The One for Dawson

a MUST HAVE for a family of (almost) four...living in London...serving their babies hard boiled eggs for "tea."

from KEITH BRYMER JONES via SimpleSong

The One For The Engagement Shin-Dig

One of my very best friends is getting married in February (not to be confused with my very best friend who is getting married in July - wooo hooo) so we're throwing a small get together this Saturday night. It's going to be tons of fun to get together with people I haven't seen in a while - and people who are brand new to me! Plus - it will be the first party in the new house. It's been great incentive to get our butts in gear and make it look like a legitimate place to be living.

In honor of this occasion, and the fact that I haven't blogged in about 100 years...here are a few of the things I'm hoping to include in the party planning for this weekend.

image from Once Wed, by Our Labor of Love Photography

Beautiful (and simple) floral arrangements, with burlap (is that burlap?) tablecloths. Lucky for me, my mom works at our church and is letting me tap into the chairs and tables that live there.

image from skillenlauren

Twinkle lights in trees and around the fence in our backyard. Pure magic.

image by :MPG:

Some sort of delicious sangria, margarita type thing. Something that can go in my new drink dispenser, which is not actually this gorgeous one from Pottery Barn and cost me $20 at Home Goods, maybe in my next life...

We're serving barbecue and my mom has offered to let us use her really pretty pottery as serving pieces. Score. Friends - we're going to have to take care of these!

For dessert, I'm thinking something cold and delicious. Mainly because it's been hot as blue blazes around here lately. My office door fogs up in the afternoon from all of the humidity. It's gross. Maybe something like this, or maybe this, and then this showed up in my email...YUM.

Either way, the whole night is sure to be tons of fun!!

Now...I just need to start making a playlist that will last all night. No repeats. Any suggestions?

The One With A Top Ten

via Jeannot7

I cannot possibly explain every wonderful thing that happened this weekend, so here is a list of ten (and this isn't even really a top ten, because I'm sure that I'm missing something)

In no particular order...

1. mini key lime pies + muds at the club for birthday dinner with the fam
2. the most delicious pasta (after being totally bummed that Bettola took my favorite off the menu for Spring) and the best friends ever to have birthday dinner with
3. sitting outside at 26 with my mom on one of the first pretty nights of Spring (aka my birthday)
4. my sister and her sweet friend Liz coming home for Easter my birthday
5. Birmingham has the most amazing T.J.Maxx, and a super awesome shopping trip with mom
6. the fact that my roommate has the most incredible class of 5-year-olds who let me read to them and thought I was the Easter bunny (oops - that's probably my fault)
7. Starburst jelly beans, York peppermint patties and bunny charms for my bracelet in my Easter basket
8. day parties at Paul's - his birthday was just as fun as mine!
9. getting my hair colored (and shortened)
10. having to block out 15 seats in church for the best people ever to be celebrating Easter with

The One About My Birthday (finally)

I think balloons are pretty. Especially on birthdays.

So far, work has been AWESOME. I walked into presents, my desk decorated, precious cards and strawberry cupcakes. It's been an excellent morning.

The One About Mardi Gras

Last year I spent this weekend in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. See?
Wouldn't it be fun to be there again, instead of in snowy (but not really cold enough to make it fun) Birmingham? Or I guess this weekend I could have also gone to Austin with a few girls for Valentine's Day - but that requires money. More money than I have. Either way I'd probably have on this outfit, but ESPECIALLY in New Orleans. It's impossible to walk about the city all of Mardi Gras weekend without boots. Tall boots. With jeans tucked in.

Whatever you're doing - have a Happy Valentine's Day!

P.S. Just booked hotels for a girls weekend in Vegas...get ready to hear me talk about THAT, from now until June.

The One About A Favor

Three blog posts today? Aren't y'all lucky...or unlucky, depending on how you see it.

