i live for my weekends.

it's no secret that i live for my weekends. don't you?

weekends really are the only time i can get things done as my week days are filled with the cycle of waking up, go to work, go to gym, come home, {help adam} make dinner, go to bed...

this weekend was no exception to the rule of living for my weekend. you saw what i did on friday [see previous blog post]. on saturday, we woke up early to head to athens again for the game...we ate lunch at my favorite restaurant {in the world}::LAST RESORT:: [no pictures this time- we went alone and didn't have anyone to take one of us]. on the way home or the game, we stopped by the queen to make sure TWObirds wasn't in shackles. it seems like we have a few tornadoes hit our antique booth from time to time and i just don't understand.

this past saturday, the queen did an outdoor event where any outside person could rent a "booth" outside in the parking lot for $25 and sell their goods. regular vendors could also participate in this, but due to scheduling conflicts, TWObirds was not able to do anything outside...maybe next year.

while i was walking back to the car to leave, there was a girl who had a "booth" set-up outside that caught my eye {and ears}...because it was the end of the day, she was selling all of her things for ONE DOLLAR! that's right, only $1! sad thing is, there were about 6 other people who heard the news too and we were all scooping up anything in sight like the items were $100 bills on the ground. i only scored a few {ah-mazing} things, but cringed when i saw other people's treasures that they grabbed before i could. i really would have purchased everything she had out... it was just too cute.

so, for a grand total of EIGHT DOLLARS, i was able to score the following treasures: metal vase with chalkboard sign, butterfly shadow box, 3 vintage milkglass vases, wooden flower wall art, a green recycled glass vase, and a pair of iron twig candle sticks. yep... all of that for only $8!

butter and harlee were impressed with my finds too!

after unloading my treasures, we also enjoyed the gift of a BIG WIN... waaaaar eagle, hey!

on sunday, adam and i enjoyed a beautiful day outside at the 7th annual brookaven arts festival

the festival is held right down the street from our house on apple valley drive. it gets bigger each year and the local talent is amazing to see. they have kids events and a live band, as well as food and beverage vendors. this year, we purchased a few things for the house. one of them being, a new dog feeding station. check this baby out... i actually thought i could make this, but then convinced adam that "to save me the trouble" we should just get this one...

cooper and butter love it.

it's a little too tall for harlee. but he has his own eating area on the other side of the kitchen.

the next fun purchase was from an artist who i automatically adored the second i saw her work, deona fish {is her name}. check out this sweet little painting we bought. i'm not sure exactly where i'm going to put the little guy, but the colors look great in our kitchen and the barnwood frame completes the look. i was able to meet her and she's a sweet little hippy chic from asheville, nc. she travels around to sell her work at various art festivals and fairs. {i asked her if she was setting up at this weekend's COUNTRY LIVING fair, and she said she's never heard of it... seriously?!?} a few other bloggers have shared her work online. you can view her work here and here.

i ended my weekend on a great note: i made four apple pies! royal food service made a mistake with a client order so adam brought home their accident...10 POUNDS of sliced granny smith's! it was perfect because each fall {and christmas}, i like to make baked goodies for our neighbors, plus it was the perfect opportunity to meet the new folks that moved in next door.

unfortunately, the apples were sliced, but not peeled. so for {what seemed like hours} i diligently peeled my little heart out and with adam's help, i was able to peel all 10 lbs.

{and yes, the dogs crowd around our feet anytime we are cooking-

hoping and praying we will drop something.}

i ended up combining a couple of recipes. adam even asked, "are you sure you want to make 4 pies? what if your recipe is bad?"...but i had faith that it would be great.

and they were. {ah-mazing!}

here's the recipe:

ingredients:

(for the crust)

1 box of Pillsbury pie dough (found in the canned biscuit area)

(for the filling)

15-20 granny smith apples

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

(for the streusel)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup pecans (i chopped mine really fine, almost like a dust)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 recipe caramel sauce, recipe follows
(caramel sauce)
2 (12-ounce) cups melted caramel
3 tablespoons evaporated milk

directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
(for the crust)

Roll out the crust dough and sprinkle each side with flour. Place in pie pan/dish. Fold under and excess dough that hangs over, then crimp the edges.
(for the filling)
In a large bowl, combine apples, (3/4 c.) flour, sugar, and cinnamon and mix lightly with spatula.
(for the streusel)

Peel the wrappers off each caramel candy, place in a small glass bowl and heat 30 seconds at a time while stirring until caramel is melted. Add the evaporated milk.
Mix all streusel ingredients together in a mixer on a medium speed. Add the caramel sauce.

Layer apples, streusel, apples, streusel (ending with the struesel on top).

Bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes (time may varry depending on oven). Make sure to place a baking sheet on the rack below the pie pan/dish because there will be spillage!

enjoy with vanilla ice cream.

neighbors acted like no one has ever baked for them before.
i asked them to just call me "maaarrtha".