vizify.

so this is COOL.

https://www.vizify.com/laura-fowlkes

once you link all of your social media sites to your vizify account, it creates a "summary" of your web presence all in one resume-like storyboard. i love this!

ps. you have to "request" a code to sign up. i got mine the same day.

erin & trey & the prettiest wedding dress i have ever seen.

erin is one of my long-time friends and my sister's bff. we met erin through cheerleading when we first started high school and she has been in our lives ever since. erin also was a chi o at south carolina and pledged a year late so she ended up in my pledge class. we lived together for 2 years and we have the same group of girlfriends from chi o, so saturday was filled with my family, my best friends and the most amazing asiago potatoes i have ever tasted.

around 3pm on wedding day, courtney/MOH called me and said she needed a huge favor - they needed erin's bridal portraits printed out before the wedding. so that is how i got my hands on these beautiful pictures that just happened to be taken at the mansion...

{jere & ashley}

{jere & ashley}

the girls & i met around 5pm and headed to the church. we walked into the church and proceeded to the guest book. once inside, we started to realized we didn't know anyone in there. as ammie was signing the guest book - we told her to grab a program. she said "this is katherine's wedding!!" of course we thought she was kidding, but turns out she wasn't. WE WENT INTO THE WRONG CHURCH! cue the laughter and extreme embarrassment - at least we didn't get seated before realizing! luckily, we were early  & the right church was just around the corner.

after the short & sweet ceremony, we were off to myers park country club for the reception. holy beautiful. i have never been before and i was so impressed. being in the industry, that doesn't happen to me often. but everything from the food, to the decor, to the "powder room," and the fantastic staff, i was blown away. we had a great time, followed by a fun night with our gang of high school friends at montford.

{daddy & me}

{our chi o house mom!}

{highlight of my night was seeing ms. maggie}

{chi omegas with the bride!}

{best friends}

{MOH, bride & i}

congrats erin & trey!

quirky.

1. i hate capital letters. i only use them when writing work related emails. i often refer to them as "momma letters," and i prefer the baby ones.

2. i'm loyal to a fault.  it's taken me a long time and a lot of heartache to realize most people aren't. this doesn't mean i don't mess up, because i do. a lot.

3. i love my hair. even though it's red.

4. i hate watermelon.

5. my bed has to be made before i get in it every night. even if i don't make it in the morning, i make it right before i get in it. i realize this makes absolutely no sense.

6. i have a knack for making friends through social media. my college friends make fun of me for this but i think it's great. after all, twitter gave me kristin.

7. i can't spell the word definitely to save my life. i almost always spell it wrong and have to google it to figure it out.

8. i have severe anxiety about walking into a movie theatre first & trying to find seats. i also hate ordering drinks at a bar. i am thankful my friends love me enough to do both of these things for me.

9. every last joint in my body cracks. it's gross. i'm told i even crack my wrists in my sleep...

10. i hate to be touched. i have a very short list of people who i like to hug/be affectionate with. my dad tells me i have intimacy problems. i think i just have other ways to love people.

yes, i'm a weirdo.

(thursday and} friday, saturday, and sunday.

my stepmom texted me last week and said she had gotten a great deal on a house at my favorite place in the world {read why here} and asked if i could come down for the weekend. her family was in town and they were all headed down on tuesday. due to some seriously long work days last week and plans that fell through on wednesday, i was able to take a whole day off friday. so thursday around 4pm, i headed to good ol' bald head island. i caught the 10pm ferry and loved every second of that boat ride. there is something magical about riding through the ocean in the pitch black of night. i haven't felt peace like that in quite some time.

court picked me up on the island and we grabbed some dinner and headed down to the beach. we laid under the stars for about an hour before going to bed. i can't remember the last night i have seen stars shine that bright & i even saw 4 shooting stars. happiness.

friday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and went to the beach. i read the entire 1st hunger game book from start to finish and only got a few weird sunburn spots. pretty impressive day at the beach for a redhead. after the beach we ordered pizza and hung out until the rest of our gang arrived. we picked up leigh & derrick and britt & matt at the ferry - i was so glad they got to come for the weekend.

{view from our front porch}

{my friday.}

{the house - all 16 of us had a place to sleep!}

saturday morning we woke up and headed back to the beach. court & i spent a majority of the morning floating around the ocean in our rafts. it was SO windy & the waves were nuts. the beach always makes me feel like i am 5 years old again and i generally act like it too.

after lunch, leigh, derrick & i headed out for a drive around the island. things are always changing around there - we did a little shopping too. for dinner we grilled out - feeding 16 people at once is a task! we played games and went on a late night drive just like we used to do when we were little. we even went on a beach stroll. such a fun night.

