Sunday Social!

I just got home from another trip up to Kentucky for some karaoke - man I love Dolphie's, and I love that the Kentucky border is so close that we can go up there so often. So much fun - there's nothing better than girls weekends with your best friend! (Okay, we included Chris too!) Anyway, I swear this is the only bar in the world that we can have a Gene Watson sing along in -- everywhere else people would ask me who the hell Gene Watson was! Love this bar.



Dolphie's wasn't very busy last night, so we ended up singing 8 songs each--- 6 of which were songs I'd not done before yet. Apparently I was feeling brave (and I really didn't drink much last night!), but I covered all the important bases, PL, Emmylou, Patsy Cline....

Now I'm going to be lazy -- because tomorrow I've got to get my butt in gear! I fly to Baltimore this week to see some friends (aka my 2nd parents!) and this girl has GOT to pack! We're going to DC on Friday to tour the Capitol and then hit a few museums I picked out --- and it's SO HARD for me to figure out what to wear, I live in wedges all spring and summer. I refuse to wear tennis shoes in the summer unless I'm running - so it's time to figure out my most comfortable shoes to wear all day Friday.


Sunday Social
1. What is your shopping weakness?
Shoes. Oh my word --- all of a sudden, I CANNOT SAY NO to a good pair of shoes! I've bought a pair of shoes every week for over a month, and at some point I have to stop. 

2. What is your food weakness?
Reese's -- I am such a peanut butter freak.

3. What is your go to movie to watch when nothing is on?


Usually "Vacation" or  "Christmas Vacation" (yes year round!) I love all of the Vacation films, but these two are two of my all time favorite movies and always good for a laugh!

4. What is your go to breakfast food?
Lately a granola bar and water

5. Do you drink coffee? If so, how do you take it?
Sometimes --- but I'm reeeeally trying to drink more water in the morning instead of coffee. No easy feat. If I have my coffee, I have it black -- unless it's Christmas, in which I MUST have peppermint creamer :)

Happy lazy Sunday everyone!

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What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Today I discovered Color Me Monthly. Do I really NEED a new monthly subscription? No. Do I really NEED even more nail polish? Not really. But that didn't stop me from signing up.  $7 for a new nail polish delivered to my mail box? Yes please. Does it matter that I already get new nail polishes through Square Hue?

I justified it by saying "Well, I DID cancel my Goodies subscription this month!" - totally loved the concept of trying the new food, but they have such a long period between billing & shipping that I cancelled. Charge me on the 1st - but here it is April 17th and I'm told my box won't ship until the end of next week. So - you'll ship it at the end of the month & I may not even have it before you charge my credit card again? No thanks. Supposedly, this isn't really a long time to wait, but none of my other subscriptions have this long of a period.

Now if Graze would just launch already, I would be a happy girl!

Now it's time for a little "What I'm Loving Wednesday!"



(Also, I can't believe it's Wednesday already?! I love when the week flies by...)



First of all, I am loving these new summer UK tumblers. Are they not the cutest ever? I ordered blue ones for the bestie & I, and I've been using it for my water. Come beach time though, these are going to be filled with wine slushies or vodka!


I am loving this weather. I cannot get enough of the sunshine & warmth - I love love love living in the south.


This Maxi dress I bought at Macy's last week! (Downfall: they are slow to ship if you order online!) They didn't have it in stock at my store. 


This. So. freaking.true.


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Weekend Catch up!

I have been a horrible blogger in the past week or so. I graduate in three weeks - finals are KILLING ME.  I have had the "why did I think going back to school was a great idea!?" meltdown multiple times this week. This semester is stressing me the hell out, and as great as this has been - this girl is ready to be DONE. I was always the nerd that loved school, that still reads Shakespeare for fun, but whew. This is so much different than High School, and it's completely my own fault for the amount of pressure I put on myself.

And in the midst of that, Patty was in town for the Vince Gill concert - as a surprise special guest. So naturally, regardless of my school stress - last Tuesday we headed to the Ryman for the show. Patty - as usual - was incredible, and Vince also brought along Emmylou and Rodney Crowell. You cannot get any better than seeing Patty & Emmylou on the same night - you just can't. I fully expected P to only do a song or two, and she got a ton - totally worth going to the show for! By the time the show was over, we went out to hug the Queen Bee - and it was after 11:00...so I skipped my work for the night & went home and crashed. Considering this week has been totally nothing but school & photo sessions and the smallest amount of sleep possible, it was the best ending to the night.

