More Help Needed!

Any suggestions on what to do or see if we have an extra three days in Italy at the end of July?  I consulted twitter the other night and got some great ideas so if y'all have any, please comment!  We have to book the trip by early next week and need all of the help we can get!

 

And PS - is this where you would even go if you had a few extra days to go somewhere near Monte Carlo?

 

 

Mass Quantities of Wine

It's a long story (and really not worth talking about at this point!) but we have to buy wine for our rehearsal dinner next Friday night.  The goal is to have the biggest bottle or quantity of wine in one container to tap, as possible.

  When you have to pay a ridiculous corking fee per bottle, you'd find your biggest, tastiest bottle too, haha.

So, tell me where you've gotten big quantities of wine, the best wine to get in a big bottle for white and red or any other suggestions you may have!  I know Trader Joe's has reasonable wine but they don't have big bottles and I know that Total Wine would be good too but they may be pricer.  Also anyone had any luck with Sam's being cheaper than TJ's or TW?  I'm at a loss and Kevin and I have some work to do this weekend on it.  

I'd love yall's advice!

Wedding Wednesday - 10 days!

I cannot believe our wedding is in TEN days!  The year and 10 months flew by and it's finally here!

Megan did a Wedding Wednesday 10 Day Countdown Post that I thought was cute so I'm copying her and doing the same!  And congratulations to she and Cameron - they are getting married this Saturday!  We've had so much fun planning our weddings together!

July 2011 - We got engaged!  And we celebrated and celebrated and celebrated!

August 2011 - We got organized!

September 2011 - We picked our date!  

October 2011 - We chose the church and didn't do save the dates.  PS - without save the dates we had over 80% reply that they were coming!

November 2011 - We chose the venue!

December 2011 - We chose to get married at 5:30pm!

January 2012 - We booked the band and photographer!

February 2012 - I ordered my dress and we picked out tuxes!

March 2012 - We registered and picked our cake lady!

April 2012 - Finalized colors - teal/emerald, light coral with touches of champagne.

May 2012 - Mom and I got lots of things done - BM dresses, flower girl dresses, did paper products

June 2012 - Some of my bridesmaids got together!

July 2012 - How we chose our wedding location and we booked our honeymoon!

August 2012 - How I asked my Bridesmaids and Rehearsal Dinner location was chosen!

September 2012 - We ordered invitations and my girls from school hosted our first couples shower!

October 2012 - We bought our wedding bands and I ordered the cocktail napkins!

November 2012 - We had our first pre-marital counseling session and I put together a band song list.

December 2012 - We finalized our wedding guest list and enjoyed Christmas.

January 2013 - New monogrammed items and many to do lists!

February 2013 - Invitations were sent and we were fortunate enough to have a Charlotte bridal shower, Maryland bridal shower and a Couples champagne party!

March 2013 - Bachelorette party in Nashville, worried about ridiculous things such as nails and what to wear!  Come to think of it, those aren't ridiculous, they're important haha!  And I told yall about things we're doing differently!

April 2013 is next Monday - We are MORE THAN ready to be married.  Can't yall tell?!  I'm over it all and just excited for everyone to be together in one place and to celebrate!  

Two things I'm not yet programmed for - Maui and that my name is changing after 30 years.  That's weird.  But exciting!

Some of my favorite makeup!

I've always been a Clinique girl.  Maybe because that's all they had at the Macy's we had where I grew up?  Who knows.

Anyway, here are my favorite basics.  Because let's be honest, I'm pretty basic when it comes to makeup.  

Beige Shimmer Eye Shadow.

Creamy Nude Lipstick

Blush in the color Aglow.

When I got my makeup trial done for our wedding, the artist used this Loreal Lacquer eyeliner and I loved it (and especially loved I was able to get it at Target for under $10).  So far, my friend Tara has put it on me twice and I put it on myself once.  What can I say, I'm not good at makeup.  I'm not ashamed.

And I'm about to find out about this waterproof mascara come next Friday night at our rehearsal dinner.  Hopefully it won't be tested via stress between now and then.

My girlfriend, Lauren, sells Mary Kay and I got some of this eye primer from her.  It works wonders and keeps the shadow on well!

Okay, I'm makeup'd out!

Nashville Trip with Kevin's Work

Another fun work trip that Kevin won.  This time to Nashville.  I'm feeling like I partly live there lately.  No complaints here!

When we got into town we headed over to Honky Tonk Central.

Kevin met a bachelorette party!

Then some other agents and their spouses came and met us.

