One Lovely Blog Award

Hi all! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. We had beautiful weather...I laid by the pool for a couple of hours Saturday without drowning in my own sweat :) We were lazy, lazy, lazy and it was great. I spent the entirety of Sunday afternoon stretched out on the floor reading and cuddling with the dog. Perfection.

No Menu Monday this week, as I haven't planned anything :)

Ally over at Copacetic in Carolina pass on this One Lovely Blog award to me! How fun. These things are great--I love learning random facts about people.

Rules:

Link back to the person who gave you this award
Complete the form below
Share 7 random things about yourself
Award 15 bloggers this award and notify them of the award(kinda breaking this one...)

• Name your favorite color: Purple :)
  
• Name your favorite song: I actually don't think I have one because it changes all the time! I do love anything by Sugarland though.
  
• Name your favorite dessert: my Mawmaw's homemade chocolate pound cake + chocolate icing. yum, yum, yum!
  
• What ticks you off: liars
  
• When you're upset you: walk, call a friend, read for a while
  
• Your favorite pet: Of course I love our sweet Newnan! But I can't forget my baby back home in Georgia, Nipper, along with our cats. Then there was the first pet I ever had, my sweet cat of 15 years, Cocoa.
  
• Black or White: White...it looks so clean
  
• Your biggest fear: Not finding what I'm supposed to do
  
• Best feature: eyes
• Everyday attitude: Happy, laid back
  
• What is perfection: A fall Sunday afternoon...clear skies, post-church, preferably post- UGA win :)
  
• Guilty pleasure: pedicures, reading all day, Starbucks lattes
  

Seven Random Things About Myself:

1) I absolutely have to have reading materials for any car trip over an hour. I have to be entertained. Yes, I talk to whomever I am in the car with, but I also need a book or magazine. I can't stand to just look out windows for hours.

2) I used to be terrified of flying, yet I wanted to be a astronaut. Still not completely over my fear of flying, but as I fly more, I'm more comfortable with it.

3) I am, and always will be, a band geek. I started playing clarinet in middle school, marched in high school, and played in the UGA concert bands in college. I still love the sound of a drumline outside a Friday night high school football game!

4) For some reason, I always get sucked into movies I OWN when they are on TV. Yesterday afternoon was Titanic. I wonder how many times I've seen that movie? And each time I just think..."Surely he could have grabbed another piece of wood..."

5) Speaking of the Titanic, I have been strangely fascinated by it since I was young--7 or 8 years old. I'm not sure how it started, but I've read pretty much every book about it, watched the documentaries, played video games, etc. A few years ago I went to the exhibit when it was in Atlanta and touched a piece of the hull!

6) I went with some other Memphis-area UGA alums to the Liberty Bowl Gala last year. When we were coming down from the cocktail hour to the dinner, we saw Aaron Murray and some other players waiting in the lobby for a meeting. I told him I should get my picture made with him because "I'm the Memphis UGA Alumni club president, so I have street cred." Someone should have cut me off after 2 drinks.

7) At least 50%(probably more like 75%...) of my wardrobe is from Target. Probably 80% of my shoes are!

Here's Where I Break The Rules

If you are reading this, and haven't received this award, CONGRATS! You just did. Please post up some fun facts about you and leave me a link to your blog. No blog? Post the answers in my comments :)

Have a great Monday!

Oh hey....

Sorry about the absence!

I've been a little busy at work(I usually blog on my lunch hour) and just haven't felt like posting. I think I'm out of the funk though!

Next week will be back to our regularly scheduled programming, but for today you get a bulleted list of my random thoughts. Enjoy!

• I plan on enjoying this last weekend of August by the pool and walking Newnan(the temps have been great yesterday and today!), but come Monday, I'm ready for Fall.
  
  
• Fall items I'm looking forward to: cool weather, tall boots, recipes with cinnamon and apples, fall scented candles, hoodies, Jim Beam + Coke Zero and college football!
  
  
• Newnan destroys at least 2 toys a week. Does anyone make dog toys made of steel?
  
  
• I read Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin this weekend. I've read 4 of her 5 books and they all deal with cheating. I'm sensing a theme.
  
  
• On another note, I liked Something Borrowed and Something Blue, but did not care for Baby Proof or Heart of the Matter.
  
  
• I've read a lot of books recently, so expect a reading post soon!
  

That's all I have for today...Ally gave me a blog award, so expect that post sometime this weekend!

What are your weekend plans?

Pale is The New Tan 5K Results & Playlist

Last Friday, I ran my first 5K since last October! I'm really trying to get back in shape, so I signed up for the race as a sort of benchmark for my training. I plan on running a Labor Day weekend 5K and wanted to have something for comparison.

My official time is listed as 35:29. However, I tracked on my watch and had 34:51. I stopped the watch when I actually stopped running for a few seconds at the 2 water stops (it was so.humid.). I set a goal for under 35 minutes, so I'll say my watch was right! My last two 5ks have been 33-34 minutes, so I was pleased with this time, especially since my training last week was sub par. I took 3 1-1:30 walking breaks.

I need to decide on my goal for the CFA 5k: No walks, or faster time? What do you suggest?

I made a playlist for the race and thought I'd share it with you all. These are a few of the songs I've been enjoying on the treadmill this summer!

Sorry for the lack of posting this week...haven't felt that great. Next week should be back to normal!

What are your favorite workout songs?

Wedding Thursday: Flowers, Details + DIY Projects

Drats, late again this week!

