The Big Bang

Since my last post, I attended another bachelorette party! It's so much fun to get a chance to celebrate a friend's upcoming marriage with one last hoo-rah, which is exactly what we did for Sarah.

Plans were made for a few girls to make the trip to Atlanta and we would spend the weekend catching up, going out and attending festivals. All of the plans we had didn't exactly come through, but we still had a blast.

Friday evening was exciting because some of us haven't seen each other in months. We had a late dinner where we shared tapas and had a couple of drinks. The bride definitely indulged that night, but it ended up being quite fun in the end.

Day Two was less about festivals and more about resting. We knew we had a big night ahead of us so we took advantage of the Kardashian and Jersey Shore reruns and delighted ourselves in the treats everyone brought to snack on. We finally made it to a late lunch and got to go veil shopping. We were all so excited when Sarah found the veil that she had been imagining in her mind for months. That was certainly a big check off her list.

Saturday was such a celebration, and we did things that bachelorette party attendees should do, which is why I can't share too much from the evening :). We behaved, I promise, but we made sure that Sarah went out with a bang.

Sunday was hard for everyone, as our tired bodies and smoked-filled lungs (not from us, but the smokers that were out and about) struggled to gather our things and tell each other goodbye.

Luckily this was a "see you soon" goodbye, as we get to reunite and watch Sarah marry the man of her dreams in only a couple of short weeks! We couldn't be happier for her and I wish them a lifetime of happiness and love!

Girls Weekend

A couple of weekends ago I attended one of my dear friend’s bachelorette parties in Helen, GA. It wasn’t the typical bachelorette weekend that involved party dresses, night clubs and crazy dares. This was one in which we spent the weekend relaxing in a hot tub, visiting a winery and catching up on what’s going on in everyone’s lives. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t crazy moments.

Helen is a small town in north Georgia known for its German flare. It offers German cuisine, architecture and even attire. This weekend happened to be planned on the first weekend of Oktoberfest, which is a big deal in this town. We enjoyed a parade (but mostly enjoyed the people watching) and good beer.

The weekend would have been rather tame had we not witnessed a couple doing “couple things” in the middle of a crowd, and we even met this guy. It was weird.

The best part about this weekend was that I got to spend time with old friends I hardly get to see, and even make new friendships. I love weekends like this, and wish we didn’t need an excuse like a bachelorette party to make them happen.

LBD

Four short years ago, my college public speaking professor charged the class to write a speech about something that changed us; something that made us who we are today.

Most people stood in front of the class and spoke of their beautiful grandmothers who battled cancer while having to raise 3 of her grandchildren, brothers who had gone couragously into Afghanistan to fight the war on terror, or their childhood dog and bestfriend who saved them from drowning in their own backyard pond.

As I was sitting in the back of the classroom, I was thinking, "Well, these people have some pretty serious issues that they have lived through." Nonetheless, I was still confident in my topic and felt it may lighten the mood a bit. My "thing" wasn't something that just made me who I am, but something that has made women everywhere, who they are today. Or so I believed (and still do).

I approached the podium with confidence, although my voice was a bit shaky at first. I began to speak, and this is what I said:

Every woman looks great wearing it, and every woman has her own.  It is the default date ensemble when it is one of those “I have nothing to wear” days. In fact, it is so popular, so necessary, and so much an institution in women’s fashion that everyone must know: “Where did the ‘little black dress’ come from?”

To properly understand the atmosphere necessary to produce such a simplistically fabulous necessity for any wardrobe, we must visit the 1920’s. As women shed their long, layered dresses, cut their hair and enjoyed the fast-paced party life, society slowly became more accepting of women showing more of her shoulders, back, and legs. The popular silhouette of the era was very slender and youthful.

It was during the 20's that the legendary fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel first stitched her name into the history of women’s clothing design. In fact, Chanel’s designs are often considered to be the personification of the 20’s style because her work was so fresh, modern, and updated.

During her early work, Chanel designed and introduced the first little black dress to the world. Black was previously considered to be a color reserved for funerals and periods of mourning until it was reintroduced in 1926. Simple and sexy, Chanel’s design was sleeveless and cut just above the knee. She could have never predicted the immediate and lasting love women would have with her simple, chic black dress.

Chanel was quoted saying, “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” Whether a woman’s little black dress cost $50 or $2,000, her intention is the same: to look effortlessly classic and appropriately sexy in just seconds. While most of us cannot afford to buy Chanel’s breathtakingly beautiful pieces, we can certainly wear our trusty black dresses with the modern, sophisticated attitude she possessed.

The speech feel right into our 3-5 minute allotted time, but nothing but blank stares looked back at me. My professor just sat there writing notes, and never looked me in the eye once I finished. After class, people asked where I got the idea to write about something so frivilous when we had gotten an assignment that seemed so serious. Well, to me, the little black dress is serious. It's my best friend, and just like that boy's dog that saved him from drowning, the little black dress has saved me many times. I made a C on that assignment.

Pinterest



Since my last post, I’ve become addicted to Pinterest. That’s right, addicted. I keep it up all day and as I get a chance, I browse through all the wonderful recipes and outfit ideas people have.

