MD and Dad is Rotary President

I've been up north for work this week so I was lucky enough to be able to head to Maryland after my meetings and site visits were over.  I finished up my work around 1:00am on Thursday morning then got up at 5am to start again.  I had to make sure I got to my parents house on time to watch Dad get inducted as President of his Rotary club last night.

I stopped at the Fisherman's Inn Crab Shack on my way down for lunch.  It's in Kent Narrows, MD.

My table was right on the water.  It was the best atmosphere and my soft shell crab sandwich was amazing. 

Got to a Hampton Inn in my parents home town to get ready.  I couldn't go to their house or Dad wouldn't have been surprised.  I walked into the Rotary meeting during their cocktail hour.  He said he knew I was coming but he had no idea.  He's crazy. 

Here he is getting inducted (goldish tie).

I'm staying up here until tomorrow and then flying back to Charlotte tomorrow night.  Sunday morning early, Kevin and I are off to cover some more states for a few days.  I believe I'll be in 7 states in 7 days!  :)

Wedding Wednesday - Pinterest Pictures I Love

These are some pictures I'd love to have taken on our wedding day!  All courtesy of Pinterest!

Bride and MOH.  (My Mom would probably disapprove of this one ha!)

Hilarious.

Our Moms and I.  All three of us have the same ring.  I don't think I've told you all that before!  But we do!  :)

Love this...

Hold up a mirror while we are getting ready and get all the girls in it! 

I love creative pictures and I definitely want ours to be different than everyone elses.  I like the traditional ones but I will not stand in front of train tracks or any of that business.  No offense to anyone who did, just not my style.  :)  To each their own!

Have you all seen any creative photos that you HAD to have or want to have at yours one day?!

Kenny and Tim Concert - Brothers of the Sun

This post is picture heavy but I just quickly went through my pictures and picked these.

Our friend Kim got a few parking spots very close to the stadium and across from where the Corona concert was going on all afternoon before the main event.  It was the perfect spot.  It even had nice porta potties one block away that we each paid $3 for to use per time.  TOTALLY worth it.  They were the nice ones with air conditioning, a flushing toilet and a sink to wash your hands.  And they were clean.  Genius. 

Back to the tailgate.  Most of us were struggling from the night before but we still hung!

Dusty sporting his concert gear haha.  He needed his wife there for sure! :)

Kelly and Tara tailgating.

The ladies....

Kevin walked with his brother and sister in law over to the stadium.  They didn't come tailgate with us.  Kev ended up coming into the concert for like 5 minutes and really didn't feel like himself so he walked back home.  :(  He felt better once he got there so it was worth it. 

Britt and Joe (kevin's brother and sister in law)

Helloooooo Tim!

Yes, you can wear all white any day of the week you want.

Faith did well.  Although my Dad would say Tim did VERY well!  He loves Faith.

Kelly and I -

Kelly and Brett came from Raleigh for the concert.  We've been to so many Kenny shows together ha!

There's ole Kenny.

Took this lil chair across the crowd to the stage.  That was nice.

Tim came back out to join Kenny for a few songs.  Between the two of them, I liked Tim better.  He's just so passionate about his music and you can tell he means every lyric.  He was also awesome about talking to all of the fans and signing things.  Kenny, not so much.

They were funny together.  You can tell they're good friends and having a blast out there!

It was a long day - tailgating at noon, concert starting with Jake Owen and Grace Potter at 4:30 and the whole thing ending close to 11pm.  But super fun!  Love country concerts in the south!  And it being in the Panthers stadium added a whole other dynamic which was awesome too!  Highly recommend seeing this concert if they are coming near you this year!

Birthday and Benny/Jackie's Wedding

On Friday night we went to dinner for Kevin's Mom's and Brother's birthday at Nakatos.  It was super tasty and those hibachi restaurants are fun because they certainly keep you entertained.  Needless to say, I went for a longer run on Saturday morning to make up for eating too much, ha.  And to make myself sweat since I was a terrible running buddy last week. 

I did lots of errands on Saturday then we got ready for Ben and Jackie's wedding.  Okay so I call him Benny and always have since Freshman year of college.  It was at The Palmer Building on 7th Street.  Pretty location but it was HOT for an outdoor ceremony.  I felt badly for all the guys in suits.  It was one of the quickest ceremonies we've ever been to.  Hey, at the end of the day, they were married whether it was 15 minutes or 45 minutes!

He was so happy, it was adorable.  They are the cutest couple.  Jackie is a school teacher and super sweet.  She's perfect for ole Benny!

Mike's wife wasn't able to come in from Montana so he pretended to be dates with another friend Brad.  It was pretty funny.  Mike is not right, well neither is Brad.  Let's just say they are quite entertaining individually but then put them together, chaos. 

Matt and Crystal.  I went to college with Matt too.  He and Benny were roommates and I met them in Fall of 2000 at NC State.

Kevin and I. ;)

These are my country boys and I.  I've always called them this because they're all from outside of Hickory.  To me being from Maryland, this was country.  Benny and Andy are cousins.  So are Matt and Mike.  And the four of them lived together in a townhouse near ours for most of college.  Anytime I had a headlight out or something wrong with my place, one of them came to fix it.  Seriously, the nicest guys.  Benny, Matt and I suffered through civil engineering together.  "We", I mean "I," did a lot of homeworks for us! ;)

The presch couple!  They're off to St. Lucia this week!

