Coveting...

I attempted to find something similar to one of these shades and came up empty handed. I need to paint my nails Khaki Vert asap!

Aren't they splendid for the Fall?

A Steal...

I am getting ready to redo our bedroom. I have the color picked out. I am stripping and restaining a dresser and I have chosen the bedding. So when I saw these lamps I knew they would fit perfectly into my vision!

I realize the lamps are on a table outside, but for some reason I couldn't get a good shot inside (the lighting was all wrong). It may have to do with the fact that the lamps are clear...

I found these at TJ's (for half price). I can't wait to get the room put together and show you how they actually look inside!

These Boots are Made for Walking...

I'm over (not that I was ever on board with) cowboy boots and dresses.

Let me just paint you a picture:

It's 95 degrees outside with humidity well into the 60 percentile. The sun is beating down and the chance of catching a cool breeze is slim to none. It's Alabama and it's hot.

Yeah, I get it. It's officially FALL... but other's need to get this... it STILL hotter than hell outside. (just sayin)

Which leads me to the point I'm attempting to make. I've noticed a trend while at the few football games we've been to thus far this season. The girls on campus are rocking dresses with cowboy boots ala Jessica Simpson circa 2005, except with a dress and a way less hot body.

(speaking of Jessica Simpson, why does she look so frumpy all the time these days. She needs to hire whoever was training her back in '05. I mean, look at that body)

I don't get it. Let me reiterate, IT IS STILL HOT OUTSIDE. A cowboy boot with a dress is ridiculous.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for this look if you are headed to the rodeo,  a theme party, or even a Halloween party where you are dressed as a sexy cowgirl (if that's your thing)... but don't rock it in 95 degree weather to a football game.

I snapped some pictures to show just how rampant this has become. My question is why? Who said this was cool? Is it cool and I'm lame? (surely not) I just have so many unanswered questions.

*I've attempted to protect the innocent by not showing faces. If one of these people happens to be you or someone you know... please take this a a friendly suggestion not make the same mistake twice.*

The only time it is okay to rock a cowboy boot with your dress is when you are attempting to offset your medical bootie- see above, right. Her friend, however, is simply thinking she's really on to something.

Don't get me wrong. I love a boot and when the temperatures reach a place where a boot make sense I will, for sure, rock them. I'm not even made at a "bootie" with a dress or even a dress with leggings and some type of fashionable boot. I am mad at faux or real cowboy boots with dress when it's blazing hot!

Please enlighten me. Are you on board with this? Why is this such a phenomenon on a college campus? Is Auburn just way behind the fashion trends or am I? 

MAGGIE

Sweet Mags is having surgery in the morning. She is getting "fixed." I've worried about it all week. I just wish she could talk so that I could explain it to her. Like, maybe it would be easier if she had a grasp of what is about to come... instead of being blindsided.
 She would have gone earlier in the week, but when I found out she would have to stay over night I rescheduled. I needed time to get my mind around Maggie being all by herself at the vet overnight... (probably scared).


Do you love her new dog bed? She certainly does!

Harley never got "fixed" because I could never bring myself to call and make the appointment. All the "what ifs" kick in to high gear. But according to Ryan, we can't think like that.

So in the morning I will drop Maggie off for surgery and more than likely get suckered into the more expensive "care plan." 

I will keep you posted.

O.T.W.-Wishing I was 21

My sweet sis-in-law hit a major mile stone over the past weekend. She turned the big 2-1!! She's the youngest of Ryan's siblings (ryan's the oldest).

We've been talking about Ali finally becoming "legal" for months. Planning to spend the weekend celebrating in Auburn.

Well, I went all in. I wanted to pretend I was turning 21 as well. We ate dinner at a favorite hot spot, Mikata. Sushi, cocktails, hibachi grill, fried rice = happy place!! Dinner really set the tone for the evening.

After dinner, we took it to an apartment party... I'm telling you, I felt like I was back in college reliving a Friday night. We stayed at the apartment for a while before heading downtown. We went to another old haunt, Sky Bar. At every turn-- waiting in line to get in, in the front bar, the back bar-- I saw old faces. It was beautiful.

After Sky Bar, Deidra and I decided to venture to meet some other friends at "Speak Easy" (it used to be "In Italy" for those of you who might not be in the loop).

