Our New Addition

For about the past two weeks Nick and I have been considering a new addition to our family. No, not another pet for our zoo!

 

We got a boat yesterday. What better way to start the summer?!

 

Our boat is used and in need of some serious TLC. We will eventually end up getting it reupholstered, but for right now we are going to start using it. I cleaned up the seats last night and its going to see a mechanic for a tune up this week.

 

Hopefully it will be ready to go out on the lake this weekend.

 

Last weekend we went to a wedding in Beaufort, NC. It was probably the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to. The sunset was perfect.

 

 I have to say Holy Pinterest Batman, I NEED to get crackin' on my own wedding. The amount of work that must have gone into all the detail in this wedding blows my mind. It was really beautifully done, and every detail was so well thought out.  



 

Work is very quiet for me in the summer and I already have weekend fever. Have a great rest of your Tuesday!

Life Lessons from My {Almost} 29 Years

This summer I'm turning 29, and if I've learned anything from my almost 29 years, the following lessons would be it.

 

I could probably also call this post Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from Watching Sex and the City. I am actually old enough that this show was on the original time, on HBO, when I was in college.

 

A lot of these lessons are ones I learned (usually the hard way) in my Life Before Nick. Some are sort of a PSA for single ladies.  

 

1. No one worth knowing has ever worn weightlifting gloves in the gym. Ditto for bartending gloves.

 

2. Guys that wear Tapout shirts are tools.

 

 

3. There is a big difference from someone being sorry they did something, and sorry they got caught.

 

4. Also, while we are on the subject, DO NOT give people chance after chance (especially after they’ve proven themselves unworthy). After much heartache, you will FINALLY figure out some people are JUST.NOT.WORTH.IT.

 

5. When someone does something and your gut/instinct tells you to run for the hills, listen to it. RUN. 

 

6. Someone can go from being a truly good cherished friend to someone with whom you will end up cutting ties. Even though its sad, it happens and sometimes friends just outgrow each other.

 

 

7. The only way to get through some things is consuming wine, watching Sex and the City, and the passing of time.

 

 

 

8. Go ahead and splurge on the Mac. You won't be sorry.

 

 

9. If you can, buy yourself a present every pay day. That is your reward for working the past two weeks.

 

10. Since there are people that collect Lilly Pulitzer, I see a Lilly purchase as an investment in something I can always wear and will never go out of style.

 

11. You have to meet all the wrong people before you can appreciate meeting the right person.

 

12. I had always heard people say this, and it ended up being so true for me. You will meet Mr. Right when you least expect it. For me, not only was I not expecting it, but I had given up all hope that meeting Mr. Right was in my future. Then Nick came into my life :)

 

I hope y'all liked my little list. Have a great weekend!!

Screen Door Dilemma

I have been having an uneventful week, and that is perfectly fine with me. I've been spending my non-working hours going to the gym, catching up on shows I've DVRed from Bravo (Newlyweds is my new favorite), and checking on my garden.

 

My tomato plants are HUGE! I'm so proud. Everything else looks great too.
 

 

Trinket likes to "help" me in the garden and Nick just put some new sod down in our backyard

 

 

As soon as I get home from work everyday, I go outside and water all our plants. Sometimes I check on them in the morning before work too. This brings me to today's predicament. This morning I discovered that my screen door is stuck shut.

 

I have a dog door, so the dogs can go in and out, I am just not really sure how I am going to get into the backyard to water plants. If you've been following the Jodi Arias trial like I have, just let me say I will NOT be pulling a Jodi Arias and crawling through the doggie door.

Nick isn't at home to fix it, and the fence is locked from the inside (to discourage dognappers).

 

Hopefully I'll find a solution to this little situation soon. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Is there is way to un-stick (is that even a word?) a door?

 

Happy Thursday!



Darlington, y'all

Happy Monday kids.

I'm behind on blogging, so I will jump right in with a recap of our little trip to Darlington for the Southern 500 and a funny (to me anyways) story.

Call me a bad Southerner, but I am not really too into NASCAR. (I am also not huge on the famously Southern drink Mint Julep. The Lilly print yes, of course. The actual drink not so much.)

I don't have a driver and don't really care about the outcome of the race, but we always have a good time, so I guess that is why I am usually down to go to a NASCAR race. 

 

Oh the things we saw. Check out this redneck swimmin' hole!

 

 

Me and my friend Marcia before we went into the race.

 

 

Marcia and her hubby John.

 

 

Me and Nick.

 

Now for the funny story. Marcia and I were walking around and she was in awe at the amount of redneckness we saw. We were having a good time taking in the sights, and Marcia says to me, "Hey, look at that girl." I looked and sort of chuckled, and went on about my business. Then I did a double take. I said, "Marcia, I know that girl, she is from my hometown and tried to beat my @$$ one time."

 

Yes, sad to say that is true! About ten years ago two girls tried to get me to fight them at my old job over my ex-bf. I had never been in a fight in my life (still haven't) and wouldn't fight them. I was actually confused at first about what they were trying to do, until it clicked in my brain, "oh, these girls want to get into a physical fight."

 

A friend was inside the bar at my old job, saw them trying to start something, and ran outside and told them she would beat them up (she is in the military and is a tough cookie) and they ran away scared. That is a good friend! Haha.

 

And can I just add that I think more events should have BoJangles for sale at concessions!

 

Hope everyone has a good Monday afternoon!



 







Bahamas Recap {Part 2~Dolphins!}

Here is the promised post on the dolphin excursion!

