Everything you need to watch the game! serving pieces and of course, food!

We all love to support our favorite teams! What a fun way to do this by having some plates, bowls, cups with your team logo! Think tumblers, painted pottery, disposable cups and napkins.

Brian is an avid Alabama fan and last year was his 30th birthday party. I decided to theme the party around Alabama. My punchbowl.com had some customizeable invites to send out via email. I downloaded a shot of Brian Denny stadium, his most favorite place in the world, and entered in the party details. Brian's mother Linda and I organized a menu with lots of "football food" nibbles- chicken wings, veggie tray, a ton of dips, football cookies, etc..Fresh Market is the BEST place for foods like this! My mother and stepdad brought in a bartender and we set up my room as a makeshift bar, which was very nice to be able to tend to the food and guests! Christina recently had a birthday party and decided to get alot of balloons that had scanned pictures attached which were adorable. Linda did a great job digging up some photos from brian's childhood-adult! We had those all over the place. Then I found on Snapfish.com, where you can order poster sized collages of pictures that are customizeable. They held around 30 pics each, and I printed ROLL TIDE on one, and the other HAPPY 30th BRIAN! We displayed them on easelbacks that you can find at Office Max.

I ordered styrofoam cups from The Paper House http://www.paperhouseonline.com/page.php?page=about

and found alot of napkins for an awesome price on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/University-Alabama-Crimson-Cocktail-Napkins/dp/B000ZPGO3W

Someone told me that Party City had collegiate themed napkins-plates so I found my plates there! We decorated with crimson and white everywhere! It was a blast!!!!

Gift and Arthttp://www.giftandart.com/ here in Memhis has the adorable painted plates with your team logo on them http://magnolialanecollection.com/Scripts/PublicSite/ . Haley and Brian recently gave us one a very thoughtful housewarming gift to put in our bar area. They found theirs at Gestures in Jackson, TN- a must visit when there! Same brand carried at all.

Gift and Art and Babcock both sell the tumblers with team logos. Check bed Bath and Beyond too and take advantage of the 20% coupons!!!!

Here's an example of a site the products sold at Babcock http://www.tervis.com/ProductSearch.aspx?searchParameter=memphis



Have fun, Happy tailgating!

GO TIGERS GO!!!!!!! and ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!











Everybody loves a good tailgate or football watch party. Here are some very simple recipes that would go well no matter what team you are pulling for! Throw on to a cute plate or bowl with your favorite team and off you go!





My good friend Emily brought this dish over Saturday night and it was unbelieveable!!!


Captain Rodney's Cheese Bake
1/2 Cup of Mayo
8 oz package of cream cheese
2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 green onions (chopped)
6 Ritz crackers (crushed)
8 slices of bacon (cooked and crumbled)
1/2 cup of Captain Rodney's Boucan Pepper Glaze
Directions:
Mix mayo, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and onions in greased quiche pan. Top with crackers and bake at 350 for 15 min. Top with bacon and Captain Rodney's Glaze.





This is from my awesome counterpart in Little Rock. She is such a wonderful cook and gave me this recipe which goes very well with a Mexican theme!


1 can black beans


1 can rotel


1 package cheese


1 pkg cream cheese



layer like this:

cream cheese on bottom

black beans on top of cream cheese- drain before pouring in

can of rotel over beans, drained

1 package of shredded cheddar

bake 350 about 20 mins until cheese is good and melted





Swiss and Bacon dip from Rachel Ray-


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/swiss-and-bacon-dip-recipe/index.html





Corn Dip





1 C. mayonnaise1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese1 C. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese4 oz. can chopped green chiles16 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained4 oz. can sliced ripe olives
Combine all ingredients. Spoon mixture into casserole dish. Bake at 325 for 25-30 mins. Serve immediately.





Buffalo Chicken Dip








and the cutest of all.....


Football themed CUPCAKES! how cute would it be to put your favorite teams logo (maybe in the form of a sticker) on toothpicks to depict a flag?!


http://socialcouture.typepad.com/tabletalk/2009/09/touchdown-treat-football-cupcake.html

Great article on Brian!

Brian has recently changed law firms and The Memphis Daily News did an awesome write up on The Biller Firm and Brian! Check it out-
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=44826

We love the Alluvian!

