Monday, February 9, 2015

Monday Fun.

I had every intention of doing Friday 5 on Friday but that didn't happen. As you can obviously see.

So, today I'm doing a 5 on MONDAY post full of all the fun things I wanted to include Friday plus a mini weekend recap.

one// I got a new planner! I understand I'm a month behind everyone else but with the holidays I forgot to order one and then it took me forever to decide what I wanted. I finally decided, though, so I just had the planner start in February!


It's from Plum Paper Designs and the best part? Completely customizable! This is the one I designed this one from. I decided against the monogram and changed the navy to gold. I so badly wanted something gold, but I didn't love the gold prints they already had the same way I loved this one! 

I need to take some pictures of the inside, but I went with the Morning-Afternoon-Evening layout because that's more how I plan my day versus hour by hour or just blank lines. I also added some color coded stickers that I plan to use for PTO/vacations, birthdays, etc. and a blog planning section! The blog section does have some things I don't use, but it has a page per month that I can brainstorm or plan posts with!

two// Christian had his wisdom teeth out last week. I mainly bring this up so I can show you adorable pictures of Zuko sleeping on him all day and "taking care of him". He totally knew Christian wasn't feeling well and would not leave his side all day while he slept.




SERIOUSLY. IS THAT NOT THE CUTEST THING. EVER?


three// I found a new obsession: Oyster. I will preface this by saying I'm a huge Harry Potter fan/nerd - whatever you'd like to call me. As such, I read everything associated with HP and JK Rowling if something pops up in the news. I read an article that HP would now be available on Oyster Books and you can change the font color to be whatever Hogwarts House you choose.

Gryffindor, obviously. 
Obviously, I had to check it out. Not only did I find Harry Potter but I found a million other books... for only $9.99 per month! So Netflix for books. My nerdy self's dream come true! I dowloaded the app on my tablet but you can also read online or download on your phone. There are SO many good books and they're always adding more. I've already added at least 30 books to my list of "To Read"!

four// I started Pure Barre last week. You did read that correctly. I also did not fall and hit my head. Or suffer a stroke. Or get abducted by aliens. I've been wanting to try it and Christian wants me to do literally anything active right now because I don't eat super well and I hate exercise. I have competitive cheerleading to thank for that (another story for a different day).

I overheard a coworker saying she was going to Barre and found out how obsessed she was with it. She convinced me to try the new member special at one of my local studios and I bit the bullet and started last Wednesday!

I plan to do a full post about it this week because I was honestly shocked at how class went, how much I love and hate it and how addicted I am after 2 classes! It's weird.

five// We're going to DC this weekend! Finally! Christian's sister lives in DC and we keep saying we're going to go, but with the wedding and house building we just haven't had a spare second or a spare dollar to get up there! But, now things have calmed down and Christian's best man moved up there last month so we're going!

I haven't been to DC since I was..um.. 14.. with my high school AP US History class so I'm SO excited to get up there again! And with that, I'll leave you a picture of me wearing a space helmet at the, you guessed it,  Air and Space Museum! I refuse to show my real 14 year old Leslie face.. for now.

Jean bermuda shorts... And a tank top with hearts on it... all from Delia's... oh, 2007, you are not missed.  
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Wedding Wednesday {Bachelorette Weekend}

OH what a wonderful Bachelorette Weekend it was... This is kind of long, so I'm jumping right in. And excuse the quality of some of the pictures.. it was a Bachelorette...

Friday 

Katherine, my Maid of Honor, flew in from Indianapolis early in the morning and Sam and I met her at the airport with coffee in hand. From there, we made the 5ish hour drive from Charlotte to Savannah, GA. There, we checked in to a reallllly sketchy hotel. Sketchy as in the first room we were in didn't lock... and when we told the front desk attendant, he didn't seem phased. Later, we saw three creeps sitting in a truck outside our window for a few hours. We slept with the dresser and a table up against the door for obvious reasons.


Once we were checked in, we headed to Tybee Island for lunch and drinks: the only way to start the weekend. After a walk on the beach and a storm kicking us off, we headed to Target and the liquor store for supplies. Once we got back into our sketchy hotel, it was pouring rain and gross so we decided the only thing to do was drink of course. My sisters in law arrived shortly after and we spent the rest of the night drinking and eating. Perfection. 

Saturday 

Saturday, the rest of the party arrived and we headed to Huey's on the River for brunch.


That shrimp and grits was heavenly and those beignets were free. Perks of being an awesome bridal party! There were Bachelorette's everywhere - evident by all the matching tee's - and we were told a few times that we were the most fun/nicest different servers/bartenders had seen all weekend! We really loved that honor and definitely reaped the benefits (there's more free stuff on the way). 


And of course, we had matching tanks, too. They had adorable bows the back but sadly I don't think I have a picture of that. And Maggie's said "Team Bride" since she wasn't technically a bridesmaid and it was so cute!

After brunch, we attempted pictures on the river. It was windy and a little chilly so there were some struggles...


We checked into our real hotel that was right on River Street with a gorgeous view of Savannah and the river and proceeded to enjoy a little Fireball while having my lingerie shower - and I will not be sharing any pictures of those! My red face is only for me and the bridesmaids to laugh about!! 

The best thing about Savannah in my opinion (and part of the reason we chose it) is the lack of open container laws in DT Savannah. So after the shower, we headed out to explore River Street - beer in hand.. which led to a lot of shenanigans and me dancing alone.. 


I cannot for the life of me remember where we ate dinner but it was delicious. And we all made sure to stock up on carbs since we headed bar hopping afterwards. 