One of my sweet friends, Kirbie - she's over there on the left, lives in LA (the city, not the region of Alabama) and is working her tail off to eventually work for famous people. She's even been an extra on TV...

In order to do more of all of these things, she's signed up to be in a contest on HSN and seriously needs your votes. You can vote once a day and you can comment, etc. to give her a few extra bonus points. Would you mind?

Click here.

She's so cool, she'll even dress up in a see-through leotard in an effort to perfect a Lady Gaga costume for Halloween.

Thanks a million (in advance).

The One With The Pictures

Just in case you were wondering...this is where I have been the last few days. It's possible Phoeniz, AZ is the most ridiculous place on earth. A little bit old people, a little bit Jersey Shore, and a little bit hippie-chic.

Riding home from a bar in a bicycle taxi...

...drinking the largest beers that ever graced the planet...

we moved on from that to the world's best 80's bar...but I didn't find the time to document that with any reasonable pictures....

...tailgating with awesomely dressed individuals...

...and celebrating birthdays with awesome people...

...Fiesta Bowl...

...obviously the best place to find people you're looking to see is the bathroom, good thing Cal's coming to see me in 6 days...

...my all-time favorite sign...
"my fiance left me but Coach Patterson never will..."

...finally made it to our seats, and our new BFF (false) the 75-year-old man sitting next to us. Don't worry, Fiesta Bowl = chips and salsa on each and every seat, between that, a cup of beer, and the stadium dogs - I was a very happy camper (until we lost...)

The One About Vacation

I'm taking the next few days off from work to go see these guys play in Phoenix (any good ideas for things to do in the desert?)And hang out with some of these people...

And I will be back soon. I hope you have had an amazing holiday! I'll fill you in on my week when I get home from Arizona.

The One About Gifts Given To Your BFF

from Smith & Hawken

I figured, since I am a genius when it comes to gift-giving and everyone I've ever given a gift to has absolutely loved it and still calls it their favorite gift ever - to this day, I should make a list for all my many millions of blog readers to reference.

Can you hear the sarcasm?

I can say though - with a fair amount of certainty that I online shop more than most people - and although it is generally a detriment to my bank account...it's about to come in very handy for you!

So, if you are planning to buy your very best friend a gift this year these are a few things floating around the internet that just might allow you to keep the BFF title until next Christmas.

This is pretty much genius, and perfect for a friend who is very indecisive (or if you're indecisive). You go into Sephora and buy this handy little package for $50. When your friend opens the box she can test all of the best-selling Sephora fragrances and THEN, when she's picked one (after weeks of contemplation), she just goes back to Sephora and picks up her brand new bottle of perfume. Genius. Not only does your friend have new perfume, which she picked out herself, but she also has loads of mini sample sized bottle which are the PERFECT thing to carry around in her purse. The anecdote to nasty-cigarette bar smell after a night out with the girls.

You're aware that I love Gadabout, so go out and get your friends some notecards. They have so many different styles, it's a one-stop-shop for all the girls.

I'm also obsessed with all things letterpressed. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. A city, all planned out in the vertical? Amazing. It's also a pretty large piece for the price so those of us who live in apartments with lots of walls and don't have the cash-money to fill those walls with original art ... well, there you are.

I also think this would be such a fun surprise to receive all wrapped up in pretty J.Crew wrapping, I am definitely not one to spend a fortune on costume jewelry (and neither are my friends) but it's so much fun to have a few great pieces. I'm a firm believer in buying people gifts you know they will love, but would never buy for themselves. It's always more fun that way!

Another fun idea? Pool all of the money you were planning on spending on your best group of girls and buy one big something. A session with a great photographer...wouldn't it be nice to have some professional images of those people you care most about? You could even wrap up a cute picture frame for each girl as a way of announcing the surprise. You could also splurge on a hotel room for a night. You can either go the - hotel downtown for a night of bar-hopping route, or a hotel with big fluffy down comforters for a night of pizza, cider and movies.

