Classy Lady in Tacky Times

I'm not much on watching the news or following politics. I think the news is filled with negative stories and politicians are mostly full of lies {right or left}.

But today as I was watching the Today Show, Elizabeth Edwards was on promoting her new book, Resilience.

And as Matt was digging deep into the cheating and lying of her husband {you know he has been cheating on her for years and only telling Elizabeth it was a one-nighter, yet he has a kid, and she's been battling cancer through all this} she only spoke kindly of John and did not say one nasty word about the 'other' woman. I just kept watching with my jaw hanging open wondering when she was going to snap. But she didn't.

And then I thought to myself, there are so many famous people and regular people who want to get their 15 minutes of bashing in, and this woman had the outlet to really speak her mind, yet she was calm, collected, and CLASSY. One thing I am not sure I could be if I were in the same situation. Actually, I know I wouldn't be classy about it. I would be straight trashy - which is why I'm happy to know I won't have to deal with a situation like this. I was honestly shocked and intrigued.

Anyways, as non-political {and non-reader!} as I am, I am intrigued to read her book and read how she has taken the high road in dealing with her breast cancer, losing her first-born, dealing with a cheating/lying husband, being in the public eye, and hearing your one and only has another child. Do you think she's a Christian? I don't honestly know how you would deal with all of that if you weren't...

Will you read it?

A few Favorites...

A few of my favorite things right now...

NOT having an alarm to wake up to!


TERVIS Tumblers! I love this handy little glasses. And luckily so does my MIL and SIL. We've got sports one, bride & groom, monogrammed, Children's Charity, etc. I love giving them as gifts, too. Check out This SITE to personalize your own with seriously anything!!


Monogrammed Sunglasses Strap ~ which I FINALLY ordered my new pair with my new monogram. They are way cuter than this, but the site wouldn't let me copy their photo. Check out This Site Mine are Navy with Lime green thread.


Having the time to organize all my cabinets, pantry, etc. after moving in and throwing things together...


Chair Clips ~ They come in Flamingo, Fish, Whale, and Seashell. I will warn you, the seashell reminds me of the 80's decade. But that's not a bad thing for everyone. Perfect idea for those of my profession who's worry in the summer is having to keep pulling up their towel while laying out...


Getting to go here as much as I'd like...

Worth the Drive

On Sunday B and I were on our own since my parents are on vacay. I suggested we go somewhere different to eat lunch after church. B suggested the little deli I've been hearing about ~ Wallace Station!
So I got out my BB and looked up the directions {it's so funny how I rely on my smart phone now!} and we were off. It's about a 25 minute drive from the south end of Lexington and a very beautiful one at that. Most of the drive you are passing gorgeous horse farms with amazingly large homes on the Kentucky Scenic Bypass.
Once we arrived, we pulled up into, well, a VERY small house. We got a little nervous at first, but once we stepped inside we could definitely see what all the buzz was about. It was decorated in horse pictures, jockey silks, and a little wall art from Guy Ferrari (From The Food Network).


{the restaurant is names after the horse - so says the poster}

We'd heard it was all about the burgers there, and knowing me - I am quite the burger consumer, we both had to try those. It was a hard choice because the sandwiches looked yummy too!

OH. MY. GOODNESS.
Burger Paradise.
I had the Big Brown with ham, burger, cheese, Parmesan cheese, bacon, and mustard.
B had the Doug's Almost Famous with white cheddar.
We just kept smiling the whole time we were eating. It was awesome. Probably in my top 2 burgers. And that's a hard list to make.

The service was friendly, fast, Ale-8 on tap, and horse paraphernalia all around.
What more could you ask for?

I'd definitely suggest you taking a drive to try it out. If you click on the link above, it will take you to the website complete with hours and a menu.
YUM.

It's even going to be on The Food Network tonight at 10:00!


{Sorry Kat for not waiting...We figured you all were busy since we didn't get a text back that morning!! And FYI-not near Midway and the shops at all!}

Children's Charity Golf Weekend

I love it when B plays in this tournament each summer. It's a lot better than all the other golf tournaments because we get to do fun things at night TOGETHER!
It's also for a great cause, to raise money for different children's charities around Lexington and the Bluegrass area. So teams are put together by businesses and then they get to bid on celebrities to play with as well.

The weekend started on Thursday night where we had a super fun Cabaret to attend. We {ok, probably just me} love getting a reason to dress up!

