Months with Rs - Yum!

My Grandmom, who had strong roots in Louisiana and French Cajun in her blood, taught me that oysters can only be enjoyed in months with an R. If I had thought about it long enough, I probably could have realized that all the excluded months were warm, summer months (not great for shellfish) but somehow it just seems easier to say "does February have an R in it? Oh, wait, it has two! Bring on the shuckers!"

This weekend was fairly uneventful, minus Oysterfest which was the yummy highlight. I had never had any type of oyster other than raw or (still my favorite) fried, but here in Georgia I learned to like them steamed. Since this month has two Rs and Atlanta decided to celebrate it with a festival, we got to enjoy a couple of buckets with friends. Not a bad way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon!

DIY, Y'all

I do enjoy a good DIY project when one comes my way, even if the planning phases for such a project is years in the making.  James bought an old Bass beer mirror from his favorite wateringhole, which thankfully sadly closed down a few years ago with this whole Streets of Buckhead fiasco.   I finally got around to doing something with it last week.

(Side note: McTighe's was one of those old Irish pubs that was loud, smokey, and just the type of place for the boys to get into no good.  I think that James and Michael Murphy probably tacked a few more years to their life with its closing, and I know that I am a much happier person since I no longer have to endure it.  I love a good hole-in-the-wall, but this place was more like the gateway to hell.  Okay...maybe that's a little dramatic...but it was TERRIBLE.)

So, the mirror was in great shape except for a beat up wood frame which had nail holes and some green and purple glitter.  (I'm thinking a Mardi Gras party that got out of control?  Who knows...)  I've been thinking through how to spruce it up, and decided for a black, painted "rub through" look.  Turned out pretty good!

The mirror is now making me think that I need to redecorate downstairs, with new colors and furniture. I shared this with James who gave me that look like "don't go there, crazy woman!".   :)  Oh well, at least the mirror is looking pretty cool!

We're Still Around!

So, what have we been up to lately?  Honest to goodness, I had to look back on the iPhone to figure out what we have been doing the last few weeks.  Sadly, I didn't capture much except the usual snapshots of the kitties.  Between James' school work (he has some very hard classes this semester, including Stats), my newfound love of yoga, and the fact that we need to be lazy on the weekends to survive our weeks...not much to report out on, folks.

In case you were wondering about our felines, they are still kicking.  Considered now "seniors" (since they are 8 years old), they do a lot of chill-axing.  But, they laid around constantly at 2 years old, too, so I'm not that worried.

Loving the fire with her white mouse baby

Loving her new perch

Loving...absolutely nothing about her life

Oh, and there has also been a lot of COOKING going on in the Sasser household.  I don't mean to brag, but we've turned out some good dishes as of late.  First, there were the batches and batches of soup that we made for the church soup kitchen.  I got teased on Facebook for using Veg-All (hey, I was following the recipe and you don't question the older church ladies!!), but I can fondly remember my grandmother making a very mean beef-n-veggie soup with Veg-All.  I thought it turned out great!

That same weekend we had a birthday party for the lovely Mrs. Kellee Murphy.  Thank goodness she requested the chocolate cheesecake because I was dying to try out this new recipe.  It was a keeper!  (Just wish I could have convinced all the guests to take some home, because I polished off that sucker the next week....)

This week I get to...yes, "get to"...travel to NYC for work.  (Now that I'm not on the road each week, these monthly trips are actually pretty fun!)  Since this trip coincides with a holiday, it means one thing:  gotta take my colleagues some baked goods!  Can't wait to pass out these hearts!  I even made enough for James to take to his team in Washington, DC.  The Sassers are spreading love all up the NE corridor, one heart shaped cookie at a time...

There ya have it, folks!  We're around, but just not too exciting.  I'll be sure to post more this week if we can manage to get into something good.  :)