A Dapper Kids Room

I have been meaning to do a post about some fabric that I found for ages. And for lack of any other blog material today, I will blog about actual material. Stacey and I came across this cute kid's fabric at Trolly's in downtown Thomasville.

If you can tell, it's a dachshund patterned fabric. I think it is just adorable and would be so super cute with that matching stripe. It would be perfect for a nursery or a little girl's room or play room. If actual dachshund fabric is a little too much, then a few playful elements of my favorite pooch could be incorporated into a kid's room a bit more subtly.

These dachshund lamps are a very popular, whimsical touch to any nursery.

I love seeing them incorporated in many different settings in the nursery.

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Or to place a few cute stuffed animals on a book shelf or in a rocking chair.

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Or add in a flair for the long and short of it all with a little printed artwork on the wall.

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Ok...I think that's enough dachshunds-overtake-a-nursery for one day!

Yet Another Trip to Savannah

Are you guys tired of hearing about my trips to Savannah yet? Well, I hate to break it to you, but these posts won't be going away anytime soon because that's about all that I do these days. Ha!

Like most of my weekends (ok all) in Savannah, David and I never have any plans to do much of anything specific. We just like to get out and enjoy all that Savannah has to offer. One thing that I have introduced David to in Savannah that he had never discovered is the Savannah Candy Kitchen. More importantly one thing that he had never been introduced to was the gophers that they make that are so delicious.

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I am a major candy freak and love all things sweet. Their gophers are amazing and probably my most favorite thing to get each time I go to Savannah. After David's initial introduction to the gophers a few weeks back, he made sure that he took me back this weekend. Mainly because he wanted an excuse to go back and not feel guilty about indulging his sweet tooth, and of course because he knew it would make me happy. So we loaded up on a 1/2 of gophers and I grabbed some salt water taffy for the ride home. The taffy is a close runner up to the gophers. I love this stuff.

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Oh- I found the most disturbing item at the Candy Kitchen. Candy Grillz....

Which of course I had to purchase. I will spare you with pictures of me wearing my new found grill. I thought the gold was more authentic than the silver ones. It was a good look on me :-) 

Continuing on our tour of Savannah and of David taking me to all the "hot spots" was a little stop at Clary's Cafe. Stacey and I and a few more of our girlfriends have a trip planned up to Savannah for the St. Patrick's Day festivities and Stacey mentioned that she wanted to go to Clary's. I told David this, so I guess that was why it was on our radar to go enjoy brunch on Sunday. (did I mention brunch is my favorite meal of the day?) Clary's was featured in several scenes in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil so it was cool to go in and eat a bite there.

I finally got my eggs benedict florentine. I debated between that or something sweet like pancakes or waffles but finally decided to get my favorite brunch menu item. 

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In other food news. David fixed me an AMAZING meal on Saturday night.

We had a lovely dinner of chicken nuggets and corn dogs. He threw on the Vienna Sausages for more garnish and effect of how awesome this meal was. He posted this picture to Facebook and is still waiting for his sisters and his mother to call and cuss him out for feeding me this. But in his defense, I was perfectly ok with this. We were tired after the festivities of the day and didn't feel like going out and David being the bachelor that he is, only has so much food at his house and apparently it is all stuff that he can throw in the oven at a moment's notice. I have been fixing a meal and leaving it for him to eat during the week, but I never got around to running to the grocery store to make him anything. So sadly, he will be reduced this week to eating out or eating corn dogs.

We were tired Saturday night because we had a fun filled day being "kids" over at the putt-putt golf course on Tybee Island. We rode over to Tybee with Paden and Lauren to grab lunch at AJ's and afterwards decided it would be fun to go play putt-putt. So we headed over to go crash some kid's birthday party and try not to smack any little kids for not practicing correct golf course etiquette. (And I have to say that I schooled everyone with my golf skills. I can tear up a putt-putt course, especially when I got as many holes in one as I did on Saturday)

We even got wild and crazy and hit up the batting cages.

David proved that he still has it from his days on the baseball team. I even hit a few rounds of softballs and I was quickly reminded why I didn't play softball in school. My hand eye coordination isn't that great! But it was still fun  to get out and enjoy a gorgeous Saturday acting like a big kid. So that was our escapades in Savannah this past weekend. Stay tuned for the fun of the coming up weekend. David is journeying down to Thomasville so we can hit up the annual Rattlesnake Roundup in Whigham, GA. Should be interesting!

What's in the Box?

Prepare yourselves for a riveting blog post...

