christmas garland

I spotted this garland in the Christmas shop in Jonesborough a while back. Excuse the sad photo quality, but it’s felt flowers with a button in the center attached to a wire covered in green cloth.

My natural reaction? I could make that.

So I did. Or rather, I made something similar.

I built my flowers out of red ribbon. If you stitch up the side of the ribbon, pull tight, and tie it off, you get a nice little flower shape. I didn’t have any white buttons, but I did have some ugly brown buttons and a can of spray paint. The leaves were just cut from pieces of felt.

I sewed the buttons to hold the flowers onto the ribbon.

I’m not going to lie, I worked on this on and off for a while- it was not an afternoon project. But I’m fairly pleased with the way it turned out and I think it looks pretty cute on the tree..

Now for the rest of those ornaments…

<3, Liz

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

In keeping with our tradition, we made a list on the chalkboard wall of things to be thankful for this year. It includes (but is not limited to) our families, the cats, barbecue, and the fact that the cats didn’t knock down the Christmas tree overnight.

Forrest rustled up these photos of me with a baby turkey at Wil-Moore Farms earlier this year. Isn’t it cute? Cute enough to eat.

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There is actually a Wil-Moore Farms turkey brining in the fridge right now. Looks like that one photo was prophetic. But he lived a beautiful life on a lovely farm and soon he will be a delicious post-Thanksgiving meal.

Hope your Turkey Day is full of good food and long naps!

<3, Liz

Barbecue Pilgrimage

Barbecue, it’s the center of a lot of arguments in this area, usually about what’s the best sauce. But I know a secret, if you’re talking about the sauce, it’s because the cue wasn’t cooked right. And most of it here isn’t. Barbecue is first and foremost about 2 flavors, meat and smoke. Sauce is secondary. Now don’t get me wrong, the right sauce can elevate already good barbecue to the next level, but if step 1 wasn’t done right, then what’s the point? This is where Scott’s Barbecue excels. Whole hog barbecue over hickory coals. That might be one of the most beautiful sentences in the english language. Okay, so maybe I’m going a bit overboard, but really, there isn’t much better than really good barbecue.

I’m lucky to have a good friend like Hunter, who suggested that we utilize one of our recent Fridays off to make a pilgrimage, to what I would argue is the best barbecue joints in South Carolina. Perhaps farther than that, but I still have a lot of barbecue to try. That place is Scott’s Barbecue in Hemingway, SC. If you doubt me (or just want to know more about Scott’s) then check out this article from the NYT. There isn’t much I can say about it that isn’t already said in this article, and they had the pleasure of speaking with the pitmaster, Rodney Scott, who is also featured in an article in Saveur.

It’s a 4-5 hour trip to get there and back. Hemingway isn’t exactly a convenient place to get to, luckily we have some gorgeous state highways to make the trip more enjoyable. A cup of coffee and some LCD Soundsystem didn’t hurt either though. Scott’s doesn’t really cater to the dine in crowd, in fact there is only one table inside, but we weren’t there for a fine dining experience, we were there for barbecue! Hunter and I posted up on the trunk of his car with a loaf of Sunbeam White Bread and our cartons hickory smoked, vinegary, peppery, porky goodness. I would have driven 8 hours for this. Pork, smoke, heat, and just a bit of tanginess. This is good barbecue. Thank goodness Hunter had the foresight to grab a bag of chicharrones with his order so we could snack on those all the way home instead of finishing off one or two of the boxes of cue in the back seat.  It’s been a couple of weeks now and I’ve still got a pound left in the freezer,  butif it weren’t for Thanksgiving, I doubt it would make it through the week. I’m ready to go back!

All the essentials for a perfect meal.

Yeah, that’s a total of 8 lbs on the trunk, but there was more already stashed in the car.

And that’s how you know it was worth it.

Enjoy! ~F

it’s the most wonderful time

Christmas is out of the attic! The cats are super jazzed for the new perching spots.

We’re going to try a new tree location this year. I’m a little nervous, because the tree will be much more out in the open than it has been in years past. And this is the first Christmas with hardwood floors. No cushy carpet to help out the fallen ornaments.

We’ll see how that goes. Keep your fingers crossed.

Also, I’ve been bugging out for the past few minutes because I was ready to start the dishwasher but I couldn’t find my tumbler from today. I had it on the ride home and I remembered putting it in the side pocket of my school bag. But it was nowhere to be found. So naturally, I convinced Forrest to go out to see if I dropped it anywhere. And my sweet husband did; he was crawling around with a flashlight when he saw it. Wedged into the steering wheel of my car. I have no explanation.

Happy Monday, ya’ll.

<3, Liz

shameless plug

I’ve been cleaning like a mad woman today. We aren’t having any one over for Thanksgiving, but between trying to pack up fall things and prep for Christmas decorations, our house looks crazy.

But it’s a rainy afternoon, and I needed a break, so I plopped down on the couch with the newest issue of Jasper Magazine. Actually, the whole magazine is new- this is only the second issue! Jasper is “the word on Columbia Arts” and was started by some insanely talented folks here in the Capital City. It’s impressive.

In addition to Jasper being stand-alone awesome, Forrest has gotten involved and is contributing photographs. For this issue, he photographed the local dancer Bobby Craft in mid-jump! Too funny!

Visit Jasper’s website to read more, check out the first issue, or contact the folks in charge!

<3, Liz

out on a limb

Normally I shy away from discussing things of a political nature online, but this Occupy movement is hitting close to home. Our country is wonderful because (you know, in theory) we can be open about what we believe.

When a non-violent protest is broken up by beating young kids and pepper spraying old ladies, we have a problem. Yeah, I’m sure they weren’t following directions from the cops, but geez.

The Occupy Columbia kids were arrested last night. Thankfully, I’ve not heard of any injuries there. Mayor Steve Benjamin has been super supportive/anti-arrest toward these peaceful squatters. It’s kind of incredible to read his Twitter and hear his opinions on the whole thing.

Lupe Fiasco said it well. “I am a part of the problem; my problem is I’m peaceful.” Yes, I did just quote that. I’m totally gangsta.

<3, Liz

well, that’s a first!

Yesterday, we headed out to Chapin to celebrate Forrest’s grandfather’s birthday. Uncle Dino hosted a fish fry and after our delicious lunch, we (bravely) explored the woods on four wheelers. I was a little, ahem, skeptical about the whole thing. I’ve managed to live my entire life in South Carolina and had never been on (or even near) a four wheeler. But I guess I can’t say that any more!

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What a beautiful day.

We had a great afternoon! Thanks for having us, Dino and Wanda! And happy birthday, Papa Ed!

<3, Liz