Kevin and I again...we had a big time.  Surprise there!

The party was wild.  The wedding was like 90% our age people.  SO fun!

The dance floor was never empty, obviously!

Good times!

Tomorrow I'll recap the Tim and Kenny concert!

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary

This is always a big week in my and Kevin's world. It was Kevin's brother's birthday on Wednesday, his Mom's is today and my parents 39th anniversary tomorrow!

His Mom and Dad...

My parents...

We're lucky to have such good role models! ;)

Tonight we're going out to celebrate his Mom's and brother's birthdays.  Tomorrow we are going to a wedding of one of my good ole boys from college, and Sunday Kenny/Tim concert.  Should be a heckuva weekend! 

Cheers!

Flowers and New Non Alcoholic Summer Drink

A few weeks ago, Kevin sent me some 'just because' flowers.  Let me set the tone.  He never sends me flowers and this is why.  1.  I've always told him not to because they are ridiculously expensive and eventually die.  I'd rather him pick some up at Trader Joe's on his way home (which he's done many times).  and 2.  I get seriously mortified if flowers arrive at work. 

But this time, it was super duper sweet.  It was after all of those ER visits and taking care of him. 

And who knew that Kevin knew about The Blossom Shop?!  I was shocked.  (It's a really nice Charlotte flower shop).  I hate the usual flower arrangements but this one was just perfect.  Came in a little round glass vase and had tulips, hydrangeas and a gerber daisy.  All favs!  Thanks again sweet Kev.  You know I'd take care of ya any day and I don't need flowers!  But much appreciated!

Last Sunday when we were at Kevin's parents for Father's Day, his Mama let me pick some of her beautiful hydrangeas and magnolia.  Aren't they both gorgeous?  The magnolia smelled phenomenal.  I put the hydrangeas on my bar and magnolia on my coffee table.  Spunked up my place for showings this week!  Thank you Mrs. G!

And lastly, I was thirsty last weekend for something other than my usual water.  I happened to have pineapple juice and OJ so I mixed them half and half then added in fresh strawberries that I had frozen.  SO good.

I had it again last night as a sweet treat after dinner.  I know juice isn't the best for you but it was fun for something different. 

I'm sure this drink is already called something else but I felt like it was a fun concoction and it was new to me, ha!  Was also thinking to add a splash of Sprite Zero too.  Hmmm!

Wedding Wednesday - Pinteresting Fun Ideas

I'm like any other bride.  I want our wedding to be different.  I don't want to do everything like everyone else.  There are minor touches along the way that I hope you'll notice this.  :)

For now, I've been saving ideas on Pinterest that I may or may not end up doing.  Can't ruin surprises!

The only children at our wedding weekend will be in the wedding party/our nieces and nephews (only a few).  It was important to me to have our wedding baby/children free for many reasons but here are some - 1.  Our reception will end late at night - they should be in bed.  2.  Our reception venue is not a place for children.  3.  I want my friends to have fun just like we all did 3, 4, or 5 years ago at their wedding when children weren't in the picture.  4.  I'm not interested in crying babies at our ceremony.  5.  At the end of the day, it just isn't a place for children.  (Sorry if these are blunt, I'm just being honest!  Did you all feel the same way for your wedding?) 

But I do want to have our family children there for as much of it as they are up for.  That's important to me.  So, I want to have something fun for them to do.....and my secrets stop there.  Because some of their Mama's read this blog.  ;) 

The sunglasses below are too cute.  I think I may have to get some el cheapo ones for my ladies to wear for a picture.  I also dream of having them wear their cowboy boots for another picture.  How fun would that be?!  Elegance and country all at the same time!

Also in the top right picture (below) you'll see there are little tags on the dresses.  How many weddings have you been in where you don't know which bridesmaid dress is yours because they're all hanging in the same closet?  My friend Christina introduced me to this concept!  Genius. 

The Mrs. hanger in the middle below.  I know this isn't a new concept but I just think it's super fun.  I've already had one made from Etsy.  I keep telling Kevin's Mom that it is hers!  It just doesn't seem real that the name will also be mine on that day!

And I just think this idea is super cute and easy to do.  I may have to do this for Christmas 2013!  Slice an extra invitation and put it all into a clear ornament. 

Tell me any unique ideas that you did at your wedding or for your bridesmaids! 

Random Post!

Just some fun iPhone pictures from the week!

Kevin walking with his niece on his feet!  So cute...

Jenn and I at the pool last Saturday!  One of my most thoughtful friends.  Quick story - her Dad had surgery at Hopkins the beginning of May and they were still in Baltimore for follow ups when my Mom had hers at the end of May.  She went out of her way to find my Dad while he was waiting on my Mom in surgery, just to keep him company.  Talk about a sweet, sweet friend.

American Idol tryouts are today in Charlotte.  It's a block from where I live and we ran down there this morning to start our trot out.  Place was crazy.  Some odd birds out there (and some normal ones too)!

My sister in law Emily sent me these next three pictures of my nieces over the past week.  Little Sarah with the lovey I gave her. 

Sarah's first french fry from her big sis.  Seriously presch.

Anna Kate enjoying the pool.  She's going to break some hearts one day! 

Hope you all are having a marvelous week!