We all went back to the hotel and showered up for that evening's welcome party.  They had rented out Silver Dollar Saloon, hired a killer band, added a mechanical bull and a moonshine tasting bar.  Of course open bar and lots of appetizers.

Drink a little drink is what the sign to my left says and standing under a huge moose.  This was the moonshine bar.  Apple pie was so good!

And riding the bull seemed like a good idea at the time.  Terribly unflattering picture but whatever.

Saturday day, Kevin and I went out to the Green Hills area so I could look in some boutiques.  We wandered around the mall then grabbed lunch back downtown at Puckett's Grocery.  Always recommend.

Then we went back to get ready for our big night out.  The buses picked us up and took us two blocks to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  I love how the big nights on these trips are always secretive.  

They rolled out the red carpet for us.

First we walked around the museum and checked things out.  Rascal Flatts outfits...

This was the setup for the dinner and entertainment!

 Back to the museum.

And our surprise entertainment for the evening was Sara Evans.  You can see her left leg below as she walked out.

She was so great!

Front row seats to Sara Evans?!  Unreal.

We had a great time and called it an early night.  Still trying to get over being sick since February 27th.  I am so tired of coughing. 

SA-curity.

Goal this week for Kevin and I both:  get healthy.  We have a big week coming up next week!!!!

Recipe - Bruschetta Chicken Bake

If you're looking for an easy, healthy weeknight dinner that you can make ahead of time, this could be it!  I made this on Sunday morning and Kevin just slipped it in the oven when he got home.  And Mr. Picky even liked the meal!  I'd serve with a salad.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (14 ½ oz.)

1 package STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken (6 oz.)

½ cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces

1 tsp. dried basil leaves

1 cup 2% milk shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

-          Preheat oven to 400 degrees

-          Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic until stuffing mix is moistened

-          Layer chicken, stuffing mixture, cheese and basil in a 9x13 pan

-          Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is done.

Makes 6 servings and is 220 calories per serving.

Wedding Wednesday - Nails

I've been talking to my main squeeze over at Polished, Mr. Lee (thank you Tara for sending me to him!) and he says I must do a french manicure for our wedding.  Ladies, I'm not into it.  I just have never liked that look.

But it got me thinking that there are lots of options for nails on your wedding day.

You could go trendy.....but yall know I'm not very trendy.

Or you could do the french manicure look....

Or you could just simply get your nails painted a neutral color.  And this is what I'm leaning towards.  

Those are not our hands, rings or nails.  

And for my toenails, I will be wearing peep toe shoes but seriously who looks at someones shoes or toenails except for that one picture?!  I want something that'll match most everything I wear on our honeymoon so I'll probably go with a fun color on my toes.  

How were your nails painted or how do you envision you'd want yours done?!

Thank you google for the above images.

Mulah!

You know, since Kevin and I got engaged like 10 years ago (it feels like), there has been a lot that has gone on.  We were more established in our career and life than most that get married.  We both had real estate to deal with before we combined.  We had to think long term career for both of us when we thought about where to buy a home.  We looked for almost two years before we found our perfect home.  I had to sell my condo.  Kevin had to grow his business.  We both wanted to do more at work and now we have gotten to that point.  I sold my condo on February 25th, thank goodness.  3 mortgages was NOT fun for those 5 months!

A long engagement was perfect for us.  I really can't imagine having it be any shorter.

And I feel like we've both been so busy, we never sit down and have THE talks.  The talks you need.  Don't get me wrong, Kevin and I had talked many times about how we deal with things financially and we have dated for 4 years so obviously we each know how we spend money.

On Sunday night, we had THE talk.  Like "okay we are getting married in less than 3 weeks and we really need to figure out our bank accounts and which we are closing and which we are keeping" talk.  So we did.  

I wrote down a list of ALL of our bills.  Kevin and I always pay our bills right when we get them but there are a few things that we differ on.  Kevin writes checks and mails them in.  I operate electronically.  And I have most things direct debit.  Kevin doesn't do that.

But now he is going to lose control after 38 years of doing it his way and I'm going to compromise after 30 years of doing it my way.  And we are going to make an "our way!"  It'll take a few months to happen but we are combining our personal accounts.  It should be interesting sharing with someone else but I'm up for the new way of doing things.  Kevin is too.  Takes trust and we have that.  He knows I'm not going to go blow a grand on new shoes and clothes for an upcoming trip.  And I know he isn't going to go buy another jeep without consulting me first (he learned after he did this in December that this was his last big purchase, ha!). 

For us, both of our parents have combined everything and that's just how we were both raised.  When you're married, you're one.  So if I want to go buy a new dress, I will.  And if Kevin wants to go get a new tool, he can.  I don't care and he doesn't care.  We both have sense enough to know not to spend money we don't have.  

