A little Sunday Social...

It's been a semi-lazy day -- gearing up for a Newborn session tomorrow meant running some errands, but after that, it's really been nothing but a lazy day in watching movies while looking up flights for this winter. I'm not complaining, considering Johnny Depp is on our screen right now....



So, I'll chime in on the Sunday Social today.....all about jobs!
1. What is your Dream Job? For the longest time, I wanted to be further in the Music Industry, and it consumed my thoughts when after we moved to Nashville & I was in high school, trying to figure out where I wanted to be. Then I fell in love with design and eventually photography and went down a different path. I still think about doing something along those lines with the Country Music Hall of Fame - because Country Music has changed so much in the past years, I can't stomach today's radio. Vintage Country Music is such a big passion & one of my first loves that the HOF is one of the only place I think I'd be able to do something I love. 
Also, when I decided to go back to school and actually get my degree, I came SO close to going to teach, and had visions of teaching Art to Elementary School aged kids. I still think I would love to do that! 

2. If you had just won the lottery and didn't need to work for money, what would you do with your time?

Travel. I would still keep my Photography Business on the side, and I have a massive list of places I want to visit to photograph. Although considering I buy vinyl records at such a rapid pace, I might go broke kind of easy, and it might not be smart to quit my work ;)

3. What piece of career advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?

My degree is in Graphic Design & I do Photography as well --- & I'd probably tell people the exact same thing for both: to take a business class or two! So many people think you do nothing but hide behind the computer or camera --- which is so untrue. Business classes will help prepare you for your business. Besides, all knowledge is good knowledge, right? Just take another class or two! 

4. What would be your ideal "just for fun" job?

Winery. Where I can do wine tastings too. 

5. What was your first "real" job?

Wait, what's with the "real" -- isn't a job a freaking job? My first job was K-Mart during High School, which I surprisingly loved for awhile. It probably helped that I met one of my closest friends there. 

Forget the Emmy's...

Yes, forget the Emmy's....You know what's REALLY important right now? Happy Meal toys.

McDonalds decided to have Wizard of Oz toys in their happy meals to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the movie)....

I mean, these are adorable! I'm missing the Tin Man & Glinda the Good Witch, but I'll have them this week! Let me just say, getting these was no small feat. Thank goodness my mother & my friends are just as crazy as I am, and were scouring all over Nashville for these. My phone was filled with texts from everyone telling me which location had which toys. (Also, who knew McD's would let you buy the toy without having to buy the actual meal?!)

We saw the movie in IMAX 3D this week too (while rocking some red shoes, of course!). It always boggles my mind when I hear someone say they don't like Wizard of Oz -- this movie is SUCH a classic. I know people groan when they hear a classic has been put in 3D, but they really did a great job with this movie. It was so incredibly clear, not to mention SO larger than life. It's only in theaters for one week, so seriously, if you have an IMAX nearby, go see it! (Oh, and because again, we're movie junkies, we saw Prisoners this week too! What an amazing -- but slightly disturbing, at times hard to watch-- movie!)

And I mentioned ruby red shoes -- it's officially that time: I dug out the boots & closed toed flats this week! Part of me sure loves my fall and winter boots, and the other part of me mourns having to put all my open toe shoes away. I work so hard on my nails, damn it! 

To help the pain of putting away my summer clothes (which I actually haven't done yet -- I will wear the hell out of these until it's definitely too cold to do so!), I told myself it was time to go shopping! Which really is the truth -- I'm losing weight & a lot of my clothes are becoming big on me, mainly my jeans. (Hooray!) And, I have a family reunion in a few months - which means a full new outfit is required! But, I walked out with.....

Zero pairs of jeans - MORE new shoes (two more pairs to be exact)! I spotted these five minutes after walking in and was convinced my life wouldn't be the same without them, and had them in hand in seconds. I mean every girl needs sequins in her life, it would have been practically illegal not to buy them! 

Oh well, it's the official start of fall this week, so it's a legit reason to buy new shoes, right?  Happy Fall!

Old Timer's Festival...

We've had a busy - but fun - week!

Because we're basically movie junkies, we hit the movies twice over the weekend - and saw the same movie!

