Swamped

I can't believe its been so long since I blogged! I can't even describe my life for the last few weeks--especially my work life. Its been insane and hard and a little bit terrible. I just keep repeating the mantra "I am so thankful to have a job. I am so thankful to have a job". Not sure how much longer this mantra will work, but alas, it'll have to do for a while. The next few weeks are going to be really stressful, but I think by mid-May there should be a light at the end of the tunnel! Thank goodess.

In other non-work related news, Julie's wedding was fantastic. It was stressful getting things organized, but everything worked out in the end. I can't wait to share a few pictures with y'all--soon, I promise! I really enjoyed my trip home, too. Since then, everything has been a little bit of a blur. John and I have had some nice, relaxing weekends, but we haven't done anything terribly exciting. My parents are coming to visit this weekend and I'm hoping to visit some antique stores and eat at Fogo de Chao again. YUM.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm hoping to try to shut my brain off as much as possible. I'm off to middle-of-nowhere TN next week, but hopefully will be posting more regularly. If for no other reason than to have a little something to look forward to!

xoxo

Busy

My life for the past 4 or 5 days has been consumed with:

-Blue Ridge, GA mountain trip (so needed)
-Food/eating/cooking
-Wedding planning for Julie (stressful/fun)
-Laundry
-Packing (flying to NC today!!)
-Pollen (record setting pollen levels in ATL...gross)
-Work, and more work
-Pretty Little Liars A Day (still in shock...can't wait for the next season)

So, life is busy but good. Can't wait to get home tonight to hang out with my parents and get organized for the wedding! I packed myself up last night, and packed 2 options for a rehearsal dinner dress. One is hot pink J Crew and the other is navy blue Lilly. I can't decide...love them both so much! I can't wait for more events to be able to wear them to this spring and summer. I need my friends to have more parties and weddings!

Happy Pi Day!

I wish I was celebrating Pi Day (nerd, I know) by eating some delicious pie, but alas, I'm trying to get back on the good eating track. Luckily, its been going well lately, and I have lost about 2 pounds lately without trying all that hard. Maybe it has something to do with starting to attempt to run? I'll take it no matter what! Its supposed to be 81 degrees here today, and I'm hopefully going for a neighborhood walk/run after work today. Definitely looking forward to that.

I'm also looking forward to lunch today. I'm meeting with a fellow Wake grad who contacted me because she is in the job market. I hope I can help her out, and I'm always excited to meet new Wake people! I remember being so thankful for anyone who would offer to help me or even just chat with me while I was looking for a job, so hopefully I can pass that on to her too, or maybe even make a new friend.

In other news, my spending has been slightly out of control in February and March. I think I'm going to attempt to make April my second "no shop" month of the year. J. Crew has been seriously killing me lately though. They do spring clothes better than absolutely anyone. My two biggest splurges of late were at the J. Crew outlet and the regular store at Lenox Mall. Luckily I managed to get most of everything I bought on sale, so for the amount I spent (too much), I actually ended up getting a lot of items that I'm obsessed with. I also finally splurged on a full price swim suit, but sometimes you just have to, right? I'm also jumping on the neon/bright color bandwagon...not that I haven't already been on it for practically my whole life. Those of you who know me know this is true. Here are a few things I picked up:

I only wear J. Crew shorts because I love the fit, and with long legs, a 5 in inseam is your best friend. Anything shorter just makes me look crazy. Now I just need to banish myself from the malls for a little while until I can control myself. Right now I can't :)

Time is flying

I can't believe its already mid-March. The ACC basketball tournament (one of my favorite things during the year) is already over, March Madness (another favorite) is about to begin, and my childhood best friend is about to get married. Next weekend. Whoa! How did all this sneak up on me? I am beside myself with excitement to spend most of next week at home in NC. I haven't visited since January, and that's a pretty long time for me. I'm really excited to see my parents and a few friends, and to celebrate all the fun wedding events! The week is filled with dinners and parties and pretties to get ready for the big day. I am so blessed and honored that Julie chose me to be her maid of honor, and I am so looking forward to helping her with everything and getting her down the aisle.

I still haven't decided what to wear for the rehearsal dinner, but I did finally find shoes for the wedding. I'm breaking them in at work as we speak :) I've got my fingers crossed for a warm weekend so I can break out a new hot pink dress I picked up at the J. Crew outlet about a month ago. I've also got to get down to the business of writing a MOH speech/toast. I have no idea how to go about this, so any advice/examples are appreciated! I seem to never pay attention during that part of the wedding.

This weekend I'm going on a long weekend mini-vacation to the GA mountains. I'm pretty excited about this trip too! So many good things to round out the rest of my month. I just hope it all doesn't fly by like the first half did...I want to savor it!

Two trips and running(!)

I've been feeling a little too busy and overwhelmed lately between work and luckily lots of fun non-work related things too. I finally feel like I can take a deep breath now! Since my last post, I went to Birmingham for a couple days (work), went to Chattanooga for a couple days (work and play) and I've been attempting to start running for the first time! That's a lot of things happening in just a couple weeks! I came back from Birmingham feeling really inspired after meeting with these people and this group, as well. They do everything from building affordable housing to baking pies and teaching youth how to start their own businesses. They are crazy compassionate about what they do, and it rubbed off on me in a good way! I can't wait to find some sort of community volunteering project I can be a part of.

Chattanooga was a really nice little trip too. It was mostly work, but my work-homie Kelly and I managed to have some fun too. We walked by the river, ate lots of good food and Moon Pies!Chattanooga is the home of the Moon Pie in case you weren't aware. It was great to get away and have some fun. What a nice little city too! I loved it there.



This weekend was spent hanging around the house with John. He took me to the shooting range for my second time ever to practice, we grilled out and even did some jogging together. I have never been a runner before (read: I have never ever run before in my life), so its a slow go for me to build up my running stamina, but I think I can already tell a difference in my abilities just in the past couple weeks. I'm so glad now that the time has changed and the weather is warm, I can try to run outside most days after work. I really want to sign up for the Peachtree Road Race 10k in July--if I am able to run half and walk the other half at a decent pace, I'll be really happy with myself. I'm just excited to find something that I actually enjoy doing to work out and to get me out of the house. And of course I discover my interest in running outdoors 2 months after I join a gym. Of course.

Daffodil's Photography

Hi everyone! I just wanted to pass along a fabulous new online photography shop from one of my favorite bloggers, Daffodil's. She is a talented photographer (and blogger!), and has some gorgeous beachy photos from the California coast. You can enter her giveaway while you check out the site too!

Enjoy xoxo

Spring!

Today officially felt like spring in Atlanta and it was fantastic. I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful things going on in my life. Today I sat outside and had lunch from the food trucks (one of my favorite things to do) and it's my Friday! What a fantastic end to a short week. This afternoon I even--brace yourselves--went for a run.those words have never been uttered by me before. I am starting from scratch so I can't run for very long distances, but I did the best I could and I'm really proud of myself! I can't wait to keep up the habit as the weather gets nicer. John and I are attempting to train for the Peachtree Road Race (10k) in July. I'll be happy if I can run half of it!

I hope you all had as wonderful of a day as I did. It capped off a really inspiring week for me (more on my week later). I can't wait to do some relaxing this weekend and to go to the Georgia Tech vs Wake Forest basketball game this weekend! nothing feels more like March to this North Carolinian than going to an ACC basketball game. Happy weekend friends!