Wedding Wednesday: Bachelor Gift Idea

     DFH and I had planned for our bachelor and bachelorette parties to be the same weekend.  Mine was in Atlantic City and Long Beach Island and DFH was having all of his friends come to him for a weekend in Pittsburgh.

   I knew I wanted to get DFH a little something for his bachelor weekend so I decided to put together a box of goodies for DFH and his friends for the big night out and morning after.  Knowing boys, I knew they would probably forget to bring snacks and Gatorades, etc. to the hotel.  I took a crate and split it into two sides with cardboard. One side read "For Your Big Night Out". The other side read, "For Your Hangover."  

On the "Night Out: side of the crate I included:

1.Airplane bottles of alcohol

2.Playing cards

3.Energy drinks

4.Chips and candy

5.Gum

6.Shot glasses 

7.And lastly I included $3 in an envelope and labeled it "Stripper Money" as a joke 

 

On the "For Your Hangover" side of the crate I included: 

1. Ingredients for Bloody Marys

a.Vodka

                    b.Bloody Mary mix 

2. Arizona Green Tea

3.A bottle of Aleve

4.Emergen-C 

5.And a bottle of Pepto

    Before I left for my bachelorette party I dropped the crate off at the hotel the boys were staying at and the hotel was nice enough to offer to bring the box to the room when the guys arrived the next day.  The crate was a huge hit!
 



Charlotte

            Back in June I flew to Charlotte to celebrate one of my college bffs 30th birthday.  

        I was nervous I wouldn't make it onto my flight to Charlotte because I had booked my flight in my married last name thinking I would have my license changed by the date of my flight, however on the day of my flight I still hadn't received my social security card so I couldn't change anything.  I had called the airline and explained the situation, but they refused to change my name on the ticket and just told me to bring my marriage license. 

   After showing TSA my marriage license and several proofs of identification I had to undergo a bag and full body search and then FINALLY they let me on the plane. Phew! 

     I couldn't wait to get to Charlotte, it is one of my favorite cities mostly because so many of my close college friends live there.  The same weekend My friend Jenna was flying in from Chicago and my friend Keegan was flying in from Los Angeles to celebrate the birthday girl. 

     On Friday night my flight was delayed so once I landed in Charlotte I headed directly to dinner to meet the girls for a Mexican feast at La Paz. I couldn't wait to devour some white queso dip. I still cannot understand why white queso dip is only sold in southern Mexican restaurants. Does anyone know the answer? 

     The rest of the night was low key and spent catching up over a few bottles of wine back at Falon's apartment. 

    Saturday was Falon's big 30th birthday celebration at VBGB a local beer garden. The place was so neat with a great outdoor area and of course great beer selection 

 

Jenna, Falon, me and Keegan before the party. 

I love that Charlotte is full of Elon alumni so it was so wonderful to catch up with so many friends from college. 

Elon girls. 

With the birthday girl. 

After leaving VBGB the birthday girl wanted to dance and that is just what we did. We headed to a local bar/club and danced the night away before calling it a night.

Sunday we recovered and  enjoyed a long delicious BBQ brunch at Midwood Smokehouse, before I knew it, it was already time to go to the airport.

And of course I couldn't leave NC without some Bojangles. 

Some Bubbly, Some Wallpaper, and New Couches

  I haven't talked much about our new home on the blog, I promise there will be lots of posts about all of our renovations.  We love the new house, but to be honest the process has been a lot slower then I thought.  As always things take longer then you think.  DFH and I always say we are going to come home and work on the house every night after work, yet many nights we get lazy and by the time we get home and workout and eat or run errands it is already after 9:00pm and nothing gets done.  So as soon as I have completed work to show you I will, I just don't think you want posts on all of our half completed work. 

   This past weekend however was one of the first weekends we were both in town since we moved so it was nice to have a full weekend to work on the house. 

 Our friend LES was so kind to come over and help us rip down wallpaper.  All day Saturday was spent tearing down this very 90's floral print in one of the bedrooms.

 While LES and I tackled the bedroom DFH was hard at work on the landscaping.  I don't have a before picture, but I will say that I am sure our house was the embarrassment of the neighborhood before DFH cleaned up the yard and added fresh mulch and planted flowers.  The front yard was completely overgrown with tall grass and leaves and three foot weeds, it needed a major makeover.  We finally purchased a lawnmower this weekend and I am sure our neighbors are grateful.  Luckily our next door neighbor had been kind enough to mow our lawn while we got situated in the house, I am sure he didn't enjoy looking at weeds and overgrown grass either. 

   Please ignore the porch and the stairs that is a whole other project. 

LES was so sweet and brought us some craft beer and champagne as a house warming gift.  Saturday also happened to be our nine month wedding anniversary so Saturday night we popped the bubbly and sat on our back deck enjoying each other's company and our new home. 

     On Sunday we ran errands to get some things for the house.  We also found some new couches which I am super psyched about.

  I have had plaid hand me down couches from my parents since law school, and have never wanted to invest in new ones until we had a house and knew what type of space we would have for furniture so we could buy a complete set.    If you have been following the blog for awhile or follow me on Instagram I am sure you have seen them, you can't miss the outdated green and maroon plaid. 