{luna pops made in wilmington, nc}

{old baldy}

{love}

sunday we packed up and headed back to southport. leigh, d, court & i decided to stay for lunch and we picked provisions right on the water. it was packed, but worth the wait. i had a 1/4 pound of shrimp and a crab cake. nothing like eating fresh seafood on the water. southport is adorable. our long trek back included singing loudly, sunflower seeds, and sinful blizzards from DQ. i am thankful for every second i get to spend on bald head island & this weekend was no different.

{southport, nc.}

{southport, nc.}

friday, saturday, sunday.

after working a 13 hour day on friday, i went on a little run, and retired for the evening with the wonder years reruns.

saturday consisted of a lot of errands and a lot of money spending. i went to lowe's twice, to world market, and  to sleepy poet. i LOVE the sleepy poet - you could seriously get lost in there for an entire day and still not see everything. we also did some more spray painting - it's getting a little out of control. we repainted the mirror in the living room and painted some shelves for the kitchen and downstairs bath.

{sleepy poet purchase}

saturday night we met up with a bunch of our girl friends at the newly renovated 10 park lanes. i had never been before the renovation, but man, it is cool! they have  a great bar, a small little restaurant inside, and a fantastic front porch with cornhole. their beer selection included a lot of local brews and we ended up drinking four friends southern pale ale all night. it was also cheap to bowl! $5.50 per game and $4.75 to rent your shoes. it was super fun & i'm glad we went.  after bowling, we bar hopped around montford and ran into some other friends. solid night.

{10 park lanes}

{katie, me, chester}

i had to work on sunday for a few hours so i took lola over to my mom's to play. after work i went back to mom's and took her to hot yoga for the first time. not sure if she's sold yet - but i certainly wasn't either after my first class. mom cooked chicken and veggies for dinner and gave me the leftovers. when i got home, roomies & i watched 21 jump street - it was HILARIOUS.

DIY: random table turned bar!

a few months ago i was reading fabulous on a budget and came across this post.  this is when my bar cart crush began. after doing some research & looking at all sorts of DIY bars, i decided i would get the one below from ikea & paint it.

after spending a few hundred dollars on stuff for the house, i decided this wasn't a necessary purchase, and that some day down the road i would take on this project. cue my mom moving from a 4,000 square foot house to a 1,600 square foot house. woman has more furniture than she knows what to do with! so she passed along this little table that used to live in her living room.

first things first, one of the legs was broken off. so i took the leg to lowes and bought a dowel & some wood glue. next step was drilling out the broken dowel out of the leg & out of the table. (i should note i did this after my step dad told me this was what i needed to do - i had no idea on my own.) this was no easy task. i let the wood glue dry overnight & prayed it would actually stick together - it did!

so step 1 (if you have a normal 4 legged table): sand the table down. i used those little sanding squares that we picked up at lowes. 

step 2: use a tact cloth to wipe down the table. this removes all the dust particles from the sanding so they don't get stuck on the table during the painting. i had no idea what a tact cloth was prior to this project - you can find it next to the sanding stuff. 

step 3: remove all drawers and all of the hardware from the drawers. 

step 4: prime the table. we used a valspar primer and did 2 coats.

{after 1 coat}

{2 coats}

step 5: paint. again, we used a valspar gloss paint. it is the best spray paint ever and i highly suggest using it. after all, i am now a spray paint queen.

step 5: attach the wine glass racks. this was something i came across on my bar cart search a few months ago. i found them at the container store  for $5.99 each. so i picked up 4 but only ended up having room for 1 on each side. it was simple to attach these - just had to use smaller screws so they didn't go into the drawers. 

step 6: re-attach hardware and voila! i love it. this opened up some cabinet space for us. we are using one drawer for all our koosies and the middle drawer for wine & beer openers. i am thrilled with how it turned out - all for about $40 dollars. 

a lot.

this week has been a lot.

a lot of working. my boss has been on vacation since the 4th, so it's been busy juggling both our calls & emails. and today, our GM and wedding coordinator are gone too meaning i'm also getting their calls. my phone won't stop ringing.

a lot of spray painting and fixing. we are so close to being done with decorating our house - i can't wait. when all is said and done, we will have spray painted 1 bed, 2 mirrors, 2 tables, 3 shelves and 1 old telephone stand. i never want to see spray paint again.

a lot of working out. finally back in my groove after moving, working about a million events in the month of may, going to europe, going to a nicole's wedding, and mom & b moving. dear yoga, i'm back & hooked again already.  dear running, i'll think about it. i still hate you but you're the best work out ever.

a lot of thinking. probably too much. weeks like this i cling tight to may 19, 2009 and the way i felt on that day.

so after this crazy week, i'm hoping to do a lot of nothing this weekend. hope you have a good one!

friday, saturday, sunday, AND monday!

after the wacky work week, friday was here and my favorite band was in town. i picked derrick & his friend yang up and we headed to visualite theatre in elizabeth. it was my first time there and i loved it. maudie & court met us there too. sequoyah started playing around 9:45pm and their show was just as awesome as usual, even the 6th time around. afterwards we headed to montford and i quickly decided to head home because it was steaming hot and i was really tired. not a good combo!

