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!

Oscar Fashion

Last night was the first time in years that I actually watched the Oscars, almost in its entireity. The show wasn't too long and boring, in my opinion. I thought they did a great job of moving the awards along, and I really enjoyed the Cirque du Soleil performance. But, as usual, the fashion ws the most important part of the night. Here are some of my absolute favorites, and a few misses thrown in for good measure too!

Gorgeous and age appropriate. And she looks like an Oscar!

Another amazing gold dress. Dating George Clooney has many perks, I'm sure, and this dress is definitely one of them.

I think this cape is so chic, and the dress was gorgeous on its own during the show!

I love this on Cameron. The color and the subtle sparkles are fabulous. And her body looks flawless!

Emma Stone can do no wrong for me. Even though this looked a lot like something Nicole Kidman wore a few years back, this red is stunning and so flattering on her.

This dress screams JLo. I love the cut and the sparkle, and only wish (just like everyone else), that I had the body to pull it off!

I thought this dress was perfect for Octavia Spencer. Flattering and sparkly without being too over the top. Love it!

I couldn't decide for a while if I loved or hated this one. I think its still a maybe for me. Its a beautiful dress, but maybe just doesn't show up very well on camera?

Adore this! Michelle Williams is stunning in this coral dress. I love everything about it. And I love how she reminds me so much of my bff Kristin. Similar hair and skin and features and soft voice :)

The Misses: I really didn't think anyone looked terrible last night, some were just better than others.

I think white is great on her fair skin and the overall shape is good, but I'm not a huge fan of the overly architectural dresses like this one.

Fantastic color, but I don't like the ruffled bottom, and I think the neckline could be much more flattering.

I really want to like this, but it just feels blah. It seems too loose on top, and the waistline is awkward. I want to go back to the stunning gold Oscar dress of years gone by!

Did y'all watch the Oscars? What did you think of the fashion?

Good things (and bad spending habits)

Hi Friends! I hope y'all are having a great week so far and looking forward to the weekend as much as I am. I enjoyed myself (probably a little too much) last weekend...why can't every weekend be four days long? Sigh. In my four days off, I went to a 4 year old Fairy Tale Glam birthday party, shopped (a lot), did my taxes and enjoyed some laziness around the house.

My co-worker Kelly and I took up trip up to our favorite outlets in Dawsonville, GA on Monday, and the sales were incredible. I spent too much, but I got so much for what I did spend. Including but not limited to a new black leather bag from Kate Spade--how is it possible that I have never owned a black purse before?--and some KS jewelry, a few tops from Banana and a skirt from Loft, and bascially an entire new spring wardrobe in bright, gorgeous colors from J. Crew. No one does spring clothes like J. Crew! I'm going to have fun styling some of my new pieces and incorporating them with things I already owned. Also got a very cute hot pink dress that might be perfect for Julie's rehearsal dinner!

So, for the rest of February, and probably March too, I'm back on the no shopping kick. It should be pretty easy to stick to after getting all those new items last week. I'm really looking forward to doing some traveling for work again (yay!) in the next few weeks, and saving some money while I travel. I'm also excited about booking a few vacations, too. I just can't make it through the weeks quite as well without a great trip to look forward to. So far, I've got a mountain weekend in March, a wedding week (eek!) in March, and a trip to Canada with my parents in the summer. I really want to add a beach trip with John, a trip to Disney and maybe a trip up to CT/NYC to visit Kristin as well. So much fun to look forward to :)

Mini frame wall

I made a mini-gallery wall in my bedroom last week, and I really like the way it turned out! I used Command picture hanging strips so that I didn't have to put 12 holes in my wall, and they worked our really well. I would definitely recommend them for any picture hanging projects around the house.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I'm doing some errand running today,including returning that impulse buy Kate Spade bag and getting new passport pictures taken (yay for potential international trips!). Tomorrow I've got a very glamorous 4 year old birthday party to attend, and a potential outlet mall trip on Monday. Have I mentioned that I love banking holidays that happen on Mondays? Hope you all enjoy yourselves!