2011...looking back

It's been a while, hopefully I'll do better in 2012.

My 2011 in pictures...

It was filled with WEDDINGS...

BIRTHDAYS...

more WEDDINGS...

SWEET TIMES...

family VACATIONS...

 EASTER...

MOTHER/DAUGHTER time...

a PHOTO SESSION with the best friend...

E'S GRADUATION...

OUR BIRTHDAYS & 1ST ANNIVERSARY:)

a trip to the BAHAMAS with the Rains...

FAMILY TIME...

Summer Beach Project...

sweet little BLESSINGS...

raising money for Ovarian Cancer Research...

getting BAPTIZED in the ocean...

CONCERTS...

CLEMSON FOOTBALL...

BEST FRIEND time...

a fun BIRTHDAY kidnapping...

getting to know sweet girls...

a new baby NEICE...

lots of CITADEL time...

moving from ol' Piedmont Avenue...

more WEDDINGS...

a fun trip to NYC...

CHRISTMAS...

& a huge New Year's bash...

What wonderful things 2011 held!! 

Cooking and other news

I absolutely LOVE Greek yogurt...Chobani is my brand of choice:)

I'd heard that you could cook with it and that you could substitute greek yogurt in certain recipes....

so, I decided that I would use the above yogurt in my chicken salad, instead of mayonnaise.

This is not the best picture...

I threw together the above chicken salad using a rotisserie chicken, grapes, pecans, and of course Chobani plain non-fat yogurt...my creation that was supposed to last for lunch for a few days, only made it one with my bottomless pit (aka Bradley).  

Last weekend my cousins (Jen, Ben, Brett & Eric) came in town.  Saturday night we ate at The Post House...very good!  Ever since then I've been wanting to cook something using balsamic vinaigrette. 

Wednesday night I baked chicken that I covered with balsamic vinaigrette, oregano, and rosemary...definitely made my kitchen smell wonderful:)

PS I picked and shelled those peas that are on that plate....not a huge feat, but let me be proud;)

On to other news....

I FINALLY figured out what I'm allergic to...everything in downtown Charleston...well, sort of true...dust mites & cockroaches.  

Who knew you could be allergic to cockroaches?

After a skin test and my arm getting stuck more times than I could count, that was the answer...I didn't enjoy the process.  

None the less makes me even more excited for our move to Mt. Pleasant!

Remembering Uh...

This isn't as widely known as it should be, but September is Ovarian Cancer month.   My Aunt Mary Etta was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2004...she fought hard against it & then left her pain behind on January 2, 2006.


As a way to honor her and raise money towards research, every year we put on a golf tournament.  The money raised is donated to Duke University Hospital specifically for Ovarian Cancer research.  Not including this year's tournament, $124, 000 has been raised and donated.  Each year, Mary Etta's doctor from Duke (Dr. Berchuck) joins us at the tournament.  It means a lot that he would drive to little Cheraw, SC each year to support our family. 

Mary Etta is not defined by cancer...I like to believe that she was so strong, that God knew out of my whole family, she could handle it the best.

& she did...she kept fighting.  I have so many memories and pictures engrained in my mind of her during her fight.  One that makes me smile is of her walking down her stairs with a huge camouflage coat on because she was going to ride fourwheelers...now, surely this wasn't a great idea...but, she didn't want to miss out on the fun.  I can hear her telling me to get the ice cream out the fridge or to eat this or that...I think she enjoyed it through us when she got to where she couldn't eat.  She went through a magazine and circled all the prom dresses that she thought I would like because she wasn't able to go shopping with me like she did the year before.  She fought through her bad days and never missed anything special...like my sister's wedding or my high school graduation.

She was so many things...she was my 'cool aunt Uh' who wouldn't tell my momma that she caught me riding on a motorcycle, who would let me come 'bake brownies' so I could go with her to where everyone was camping out, she showed me life in Savannah through Johnny and took me to a concert in Atlanta, she cut flips on the trampoline at my 16th birthday party (I sure couldn't do that), she taught me how to do the electric slide and tried to teach me how to do the watermelon crawl...

...she liked the rain, she liked to shop (& return most of it...I'm pretty sure I inherited that from her), she had fun ideas...like opening a burrito place in Hartsville, 

she didn't care for sweet tea, she always had a 'World's Finest' chocolate bar in her cabinet, she made great mexican cornbread,  she always dressed up at Halloween...

...she liked animal print clothing, she saw the best in people, she was a wonderful nurse--she was the only person I wanted when I had to be rushed to the doctor when I was five (I just knew she wouldn't let the doctor give me those stitches I heard my momma & daddy talking about), she was creative--she helped me decorate for my 18th birthday party, she had a good taste of music, she wasn't scared of anything (except for maybe the old house behind MaMa's), she knew how to love each of us...

...and we all miss her dearly.