its all about the clothes

Oh how my heart broke when my Cats lost on Monday night. They played a great game, though - I'm so proud of how awesome this team was this year!

In the midst of a crazy week, I've been trying to prep for next month....I have sooo many sessions coming up, and I know time is going to fly past me and I'll be so ill prepared for being gone for over a week! 

Obviously this translates into "Nicole needs new clothes and shoes" for vacation. I have zero shame in the fact I bought three new bathing suits this week so I'll have a different one for each day of the beach. However that only covers the beach bum time & I need new dresses to wear when we're out & about, of course! Not to mention, our Dolly concert, and then the Orlando trip. (Yes, I'm tired just thinking of this crazy week!)

Pretty sure I found a few gems though....

Is Chevron "out" yet? You know what, don't even tell me....because I love it! 

Nordstroms coming to Nashville has been one of the greatest things to happen in my life. 

So I haven't found this yet, but I must have something comparable, since I've convinced myself I will die without it. 

I see shopping in my future this weekend. I got a "Hey Aunt Nicole, can I come spend the night Friday?" from Paige tonight, and you know I'm a sucker for turning those kids down....so it sounds like it might be a good weekend shopping with my girl! She's driving everywhere under the sun lately (I imagine she's going to run out of that report card money soon with all the gas she's using!), and I've no complaints in being chauffeured around for a change! 

Bleeding Blue...

If you wondered if I woke up, slapped on a total blue & white ensemble complete with Kentucky Blue nails, necklace & earrings and ran out the door ridiculously excited for tonights game…..you are correct! Because all that really matters this morning is…..

KENTUCKY PLAYS THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TONIGHT!!!!

GO BIG BLUE!!!

SO proud of my team this year.  Everyone at the office thought it was a bad team this time around and no one picked them in even the final four…except this girl! I don’t care if it had been the worst team ever (which it’s not….I love this team! Harrison Twins, FTW!) I bleed blue, and no way were they going anywhere but #1 on my bracket.

Of course, I really want a win tonight. But if we don’t win, final two is pretty amazing.

GO. BIG. BLUE.

In other news that isn’t related to Kentucky, my sister and I saw Wicked this weekend! And to say I was totally blown away is an understatement. Seriously, as such an Oz nerd that loves musicals, how had I waited so long to see this? Best I’ve seen, by far….great music, great writing, great cast!  Of course I immediately came home and purchased the soundtrack.

We talked about getting tickets last year, and it wound up being what I got her for her birthday, because if I left it up to my sister, she'd never go anywhere :) 

TPAC totally upped it a notch by having specialty drinks for the show.  Pretty sure it doesn’t get any cuter than this?

We had a couple good witches! They were amazing! 

with my sissy!

And with that...HAPPY GAME DAY Y'ALL! It's off to prepare for our game party! 

But I'm alive & well in Tennessee.....

First and foremost - who heads to the Sweet Sixteen for the 4th time in 5 seasons!?

My CATS, that's who! Go Big Blue!! WHAT a nail biter - it truly could have gone either way in that last minute & I was sure biting my nails. But my Cats pulled it off!!

In other news, the bestie & I spent the weekend with George Strait. King freaking George. No big deal. It was so hard to contain our happiness about seeing him, we've literally been counting down the days since November. 

King George bound!

It was aaaamaaaazing. 2 1/2 hours & 34 songs - which didn't even begin to cover all his massive hits! You could close your eyes and it was as if you had the record going on the turntable - his voice was so amazing. I went in with hopes of hearing my 3 favorite songs, but knew if I heard "Marina Del Ray" live, I would die happy. 

However, George must've heard me...because I got all three of my songs!

this is the result of a quick run to different seats with an iPhone!

We got so so teary eyed to 'Troubador' & 'The Cowboy Rides Away'. I hate this is his last tour, but can't blame him! I'm so happy he'll still be recording. 

Another thing that I loved was the crowd reactions. The true sing along to EVERY SINGLE SONG, no matter if they were singles or not. The massive freak out to "Unwound" - folks, it's hard to get countrier than that song! It's no secret Country Music was my first true love, so it's the little things like this that warm my heart. The want for genuine country music - and not the silly pop crap from today - is still there!

I loved this....waiting for his encore, everyone pulled out their cell phones and used the flashlight app to glow & get him to come back. It looked so awesome. (Glad my phone had SOME use - thanks Bridgestone Arena for not having WIFI and having the worst signals ever. Not being able to use our phones for pretty much anything the entire night was terrible, hahaha) 

"Oh the last goodbye's the hardest one to say....this is where the Cowboy Rides Away...
 Thanks for the memories, King George! 