P & Emory on stage with Vince


with P after the show....

I completely took my weekend off -- okay, so I've been taking all my weekends off. (Maybe that's why I'm so ridiculous during the week this month!?)

Saturday, Larry and I went to Opry Mills for dinner, shopping & to see that new movie about Jackie Robinson - "42".

I also bought myself another pair of shoes. Yes, ANOTHER pair. This is ridiculous, I cannot stop buying shoes.  I spotted these and fell in love and immediately put one on to take a pic and text the bestie to see what the verdict was. (How the hell did I buy anything before picture messaging?  I'm pretty sure I haven't bought an outfit in YEARS without texting it to the bestie, my sister or my cousin to see what the thoughts were.) I officially have zero room in my closet for all my shoes, and 70% of my shoes are freaking wedges. 


 Ending the night at the movies! 

42 was absolutely AMAZING -- you have to go see it, especially if you're a sucker for the true stories. So well written, and they knocked the casting out of the park with this one (no pun intended in that line ;) ) Really, anything with Harrison Ford is a winner.  Chadwick Boseman  - who I've never actually heard of until now - was cast as Jackie Robinson & man did he nail it.

It's rare to have people clap at the end of movies these days, but our entire theater did. Not only was there applause, there were genuine tears, from both men & women. 


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Warmer Days...

I've been slightly slacking in blogging....it's been so gorgeous out, I've hated to be inside! Spring has sure come full blast now - I can't believe we went from like 48 to almost 80. Thank goodness - I cannot take the cold weather! The warmer days are keeping me outside - or sitting inside wishing I needed something to do outside!

I took advantage of it yesterday and started planting flowers. Which, by the way, I've never done in my life, so.... we will see if I kill these suckers or not! But, I have this UK stepping rock at the end of my steps and I thought it would be adorable to have blue & white flowers growing on each side of the steps - and then I'll hang up my UK flag!  I scoured Home Depot and was having a hard time finding blue flowers until I finally found these:



They were the winner! I bought four of each (but only ended up planting 3 of each - I'll just use the others for pots I suppose!) 


Let me tell you: Gardening is not easy if you don't know WTF you're doing. But I finally got them planted - and we'll see if this turns out. My neighbor is ridiculously fabulous at gardening and his yard and porch always look like a floral shop, so he came over last night and scoped them out and gave them some treatment. Hopefully that helps them grow and I don't kill them :)

Today is gorgeous and I'm heading to Radnor Lake for a photo session - and a walk. The bestie and I just made plans to lounge on Pensacola Beach all  Memorial Day weekend -so I'm kicking my workouts into a little bit of overdrive to be beach ready! Thank goodness for all these sales at Kohls - with the crazy amounts of maxi dresses I bought last week, I am totally beach  ready in the clothes department! (And hooray, I had to buy a size smaller than what I normally wear! If that's not the best feeling ever, I don't know what is!)

And now a little Sunday Social! All about Pinterest -- which I spend waaaay too much time on!


Sunday Social


1. What is your favorite outfit pin?
Right now, this. And I went and bought something kind of like it after seeing this pin.




2. What is your favorite food pin?


This chicken with bowtie pasta and creamy italian sauce was incredible! Recipe

3. What is your favorite wedding pin?
I'm not married nor getting married, so unlike a lot of girls - I actually don't have a wedding board! I do pin some photos though, for inspiration for weddings that I shoot. I have a bride next month that wants to do a first look, but doesn't have an idea of how, and just wants something cute or fun. So I started looking for some fun ideas. Thanks to pinterest, we fell in love with this and probably will go the "peek" route like this. (Photo by themarinstudio.com)


4. What is your favorite DIY/craft pin?
Turning your shirt into a scarf! Totally have to do this for football season for my Cats!

5. What is your favorite quote/verse/lyric pin?


6. Share one more random pin you love.
Clearly, the sign guy and I would get along FABULOUS. GO BIG BLUE!


Have a great Sunday everyone! 

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What I'm Loving...

