Merry Christmas blog friends!

Diana vs. Kate

Look who was channeling Princess Diana (in my opinion, one of the greatest fashion icons ever...maybe the greatest) a couple of nights ago:

Kate, 2011

Diana, 1981

I, of course, approve! Also, I think Kate is looking particularly skinny, so I still choose to stand firm and not believe the pregnancy rumors. Until its confirmed by people.com, it just isn't true!

Week Ahead

I'm not sure how its possible, but the weeks leading up to Christmas somehow go by insanely fast and drag quite a bit at the same time. I think it has something to do with the fact that I have a lot going on socially (holiday parties, seeing friends and family--all things I love!), and I have a lot less going on at work (also thankful for this, but it does make for longer days). Its such a balance, but I know once work picks back up in the New Year, I'll be wishing for a little more time like right now!

I have one gift left to buy for John for Christmas, and cards to address and mail out, but other than that I am finished with all my Christmas prep! I decided to wait until I arrive at my parents house next week to do my real giftwrapping since everything will look prettier if it hasn't spent a 6 hour drive to my parents house in my car. Fresh wrapping is always best. So, the only thing I am really dreading in the next few weeks is the long, boring drive to NC. At least I have Bojangles to look forward to during the drive, and then a few days off to spend with my favorite NC people. A road trip to Winston-Salem might even be necessary.

I hope y'all have a great weekend and do something Christmasy to enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

Update

You might remember my post here about my love of Elizabeth Taylor, and particularly her jewelry. The much-anticipated auction was held this week and it brought in over $115 Million. A girl can dream...

The Taylor Burton Diamond

Time Magazine's Person of the Year

Y'all know that I would've gone with Kate Middleton. But, alas, they didn't ask for my opinion.

Holiday Spirit!

In the past 24 hours, I have gift wrapped, wrote cards, listened to Christmas music, gazed at my own Christmas lights (I have a Moravian star now too!) and found a Christmas cookie recipe that I plan to make this week. I am officially in the Christmas spirit. I took a few poorly lit photos of my decor last night:

I'm still doing some rearranging--its my first year getting to decorate my very own mantle, but its exciting! Obviously, I enjoy the red/gold/green/sparkly theme.

A question worth thinking about

Could you (or your family) live on $50,000 per year?

December

I can't believe the last half of November flew by so quickly! I've been a terrible blogger lately, but I've been a very busy girl! I've been home for Thanksgiving and did a little wedding planning with Julie, I went to Asheville for a weekend away with John, I've been doing plenty at work, and I've finally been reconnecting with some friends I've gone way too long without seeing!

So, now its officially my favorite time of year. All of my Christmas has been up around my house for a week now (pictures to come--but I assure you, its incredibly festive). I saw the Rockettes in Raleigh, and John and I went on the candlelight Christmas tour at Biltmore this weekend, so I'm fully in the Christmas spirit. I have bought most of my gifts, but would happily take suggestions for my mom and for John (they are the hardest part of my list!).

I'm really looking forward to a work trip to Knoxville next week, and then a little over a week's worth of vacation time over Christmas and leading up to New Year's Eve. And no, my Deacons have thrown a littlw wrench into my otheriwse tame (lame) New Year's plans by playing in a bowl game in Nashville on December 30. Oh, what will I do?! At least everything is a great option. I adore December!

Currently Loving

-Take Care, Drake. Picked this album up yesterday and I am loving it so far!
-Red and purple. I'd been feeling a little tired of my fall/winter wardrobe lately, so this weekend I took advantage of 40% off at Loft and a 50% off coupon I had for Banana Republic. I got a beautiful red silk blouse at BR, and I adore it! I've been stocking up on plenty of purple lately too. Its always been my favorite, so get really happy when its back on trend and readily available.
-Christmas shopping. I always make myself wait until the day after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music and to decorate, but I love taking my time to do my shopping over the course of a few months. I love picking out gifts for friends.
-Storage Wars on A&E. New addiction!
-Wine Coke. Its a 70/30 ratio, but trust me its good. Not sure why, but my coworkers and I have been loving it this week.

