Hominy Girl: December 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Long and the Short of It

Let's start with the short version.

2014 was incredible!

In my life, I define happiness and true love with the moments when I am neither reminiscing of the past nor planning for the future....The moments when I am truly present and engaged and content.

(I touched on this feeling in K and I's 2 year anniversary post.)

This year was one big present moment for me. I have found love and happiness and every day this past year I got to live it. Is there anything more incredible than that?

Below is the disk that our DJ gave us highlighting some of the special songs played at our wedding.

In short, they represent our 2014 to a T!

I might even recommend this be your playlist tonight, should you be staying in (like we are).

And now for the long version..

I'm going to share a bunch of my favorite snaps from the year!

I tried to keep them in order and link back but I gave up...

Here goes!

Skeet Shooting in Awendaw

Little bridesmaids surcee

Amen Street calamari app (THE BEST IN CHAS)

Tides on Folly Beach

Food and Wine Festival's "Pinot Envy" with Lauren (@William Aiken House)

College of Charleston Bball games (c/o Lexus)

Folly with my boo

CHS Plantasia Event

Fun night out with family

Beaufort for Memorial Day (@ City Loft Hotel)

Abby's Med School Graduation in Cola

Awesome blue water on Folly (JIHS class of 2004 Reunion Drop In)

Our Save the Dates

Choo's Rehearsal Dinner at Riverview Holiday Inn

Choo's wedding at Magnolia Plantation

K and his Poppa at the Carolina Spring Game

Tybee Island for 4th of July (Wiggin' Out)

Sheldon Church Ruins (off Hwy 17)

Couples Shower for Choo and Cameron

Bridal Shower for Erin

Celebrating my brother's Bday at Surf Bar

Elite of Lexus Celebration

Wedding Planning Mania!

Cake and Cocktails: My Bridal Shower

House Party Downtown

Bridal Lucheon planning with Aunt Kelly

Bachelorette Party in Asheville (Pubcycle!!!)

Runaway Bride

Celebrating Mom's Bday on Folly

Couples Shower

Our Wedding Invitation

Blessing of the Animals at St. Stephens

Bridal Portraits at College of Charleston

Celebrating our Engagiversary (?) with a Deja Vu Date Night (??)

James Island vs Wando Football game

Thanksgiving in NYC (Honeymoon)

My mom's Christmas kitten

My best girls

Blurry Black Tie at the Yacht Club

Family Bridal Shower at Ms. Mary's

Bridal Luncheon at Leaf

Hey hey hey, Did you make it this far?

Didn't I tell you this was the best year??

Actually, The Best is Yet to Come!

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Cheese Daisies

Cheese Daisies are basically Cheese biscuits/cheese straws/buttery cheesy goodness.
(Ok, Ok, I know that we are probably all a little tired of junk food, but file this away for next Christmas!)

If you're like me, cheese biscuits have seemed intimidating to make.

I have no idea why (they are butter+cheese+flour) but never the less, I've always viewed them as complicated. This year for my holiday baking, I opted to revisit my pistachio cookies (they are so chewy and pistachio-y) and to try my hand at these daisies!

This recipe is from K's Grammy. (I altered it just a bit by using real butter and different seasonings.)

What you need:

3/4 butter

1 1/2 cups finely grated sharp cheddar

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp garlic salt

What you do:

Cream butter and cheese (it's easier if they are both at room temp)

Add flour and seasonings.

Form into small balls and bake at 350 for around 10 minutes.

Ok, so let's talk about trial and error!

First batch is pictured on the right. They melted into greasy baked cheese.
Cheese meltaways, if you will.

So I added a little more flour,

and you can see from the results on the left that they turned out much better!

Third time's a charm: I used a fork to mash the dough balls, leaving them with a little bit of a madeleine look.

They tasted delicious! I will certainly add this to my holiday baking for years to come.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Quick Christmas Recap

How was everyone's Christmas?

Ours was very lovely!

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass at Nativity and then headed over the river and through the woods to my in-laws. Typically on Christmas Eve, K's family hides the pickle and we hunt for it, you know the tradition...

Well this year, K's dad took it to a whole new level.

See the 9 step scavenger hunt below.

Can you tell he's a civil engineer?

I'm surprised he didn't hand us coordinates and a compass.

Oh oh! I almost forgot! We got my mom the sweetest kitten for Christmas.

She is only 6 weeks old and could not be cuter.

I adopted her on Tuesday and she did very well with Alfie:

Christmas morning! This was an extra special Christmas because it was our first as husband and wife, and also because we got to relax at home all morning versus running from here to there.

It's nice to be with extended family, but our little family took top priority this year.

We did channel K's grandmother with her sausage strata. YUM.

I was convinced that K was giving me a camera this year. He had been hinting at it (mine is dying a slow death) and I just knew it. Wrong!

He gave me a gorgeous leather jewelry box.

The gift was sweet, but the message sweeter:

He said he hoped that this would be a jewelry box that our kids and grandkids would love looking through. This was so much more sentimental than he even knew because some of my favorite memories of my Nana are from going through and trying on her costume jewelry (in a case so similar to this one).