one big enough for me!  

{FOUR} Girls night!

Hannah invited me to a play with her last night in uptown charlotte and we had a great time!  It was so fun to do something unexpected, and just us girls.  

{FIVE} The mountains this weekend!

I'm excited to head up to the mountains with Michael and Piper to celebrate my mom's birthday and to just unwind.  I'm ready to sit outside, open up a good bottle of Pinot and just relax!  There's something so comforting about getting away from our very URBAN lifestyle and I just love it.  Plus, it's the perfect weather to sip on some apple cider and go hiking!

Have an awesome weekend peeps!

Minimalist Monday

Lately, there has been something pulling me towards the concept of minimalism.  Photos like this one above inspire me to think of how I can pare things down in my life.  I consider myself relatively good at  not holding on to things for too long, but I've known for a while that there are ways I could improve upon this.  I purge my closet/house generally at least once every 6 months, normally when I do this I come up with maybe two trash bags full of items to donate.  This time, I filled our entire jeep!

Honestly, it feels amazing and I'm pretty inspired now!  Last week I read a number of blogs on minimalism which helped me understand that the lifestyle is not only about getting rid of un-needed items, but also about minimalizing commitments, technology, and in general avoiding over doing things.  The idea is to live simply and I love this.  The general idea I have come to understand is that in life we tend to make things harder than they really need to be.  We over think and over do it all.  We live in a society that tells us that we must have a perfectly decorated home, we must plan a fancy meal each night, we must have all the new clothes, etc etc.  Minimalism is about saying no to all of that.

So, with this in mind, I clean my house with the intention to make space.  While no closet or cabinet is empty, they are also less full, and far less cluttered.  What's more is that I'm excited to go in for a second round, since I felt so good dropping off that big load I think other things may be easier to part with now!  Michael and I felt extremely inspired with our clutter free home, it made us realize that our house has a lot of untapped potential, and a lot of space saving solutions that we could create.  I had imagined that our two bedroom home would be far too small for a baby, however, I am really rethinking that.  That may be the most exciting result of this great purge.  Realizing that we could totally have space for a baby where we are now makes the whole process a heck of a lot less stressful!

I'm excited to continue on this path, and plan to take it slowly.  I don't forsee myself ever being a girl with 10 shirts and 5 items of jewelry, I do admire that.  I want to channel this concept into every area of my life.

Anyone decided to become more minimalist?  Any advice to a newbie like me? 

Five on Friday!

I'm pumped that this link up is back!  I always love this one, it's so fun to see what everyone is loving lately!  For me it's mostly fun new fall items!  I just love how you get to enjoy new things each season.

First up is red wine.  In the summer I switch to chardonnay and beer, even though red wine has my heart.  I just prefer it once the air begins to cool off.  Pinot Noir especially is my latest obsession.  This particular Pinot, from Hob Nob is so delicious and a great price at 11.99 for an every day drinker!  I can't get enough.

A lot of pumpkin happens around our house during the fall.  I counted 8 different pumpkin flavored items from my last trader joes trip!  The hubs and I have been loving these tasty bagels.

This week we had a truly noteworthy meal at Ilios Noche to celebrate my mother in laws birthday.  The salmon and great white beans were amazingly delicious--I've been day dreaming about it all week!

I know I mentioned my bridesmaid gift from Hannah already, however I have been LOVING it all week!  It looks great with jeans and a t-shirt as well as with a dress!  I know I'll be enjoying this for years to come!

I wasn't kidding about the pumpkin.  This stuff is the bomb.com.  So delicious, and has been a great substitute for the chai lattes I love to get from starbucks!