Some History

A little history on our house:

In 1921 Hansell and Celia Watt purchased the property and started building the house.  Hansell designed and built it himself, paying for it as he went.  The house was completed in 1926, but soon after it was complete, Celia died and Hansell and their children moved back to their family home on Hansell Street.  

From 1952 to the early 2000's, the house was owned by the United Methodist Church and it housed the Bishop of the South Georgia Conference.  (From what I've heard!)

It was sold in 2004 and fully renovated to how it is today.

Then, VOILA, the Moodsters moved in!!!

We've registered it with Thomasville Landmarks with the mission of: 

"Preserving, Protecting, and Promoting the Architecture, History, and Heritage of Thomasville and the Thomas County Area."

Landmarks has done SO MUCH to preserve historic houses and buildings in the area.  As for me, I'm not sure why I have this affection for older houses. It must have started when I lived in the Duplex in college or when George, Mama and I would drive around on Sunday's looking at houses for sale.  Newer homes certainly have amazing storage and more functional bathrooms, but I'll take crystal knobs and squeaky floors over two sinks in the master bathroom any day!

Some house pictures, as promised!

Here are a few house pictures.  I haven't posted many because we've had a lot going on.  As in, more than usual.  This Spring somewhat reminds me of Fall 2008 when we got married and a month later I opened Lavish.  Poor Brent has managed to stress himself out so much that he has the shingles.  Things have settled down a little and I remind Brent to sloooow dooown.  That's always easier for someone else to say.

Anyways, back to the house!  

The front shutters on the left are closed because for right now that is our bedroom and we don't have any drapes in the room.  Thank goodness for functional and working shutters!

I love the accent lights below:

The buildings in the back are a garage, mother-in-law suite, and future pool house.  The oak tree is home to pesky crows that Brent is about to take care of!

There was a pretty, but rotten pergola on the back porch that Daddy and Brent took down right after we moved in.  We were able to salvage the columns.

The living room (below).  Our furniture actually coordinates nicely in this house! Do you see Curtis peeping around the corner?  He's like the 'Where's Waldo' in half my pictures!

We put our bistro table and chairs in the sunroom for now:

I just planted our blueberry bush from John and Irene and put it on the patio.  Right after we planted it Brent asked, "Is it a little weird to have a planted blueberry bush?"  Oh well!  We also planted some herbs and dahlia's.  

I thought this ecard was funny!  I kind of have a problem with plants, indoor and outdoor, but I am 

trying my hardest to water my bulbs and seedlings.

After work today Brent Runyon is bringing our Landmarks plaque for the front of the house.  It will be named the Hansell & Celia M. Watt House, 1926.

Aga + Pinterest

Two things have sparked a cooking bug in Brent and myself lately:

1. Our new house came with an Aga oven/stove which is constantly heated and ready to go.  It makes you feel a little guilty to dine out!

The aga radiates heat, which is nice for this cool front we're experiencing, but I think it will be a love-hate relationship during the summer months (half of the year in South Georgia!).

2. My yummm board on Pinterest where I have been collection a file of mouth-watering images and recipes.  Some definitely turn out better than others, but you don't know until you try it!

Here are a meals worth trying with a link to the recipe...

Orecchiette Pasta with Pesto, Veggies, and Fresh Sausage

This recipe came from Real Simple and was extremely simple!  It is very light (but filling) and a perfect summer meal.  I'm pretty sure we used Applegate sweet Italian sausage (nitrate and nitrite free).

Mac & Cheese with Roasted Chicken, Rosemary, and Goat Cheese

This was delish, but as you can tell by the looks of it, you might want to make this on a day when you've pumped out a few calories.  It calls for a good bit of cheese and 1 quart (yikes) of heavy cream. I mean, it's mac & and cheese... what do you expect?!  To save on prep time, we used a store bought rotisserie chicken.

Voskos (Greek yogurt) Lemon Chicken

I love me some lemon on my chicken so this recipe was right up my alley.  You marinate the chicken in a Greek yogurt mixture for at least an hour, then roll it in a bread crumb mixture.  It was extremely easy and the chicken was nice and tender with the perfect flavor.  Somewhat reminded me of the Greek Chicken at the Plaza here in Thomasville.  Our only problem was the breaded part stuck to the skillet and we had to scrape it off.  We will definitely be making this again, but might try a nonstick skillet next time.

Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Crustless Quiche

The feta and parmesan in this quiche made it delicious.  Since Brent doesn't like mushrooms, we left them out and I added tomato slices on top.  We also used more egg whites (it only calls for 4 eggs... not enough).  If we were to make this again, I would use fresh spinach instead of frozen, and a lot less of it.  It was wayyy too much for Brent.  It would also be good with Broccoli.  We made this for our "Meatless Monday".

Deep Dish Cookie Pies

I was so excited when Brent brought home the ingredients for these little cookie pies!  How had I never thought of doing this before?  I think you could make these with any cookie dough, and would suggest it because it wasn't my favorite.  Partially because it used milk chocolate chips and I prefer semi sweet only.  The recipe was still decent, just not my favorite, and I don't know why it wouldn't work with a different cookie dough.  These would be fun for a dinner party!

Spring Break 2012

With the Land Yacht at Stone Mountain. It don't get no better than this!