 

I saw some pics of precious baby dolphins on Pinterest a while back and got it in my head that I had to meet a dolphin. I told Nick that I hoped we could swim with dolphins on our honeymoon. As soon as we found out that there were dolphin excursions where we were going on our trip, we signed up immediately.

 

{As a side note, we booked our excursion through the concierge service Nick's MasterCard provides and it was way cheaper than through the cruise ship. You just have to find taxis to take instead of the shuttle provided by the ship.}

 

We took a boat ride to reach the dolphin lagoon where the dolphins live. That was a lot of fun, and we got to see the crystal clear turquoise water that the Bahamas is known for. There were about eight other people on the boat that were also going on the excursion.

 

 

As soon as we arrived and learned a little bit about the dolphins, I started getting nervous. I've petted a dolphin before at SeaWorld, and I saw a dolphin in the wild once when I was at Myrtle Beach and one jumped out of the ocean a few times. I remember both of those dolphins as being much smaller than the dolphins on this excursion. These were BIG healthy dolphins.

 

 

These dolphins were five hundred pound animals. I was not expecting that, and I think that's what made me nervous. That is like a pony. An average to large horse is around 1000 to 1200 pounds to put that in perspective. I didn't realize dolphins are so large, much less so strong and muscular. You also feel pretty helpless when you are in the water.

 

I went ahead and got in the water with the dolphins. As soon as I started to pet one, I realized they are super sweet and smart, and then I wasn't nervous anymore.

 

 

I was paired with a dolphin named Robala (although I kept wanting to call her Ricotta like the cheese) and Nick was paired with a dolphin named Kayla. Both were girl dolphins and were 35 years old.

 

Nick was much braver and he and his dolphin were fast friends and swam all over the lagoon together. He and his dolphin dove underwater, and he said you can hear them making "talking" noises. I was content to just doggie paddle and pet my dolphin. Their temperament reminded me a lot of horses.
 

 

We got about 15 minutes of time with the dolphins. I'm still amazed at what sweet and smart creatures they are. I left on a high from it - the only thing I can compare it to would be the time I went skydiving. The first thing I said when I woke up the next morning was that I still couldn't believe we really got to swim with dolphins.

 

 Thank you Nick for one of the best experiences of my life!!  

 

Tomorrow I attend my graduate school orientation, then I am O-U-T to housesit for my Mom for the weekend so I will be in charge of five horses and a mini pig! I will be posting lots of pics of that darling little oinker on Instgram so be ready if we are Instagram friends!

xo



Bahamas Recap {Part 1}

I'm back from vacation, and back to the daily grind. The Bahamas were hands-down amazing!!!

 

I overanalyze everything. This was my first cruise, and I was concerned about safety on the ship and cleanliness after all the horror stories you hear in the news about cruises. Plus, I'm sort of a clean freak. I didn't gain this trait until we Nick bought our house, but here I am, a reborn clean freak.

 

Our ship was called Bahamas Celebration. The ship was spotless, and I peeked into one of the kitchens and it was very clean as well. The staff was nice, and it seemed safe. The food was pretty good too - I would compare it to the food at the Hilton I where I used to work.

 

Towel animals. I love these. It's the little things y'all.

 

 

We spent two days in Fort Lauderdale before we boarded our ship. We went to a little tiki bar one night that had been on one of our favorite shows, Bar Rescue.

 

 

We spent all day Thursday in Freeport. We didn't book anything through the ship. We just did our own thing, and booked a dolphin excursion through Nick's credit card concierge service.

 

{Sparky's in Freeport}

{Lighthouse} 

{Breakfast on the ship}

 {I was sorry I didn't get any pics of these phone booths when we went to the British Virgin Islands, so I was sure to take plenty when I saw one on this trip.}

 {Welcome to Freeport}

 

We made some friends on the ship. This sweet couple from New Jersey, and also a group of five college girls from FL. We all had dinner together the last night.

 

 

The dolphins were so special they deserve a post all their own, so I will do a part two dedicated just to them. I still can't believe I got to meet a dolphin. I told Nick we have to get a salt water pool and adopt our own pet dolphin. He didn't seem too big on the idea. :-)

 

Happy Monday!



Bahamas Bound

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

 

I'm leaving work soon and won't be back for over a week. I'm very content at my job and like my coworkers, but I am ready for break.

 

Soon these little piggies will be sunk into the sand in the Bahamas.

 

I'll post some pics when I get back, until then, here are some pictures from St. John last year I've been looking at, well, ever since we got back really.

 

 

Looking at these reminds me that I am oddly excited to be taking actual camera pictures on the trip, and not iPhone pics. I plan on turning my phone off as soon as we leave Florida. I got a new camera for my birthday last year, but I've barely used it because I just use my phone. I haven't carried an actual camera around in my purse since college.

 

Until next time

xo



Big Hair, Little Dog

Big hair, little dog. My and Trinket's new motto for life. Like Priscilla Presley and her dog, Honey.

 

 

I was looking at pictures of Priscilla online because I can't help but notice how much Megan Draper's style on Mad Men looks like Priscilla. Does anyone else think so?

 

I have to admit, Megan is growing on me. I was Team Betty forEVA, and didn't get why everyone loved Megan. I think it's her fantastic wardrobe and cat eye makeup that finally won me over.

 

 

I want all of her clothes. She makes me want to be brunette again, too. Her clothes on the trip to Hawaii on this season's first episode were to die for.

 

I think her bright clothes have been on my mind, because I went to Belk yesterday after work and splurged on a simple cotton Lilly dress for our trip.

 





{Cordon dress, Let's Cha Cha print}

 

Happy Hump Day!!