{I recently found out my friends thought it was weird we take self-timer pics. I mean, how else are we going to get our photo taken?!}

We had live entertainment that included a band, a few comedians, and this super talented 16 year old. Watch what he could do with a guitar! I taped him because I am convinced he will be famous one day.
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On Friday B started his golf tournament.
His celebrity was Matthew Lawrence or Mel Silver from 90210. Remember, David Silver's dad who cheated on Kelly's mom??? He actually told us that night that people come up to him ALL THE TIME still and ask him why he did that. WOW, just a show people. But I was pumped to meet him since I have wasted MANY hours watching the reruns on the original {I wasn't allowed to watch it when it came on TV when I was younger}.


Brian's team WON the first day of the tournament - WOO HOO! He got some bag swag for his prize.


{us the second night with him}

The second night was the bid party. Every team tried to outbid the other to be able to pick their celebrity first.

B's team chose Anthony Munoz who played for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Although his team didn't win the second day, they did come in 4th. Pretty good considering he had clients playing with him this day.

The rest of the weekend was fun with all their events.

How was your weekend??!

I'm a Bad Wife when it comes to cleaning clothes

Not everyone takes on the 'traditional' roles in marriage, but for the most part B and I do.
His job is the outside, my job is the inside. Basically.
I've bragged on him mowing diagonally.
I've bragged on him keeping things green outside.
I've bragged on him putting away the dishes after I've cooked a meal.

But this time, I gotta tell on him!

{disclaimer - YES, I love my husband. Read this as a funny and nothing more.}

Since it looked like rain today, I decided I needed a much overdue cleaning spree. I made a super long list, and proudly to say...I finished it!! I mopped the kitchen, bathrooms, entryway, dusted every room/hallway/stairwell in the house, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, vacuumed both floors, and cleaned the bathroom. But the thing that took me the longest was the - da, da, daaaa 8 LOADS OF LAUNDRY. WHAT? I know. 2 People live here.

I'm a baaad wifey when it comes to laundry. I hate it. Pure hate it! I've been known {when I lived on my own...not now;)} to purchase more undies to not have to do a load of laundry if other clothes were clean to wear. Yup. Secret's out. But I can't do that now ~ so I just wait and wait and wait until the piles overflow the laundry bins and then I start a marathon. I don't know if it's the actual laundry part or the after-shock of having to fold/put away/hang/iron the clothes.
I think it's that part. It's such a process. I'm too impatient for that business.
But here's the tell-on-my-hubby part. He doesn't put his clothes in the bins. WHAT? Yes, he begins piles around the house, leading up to the one that's as high as our bed in our room. It's crazy! I'd take a picture of it but it's too bad to show public. I've even gone as far as to label the bins so he knows where clothes go, but nope, that doesn't help either!

{towels, lights, darks ~ how easy can it get?!}
Maybe he'll come home and see that everything is clean but that pile. Then I won't have to nag. :) And if he doesn't, I'll still love him anyway...

Because of course, if that's the biggest marriage problem we have, than I'm pretty sure we're doing OK.

Any of you recently married girls have stories you want to share??


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I also did a few crafty things today. Not everything I wanted, but I'll post pics of a few things. I'm working on labels for kid's clothing for the week. Super pumped about that one. I'll let you know how Colby likes it.

{just a little frame I made with my new CRICUT!}

{Dallas Cowboys wreath I'm working on. What do you think of the star and football? Too much? OK?}

The Craft Store

Go check out The Craft Store. I've put a few more things I've been working on there as well as showing some of my friend, Katharine's, crafty items to sell as well.
Keep checking back as I will have more items up once I find some extra time!!

Wedding Wednesday ~ Dresses!

So today I am going to feature some of my recently married friends and their wedding dresses!
{Grace, Summer 2010}

{Amanda, Spring 2010}


{HAHA, just kidding! that was a Halloween party:)}
{Mandy, Winter 2009}

{Allyson, Spring 2009}

{Jamie, Fall 2009}


I LOVED picking out my dress. I found it fairly quickly, although not as quickly as my friends Jordan and Alison. They found theirs the first day of looking!
My wedding dress was one that I never would have thought up in my head. Some of the features were what I was wanting - not a lot of poof at the bottom, no princess ballgown, sweetheart neckline, etc. But what I was NOT expecting was to love a dress with full lace! I mean really? I am not a full lace kind-of-girl. But it seemed like that was the dress I kept going back to!



Some of the pictures above have me in them in a bridesmaid dress. Luckily I've never had any bad ones like in the movie 27 Dresses! But the one thing people always tell you is, "well, you can wear it again". You're thinking yea, right, huh? Well guess what?! One of my BM's DID wear her dress again!! Woo hoo! I was so pumped because honestly, I thought it was pretty stylish with a bubble skirt and wrap waist!
{Mandy at Derby 2010}


{Sorry if you read this and wanted to see yourself in your wedding dress! My computer died and I lost all my digital pics from 2002-2007}

What type of dress did you have? What about BM dresses?

