Cheese Wafers

Criminy.  It's time to start thinking of New Years Resolutions, y'all.  Or as I like to call them, goals.  I feel like framing it as a New Years resolution makes it less likely to happen.  I do think that the beginning of a year is good time to set goals, though.  These are some ideas I'm tossing around:

• Run a 5k.  I know I can do it if I keep working on it.  
• Bake more bread.  I know most people try to limit their carbs in the new year, but I plan to fully embrace them.  And a healthy dose of cardio.  Carbio if you will.  
• Use all the salts my sister gave me for Christmas.  Yeah, she gave me this sampler pack of different sea salts that I can't wait to bust out.  They're really pretty and come in these test tubes in a handy display rack.

There are more that I can't think of at the moment.  But that seems like a pretty good list to start!

I have a feeling these cheese wafers are probably not a part of anyone's goals for the new year.  Unless that goal is to eat more cheese.  That should totally be one of my goals...

Babies

Babies are cute.  Especially chubby babies.  I was a chubby baby, and everyone always says I was a cute baby.  There was a baby in Wal-mart today as I was standing in the check-out line buying hurricane supplies (just in case!), and he caught my eye and simply stared at me.  Like "Who is this complete stranger looking at me?"  Then he got over it and played with the watermelon next to him.

My sister is having a baby.  A little boy due in October.  My cousins and I threw her a baby shower at a restaurant in Columbia, Nonnah's.  I met a few of the ladies who peruse this here blog, which was a real treat!

My cousin, who might be the most creative person I know, made these darling centerpieces for the table.  It's all baby stuff Emily will actually use.  Each table had a different centerpiece.

I know the baby won't be able to eat the candy, but his daddy certainly will!  P.S. That giraffe sings the ABC's, which totally freaked Em's dogs out.  They were not fans.

I chose the menu.  It started with a Nonnah's salad, and it had the most precious heart-shaped biscuit!

Guests had a choice of two quiches:  3-cheese with bacon or roasted red pepper with feta.  I had the roasted red pepper and loved it. The quiches came with fruit and pasta salad.  Everything I ate had feta on it.  Love.

Nonnah's is known for their desserts, so I knew anything I picked would be outstanding.  We had crème brûlée to top off our meal.  Nom.  Don't worry, I restrained myself from licking the bowl.

I made little favors for the guests consisting of biscotti and little packs of coffee.  Something I discovered about myself:  I make yummy-tasting biscotti, but I do not make pretty biscotti.  I refuse to give people anything I'm not completely proud of, so I bought some biscotti from Target.  All's well that ends well.

We got the memo about wearing purple.  I'm particularly proud of the dress I wore because I got it for $17 at Steinmart, and the retail price was $128.  Win.

Hmm, can you find my sister in this picture? Ha.  Nonnah's shows lots of local art, and it's all for sale.

Completely unrelated, but still a significant part of my weekend.  Nick and Lourdes, Em's and Rich's friends from Florida, drove up for the weekend and brought ice cream from a creamery in Gainesville.  I. Died.  The dark brown is the straight chocolate, and it was so rich and heavenly.  The lighter brown is chocolate hazelnut, and the cream-colored ice cream is salted caramel.  Have I mentioned my obsession with salted caramel?  No?  Well I love it.  It makes me swoon.

The party was lovely, and I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from myself.  Hey, it wouldn't be an event if I didn't try to overextend myself.  We all had a wonderful time, and baby D got lots of preciousness he'll be using in the coming months.