Cullman Liquidators Field Trip

Yesterday on the long drive to Sheffield, AL, my coworkers and I stopped at the lovely Cullman Liquidators for a photo op of one of our favorite Youtube sensations. If you haven't seen the video, please see it here:

And here are a few pictures of us enjoying ourselves at a used trailor lot. Only in Alabama!

Catch up

Hi friends! I feel a little like I've been playing catch up since I got back home from the whirlwind wedding weekend. It was absolutely fabulous! I promise I will devote another post to the details soon, but for today I'll just share a few photos of the happy ocassion:

I absolutely adored Sara's gorgeous train!

Happy couple.

High school friends!


Me, being a stalkerazzi, and cake cutting.

You can tell from the beautiful pictures what a fabulous weekend it was! I am so thrilled for Sara and Eric, and cannot wait to continue our (long) friendship throughout their marriage.

As for life in general, I've just been working and still nursing a little bit of sickness. I did purchase Skinny Girl margaritas and white cranberry cosmos, and I'm really looking forward to partaking! I've got fun weekend plans to hang out with John and other friends, and I'm really looking forward to it! Also really looking forward to baking and eating my famous chocolate chocolate chip pound cake. Yum.

Hope you all have fabulous Veteran's Day weekends! Any good plans going on?

North Carolina bound!

I'm heading home to NC tomorrow for the big wedding weekend! I am so looking forward to spending this special time with Sara, and having my first bridesmaid experience! There is so much eating, beautifying and other general girliness to be done! I can't say that I'm looking forward to a 6 hour car ride by myself tomorrow, but I am definitely looking forward to some Bojangles along the way, and hanging out with my dad mid-afternoon since he's freshly retired.

What are your plans for the weekend? I'm definitely thankful to have a long, four-day one myself! And for John to visit my old stomping grounds for the first time :)

Bachelorette Recap

Hi Friends! Sorry again for the silence last week. I was in Tampa for work, and was either really lame and working and going to bed early, or out having fun and not remembering to blog! We had a good week with gorgeous weather (hello 38 degrees this morning in Atlanta...not appreciated) and really good food. But I was happy to be home Friday night, and actually enjoy a low-key weekend in Atlanta for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, I've been a little sick with either sinus issues or a cold, but I'm slowly nursing back to health thankfully. Must be healthy for the big wedding weekend in NC! I took it easy most of this weekend, but John and I did go to the shooting range with some Half Off Depot coupons yesterday. It was really fun! It was my first time ever going to a range or shooting a gun, and I enjoyed it. I had pretty good aim too!

Back up to the bachelorette weekend. We had such a great time! I think we all had a lot of fun at Dip n Dab making beautiful paintings and drinking wine. Saturday we shopped the day away, and then had a fabulous dinner complete with belly dancers at Taverna Plaka followed by a VIP table at the Gold Room in Buckhead. Needless to say, we made sure the bachelorette had a fantastic weekend!

In other news, I finally bought and iPad and I could not be happier. I wish I had done it sooner! It made my travel last week so much more enjoyable! And now I can play Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends (for any of you who might be interested). Yay!

Now just a few workdays to get through before I hit the road to NC to help my dear SCD tie the knot this weekend!

Bachelorette weekend!

I'm so excited that one of my bffs Sara and (most of) her bridal party will be arriving on my doorstep tomorrow afternoon for her bachelorette weekend! We have some very fun things planned, which I'll have to share later because Sara is a reader of this blog and I can't spoil any of the surprises. I'll just say that food, paint-penning and crowns will be involved. Yay!

21st Birthday Throwbacks :)

My house is officially clean and ready for visitors. Its amazing how much having a house guest will get your behind in gear to do things around the house. In the past three weeks alone, I finished painting my bedroom, moved some furniture around, hung some pictures, made a headboard, created an entire guest bed and shoved lots of extra things that had been lying around the guest room floor in a closet. My house is a new place!