Due to a lack in any truly interesting blog material today, I am going to talk about what is in the box. Namely, what January's BirchBox included and just for fun a look into my lunchbox to see what I eat on a regular basis. (told you this was good stuff, I may win a Pulitzer for this content)

BirchBox {January}

If you can't read from the picture this is what was included:

• Befine - Night Cream
• Juicy Couture - Viva La Juicy fragrance
• stila - Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye liner (came at an excellent time considering that I am out!)
• VMV Hypoallergenics - Re-Everything Eye Serum
• wichcraft - Granola

I'm digging this month's samples. I am all about some anti-aging stuff and love stila so I'm a happy camper.

Lunch Box

This is what my lunch box contained today:

• Chicken Salad Sandwich - Bread~Nature's Own Honey Wheat   Chicken Salad~Publix's Chunky White Chicken Breast Salad (a must try!)
• Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn
• Apple Slices
• Caramel Dip (to make those healthy apples not so much..)
• Orange (naval if you want specifics)
• Sugar Cookies from the Publix's bakery
• Andes Mints
• Coca-Cola Cherry Zero

On any given day my lunch usually consists of just this:

• Chicken Salad Sandwich
• Popcorn
• Apples

Today just happens to be a special day because I went to the grocery store this weekend, so I had a few extras. I always make a chicken salad sandwich. If I am out, then I just go out to eat that day and don't bother packing a lunch. Publix makes a jam up chicken salad (the chunky one that is) and I have the recipe here if you want to try and make it at home:

Ingredients

o 3/4 teaspoon salt
o 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
o 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
o 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
o 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
o 1/8 teaspoon minced garlic cloves
o 1 tablespoon dried parsley
o 1 cup mayonnaise
o 1 cup celery, finely chopped
o 1/2 cup carrots, steamed and chopped
o 1/4 cup onions, chopped
o 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions
1. Cook chicken however desired (I often poach in my steamer or bake). Cool and cut into large (about 1") cubes. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine salt, basil, dill, lemon juice, white pepper, garlic and parsley with mayonnaise. Mix thoroughly.
3. Stir celery, carrots, onion and chicken into mayonnaise mixture. Mix well.
4. Cover and chill overnight or at least several hours before serving.

I will have to try this one day if I am feeling productive. If not, I am content paying for it in the deli at Publix!
 
 
So that's what's in the box today over here at the Dapper Dachshund!
 

Better Late than Never...

I'm not going to be winning the on-the-ball award anytime soon. We are 2 weeks into the new year and I never did my post about what I wanted to accomplish in 2012. So, without further ado, here are some things that I want to strive toward this year:

There is nothing on my list that is totally major, just basically some goals that I want to set for myself. Ok, here we go!

