A blog by Cameron and Shannon

In case you were wondering, I still have not fully recovered from Labor Day festivities which involved traipsing over to, and all around, Upstate South Carolina. And eating Chik-Fil-A several times.

We also stopped at some outlets, during which I was preemptively writing my confession blog in my head (Labor Day sales, people), but - get this - I didn’t even find anything worth buying.

I recently made a list of the stuff I’d like to add to my wardrobe this fall, and I found that once I really laid out the things I wanted/needed, it wasn’t hard to stay on track and not buy anything else. No matter how good a deal it was.

Here’s the list of things I did not find at the outlet, aka, my fall fashion wishlist:

Read More »

Today I wish I was buying this:

Because who doesn’t need some S’more ice cream every now and then?

Sadly, I cannot find it anywhere right now.

One of these would do as well

But do they even exist anymore? Sigh.

Today, I wish I was buying this:

Murad Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser.

And by “wish” I mean I totally already bought it.

BUT! It doesn’t count in the no buying plan because it was very, very necessary to good hygiene.

Why, you may ask? Because my beloved Philosophy turned on me! Everything was fine, and then suddenly my face looked like a twelve year old’s.

Read More »

I’ve already mentioned that I would like to be sitting in the park in the fall with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (day 9), in a sweater (day 11), reading a book. Perhaps this book:

Sweet crackers, I love these books. And I MUST READ THIS ONE! How do I explain this? I have NO IDEA why I keep reading these books.

Stephanie Meyer (while I love her dearly for bringing these sweet sweet pieces of crack reading into my life) is not exactly the author of a generation. And I kind of hate Bella and Edward most of the time (hello, unhealthy relationship). And why didn’t someone, dear sweet Lord, SOMEONE, involved in the writing/editing of this novel use a thesaurus?!

And yet, much like how any time there are Cheetos in a room I must shovel them into my face, even though I HATE Cheetos, I KEEP READING THE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES.

Read More »

Whoo hoo! I am almost halfway through not buying anything. Or a third. Shut up.

Currently I am trying to scrape up the self-motivation it would take to either clean my house or go to Borders (i.e. Do Something), which of course actually motivates me to blog. Of course.

The thing I wish I was buying today is another item brought on by my current obsession with fall GETTING HERE, LIKE, NOW.

Nashville has now reached the point of the summer where all the water begins to smell severely suspect, apparently due to the “chemicals that make it smell good” evaporating out of the water when it gets really, really hot outside. (Doesn’t that make you nervous/want to hurl? That’s totally what the maintenance guys told us last year when this happened and we were convinced that somehow a sewer line had gotten into our water pipes. Yes, it really is That Bad.)

So, in the spirit of wishing for fall, I’d like to buy this merino v-neck sweater from J. Crew.

Read More »

Something really fun about August and September for us is that that THIRTY PERCENT of our family members (including us) have birthdays during this time.

I love buying gifts for people. (Sending them on time? Not so great at that.) However, the forthcoming birthday madness, combined with a minimum of 2 trips we have coming up in the month of September, have motivated me to go on a 30-day purchasing hiatus.

Which means unless there is something that is absolutely necessary to my survival (conditioner counts), for the next 25 days or so (I started last week), I will not be buying…well, anything.

And as a warm-up/preview to Stufftacular, for the remainder of the 30 days, I’ll be posting about the things I wish I was buying.

The hilarious thing about this is I’m not sure what’s more pathetic: that I think going 30 days without purchasing anything unnecessary is a big deal, or that I am certain that I really will be able to find at least one thing every day that I wish I was buying.

I’ll admit I’m kind of intimidated by this. Not because I don’t think I will be able to find stuff (ha!) but because I’m scared of what people (read: my inlaws and my mother) will think when I reveal how much I really think about BUYING stuff. And how much stuff I BUY. Because after this 30 days? Oh, yes, there will be buying.

Then again, you know what is almost more fun than actually buying things? Talking about the things you want to buy!

Read More »

They keep taunting me, because I know I have been promising them for quite some time, and because the photo of said cupcakes is on The Digital Camera, which exists somewhere with the depths of Cameron’s Work Stuff/Bag/The Dining Room Table? And I CAN’T post the cupcakes without the cupcake PHOTO and it’s just so EXHAUSTING knowing I owe you all some CUPCAKES. So I will really post that soon. Really. Just not tonight.

Tonight I put all my photos from high school through the end of college into one giant photo album and then had a hyperventilation fit about the fact that in TWO WEEKS I will be TWENTY-FIVE.

Read More »

I realize I’ve not written about any cupcakes yet. This is for a couple of reasons:

1. Digital cable/On Demand was installed at our house on Friday.
2. Rock Band.
3. Mad Men.
4. Cameron’s birthday.
5. I am making chocolate AND vanilla cupcakes for an office function on Wednesday and I’m waiting it out until I can share the results of both recipes.

Cupcakes, birthday wrapup and more to come soon!

Hmmmm…no one has commented in a while. Don’t worry. I will keep writing until someone comments!

I am planning on posting a crawfish etouffee recipe, because it’s more interesting than the chicken pot pies we ate last night (however, the chicken pot pies were delicious - I know what you’re thinking, chicken pot pies, right? But I am serious.)

However, I’ve found what may be the best recipe for cupcakes, ever.

Read More »

OK so. SUPPOSEDLY it was supposed to rain in Nashville from last Friday until Thursday. Which, in theory, would alleviate the SMOTHERING HEAT AND HUMIDITY happening in Nashville right now.

Would you like to know how much it has rained since Friday? ONCE. For about THIRTY MINUTES in the morning (i.e. just long enough to mess my hair up for a work function). Which means it is presently 77% humidity and is a billion degrees outside before we even wake up.

Also not helping the situation is that my office building is constructed in such a way that it pulls in all the heat and humidity from outside and ups it about 10 degrees. So by 10:00 a.m. I have 2 fans running at my desk.

Anyway, I still have more recipes to post from the last Cookstravaganza, so be on the lookout!

Well hello there, everyone. First of all, I really have started writing this blog EIGHT TIMES, yet somehow manage to not succeed in actually finishing. This is mostly because I don’t know how to articulate the awesomeness of our visit (to my old) home, which, as always, started as a nice relaxing vacation and disentegrated into a whirlwind of trying to visit/do/see/eat as much as possible before leaving. As you may or may not know, I am from an extremely small town (Live Oak, Florida). As I’ve lived a few places since then, I’ve come to realize exactly how small it was - to give the short version, there are no chain restaurants (except for fast-food), we did not have a Wal-Mart or franchised video rental places until I was 16 years old, and, oh, yeah, we had a hamburger-eating horse as a celebrity. Also, we have stores called things like “Good Stuff” and “The Opportunity Store” and “McHale’s Specialty Store” (which apparently specializes in mystical figurines and 75% normal size suits of armor). And, also, this:

However. Up until this point I kind of thought, oh, these are all things about the town I am from, how quirky and funny, la-de-dah. And then I realized I AM EXACTLY LIKE THIS. Read More »

I am officially Old.

Today I found out that one of the children I used to babysit is getting MARRIED. As in HOLY MATRIMONY. As in, is going to be SOMEONE’S WIFE.

I am going to go cry and then pass out now.

Thanks.

Oh, yeah. And I have some vacation stuff to blog about. But for now I will be freaking out.