I hope you all have fabulous weekends, and I'll report back on all the bachelorette fun next week!

Throwback

This morning at work we were discussing some childhood throwbacks--mainly the teal and purple of the early 1990s Charlotte Hornets. Did anyone else out there have a purple and teal windsuit? I know I did! And does anyone else remember having a lifesize cutout of Muggsy Bogues in your elementary school classroom? I know I do! This article pretty much sums up all that was good about the Hornets in the early 90s. Good times.

Headboard Project

Its finally done! I have a real fabric headboard made by me (and my boyfriend), and a real bed in my guestroom! The results were awesome too, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the project was overall. I was not a good blogger, and did not remember to take pictures along the way, but i'll spell out step-by-step the supplies you'll need and how to make your very own fabric headboard for less than $150 in less than a day!

Supplies:
-Fabric, $70 (I ordered mine on sale from JoAnn's, and got 4 yards. Way more than enough for a queen bed, plus a have some leftover for probably 2 medium sized pillows/shams)
-Particle Board, $18 (Got a big sheet at Home Depot--4x6 size I believe)
-Quilt Batting, $20 (Bought a large roll of medium thickness batting at Walmart)
-Staples, staple gun, tacks ($3), hammer and a power saw (John already had all the tools, but you could easily purchase an inexpensive staple gun at any craft or home improvement store, and rent the saw)

Total cost: about $115

Step 1: Cut the particle board in your desired shape. I did a slight curve in the middle, as you can see in the photos. We did this out in the drive way, and it took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to sketch the shape and do the cutting. Very easy!

Step 2: Set up shop in a large area of floor in your house. Lay the batting out flat on the floor, put the particle board on top and pull all the edges tight. Cut off excess batting (I left about 2 inches around the perimeter for stapling.

Step 3: Staple, staple, staple. I put my staples about 1.5 inches apart, and they held up well. Particle board it a very hard material, so I hammered my staples in to make sure they were secure. Put extra staples in the corners, because the folded fabric is extra thick.

Step 4: Pick up the headboard with batting secured to it, and lay out fabric cut to your headboard's size. Pull tightly around the edges, and cut away any excess (the same way you did in step 2). I left a little more fabric around the perimeter (maybe 3 inches).

Step 5: Staple or tack the fabric. Since my upholstry fabric was very thick, especially with the battling underneath, I used plain gold, round-top tacks. I positioned each one (about 2 inches apart) and hammered them all in to make sure the fabric was secure. Remember to constantly pull the fabric tight to ensure that it will be even (especially if you are using a patterned fabric like I was).

Voila, you are finished! You can take it a step further, and actually attach the headboard to the bedframe or to the wall, but for now mine is just on the floor behind the bed and its working out fine. I may bolt it to the frame in the future to add some extra height, but just having it against the wall definitely works in a pinch (and my pinch, of course, is getting the room ready for bachelorette weekend on Friday!). This project was easy, inexpensive and not very time consuming. I love the outcome, and am so glad I didn't pay the hundreds of dollars I've seen similar headboards go for online!

Sorry for the blackberry photos, as usual!

Too.Much.Fun.

Hi friends,

I apologize up front for abandoning the blog for most of October, but I've had good reason! So many good things have been happening, that I haven't found myself in front of my computer with extra time to share. I'm going to try to get back on the wagon now though. Here's a few things that have been going on lately with me:

-Went to Alabama, and really enjoyed myself. I spent a week in Florence & Sheffield, and had a great time! I even remembered to take a few photos, so you all could go on a virtual walking tour :)
-Visited John's parents in Thomson, GA a couple of weekends ago, and enjoyed some time with his family.
-Flew home to NC last Wednesday and had a blast. One of the best long weekends in recent memory. Had an amazing day at the State Fair with my fam, and then a fabulous homecoming weekend at Wake Forest, the Best Place In The World. Pictures to come, but last night I was too exhausted to upload anything.
-Had lunch with childhood bff Julie while I was home, and I'm thrilled that she asked me to be the maid of honor in her upcoming wedding. There is so much fun planning to be done (including a shower hosted by me, so if you have tips, send them my way please!).