Saturday was spent in Kentucky, celebrating the sis' birthday! Dolphie's was pretty packed, and we didn't get to sing as much as we normally do. But, we still had a blast and most importantly, Samantha had a great birthday! 

We totally told Metcalf to get his Strait on, we had a full set list of songs we wanted him to sing for us. Apparently, he took us literally - and showed up in his best button up plaid shirt.

The birthday girl brought red solo cup shot glasses (is this one of those "you know you're a southern girl if....you own both red solo cup shot glasses and mason jar shot glasses" things?) and wanted us all to do a shot for her birthday. To make it cuter....we popped out the sharpie and wrote our names on it. Well, kind of our names. Rita & I decided to continue channeling our inner country stars, sooooo everyone took lead from our other names.

with the birthday girl & the bestie! 

After that whirlwind weekend, I need sleep. Happy Monday y'all!

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!




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! 

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Yay for Wednesdays! A step closer to the weekend being here..although I did wake up and thought it was Thursday. I was horribly disappointed when I realized it wasn't!

And it's time for What I'm Loving Wednesday. But first, let me give a little what I'm NOT loving: Last night, my Comcast decided to go out. When, you ask? Right at the freaking beginning of Dance Moms! Whaaaaat?! While it would be faaaabulous if Comcast would just freaking work like it's supposed to (I'm totally confused: Why is my bill $200 a month when my cable & internet go down at least once a week now?),  apparently this won't ever happen and they need a copy of my television schedule.  Sunday-Wednesday nights are unacceptable time frames for my cable to go out.  Hooray for networks putting shows online now for impatient people like me who can't wait for it to re-air eventually!

Moving on..

This week I'm loving...

Victoria's Secret just put out this new shirt & I am in looooove! I've already ordered it :) 

                              

EVERYTHING else is all repeats tonight --- except the beloved Duck Dynasty -- so, clearly, we know what my priority is tonight! 

I am loving this crackle overcoat -- if you haven't tried it, go buy it! Pair blue & white and boom, got my Kentucky game day nails ready to roll! 

I found this on pinterest and tried it tonight! Apple pie bites, sliced apples with crescent rolls and cinnamon! Such a great idea, and they'll be a hit at the office. And, for the domestically challenged like me: they were ridiculous easy. 

I spotted this on pinterest and fell in love with this quote.  Think this needs to be hanging in the house....

A lazy Saturday..

Hooray for lazy Saturdays! Last night they were calling for snow overnight and into today...and we all know my ridiculous over the top panic over snow! So, I went grocery shopping and hightailed it home and stayed in. And of course -- woke up to barely anything on the ground.

It's been a lazy day where I haven't left my pajama's yet and took a nap an hour after I woke up. I am, however, watching my Wildcats game and screaming like a total lunatic.

And when I get lazy, I spend waaaay too much time on Pinterest. I was in so many different directions on pinterest today. First, Easter ideas for the kids. I want to do the "do your own scratch off lottery" tickets for them for Easter since they sure love when I shell out the money. But, I dont know how I want to do it. At ages 15 & 11, are they too old for Easter Baskets with "older" goodies in them? Should I really make them work for it and do a hard Easter Egg hunt since they are older and can look for them harder?

I am so undecided.

Second, I'm looking into some more decorating ideas. I know, it seems like I'm always doing this., but I really want to come up with some other ideas - mainly the living room and bedroom.

One thing I totally love is this:

I would totally love to put this in the bathroom though....I love putting up post it notes with my quote happiness....doing this would be so cute instead!

I totally love this idea for my little hallway from the living room.  I have nothing hanging there except a sisters frame in one tiny area. I DID think about getting shelves for the corner and putting frames there but I kind of like this idea instead - since I have Granny's urn in that area, it would be kinda cool to maybe have a huge variety of old family photos? Any other ideas for small walkway areas?

One thing I desperately want to change in the living room is end tables. I hate mine. I've had them since my old apartment, and Im ready for them to go. In searching, I loved this:

I feel like this could totally be easy to make or find somewhere...I guess we'll see?! 

I loved this too. I just want something simple....maybe I should get off my butt and start hitting up some furniture stores. Why can't Nashville have an IKEA?!?!

And because I am random and cannot ever seem to stick to one category when I hit up pinterest....

I spotted this and nearly died. This has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. 

Saturday Ramblings...

I wanted to sleep in so late today, but....it's College Game Day!!! So, I was a lazy bum this morning and set my alarm so I could watch ESPN live in Kentucky to see my Cats - while laying in bed, and went back to sleep for a bit after. (Let's go Kentucky! I hope my Cats win tonight!!!)