And, if you are a recent graduate (like me and my friends,) fun home gifts are always nice. I would never go out and buy this for myself - but isn't it adorable. Now that I might actually have a tailgate party (i.e. have been rudely removed from college and no longer tailgate AT the game) it could come in handy. And on a less football-related note, these and these would be adorable gift for girlfriends.

Oh - and for those of your friends who are constantly doodling, or writing down small thoughts...wouldn't this be wonderful. Easy to keep track of, and easy to keep up with. Precious covers too!

The One About Gadabout

I've done one giveaway on this blog, and that was fun - but there are people out there in the universe that do them ALL THE TIME. Jealous. This giveaway at High-Heeled Foot In The Door is so freaking cute I decided to share it with y'all (and I get to enter one more time because I'm blogging about it, in the interest of full-disclosure). Y'all - this stuff is CUTE. The company (Gadabout Paper) makes an entire series that involves the most adorable drawings of women in great dresses - and the best part is the names of the designs. I mean, "Life Starts All Over Again When It Gets Crisp In The Fall" - HOW CUTE IS THAT!? They do other cute things too...

Hanna Brooks Nation is a genius, apparently. And really cute and now I want her to be my friend.

So - in the interest of giving (virtually...), I've picked out some pretty fun things for my friends.

Like this for Liz...when her dog-walking business goes gangbusters she can whip these out to write down "Sue- precious little Fluffy needs more dog food, and could you please throw in a couple extra benjamins with that next check? Thanks - Liz, Dog Walking Extraordinaire"

...and, if you continue to work at Flower, you can have these too. If you land this other job though, I'll have to find you some Birmingham-skyline themed notecards to write to all the people helping you plan our gala.

And these for Sara Emily, because I can honestly picture her sitting down to write thank you notes at a desk that looks like this, and I'm pretty sure she has that tote bag. Or maybe she want's something a little simpler. She likes simple. I think these would work.


And Dawson can have these, because she's the only person I know who consistently wears pearls and looks fabulous doing it. And, remember when I said the titles were FABULOUS, well this set is called - "The Jewelry He Gives You," and I know a certain "He" who should be giving her some jewelry in about 21 days. Plus, she needs a little reminder of what a wonderful place Alabama is. On that note, maybe she should get a set of these too.

And Kirbie should get these, because she's the only person who gets to wear a bathing suit (almost) all year 'round. Jealous. Maybe we can get Gadabout to draw some cowboy boots on your feet....

And Mary Knox can have these, because she's from South Carolina and LOVES it. She can use these to write thank you notes to all of those people over there when she comes to visit. Or, maybe she should write ME a thank you note - and come visit Birmingham.

Oh - and me. I guess I should get presents too. I like these, and these and these. I'm not picky - pretty much anything will do. This shop is so unbelievably cute, and they even have Christmas notecards too!


So run over to Gadabout and pick up some notecards, and run over to High-Heeled Foot in the Door and enter the giveaway (but if you win I will beat you up, in the interest of full-disclosure).

The One About Ten Things

I was tagged by Dawson at Wake Forest Mama, so here's my little list.

Also, check out Liz's list who has graced the blog-world with her presence one more time...maybe she's back for a short stint on Little Interruptions?

1. obvious: my family, and our very rare meals together. Last night all five of us went out to dinner - we're a pretty fun bunch.

2. my amazing, fabulous, wonderful, incredible, could-not-live-without-you friends. we've been through more than is really fair - but we're still together. i love y'all. (and Wednesday night take-out + horribly funny television)

3. Texas, and all the sweet people that are far away from me. I'm so looking forward to Miami, Phoenix, Pasadena? A girl can dream.... (and on a related note - TCU football makes me really happy, especially when Georgia football is making me so sad)

4. Caramel Apple Cider at Starbucks (doesn't everyone have a warm drink that makes them happy, and toasty-warm inside?)

5. Dresses. Specifically of the cocktail variety. I LOVE new dresses. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

6. Books. Books I've read, books I haven't read. Old books, new books. Book shelves filled with books. Bookmarks. Stacks of books on my bedside table. My future Kindle with all of it's future e-books. You get the point.

