we're still here...are you?

Well, after more than six months, I finally feel settled enough to start this blog up again. I know the most interesting times to blog are the times when you're most busy, but with graduating from college, getting married, getting a dog and moving to a new house - other things kept taking priority over writing a post. 

An amazing blog entry should be in order after such a long hiatus, but I would have to write a novel to catch you up on everything. Instead, I (with Jonathan's help) have revamped the look and feel of "a girl named grace." When I say help I mean I sat there while he figured out how to redesign it, and I think he made it look pretty great!

This is our cozy house, and that's Ella peering out from her favorite spot. We're in Athens for another year, and we love it. So if you stick with me, I promise to keep posting (really this time!) and share the comings and goings of our little Franklin family. 

a little black and white for a change

I know, I've definitely failed at the post every day resolution, but to catch you up, here are few photos from the past week or so....

The highlights were...

Michael's last show with his band, The Less , at the 40 Watt, date nights to Blue Sky , a quick trip to Atlanta where I ate at Coast with my mom and sister and gorged on sweets with my brothers and dad, a lazy Sunday study afternoon at Walkers, and a little bit of school work and wedding planning thrown in here and there.

I hope you've had a wonderful week!

merry christmas

Our Christmas morning's going to be pretty low-key this year, but I love that. We opened our presents on Thursday, because my dad's on-call and Jonathan (our newest family addition!) was here. So this morning we're free to just relax, eat my mama's delicious brunch and spend time with relatives.

These pictures are the product of my Christmas present - an incredible camera that my photography skills do not deserve, but hopefully will someday. And this cake is the handiwork of my mother ;) She's baked a cake every day for the past three days - Tiramisu, Peppermint Cheesecake and now Gingerbread cake. She's amazing!

___

Here's a verse I love and have had time to think about this Christmas in the absence of frantic present-wrapping...

"But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:12-14

Merry Christmas!

let's rewind for just a moment

Okay, I know this post is a bit belated, but better late than never right?

Here's our Morris family Thanksgiving before...

... and after we dug in.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, because there's no pressure. I mean there's some pressure to make delicious food and set festive tables, but I kind of like those tasks. Christmas, Valentine's Day and birthdays all come with built up expectations. On Thanksgiving all you have to do is stuff your self, spend time with family and watch football.

Every year my mom lays out brown paper on the tables so that people can write what their thankful for.. or draw it if they feel so inclined. This year I stumbled upon a role of brown paper decorated with silverware. (I found it at Sophie's, the adorable store Jonathan's mom works at in Chattanooga.) I think people were a little confused about whether or not they could write on it, but it added the perfect extra touch to our tables!

P.S. I also have to say for anyone who's never been to my house - my mom is seriously the best cook in the entire world. She made almost the entire meal, and she even whipped up a special creme de menthe chocolate pie for me! Not very conventional, but she knows mint-chocolate is my favorite ;)

happy thanksgiving!

Yesterday was pretty wonderful from start to finish. I woke up, ate breakfast at Rise and Dine with my friend Olivia, watched Emma with Kate, stumbled upon an adorable restaurant called Sun In My Belly (above), wandered Piedmont Park with my dad and sister and finished the day with a "whole family dinner" as we like to call them. Those are pretty rare nowadays, so we savored it.

Today I'm thankful for....

my mama's incredible cooking

watching the Macy's parade and sipping coffee with my sister

chilly fall days

peppermint tea

huge family gatherings

brothers

Jonathan

Brit (who's birthday is today!)

my dad who shares his secret stash of dark chocolate with me

my roomies/athens family, and that includes SB ;)

mini pumpkin muffins

a fire in the fire place

my cozy home

sleeping past 7

my little cat Stroodle

check please!

After a Josh Ritter concert Friday night (thanks to my sweet mom who made dinner and bought tickets for many many friends!)Jonathan and I headed to Chattanooga for the weekend. We ate out on Saturday night, but on Sunday we decided to cozy up in front of the TV with white chicken chili and 90's thrillers. I've always had a weakness for 90's romantic comedies, but I learned that Morgan Freeman/Ashley Judd action flicks are pretty great too.

On Monday Jonathan and I went to Aretha Frankenstein's for breakfast. It's a bar by night/ breakfast spot by day, and it's decorated like a Mary Shelley reenactment from floor to ceiling. Unfortunately, it's also crowded and while we tried to wait to be seated - two men pushed in front of us and squeezed their way onto the only open bar stools.

After waiting hungrily and not-so-patiently, we finally settled down at a pac man table. Our biscuits and omelets were completely worth the wait, but the best part of our meal was that it was free... Our pushy barstool friends picked up our tab to apologize! Their little act of kindness made our morning and made us want to secretly pick up other people's tabs someday.

That night we ate an incredible dinner of veal parmesan and apple pie at Jonathan's grandparents' house, and this morning I headed back home.

I've been snuggled up talking, eating and drinking coffee with my family ever since ;)

I hope you're break has been filled with food and cozy conversations too!

run, run, run as fast as you can

This is my mom, Kaiti and I post half-marathon. We took a few pre-race pictures, but those were at 5:40 in the morning, so I decided to spare you ;)

I think we look pretty good for finishing 13.1 miles just moments before! This was Kaiti's first half-marathon ever, and she ran it with almost no training. My mom and I did train, and apparently our hard work paid off, because we cut our time from last year by 8 minutes! We were thrilled, and after showers, Aleve and church we treated ourselves to a big Mama's Boy breakfast.