There are not enough good things I can say about the Alluvian Hotel in Greenwood, Mississippi. It is definitely off the beaten path, but then again it is in the Mississippi Delta! We started our day with a massage which was heavenly. while waiting for your massage, be sure to try the ice cold cucumber water- such a refreshing treat before you go back. After we entered back into reality we dined for lunch at the Crystal grill. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=2851
The veggies were exactly what you would hope for in a Delta town. We each ordered a piece of the meringue pies for dessert in both chocolate and coconut- WOW! I wanted to get one to take home and called in to order one the next day, but they do not make the meringue ones on sunday.
Next on the agenda was some shopping on the street where the Alluvian is. There are several precious clothing stores- a few for women and one for children which had some of the cutest smocked clothes around! The best store was the Mississippi Gift Company. i could have stayed there for hours! be sure to tour the art gallery in the loft area upstairs. I learned that they have an online store and be sure to grab a catalog to go!
http://www.themississippigiftcompany.com/
Be sure to stop by the bar next to the lobby at Giardina's. It also has a very popular restaurant I look forward to trying.http://www.thealluvian.com/restaurants.html great wine selection!
We headed to Inverness for a wonderful engagement party for some friends and had a blast!
We did not do dinner in Greenwood since food was being served at the party. Brian said Luscoe's is his favorite as well as many others I have talked to. It is off site and the hotel will take you directly there in their car service- it's in a bit seedy part of town, so take advantage of front door service. Oh, and you can brown bag it :)
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/204/luscos
The next morning breakfast is part of your room charge and the sausage-egg casserole was out of this world! if the weather permits, dine on the patio!
We look forward to another visit to The Alluvian very soon. I would love to make a trip with a group of friends and give the Viking cooking school a try!
http://www.thealluvian.com/cooking_school.html
I also can't wait to get by for some McCarty pottery in Merigold!
http://www.mccartyspottery.com/

Here's the info on the Alluvian- just a short drive from Memphis!!!
http://www.thealluvian.com/alluvian_hotel.html


One last thing....our link from the pics I took at The Alluvian
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=112615&op=12&id=623285465

How bout that hair

I was blessed with a very full head of hair. Unfortunately it is super frizzy and requires alot of TLC and time. My hairdresser, Chris Farrar at Stella Reed Salon, has been BEGGING me to get a keratin treatment on my hair for months. I had lots of questions and wanted to make sure I researched the process before giving the OK. Let me just say, it is the very best move I have ever made! My hair texture has completely changed. It has also cut back the drying-straightening time substantially. The process took about 4 hours- you go in and they wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo, rinse, then he dried my hair completely. After that he took a paint style brush and painted the treatment on my entire hair. Then I sat for about 30 minutes. next step, he flatironed very small sections of hair until it was pin straight. My hair looked spectacular at the end!!! Wow! You can't wash your hair for 72 hours, use a ponytail holder, clip, or tuck your hair behind your ear because you want the chemicals to set completely straight. I washed for the first time after day 3 and my hair looks and feels like a different head of hair. No matter how hard I tried with the straightener there were some waves I just could not get out- no more of that! And, the best part of this is that the treatment is completely healthy for your hair. There is nothing bad in it! I will continue to use the Coppolla products (shampoo and conditioner) each time i was my hair and after this treatment wears off in 4 months I will be back in the chair doing it again. Here are the before and after shots. This is honestly what my hair looked like after a blow dry- yuck!

Festive Fall!

Fall should be noted for FOOD! First with the football tailgates, which I will talk more about later. Then with all the seasonal foods we love. One of my favorite spots in Memphis is La Baguette. My mother and I meet there often for lunch and sweet treats. The soups are amazing- the best being the tomato and also the squash-mmmmmm! You can also take home a quart of soup for those nights you don't feel like cooking! Try the chicken salad on a crossiant too! But the best part of all (besides the eclairs) are the fall breads. Pumpkin being my first, then banana my second. This is one of the main reasons I love fall. Taking a stroll through the Chickasaw Oaks Mall after lunch is a must. Lisa Mallory is a wonderful store you must stop by!

our new house

Brian and I moved into our new house and are finally getting settled. It has definitely been a work in progress to say the least! We bought a home on Minden in East Memphis and just love the neighborhood. We had the best realtor, Meredith McDonald with Hobson help us find our home. We looked at ALOT of houses and just knew this was the perfect one. We were very fortunate that it was turnkey ready-We have not changed one single thing! The former owners had a mother that was a decorater and she picked some fabulous paint colors and walpaper throughout. Oh, and the best part is that they left the window treatments!!!!!!!! I have enjoyed decorating so much and look forward to starting on some artwork for the walls very soon.

Let's give this a try!

I decided to start a blog page. So much is going on in our lives and we are very excited! I have never blogged before, but figured this would be a nice way to keep everyone up to date with everything going on. We will see how it goes!