My favorite part has probably been the recipes. I always struggle with being too lazy to write a recipe down and started saving them in my email, but this is much more convenient! Most evenings, my roomie and I sit down to decide what to try next. It’s also helped with my grocery list, because I can better plan out everything I will need in the days following.

All of the crafts I want to attempt, clothes I want to try on, and books I want to remember to read are all in one place. This may not be as exciting to other people, but this is an answer to prayers for me! If you need to find me over the next few weeks, you can probably find me stuck on Pinterest.

The Closer

The time I spend with my family is time that is most treasured to me. Losing my great-grandmother in 2006 taught me that life is fleeting. Sure, I had lost loved ones before, but this was the first person that I truly loved, looked up to and had a great desire to make proud.
Her loss showed me that I need to be spending as much time as possible with the people that I love, which is why moving to and staying in Atlanta is a constant internal struggle for me. I've come to the conclusion that I had to move in order to be truly happy and that means that I'm going to miss out on some wonderful bonding moments with my grandparents, all four of which I am very blessed to still have in my life.

I end up going home a fair amount to spend time with everyone, attend the birthday parties and try to make it to the occasional softball game of one of my nieces. However, I really love when my family takes the time to come see me and the world in which I live. The Sunday before last, my Dad brought his parents up to do just that.

It just so happened that a family reunion was happening right outside of Atlanta, so it was the perfect excuse for a visit. Sunday they were occupied with the festivities (or rather my grandmother was occupied by reliving her childhood and telling stories of her precious mother, the aforementioned great-grandmother).

While I worked on Monday, Dad took them to the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coke. After work, I jetted over to Turner Field to meet them for an evening game against the San Fransisco Giants. I love baseball, mostly because it reminds me of my grandmother, but I still love it.

I ordered copies of this photo for everyone.

The intimidating Brian Wilson walked out just in time to close the game and leave with a win for the Giants, but luckily the Braves pulled through in a dramatic 9th inning that left my grandfather quite entertained.

The game got me thinking about life, in that it starts off great, you make some great hits and you suffer some embarrassing outs. You might even make the occasional home run, but in the end, you hope to walk away with a victory; leaving behind lots of love and memories with the ones you care about the most. That's what my grandparents will one day leave me with; thoughts of sewing mini bean bags on my grandmother's old Singer, fishing in the trecherous swamp with my Grandfather and pretending to not be grossed out by the bugs everywhere because I wanted him to know I was tough enough to hang with the boys, and baseball games where we shared hotdogs and ice cream.

It was such a nice way to spend time together, even if it was for only a short 3.5 hours. It's times like these that I'll never forget.

For a laugh, see this video.

It's My Party

My birthday has come and gone, and I'm another year older. Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family. It was an important time where the entire family set aside time to get together and celebrate the life of someone we love.

It might be because of my childhood that I still get so excited about birthdays. Every year, I start planning a month in advance. I need to know what I'm going to wear and where I'm going to wear it. Due to not-so-favorable circumstances, I wasn't as excited about my birthday this year. I never found a new dress and I wasn't in the mood to celebrate. But, the day came and it got better...

This year,  I woke up to some pretty nice surprises; my roomie had a glitter banner, card, my favorite sweet treats and an amazing gift laid out for me.

Then she took me to enjoy brunch at West Egg, where I had mimosas and the Westside Pileup (it was delicious and I can't wait to go back).

I decided to start out with dinner at Aja. It's a part of the Here to Serve Restaurant Group, which I love. All of their restaurants are fabulous. I had yet to try this one, but have had an abnormal craving for asian cuisine lately, so I knew this would be perfect.

After dinner, we had plans to visit my go-to bar in Buckhead and then venture to a place that lots of my friends have been, but I had not yet visited. It ended up being a crazy night where we didn't get home until 4:00 a.m., but it was fun and I'm so appreciative to the people that came out to celebrate. It's nice to know that even when I'm not in the mood to party, I have friends near by to make sure I have a good time.

A couple of pics from the evening:

Happy Traveling

Growing up, my mother's idea of a family vacation involved a rented condo at a beach in Florida so that she could lay on the sand from sun up to sun down. As long as she was frying her skin, she was happy. My father's idea of a family vacation involved a trip to Disney World, where we would ride Dumbo and It's a Small World at the Magic Kingdom, eat at Rainforest Cafe and pick up our yearly Christmas tree ornament in Downtown Disney, and see a laser-water show at Epcot. Every year we did both. Thus, we didn't travel around much.

While in college I had the opportunity to attend conferences in Philadelphia and Detroit. I spent a long weekend in NYC with a friend and went to San Juan, Puerto Rico with my roommates senior year. Since college, I haven't been able to go anywhere (except for Charleston for the lovely Megan's bachelorette party).

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have exciting news. Thanks to work, I will be able to start traveling a bit. I know I won't have much time to take in these cities, but I'm excited to just soak it all in.

Scheduled this year I have 4 trips. The first is in 3 weeks and is in Amelia Island, FL (back to Florida, my second home). In October I get to go to San Diego & Montreal and in November I'll be in Grapevine, TX.

So I turned in my passport application (can't wait to get a cute cover) last week in hopes that lots of traveling is in my future. Someday soon(er than later) I foresee trips that will help me to be a better person. After all, I believe the most exciting thing about traveling to be the opportunity to take in someone else's culture.

Stay tuned for my tales and some pictures!