You've heard the saying "It's all in the details"? I think that's very true when it comes to weddings. I believe the details really make the whole day personal to the couple. Although, looking back, I don't think J cared much about the details. As long as he didn't have to wear a purple tux, he was okay.

The Flowers + Decor

Ceremony:

I think flowers are gorgeous, but man, can they be expensive. I wanted pretty flowers for our ceremony and reception, but I also didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on flowers for one day! That's the part that got me the most, these flowers were only for one day!

I used a local florist that did the flowers for my friend's wedding. I gave her a budget( $2,000) and told her the general look I was going for. I wanted something light and springy, not too formal. I gave her swatches of my bridesmaids dress colors. I also tore out pictures from magazines of looks that I liked and mailed them to her. I told her to use whatever was in-season to keep costs down. I was so pleased with the result!

For the wedding party, I originally thought I wanted my bridesmaids to carry ivory/neutral bouquets and mine be the only colored one. In the end, I went with all color because we used the bouquets at the reception for decor. For the guys, the groomsmen wore ivory rose boutonnieres with purple accents while J's was a purple flower. Our mom's wore pin on corsages and our dad's matched the groomsmen. We also had small wrist corsages for our readers.




I wanted very little decor for the ceremony for 2 reasons: 1) my church is beautiful, so it didn't really need to me fixed up, and 2) The ceremony was less than 30 minutes long. Why spend a big chunk of my budget to fix up the church when we spent more time at the reception? Our florist marked the pews for our families with a simple baby's breath arrangement. We had an ivory arrangement at the altar; we donated it to the church to use the next morning in memory of our grandparents. There were a couple of candelabras in the choir loft and a memorial candle in the foyer. That's it!




The Reception:

This is where she blew me away. As I said earlier, I really didn't specify what I wanted. I didn't demand certain flowers or anything like that. I told her some things I liked, but what was important was staying in budget and following the color scheme.

I knew one way to save money was with the centerpieces. We had 23 tables in our reception room! This included 15 tables in the main room and 8 in the "covered patio". To cut costs, only 8 of the main room tables had floral centerpieces. The other 7 + the covered patio tables were candle arrangements. We did not decorate the buffet tables or the cake tables. The guestbook/gift table was one of my DIY projects (more in a minute). She also made a small toss bouquet for me. I don't have very many straight-on shots of the arrangements, but I loved all of them.


Isn't it all pretty? And she provided all supplies + labor for....$2,095. That's a damn good deal if you ask me!

Details + DIY

I followed the old tradition of "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue". My something old was my Mawmaw(paternal grandmother)'s engagement + wedding band and my Nanny's (maternal grandmother) necklace that I attached to my bouquet. Something new was (clearly) my dress + accessories. For something borrowed, I put my DG Big Sister(and Matron of Honor)'s Delta Gamma pin on my bouquet; she wore mine in her wedding. Something blue? Blue Hanky Panky underwear :) I also had a UGA garter, but didn't actually wear it the whole time. I put it on before the garter toss.


I made our programs using Microsoft publisher. I just designed them as a brochure and printed them out. I tried to match our invitations, using a mix of script and roman font. The cover was just a slightly heavier stock, metallic silver paper. I punched holes in the sides and tied them with a ribbon. The outside cover was stamped with a pretty flourish rubber stamp I found at Hobby Lobby in purple ink. My maids of honor and I worked on these for the two days leading up to the wedding(unfortunately, they didn't photograph well!). I think I spent a total of $60; purchasing programs to match my invites would have cost $250!



I also made the tissue paper pomanders for my flower girls. All I needed was a 5" Styrofoam ball, purple tissue paper, florist's wire and silver ribbon...and a lot of time! They took forever, but I loved how they looked.

I knew from day 1 I would make moss covered letters to hang on the church doors. Our initials (L & J) ended up being the "theme" of our wedding. These were super easy to make with cardboard letters, moss sheets and spray glue.


Our wonderful photographer (who's pictures I've used in all my recaps) put together our guestbook using our engagement photos. He posted a fun animation of it on his blog.

We placed the guestbook on a table that I decorated (well, collected items for and left instructions with my reception coordinator to decorate). I bough zinc letters from anthropologie ( L & J) that were placed on the table along with all the bouquets, the guestbook, buckets of bubbles and my bridal portrait.



I had a great time adding personal touches to our wedding. I really admire all the 100% DIY brides out there...my few projects took it all out of me!

A few more posts in the series...our pre-wedding parties & the Honeymoon, plus some of my favorite pictures!

All photos in this post were done by William Massey Photography.

Menu Monday

::sigh:: The weekend was way too short.

Here's our planned meals for the week! I'm excited to try a few new recipes!

Tonight we'll be having this Southwestern Steak & Beans recipe I saw posted on Cooking Light's Facebook page. I'm putting asparagus(that I never cooked last week..) and baked potatoes with it.

The Salsa Chicken found on SparkPeople is one of our favorites and I haven't made it in a while. I love crock pot recipes!

I'm excited to try my first Mama Pea recipe--and to make the famous "MMMMSauce"--with this Summer Succatash Quesadilla with Nacho MMMSauce. Cross your fingers J will like it :)

The last planned meal is the Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine from Cooking Light. Another favorite and there are always delicious leftovers!

I've requested sushi post-5K on Friday :) We may try a new place...or just go with our standard Sekisui :)

What's cookin' this week?