7. This blanket from Restoration Hardware. We have one in my apartment, and one at my parent's house - it's amazing. The absolute best thing to cuddle up in when you're cold, or tired, or sick, or all of the above.

8. Mexico Lindo Zona Rosa, and the fact that we've been eating there (at least) once a week since I was a little kid. It makes me really happy that everyone who works there knows my whole family, and their queso cheese dip is really yummy. It also kind of ties into another one of my favorite things - margaritas (specifically from Yucatan Taco Stand in Fort Worth).

9. Winter clothes. Sweaters and scarves and coats and mittens and boots and earmuffs (if I had anywhere to wear them).

10. Pictures. Some by really fabulous professionals...but mostly my own. Some of the funniest things show up on my camera!

The One About Halloween Costumes

Fort Worth was so incredibly fun. I have the greatest friends - but I've never been so exhausted in my life and I'm JUST NOW starting to recover. It's a little bit amazing how much I miss Texas. I loved college, but I never in my life thought I would want to go back. This weekend the thought was definitely creeping into the back of my mind (if by "back of my mind" I really meant I definitely wanted to move back the entire time).

Maybe one day.

Don't freak out Mom.

Don't you love my Max costume? He's adorable right? It worked out perfectly (except for the part about it being 1,000 degrees above the temperature of the sun). There were also construction workers, hippies, Lady Gaga, and a giant elephant running around. Halloween is just generally amazing.

We went to Chimy's and then the brand new Pour House on Friday night. Saturday we tailgated and then changed into Halloween costumes for The Aardvark. Back in the dark ages (my freshman year) a band called Taylor and Young used to play all the time but since they're a couple of years older than me, they graduated and left town. Boo. But - in a blaze of "I'm a Freshman" glory they were back Saturday night - at The Aardvark no less.

Generally the weekend was amazing, and made me think I was a. 18-years-old and b. ancient all at the same time. It's definitely an incredibly weird feeling.

The One About Halloweekend

It's coming up...

Unfortunately, I'm in the real world now so I only get one night of Halloween, but it still ranks right up there as one of my all-time favorite holidays.

This year, I'm going to be...drumroll please...MAX.

Aren't I adorable?

My mom is the coolest mom ever and is making my costume from scratch (minus the black Converse I went to purchase at Hot Topic last night).

I know...my first ever time PURCHASING something in Hot Topic, it was interesting to say the least.

I'm also going to be in Fort Worth for the holiday. Although I haven't actually celebrated Halloween in Birmingham as an adult (read: old enough to consume alcohol) I'm pretty sure college is the pinnacle of Halloween-ness, so I figured I'd go back and join in the fun. PLUS - I have to see ONE football game this year. I mean...we are ranked #6. And we do things like this...

And make people look like this...

And it's just generally fun to watch. TCU should plan Homecoming and Halloween on the same weekend every year. Recently though it's been the same weekend at our game with UNLV...which is not always in Fort Worth. Although Vegas was fun for Halloween too...

The One About What I Can Do

So two of my best friends (and their child) are moving to London today. I said moving...not visiting, not studying abroad (mainly because we're not in college anymore), not spending a summer...they're actually moving, to live there, for a long time. It's sad - but they're going to have the best, most amazingly unbelievably, envy-inducing time...so kudos to them. My lovely friend has a blog, so I made her a blog header, and here it is...


Feel free to let me know if you (all you many millions of people reading this) want one too...they're actually really fun for me!

The One About My Weekend

Unless you have been living under a rock (or not reading this blog) then you know I went to Fort Worth this weekend. I apologize for the complete lack of pictures - I did take about 5, but nothing interesting or appropriate for the blog. It was completely amazing and wonderful. I had a great time, with fabulous people and absolutely LOVED getting to watch two amazing people marry each other. The wedding was beautiful and fit them so perfectly.