So, I've basically been eating and drinking too much, and have been having too much fun. There are worse predicaments to be in. Need to get back on the healthy eating wagon, and get my butt in gear to clean & fix up my house before the bachelorettes descend upon me this weekend. I'm excited about that, too!

In other news, the headboard is finally finished, and has been assembled into a real life bed in my guest room! Pictures/tutorial to follow, but really--it was insanely easy, and I'm really happy with the results. Huge thanks to John for doing all the hard work parts :)

I hope y'all have been doing well lately and having as much fun as me! I feel like i've been in a constant state of tired, but its been so, so worth it. I have the best friends in the whole world. xoxo

Good Things Happening

Greetings from the Quad Cities! I'm in Sheffield/Florence, Alabama this week for work, and I'm really enjoying myself here. I've been twice before, and I remembered having fun here, but I've really grown to like Florence on this trip. The weather is amazing (think 78 degrees and sunny), the scenery is gorgeous (I drive over a big bridge over the Tennessee river to get to work from the hotel in the morning) and the town is so quaint. Big trees and big old houses, very cute shops and a local university (UNA). I had a very long walk through the downtown yesterday, and its so pleasant to see an old downtown in a little town that's actually bustling. I'm looking forward to another walk today, and hopefully i'll get some pictures to share with y'all.

That's pretty much been my whole week thus far, just working and enjoying some small town life. Not looking forward to a 5 hour trip back to Atlanta tomorrow, but things could be worse :) I am, however, looking forward to a long-overdue haircut on Friday, and a trip to Raleigh and Winston-Salem next week! Oh, and a holiday from work on Monday (thank you, Christopher Columbus!). Homecoming, the State Fair, so many friends and family...it might just be too much for me to handle. Then after that, I'm hosting SCD's bachlorette weekend in Hotlanta and am taking another trip home after that for her wedding. I am so so looking forward to the next month's worth of activities. And on top of that, my best friend from childhood, Julie, and her fiance Michael just got engaged last week and have set a date for March 24! That's my half birthday :) I can't wait to be in both of these weddings. So much fun to celebrate my favorite people!

You know what else is fun? Eating at Bojangles. Yum.

And, something else? Seeing my fridge fill up with pretty invites (thanks, Sara :).

New Music

Hi Friends!

I've got a favor to ask you all today: what is your favorite music? New music? Favorite band of all time? Favorite album? I realized that I've become a little bored with everything on my iPod lately, so I want some new inspiration. I'll take any suggestions you have--I love (most) all genres...really, ask my friends, they will tell you my library is filled with some of the weirdest/most random stuff you've ever heard of. I appreciate any thoughts! I'm hoping to use my new tunes to motivate some workouts in the near future.

In other news, I made it back from Tampa in one piece, and I didn't even want to kill anyone at the Atlanta airport. That's a good day for me! Tomorrow is my regular Friday off, and I have big plans of a spa appointment and eating popsicles (if you live in Atlanta, go find yourself a King of Pops...you will not regret it). So obviously, a big day ahead. I'm also hoping to trudge through more painting in my bedroom. I want to be DONE. I can't wait to share the complete finished product!

xoxo

Greetings from Tampa!

Hi friends, I've been in Tampa, Florida this week for work and things have been going great. The work has been going smoothly (always appreciated) and I've been eating some delicious food and enjoying my first stay at an Embassy Suites in quite a while. I realized the other day that I had not traveled overnight for work since July--that's got to be some kind of record for me! While its been nice to be home, hang out with friends during the week, and do some work on the house, I was definitely ready to be on the road again. Its one of those interesting things that you don't realize you miss until you actually start doing it again!