• Learn a new instrument This year, I would really like to learn to play a new instrument. I already play the piano, but I think it would be nice to pick up another one. I'm debating on either learning the guitar, the violin (fiddle) or the mandolin. Or I guess I could just take some more piano lessons to improve my skills. But I'm debating on that because I don't really like playing on a keyboard (its just not the same!) and I doubt we can fit a piano anywhere in our apartment ha!
• Take an actual vacation When I say take an actual vacation, I don't necessarily mean go off somewhere exotic for a week. I just mean actually using my vacation days at work! I haven't had any time off, vacation wise, since J and I went to Antigua back in July 2010. So I think I am more than due a little time off to enjoy life. I think I might have taken maybe two days off last year, and that was just to attend to business concerning the divorce and/or moving out of the house. So this year, when I take off of work, it will be for fun and relaxation only.
• Find a new volunteer project I want to make more of an effort this year to reach out to others and dedicate my time to being a servant. Which I guess can go along with Have a servant's heart.So I want to find meaningful volunteer projects that I can be apart of. I volunteered last year at the homeless shelter here in Tallahassee, but what I could volunteer to do was limited due to the fact that I worked in Thomasville and couldn't get down there until late. Most of their volunteer opportunities were in the afternoon's tutoring the children and what have you. I may start back there helping out with the kiddos. But I also want to find some other projects as well. So I will be actively looking to see what I can do. I just want to be the one doing the serving, not the one being served.
• Read at least one book a month I think this is pretty self explanatory. I absolutely adore reading, but I have been a major slacker here lately. I am currently reading one book, but that is for my weekly Bible study, so I don't really count that one. I think I want to alternate my book selections. One month a historical book/non-fiction, the next a fun fiction read (chick-lit, fantasy, etc.), maybe a biography, etc. I want to learn new things from the books I read and not just use them for solely entertainment. But I will throw one in the mix from time to time for nothing other than the pleasure of reading something fun.
• Stick to a budget I want to be more fiscally responsible in 2012. I want to save more, pay off debt, and just be a better steward with my money. Guess if my goal is to stick to a budget, then I need to actually formulate one! I have procrastinated on this one big time. For some reason, I don't mind doing up a $3M budget for work, but my little budget for myself, I dread doing. Probably because once I have it done, then I will be forced to implement and adhere to it.
• Pray harder My prayer life has been slacking over the last few months. I want to get back into prayer warrior mode again because my prayer time is precious time I get to spend alone with God. I want to pray more for those who have hurt me, pray more for those who are hurting, pray for the sick, pray more for our country, my church, my family-just pray more in general. But I also want to spend more time not asking for God's healing or mercy or blessings, I want to spend more time in prayer to honor and glorify Him and sing his praises. So I need to get on this pronto.
• Live for the moment 2012 is all about looking forward. So I want to make an effort to look out my windshield instead of the rear view mirror. I want to live for today. I want to enjoy what is happening around me in the present. I want to be content with where I am right now and not be concerned with where I was or where I am going.
• Laugh more 2011 was the year of heartache and tears. I am determined to make 2012 the year of lots of laughter and smiles.
• Memorize more Scriptures I want to be more proactive and hide the Word in my heart. Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I may not sin against you." We can sidestep a lot of trouble, heartache and pain in this life if we choose to obey God and His Word. And you can't obey His Word unless you know it!
• Do something I've never done before I want to learn to be more adventurous. My friend recently asked me to go skydiving with a group of people. I, being me, graciously declined the offer. I want to try something new, but plummeting to my death isn't one of them. So I will have to hit the drawing board to come up with something that I've always wanted to do but was too scared to try.
• Learn a new craft What said craft will be, I have no idea. Maybe I will take up knitting or quilting or something. I wish I could draw. I would love to paint, but that's just not an option for me. Unless I go the "artist" route and throw some paint splotches on a canvas and consider it "art." Stacey and I want to take a cake decorating class. So, I am leaning more towards that than anything as being my new craft. I can start my own little bakery ;-)
• Show love to others I think I had an epic fail in this department last year. There were a few people that I didn't really show the love to (it may have been very much deserved, but still. I'm better than that). I just want to have a loving spirit. I'm done with letting my circumstances and emotions take over my gentle heart and causing me lash out at others in a mean way. That's not who I am at all. Never have been. I'm always the patient one. The peacemaker. The first one to forgive in any situation.  Life is too short to not love one another. Plus, we are commanded to....love one another. It is the greatest of the virtues. Once you have a love for everyone, not just those people that are easy to love or show love to you, its a lot easier to do the right things and be gracious and humble.
• Speak Spanish I really want to learn Spanish better. My few years of high school Spanish aren't really cutting it for me. I recently became a sponsor of a little girl in Bolivia and one of my goals within the next 5 years is to take a tour to Bolivia with Compassion International to go visit her and her family. I want to be able to effectively communicate with them without an interpreter. So that's my goal.
• Find a new exercise routine {and stick with it} Groan. Blah. Yuck. I don't mind exercising. I just lack that motivation to go do it. Haha!! I just need to come up with a schedule for the week of what I want to do. Running is out, due to my genetically messed up knees. I know I would like to do spinning at least once a week. Maybe a few laps around the track at the park another day. Maybe Stacey and I will take up playing tennis like we have been threatening to do for like a year. Back when I lived in Blountstown I played racquetball with friends almost every single afternoon. So I may like tennis. We will see. I am also deeply considering ordering the Brazil Butt Lift workout DVDs (hehehe). I stuck with P90x for about 45 days before giving up. Not my type of workout, plus it was like 6 days a week for at least an hour. No thanks. But, I think I might like Brazil Butt Lift. Thanks to my lovely ex-husband and what I refer to as my Divorce Diet, I got down to about 92 pounds at my lowest weight and I'm 5'7''(my mother probably just let out a gasp...). So I was looking a little (ok-a lot) sickly. Slowly but surely I have gained about 10 pounds back. But it's pure fat. I know I have seriously messed my body up and it is now holding on to anything and storing it just in case I ever decide to starve it again. So I want to gain back to a more healthy weight, but in muscle, not in fat. So I think this workout will help. Plus I'm hoping it will get my butt back. I currently don't have one at all!
• Be Happy This is probably my biggest goal I want to accomplish and that is to simply be happy. To enjoy life. To be and feel like myself again. To give my all to whatever I do. To just be at peace.

Best Present EVER

My gal Stacey did me up right for Christmas. She got me a massage from a local spa in Thomasville. She knows what I like :-)  I got really excited about it because I just scheduled my appointment for this Saturday. I know I can use some major tension/stress relief right now. Not to mention I am in the process of getting a nasty cold, so having someone rub my stress away will be awesome. Ok, that's it for this post. Short and sweet. I just had to mention the best present ever!