Image from here

Top Ten Things I Learned This Weekend:

10. It is best not to fly so late at night - you're sleepy, the people that pick you up from the airport are sleepy, and the people that work in restaurants are sleepy. This results in no food for you.

9. You will survive giant black heels all night. You're feel will want to kill you - but you'll be tall and that's all that matters.

8. Sometimes, the best things ARE NOT free. Sometimes they are, but in the case of my super adorable new red clutch that I'll be taking to the Auburn game...well, that wasn't free.

7. Pei Wei is delicious at all times of the day.

6. It is best to NOT lose your drivers license, but if you absolutely have to - make sure to have another, legitimate, get-you-in-the-bar type of ID. This is true of Dallas, Fort Worth AND Vegas.

5. While Dallas is cool, the best people are (or were) in Fort Worth.

4. If you have a flight at 8:10am, it is best not to stay out until 4 in the morning - and you shouldn't even try to get to the airport if you're still packing things up at 7:35am.

3. Taking vacation is fun, calling is sick is better.

2. Toms look perfect with a wedding dress, and sparkly Toms look perfect with bridesmaids dresses.

1. The very best part of vacation is seeing all of the people you've been missing - but the second best part is all of the new people you DIDN'T know before you got there.

The One About Standard Bistro

Among the many things I did this weekend, including lounging around, organizing my apartment and throwing a wedding shower - my absolute favorite was our girl's lunch on Saturday.

My very best friends and I had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Johnson and Chloie for (a very long) lunch at Standard Bistro. The lunch itself was wonderful, and it was only bettered by the time we had to chat with the Johnsons. I know we each enjoyed hearing how life was going for them, and were blessed to feel completely wrapped up in the wonderful person that our friend Carly is. It was a great occasion to revel in how much she truly impacted each of our lives while she was here. I hope each of you spent as much time as I did this weekend truly appreciating the wonderful people that fill up your life.

The One About High School

This morning I stopped at Chick-Fil-A for a chicken biscuit before work (I know, this is bad for me, but I was running WAY early and it's Friday for goodness sakes). When I walked in there were four or five Briarwood cheerleaders grabbing breakfast before going to school. I still can't figure out why they were there around 8:30 - does Briarwood go to school later than us? And you know what I realized? They were in their uniforms because it's day 1 of high school football. You know what's depressing?

I'm not in high school anymore.

I'm also not in college anymore.

I think I might be old.

But I still look like a baby in all of these pictures (which are fuzzy because I don't have originals). I guess college made be act like ... look like ... and at least pretend to be an adult.

The One About Nerdness

I'm about to tell you all something that I know you didn't know previously - but in the interest of entertainment (and having something to say today), I'm going to let you in on this embarrassing fact.

I am a HUGE nerd.

In case you didn't know - I have the best friends, and a few of them decided to meet me this afternoon for lunch (near my office). My friend Dawson has a baby, and is moving to London (tear) so she pretty much has a plan for now. My friend Liz on the other hand - is a dog walker and wants a real job.

And I want her to have a real job too, because let's be honest, it's annoying to be at work all day while your friends shop and bake in the sun.

We sat at lunch and talked about Liz's job hunt - at which point I got (a tad too) excited and explained that she should write a cover letter, print that and her resumé, put them in printed envelopes and mail them to everyone interesting in the phone book.

Apparently, I enjoy doing this kind of thing.

Hence the reason I just received Liz's resumé in my inbox - and am going to begin drafting a very compelling cover letter. I think this should be my new job. Why shouldn't there be someone out there to write cover letters and resumés for people, and to find places to submit these things to? Schools have career services. I would just be career services, and instead of an insane amount of tuition, you'd have to pay me a tiny (in comparison) fee.