At Speak Easy we danced, and sang and carried on...  after dinner we headed to my friend, Kaci's house for a slumber party. When I was in school at Auburn I lived with Kaci. We stayed up until close to 4 o'clock in the morning just chatting. It was so great to get to catch up with my old roomie... it was just like old times.

Saturday morning came fast and hard, but we rallied and got up to catch ESPN's College Gameday, which happened to be in Auburn over the weekend {however, we watched it on TV while enjoyed bfast casserole, as Firday night's nonsense slowed us down a little bit}.

Saturday consisted of tailgating and debauchery...

It was a beautiful weekend, all around. Ali became a grown up. I pretended not to be one... It couldn't have been any better.

My cousin is expecting a baby in November and it's going to be a little boy so on Sunday we celebrated by honoring Baby Heath! I love a baby shower that includes a glass or wine or margarita for the party goers! Yes, Please!

The baby shower was beautiful and Baby Heath got lots of great things!

The tough part is that his Daddy is already trying to make him an Alabama fan....

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

This picture that Ryan's sister, Ali, snapped over Labor Day weekend of Ryan and me cracks me up.

It sums us up so well. Ryan is taking his job of toting that cooler so seriously and I am "pretending" to help tote the cooler which in turn is cracking me up and aggravating sweet Ryan.

You see Ryan thinks I'm not very strong. (which I'm not) He's helped me move several times from a couple of different cities, but only once was it just the two of us. He was stuck with me as his helper to get the process going. He wanted to get everything loaded up as fast as possible. No lolly-gagging on his watch.

However, I knew my parents were on there way and would arrive in roughly an hour to help out. To me this meant lets just clean up a little bit and wait for Dad to get here and help with the heavy lifting. To Ryan that meant nothing... we had a job to do and why should we wait an hour before getting things going.

My roommate at the time was helping her boyfriend and they were really doing work. I mean, she was helping tote dressers, mattresses, tables, TVs... Ryan didn't want to be out done, so he told me that we were about to move my dresser. I got on one end- Ryan got on the other. We didn't make it too far before I was done. 

The thing is I'm sort of petite and Ryan is over six feet tall. He doesn't understand what it's like to be fragile.

From that day on it has really bothered Ryan that I am of no help when it comes to moving large items or lifting heavy objects. He's own his own as far as I'm concerned.

Just a few weeks ago when our new couches were scheduled to come in I told him we needed to move the old couches out (by "we" I meant "he"). He bravely asked for my help which eventually turned into a tiny rant about how weak I am.

I find it amusing, really.

I think that's why I find the above photo so funny. Ryan is toting that heavy cooler, which is no doubt backed to the brim, and thinking "quit acting like you're doing something... you can't even help me tote a dresser 50 yards. So weak." While I am, at the same time, so amused.

Ahhh, Ryan- You got me for life, brah!

What can $40 buy you?

Well, I don't know what it can buy you... but my mom and I turned forty bucks into four pairs of shoes!! Yes, you read that correctly FOUR PAIRS OF SHOES!!

We had to venture to Auburn on Monday to drop my car off at the dealership to have some new keys made [that's a story in itself but I will spare you for now]. It also happened that on that same day my aunt was having knee surgery so we wanted to go by and see her and even take her a little "get well soon" prize.

We headed to the mall to purchase the "get well prize" and happen enter through Belk, which turned into a bit of browsing for our own personal interests. We eventually ended up in the shoes, but had no intentions of purchasing any shoes... when all of a sudden a sweet sales associate said to us, "Have you looked at the shoes? They are 40% off the already low clearance prices."

We were sold.

We looked in every box on every table with our size. Mom settled on two pairs and I was able to find two pairs.

The two pair I bought are very much "a summer sandal" but I will start next spring out on the right foot...[get it? foot.]

I almost purchased the above yellow shoes to take with me on my honeymoon back in May. I opted not to purchase them because I had spent so much money already on different items to take with us... and yellow wedges aren't exactly a necessity... or are they?

I actually have these on today... and I've gotten lots of compliments on them. (It might have something to do with the fact that I keep saying things like... "Hey look at my new shoes! I got a great deal on them!")

Mom was able to score a couple of pairs which will ease into Fall better than the ones I purchased. These Kensie Girls flats (above) will look great with a pants suit for work!

And the forth pair that mom got are great peep toes flats with a bow on them. I've seen on the fashion blogs that bows are in, so I told mom she needed to go for it. (I can't find a picture of the fourth pair but I will update when I do).

