February Birchbox

I’ve been getting Birchbox for a few months now and love it! It’s a great way to try new products before buying full sized versions. As great as it has been, February was probably my least favorite box. It included products by Miracle Skin Transformer, Joan Vass, 32 Oral Care, and ElevenSkin. All of the products were good, but nothing was really great. My favorite item was the Beauty Protector Protect and Oil; it cuts down on the mass fizziness that is my hair and makes it feel soft and strong. Like I said, I really do love Birchbox. A few of my faves over the past few months have included Eyeko Black Magic Mascara, Harvey Prince Hello, Toni&Guy Casual Sea Salt Texturizing Spray and Serge Normant Meta Revive Dry Conditioner. Yes, that last one was dry conditioner, and it is amazing!

Marshall’s Diner and Downtown Frankfort, Kentucky

Downtown Frankfort is such a cute town.  It is full of old buildings in cute colors. There are train tracks running through the very center of town, and unbelievable close to a few buildings. The only thing strange I noticed was the lack of people out and about.  I’m sure that was mostly due to the extreme cold last week, but it seemed like the kind of town where you would pass the friendliest people on the street.
We ate at Marshall’s Diner for lunch one day. It was such a cute place; very cozy with a home town feeling.  However, the food was less exciting.  I didn’t order anything special (just a chicken wrap with fries), but the chicken was slightly overcooked and nothing really had any flavor. Other people’s meals were drenched in gravy and no one really seemed too impressed by the end of the meal. I believe the diner recently reopened, possibly under new management? Hopefully things will improve for the adorable diner.

The Dragon Pub, Frankfort, Kentucky

I spent the last week at a control of particulate emissions training course in Frankfort, Kentucky. I know, it sounds like a blast, right?  We were in class for 8 hours a day and really did nothing outside of that time, but eat.  We ate out for 3 meals a day for almost 5 days, and we were able to find a few little gems.

The first night, we found the Dragon Pub on urbanspoon.  It seemed like it was a little more of a bar than a restaurant.  We were the only people in the restaurant (which generally makes me nervous) but I think the entire town had migrated to Louisville for a basketball game.
We had a lot of fried food!  We started with Brew Sticks, Crispy Artichoke Hearts and Dragon Scales and I then had the Pub Burger.  Everything was fried and delicious but the real favorite of the night was the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  I only had a taste, but it was awesome.  It is the love child of bourbon and beer, both of which I love, and I may have bought a 4-pack as a souvenir.

Brew Sticks - Our unique version of a cheese stick. Our own homemade Beer Cheese wrapped in a thin won ton wrapper and fried until crispy. Delicious!
Crispy Artichoke Hearts -  lightly dusted and fried. Topped with grated parmesan. With a lemon garlic aioli
Dragon Scales – Our famous homemade chips drizzled with spicy Dragon wing sauce and sprinkled with bacon, cheddar, blue cheese crumbles and creamy blue cheese dressing
Pub Burger – Our 6 oz. beef patty, topped with homemade Newcastle Beer cheese and a freshly battered onion ring on a grilled pretzel bun. Delicious!

Guatemala City

I’m back online! I don’t think I turned my computer on for a few months after leaving the world of unemployment. I have since, been working, moving into and unpacking an apartment, and of course adjusting to a steady work schedule. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed catching up on all of the blogs I follow and I am very happy to be back to blogging myself. And what better way to get back into it, than with a Throwback Thursday post.

Last summer I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala City with my parent’s church. We left less than two days after I finished taking comps and I was completely exhausted. The pictures I’ve posted are from a Bible school we put together at a local church. No matter how little sleep I got that week, I am so thankful I had the opportunity to go. I absolutely loved the people we met. The kids were so sweet and loving and the adults, so amazed that people would come to another country just to play with kids.

Our first full day, we went to the local dump to visit the people that lived there. Basically, these were people living in the dump, surrounded by all of the garbage and flies, who made their living by digging through the trash to find recyclable materials. I expected to maybe see a few families living there, but the community actually included rows and rows of makeshift houses. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions but so wonderful to see the spirit of these people. With every corner we would turn there would be more children running, smiling, and holding their hands outstretched towards us. They were so loving and happy. Their joy wasn’t dependent on their circumstances.

We went to church with the locals on Sunday and each helped in the children’s Sunday school classes. I think I helped with the 4 year olds. The kids’ Spanish was of course better than mine, but much more on my level than the Spanish of the teenagers and adults. The week in Guatemala definitely proved how little Spanish I knew.