This is the way we will do things and I know every couple is different.  I think the new thing is to each have your own account and then have a joint one.  I know that works for some but Kevin and I are old school I guess.  Again, as I always say on here - to each their own.  Gotta do it the way that works for you!  :)

Random Monday

I'll be honest, this weekend wasn't all that wild and I loved it.  Kevin was on his bachelor party in Wilmington, NC since Thursday so I cannot begin to describe the amount I got done.  Of course I love when he's home but when he's gone, I'm much more productive.

Friday night Tara and I went to the Adidas sale and I got a top for $7, sports bra for $15 and Kevin some socks for $5.  Not a bad deal but not as good as last year.  Then we tried Krazy Fish for dinner over in Plaza Midwood.  It was pretty good.

Saturday I got a lot of things done in the morning, including cleaning every square inch of flooring in our house.  I admire our cleaning ladies now.  They only come once a month but they are sooooo worth it.  They didn't show up on Friday so I had to do it myself this weekend.  I honestly didn't mind and it saved the money this month.

Moving on...I went to the St. Patty's Day parade on Saturday and you can see pictures from that in my last post.  I made this wreath that afternoon in ummm approximately 8 minutes, even for someone who is totally clueless when it comes to crafts.  It costed me $13 at Michaels for the supplies.  Just the wreath for $4.99 and three strands of fake dogwood that were all 40% off.  

I hung it late last night after St. Patty's was over.

Oh random thought - I made spaghetti squash for the first time on Saturday night.  I was pleasantly surprised!

Mills had a big time yesterday checking out his girlfriend across the street.  See her?

Then I took him over there to play.  They look so much alike.  Mills is on the left, Lexie is on the right.

Kevin arrived home last night and we had a quick dinner of mahi mahi that I had seasoned yesterday morning, squash and zucchini mixture I made and Pioneer Woman's Crash Potatoes - the light version, ha!

Some Pictures From Today

I took Mills uptown to the St. Patty's Day parade earlier today.  He LOVED it but only lasted about an hour.  It was a lot for him because there were so many people.  He loved seeing everyone and just about everyone that walked by, I over heard them say, "ohhh look at that pretty golden."  Or maybe I was just hearing things haha.  Or maybe I'm biased. 

We got to visit with David, Josh &Wendy & Brooklyn, some of their friends, Miguel and Kevin & Elena.  It was fun and a gorgeous day for it!

We came back home and I got some more cleaning done.  Millsy got wild in the backyard.  He was muddy from that and he had all that gook from being uptown on him, he needed a bath.  So I gave him one.  Then I always take him out front in the sun to brush him.  Then he just started posing...

You can tell he's still a little wet but I think it's hilarious when he sits perfectly and stays there for a few minutes just staring.

His girlfriend Nola came over from next door.  Mills is a lil too hyper for ole Nola.  She is a cougar at age 11.

Hope you all are having fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

 

Does anyone have any big plans?  I'm just excited that it's Friday!  Cheers to the weekend!

An Amazing 18 Year Tradition

This is a quick post but something really amazing.

 

So at my company this has been going on for EIGHTEEN years!  There are +/-30 of us that work at the "headquarters."

 

 

 

When any guy at the company has conceived while working there, they had a girl.

 

When any girl at the company has conceived while working there, they had a boy.

 

 

 

I keep teasing that when the time comes, I'm going to quit for one day so I can have a girl haha!

 

Isn't that tradition (or whatever you want to call it), amazing?!  It's been about 25 children! 

Wedding Wednesday - Some Things We're Doing Differentyl

Okay I'm going to put it out there.  I'm over it all.  I just want it to be here.  I'm sick of everything!!!!  My stuff has been planned for months (or over a year is some cases!) and I just want it to happen.  Now.  I want all 200 people in our town and I want to show them a good time on Saturday night!  I'm not trying to wish away the next few weeks but Kevin and I are READY!

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

There are a few things for our wedding that we're doing differently.  And here they are!

 

1.  We aren't introducing the bridal party.  I mean why?  I've been in what feels like 100 weddings and I have not cared one time about being introduced.  Who remembers who anyway?  Everyone already knows who the parents are and they've seen the BM's and GMen at the front of the church.  So we aren't.  And they'll get to be with their spouse or mingling at cocktail hour instead of being holed up in a room.

