New York!

 

What an amazing weekend!! We had such a fabulous time in New York and I am already missing it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my quiet little town, but there is something so wonderful about the chaos of a big city!

 

Highlight of the trip would have to be the multiple trips to the Sugar Factory!! The Sugar Factory is a restaurant/bar/candy shop that serves delicious food and even better drinks! We decided to surprise our mom and take her there for her birthday. It was a HUGE hit!! We tried the macaroni and cheese pops… so good! However, it was the drinks that brought us back the next day. I had the Jolly Rancher and I have never tasted anything like it before!! My mom decided to take a risk and ordered the Lollipop Passion goblet!!

 

Obviously the shopping was wonderful!! We made stops at Tory Burch, H&M, Zara, Alice & Olivia, Rebecca Taylor, Scoop NYC, Kate Spade Saturday, Harry Winston, Barneys, Bergdorf… Can't remember where else!

Tory Burch was fabulous of course. We went to the shop in the meatpacking district (on Little West 12^th for anyone interested) and the sales girls could not have been more wonderful! They even offered to hold our purchases until the next day so we didn’t have to take our incredibly large (and so wonderful) bags to dinner!

The Eloise Shop at the Plaza was so adorable!! They had Eloise books, DVDs, towels, robes, slippers, candy, clothing… the list could go on forever! If you are a fan of the books or have children, you must visit the shop!!!

 

Saturday night we realized how much there was that we forgot to do… we definitely needed to stay another day or two!! Hopefully next time we can stay a little longer!! I just hope it isn’t another three years before I go back!

Packing Problems

My husband always gives me a hard time about my packing methods for trips. When it comes to packing, I start making a list of what I want to take long before we leave… sometimes a month before! I know myself and I know what will happen if I wait.

I get stressed out just looking at that picture!! When I wait until the last minute I panic and start throwing random articles of clothing into my bag!

One of my biggest problems is over packing… I like to have options!! Sometimes I pick out enough so I can have three outfit choices a day when realistically I only need one! This is a habit I am trying to work on. Making my list helps. It gives me time to narrow down the options to just one outfit per day and one per night we will be out!! I like to remind myself that the less I pack, the more room I will have for purchases!!

A tip for over packers – roll your clothes!! It saves so much room in the suitcase!

Another tip I have read many times is to pack travel size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. This will keep your toiletry bag from becoming too bulky and taking up too much room in your suitcase. I personally have a hard time doing this. I always worry I will run out of something before the trip is over!!

Speaking of travel sized toiletries, never throw them away before you get home! I threw away my travel toothbrush and toothpaste once before leaving the hotel, as luck would have it our flight was canceled and we had to spend the night at LeGuadia airport. I don’t mean at a hotel near the airport, I mean on the floor of baggage claim! Sadly it was not the first time I had to spend the night in an airport, but it was the worst!!

Alt For Everyone

It is Sunday, my usual day for cleaning the house. However, today I do not feel like cleaning. I have too much on my mind after my wonderful weekend attending Alt for Everyone! I knew it was going to be an exciting experience but it still surpassed my expectations!!

Alt for Everyone is the online version of Alt Summit, a business conference for bloggers. It is a three day event consisting of seven classes, one key note, and one meet up. The classes are so informative and interesting. I absolutely loved the ones I was able to take…

·         Coding for Bloggers

·         Photoshop for Bloggers

·         Graphic Design: Layout & Composition

·         Graphic Design: Color & Typography

·         Graphic Design: Logo Designs (Loved!!)

·         Photo Styling 101

·         Growing Your Blog: A Case Study

Laurie Smithwick of Leap Design taught all of the graphic design classes. She is absolutely incredible!! Each class was just an hour but I learned more than I ever expected!

The Photoshop class was also great! I knew nothing about Photoshop but I have always been very curious about it!! It was only an hour long class so I am not a pro or anything but I now know how to do all the important things I could ever want to do with the program!

There was also a chat section on the website so we could interact with the other bloggers. It was so great meeting so many wonderful bloggers and seeing how different each of their sites was!! Oh, did I mention all the cute goodies they sent!?!?

Something New!

Since Ben and I bought our house, money has been pretty tight. I feel like we are always saving to buy something new we need or to fix something old that has decided to be difficult!! It has become very frustrating! I finally decided it was time for me to treat myself to something nice!

Aren’t they gorgeous?? I am very excited! I absolutely love Tory Burch! She is one of my favorite designers! I have had my eye on another Tory item that I am hoping to purchase on our trip to New York!!

My mom, my sisters, and I are going on a weekend trip to New York in October! I cannot wait! The last time I was in New York was for Coterie three years ago!!! That is wayyy too long! We each get to pick one thing we want to do… I picked the Tory Burch store!!

 

I am also super excited about the Eloise store at the Plaza! It looks so adorable!!

 

 

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Weekend Fun!

My sister Hollis and I had a yard sale Saturday. It was our first yard sale and I have mixed emotions about it!

When we first decided to have a yard sale I was pretty excited! I thought it would be fun and we would also make some extra money! Not as fun as I thought...

I didn't realize how much work actually goes into it. Picking out what to sell and what to keep, moving it all to the location of the sale, pricing everything, setting it all up... It might not sound like much but I promise it is!!

I think my favorite part was playing football with Lawson and Ben during the slow periods!!

This coming weekend is Ben's birthday and the beer and wine festival! The festival is at riverfront park and has over 16 wineries and 24 breweries!! Last year was my first time going and I had a blast! There is live music, local vendors, and food vendors!!

 

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Happy Monday!

 

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Football Season

Just one week until football season officially starts!! If you don’t know me, I am referring to the Alabama – VA Tech game. I cannot express to you how ready I am for football season! My husband and I are both fans of the SEC but not the same school… he is a Tennessee fan! This does make football season in our home a little more interesting.

He loves to point out that the SEC goes in cycles and one day Alabama will fall and Tennessee will be back on top. I think he forgets that I was a fan before Saban took over. Trust me… I remember losing to many schools including Tennessee!!

I want to thank Shelby for passing this article my way! And I will admit I did not follow number 5! We did get married during football season… on the day of the Alabama Tennessee game!! Number 8… oh how I agree with that one! Unfortunately I have to live with the color!! I hate to admit it but I own two items of Tennessee apparel.... Shocking I know! One is a sweatshirt Ben's mom gave me to wear to a game two years ago and the other is a jacket Ben got me to wear to the Vanderbilt game. I will be wearing an Alabama shirt underneath that jacket!!! I can't wait to take Ben to a bama game so I can make him wear some Alabama apparel!!

This one is cute too!

Roll Tide!

 

 

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