Santa Baby...

With Christmas getting closer and closer, I thought I would share some of the items on my list this year! Santa, I have been extra good this year!

I could really use some stationary with my new name or "The Stones". I have found some cute designs on Etsy:

I would DIE for these TB flats!

I love the style of these silky, blousy tops. I would love one in every color!

Here is something I don't want to receive as a gift, but really need. I still have my original towel wrap from my FRESHMAN year in college!

What girl doesn't want a monogrammed necklace?

Cooking Light would be great in my mailbox every month!

I love wine - which means I need this:

Fancy makeup is always nice - Sephora gift cards never disappoint!

These Anthro plates are cute for eating or hanging on a wall! We need some wall art for our apartment.

A new coffee table is top on my list. Our current table does not allow for foot-propping. When we get a house, I will re-purpose our current table, but for now this is the one I love:

Some colorful jeans/cords:

New workout clothes. Would really love the "Puddle Jumper" Jacket in black. It has a cute ruffle on the back and is on sale!

Okay I guess that is it for now! I will be back in a few for some Santa ideas for men!

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Weekend Finds: Downtown Blueridge

This weekend, the Stones hit the road to head up to lovely Lake Blueridge to celebrate my dad's birthday (a little early - we are missing it this weekend for a wedding). We planned on watching football during the day on Saturday, but since many of the big games didn't come on until later in the afternoon, mom and I made our way to downtown to shop a little bit!! Check out everything I found - downtown was CRAZY busy!

The first store we walked in to was an art gallery, featuring local artists. I took a photo of this installation because I thought I could use these pieces for my job. This artwork was very reasonably priced and would look great in the main lobby of an office building. I am always looking for pieces like this!

I loved this beautiful hand-made cuff bracelet!

This serving platter was cute!

The next store we went in has a TON of jewelry (most of it from the mart) and I usually don't find anything in there. I did love this necklace - the color is unique and I thought the little flower broach was nice!

This boutique has the best stuff! I loved this dress - how perfect would this be for an Auburn game?

***Side note: I ran into this little puppy a few stores later and almost died at how cute he was! 11 weeks old! He licked me in the face and was so cute!!

We went in to Wrapsody in Blue - I always love the things that Michael has in his store. I found quite a few lovelies:

This frame is so cute - I saw a mirror on One King's Lane that matched it!

Speaking of mirrors, I think I have a problem - I am obsessed.

I really loved these architectural prints - I don't really have anywhere to put them, but I loved the pattern. Maybe one day they will be mine! {there are 2 other coordinates}

This was a neat piece of artwork. I liked the ironwork on the distressed wood. This too had a coordinate that went with it.

I. LOVE. THIS. COFFEE. TABLE. Spoiler alert - I think that Santa may be bringing it to me! Not a great picture, but the detail on the side is fun and I love the herringbone pattern of the wood on the top! Pretty sure that this will be in our home come Christmas time!

Here is a better picture of it from the company's website:

Threads is a great store - they sell a lot of Free People and Frye Boots. Here is a cute tunic that I thought wss fun!

Orange Skinny Jeans - they also had PLATINUM skinny jeans that would be great for the holidays.

Gawdy Baubbles sounds like a stupid name for a store, but had some amazing pieces. The artist is local and can make jewelry to your liking! Loved this simple cross bracelet:

These pillows were not for sale, even though I tried to take them off her hands:

Gatewood Hall is my favorite. Here are some things I found in there!

I have a thing for owls. I am glad they are in style.

We desparately need a little accent table to put next to our sectional sofa. This little guy will do the trick! The thing about sectionals is, you really need some places to put drinks, books, etc. while you are sitting on them. I totally see why Lazy Boy installs cup holders in their furniture (Ryals don't get any ideas).

Liked this chair. What's with the British invasion pillow?

When I first looked at this print, I thought it was your typical egg print. However, on further inspection, it is actually a PECAN! Love it.

That's it on the shopping - lots of great ideas and things to buy!

Now, here is a cute picture of Georgie watching football (she is hiding in the bottom right corner) :)
{this was during the LSU Florida game - Georgie was too distraught to be photographed during the UGA USC game}.

What'll Ya Have???

Check out the Stones on Southern Wedding Magazine's Blog!

Eeeeeeek!!!

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Cooking with Pinterest

I will go ahead and say that Pinterest has really changed my life, especially with cooking! Do you ever feel like you are in a rut with dinners? Meaning, I cook the same thing over and over! Now, I try to do a Pinterest recipe at least once a week. We have had some really good ones! Here is a list of our favorites!

