Best Friend Christmas - Tampa.

This year was Auburn and I's 3rd annual best friend Christmas here in Tampa. I probably don't say enough how grateful I am to have her. She's an incredible friend and she constantly encourages and inspires me. I love her with all my heart and I love our tradition of having our own Christmas, here, in Tampa.

Normally we go out for a nice dinner and exchange gifts before she heads off to Joplin, MO and I head to Carmel, IN to celebrate the holidays with our faraway families. This year we decided to change it up and cook in. Auburn is an incredible cook and I credit my recently found love of cooking to her.

I agreed to grill steaks for the first time. Mind you, I had to google on my iphone how to do this but I figured I've managed not to have any grill disasters yet, so why not? I grilled filet's and make a bleu cheese topper.



Ta da! They came out surprisingly good. I was of course worried, but they really were delish.

Auburn let me off easy - all I had to do was grill the steaks and pick up a two liter of diet coke. She did all the real work. Garlic red skinned mashed potatoes, these amazing green beans that were inspired by a PF Changs recipe, and apple fritters with ice cream. I told you she was a good cook.

After dinner we got to Skype with Auburn's boyfriend who lives in Texas and who, sadly, I haven't gotten to meet face-to-face yet. And of course, exchange gifts. Auburn is pretty much the best gift giver ever...
She gave me a pizza stone...for my grill! As you all have probably noticed I'm more than a little obsessed with grilling everything from fruits, to veggies, to bread, to meat so I am THRILLED about my pizza stone (pictured above) and my sweet new pot holder that covers both arms! She also got me (but I was out of hands to show on in the photo) an italian cookbook. I love love love Italian food.

Some of you know me well enough to know that buying teams other than Colts or Bears gear slightly pains me but since Aubs is a die hard Cowboys fan with a dream of someday returning to Texas to reside, I got her this:

It was such a sweet, special night for me and I great reminder of how the Lord has blessed my life with great friendships. I'm so thankful for of his gifts, but Auburns friendship in my time in Tampa has been priceless. I can't imagine doing life without her. I feel so, so lucky to have her as my bestie.

Hope you're Christmas season is off to as good a start as mine! I'm headed to Indiana today so spend some time with my sweet family. Colts game tonight, who's tuning in? I'll be the one in blue...oh wait...

Love,

B