Girls Weekend in the Ham

That's Birmingham for those of you not famililar with Alabama city lingo....Birmingham is called "the Ham" and Montgomery is known as "the Gump." Not sure why but it works I guess.

My FSIL and I got out of the country this weekend and headed north to the "big city" (ok not really big city, but city none the less) for the weekend.  We had some wedding business to take care of for her big day that will be here before we know it!

We got up there around 7 on Friday and decided we needed food.  After some contemplating we ended up going to PF Changs.  I had never been there and really wanted to see if it could live up to all of the hype that my dad gives it.  We didn't consider that it would be crowded on a Friday at 7pm.....silly us.  However, we conveniently grabbed a seat @ the bar shortly after we arrived and we able to eat there sans the 45 minute wait.  I am happy to say that it lived up to my expectations.  I had the Orange Chicken (which my dad always raves about) and we shared some lettuce cups......YUM!  I am now determined to recreate both of these dishes at home.

My Crispy Orange Chicken!

Saturday morning we got up and decided we wre going to jump start our day with a Turbo Kick class @ the YMCA.  I have taken Turbo Kick before and I have the Turbo Jam DVD set at home, which I LOVE.  However, it has been a while since I have done either and that class whopped my butt!  I paid for it on Sunday, but it was sooooo worth it.

After out class we ran back to her parents' house to get ready for the reason for our trip......BRIDESMAID DRESS FITTING!  It was so much fun, and the dresses are GORGEOUS!  I can't wait for them to come in! When we finished with our dress fitting we headed over to a place called Olexa's for lunch.  We went there because they will be making my FSIL's wedding cakes and she wanted us to try them.  She has always said how good they were and I didn't realize how good they were until we tasted them...OMG.  It was like heaven.  I was so glad we worked out Saturday morning because that cake was uh-maz-ing.  I cannot wait for the wedding...I am going to eat @ least 3 pieces (probably more).

via

We did a little shopping after we ate, and got inspired to do another craft project, surprise surprise!. I had some Penzey's FREE spice coupons that I wanted to use up before they expired and since the closest Penzey's is in Birmingham, I always try to go by.  This month I got 3 FREE spices, so I couldn't pass it up!

While we were at Penzey's we stopped at a little boutique in the next shop over that had really cute DIY-like products that were all made in AL.  I have had a recent obsession with burlap crafts (although I have yet to make one) and have been looking for ideas.  They had those really cute burlap footballs that have been all over Pinterest.com lately, and we decided that we HAD to make some.  Despite the fact that we both had several yards of burlap @ home, we set off to find some in Birmingham and on our second stop found some!  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Auburn get lucky again and Alabama dominate again, and made our super cute footballs!  I opted for a Huntingdon Hawks themed football to show some support for Eric's and my Alma Mater.

Sunday we headed back to reality, but due to the fact that it was an absolutely gorgeous fall day I didn't mind it one bit!  I got to spend the afternoon outside with my wonderful husband and our wild and crazy boys!

I hope this week goes quickly becuase I am R-E-A-D-Y for HC Homecoming this weekend.  I can't wait to  see all of our college friends and watch some HAWKS FOOTBALL!

HAWK 'EM!