The River Archives - Page 2 of 3

Thursday’s Memorial Weekend Recap

May 30, 2014 by Susan Leave a Comment

What’s the best part of blogging, you ask? It’s the fact that you get to make your own rules.

Rules like recapping a holiday weekend on a Thursday. No, unfortunately my weekend did not last until now. No, I was not swept away after our Summer Kickoff Blog Series. And no, thankfully I am not so incredibly sunburnt that I cannot type.

I’m just busy.

Crazy busy actually. Last weekend was my last free {read: not-working-a-wedding} weekend until mid-july. You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be doing NOTHING when I actually have a free weekend.

So of course I spent every second of Memorial Weekend, simply, enjoying myself.

Can you tell we are sisters? {don’t even ask - we aren’t twins. but we do both thoroughly enjoy champagne on the river.}

The weekend wasn’t all play. There was a bit of work. But work that didn’t involve weddings or brides or real estate or marketing or home warranties or house chores…

I volunteered to pressure wash our dock. Yes. You read that right. I volunteered.

There is just something absolutely nerdy, deep inside of me, that loves pressure washing. I’m not sure if it’s the misting water, the fact that it’s actually a great arm workout, or maybe it’s just the thought that I am “making something pretty” that causes me to adore this chore.

Seriously. It’s hard work. But I consider it to be the adult power tool version of those painting-with-water books from our childhood.

Without glitter this time, I did leave my mark. And the year. #happysummer

There was a little bit of boating… just a bit though. We didn’t get too carried away this weekend. Do you see that hunky dude below? And the hat that Sandlot’s Smalls would be jealous of?! Shortly after this picture was snapped, that hat went flying. The hubs could’ve cared less. But what does this girl do? She makes him turn the boat around! {we are on a budget after all!}

It was his first time driving the pontoon. Circling back and getting close enough to said hat was not an easy task for him.

Only because there was no other choice - I had to jump into the middle of the river, full of cold h2o and rescue this flat brimmed hat. And that’s when summer started.

{Of course, only to be warmed up later with some more champagne in the sunshine.}

Remember how last week I told you that this cottage is over run by k9s? Well friends, we’ve hit an all-time low. (Or all-time high if you’re talking to one of the dogs…) After 8 summers, BrownDog discovered the porch swing. This is where she decided her time was better spent relaxing than chasing the ball.

#snoozinandtreats #treatsandsnoozin

And just an FYI - I may be moving away from the summer in a cup… and embracing a Chocolate White Russian made with Dark Chocolate Almond Milk.

#delicious #nolactaidpillnecessary

#riverhair

So yeah. Life is a bit hectic right now. I swore to my best friend that I would continue blogging and writing because I love it. And she says she loves reading it. But as wedding season is in legit full-gear and my house is under construction {we’re redoing our floors in addition to a few other things in hopes of getting it on the market ASAP!} please be patient and maybe just read some blog posts from a few May’s ago. Use your imagination and pretend they are from 2014… not that much has changed in my life right?!

For the love of the riverhair and chocolate russians in my cup!

Until next time… xxoo

Last Hours of Vacation Sunshine

July 7, 2013 by Susan 1 Comment

I woke up this morning in a bright and sunny room of 16 windows, with dread, anxiety and fear staring me in the face. It’s amazing how anxiety affects my life. After spending the last ten, stress-free days here in North Carolina it’s time for me to go home.

Problem is, I am stuck in this weird life transition and I am simply at a loss for where home is… My townhouse will be rented out this week. Michael’s house (where I technically live) is still a hot mess and feels nothing like home… more specifically, it feels nothing like my home. My pets love it here. The thought of throwing them back into the car and taking them “home” where they will go back into hibernation-life-mode makes me sad. Hopefully all of us do not go into hibernation-life-mode.

Hopefully things will get better when Michael returns from his deployment in Japan in a few weeks.

So I sit here today. After a bit of cleaning I plan on enjoying the last couple hours of vacation sunshine. For the record, “Vacation Sunshine” is the best type of sunshine. Ever.

Here are some pictures from Friday when we watched a blimp come across the river, turn, and go directly above our cottage. The dogs were freaking out!

Until next time…

Community Pancake Breakfast

July 6, 2013 by Susan Leave a Comment

Have I mentioned that Hertford, the town my family’s cottage is located in, has many similarities to Andy’s Mayberry? On any given day you can walk down the main street and get three scoops of ice cream for 70 cents. (It used to be 25 cents when I was a kid. Darn inflation.) You can get fresh squeezed Lemonade for 50 cents. You can sit on benches in front of the quaint little court house and watch people pass by. There’s a handful of antique stores and a historic hardware store. My family owns the little Carriage House Tea Cafe in the midst of town serving the best chicken salad you will ever eat. Oh and the town is particularly proud of the fact that is has the only “S Bridge” in North America, not to mention the local icon: The Turtle Log. (Yep, it’s a log. And turtles sit on it.)

It’s definitely got charm and I’ve been lucky enough to spend a good chunk of my summers down here, splashing around in the water and enjoying the sunshine. But this morning was a first.

Community Pancake Breakfast.

