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! 

Favorite Drinks

We all know a good drink is necessary every now and then.  So what's your drink of choice?

 

I'm a maker's and diet coke girl in winter time.  The bourbon keeps you warm!  I also like jack daniels and ginger (thanks to my Mama).

 

 

 

Nothing, I mean nothing beats a good, well made Tanquerey and Tonic with a lime.  And like all liquor drinks, I like them strong.  At least half and half, if not more liquor than mixer.  Thank you Dad for teaching me how to make a drink.  It was one of the the very first things Kevin liked about me.  ;)

 

 

And we can't forget the classiest beverage of choice.  A cold Miller Lite.  And Mills' namesake! 

 

Of course I also like red wine in the winter and white wine in the summer.  I'm not picky on brands etc.  I'm a two buck chuck kinda gal.  Don't get me wrong, I like nice bottles of wine but I don't NEED them to survive. 

 

So there you have it.  Beverages.  Necessary.  Especially in the next month, necessary.  IF you know what I mean!

Wedding Wednesday - What to Wear

We had our last pre-marital counseling session last night.  Whew!  It actually all ended up being a good thing for Kevin and I.  We had already talked about everything before we got engaged (duh, right?!) but it was good to have a different perspective on everything from the minister.

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With as picky as I am about clothes, you wouldn't think I'd be flying by the seat of my pants on what to wear for all of our wedding events.  But I am.  And I don't like it, but there isn't a ton of choice when Spring clothes haven't come out yet.  I know they are out now but they weren't a month ago when I wanted to have all of my outfits lined up.  

I used Rent the Runway for the Champagne Party dress.  It was Kate Spade and I really loved it.  In the pictures you can't see, but it had a conservative V-shape dip in the back.  So pretty.

As I was trying to figure out my last few outfits (bridesmaid's luncheon, bachelorette party and what to wear the day of to get ready), I came upon some of these gorgeous pieces.  Some are out of my price range, but a girl can dream, right?!

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And I'll be honest, I haven't fall in love with a lot of the Spring Lilly this year.  I don't know why, but I'm feeling too old for it or something.  It's maybe just too girly and frilly for me?  I'm not sure.  And they have a lot of a-line cut dresses which are not flattering on me.  Now there are many pieces I love out of the collection but I'm not obsessed with it all as usual.  This is the only one I may have to have and I was thinking about wearing it to the BM luncheon.  It just doesn't scream, "I need this" to me.  

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And then you have the peplum look.  Two reasons I won't wear this - one I'm not a size zero and I don't think it'll look good on me (the hips don't lie) and two I don't want to look back on my wedding pictures and ask myself, "why on earth did I wear that?"  Basically I want to look timeless.  We'll see....

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I do love this pink Trina Turk dress and it's 50% off...

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I've always loved this Elizabeth McKay top but even on sale at $155, I don't think I'm interested.

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If I were tan, I'd love this dress.

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I don't know, I guess the moral of the story is I need to feel comfortable in it, I can't sweat through it (I get SO hot at every party for us), and it needs to be flattering.  

I'm so thankful Kevin knows what he's getting himself into with marrying me.  I like to shop.

New Healthy Food Options

We went out with our Avenue friends on Saturday night to Mellow Mushroom and I'm so mad I forgot to take a picture.  We were celebrating 5 out of the 7 of our birthdays.  David's and mine are in November within the same week but the rest of the group has birthdays in January, February and March.  Isn't that crazy?  In fact, today is Jennifer's birthday, so Happy, Happy to Jenn!

Jenn is an inspiration y'all.  She has lost 45 pounds, the right way.  She is watching what she eats, portion control and exercising.  I'm so proud of her.  She feels SO much better and has a lot more energy. 

We talked for a long time about how hard it is to eat healthy and make good decisions.  She shared some good ideas and I told her about some of these.  

I think it is a good thing for us to post about any new healthy finds because we can all use a little extra help making wise choices.  I know I love seeing posts about new types of food that are out that I may have otherwise not known about.

First up, these Perdue Simply Smart Chicken nuggets, strips or filets.  Y'all these are good.  For one filet/breast, it is 190 calories.  It's already cooked but frozen and I'm telling you all, these are worth the cost of $5.99/bag at Target.  I keep these babies in my freezer for a last minute dinner.  Kevin tosses his in buffalo sauce while I eat mine plain.  I could pour marinara over it and a slice of low fat mozzerella and have chicken parm.  Highly recommend.

Bagel thins.  These are only 110 calories instead of the usual 250/300 calories of a bagel with all that bread.  I make turkey sandwiches on these for lunch instead of regular bread or I slap some light cream cheese on one for breakfast and have a yogurt.

I like to keep these in the freezer for when I'm craving a biscuit.  Kevin liked these until he found out they had turkey sausage instead of regular sausage.  It's all in his head.  I can't tell a difference.

I love putting this on top of low fat strawberry yogurt for breakfast.  YUM.

Jenn also told me about a great thing she makes on Sunday for her work week breakfasts.  Use a muffin pan and put a piece of turkey bacon around the outside of each cup (like on the vertical part).  Fill it with egg beaters and top with a pinch of cheese.  She said they are 120 calories for two of them and they keep you full!  I need to make these soon!

In the comments, put a link back to a post you've done some healthy recipes or write a quick one out if you know one!  That way we can get even more ideas from each other!

Lauren's Bridal Shower at Vivace

On Saturday I go to help host a bridal shower for my friend Lauren!  We had it at Vivace which is a great restaurant in the midtown area of Charlotte.

Isn't this cake gorgeous?  And it was tasty too!

The flowers were stunning.

We had mushroom risotto balls, meatballs, caprese skewers, calamari, variety of pizzas and paninis.

She got a bunch of amazing gifts!

This was her invitation in the frame.  It was a bridal gown and then the shower information was tied with a ribbon onto it.  

The bride cutting the cake!

There were 35 ladies in attendance!

Lauren and her USC girls.

All of the hostesses....

Lauren with her Mom and two sisters.

We loved showering you Lauren and can't wait until June 8th!!!

On Marriage and Disciplining

Getting Mills has been a really good thing for Kevin and I.  It's taught us a lot individually and as a couple.

And I've learned...

I'll be the person that disciplines our children.

I know, how could you smack the nose of such a cute dog?  But let me tell you, when he is chewing on the leg of an antique table that your parents gave you, it's quite easy.

Yall - Kevin can't do it.  He can't smack his nose.  When Mills picks up a slipper, Kevin's response in his regular tone of voice is, "Mills, that's not yours."  

That's not going to cut it!  

So next time he does it, I smack that beak of his!  And guess what, he doesn't do those things again after I do that to him a couple of times.

I keep asking Kevin when he plans to start disciplining Mills.  His response, "when he isn't so cute."

Yeah. 

Now how is it going to be with children?!!  Especially a little girl!  Oh my...

I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there but please tell me what happens with your guys and disciplining?  How does it happen in your house?