Georgia's On My Mind {and a recipe}

B and I decided to take a quick trip to Atlanta this past weekend to visit his sister and her boys {one of which is only 3 weeks old!}.

B and Hayden have such a special bond. Ever since I became a part of this family, I was amazed at how Hayden remembers B without missing a beat. We don't get to see them as often as we'd like as we live 6 1/2 hours away from one another but that never phases their relationship. I guess I just remember how I was, and it would take me forever to warm up to anyone other than my parents/grandparents.

Hayden is almost 3 and he is all boy! He is so much fun running from one thing to another. He loves his trucks, too! I told B I need to get better at knowing how to play all these 'boy' games with all our nephews {we're up to 3 now!!}.
I got Hayden a cute bug catcher from one of my favorite Specialty Stores here. As soon as he received it, he ran outside. What did him and Uncle B find? A frog!! He later kept piling rocks into it. I'm just so glad it entertained him for a bit!



We also got to take Hayden to the pool. It was amazing how fearless this kid is! He kept jumping into our arms from the side and swimming to everyone!



I was {honestly} very excited about holding baby Cooper! It seems like Colby was out of the holding/sitting still stage so quickly that I couldn't wait to just have Cooper laying on me! He is such a sweet baby. B kept saying how much he looks like Hayden did. I wasn't around when Hayden was first born, so I can't tell. But what I can tell is that he's going to be just as cute! I kept asking to hold Cooper all day long. B was amazed at how long I was sitting still holding him. He was the easy-to-hold kind that doesn't fuss, just lays asleep. From what I hear that doesn't last long, but Aunt Megan likes that!



I also got Cooper a super cute seersucker Jon-Jon and pacifier clip from my favorite specialty store. They love golf just as much as B does so I knew it'd be perfect! I can't wait to see him in it!



I also wanted to share this super yummy dessert I made for the hard-working parents-of-two. My Dad's cousin's wife (right, Hope?!) makes this for all our family functions! I was so excited when she gave me the recipe for one of my shower gifts! I tried it out and it was delicious!

Strawberry Stuff:
What you need~
Large Angel Food Cake Loaf (or 2 half sizes)
1 carton fresh strawberries
1 carton strawberry glaze
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
8 oz. fat free Cool Whip
3 cups cold Milk
How to make~
*Whisk together vanilla pudding mix and 3cups cold milk in a large bowl. Let set (about 2 min.)
*Cut Angel Food Loaf into 1 inch cubes
*Cut strawberries into fourths and mix in with glaze in a small bowl
*After pudding has set, mix in Cool Whip until smooth
*In a trifle bowl {we were traveling so you don't get to see how really pretty this dessert is!!!} layer angel food cubes, strawberries with glaze, and pudding/cool whip mixture. Continue to layer making sure the pudding mix is on top. Garnish with strawberries and serve cold.
Y-U-M-M-Y treat!

College Gals

Although I'm a little behind...Amanda {my friend from college} had her first baby shower with the college girls the weekend before last. Jen actually threw the baby shower for her, but since she lives in Charleston, SC {rough, huh?!} I offered to let her host it at our home so she wouldn't have to pay for a clubhouse.
Jen's job is to host and plan events, so I knew this baby shower was going to be great! Her and her Mom arrived early Saturday morning, and I'll let you see the pictures of how she made this shower for Amanda and Trenton awesome!






Amanda is painting a tree in baby Trenton's nursery, so Jen made a tree and had pre-cut paper of her colors {blue & orange} where she had us all write well wishes to Amanda, David, and Trenton. What a neat idea! She also had a parfait station which we all loved. I will totally be stealing that idea for my next shower! I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but she had pre-cut fruit, yogurt in cups, and granola ready to make your own. Yummy!!

The fun didn't stop there! Later that night was Grace's wedding {another friend from college}. We had the baby shower on the same day as the wedding so the girls from out of town {SC, NYC, etc.} could come in!
It's funny how our group has gone through weddings. It seems as though we all go through spurts. We had several the summer after we graduated college, then a few here and there, and then 4 this winter/spring season {including ours!}.
Grace's wedding was outside Keene Barn {please excuse my glowing face, haha} and the reception was inside Keene Barn. It was so fun!





{this picture is us doing our Sigma song and dance ~ we have a special ring we wear when we get married and a special song we sing}


It's almost amazing how much our group of girlfriends have stayed close. Yes, some of us are closer to one another than others, but I think it's great as busy as we all are, we make time for milestones in one another's lives.