Last visits to Knoxville....

This weekend, my sister, Katie, and her boxer pup, Duncan, came to visit us in Knoxville one last time! I do not know who had more fun... me and Kate or the pups! Friday night, we went out with friends for a Mexican dinner and played a few rounds of darts. Saturday, we lounged around and then took the dogs to the park where they had an absolute blast! We cooked a delish dinner that included shrimp with a peanut sauce, hot and sour soup, and fried rice. We finished the night with a little homemade banana pudding and a game of Gin Rummy. What a fun filled weekend! George thanks you, Kate, for keeping me busy! And I will forgive sweet Duncan for eating inhaling my sandwich and punching me in the face in the middle of the night.... after all, he is a 'Boxer'. :)

I was hoping to post some videos from the park of the boys running around, but I am having some technical difficulties with uploading videos to my blog. I will hopefully get them posted soon! Love you Kate and Dunk, and we cannot wait for you to visit us in Nashville!

Hollywood with a touch of twang...

After several weeks of rental website stalking and three long day trips to Nashville....We FINALLY found our new home! Wahoo! I can only imagine how difficult buying a house is going to be. We were really hoping to rent a single-family home with a yard, etc; however, we fell in love with a new development in an awesome location outside of Nashville thanks to our friends, Kelci and Anthony, that will also be living there. It has a very urban feel that reminds me a bit of Atlanta but is surrounded by the beautiful hills and trees of middle Tennessee... so it has both the city and country feel that George and I desired. Visit www.dwellatmcewen.com to check it out! The community is newly developing with plans for a town center, market, and shops. A new Whole Foods is opening just up the street, which is very exciting! It is also just minutes from the adorable downtown Franklin. Unfortunately, I only got a few ‘before’ pics before my camera died…. More to come!

We couldn't be more excited.... and we hope to have lots of visitors!!

Happy 234th Birthday America!

George and I enjoyed a very relaxing fourth of July this year. We had a wonderful day at the pool...

and then cheered on the Braves and grilled some delicious burgers with friends. I made this special drink from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food....Blackberry and Peach Muddle. I was hoping the blackberries would appear blue and the peaches would appear red to make it patriotic. Did not exactly work, but tasted great! ;)

2 thin slices peach, 3 blackberries, 2 large mint springs, 1 1/2 tsp. honey, 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice ... mix together and mash gently with the back of a spoon until the fruit releases juices. Add 1/4 cup bourbon, 2 thin slices peach, and 3 blackberries. Fill glass with ice and top with seltzer (I used Sprite and added the lemons).

Thanks to Charlie and Angie's wedding gift, I was able to use fresh mint from our herb garden!

We decided to just watch fireworks from our balcony and actually had a pretty good view! Happy Birthday America!