Friday & Sunday we went to see the new Robert Deniro/Michelle Pfeiffer movie. Because we love most of Michelle Pfeiffer's work, we went to see it opening night because we loved she was doing another Mob movie. (Who in the world doesn't love Married to the Mob!?) And of course we loved it -- and when one of my friends mentioned she couldn't believe we all went without her & wanted us to go again Sunday....we jumped on it! (Go see it if you like Mob movies, btw. It's funny, and has some sweet moments too. Deniro and Pfeiffer are total badasses, it's worth your money.) 

When I wasn't with the friends at the movies....I was with the fam, I know, I know, no shock there, since I spend alot of my time at my sisters. Our sleepover the other week had us playing "Hollywood Buzz" on the PS2 (Kadin has informed me that I have "a lot of Hollywood knowledge" in my brain)-- and I happened to make a comment that we should have gone to the Fair, but I forgot it was in town.

That immediately made Kadin say "Well, the Old Timer's Festival is here Saturday! We'll go there!! And get funnel cakes!" So needless to say- we took a night out to go to the Old Timer's Festival.....I expected just little man to go with us, but Paige came with us too! It's not often we get the 15 year old out with the whole family! She & I ended up riding most of the rides together, and we had a blast. I'm super fortunate in the aspect of being close to my girl, so I love our moments like this when we have time to gossip! And, of course we started planning the Sweet 16 party- today I made reservations &  put down the deposit! We always split up friends/family parties, but she wanted something special for her friends party, so naturally- it was Aunt Nicole who offered to foot the bill! 

with my babycakes!

with my mr.handsome. so flipping adorable I CANNOT.STAND.IT.

told you, he's obsessed with funnel cakes. 

The Old Timer's Festival is just really super small, in a parking lot basically of a park near my sisters house --- some rides, some games, and then your usual fair food places set up. (And we're in the south, so our fair food includes Fried Oreos, Snickers, any other junk food you can think of) But it was good for a little night out....

Kadin & I rode this ride called "Berry Go Round" - which was basically like the Tea Cups at Disney, except in the shapes of....Strawberries. He was ridiculously amused at showing me how strong he was with his ability to spin the strawberry around, as evidenced in this video: 

Seriously. I love love love this kid.  Paige & I rode the Ferris Wheel....and I promise, it was as podunk of a Ferris Wheel as you can possibly picture in your head. As we got to the top, the dude sped the ride up a little bit, and we had that instant moment of panic.....

We called this the "this redneck is going to kill us on this ride!" shot. 

Ferris Wheels are supposed to go slooooow. I don't mind fast rides, but...I do mind a tiny ferris wheel that doesn't even appear it can hold the weight of us on the the slot we were riding in, going a little faster than normal. Mental note never to ride that one again.

They had one of those fun house things, and I was SO tempted to go in to take pics, but it was SO teeny tiny that I didn't really think there was much to shoot. I spotted this to the side and my sister & I immediately started singing "You're the One that I Want" - too bad Kadin doesn't appreciate a good Grease singalong! So I had to settle for pics of Kadin coming out --- and the damn thing wasn't even working, it wasn't moving at all, so the kids just walked through. Boo!  But he totally pulled off one of his wrestler poses --- he cracks me up! 

We capped our night at the hot air balloon. If this thing hadn't been tethered, I would have been ALL ABOUT this! How freaking awesome....but they had it tethered, so you went through all this hassle to get in it, just for it to lift you a little bit. I didn't think it was worth the money. (And that would be my sister coming out in me!) But it was fun to watch....(can you spot Mom & Paige in it!?)

Recapping the Birthday Week....

It has been a crazy busy week to start September! It's definitely almost the Holiday season -- photo sessions & print orders like crazy!

First and foremost, I was just reading about the new Idol judges. Can we please just let this show die now?  I mean, I love staring at Keith Urban all day long, but I couldn't watch the full season last year. It's boring now. It's run its course. And, it's more about the judges than it is the contestants now.

Moving on.....on the 29th, Larry and I went to Zanies to see Sherri Shepherd.  This girl was beyond hysterical. It was fabulous stand up, and some great jokes/stories from co-hosting The View. What's really interesting about her set is she's not vulgar. I mean, look - I'm not a prude or anything, I cuss like a sailor and I'm hardly offended by much - but it seems like it's rare these days to find a great comedian that can do it all without needing vulgarity. And she nailed it. Because of the hot mess Miley was at the VMA's, Sherri had fabulous opening material! She was also super super sweet!

