I miss youuuu!!! Posts have been few and far between lately, and I am having withdrawl symptoms from from not being with you all enough. We should never be apart for so long ever again.  I mentioned in my last post that I had a pretty bad allergic reaction recently. Turns out Green Vibrance (the supplement I got from the health food store to help with my seasonal allergies) is NOT for me. I was having a long string of strange and uncomfortable symptoms for days, but now that I stopped taking it I feel GREAT! I’m sure the product is wonderful for some people, but apparently I am not one of those people. Thank you for the well wishes, I’m sure they helped!

Well it’s T-minus 1 1/2 days until we leave for Williamsburg (also known as “the ‘Burg” because Williamsburg is too long of a word…). We moved our departure back a day because we wanted to spend some more time with the family (everyone has been working a lot lately!) and see little Ashley off for her first day of school tomorrow. In anticipation of going back to Virginia, we’ve been going ALL OVER the Atlanta area stocking up on various items.

It’s not that we’re in the boondocks or anything up there, but in the ‘Burg I have no access to real international markets, farmers markets, Whole Foods, health food stores, etc. unless I want to drive at least an hour away. So stocking up from Atlanta it is!

I went especially crazy in DeKalb Farmers Market (I’m going to miss that place so much I might cry) and got a cartload of grains, flours, seasonings, and international products galore!!! And all at fabulous prices. I got some great healthy products, some of which I learned about from the blog world, which will definitely be making appearances in my future recipes!

Between the allergy weirdness and being crazy busy getting ready to leave, it’s extremely nice to have a mom around to cook dinner when you don’t have time. Last night she whipped up a delicious shrimp etouffée that was too amazing not to show you.

You must be saying, FINALLY–a picture of some actual FOOD…and I know, it’s been a while but I will get back to my usual cookin’ recipe sharin’ self once we’re settled in Virginia.

Today is another jam packed day, and we started off in the morning by going to Bronx Bagels to get some awesome big-as-your-face bagels for breakfast.

We must have still been in stocking up mode because we got 18! But lemme tell ya, in a house of 6 they will not last long.

These bagels are seriously huge so I decided to sample quarters of the plain, veggie, and whole wheat flavors.

I used a couple of their delicious cream cheese spreads (the lox one is a revelation) and every last piece was SO. GOOD. This is really the best place to get legit bagels in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend them. Jason says they taste like they’re straight from New York.

After breakfast we headed out to Atlantic Station (near downtown Atlanta) to visit one of my favorite places.

I love, love, love Ikea and their prices. We had fun browsing through the kitchen section, where Jason said his favorite was this one:

I did love that one, it looks like a huge and more elaborate version of ours in Virginia. I also fell in love with this one though:

I also found this awesome kitchen island that would be perfect for the wide open space that our kitchen has. The stainless steel would tie right into all our appliances. Too bad it’s $300.

Alas, we weren’t shopping for a new kitchen. I was just picking up a few things to put inside the kitchen that I already have. I admit that I bought everything with photo-taking in mind…haha, blogging has officially taken over my mind!

After Ikea we headed to get Ashley some sushi for lunch, as we had been promising her we would do for a while now. Sushi is literally her favorite food. She’s the best 8-year-old ever.

You may be wondering from that picture where we went.

Don’t knock it before you try it, Publix has the best sushi for people on a budget.

That’s it, I think you’re officially caught up now!

I hope you all like the new look of the blog! It was/is a lot of work, and it’s so worth it. I’m still writing a lot of the pages that have links so you may see some ‘Coming Soon’ messages around, but those will be gone by tomorrow! 🙂

I’m off to go school supply shopping with Ashley! Thanks for reading!

-Lauren