The week of VBS was wonderful. We painted faces, made crafts, played basketball, sang songs, told stories, played with a giant parachute, hit a piñata, colored, and of course played soccer. The children and adults we had a chance to meet and talk to were each amazing. One boy (above in the green shirt) left one morning only to come back with a simple Spanish-English translation brochure so he could talk to us in English. We then took turns holding up coloring pages and teaching one another new words. Another little girl, Doris (above, coloring) had such a fun attitude and personality. It was so wonderful to get to know each and every one of those kids.

Jonah’s Fish & Grits

Thomasville, Georgia is this adorable little town located just north of Tallahassee, Florida. On one of my most recent trips to see my favorite guy, we went up to Thomasville to explore the small city and have dinner. We ate at Jonah’s Fish & Grits and sat outside, on the patio. The place had so much character and such good food. We had the fried pickles which were served with their blue cheese aoili. For dinner, I had the grilled shrimp and scallops with the peach tree salsa

PEACH-TREE SALSA: made with peaches, pineapple, lime juice, red bell-peppers, caramelized red onions, fressh cilantro ad spices

And Seth had the shrimp and grits

SHRIMP & GRITS sautéed shrimp, bacon and chives in a light cream sauce drizzled over roasted vegetables and white cheddar grits

Both meals were delicious (I know because I helped Seth eat his) The crème brulee also looked delightful but we were way too full after our delicious dinner.

Sa Za Serious Italian

I have only been to Sa Za’s once, but I am a little off put by the urbanspoon rating. Seth and I had a date night in downtown Montgomery a couple of months ago. We didn’t really make any plans; we just decided to get out of my parents house for the evening. After strolling around the Montgomery Riverwalk we had dinner at Sa Za’s Serious Italian.

Despite it’s mildly ridiculous name, it is a great little place on the corner of the Alley. We did not have a reservation so we sat at the bar, but it was actually a fun place to sit since we could see the pizzas being made. We had the Firenza which comes “layered with goat cheese, caramelized onions, roasted grape tomatoes, mozzarella” and added chicken and spinach. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. The goat cheese wasn’t overpowering and was deliciously complemented by the caramelized onions. To drink I had a Wise Guy “captain morgan spiced rum, malibu rum, bacardi 151 rum, pineapple & cranberry juice, lime & cherry garnish” and it was great. In addition to the food, the restaurant had a great atmosphere. I would definitely recommend!

Nature walk

Most weekends we are in Tallahassee, Seth, B and I will go for a walk at Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, where Seth works. B is always excited and normally wears himself out in the first half of the walk. We have taken several walks since, but these pictures were taken back in February. We didn’t see too many birds on this walk, but did spot a red-cockaded woodpecker and accidentally flush a few bob white quail.

1. The bird window is a trail at Tall Timbers. This is were we saw the woodpecker.
2. We saw so many animal tracks, I think these were deer tracks, but I honestly can’t tell from the picture (old lady eyes)
3. Gannett Pond. I wish I had a before picture! When I was in Tallahassee in October, the pond was practically non-existent due to drought. Lake Iamonia, which borders the property, was greatly downsized due to drought as well. Both are back to being large, lovely homes for fish, alligator, snakes, and whole host of other organisms.
4. The live oaks. My favorite part of North Florida is the the live oaks. Majority of these giant trees are covered in Spanish moss.
5. One of the interpretive panels outside the Jones Tenant House.
6. The Jones Tenant House was restored by Tall Timbers a few years ago and offers the opportunity to better understand the role of tenant farmers in southern agriculture. I had the opportunity to walk through the house at the Tall Timbers field day.
7. After the walk, B spent about 30 minutes chasing bumblebees. This was the first time I had seen him do this, but flying insect chasing has since become his favorite past time.

Valentines in Tallahassee

For Valentines, I made Seth red velvet whoopie pies. I wish I had a recipe to share with you, but I waited until the last minute to go to the store and ended up buying a box mix. However, the cookies were pretty scrumptious! 

I drove down to Tallahassee on Valentines Day and Seth had dinner waiting on me. He grilled freshly caught snipe and asparagus and made garlic mashed potatoes. He did a great job!

Later that weekend, we went to Kikü Japanese Fusion for sushi on Thomasville Road. I get a different roll each time and cannot remember for the life of me which rolls these are, but they were delicious! Kikü is one of our favorites and they always have great specials