 

2.  We are getting introduced down a gorgeous stairway.  And we'll get to the bottom of it where the cake will be and we'll cut it right then and there.  No reason to stop the party later in the night says the guy at our venue and our band.  It's hard to bring it back up to where it was 2 hours into it.  Our venue will cut only 30 slices at a time and plate it in a pretty little room that has a great view.  It'll be the coffee and dessert room.  And no this is not our cake, ours is even more boring!

 

3.  No bouquet or garter toss.  I'm too old for that.

 

We're probably not doing other stuff that everyone else does.  I like to be different.  Nothing against how others do things, those are great too, just how I wanted to do it.

 

April 6th will be here soon!  Thank goodness.

Props to Kev

I arrived home on Sunday night and the house was spic and span.  He had cleaned everything in the house and made us dinner.  And had done the laundry. 

And Mills was still alive!

A couple other pictures from the bach party.  Some of our rings on Emily M.'s hand.  Bling!

All of our bags lined up after we walked in and plopped them down!

Back to Mills!

And Kevin.  I came home last night and Kevin had made dinner again.

And PS - wasn't the Bachelor finale good?  I think Sean and Catherine are cute together.  Poor Lindsay though.

Mills ran in the guest room this morning, where I've been coughing up a storm, looking for Nannie and Poppa.  He always jumps in bed with them when they are here so I think he thought they were back when they saw the light on.  

Huge congratulations to my friend Katie on the birth of Mary Eleanor who they will call "Emmy!"  

And my other friend Ashley finds out if her second child is a boy or girl today!  Exciting!

Nashville Bachelorette Party

Back from my bachelorette party in Nashville.  We had a crazy weekend full of amazing memories with some of my most favorite ladies!  We missed a few of you girls!

 

Cocktail hour happened when everyone got there on Friday afternoon.  We got dressed and headed down to the lobby and a bachelor party was there for this cat who is getting married the day before me.  The guys all said they HAD to get a pic of him with me and that his fiance would die laughing.  Okay...haha.

 

 

This was cocktail hour in the room.  Sorry these pictures are kinda out of order.

 

 

Cab ride to the midtown area of Nashville.  We had dinner at a place called The Tavern.  So good!

 

L to R - Kelly, Emily, Lauren, Emily, Tara, Kimmy, Me, Lindsay

 

Then we bar hopped around that area.  Thanks for the photobomb weirdo.

 

Chi O girls.

 

My SIL is cray cray!  Love her!

 

Oh I told you these were out of order.  This is when we were leaving to go out.

 

Dinner...

 

Dinner...Kimmy made me take a lemon drop shot for asking too many questions about the weekend.  They kept telling me that for each time I asked what I could bring, I had to take a shot the weekend of.  Ooops...

 

 

 

Go ahead Kimmy!

 

Dancing happened...

 

 

 

 

This picture cracks me up for so many reasons.  But mainly because of Lauren in front.

 

 

Saturday mid day we headed out to Franklin, TN in our big ole suburban.  We had lunch at 55 South and shopped the cute lil downtown area. 

 

 

Then came back downtown and did some honky tonking.

 

 

 

 

 

We came back to the room to shower and get ready for night.  I felt famous as Tara did my makeup and Emily did my hair at the same time.

 

Then they threw me a lingerie shower which was hilarious and there are no public pictures of any of htat.

 

They all had a big time making fun of me.  They had asked Kevin questions beforehand and if I got the answer right, they had to drink.  If I got it wrong, I had to.  Thankfully I got a lot of them right.  But when they asked me the rest while at dinner, I didn't do so well.  Jack Daniels wasn't helping me concentrate haha.

 

Heading out..

 

Dinner at Puckett's.

 

Then we went to Paradise Park and saw a gazillion bachelor and bachelorette parties.  These guys were crazy.  On the back of his shirt he had a checklist.  One was dance with a cougar.  I was a cougar to them so I danced with him for about 5 seconds and marked it off his list.  The girls made me.

 

 

Seeing all of these crazy bachelorettes made me so thankful for my classy friends.  They didn't make me wear all that tacky stuff and I just got to have fun with my girls.  We saw such trash.  These girls in white dresses that I'd never even try on, let alone walk out of the house in.  Gross.  Their poor fiance's!!

 

We had the best time roaming Broadway.

 

 

 

My MOH.

 

We saw these guys everywhere we went.  They were from Alabama and so sweet.  Most normal guys we saw all night.

 

After a trip to Printer's Alley, Tara, Emily and I went back up to Broadway and stayed out way too late.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to my girls SOOOOOOO much for the best weekend!  Thank you for taking time out of all of your busy schedules and away from your other family and friends to be with me in Nashville!  Y'all are the best and I'm so lucky to have each of you in my life!