Chicken Pesto Bake

I made this last night - Ryals and I usually are craving something easy on Sunday nights when we return from our weekend travels and it usually turns out to be spaghetti, which is bad because I can eat about two platefuls of that stuff! This was so easy and quick to put together and was DELICIOUS! I did not make the "skinny pesto" - I used a little bit of store-bought pesto and it was great. Do not skip the parmesan - that makes the meal!


***Side note - Skinny Taste is an excellent blog. I follow her blog and Pinterest boards.


Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Mustard Sauce

Soooo....I was GOING to make this, but then I found out a beef tenderloin costs about $42 at the grocery, so I bought sirloin instead (because it looked really good). BAD idea - it was not the same. The meat was really overcooked (probably my fault) and sirloin is supposedly not a great cut of meat. HOWEVER, the sauce for this dish was really good - it had a nice flavor. If you can afford beef tenderloin for a week night dinner, I would highly recommend it!

Italian Chicken

This was amazing! I made it last week and Ryals loved it. Very easy to put together as well. I think the key to this dish is using artichokes from a jar that are marinated to give it a nice flavor.

Pork Tenderloin marinated in...

This has become one of the Stone family staple meals. I have made it a lot and it never disappoints. It is expensive to buy all the marinade ingredients at first, but once you have them all you can make it over and over for very cheap. Pork is very lean, but can be tough to cook. Make sure you don't overcook it - searing it in a pan before you bake it is key to keeping the moisture in. Yummy!

Cheeseburger Wraps

I have made these twice. The first time I followed the recipe to a T and Ryals was not super crazy about them. The next time, I scaled back the minced onion and added more ketchup to the ground beef and he LOVED it. This is an easy meal to make - I served mine with a salad and baked beans.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

This was REALLY good, but did not seem healthy (lots of rice, cheese and "cream of" soups). It takes a long time to cook since you have to wait on two different types of rice to finish before you add it to the casserole. I really liked it though - it serves a lot of people, so it would be good to serve for a party!

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce

I will have to say, this is probably the holy grail of all recipes I have tried on Pinterest. Ryals said these were restaurant quality enchiladas. I have made them many times now and he always loves them! I am having some high school friends over tomorrow night and am planning on serving these! There are lots of recipes for enchiladas, but I think this one is the best!

Have you tried any of these recipes? Try them and let me know what you think!!

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The Blog is Back!

After almost a year of not posting, I am finally back! I'm not sure what has caused me to be such a slacker, perhaps getting engaged, married and moving has put a damper on my free time??? Anyways, I am going to try to be much better at documenting our new life together!

This past weekend was an anomaly because I was actually in Atlanta with no plans. Ryals went on a bachelor party for his friend Ben Lyons to the Destin/Baytown area so I was free for the weekend. My parents came down to stay with me - mom and I had plans to go to Scott's Antiques Market in search of a 6 drawer dresser for our bedroom (Ryals still has clothes in boxes - hallelujah we now have a piece of furniture to put it in). More to come on what I found in a later post - I had never been to Scott's before, so it was overwhelming how much they had!

Sunday my family left pretty early and I did not have to pick Ryals up from the airport until 6 PM. So I was pretty excited about having almost a whole day with nothing to do. I don't have a lot of spare time in general, so I never get to do anything crafty or DIY. I immediately contacted Hollie in hopes of having an art day!

The condo that Ryals and I live in is pretty industrial, with exposed ceilings and columns, and can get pretty dark at times. I have been trying my best to get more light into the space, as well as more COLOR. I have loved some of the paintings I have seen on Pinterest and Etsy. Here are some art images that I think would look great in our bedroom:

So I went to work! I have not painted since college, which meant I really had no clue what I was doing. Hollie had a huge collection of paint for me to chose from! I started by painting the whole canvas the color of her front door. Here is how we both started:

Hollie's inspiration came from a painting she saw in her boss's house. Here is her progress:

I put on a couple coats of paint and loved how easy it was to add color or just paint over it if I didn't like it!

Something is missing - I need more color???

Finally done! I did not know what I expected as the result, but I like it a lot!

I was initially planning on hanging it in our living room, but it was too loud! It will be perfect for our bedroom:

I am hoping to keep updating our bedroom and post a blog about that as well! I have been using some pretty bright colors in there - Ryals and I both agree that our current bedroom furniture and linens will become a guest room once we buy a house.

What do you think?

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