More Savannah Adventures

Good Monday morning! Sorry for my lack of posts last week. I've been super busy at work closing out 2011, that I haven't had time to be a slacker and blog at work :-) I will briefly share about my weekend. I made a flying trip back up to Savannah on Friday after work. I think it will be my last for awhile. Going two weekends in a row about killed me considering its a good 4+ hour haul up there from Tallahassee and making that trip after working a full day isn't exactly fun. I did however go up there prepared and downloaded an audiobook, so I could at least get my read on while driving, which really helps pass the time. I was just sad I didn't download two books, because I finished up my book in about hour 1 of the drive back to home to Thomasville. Bummer.

We had a fairly low key weekend. David introduced me to the new guy that he hired at work that has become a good friend of his and his lovely girlfriend. So we all four pretty much hung out all weekend together. For dinner on Saturday night, we all headed to this place out on Tybee Island: The Crab Shack!

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 I have to say this place is a major tourist trap. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. They had alligators outside and of course the lovely feral cats of Tybee Island roaming around. I have to say that the food was great! So worth the drive out there and with it being January, it wasn't crowded at all, which was a definate plus. Below is the menu: 

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The four of us decided on the Captain Crab's Sampler for 4, which is basically a low country boil. It. was. fabulous! And a ton of food.

They had our food out in like 2 minutes it seemed after we ordered. And look at all the food they brought out. It was enough food to feed 8 people instead of just 4. They had shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, crayfish, snow crab legs, king crab, and mussels. It was so good. I haven't had crayfish in forever and David and I laughed because Paden and Lauren have never eaten them before so we had to show them how it was done. They told us the last time they had eaten at the Crab Shack and ordered the same sampler, they left the crayfish on the plate because they didn't know how to eat them. Well, thanks to two Blountstown rednecks, now they do!

Well, that's about all I've got for you today. The picture above of dinner was the only picture that I took this weekend. I was a major slacker in that area. Next time I go back to Savannah, I will try and get the camera out more.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!! I am very excited to usher in 2012. I am so over 2011, its not even funny. I have my new 2012 Lily Pulitzer planner, courtesy of my lovely cousin, Stacey. The pink planner is from last year and I am considering burning that bad boy, because there is nothing in it but things I would gladly like to forget. The blue one is my new one and I look forward to it being filled with nothing but good things. So here's to 2012 and all that it can bring!

I had a fabulous weekend celebrating the new year. I journeyed up to Savannah to spend time with one of my most favorite people on the planet, David. We had a fairly low key weekend bumming around Savannah, one of my most favorite places on the planet. So it was a good weekend for Ashley Paige. Saturday we kicked it over for a little tour of Wilmington Island and Fort Pulaski. I guess David could now be considered a local. He has a year round pass to Fort Pulaski. He really is a man after my own heart being that we are both nerds when it comes to history and mainly history during the War between the States time period. Don't judge us. Before we hit up the Fort, David took me to this place:

Maybe you can recognize it. It is the home of the one and only Paula Deen. David told me that word on the street in Savannah is that she only uses this house now exclusively for filming her cooking show, so there is no telling where she actually lives now. I was excited no less to see it up close and personal, though (or what little bit of it we could see from behind the compound wall)! After seeing the house, we hit up the Fort. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with fabulous weather.

After all my time giving tours at the Museum, it was nice to have someone give me the run down on the history of the Fort. I think he did a pretty good job.

I think he was showing me here where the Union army advanced from to attack the fort, if you can't tell by the ruble. We caught everything on a good day because they were performing gun firing and cannon firings while we were there.

I told David that he could get a job there on the weekend firing the cannon since he had so much experience from his Citadel days. Somehow I don't think that suggestion will be taken seriously. But here are a few pictures from our tour of the Fort.

An original cannon from the Fort

Officer's Barracks

The "Bars and Stars" or aka the Confederate flag

Massive fig tree that has been there forever and a day

The tourists

We walked over to the museum part and I got to see their collection of Confederate battle flags. {not as cool as our silk ones at the Museum of History in Thomasville, but they were close haha}

Saturday night after our big day touring Fort Pulaski, we got all dressed up to go out for dinner for our New Year's celebrations.

We ate a very late dinner on the river at the Chart House and then enjoyed watching the fireworks the city had at midnight over the river. It was very nice. Sunday was just a day we used to bum around downtown a little bit. I went and got my candy fix at the Savannah Candy Kitchen where I stocked up on gophers and salt water taffy. Yum, yum. Then we just sat and people watched, which is usually the most fun.

It was New Year's after all, so for dinner I cooked some collard greens and black eyed peas to keep with tradition. So we stayed in an hung out with Moxley (and his crazy eyes) for the evening. Mox even got to celebrate with some pork chops that I gave to him, so he was a happy camper.

It was sad to say goodbye to good old Savannah yesterday, but I'm sure I will be back fairly soon. I had to take one last picture when I was leaving yesterday to say goodbye.

So I hope everyone had a great New Year's weekend! I did, so it made coming back to work today extra hard!