Monday, October 31, 2011

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was jam packed with lots of fun. Friday night we went to a little pumpkin carving party. Due to the rain there was no pumpkin carving but we had fun drinking wine and catching up.  Saturday we went to the UNC vs. Wake Forest game in Chapel Hill. We came right back and went to a Halloween shin dig.
Due to the long day Saturday,  Doug and I slept in on Sunday and then went to brunch at Capital Club 16. The rest of the day we went and found some floor samples for the kitchen. Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Giveaway Winner...


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Congrats Amanda!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A Few Randoms

This had been a hellacious week. Is anyone else ready for the weekend?
First of all, thank you for comments yesterday. I feel like my brain is about to explode with ideas. I have never renovated a kitchen or put any significant amount of money into our house. Spending lots of money on anything causes me extreme stress. Owning a house is great, but I feel like every time I am ready to make a change something huge happens. For example, I dream about wallpaper. I love it. I sold my wedding dress so we could wallpaper our dining room. The second I got serious and started looking our air conditioner died. The last thing I want to do is spend money on air conditioners or roofs. Ish happens. 

In other random news Southern Weddings Volume IV came out this week and a itty bitty picture of Doug and I blowing confetti is on one of the first couple pages. It is not everyday you get to say you were in a magazine.  Doug is pretty sad. He is very confident with his manliness, but blowing confetti is just not his style.  He is a wonderful husband and it happens to be one of my favorite pictures ever. Nancy Ray is the bomb.com.
I ordered two neon clutches. I could not pick a color so I had to get two. It is kind of like the kitchen issue but I can only pick on kitchen.


My fortune. Word.


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A Kitchen Renovation

You might want to go ahead and pop a Xanax before you read this.
Let's start from the beginning...
Doug had I have been discussing a kitchen renovation for about a year and half (prior to closing on our house). For the past couple weeks a funky smell has been coming from our refridgerator- a mix of shrimp, oysters, and death. We took everything out- scrubbed, baking soda'd the ish out of it, and gave everything a nice long soak. The smell still will not go away. Since we have been planning on renovating the kitchen we decided why not start now.

Here is the contents of the fridge getting a bath.

After gathering all my thoughts and pinning for about 5 hours straight I am just confused.
My first thoughts go to a white lacquer kitchen with marble counter tops. Issue #1- Appliances. I would need to skip the stainless steel, which is no problem because I am kind of over it. This could hurt the resale. Evidently, if you live in Raleigh NC and do not have stainless steel and granite counter tops you might as well not have remodeled your kitchen. Issue  #2- Brass hardware is difficult to find and we are on a budget.

Option numero dos. I am still getting my white kitchen but going a little more traditional. It does make me sad that I am not incorporating any gold. I love gold and white. The black counter tops are safe. No etching or stains to worry about.

The floors are about the only thing I am 100% certain about.

Add this and call it a day.


Unfortunatley, this is our first house and I do not plan on it being our last. So if you were buying our house what are you looking for in a kitchen?

Monday, October 24, 2011

Shabby Apple Skirt Giveaway

Hi Friends! 
Today I am hosting a Shabby Apple Skirt Giveaway
Why? Because I like yall and think you need something for free. 
Lucky for you, I love anything with a bow so that is what you are getting. 



Not only do you get the chance to win a free skirt, the guys over at Shabby Apple are offering 10% to my readers. Just put in  
LONGANDSHORT10OFF 
when you check out. 
They have a great selection of printed dressesLittle Black Dresses and maxi dresses.


Ways to Enter:
 Be a follower through Google Friend Connect
and/or

Leave a comment and you could be the lucky winner! I will announce the winner on October 28th, 2011. 

(The winner will not be able to exchange the dress and they can only ship in the U.S.)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Cheers to the Weekend


I have been eyeing  the Neon Clutches from Hallelu all week. How do you choose what color? What is your favorite hue?

The second installment of Furbish is coming this weekend. There have been rumors about a glitter floor. I am going to have to see this for myself!

I am having a layering moment. I got a new necklace from Hyla Dewitt and am layering with my new monogram necklace.

Pink and red. That is all I can think about. If they can do it so can you.


That is all. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!



Thursday, October 20, 2011

Enjoying Fall...

It has been a busy week...


Wednesday night I had a little birthday dinner for Stephanie. 
There is nothing wrong with eating pizza on your good china. 





We have been spending time outside enjoying the fall weather and new outdoor lighting. 


Tuesday night we went to the fair with Garison and Jim to see George Jones. It was 80 degrees and raining. Not my ideal fair situation. 

Jim and Garry are getting married in a month. I think this picture needs to make it in the slide show. 





Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Dining Etiquette 101

I love this little cheat sheet for your formal dinner party. 

Wedding Reception

Wedding week came to a hault due to some computer malfunctions. I guess everything was just so fabulous my computer could not handle it. So, here ya go. Better late than never.
Our first dance was to Ray Lamontagne- "You are the Best Thing"
Doug and I took dance lessons before the wedding. I would recommend it. Even though we failed the beginner class and we were told we could not move on to intermediate, it was a lot of fun. I feel like my dance skillz improved greatly.

Mother Son Dance Louis Armstrong- "What A Wonderful World"


Father Daughter Dance Chairmen of the Board- "Gone Fishin"
I was probably the most nervous about the Father Daughter dance. Considering I inherited my robotic dance moves from Kenny. Somehow we managed to rock back and forth with minimal awkwardness.

We had our reception at the same location of the ceremony, The Camp at Eseeola. I loved the venue. While it was outdoors you did not have to find a Plan B if there was bad weather. Major plus!


We decided to have BBQ because that is what I like to eat. Selfish, yes. Delicious, yes!

Our band was the amazing Waller Family Band. My mom got on stage and dropped it like it was hot.


This is one of my favorite pictures. It just has a lot of people I like it in. My friends = pretty.

Look at those dance skills. The champagne helps.

You might not know this about me but I have 15 moms.




More confetti as we left...I mean really what did you expect?
Then we made a dramatic exit on a john boat. If you know Doug then you know he loves some fishing. It made sense.

As we left everyone started singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" (it was not as creepy as the picture made it look)

merrily merrily life is but a dream...


Sunday, October 16, 2011

G&J Stock the Bar Party

This was an eventful weekend. Doug and I with the help of our friends Mason and Elizabeth hosted a Stock the Bar Party for our friends Jim and Garison. We had an oyster roast and low country boil. 



All of the paper products are Dawn Lockavitch Designs. 



Preston monogrammed the pumpkins. 


Cupcakes were from the The Cupcake Shoppe and the adorable flags are Dawn Lockavitch Designs.




Doug's mom made a delicious apple pie. 

Caprese Skewers

Mini Taco Dips

Veggie Dip- I don't have a picture of the cabbage with dip but you just hollow out the middle and add dip. 





Meredith from The Loft at 14th was sweet enough to let us borrow chairs and burlap table cloths. 







Courtney, Elizabeth(hostess-"Chef"), Garison(bride to be), Me, and Mason(hostess also, the master mind behind all of the details)


Mason and Steph. Mason is pretty much the genius who did all of the details that pulled everything together--Lawyer by day and party planner extraordinaire by night.

Katie and Courtney





We put the husbands to work hanging lights in the backyard. 








Just Add Water favors- a mini bottle of firefly vodka or whiskey.