I'll give y'all a little birthday recap too: Friday, Kelly and I went shopping for almost the whole day (yay!) and even ate bacon cupcakes from Gigi's (yes, you read that right). The shopping was ok--I didn't get much stuff, which was probably good for my wallet's sake. Friday night John and I went to Six Flags for corporate night, where the park opens up for special hours for specific companies. Its great because the park is so much less crowded and the lines are next to nothing. I had such a good time (even though I'm a wimp and don't really ride roller coasters). Saturday was my actual birthday, and most of it was spent being pretty lazy. John and I ran some errands, watched the 2nd season of East Bound and Down, and had an amazing dinner at Six Feet Under. We both wondered aloud while we were there why we don't go more often. Hopefully going to remedy that soon :) We went to the 11th St/Westside location and enjoyed an amazing meal on the rooftop deck--there's a beautiful skyline view, and the weather could not have been better (sunny and high 70s, yes please). It was such a good birthday! The celebration also spilled over into Sunday, because John bought me tickets to see Wicked on Sunday afternoon at the Fox. It was fantastic! This was my second time seeing the show--my first time was this past May in London, and I loved it just as much this time. He is such a great gift giver!

I turned 25 definitely feeling very lucky and blessed to have so many friends and family members who care so much about me. I think 25 is going to be a great year--starting it off with a promotion at work and a nice little trip to Florida doesn't hurt!

Even though I'm having a great time in the 90+ degree weather here this week (NOT), I'm looking forward to getting back home tomorrow afternoon, seeing my long lost friend Sarah who will be freshly back home from a few months in Hong Kong (yay!) and enjoying my Friday off! I'll leave you with a picture of a real life double rainbow in Tampa from Monday night. Because everybody could use a little ouble rainbow in their lives :)

If you haven't seen the YouTube video yet, you should probably go watch it now.

Food Truck Thursday

(Yes, I like to pretend I am a birthday princess, even though when I google-image-searched for "birthday princess", most of what came up was celebrating someone's 1st birthday. I happen to think its still totally acceptable for a 25th birthday, but I digress.)

Another delicious food truck Thursday has come and gone in ATL. I had a grilled cheese with chutney and a banana puddin' King of Pops. Yum. Its been a good, productive day at work so far (I love nothing more than crossing things off a to-do list)! I'm trying to get my life in order with making appointments, scheduling things (fun things...bachlorette party, anyone1?). I'm also trying to decide what to do with myself all weekend to celebrate myself! There's a North Georgia State Fair happening, and I'm thinking a trip might be necessary.

Tomorrow is going to be a major shopping day. I have so many coupons to use, and so many other places just to check out because I haven't been to the mall in quite a while! I'm excited to hang out with Kelly and eat big cupcakes and go to Six Flags tomorrow night with John. Then Saturday, i'm sure we'll find something fun going on around town, and of course, dinner at 6 Feet Under. Yay! I can't wait to eat and shop and have fun all weekend. We all deserve it every once in a while.

I hope y'all have great weekends..splurge a little and think of me!

Birthday Week

So, as you know, I'm celebrating my birthday week this week. Any not just any birthday, but my 25th birthday. Something about this one feels much older. I'm moving age ranges, for goodness sake! Very scary, but also kind of nice (I'm telling myself this). I definitely feel more like a grown up now...hopefully that's a good thing.

I'm doing a variety of things to celebrate my birthday this week. I already took my annual trip home to see the fam. My parents got me the most amazing t-shirt quilt made from my Wake Forest and Phi Mu t-shirts. I adore it.

John and I will be celebrating this weekend with a dinner at Six Feet Under (I looove that place), a trip to Six Flags and some general hanging out time since I've been out of town the past two weekends. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also planning a major shopping haul with all of my birthday coupons (and, let's be honest, some places I don't have coupons for!)...I can't wait! I took Friday off from work to enjoy myself and spend a little of my hard-earned money. I'm also doing a little celebrating with some co-workers today at happy hour (free sushi at happy hour at Steel in midtown Atlanta...I think yes). Techincally it isn't a birthday happy hour, but I might as well make it that, right? And of course, I'm still mentally on cloud 9 after my promotion last week. Things are good around these parts!