Total mom and I saved roughly $200 on our purchases! You can't beat that with a stick. I love a good deal!!!

O.T. (long) W.

Ahhh... I love nothing more than a three day weekend. I LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT. I love nothing more than a day off, if I'm just honest here. I think in another life I was a stay-at-home wife. I think I would be perfect in the role.

I would have the house clean at all times, the laundry organized by color and season, the house decorated to perfection. I would volunteer my time at local food banks, head up a Camp Fire group, and exercise twice a day at least three days a week. Oh to dream! But back to the story at hand... the long holiday weekend.

Ryan and I had an action packed Labor Day weekend. It was the official kick off to AUBURN football. You see, Auburn University has a special place in my heart and, well, the Auburn football team is the only team that matters to me (other than the Denver Broncos-- GO TIM but that's the NFL).

On this same weekend last year Ryan decided to ask me to be his boo for life. You can read all about that right here. I sure am glad he did!

Well, this year the first game of the season was a bit different. Ryan had already made plans to watch the game with some guy friends so I headed to Auburn, AL to spend the day tailgating with the girls.

The girls at the tailgate. (and if you checked the link above regarding last year's opening game.... Yes, I wore the same dress for this year opening game. It was good luck!)

The weather could not have been any better. The high was 86 degrees which means Fall was pretty much in the air in the South. When I heard the weatherman predict a high of 86 and low in the mid fifties I had to ask around to see if I would need a jacket... it's just been that long since I've felt a cool breeze.

Tailgating was awesome and the game was even better! War Eagle!

                                                             I'm not posing at all. This was just a random candid.
 On Sunday, we awoke to yet another beautiful day. So we headed to the lake. It was officially the last weekend of the summer, so we needed to get one more day on the lake under our belts. We enjoyed a ride on the sail boat, which was so relaxing.

Bess and I enjoying the sail boat adventure.

Somehow Lacey ended up "driving" which could have been scary.

Then we decided to head to a concert at our local amphitheater. The line up included The Benjy Davis Project, Shooter Jennings, and Corey Smith.

Deidra and Ali sitting on the lawn at the amphitheater.

I was pumped about Shooter Jennings, as I have several songs on my ipod of his that I like to jam to. Plus he totally rocked it in Walk the Line.

Thanks to a good friend, we got to do a meet and greet with the bands. Like I said, I was most eager to chat it up with Shooter. His manager came out and told us that he would do his meet and greet after the show- we would need to come back then. That was fine with me.

So we snapped a few pictures with Benjy Davis and Corey Smith... both of whom were really nice.

Benjy Davis with Lacey and myself.

The girls with Corey Smith.

The concert was pretty fun. We really jammed to Shooter Jennings.

Are you intrigued as to how I was able to snap a picture from such an angle- high above others...

Well, I had a good angle because Deidra....

...was kind enough to toss me on her shoulders. Ha. She's really strong.

After Shooter's performance we headed to the tour bus and waited. A total of five people actually took the time to come back to meet him. (he's not that famous after all) When he came off stage there we were waiting.

This is the picture I got with him:

Yes, that is him walking right by without any regard to the five people standing there. I was saying, "Hey. Why are you just walking right by?. How rude."

I ended up chatting with his manager and bass guitarist.

I let them know that the fans are what make celebrities who they are. When you only have a total of five fans wanting for a quick picture... you take the picture. I politely asked them to let Mr. Jennings know that he officially lost a fan. (because they cared)

I'm not down with rude... I don't care if your Daddy is Wylon.

Other than Shooter not being the sweetest thing, we all had a good time...

For some reason we decided to recreate this picture from another time at the amphitheater.

 Me and the bro

It was an action packed weekend consisting of lots of good food, lots of our closest friends, a lot of football, a little lake action, some good music and maybe one too many cocktails.

Monday I spent the day watching a Real Housewives marathon while Ryan watched, get this, football.

I officially wish that every weekend was three days long (but who doesn't?).

Take Me There

Do you ever see a picture and it evokes such feeling that you find yourself literally stopping and staring, then wishing you could be there?

Well, this picture did that for me.

picture cote sud mag via

I don't know why but when I happened upon this photo I longed to be there. I wanted to lay on that bed and look up at the sky. I wanted to read a book there until I dozed off.

Maybe I just need a nap, who knows?


Stay tuned. I've got a post about the holiday weekend coming up! I'm just going to say, I may or may not have gotten seriously punked out by a semi-famous person...

