Thanksgiving Day

For thanksgiving this year we headed to my brother and sister in laws! 

My parents also made the drive down along with my SILs parents. 

Thanksgiving dinner with a view!

She had teeny tiny bites of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and sweet potato pie!  Girlfriend had a thanksgiving feast, consisting mostly of milk haha but it was fun to let her try other things. 

The three girls all slept in the same room which resulted in all three in separate rooms by 11pm ha!

And we hung downstairs by the water and shucked oysters. 

And drank our friend Jack. 

And did pull ups off the side of the house. 

It was so much fun.  Honestly one of my favorite holidays in years.  Next up is the rest of our time there!

Thankful

Here are some things I'm thankful for:

1.  Family

2.  Friends

3.  Work and work family

4.  A safe and comfortable home

5.  Health

Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving.  Our holidays will be different this year than what we've done in the past but Molly Anne brought on some new traditions and we are excited for a little change!  

Nashville

I'm in Nashville as I type this and I'm about to fly back over to Charlotte. I came here with a couple coworkers to entertain a client and we had the best time.  We started by going to visit a contractor that is based here that we've worked with for years.  They're good friends of ours at this point.  They took us to the gulch area and we had lunch at Saint Anejo.  We worked some more in their conference room then went downtown to check in and meet the guy we were here to see. 

We had dinner at Merchants.  We originally had reservations at Kayne but ended up wanting to walk from our hotel.  Anyone been to Kayne?  We heard it was amazing. Next time!

Then we walked up to the Ryman Auditorium and randomly bought tickets to the Marshall Tucker Band.  

The band Shenandoah opened for them. 

Seeing a show there was definitely a bucket list item!

Then we went to a few more honky tonks before calling it a (late) night!

Good times as always!  I love Nashville. 

Weekend Out

Friday we finally got the new ride.  It is sooo pretty and has so many cool features!

Friday night we had dinner with Kevin's parents and niece. 

Saturday morning we went to Stacks with this cute little baby!

That morning I was coming home from Petsmart and saw a few of my neighborhood friends decorating the entrance so I got Molly Anne bundled up and we took a run up there!

Saturday night we had a big time and ubered everywhere!!!  It was our first night out just the two of us since Molly Anne arrived.  We've been to weddings etc but not just us out.  We decided to do a Southpark crawl and go a bunch of places we hadn't been.  Started with drinks and an app at Baku.  Dirty gin martini and Kevin sampled some beers. 

Pea blossom roll. Their bar scene upstairs is pretty cool. It was our first time there.  

Then we walked next door to Treehouse and I tried the Bourbon Bramble.  Delish.  Place was crowded so we hung outside by the heaters.  

Next up, 8:30 dinner reservations at Dogwood, my fav.  Kevin had never been so I was excited for him to try it. We sat at the kitchen bar and got treated to a couple fancy extras.  The cooks were super cool.  It reminded us of the kitchen table at Aria. 

Kevin got the shrimp and grits and I got the trout.  

They hooked us up with bacon jam.  Evidently the panthers coach and his fam has come in every Saturday this season for bacon jam and considering they are now 10-0 I believe he will keep coming.  He had been in right before we got there!  

We finished the night at Foxcroft Wine Bar and ended up seeing my friend Emily as we were leaving.  

It was really fun to get out just the two of us.  Plus we got to sleep in because Kevin's parents brought her to us on Sunday morning.  That was a real treat!  Thank you all for watching our girl!

On Sunday we did this and watched the panthers game!

Busy week ahead!   I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving week.  

Five on Friday

1.  I was wiping my phone and came across these favorite pictures of Mills.  

Mills and Mom when Mills was 14 weeks. 

2.  Speaking of wiping my phone.  I copied, cut and pasted all of the pictures (over 1,000 of them) onto my computer then also dumped them to Picassa for extra back up.  I do this every few months.  I highly recommend so if something were to happen to your phone, you at least have all of your pics from when you last took them off your phone.  I hate taking pictures off my phone because what if I NEED that one pic but it does feel good to wipe the slate clean and now it's ready for the holidays! 

3. Our little turkey.  I'm trying my best for her to wear all of her clothes.  We had a lot of 3-6 month stuff and she's going to be totally out of it very soon.  I had to take some of my favorite gowns and comfy stuff out of her drawers and put them in the big bin of outgrown clothes I've started.  Ahhh.  

Best friends. 

4.  I put Dickens Village up!  My parents passed this down to me and now I know how much work they put into it every year!  This is such a fun thing to have up during the Christmas season.

5.  Last night at neighborhood bunco - dress code was activewear and we don't even play bunco.  Only left right center.  It's so fun.  And I won one of the rounds last night!  I took April's easy lunch as an appetizer!