Home project updates

I've been a little slack when it comes to my home decor projects lately, but as of last night, I'm happily back on track! I spent most of my evening painting (which I am very bad at), so now my bedroom is about 60% complete. I ended up having to do two coats, so the whole room is now painted, but 2 of the walls need one more coat. Not too bad. Here's a really terrible Blackberry photo taken at approximately 6:30 this morning. The paint looks more gray and less light blue in person (and better lighting).


I also finally got to pick up the fabric I'm going to use for my long-awaited headboard project this weekend. Its a Croscill fabric ordered from JoAnn's during one of their many 40% off sales. I really like it! I am just now coming to the realization that everything in my house is turning blue all of a sudden. I need to find a way to remedy this. I'm thinking of incorporating some hot pinks or orange or purple somehow. Thoughts?

Hopefully the headboard project will be a go next weekend. I could start this weekend, but frankly, Saturday is my birthday and I don't plan on doing any manual labor or using tools to celebrate another year of my life! I do plan to get a little more painting done tonight or tomorrow, and get that all finished very soon. Countdown to Sara's bachelorette weekend is getting smaller, so my self-imposed decorating deadline is getting close.

Best and Worst of the Emmy's

I'm one day late with my fashion highlights from the Emmy's (silly work and life getting in the way of important blogging). Here are my picks for best and worst dressed, enjoy!

The Best

Gorgeous pink! So feminine and flattering.

I am so surprised that Kelly Osbourne looks this good. The color is really stunning!


Emily Blunt can do no wrong for me. She looks amazing.

This color and draping could not be better. Holy crap...how do I work out to get a figure like that?

Beautiful color and very flattering cut! Classic. Although, is it just me or is this a little bridesmaid-y?

I'm a sucker for sparkle! And its nice to see a non-size-2 woman really glamming it up on the red carpet.

Gorgeous color, and I love the belt! Very preppy.


The Worst

Such a pretty girl...such a grandma dress. Not good.

Heidi, this skirt is just not ok! It would've been so much better in a simple tea length with some sparkle!

Love this color, bu this dress is pulling on her body and looks like it hasn't been ironed ever.

Gwenyth...really? Did we need a bare midriff? I think not.

All photos from usmagazine.com

Fabulous news!

I'm off to the Old North State to celebrate my birthday for the weekend (even though its a week early)! I'm happy to eat dessert (even though I'm attempting to be healthy), see my parents and best friends, maybe do a little shopping and just generally hang around town. I think its going to be a good one.

I got some very good news at work today, too: I got the promotion I've been working towards since I started (and the same one that I had to take the big scary tests for)! Hooray! This is probably the best birthday gift I could've gotten, and I got it for myself :) I'm thinking an iPad might be in my future as a promotion treat for myself. Yay!

Thank goodness its Thursday. This long week has just gotten much better. I hope y'all all have great weekends! xoxo

Happy Hump Day

First off, I'll join in the resounding disappointment of bloggers everywhere about the Missoni for Target launch. I can't tell you how many times I tried to log onto the website yesterday. I finally got on today, only to find practically everything sold out. I didn't even attempt to visit my local Target in Buckhead last night. Its Buckhead...I'm sure the real fashionistas had everything cleared out by 8 am. Sigh. My last hope is a visit to the Target by my parent's house in WF, NC on Friday. Its not even that I'm a Missoni freak, I just feel like I have to make it my mission to at least have the option to purchase something from the collection! Will report back with any progress or lack thereof.

In other news, there is no other news. I'm flying to NC tomorrow and a really looking forward to it! I've been lazy about making a dinner reservation for Friday night, so I must get on that tomorrow. I think i'm going to request a banana pudding from my mom for the birthday dessert. Getting very excited just thinking about that.

