Roopville Homecoming Festival

Last weekend Daniel and I had the fun opportunity to visit the Logan side of the family and attend the Roopville Homecoming Festival. This is a yearly event and is always so much fun! The first time I ever visited Daniel's family (when we first started dating) was the weekend of the festival so it holds a special place in my heart. Roopville is a small, friendly town and this yearly event is always tons of fun. 

The town itself is just the epitome of Americana - it feels like you're going back in time or visiting a fictional location (like Mitford or Stars Hollow). Speaking of Stars Hollow, are there any other Gilmore Girls fans out there? Whenever we're in Roopville I always feel like I might bump into Taylor or Babette. I especially felt this way this year when I saw this car parked in front of Aunt Cathy's house:

Lorelai? Did you come for a visit?

The festival begins with a parade (which I'm afraid we usually miss because we get there too late! haha!) and then after that you can explore booths that line the street, visit the petting zoo/pony rides, or get some yummy food. This year Daniel got a cool wooden bowl and I bought a homemade candle. It is called "Autumn Leaves" and it kind of reminds me of the way Christmas trees smell. So, needless to say I love it! :) 

We made sure to stop by my favorite vendor - the one that sells kettle korn popcorn and fried Oreos! The kettle korn is seriously the best I've ever tasted (much better than the kind you find in grocery stores) and the fried Oreos are hard to describe.. they are unbelievable! The vendor sells the Oreos in a little dish of 4 so we only buy one and share them with anyone who wants one (you really can't eat more than one!). Here is mine mid-bite:

We also bought BBQ from another vendor and had some cream soda for lunch. Can you say, "sugar rush"? :) After we ate we did some more walking around and visiting with family and some of the family friends who live in town. Then later in the afternoon this goodness happened:

Dad Logan and Aunt Cathy made some homemade peach ice cream - yum! Even Diogi had a bowl and she l o v e d it! :) After eating so much goodness all day, we enjoyed an afternoon/evening of talking and laughter with the family on the front porch.

Family pictures in front of Aunt Cathy's house :)

The magical town of Roopville even has a mini "library" where you can take a book & leave a book.

Me & Daniel enjoying the day :)

The Petting Zoo which included a kangaroo, tortoise, and a piglet!

Well, I hope you enjoyed following along on our day in Roopville! We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year! 

Happy Friday!

What I Ate Wednesday!

Hi Friends!

I was inspired by the lovely Anna Saccone-Joly to do a just for fun post today. Anna has done a series of "What I Ate Wednesday" posts and I always enjoy reading those. Maybe it is the foodie in me, but I really like meal/food pictures and articles! So, here is my first "What I Ate Wednesday" post (please excuse the low quality pictures - I forgot my camera so I was using my iPod).

Breakfast

I forgot to take a picture of my breakfast, but I had a bowl of oatmeal with 1/2 banana and a dash of cinnamon. I also had a cup of coffee with some Cafe Mocha creamer. Yum!

Lunch

For lunch I had a poppy seed roll with deli-style tuna and a slice of mozzarella cheese. I also had a side of baby carrots and an apple. Daniel and I had lunch together outside and the weather was beautiful! I'm so glad the temperatures are finally starting to drop.. it has been a HOT summer!

Afternoon Snack

So, you will probably laugh at me for this, but I had a Stonyfield YoBaby yogurt. Yes, these are designed for babies 6+ months! haha! Here's why I chose baby yogurt- they are smaller than regular yogurt cups (which are typically too much for me), they are organic, and they have lots of active cultures in them. I will say that they were kind of "goopy" which I guess makes sense.. maybe more of a baby food consistency? And they didn't taste very sweet at all, but there was 12g of sugar I think. That is way too much sugar! 

Dinner

For dinner we had spaghetti, garlic bread, and broccoli. The spaghetti sauce is seriously the easiest thing in the world to make and it tastes so good! We always get compliments on it whenever we make this sauce. Let me know in the comments below if anyone wants the recipe :) Since I wanted some garlic bread I only had like 5 noodles - haha! I always feel like I need at least a few noodles to mix with the sauce. 

Dessert

For dessert I had a cup of decaf black coffee and 3 Elf Fudge cookies :) I started out with just 2 cookies, but ended up eating a third.. they are just too yummy!

Besides that I drank a good bit of water throughout the day. And that's it!

What did you eat today? :)

We're back!

Hi Friends!

Well, it has been quite some time since I last blogged, but I hope to do better about that in the coming months. We've had quite a lot of excitement since I last posted, including a trip to England and a move. If I get inspired I may do another post about our trip overseas, but for now you can read some great posts written by Daniel here.

This weekend we are heading up to LaGrange, GA to visit Daniel's family and will spend Saturday in Roopville for the yearly festival. You may remember seeing some pictures from Roopville back in the Christmas post, but it is the Logan Family homeplace. It is a very small, friendly town and we love getting to visit each year. The festival starts with a parade and the rest of the day is spent visiting with family on Aunt Cathy's front porch, exploring different booths, and eating lots of yummy treats (homemade kettle corn popcorn and fried oreos.. oh my!).