I woke up today and totally thought it was Tuesday - I was so stoked when I realized it was Wednesday! I love when it works out that way - because the opposite is a total bummer :)



And it's obviously time for a little bit of what I'm loving....


I am loving Charleston, SC. My best friend & I are trying to prep for a few road trips, and this one is super high on my list! I started scoping out hotels today & cannot wait to go....


The peanut butter & apple cookies are seriously looking amazing. I have a ridiculous addiction to dipping apple slices in peanut butter, and I happened to find this on pinterest! So these are on the "must make" list.


So, I love this concept- take fruits & turn them into frozen yogurt? Brookstone has it for $70 and I've totally went back and forth about buying it. Totally love, but it looks sooo  big and bulky and I ate clutter in my kitchen!


I looooove this dress for the beach! But it's totally sold out, in all colors - what a bummer!


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Weekend Recap

Monday rolls around waaaay too quick. Especially after a great weekend, it seems!

First and foremost, the weekend kicked off by some of the cards I received. I am such a sucker for greeting cards - hence why I have a drawer full of the cards people have given me. My Uncle Scott & Aunt Faye sent me the sweetest graduation card, and then my twin cousin Emily sent me one too ---

If your card doesn't quote the band Chicago, then it's not as cool as mine. Love my family! 

So, for Easter this year, I decided not to make the kids baskets. I bought them Easter cards - and then I bought the supplies to make those scratch off lottery tickets. These were so super easy to make, seriously. The downfall was: I waited too late to do them, so I had to slap together the quickest design ever -- and I forgot contact paper! So, instead of contact paper, I used packing tape. The packing tape did the job, but it certainly wasn't as pretty. Lesson learned.


I let them have them Saturday -- and they were a huge hit! As soon as Paige read it, she said "You MADE these Aunt Nicole?! How did you do that?!" I gave them two each, and Paige scratched off $10 on each, and Kadin scratched off $5 off each. 

Kadin and I headed to the movies Saturday night to see The Croods in 3D. I wasn't sure if I'd think it was cute, but as usual, it was adorable, and this sap got teary eyed at the end. Gahh, these kids movies with sweet stories at the end are killing me!

Because I'm a sucker, I let Kadin get popcorn and funnel fries at the theater....and then we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. And do you know what season it still is?


Coca Cola cake season! Just shoot me now. My favorite cake ever.....and I could NOT say no, especially because Kadin has somehow never had it before! (I have failed this child!!!) So I ordered it, and was so excited he tried it. 

Love this sweet boy....I could just eat him up! 

Easter was pretty uneventful -- I woke up Sunday morning to Kadin standing over me, waving his hands in the air, whispering my name. When I opened my eyes, he said "You're up! GUESS WHAT AUNT NICOLE?!!? My wish came true! The Easter Bunny brought me the WWE 2 pack I needed!!", and pulled me out of bed to come in the kitchen and see the toys he got. He talked about these specific figures allllll day Saturday, so he was in seventh heaven that he got them Sunday!

When I say uneventful - I mean it - Mom, Sam, Paige & I curled up and watched movies all morning & afternoon. At noon Mom started some of the food, and came back in for movies. I finally decided to take a shower around 1 - and I threw on yoga pants and a tshirt. That was about as dressed up as I got - and Mom, Sam, and Paige stayed in their PJ's.  Laziest Easter ever, but it was fabulous. We were all together, and that's what counts. Even as I took a shower, I heard the door open and Paige go, "It's just me Aunt Nicole!", and then she sat on the floor and told me about friendship dramas, boys & a concert she just went to.  I wouldn't give up this time with these kids for anything in the world. 

And perhaps the cutest thing about the weekend: Barry left a coin he found on a walk in Kadin's room, and Kadin came out and asked who gave it to him. We told him we didn't know, it must be a magical coin. This week is the anniversary of my Granny's death, so we had been talking about her & making plans for how we wanted to get together Tuesday.....so Kadin interrupted and said "It MUST have been Great Granny that left it."


A little later, we hear him in the living room -- but no one is in there with him, and he is seriously having some kind of a conversation. When he came in the kitchen he said "Well, I just talked to Great Granny, but I didn't get any kind of clues why she left this here." When I went in the living room a little later, he was standing in front of Granny's urn, talking to it, and said "Just trying to get some clues from her!"....... I freaking love this kid. 
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