UGA Subway Art

For Christmas I wanted to make my BFF Katie a little homemade gift.  I started with the idea that it would be fun to make her a cute Christmasy subway art for her new house and I came up with the simplest idea ever since I am not an overly inclined craft wizard.

Check it out:

First I found a really cute, free printable Christmas subway art. You can download it too if you want! Just click HERE and print away! Oh and if you want a billion more Christmas printables, just click HERE.

Then I purchased an 8X10 picture frame. A fancier one would have probably looked a little better but since this was a first time attempt with this project and I didn't want to ruin a fancy one, I got a really basic one. 

Next, I got a can of color coordinating spray paint and painted that bad boy bright red. 

Lastly, I put the printable in the frame and Voila!

Wait a second...

My frame is the perfect shade of Georgia Bulldog red. 

Hmm....

I had an explosion of thoughts and decided that it would be way more fun if Katie could use the frame at times other than Christmas and since she is the biggest Georgia Bulldog fan I know besides my dad, a UGA subway art would be PERFECT! 

Except...

I couldn't find a single downloadable one online. (Ok, so there was one but I didn't like it.)

I decided to dabble around with that amazing online photo editing site pixlr.com and make Katie a custom UGA subway art. Doesn't that sound fancy?

Y'all know I like to dabble... 

I'll be darned if the dern thing didn't turn out pretty dog-gone well. Can you tell I'm from South Georgia? 

So for kicks, I thought I would go out on a limb and share it for free with you all since there seems to be a lack of good (mediocre?) UGA subway art in cyberspace. 

To download my UGA Subway Art for FREE just click HERE. 

The image will open up in Google Docs/Drive. You might be able to print from there but if not, just click File then Download and it should open up in a format that you can print. 

If all else fails and you just NEED UGA Subway Art in your life, shoot me an email and I will be happy to send it to you in the format of your choice! 

charlottebryan1@gmail.com


Linking up with these cool bloggers:
 YOLO Monday

Craving the Familiar: A Pimento Cheese Story

     About a week ago I was really craving something familiar. Iwouldn’t say I was homesick exactly, just a little wistful. I was enjoying all the things New Orleans had to offer that were different from my home-grounds but still feeling that tiny tug in my heart for normal.

     My thoughts turned to food, as they often do, and I remembered that my favorite restaurant in Athens, GA posts recipes of some of their popular dishes on their website, generous right?

     Those who know me well know I am referring to Marti’s at Midday. Y’all. There is an over abundance of great dining options in Athens but Marti’s always and forever will be my favorite. In fact, I love it so much I had them cater my wedding and have never regretted that decision.

     On a given weekday you will find people lined up out the door for homemade pita chips, to-die-for chicken salad, soups of all kinds,knock-your-socks-off mint sweet tea, and my personal fave… pimento cheese; the quintessential southern lunch food.

So you know where this is going….

I made some.

 Something I had never done before. 

And am so glad I did. 

Matter of fact, you should too.

In a thought, perfect taste of familiar.

Click here or on any picture to check out this recipe and plenty of others by Marti’s at Midday.

Good Times, Great Friends

What a wonderful weekend! A weekend like the one we just had is a rarity. Andrew and I have 3 couple friends that we are very close to. I really consider them family. Andrew grew up with Kyle, Sean and Daryl in Bainbridge, our home town. All four boys were involved in a lot of the same things and were even in a praise band together at church. Miraculously, they all managed to get a girlfriend in high school and what’s more….. they all married them…. within 9 months of each other! So the four of us girls (April, Mandy, Celia, and I) went from being teeny boppin groupies, watching our boyfriends in the band, to bonafide wives! Granted, since we all started dating so young we all had to endure 5+ year- long relationships that spanned college. But I think we would all agree it was worth it! And it certainly made for a close friendship amongst us.

These day’s we are super spread out so we barely ever get to see each other. Kyle and April live in Birmingham, AL with their PRECIOUS new baby Eli. Sean and Mandy live in North GA between Athens and Atlanta and Daryl and Celia JUST moved back to Bainbridge from Jacksonville, FL.

Andrew and I spent this past weekend at Sean and Mandy’s house with Kyle, April, and Eli for a mutual friend’s wedding in the Atlanta area. Daryl and Celia weren’t there so it didn’t feel quite like old times. WE MISSED Y'ALL!! Also, this was the first time we had a baby in the mix so that was a little different (when different means AMAZING)! I can’t tell you how great it was to be with our closest friends for more than a couple hours around the holidays.

Sean has a pilot’s license and wanted to take us all for a flight around Athens, our old college town. GOOO DAWGS! I have to say I almost missed out on this opportunity because I am a world class scardy-cat. I was slightly panicked just looking at the plane. I could barely muster a smile for a picture.

I was too embarrassed to be the only one on the ground while my friends and husband were flying so I got on board. And heck- if Andrew was going down in a plane I was going down with him. I know that’s a little morbid but those are the things scared people think. I am SO GLAD I did it because it was a blast!

I could tell Sean was a great pilot because he kept saying things like, “breaker breaker 6725 niner ascending northwest all clear” or something. It was beautiful seeing our campus and football stadium from the air. Certainly not an opportunity that comes along every day!

We got to visit Sean and Mandy’s church, grill out, go canoeing, and go to the wedding where we saw a whole host of other long-distance friends. It was such a great time. I know we will make tons of new friends when we go to New Orleans but there is just something about the old ones. I love how we can get together and pick up right where we left off. I know it sounds corny but I think I will always treasure the time we spent together this weekend and I know for sure I will think about it in the moments when things in New Orleans seem hard. Love you guys!

My Best Friend's Wedding

I’ve just got to take a minute and RAVE about my best friend’s wedding. Katie and I have known each other since we were about 5 years old. We met when I moved to Bainbridge, GA and were both in Ms. Alan’s kindergarten class. We were fortunate enough to remain friends through high school and even went on to UGA together. In college we only grew closer and now we are living with our hubbys just one town apart (for the rest of the summer anyway).

Katie just got married in March. It was the quintessential southern wedding; hydrangeas, pearls, monograms and mayhaw jelly to boot!  I was a very proud matron of honor and enjoyed EVERY SINGLE SECOND. I almost think I enjoyed Katie’s wedding more than my own because I was so much less stressed!

One of the best parts was gathering together with all of our friends. It was so amazing to have all of our closest pals from college in our hometown. Here I am with Katie, Kathryn and Faren at Katie's bridesmaid's luncheon. We are so lucky!

The wedding was photographed by Bainbridge’s own Anna Kinchen. Y’all, this woman is one amazing photographer. I have already brainstormed how I will get her to photograph my future children even if we are in Louisiana. Is this not the most stunning picture?

I can say for sure that Katie will be one of the people I miss the most when we move. She has literally never been more than a 10 minute drive away. You just don’t come across friendships like that very often. Through college we started taking pictures together and would always laugh and say, “wedding slideshow!” I guess we never thought about the fact that a wedding slideshow didn’t need 50 or 60 photos of the two of us. Heck, I didn’t even have a wedding slideshow. But now I have a blog… even better!