November is always a fun month for us because it means the holidays are approaching and we are usually gearing up for a trip to Pennsylvania.  It also means cooler weather and Thanksgiving and the fair.  We had a great November but it was also busy for me as well.  That didn’t stop me from finding tons of things to love.

Coastal Carolina Fair

I love when the fair comes around.  I’m not a huge fan of the rides.  I’ll ride them but I don’t go to the fair for the rides.  I go for the food.  And the exhibits.  And the people watching.  And the food.  I love the food.  Funnel cakes, french fries, teriyaki chicken on a stick, deep fried cheese, deep fried milky way, deep fried anything.  And I was especially excited this year because I could bring my camera and actually try and take some nice shots.  A bunch of friends and I headed out on a Sunday night the first weekend in November and just spent the evening walking around, eating the food, looking at the local exhibits (they have art and flowers and livestock and photography and pretty much anything you can think of craft wise) and just checking out all the people walking by.  The thing I love about our fair is that it is huge compared to the ones that we had in Pennsylvania.  Back home, they set the rides up in the mall parking lot.  Here, we have a fairgrounds and it takes you at least an hour or so to walk all the way around the concourses.  So overall, we had a great night filled with laughs and delicious food and fun times.

Camping in North Carolina

The first weekend of November, I went camping with Steve and four other guys in the mountains of North Carolina.  We stayed at the Davidson River Campground near Brevard and we had a blast!  We did normal tent camping.  There were bathhouses there and a water pump that we could use to wash dishes (but couldn’t drink out of) but other than that, we were pretty much roughing it.  It was COLD the first night so that was difficult getting used to so we headed into town the next day and I got some hunting socks, which are just really thick insulated socks and they helped a lot the next night.  We went on about a three mile hike.  We cooked breakfast and dinner over a campfire – eggs, sausage and bacon for breakfast and shish-kebobs and macaroni and cheese for dinner.  We drank some beer and ate S’mores.  We told stories and laughed and chatted.  It was a really, really fun weekend and it was a nice break from civilization (and I’ll tell you, the eggs we made were the best damn eggs I’ve ever tasted in my life!)

Mom’s Surprise Party

Most of the reason that November was a busy month for me was because my dad and I spent the majority of the month planning a surprise party for my Mom for her 50th birthday.  We had a task on our hands because she was trying to plan her own party and in the process, was kind of undoing everything we were planning.  But it actually turned out really well.  We had a Hawaiian luau theme and my dad ordered a bunch of decorations that.  We flew my younger brother in from New Jersey and rented out the clubhouse in her subdivision.  I made pulled pork and seven-layer taco dip and pineapple wrapped ham as appetizers.  We had a friend bake a cake in the shape of a hula lady.  We had a lot of alcohol.  And a bunch of our family friends came out and celebrated with us and all in all, it was a fabulous evening and definitely worth a lot of the work we put into.  (And the pulled pork was fantabulous!  Seriously, get a Boston Butt, some sea salt and some liquid smoke, throw it in a crock pot and let it cook for 20 hours and you have heaven in your mouth!)

Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker & Taste of Home Cookbook

I cannot sing enough praises about my slow cooker.  Seriously, this is like the lazy person’s route to cooking.  Now, most of the stuff that I make out of it isn’t exactly gourmet or five-star but it’s usually pretty satisfying and downright delicious and it only takes a little bit of prep the night before or the morning of and then I come home to a wonderful smelling house and a hot and ready meal.  I actually have two slow cookers – an older, smaller one with no bells and whistles and the Hamilton Beach one shown above.  I love them both because of their varying size and uses.  The Hamilton Beach has a timer and a lid, so I can use it for food prep for parties and such.  The other one is smaller so it’s easier for weeknight dishes.  Both of them are like my best friend in the kitchen.  And when I use them to make recipes in this Taste of Home cookbook, then I am a happy happy person.  See the problem I have with most cookbooks is that the recipes usually all contain odd enough ingredients that we won’t eat but that I can’t really substitute anything in for.  So I end up being able to use maybe an 1/8 or a quarter of the cookbook.  But this one actually has a ton of stuff that I am super-excited to try and stuff that we both will actually eat.  It has helped me expand my slow cooker use beyond what I was typically doing and now I’m making soups and entrees and even desserts.  It definitely one of the better cookbooks I have purchased.

Sons of Anarchy

I sang the praises of Sons of Anarchy when it first started in 2008 and after the second season started in 2009, I will continue to sing it loud from the rooftops.  This is hands down my favorite shows on television right now, even after it has long completed its second season.  This is one of those shows where I wish everyone I knew watched so I could talk about its greatness after each episode.  The story centers on Jax Teller, the vice-president of the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club in California.  Jax is at that point in life where he begins to question who he is and where his place in the world is, particularly in regards to the club.  He battles between the criminal, gangster lifestyle the club currently embodies, running guns and taking no prisoners, or a more idealistic life and idea of how the club should exist, particularly because he has a newborn son to care for.  I cannot say enough about this series – from the compelling storylines to the phenomenal acting and character development (of everyone, even the supporting characters) to the beautiful way that they gravitate between nonstop action to poignant thought provoking scenes.  This past season really proved how beautiful and wonderful this show is and I believe everyone should start watching it so I can have someone to talk about it with!

Bath & Body Works Fireside

I talked about the Firewood candle back in January of last year and this is pretty much the same scent, only it’s marketed by Bath and Body Works Slatkin & Co instead of Henri Bendel.  It looks like it might be a Christmas only scent which is fine because it wouldn’t fit in at any other time of the year.  But I refer to it as the “Hot Man” candle because as I said before, the first thing I think of it when I smell it is a hot, muscular shirtless man like outside chopping wood near a campfire.  It’s actually a really nice smell and the key to it is, even though I think it smells like a hot man, it’s actually a masculine enough scent where Steve doesn’t complain that it smells like flowers in here.  I love it and I hope they keep it around for a long time (I have four candles and wallflowers for it in all rooms of the house except the kitchen).

John Mayer

I’m probably so late to the John Mayer bandwagon but I really don’t care.  And just to be clear, this is not a fangirl, John Mayer is so hot mention.  I think he’s cute and from what I hear he’s kind of a tool, but what I love is his music.  I downloaded all of his CD’s because when I heard them playing  Who Says? on the commercial for Rhapsody, I thought, I really kind of like that song.  Then I heard all of his music and fell in love with it.  Now I see why women swoon because he’s got a beautiful voice and can play a mean guitar.  And if there’s an epitome of chill music, it’s him.  I wish I would have discovered him earlier.  I have been playing him nonstop for months and I don’t see myself getting sick of it anytime soon.