{new dress from urban}

saturday morning i woke up and headed to lunch with derrick and yang at brixx. i bummed around for a few hours and then had to go to work around 4pm. i was there until about 8pm and we got ready and went to selwyn. for whatever reason, i was not feeling it, so i went home early and got a fantastic sleep. 

sunday was also pretty uneventful. i went over to momma's as soon as i got up and we went to brunch at whiskey warehouse. we explored common market - something we've been wanting to do since they moved to plaza midwood. it's about as hipster as a place can get - we loved it. i napped. we unpacked boxes. we ate dinner from zoe's. i loved hanging with momma & b all day. 

{brunch}

{common market}

when i got home, katie was working on a project she found on pinterest that she's been wanting to do for quite some time. she was feeling defeated, so i offered up my crafty services. after a quick hour, i was done & we were very happy with the finished project! pretty impressed with myself - i did it all completely freehand. 

{original sold here}

{my version}

because i've been working the past few weekends, i have today (monday) off! i slept in and am now at race to walk with brian. this is a place he comes every monday for a two hour work out. it is a non-profit organization that serves those affected by spinal cord injuries (or in b's case - strokes) to help them reach their personal goals. you can check out some pictures of brian in action here. 

excited to finally get our carpets cleaned later (thanks, groupon)& then watch the bachelorette with the roomies & mom. hope everyone had a great weekend! 

wait, that wasn't the weekend?

today feels weird. like it's monday, but it's actually thursday and i sure am happy about that! having the 4th on a wednesday was like a mini-weekend in between the work week, and while it would have been nice to go to the inlet with all my friends, i had a great time here in charlotte.

last sunday, my bro in law and i had decided we wanted to go to whiskey warehouse on tuesday night. so we invited our friends and all met up around 8:30.  i learned a valuable lesson on tuesday - beer at 7% alcohol is very much like drinking 2 beers at once. we were indulging in this beer: bell's two hearted ale and while it was delicious, it was more like poison. the night was full of seriously fun/ridiculous shenanigans and i woke up on wednesday morning feeling like we were on the hangover. this is the only picture from the evening... what?

katie packed my lake bag for me and scooped me up wednesday morning - talk about an amazing best friend. we headed to the lake where we spent the day floating on rafts and laughing our asses off about the previous night. it was a relaxing day & we got back to charlotte around 9:30pm last night.

fourth of july is my favorite day of the year, even more favorite than my birthday. it seems like the only day we can all put our differences aside and agree on one thing - we are truly blessed to be americans. to live in a country where we have the option to choose - to choose who we want to want to be, what we want to do, what we want to believe in, who we want to spend our lives with - things most of us take for granted. we are extremely lucky.

recommitting.

i'm recommitting myself to this post / way of life again today. my two month long break was way too long & it's time to get back on track. i have a few short term goals and a few long term goals that i have posted in my office to keep me focused. so cheers (with a water) to getting back into the grind.

friday, saturday, sunday.

friday was long as usual, but lunch with sister leigh helped it along. once i got off work, i took a quick nap and ran to the mall with katie. leigh decided to have a last minute cookout at her house, so i showered and hurried over for beer & burgers. leigh, d, alex & i headed to brazwells and met up with my roomies. low key evening with good friends - my kind of night.

saturday i woke up and had to go into work for a few hours. after work i headed to the container store to get some stuff for my mom & b's house. my mom and b were out of town for a wedding, so i snuck over to their house to do some unpacking. i got through probably about 25 boxes in 4.5 hours and it didn't even feel like i made a dent. shane was also at the house building brian's new ramp into the house - it looks great!

i showered and met daddy and stepmom at zink. none of us had ever been before and while the service wasn't fantastic by any means, the food was DEVINE. it was fun and unusual to have mary ann and daddy all to myself - i wish we could do it more often. 

{lobster mac & cheese}

{mary ann's beet salad}

{“The Nacho” Brisket Burger}

avocado - habanero jack - tobacco onions - chipotle aioli fire roasted black bean and corn salsa 

{banana pudding to die for}

after dinner i headed home and waited for the roomies to get ready before we headed out.  we posted up under the air conditioner at brazwells and proceeded to yell (under our breath) at anyone who attempted to "steal our air." the night didn't end so well and i essentially grew devil horns and had smoke coming out of my ears. i would explain, but it's actually not worth the energy to move my fingers on the keyboard. 

and on this glorious sunday - i slept until 12 o'clock noon. i haven't done that in years (besides the jet lag on the cruise) and it felt amazing. i woke up and headed back to mom's to do some more unpacking. and about 30 minutes in, i found myself sleeping on the couch until my parents got home. and then i slept some more. derrick & katie came over to help and mom & b rewarded us with dinner at midwood smokehouse. 

my weekend is coming to a close with the gymnastic trials & a crazy bulldog.