Ohhh This Week

So sorry I've been MIA lately, but this week I am taking a much needed break! It has been craziness at work trying to catch up so I can enjoy my time off stress free. Tomorrow is my last day at work and then begins...my.five.day.break! Hallelujah y'all.

I will be spending my weekend in Richmond with my family and friends to help celebrate my best best best friend's wedding! I'm going home early to help fulfill my Maid of Honor duties and help her do last minute errands...and we'll also be getting prettified along the way with tanning, nail, and hair appointments! I think I'll be adding some pinot grigio and champagne to the mix ;)

Happy early wedding day Britt - I love you and am so excited to celebrate with you and Matt this weekend!

{The Lovebirds - Photo by Rebecca Fields}

{Me & The Bestie!} 

Summer Nights

{WonderStruck via Pinterest}

This summer I want to spend my evenings and weekends: 

- sipping iced tea lemonades on my tiny but "quaint" patio ;)

- exploring farmer's markets and picking up fresh produce and fresh flowers

- experimenting with making my own ice cream, so many flavors so little time!

- taking long walks with my puppy

- meeting up with friends for happy hours at great outdoor spaces

- taking more pictures with my fantastic camera

- baking yummy sweet treats full of fresh fruit

- going out for brunch

- shopping around Georgetown 

- taking road trips with the windows down and the music loud

- living in flip flops

- going to country concerts and rockin' my cowboy boots

- laying out on the river rocks in Richmond and the pool at my apartment

- having cookouts and most importantly

....enjoying the simple things in life...like family, unexpected adventures, friends, love, good food, and the great outdoors

How do you plan to spend your summer?

Billy Buttons

How sweet are these little flowers? I've seen them quite often lately in the bouquets and florals for the brides I've been working with and also popping up on wedding blogs all around. They are just so simple and cute, but they also add a subtle pop of yellow to any arrangement. I'm smitten!

{Photography by NGG Studios, Featured on Portobello Bride}

{Wedding Bee via Pinterest}

{Photography by Marie Labbancz via ElizabethAnne}

{Photography by Tim Halberg via Santa Barbara Chic}

Everybody Cut Footloose!

Saturday I worked a fantastic wedding with the lovely ladies at RitzyBee. The highlight of the evening were the bands they had for the reception. The Spazmatics and Carte Blanche. Oh my. If I ever get married, it would be a dream to have one, or both, on my special day.

The Spazmatics are an 80's cover band from NYC. They started out singing "Footloose" as they burst onto the dance floor in their elaborate 80's "get up" dancing around to get the crowd onto the floor as well. It worked. Just as quickly as they came out, guests at the wedding poured onto the dance floor and ladies started kicking off their heels. They played every popular 80's song you can imagine, and they had the crowd dancing all night. You could tell everyone genuinely had a blast, the band's energy was contagious. From guests in their 20's, to guests in their 60's, people danced until the very end of the party!

For the dinner portion of the evening, the guests enjoyed the music of Carte Blanche. They are a unique group that played jazz standards from the 1920's and 30's. It was perfect. While the guests enjoyed dinner, they were almost transported back to an old speakeasy era with the soothing sounds of this group. They truly created an elegant atmosphere for the guests, and it was fun to see the older couples swaying around the dance floor with ease. Love, love, love. Both groups were amazing!

Merriment Blog Guest Post #2

Check out my 2nd guest post on the Merriment blog today featuring Chevron. Like I mentioned in my earlier post today, our bride this past weekend used Chevron linens and they were so great. That's where I got the inspiration for this post. Hope you enjoy it!

Personalize It

I'm going through a preppy phase these days. Not necessarily in my clothing style choices, but I am loving the classic look for decor and accessories. Being involved in the wedding industry, I love to see the different ways people choose to personalize their wedding. Everyone has a different design aesthetic that really shows off their personality. This past weekend, the wedding I assisted with was at the beautiful and historic Country Club of Virginia. The bride definitely chose to go with a classic design style using chevron, a yellow and navy color palette, monograms, and short simple frocks for the bridesmaids. I thought it all came together perfectly.

One detail I loved from the wedding was her monogrammed coozie guest favors. They were simple, yet so adorable. Monograms are great because they can be used to personalize almost anything you can think of, from jewelry to furniture. Here are some monogram details I'm currently loving. Preppy chic anyone?