Blurry but it was the best we got of all of us!
Kristin - we've been friends since I was 16. Shocking that she still loves me ;) 

It took more than two tries..
Maggie and my two sisters in law!
So the intention was to go bar hopping after dinner but we stumbled upon a dueling piano bar and got a table right on the stage and we just never left. Most of the pictures from the bar, I can't bear to share on the blog because they are so embarrassing. I'll share a couple though :) 



All I'm showing from our drinking, scream singing and terrible dancing by the stage. But, you can see we had a great spot and our waitress LOVED us. As in, gave us too many free shots and never let my drinks get even close to empty. 


And yes, I'm ON the stage in that one.. They called up brides-to-be (there were seriously at least 25 bridal parties there that night) and we got to dance on stage! There was one bride in a white tutu who took things a little far up there and even tried to get on the stage - so I left the ones with her out. There are also too many embarrassing videos of my terrible dance moves floating around... 

Sunday 

Sunday... oh Sunday. I've never been that hungover and I never want to be ever again. I don't even know that I've had much to drink since that night. And I definitely have PTSD every time I even smell Fireball because from our count - we took at least 7 shots of it just at the bar... and we had a bottle in the hotel, too... 

We got home around 4am and I was up by 7:30a. I could barely dress myself to get out of the hotel and I definitely walked around the hotel in workout pants, a long sleeve shirt, TOMS, a nasty pony tail and sunglasses. Epitome of #whitegirlwasted  and people in the hotel were definitely laughing at me I'm told. I have no recollection. 

Sam, Katherine and I decided to head to Tybee Island and soak up some sun before heading home. I finally got some Coke in my system and started to feel a little better. But, Katherine's hangover didn't hit until she ate lunch once we got to the beach. And what started out as an innocent "let's soak up some rays"...


Turned into, "the waves are crashing over me, my towel, my shoes and my swimsuit coverup but I can't stand to move so I'll just stay here".  People thought she was insane and we laughed way too hard at her. Sam and I kept moving our chairs back and Katherine just continued to let the waves crash over in on my towel (we threw it away because it was so bogged down with sand), her coverup and her shoes. 



Finally, we loaded up and tracked down a McDonald's where we kicked our second hangover's butt with some cheeseburgers and large Coke's. 


It was honestly the most fun and perfect Bachelorette weekend I could have ever asked for and we now want to plan a trip together every year. 

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Monday, February 2, 2015

A Sort of Recap


Buuut not of the weekend! We all did the same thing: football and junk food. I won't make you read any more about it ;) 

I know it's officially February, but I was on a mini blog hiatus and I never got to talk about mine and Christian's first holiday season as a married couple. I like to have everything here so I can look back on it one day so today you get to read about it!

Plus, I'm pretty sure we all wish we could go back to the Holidays right about now when it's just gross and gray outside with no real holidays to look forward to for awhile. (Valentine's does not count!)

Sooo Thanksgiving was actually our first Thanksgiving together EVER. I just basically want to share these two pictures.

He couldn't handle the multiple meals!
We had lunch with Christian's family and then a veryyyy low key dinner with my family. Most of my mom's siblings were with their significant other's families or on vacations. My grandmother was even on a European cruise. So it was just my parents, my grandfather and Christian and myself (my little brother had to work).

Now Christmas was a lot more fun! The weekend after Thanksgiving, we went to a tree farm and got ourselves the pretties Christmas tree there ever was!

Yes, he's making a weird face.


Yes, our cat has a stocking. That is totally normal. 


And this is how the majority of the month looked: Posted up with Christmas movies and a Zuko. 


The weekend before Christmas, we made the trek up to Asheville in what has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions and we're only two years in. Although, we did learn we will never go the weekend before Christmas EVER again.

Yes, he's making a weird face. 
This house was literally that bright. That's not just because I'm using an iPhone. Trust me, I had to squint.
After the touring the house, walking around some and a delicious dinner, we found a light show to drive around in an Asheville park. We stopped by Starbucks for cider and hot chocolate before we looked at the lights and then once we got back to Charlotte, we drove around the neighborhoods for more lights. It was the perfect Christmas-y day! 

The week of Christmas, we had a Tacky Sweater Day at work. So my co-managers and I decided we wanted to take it a little farther than just sweaters...


Yikes, my hair looks brassy.. I got my hair done two days later, obviously. 
And of course, I had to add some pictures of Zuko loving the Christmas decor. He really loves Christmas. So many shiny things and a tree indoors. 


Until we had presents, he kept pulling the tree skirt out. 
Christmas Eve fun! 

Christmas Eve, we went to Christian's parents house. We had dinner and opened presents with them before coming home and opening our own presents! I was so excited about Christian's gifts. I got him an Xbox One as his main gift, but I also added on some extras: the entire Star Trek movie collection on DVD (he's a little nerdy, and I love it), some new TOMS tennis shoes, and a head scratcher! 

Christian got me the most gorgeous Michael Kors purse you ever did see. I pulled this off the website, but it's the Grey Sutton purse and its gorgeous. It's such a unique grey color and it looks good with literally everything. 


Christmas Day we went over to my grandparents where 2 of my four uncles were there and one of them had some exciting engagement news for us! He and his now fiancĂ© have been together for TEN years and are finally getting married - we are so excited! Christian's parents also came and it was so much fun to have both of our families together on Christmas so we didn't have to choose one or the other and they got to know each other even more! 

So there you have it.. a holiday recap in February. My blog, my rules. I also just got a new planner with a blog planning section that already has quite a few good ideas in there so keep an eye out over here :) 

Happy Monday!


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