Don't worry Liz - this is just in the works, I'm not going to make you fork over your dog-walking money for this ridiculously amazing cover letter.

The One With Work

Let me tell you about the time that the website I work on had someone attack the server and send my head into complete "I have no idea what you're talking about IT guy" - mode. I do not speak HTML code or understand rewriting our website to keep out hackers. Yesterday was incredibly stressful (to say the least) so I never got out my weekend recap or my very important thoughts on the movie I saw this weekend. My to-do list just got a little bit out of control...

It's still not fixed, BUT I have awesome guys who DO understand things like HTML coding and hackers to fix it so right now I'm just monitoring how many people send emails to the site (annoying bad-guys).

The BF's friends from school were in town this weekend so Friday night I had a VERY long dinner at Zona Rosa followed by Billy's for 8th Street. His friend Edward met a very interesting woman who proceeded to inform him that she liked to have...well I'm not going to say that, but let's just say it was dirty (and involved multiple people). And then my friends met another woman in the bathroom who had clearly been drinking too much and wanted some friends to talk to.

Saturday I slept late, had lunch with my dad, had a second lunch (don't worry I didn't eat again) with friends at Sam's Super Samwiches, and then played golf drove a golf cart. Carts are actually very fun - more fun when they're moving because then it's not hot at blue blazes, but definitely fun.

Saturday night we had one giant meal at Surin, and then everyone was so exhausted we went home. It was amazing. I slept late on Sunday, finished my book and then went to hang out at the 'rents house.

Mom and I went to a movie. The Time Traveler's Wife. I'll tell you more about that later.

All in all, it was a great weekend. It was fun, I slept a lot, I finished my book and started a new one - generally did nothing of any importance which is the main point of a weekend, right?

The One After The Lake

This weekend was the all-time best weekend ever (or at least of this particular summer). Liz and I drove up to the lake after work Friday, and spotted many interesting things.
There was a MASSIVE metal dinosaur on the side of I-20. I tried to take a picture while moving down the highway - and this is what it looked like, so while THERE WAS a large blinking question mark on the side of HWY-11, I didn't get a picture of that. Right past the question mark there was a church. I am not making this up. The sign in front of the church said...

"Don't give up -Moses was a basket case too"

And after all of that, we finally made it here...although I had to take this picture Saturday morning because when we drove in on Friday night we couldn't see a single thing...and we lounged around, and slept (for a few minutes) in the MOST COMFORTABLE beds.

South Carolina is a fabulous place. We had loads of fun. The house we stayed in was BEAUTIFUL, as was the lake it sat on. We were in the boat for the vast majority of the weekend and only had a few mishaps. We avoided running out of gas in the middle of the lake and (almost) avoided driving onto land. And we avoided anyone getting hurt as people insisted they jump off rocks.
We floated around in a cove with some other cool people, who apparently like to float around too. There was a waterfall, and a volleyball court, and a boat that really looked like a floating trailer. I definitely did not know that those existed....but they seemed entertaining.

Clearly I got sunburned because I already looked toasty in this picture and this is only halfway into Day 1. Oops. In the process of getting too crispy I did manage to develop some really cool tan lines though. I have never looked more like a raccoon in my life. Oh well, it was totally worth it. Did I mention that it was the all-time best weekend of the summer (so far)?

People skied and did some tubing...people that didn't include Liz and me.

There was more floating...by us and by the boat, which did not want to anchor all weekend and routinely had to be directed back in our general direction. Unfortunately Liz and I were zero help because neither of us have any idea how to drive a boat.

All in all it was an amazing weekend. I am so glad we decided the 5 hour (weirdly close to 4 hour) drive was worth it. The Burch's were beyond hospitable the entire time - they are the sweetest, most amazing people. Liz and I were both sad to give Burch his last huge hug for awhile...but this weekend was definitely the perfect ending to a far from perfect summer.Contented sighs all around...