Friday Favorites - Downtown Living Edition

This is a special post, because I'm totally skipping the fact that the house has walls AND the brick is finished to bring it to you...it's all about the readers. All 3 of you. Who are probably sick of looking at pictures of brick colors and dirt. So let's talk food and alcohol.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE living downtown. There will be some tears when we pack up and leave, if I ever decide to start packing. But until then, I'll focus on the positive and share with you some of my favorite things.

First, let's clear up some misconceptions about downtown of the Magic City. We do not have a fun downtown like Nashville or Atlanta...of this I am aware. But I also don't have to pack heat when walking to the mailbox nor do I feel the need to carry anything other than my common sense when running alone, and I've seen my fair share of 48 Hours Mystery. Not that I'm defensive or anything.

Now that's out of the way...let's talk a few favorite things.

I think I could eat a pound of these all by myself. Is there anything better than fresh roasted peanuts? Maybe fresh roasted peanuts with a beer, poolside? Check and check.

Wine Loft. This is one of my favorite places to go on a date night, and its walking distance. Don't these people look happy? They should be. They're drinking good wine. On real furniture.

Last but not least. Certainly not least. Railroad Park.

I remember going to an event close to here before we moved in and being excited to see they were building some sort of park. I had vivid dreams of Namath running through the park and meeting new friends. All dreams don't come true. But, it has been wonderful having a running trail close to the apartment where there are always people around (common sense noted above). Namath's only been a handful of times. He's not much into exercise, heat, or socializing with other animals (some days me and MS fall into this category). We love him anyways.

I'm trying to soak up the last couple weeks in our first place...at some point I'll start packing.

Shrimp and Bacon

Since it's almost the weekend again, let's talk about last weekend.

As of last weekend, we only had 3 pool weekends left. Not that I'm counting. So, a cloudy day was not in my plans, but Plan B turned out pretty nice.

After some rigorous shopping for the man cave, we ended up at a new restaurant for an afternoon cocktail.

If you're local to Birmingham, Five in Lakeveiw has $5 appetizers and signature drinks during happy hour. The waitress recommended the Uptown Shrimp, and it did not dissapoint. MS had an old fashion.

While I sipped on a pineapple jalapeno margarita. Sweet with a little bit of a kick.

Saturday night we celebrated a good friends recent wedding. This house was unbelievable, so I had to snap a few pictures.

If you aren't feeling up to the 9 hole course on the property, you can practice your putting.

Golf not your forte? Maybe a nap in the boat bed?

But let's be honest, the French Bulldog in the study was my favorite part. His name was Bacon, and I wanted to take him home in my purse. But thought that would be frowned upon.

Wordless Wednesday

Gotta love webMD.

It's a (correct color) Brick House

   Although I wish I was on some beach somewhere, this sand makes me pretty happy too, because it means bricking has started!

 And after last week's panic that our Savannah Gray brick was Savannah Red, they sent the brick vendor out to confirm. As soon as I saw it on the house, I realized it was right and the worry was all for nothing. As are most things I worry about.

We were so pleased at the way it turned out, and it was exactly what I had in mind with the color we chose for the hardy plank.

 If you look really close, you can see the sheet rock in each room. This is exciting to no one but me...but I have high hopes for walls by next weekend. The brick fiasco was put to rest just in time for me to panic about paint colors. I'm sure MS is loving this process.

Will be directing movers through this front door in no time.

 Movers are perhaps the best money I've ever spent. Cue Namath pouting. Besides Namath, of course.
 

 

 Five weeks from closing, that's where we stand. I've never built a house, but I'm wishing and hoping that this is realistic.

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Fever

Color

  After weeks and weeks of dirt and wood, I was glad to see some color last Friday, in the form of painted hardy plank....in Sherwin Williams Downing Stone.

 Natural Choice for the trim.

 I was SO busy taking pictures of this development, I walked right past the stack of bricks that had been delivered. Which merited another trip out on Saturday.

Does this....

 Look like this? (on the right) My eyes say no and it sent me into a little bit of a first world pain panic.

Next week, hopefully some indoor updates.

What's Been Going On - according to my iPhone

  I have 696 pictures on my iPhone. Is this normal? I don't know. About 690 of them are of Namath. Probably not normal. Most of these aren't...

We went to my niece's first ballet recital. They did a dance to "Itsy Bitsy Spider". The rest of the dances were to the likes of Rhianna and Celo Green. Did you know you can clog to "We Found Love"?

 Isn't this about the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

 Older sister was there to help, and for photo ops. She'll be driving next week, at this rate.

 Speaking of sweet, I tried this way too easy recipe. I'm too lazy on a Monday to turn the picture, but let me break it down...

1 cup PB
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix, scoop and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

 If you're in the mood for something more salty, like some ballpark peanuts, I covered those bases too (I'm here all week folks...)

 While obeying all the rules. 
 

 We celebrated a birthday with Savage's cake.

 And with the newest fur member of the family, Sam, who just completed her very first NILIF training.

Which made me miss my own little hunk of burning love. Uh huh.