Cracker Barrel FTW!!!!

I have for many years been aware of a kitschy chain restaurant known as Cracker Barrel.  A lot of my east coast friends are obsessed with this place.  Cracker Barrel is dotted throughout the country but sadly none in California.  There is a strange bizarre cult following for the restaurant even among the snobby hardcore non chain eating foodies out there.  I was SO crazy excited when we got to Texas and I realized there was literally a Cracker Barrel on every corner!  No joke - everytime we drove by a Cracker Barrel I would yell out "CRACKER BARREL"! bahahahaha!

Cute giant checkerboard that they actually have for sale in their "General Store" aka. the gift shop! :p

All of the rockers are for sale too!  They have white and brown ones and they actually have a big bow attached to each one so they're all ready to be gifted :)

"The General Store"

The general store was stocked with lots of specialty products and all sorts of throw back treats! 

Someone swiped some of the Bubble Up!!!

OMG MOON PIESSSSSS!
The hubs and I flipped a lid when we saw them!

Pink Lemonade

Frozen Apple Cider

The frozen apple cider tasted like uber fresh concentrated apple juice it was really sweet so I actually had to ask for some water to water it down haha.  Then it tasted like the most delicious frosty apple cider ever!

Corn bread & Buttermilk biscuits

These came out piping hot!!  The biscuits were soooo buttery and flaky!

I swear there are few things in life more wonderful then a wonderfully buttered biscuit w/ jam!

Meatloaf, Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, hashbrown casserole, fried apples, carrots, mac & cheese and green beans

Yup. we're total piggy's.

*OINK OINK*

Your entree of choice comes with 3 sides of your choosing.  When you go to cracker barrel you must promise me that you will order the HASHBROWN CASSEROLE.  It was basically exactly what it sounds like hashbrown w/ cheese but it was fried w/ onions it was OBSCENELY, DISGUSTINGLY GOOD. hahaha. 

The hubs kept reaching over to take giant spoonfuls of it from my plate at one point I was really tempted to stab his arm with my fork. HAHAHA jkjkjkjk.  But seriously it was that good.

Clark and Skybars!!

Stick candy for 15 cents!!  Talk about throw back!

I leave you with a picture of some gigantic cowboy boots.  When in Texas! haha.

If you learned anything from this post - run do not walk to your nearest Cracker Barrel!

Heidi Braid Tutorial

I got a couple of requests to see the Heidi braids better as well as a tutorial to see how I did them. 

So here you go!! :)

Part your hair into two equal parts as you would do to begin any pigtail braids.

Braid both sides as regular braided pigtails.

Take one braid and pull it over to the other side.

Loop it around to the top of your head

Pull the braid all the way to the top of your head. 

You can adjust to where you want the braids to sit on the top of your head.

I use these mini clippies to clip them into my hair. 

Try to find the same color clippies as your hair so that they blend into your head.

Clip braid into place.

Tuck the little "tail" underneath the braid to hide them.

Repeat for the other side. :)

There you go!

Hope this was helpful!

 I'm planning to do a curly hair tutorial soon since a lot of you have asked for that as well!

**CLOSED** BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY! **CLOSED**

**GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Since I just celebrated my birthday I thought it might be the perfect time to throw a little giveaway!

I compiled a little collection of things I'm really digging right now :)

It's the summer and who doesn't want a little bright pick me up!

Picked up this Amrita Singh one size fits all ring on Gilt Group!

Every girl needs some pearls!! 

I love these dangling real freshwater super glossy iridescent baroque style pearls.

Picked up this art deco-ish vintage style pendant from Kenneth Jay Lane on Gilt Group as well.

Many of you commented on this pink statement necklace I was wearing last week I had a feeling you guys would love that necklace... so I picked up this one because I knew one of you fabulous girls could TOTALLY rock this white version!

What's a Birthday giveaway without some beauty? :p

This adorable Tarte collection includes a 2 in 1 lipgloss, a dusting glistening powder, cheek stain, a 24/7 lip sheer and the adorable little lace ruffled trim case!

Guidelines

Open Worldwide! :)

Giveaway ends Monday 09.12.11 @ Midnight (CDT)

How to enter

Leave your name

"Like" my Facebook Page (mandatory)

Bonus entries

Follow me on Twitter (+1 bonus entry)

Tweet about this Giveaway (+1 bonus entry)

Disclaimer: All products in the giveaway were purchased by me. They are NOT sponsored products.

**GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Birthday dinner @ Lüke!

For my B-day the hubs took me to celebrity chef John Besh's restaurant called Lüke.

pâté of rabbit and quail livers, shrimp in a cup and flammnkuchen

The pate with rabbit and quail was a bit different as I'm use to duck and chicken liver.  It was definitely a distinct difference in taste it was yummy but I definitely think I prefer duck or chicken liver.  The shrimp in the cup was delicious!  They were puffy fried shrimp with like a light tempera battering but it was coated in this spicy mayo sauce which was really surprising.  The flammnkuchen is essentially a German pizza it an thin onion tart with pancetta, caraway and Emmenthaler cheese.

Champagne and fresh peach purée

Ok so those of you that follow my blog know that I don't drink but I figured what the heck it's my birthday. It was SOOO strong.. hahaha.. I actually had to order a lemonade and then added the lemonade into my champagne to make it fruitier. HAHA. I know I'm pathetic.

The little sides that came with the pate were SO yummy though.  They were like little palette cleansers to offset the richness of the pate.  Pickles, Cactus, Pluots and a stone ground mustard.

The hubs and I split a 12 oz. ribeye and maine lobster.  It was a good thing we decided to split our main entree because quite honestly we were both starting to feel totally full just from the appetizers alone.  Hahaha. The lobster was SOOO yummy it was SO sweet didn't even need butter.  But I thought it was really cute how they brought out our entrees on carving boards and had little sauce pans for the steak sauce and butter.

Bread Pudding w/ Vanilla Ice Cream

OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!!  The ice cream was made in house and you could totally tell that it was freshly churned at the restaurant.  But the star was the bread pudding.  It was crazy rich and decadent it almost took on an eggy custard dessert.  Complete with sugar coated pecans in a rich bourban sauce.  IT.WAS.SINFULLY.DECADENT.

I'm officially 28 years old!! 

YIKES!

 hahaha. 

Cheers to a new year and starting our journey in Europe! 

Can't wait to see what the year will hold :)