My dad, Godmothers, my Mom and I piled into the car to head to one of the cutest little building you will ever see. We had a mission: All you can eat, pancakes and sausage, for $5.

Challenge accepted.

My dad, extremely serious about he plain pancakes and no sausage meal.

Jean, proud of her pancake successes!

You learn to socialize with all the “neighbors” quite quickly.

For the record, I ate a mere 5 blueberry pancakes. I expected better from myself but hey, this girl is going to have to fit into a wedding gown in 4 months and 3 days… No need to go too crazy.

#notpaleo

Signs of Summer…

July 5, 2013 by Susan 3 Comments

I hope you all had a lovely Fourth of July! I also hope that you are as lucky as I am and that you will be enjoying a Four-ish Day Weekend! The sun has finally come out and I am finally enjoying my vacation on the river without the help of the Lifetime Movie Network.

I want to keep this short and sweet, as I have more of a lather-up-in-tanning-lotion-priority than I do a be-a-blogging-rockstar priority. Sorry friends. I love you, but sunshine on my shoulder really does make me quite happy.

So here’s some images from yesterday’s celebrations.

American Flag and the Pirate Flag… Pretty much sums us up!

Floating, Laughing, Drinking. Happiness.

My sister and mom.

It’s all fun and games until someone falls into the river…

My mom’s dog, Lacey. Too cool for school.

Yes, my bike has streamers. Pink ones.

Brown Dog’s Bathtime.

Someone had enough to drink…

Fireworks across the river.

Frozen Fourth of July Treat

July 4, 2013 by Susan 2 Comments

For the record, I’m that girl. The girl who has a macbook pro, an ipad, an iphone, and even an old dell laptop… but I still try to carry my imac with me as much as possible. For some reason I absolutely dread doing anything creative on my macbook pro. I need a big screen. I need to spread things out, digitally. I need somewhere to hang my hat.

That being said, Happy Fourth of July! In between all the rain and storms yesterday, I was baking away! It was my mom’s birthday (which you will hear about in a couple of days) so our favorite orange cake was in order. But with today being Independence Day I figured a festive holiday treat was also necessary! Without further ado, let me introduce you to one of the most delicious Fourth of July dessert this side of the Mississippi.

I guess you could call it a Fruity Frozen Berry Flattened Trifle.

I found a recipe years ago, that I just can’t seem to re-find, online. It was for the most delicious trifle I’ve ever had! This go round though, I decided, with the mugginess and ultra-humid weather we’ve been having, it would be even more of a winner if I could turn it into a frozen treat.

So I did.

Here’s what you need:

Two Sleeves of Graham Crackers

One stick of Melted Butter

One Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (For a slightly lighter, less rich taste use fat free)

Approximately 8 ounces of Greek Yogurt. Four-ish of Pineapple Greek and Four-ish of Lemon Greek. (Again, for a slightly, less rich taste you can use normal yogurt)

An average sized lemon to zest and squeeze the juice

One 8 ounce Container of Thawed Cool Whip

Half of an Angel Food Cake (I did store bought)

Approximately 1.5 cups of Fresh Strawberries

Approximately 1.5 cups of Fresh Blueberries

**Please keep in mind that I love to cook and bake but rarely do I measure anything. I just do it. It drives my fiance crazy. And then I think “Man! I should’ve documented and measured so I could blog it!” All of the ingredients are approximations and depend on the size dessert you make. I used an 18×12 inch cookie sheet.

Take the Grahams, double ziplock bag ’em, then smash them to bits! Add the melted butter and mix into the bag.

On your cookie sheet, spread out some wax paper. This makes for a much easier cleanup. Lay the buttery grahams out and press them down hard. Making a make-shift crust. I popped it into the oven, on 350 degrees for about 5 minutes to help bind it. {Not sure if this is necessary or not though since you will be freezing it.}

In a separate mixing bowl you need to mix your yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, zest the lemon until you don’t feel like zesting anymore, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze it’s contents into the bowl, sans the seeds. Then blend in the Cool Whip.

Cut up your strawberries and tear up the Angel Food Cake. You could cut it, but let’s be real… it’s way more fun to tear it up. More than likely it will take you back to your first birthday where they told you to run amok with the cake. DO IT! And do it so the pieces are small squares.

I highly recommend fresh fruit. Unless you are in Hertford, NC. In which case they “ran out” of blueberries. I have never made this with frozen fruit before but in my mind, they are going to be frozen in the long run - this should just save on the freezing process? (Bottom Line: Stick with the fresh if you can.)

On top of your grahamy crust, lay out some blues and straws… berries that is. This ensures that even when the top looks like the American Flag, your happy family and friends will get some of each fruit.

Put a layer of the Angel Food Cake down. Surprisingly this is AWESOME when frozen. Then smooth the layer of your fruity cool whip concoction on top of the cake.

Use your slices strawberries and blueberries to make the top look like the American Flag. OR, I think this would look just as pretty, scatter the strawberries and blueberries around like you did on top of the grahams. Use your creative juices to figure out your frozen treat decor.

Cover it up and pop it in the freezer. I let mine freeze through the night. It’s still a bit gooey because of the contents, but my oh my! You’re going to enjoy!

Happy Fourth of July Friends.

#thisisnotpaleo