Stay the Course

I picked up the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at Target a few weeks ago. I (like every other person) had heard good things about the book so I decided it would be worth looking into. Plus, with football season upon us I need good books to read while Ryan watches football games that I could care less about  I enjoy reading so that Ryan can enjoy watching football without interruption.  I digress.

The weekend I purchased the book I saw this post by my friend Lacey. She had nothing but good things to say about the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo... I went into it with high hopes!

Well, I was struggling to get into it. It has a lot of characters and it moves from one storyline to the next (but they all come together, if that makes sense). So I put the book down. However, I then saw this post over on Just Another Day in Paradise regarding the book. She said that if she had a tough time getting through the first 100 pages but after she made it past that it was a great book.

I decided to forge ahead. I picked the book back up and boy am I glad I did. I found myself wide awake and reading well into the night just trying to figure it all out. I couldn't put it down.

I'm now reading the second book in the series, The Girl who Played with Fire, and it's just as good so far!!

O.T.W. (late edition)

***I would like to say that I am sorry the week is almost over and I am just now posting what happened last weekend... and the new weekend is almost upon us. It's just the kind of crazy week I've had.***

We didn't have a huge weekend planned, however, it was still eventful.

Friday night I had a "girls night out" with Deidra. She and I decided we would go to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks. Well, as the restaurant was closing Deidra and I felt the urge to hit up a local Mexican restaurant for karaoke. (this is really random) Let's just say not only did we duet an all time favorite karaoke song, Fancy by Reba McEntire. I also personally belted out Whitney Huston's I Will Always Love You acapella. It was pretty intense.

"And IIIIIIIII E IIIIIII WILLLL ALLLLWAAAAAAAAYS LOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEE YOOUUUU EW AHHHH..."
At the end of the night the people in charge of the karaoke wanted our names so that they would remember us next time because, (and I quote) "we really livened the party up!" I think they were borderline wanting to hire me to MC because I was not giving up the mic.

Saturday was quite eventful. We had a wedding to attend roughly an hour and half away. As we started getting ready it was one obstacle after another. First we couldn't find the jacket to the suit Ryan wanted to wear. Then we couldn't locate the khakis for his option option number two. We finally got him an outfit worked out the would be suitable for the wedding (it was not what he wanted to wear but, like I said, it was going to have do).

Next up, I started getting ready to go. We were already pushing it on time, but it was totally doable. I rushed around like a crazy person and when it came time for me to get dressed...  I could not locate the dress I wanted to wear!!

I realize at this point in the story you are thinking that I need to work on the laundry, but that's not the case. We figured out that Ryan's suit jacket is at his work, and the other missing articles of clothing have not been seen since a close friend's wedding weekend. So we can assume everything is together somewhere... it's just a matter of where?

Needless to say, I tossed another dress and threw on some fancy shoes to dress it up, as it was going to be a later wedding and we hit the road.

I asked Ryan if we should stop for gas or get down the road a bit before we stopped. He decided to go ahead and work it out.  Ryan hopped out of the car and started the pump. He then ventured inside the gas station to get us a drink. I noticed that the gas pump had stopped so I thought I would help out the team by removing the pump from the vehicle and getting the receipt. A normal gas pump should have automatically shut off when the tank was full (or so I assumed). As I removed the pump from the tank gas WENT EVERYWHERE. I was totally sprayed with gas. My dress was covered in gas (down to my bra), my hair had gas in it, my legs were covered, my hands, my arms... I was a serious fire hazard.

According to the above newspaper clipping (located via google) it gas pumps have had automatic shut offs since way back when.

I ran into the store yelling at Ryan, "I got gas all over me. I was trying to help out and the stupid pump didn't shut off. What are we going to do?" Ryan stared blankly in ahh of the situation.

I rushed passed him and headed straight for the restroom, washed my hand and attempted to clean my self up. At this point I was high on fumes and feeling as though I has done a sufficient job getting rid of the terrible smell. I ran back out to the car, hopped in and asked Ryan if I still smelled like gas... He responded, "Yes. Yes, you do. You reek of gas and I can't ride an hour and half with this smell and we certainly can't go in a church for a wedding with you smelling like you just bathed in gasoline."

Long story short- we didn't make it the wedding. We went back home. I had to basically take another shower and we both had an intense head ache from the stench.

It just wasn't in the cards for us.

Hope your weekend plans worked out better than ours!