I'm definitely glad it's Friday after going to bed way too late last night.  We finally get the new car today so I won't be driving this dealer loaner anymore.  I feel like I've had a rental car the last three weeks so this will be nice to finally be settled back into our car again.

Happy Weekend!

Nordstrom Finds

I love Nordstrom.  They have everything and as you all know the customer service is amazing.  I bought a bunch of gifts from there this year.  They make it too easy on their website with how they sort and group things.  

Mom got me an outfit and I love it.  I had to exchange the pants for a different size and while I was in there today I got this shirt.  It comes in a bunch of colors and best part: machine washable and no dry cleaning.  I'm planning to tuck this into a suit skirt for work and then wearing it with jeans for a night out.  

These are the corduroy pants she got me.  I love them. They have just enough stretch.  They do run long so the gal got alterations to come hem them.  They'll be ready for pick up in two days and they're not even charging me even though the pants were on sale. How awesome is that?  Saves me a trip to Anna's!

I'm struggling to find work clothes these days.  JCrew has gotten away from the smart professional look and gone more casual.  I've been looking at Talbots and they actually have some nice things that don't look too mom-ish haha!  Where do you get nice professional clothes?  Ideally I can dress them up for work and down for play. Bonus points for machine washable and tops that I can wear with black or navy bottoms. 

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great day. It started super early because I went to Richmond for a couple of hours. Molly Anne was up and handed me the cutest crab card! ;)

I got back to town and met she and Kevin at Dean and Deluca for dinner.  It's one of my favorite spots and easy with her.  She made me this card at Beckys...super cute!!

Obviously she was the biggest highlight of the last year!

This was on our front door steps from Sarah!  So nice!

Kevin gave me a new wallet and a fleece jacket!!  I've had the same Abas wallet since 2005 so this is a real treat!  I've already switched everything over. 

Shoes for Molly Anne

This is a weird age for shoes.  Not many shoes come in size 0, 1 or 2 so there is limited selection.  But when it's 35 degrees in the mornings I feel silly sending Molly Anne out the door with only socks on.  

Yesterday at lunch at made it my mission to get her some shoes.  

First up, these Robeez Mary Janes.  These aren't warm but she needed something to go with dressier outfits this winter.  At $26 they aren't terribly priced and a little trick a lady at the store shared with me? Buy the 6-12 month so she can wear through next summer and stuff cotton balls in the toe of them now.   It's not like she's walking in them.  Smart right?!  I got these at Shower Me With Love for you local gals.  

I picked up these ugg boots at nordstrom for her.  They velcro so they should stay on.  My friend Sarah told me last night that she has these that I can borrow so I may just take her up on that and take these back. 

I got her these ugg slippers from Nordstrom a few weeks ago for her to wear around the house.  They keep her feet warm for sure and she's now worn them out and about too.  They're called the Ugg bixbee bootie.  I'd link these up for you but I'm on my iPad in the airport with no time.  

And my favorite but least practical. The Baby Deer Sabrina ballet flat.  Adorableeeeee.  Found on Amazon.  

Fam Weekend

This weekend was so necessary.  We were invited to do several things but we said "no thank you" to all of them.  Sometimes you just have to do that.  And I'm learning that it's ok and people actually do understand.  

Friday evening with my girl. 

We went to Hawthornes for a very early dinner.  We got to know the manager there a long time ago and she just has loved Molly Anne!  So yep you can go to Hawthornes for dinner and free childcare evidently. She's holding her in the pic below!

We came home and put her to bed and hung by the fire Kevin built.  

Sarah came over for about 30 minutes to hang.  Pajamas, baby monitor and a lil wine on the back patio!  Oh and we made smores!

Saturday we had a lazy day.  Cutest NC State fan I've seen!

And she had her first bite of food - bananas!  I think she likes them but eating is a lot to learn at once!  Each day I bet it gets easier for her!  

Then we went to Pearlz Oyster Bar with Kevin's fam for a birthday dinner.  It was our first time and I must say, it was really good!

Afterwards - strawberry cake!

And Molly Anne evidently got a taste of icing for the first time!  Just a tiny bit!  

Sunday we were up early doing errands and then we decided to head down to Greenville, SC.  We had planned to go this weekend but were kinda casual if we were really going to do it.  Well we did and I'm so glad.  

Lunch at Smoke on the Water. Our favorite!  Fried green tomatoes. 

After lunch Kevin fed Molly Anne and I walked into a cute shop next door.  

This one zonked out the whole way there and the whole way back to Charlotte. We stopped at the pottery barn outlet and got a couple things.  

It was a nice family day! 

Ready for a busy week.