Labor Day Weekend made for two weekends in a row the bestie & I had big plans!  And actually, we made our plans to see Loretta Lynn & Merle Haggard way before anything else - I bought the tickets the first week in March for these shows! I'm not sure how our hearts were able to handle seeing them both in the same weekend! LOVE these two - and see Loretta quite often, but have only had the chance to see Merle once before, so we were fully planning on possible freak outs over the weekend!

Being the good daughter, I bought my mom a ticket to the Loretta show too since she never goes, and loves Loretta. She and Rita had never been to Loretta's ranch before, so I played tour guide and we went early to let them explore the Plantation Home & the Museum. Loretta's plantation home is serious country music history, and it's where she filmed the Crisco commercials! I was super fortunate a few years ago, and a friend of mine asked me to do Promo photos for her. She happened to be Loretta's granddaughter, so we shot all her pictures on the ranch, including the interior of the home, so I had the chance to explore it in a little more detail & see the upstairs --- what a thrill!

Anyway, we spent some time exploring the grounds:

I bought this shot glass...is this not the most clever thing ever?! We came home a drinkin' too, because we just had to break in the glasses, so we did shots of vodka when we got back to the house.

with the bestie, my concert partner in crime! 

And then we saw Loretta in concert. I love this lady..a true National Treasure. One of my favorite things about her show is her intro - her band does a line from Coal Miner's Daughter, and then introduces her by saying all her accomplishments, including being one of the first performers to have a motion picture made about her life.

It should totally be mentioned that she broke a few ribs before she came out - seriously. And she still came out and performed a show --- and we seriously never knew that she had hurt herself until she mentioned it to us. The only bad part about the show was the lighting techs were TERRIBLE! Part of the night, they didn't even turn on one of the lights on her face. She had to step out a bit to have all the lights on her.

The real deal folks. You haven't seen country music live until you're seen Loretta Lynn - true story. You have to go see her as soon as possible! 

I bought the package deal for our seats, so we had the exact same seats both nights

so we sat in 5th row each night. 5 rows away from Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard.

We asked multiple times Sunday night if this was real life. Merle. Freaking. Haggard standing right in front of us. We may or may not have cried ;) So amazing. And although some of this was a drunk crowd, which I usually hate, everyone there had a genuine love for real country music -- not a person in the audience didn't sing along. And not just the big ones they wanted you to sing along & flashed the lights on the audience for like "Mama Tried" -- you could hear the audience so clearly in gems like "Silver Wings" (which happens to be my 2nd fave Merle song!)

It was incredible. And a hell of a way to cap my birthday week!

Sunday Social...

Happy Labor Day weekend! A brief update today-- tomorrow will definitely be a lazy day for catching up on this amazing weekend --- Friday, Larry took me to see Sherri Sheperd at Zanies for my birthday (she was HILARIOUS), and now the bestie is in town! We're spending our weekend at the Loretta Lynn ranch, basically. Mom came with us last night to see Loretta's show and Rita & I are heading back tonight to see Merle - I'm not sure how our hearts can handle all this greatness in one weekend!! 

Today would have been Conway Twitty's 80th Birthday. If you know me -- you know my ridiculous love for him! We're heading to his grave today to pay respects -- we had the chance to walk through the new Conway exhibit at Loretta's museum yesterday, and I think our hearts skipped a beat when we walked into this massive room of nothing but Conway! 


sigh. My favorite Conway song. 

But, a little Sunday Social before we head out to run errands:



1. What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer? So freaking many! I road tripped SO much with the bestie this summer, and I went to Ohio to see my family, and ran around town with the twin cousin! This was an ahhh-mazing summer. The cherry on top was getting time with PL at the Opry, and seeing Loretta Lynn on the same night - this just doesn't happen all the time, folks! And in a year of no touring, seeing P just made the summer even better! 
2. What was your favorite outfit look/clothing item of the summer? The most important article of clothing is what's on my feet, because I have a ridiculous shoe obsession, and in the summer I can rock all my wedges! (Actually, I rock them as long as humanly possible, therefore they will be on my feet until it's too cold to do so) 
3. What is one thing you wish you'd gotten to do this summer? I have no idea! We did so much, I can't think of anything else!
4. What was your favorite song of the summer?

Yes, Roger Miller's "King of the Road" was our jam this summer, because we were always on the road!
5. What was your favorite movie/tv show of the summer? Larry and I  saw every movie imaginable this year!  The Butler was definitely one of the best, and We're the Millers was one of the funniest! And like I needed a new show to become addicted to -- Devious Maids has taken over my DVR!