Aunt Cathy's Front Porch

I'll be back next week to post about our trip to Roopville and will try to be better about posting updates!

Thanks for reading & have a lovely weekend!

The Logans xoxo

What do you do when the time changes?

As much as I (Laura) like to consider myself a go-with-the-flow type of person, I also know that in order to keep myself in line and ever get things done I have to have some sort of a daily routine/schedule. One part of my usual day was to go walking outside after work before I headed home. Well, since the recent time change it is pitch black after work and the trail I used to walk on did not have lights. No bueno. Since then I have started going to the school gym (the gym is not my favorite, but it will do), but that first week after the time change I just felt completely off.

I decided that I needed a project to get me through the first week after the time change. The victim of my self-prescribed craft therapy? Our dining room table and chairs. Now, there was nothing wrong with the table and chairs by any means, but I just thought it might be fun to spruce them up a bit.

I primed the table and chairs, but left the table top as is because the wood is so pretty. I had planned to paint them all yellow (with leftover paint I used on some other furniture projects), but after using the primer I found that I really liked that color on the table. I left that one as is, but spray painted the chairs an antique white.

After completing the painting project I thought it might be nice to have a new tablecloth so I went out in search of some material to sew a tablecloth. I had planned to go to JoAnn's after work one day, but while I was walking through Dollar General one afternoon I saw a super cute curtain and decided to use that material. I then cut up the curtain to sew a tablecloth (a la Maria Von Trapp).

So here is the final product of my time change project:

 Look out coffee table... I've heard the week after Christmas can be a doozy... ;)

What Spring Break might look like if your husband is in school..

Next week is Spring Break for Daniel and it couldn't be coming at a better time! He has been working so hard this semester and I think he is in need of a break. He is so faithful to his school assignments, work obligations, family time, and service in the church. I'm a proud wife! But, I am relieved that he will have a little bit of a break next week.

Now, if you thought I was talking about this kind of Spring Break, you would be mistaken:

This was the tamest SB picture I could find..

Instead, I've planned a week of fun dorky surprises for Daniel. They aren't actually surprises anymore because I already told him about it, but I hope they'll still be fun. We'll be staying in town because of work and church committments. After wracking my brain for ideas and scouring Pinterest for some fun date ideas, here is what I've come up with for us to do after work:

-Trip to Steel City Pops

-Building a blanket fort in our living room, blowing up the air matress, renting one of Daniel's favorite movies, getting some of Daniel's favorite snacks (I've got strawberry poptarts on my list..), and having a movie campout in our living room

-Moe's and Mario Kart tournament

What about you? Do you have any plans for Spring Break?

Love,
Laura xoxo

Cheers to the (belated) Birthday Girl!

Happy Thursday! I hope you have all been doing well! I had intended to write a special post two Friday's ago in honor of my sister Karen's birthday, but time got away from me...

So, I'd like to say a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet oldest sis, Karen! You are an amazing big sister to Sarah & I and we love you so much. I pray that this next year will be your best yet!

I love this picture. On the right is my gorgeous sister, Karen, and the left is my BFF, Demy

Sarah & Karen



Me & Karen

The 3 Sistateers at the Clower wedding in '08

The 3 Sistateers at the Logan wedding in '10

If you couldn't tell, I love my 2 sisters very much. I am so grateful that God allowed us to have one another to grow up with! I'm also grateful for the wonderful upbringing we were blessed with by our parents. I know it wasn't always easy for them, but I'm thankful for all of the hard decisions they made, the sacrifices, and most of all the love they shared with us.

Happy belated birthday, my sweet sister Karen!!

Love,
Laura xoxo

2013 Academy Awards

I love Oscar season! Back in high school our drama club would have an Oscar party where we would all dress up like we were going to the Oscars (or as close we could get - aka: Prom Dresses). My best friend, Demy, and her family were so generous and would host the parties (which were always awesome! No surprise there- they are wonderful party planners), and we would all watch the Oscars together. So much fun!

Demy & I at the Oscar Party our senior year (we were doing the Mary Kate & Ashley pose)

Some of us at one of the Oscar parties (this picture still cracks me up)

Demy & I doing the Mary Kate and Ashley pose at the Oscar Party our junior year

I have such fond memories of celebrating the Academy Award season with my best friends in high school. Some years I find that I either didn't care for a lot of the movies that were nominated or I didn't have a chance to watch many of them. This year I still haven't watched all of the movies that have been nominated, but I have seen quite a few. So I am pretty pumped to watch the Oscars this go around. With that in mind, here is an Oscar prediction ballot (courtesy of moviefone):

Print it out, take a guess, and let me know how you do! I plan to do the same. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and don't forget to tune into the 2013 Academy Awards on Sunday night!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Laura