When I rolled out of bed, Mom & I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame - she wanted to purchase a membership & today was Ford Day, so it was a fabulous special on the membership fees! Unfortunately, that also meant the museum was free admission today -- and the place was INSANE busy. Line all the way down the road, through the lobby. Crazy. Fortunately - I'm already a member, so once mom bought her membership, they gave us card holder tickets and we got to skip the line. They've got a special Dottie West exhibit that I've been dying to see - oh how I loved her, and think it's such a travesty that she isn't IN the Hall of Fame.

Everyone tells me I was born in the wrong generation...I know, I know. Don't get me wrong, I loved Country Music of the 90's - obviously, since PL is my fave. But the old school stuff - that's where it's at. I cannot stand the crap I hear on today's radio - and some of them are SO talented, but the songs are SUCH CRAP. (And others are just plain crap :P)

We were able to run into Phonoluxe afterwards, where I scored some new records (thanks Mom!), and had a light dinner. Pretty nice day with mom -- and tomorrow we're headed to Samantha's for the day to celebrate Miss Paige's 15th birthday! Ouch, where did the time go???

Anyway, some of the new Dottie exhibit highlights for us:

I love this....I love seeing all the stuff artists wrote. 

I LOVE this pic! 

Dottie is sooo under-rated, so seeing her accolades in the exhibit warmed my heart. 

And to end with two of my favorite guys in music....

Saturday "date" Day!

In continuing my "best aunt ever" role, my handsome date Saturday was this cutie pie:

We started the day off at Cheddars -- he insisted, because he is obsessed with their croissants. As luck would have it, when we arrived, they sat us in the booths kind of around the bar area, and what was on? Why yes, it WAS the Kentucky game! 

Yes, the god-awful Kentucky-UT game that was just horrendous & painful to watch. But as we sat down and I said "Ohhh they have the game on!", Kadin immediately turned to watch. Throughout our lunch I heard things like "What is Kentucky doing!? Why are they losing?!! They need to focus. COME ON KENTUCKY, WE WANT YOU TO WIN". At one point, he was so genuinely frantic about the Cats losing the game, the guy next to us said "You are teaching him right, go Cats!". While I couldn't have been more proud, I explained to Kadin we were reeeeally losing, and with 8 minutes left in the game, we just couldn't come back. Looking me right in the eyes, he goes, "Well, it doesn't matter if Kentucky wins or loses, because they will always be our best team!" Sigh. I love this boy. 

Watching our Cats!

From there we went to the movies to see Escape from Planet Earth in 3D -- which was seriously adorable. And who teared up at the end? Sigh. I cannot help it, why do they put such sweet messages in kids movies?  I recommend it, Kadin loved it, and they mixed a lot of sweet moments with funny moments - and the cast was great! 

As soon as we got in the car after the movies, he asked "So...where are we going next?" Haha, I'm totally whipped. We wandered all over Super Target before heading to K-Mart - he was on the hunt for a very specific Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy. 

We checked out the TMNT Lego sets they have out now too -- when the hell did TMNT come back? When I said "your mom and I used to watch that when we were little!", Kadin seemed all kinds of shocked that it had been around that long, LOL.

And who walked out with goodies? This boy right here. And he's so impatient he had to open it in the car the split second we got in.

So, Kadin is really into wrestling, and one of the things he got was one of the Rey Mysterio figures that came with a matching mask for Kadin. It was a tight fit though - and I was thinking it might not fit him. But because he is impatient, I had a feeling he would try to force it to fit and wind up ripping it -- and he wanted me to help him while I was driving. I pulled into the next drive there was, which happened to be a gas station, and started to help him. As we worked on his mask, it dawned on me stopping at a gas station to PUT ON a mask in the parking lot wasn't exactly the brightest idea on the planet.

Sorry to any Tigermarket employees we might have terrified :) 

We got it to fit, and he was a happy boy! And then I got serenaded by the Rey Mysterio music the rest of the way home....

I brought him home and Paige said "I want to go on a date!!"....hahaha. Samantha is always quick to remind her that she's had years of me spoiling her --- and that we did. Since Samantha worked with my father, Paige was at our house during the day and part of the night almost 7 days a week so my mom & I could watch her, plus I went home with my sister two nights a week to babysit from time time Paige was 3 days old - we were never away that baby. That meant Aunt Nicole got all kinds of spoiling time in.

Now it's Kadin turn to be spoiled (but let's not lie, as I shell out $20 for every "A" Paige gets on her report card --- she's still a spoiled one) - and he is loving it.