Otherwise, I've had a fairly boring Wednesday. Short weeks seem to go by the slowest. Probably because I have something that I'm looking forward to at the end! That, and my work bff (I know you're reading!) had been in class and I have been missing our breakfast/lunch/afternoon break sessions! Tonight I'm looking forward to a date with Jenn and maybe a long walk around the neighborhood. I did that with Erica last night, and it was fantastic! I feel so much better when I exercise and eat right. So far, so good today!

Ramblings

I'm feeling very mid-day lethargic, and am in desparate need of a pick-me-up. I'm thinking a little afternoon green tea should do the trick. I also think making a list of things I'm looking forward to should perk me up a little (and really, who doesn't love a good list?):

-Going home this weekend to see the fam and celebrate the big 2-5 (a little early). Eeek.
-Shopping! I can't wait to strategically plan how I'll use all my birthday swag coupons.
-Saving money...I know this doesn't go with the last bullet, but I've decided to start couponing. Like, really couponing. I can't wait!
-Finish painting my bedroom! I need to do another coat on a couple of walls, and i'll have to wait a little while because I can't move the furniture without John's help. I love the color! Can't wait to share it with y'all.
-Buy new bedding. I am really loving this from www.serenaandlily.com. I want a hot pink stripe on my duvet! And a huge monogram on the pillow shams! First, I need to hit Ikea for a cheap duvet insert and some pillow forms.
-Celebrate my first birthday spent in Atlanta. I'm thinking dinner here. No other ideas yet...suggestions? Side note: I'm getting a little scared of turning 25. That's very mid-twenties. Ridiculous?

DC/Pennsylvania weekend

This weekend I flew up to DC to visit Sarina and to go to the Penn State v. Alabama football game with her! I was planning on hanging around DC and exploring a little on my own on Friday morning while Sarina had an appointment, but the major rainstorm kept me from doing any of that. Around lunchtime, we hopped in the car and drove to Altoona, PA where she is from and where her parents still live. I had so much fun visiting with the 3 of them and getting a guided tour of Altoona from Sarina. We even made it to Bendel's pretzel factory (side note: Altoona is practically the snack food capital of the US...they make candy, pretzels, chips and more there!). We spend all of Saturday tailgating and watching the big game! Unfortnately it was a loser for PSU, but I still had a fantastic time. The stadium holds about 108,000 people all wearing white for the whiteout game. Insanity. I was very overwhelmed, but it was an amazing experience. Once we got home we watched the WF v. NC State game on dvr and Wake actually won! We couldn't believe it.

A pretty view from the guest room at Sarina's parents' home. I loved waking up to a cloud hovering in the valley!

Alabama haters. Hehe.



The view from my seat. Amazing.

I flew home yesterday from DC without any problems (thankfully). I got sucked into watching an amazing documentary on the History Channel last night that used raw footage from people on the ground at the World Trade Center 10 years ago. It was heartbreaking and amazing to watch 10 years later, and sad to think some of the people in the footage lost their lives or lost loved ones on that terrible day. I certainly will never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. I was in 10th grade in Raleigh, NC, I can can remember everything so vividly. What I was wearing, where I was when someone told us what had happened..unreal. I am thankful that September 11, 2011 passed by quietly.

Elizabeth Taylor's Jewels

I so wish that I could purchase something from Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry auction at Christie's this December. Whoever is fortunate enough to be able to purchase and own something from her collection is very lucky indeed. I am so jealous! I bought the coffee table book about her collection when I was in college, and it is a book that I treasure!

Its currently on amazon.com for $130 used! I paid nowhere near that much for it...I guess it has appreciated, and I didn't even realize it! Here's a few of my favorite pieces from the book:

Nothing in the whole world could be better than this giant Asscher cut diamond. Nothing.

This brooch belonged to Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. That makes me love it even more!