{Credit: Betsywhite on Merriment Events}

{Credit: Anthropologie}



{Credit: Luxury Monograms}



{Credit: Charm & Chain}



{Credit: Etsy}

Celebrating Mom

Happy Monday! I hope y'all had a fun weekend, and spent some time with your mamas! I had a great weekend in Richmond working and enjoying family time {Friday night I also had some friend time and I got to see this girl!} Saturday I had a busy, busy day because I was assisting a wedding Courtney at Merriment Events. The wedding was held at the Country Club of Virginia and I was blown away by how gorgeous it is there. By far, the most gorgeous Country Club I've seen in Richmond. Luckily the weather held out so the guests could enjoy cocktail hour on the patio and then headed inside for dancing and food a little later. While Courtney and I were exhausted by the end of the evening, we always manage to keep each other entertained throughout the evening, and luckily this wedding was smooth sailing, no major crisis' to attend to.

Sunday, I spent the day with the parents and we celebrated Mother's Day with a brunch at the Lewis Ginter Tea Room. It was fantastic! We enjoyed Bellinis, Bloody Marys, Shrimp n' Grits, Gruyere and Spinach Egg Strata, and Belgian Waffles. We also shared a slice of their homemade Key Lime Pie for dessert. Heavenly. After brunch we walked around the garden to see all of the gorgeous flowers blooming. It was a great afternoon. Happy Mother's Day to the best mom I could ever hope for :)

To Fedora, or Not to Fedora.

Hope everyone is having a great week and had a fun Cinco de Mayo! We had a guacamole contest at work (well the Legal team did) and they were in teams and made their own guac, the Government team (my team) helped them taste test to pick a winner...and to finish off their coronas. After work I grabbed dinner at a delish Mexican restaurant with my friend, complete with margaritas. Ahhh, any excuse to go out for Mexican and margs, I'll take.

So lovelies, in other news, has anyone noticed the big fedora trend these days? I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of loving it. How cute would it be to throw on a fedora with a comfy t-shirt, jeans, some aviators, a cross body bag, and some strappy sandals. Effortless, but so cute and stylish for a weekend lunch date or shopping trip! I'm not super fashion adventurous, and I'm not sure if I can pull it off, but I've been trying on fedoras everywhere trying to convince myself I can. Look how fun an outfit can be when you add a fedora...

{Picture Sources: Free People, Pinterest, CouldIHaveThat, Pinterest}

Cute right? What do y'all think? Can I pull this trend off? Or not so much?

Biscuits, Burgers, & Cupcakes

I don't think I ate one thing in Nashville I didn't like...surprised? I didn't think so. I love trying local restaurants wherever I go, and honestly, that's sometimes one of the best parts about a trip! {Clearly I'm not hiding the fact that I love to eat} Some of my favorite food experiences I had in Nashville, I just had to capture on film. The first night I was there we went to dinner at cute corner restaurant in a neighborhood near Cary's apartment called Burger Up. It's an "upscale" burger joint, but they use fresh organic ingredients for all of their food, and they also have 10 farms in Tennessee that source their meat, cheese, and produce.

Oh.em.gee y'all - YUM. I think it ranks #1 as my favorite meal while in Nashville.

This delicious drink was served in a mason jar {which of course I loved} and it tasted like a pina colada on the rocks. I forget what it was called but it was one of their drink specials that night and I couldn't pass it up.

The burger I got {well all of us got} was called the Woodstock. It had bacon, white cheddar, and Jack Daniel's maple ketchup. I loved that on the menu, by each item, they list which Tennessee farm all of the ingredients came from. The burger was by far the best I've ever had, and it was cooked to perfection. After dinner we were all so stuffed, and we debated splitting the krispy kreme donut pudding {umm, yes this was really on the dessert menu, yum} but decided against it for the sake of our poor arteries.  

For lunch one afternoon, we drove about 20 minutes down Highway 100 to visit the legendary Loveless Cafe. Loveless is best known for their ham, fried-chicken, homemade preserves, and biscuits {I didn't try the ham, but the fried chicken and biscuits, so worth the hype}. It's been a landmark since they opened over 60 years ago and they are a landmark recognized for their Southern food and hospitality. When they opened in 1951 {first as a motel}, they used to serve chicken from picnic tables on the front lawn to travelers on Highway 100.

They serve hot biscuits and homemade preserves to every table, and I wasn't complaining. For lunch I tried the hand-breaded fried chicken tenders, mac n' cheese, and fried green tomato's...with sweet tea of course! They don't skimp on the portion sizes, as you can see, and our waitress was shocked when neither of us finished even half of what was on our plates.