    Although I have been ready for new couches for years, I am going to miss these just a bit.  I have so many memories on these couches studying for law school, late night convos drinking wine with friends, friends from out of town sleeping over and lazy weekends watching movies and eating in front of the TV.  The stains of highlighter, pen, wine, and body indents show that they were well loved and used. 

  

RIP Plaid couches.   

 

 

We are home again this weekend so as long as we are productive I am hopeful I will have some home updates for you soon. 

Delfest

One of my favorite summer activities in the summer is listening to live music, even better is a whole weekend of live music.   Over Memorial Day weekend we attended Delfest our favorite annual blue grass musical festival in Maryland.  DFH, LES and I hopped in our car on Friday after work and headed down to Maryland.  

We got in later then planned and set up our campsite for the weekend and then caught some live music at one of the stages. 

 

LES and I jamming out. 

( Sorry for the blur)

Our camp for the weekend 

On Saturday we woke up and took some Selfies while DFH cooked us breakfast. 

 

Our personal chef. 

Saturday was gorgeous and was hot enough to finally start wearing our summer dresses.  

DFH and I 

Delfest featured three stages with live music and vendors.  We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the main stage listing to some great music 

And catching some rays. 

Can't wait for next year. 

#TBT Chicago

    I'm finally getting around to recapping my Chicago trip from April.  DFH and I found a last minute cheap flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago so we decided to venture to the Midwest for my college friend Jenna's 30th birthday. 

We arrived and Jenna had a bottle of champs waiting to start the celebrating.   She knows my love for champagne too well. 

We enjoyed a delicious sushi dinner downtown before Jenna rang in 30th birthday with some Kesha Kareoke. 

 

 

On Saturday we enjoyed brunch before the boys headed to the Cubs game and Jenna and I enjoyed some girl time gossiping and shopping. 

Of course DFH loved the craft beer scene in Chicago, especially this beer flight.  

Saturday was the big birthday celebration. Sadly I failed to take any pictures.  

On Sunday we explored two local breweries, Half Acre and Revolution for a Sunday funday. 

We ended our trip with a visit to "the bean" for a few selfies. 

Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette Gift Idea

   Today I am linking up with Belle in Boots  and  Love Always, Nancy J. for Wedding Wednesday.  I have really been the worst about recapping my wedding and I still plan to do that, if only for my own personal blog scrapbook, but for right now I want to discuss my favorite Bachelorette Gift Idea.  Obviously lingerie and undies are essential gifts for the bride-to-be, but I also received a very special gift my bachelorette weekend from my mom and all my bridesmaids. 

 

My mom purchased the picture frame with the white matte and then secretly had all of my bridesmaids and herself put on different shades of lipstick and kiss the matte in two different spots and sign their name by their kiss.   I had no idea this was being done behind my back during the bachelorette weekend, yet now I vaguely recall some of the girls suddenly sporting faded lipstick during the day. 

My Mom stuck in a picture from my bridal shower, I still need to update the picture from the bachelorette weekend.  It is such a special gift and reminder of such a fun weekend.

This is such a simple and inexpensive gift for your bride-to-be and such a special keepsake.

 

Baby You're a Firework

       It is always so hard to come back to work after a long weekend at the beach.  This post is picture heavy...get excited!

    On Wednesday DFH and I and some of our friends headed to Long Beach Island to celebrate ALV's birthday and hang with my parents for the 4th of July weekend.

   There were five of us who came in from Pittsburgh and we brought a ton of stuff so we rented a mini van which was so fun for our road trip.  A minivan may be my next car I loved all of the space.

   We arrived on Long Beach Island super late on Wednesday and then woke up Thursday and packed the car back up to celebrate ALV's birthday in Atlantic City for the night. 

    A group fireball shot was necessary at 11:00 am to start the 30th birthday fun. 

 

 

   The weather was gorgeous on Thursday so once we arrived in Atlantic City we headed straight to the boardwalk to Bungalow, the beach bar to enjoy a few cocktails on the beach. 

JLP and I

   On Thursday night we all got dolled up before feasting on tacos and margaritas at Casa Taco for dinner.  ALV even got three cakes for her 30th birthday celebration.  Cheers to 30!

After dinner we headed to Boogie Nights for their 90's night dance party.

Paparazzi, no more pictures please. 

A bunch of ALV's friends from college met us in Atlantic City for the night, it was such a fun group!

   We woke up to a monsoon on the 4th of July, but it was perfect weather for recovering after a big night and traveling back to LBI. Luckily by dinner time it cleared up so we were able to enjoy drinks  outside on the deck with my parents and end the night watching fireworks on the bay and playing with sparklers. 

Matching in our 4th of July anchors 

ALV and BS 

ALV, LES, and I 

With the Hubs 

 

 

Family Sparkler Picture

 



 

One last Birthday celebration for ALV 

  On Friday night we went to Plantation a local bar/restaurant for live music and a beer. I had to try the FU Sandy beer made by Flying Fish as 100% of the proceeds go to benefit victims of Sandy.

Saturday was another gorgeous day. We spent it in the lagoon paddle boarding, kayaking, playing cornhole before spending the afternoon at beach. 

We came home and enjoyed some apps and beers on the boat followed by an incredible lobster dinner. 

 

 

Until next time LBI.