I love my mama so much, and I'd been looking forward to this weekend for months. She came prepared with warm clothes and caffeinated goo, and her encouragement made the race enjoyable from start to finish. Well... the HUGE hill in mile 13 took away a little bit of finish line joy, but we were smiling again once our legs recovered.

**I know caffeinated goo sounds gross, but the Clif Bar mocha flavored one is so good! I had another one for breakfast post race, and I kind of want to stock up on them for late night studying.

elephant ears

This Saturday I got to spend the whole day with my Grandma, and we baked elephant ears. They're also called palmiers, but I like the first name better. They look like fancy French cookies, but they're actually so easy to make!

Just roll out a sheet of puff pastry covered in sugar

fold the sides inward three times

cut 3/8 inch slices, bake them for 6 min on each side...

..and voila!

Beautiful heart-shapped, elephant ear cookies

Here's a link to the full recipe description from Ina Garten. She makes them with cinnamon, which I think would be even better.

Today my little sister's coming to visit me, and I can't wait! I hope you're having a happy Thursday, and if you live in Athens go see Emily Hearn at the Melting Point tonight. You can buy tickets for just $5 here ;)

a few siblings to brighten my day

Aren't brothers the best?

Mine are, and they're coming to visit me today!

Even though I’ve lived here for three years, Mish and Losh have never visited Athens without the rest of our family, so tonight is a brother sister night.

We’re going out to dinner, wandering around Athens, maybe seeing a concert or a movie or eating Grit cake? Actually, I’m trying to resist The Grit’s magnetic pull on my car, because I know that brothers don’t love grilled tofu like I do. Perhaps we'll try their new pizza place instead ;)

I hope you're having a wonderful Friday! I need to finish work, running and room-cleaning before mine really starts.

beware of browned butter addictions

I’m sorry this blog has been so neglected this week! I’ve been busy with school and papers… and cake, bonfires, long runs and concerts - so don't feel too sorry for me.

Jonathan and I drove to Atlanta on Sunday to hang out with my family and see Brandi Carlile with Ray Lamontagne! It was a perfect night for an outdoor concert, but the best part of our visit was eating my mom’s food.

She made muffaletta sandwiches, chicken fingers, salad, homemade jalapeno honey mustard and an apple mocha cake. No, that wasn’t over the course of the day, it was just dinner ;)

In case you don’t have an apple mocha cake waiting for you at home, here’s the recipe from Southern Living …

*Disclaimer: Browned butter frosting is so good that you might feel the urge to scrape it all off and eat it before cutting into the cake. But it's best all in one bite, so try to resist!

(Also, if you've already eaten a whole piece of Grit cake by yourself the day before, that's okay, because Sarah Beth and I survived that much sugar.)

Mocha-Apple Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 tbl spoon instant coffee granules

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith Apples

2 (2.6-oz.) milk chocolate candy bars

Browned Butter Frosting

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.

2. Beat sugar and next 4 ingredients at high speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 5 minutes. Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients; gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Add apples, chocolate, and pecans; beat just until blended. Spoon into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.

3. Bake at 350º for 28 to 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour). Spread Browned Butter Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.

**Here's a link to the Browned Butter Frosting

the birthday that never ends

As if I haven't had enough birthday celebrations already...

my parents came in town with another little present (the Grit cookbook!) and coconut cupcakes from my Grandma.

We went to the Oak house where Tyler made us pre-dinner martinis in Mason jars.

(That’s the townie Athens way to drink them, in case you were wondering… or the way to drink them when you can’t afford martini glasses).

My dad especially enjoyed them, because he and Tyler share a love for gin and lemon zest.

Afterwards we met Matt and Carol at Le Dolce Vita for dinner. We ordered red wine, bruschetta, caprese salad and a platter of olives, meats and cheese. By the time my main course came I was already stuffed, but I still managed to down a large helping of pasta ;)

I love my family so much, and I can't even explain how thankful I am for them. Saying goodbye was sad, but hopefully I’ll go home and visit soon... I better after getting so many birthday surprises delivered to my door!

back where i belong

It's hard to believe a week ago I was sitting at my desk in New York. Now I'm snuggled on the couch with my roommates, and I couldn't be happier.

Last Wednesday Jonathan and I reunited after my last day of work. I left early, because I couldn't concentrate any longer once I knew he was in town. I rushed to the subway, impatiently fidgeted til my train arrived and hurried up the steps when I reached my stop. We talked on the phone, trying to find each other amidst crowds of people and finally - I saw him on the other side of the street.

I know I'm making this sound cheesy and suspenseful, but it was! I ran across (disregarding a green light and cars), hugged him tight and felt like my You've Got Mail simulation was complete.

After a wonderful day in New York (that included lots of non-Italian food and seeing Obama), we flew back down South. My mom greeted us at the airport with flowers for me and a tupperware of chocolate chip cookies for Jonathan... she knows us so well. Even though it was her birthday, she'd spent the whole day baking and preparing this welcome home spread for us!

Kate was almost as excited to see Jonathan as I was, and she shed tears guarding dozens more cookies from our brothers.

On Saturday night we ate dinner with our parents at Rathbun's and... saw Alison Krauss at the Fox from the 4th row! She was angelic. She plays and sings so effortlessly - I could have closed my eyes and listened to her forever.

With folk tunes in my head, I drove to Athens the next morning and I've been giddy ever since. I know I sound like the girl in this video, but I love my house, my roommates, my classes, my Athens, and my real life. I'm so happy to be home!