I had read/heard about Gigi's Cupcakes in Nashville when I saw it on a blog I was reading, and I knew I wanted to try them if we had the chance. After the marathon on Saturday, we made went to lunch and bought some cupcakes at Gigi's to bring home for an afternoon treat. It's hard to go to a cupcake shop and get just one. There's so many delicious flavors, I always want to try a couple! At Gigi's, I got the Champagne cupcake and the Kentucky Bourbon Pie. Holy icing {never seen cupcakes with more icing than those} The champagne cupcake was light and fluffy, and bourbon pie cupcake {which may/may not have been what I shoveled my face with after coming back from the bars on Saturday night} was a lot more dense, full of pecans and chocolate chips. Amazing.

If you ever get the chance to visit Nashville, I would not pass these three places up!

Neon Lights of Nashville

This weekend was fantastic!! The more I travel, the more I realize how much I truly, truly enjoy experiencing new places. This past weekend in particular, I visited Nashville, TN, and it felt like the little country music mecca of the whole United States {which I happily embraced}. My friend Cary is currently living in Nashville to attend Nursing school at Vanderbilt, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to visit her and a new city all at once!

When I arrived Thursday, we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame downtown. It went through the history of country music up to today, showcasing clothing, guitars, boots, etc. from country singers through the ages. Cary and I were both shocked at how small Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert's dresses are in person! Itty bitty.

We also walked around the city for a bit and stopped by the Ryman Auditorium, which is the home of the Grand Ole Opry. Since 1943 the Ryman has been dubbed the "Mother Church of Country Music." It's also known as the birthplace of Bluegrass on December 8th, 1945 when Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe on the Ryman stage.

We also had to definitely stop by Boot City in downtown Nashville. They had cowboy boots lining shelves throughout the entire store. They have boots of all shapes and colors, from plain jane to intricate designs and colorful combinations. It's hard to step out of there without a pair. Since I already had a pair of authentic boots from Austin, TX, I resisted the temptation to buy another one. They did have a special going on though, and Cary's friend Jenny got 3 pairs for the price of 1! Now that I think back, I'm actually not sure how I resisted that deal...

After exploring the city for a couple days, Jenny met us in Nashville to run the half marathon! On Saturday, Cary, Jenny, and I got up bright and early to head downtown for marathon day. Jenny ran, while Cary and I drank coffee, ate Panera, and cheered her on from the sidelines. We felt completely worthless didn't feel lazy at all watching 30,000 people run 13-26 miles at 7:00 am on a gorgeous Saturday morning while we leisurely walked along beside them.

It was quite a site to see! We were awed by how many people ran past us at the 10 mile mark who looked like they had just been jogging along, like no biggie. I'm jealous of them and their awesome stamina. I really wish I could run like that, but I just don't get that runner's high. Womp womp.

This was Jenny's first half marathon and her goal was to finish...which she did! Yay! Next time, maybe Cary and I will run walk {walk/run maybe} with her. After the race we all went to lunch before crashing for a nap. Cary and I felt it only natural to reward ourselves with a delicious lunch and a cupcake for dessert. After all, we burned tons of calories walking the three miles to meet Jenny at the finish line.

Thank goodness we took a break that afternoon, because that evening we had the Montgomery Gentry concert and we planned on doing some bar-hopping downtown after :) I was in country music heaven. Because it was so crowded downtown we only "hopped" to two bars, but I was okay with it because I had already danced with a cowboy some tall dude in a flannel shirt that talked to every group of girls in the bar, had a few Bud Lights, heard 2 "Chicken Fried" covers, sung along to "I Got Friends in Low Places" twice {and forced a non-country music lover to sing along, ahem, Clint}, and again heard 2 covers of Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane"...then we came home and ate the leftover cupcakes. All in all, perfect way to end my trip to the country music mecca that is Nashville.  

Things I Loved About Nashville:

- The people {I loved being approached by people in the dressing room asking my advice on what they were trying on, that doesn't happen often, and it happened several times to me in Nashville}

- The accents {...we're fixin' to go to the concert}

- The size of the city {it was an exciting place with a great downtown area, but still had that small-town feel}

- The food! {of course}...I'll post more about that, stay tuned!

- Country music EVERYWHERE {no matter what store you were in, it was blasting}

- The bars {Country cover bands in every dive bar in the city, yes please}

- The neon lights outside every single bar {it felt like a mini Times Square}

- The weather was perfection

Another city that I absolutely love. {Add it to the list! Richmond, Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Nashville, and the list goes on...}

Thank you so much Cary for having me! Next up, visiting you in Chicago :)