dear may, you rocked.

today we say goodbye to one of the best months of the year! it has been an awesome month for me. there have been lots of fun nights, amazing parties, yummy recipes, concerts, a trip to Michigan, and even my first 10k.

last night we went to selwyn in typical thursday fashion. court & i showed up after dinner at 5 church and immediately ran into two of our awesome guy friends that we typically see there on thursdays. my big sis from my sorority had texted me the day before that she was going to be in charlotte so i invited her to join at selwyn. my college roomie had also called earlier that day to say she was going to be in town, so meggie & britt came too. we ran into the girls that live on the other side of our duplex (that we love), and later in the night, derrick, kelly & steven all showed up.

i drove home last night with the biggest smile on my face. i love the randomness that life brings me on a daily basis. i got to spend last night unexpectedly surrounded by so many people i love from so many different parts of my life. college friends, my siblings/bffs, new friends, childhood friends. reasons like last night are why i never say no to a drink with a friend or a night out, because you never know where it may take you. i lose out on a few hours of sleep every week, but i wouldn't have it any other way. so thank you, may, for being one of the best months of my life. and cheers to summer & all the fun we're going have the next few months!

recipe: veggie packed burger!

i learned via twitter that this past tuesday was national burger day. half my timeline was filled with people tweeting about their yummy burgers and i got a serious craving for one. seeing as how i've never really made burgers on my own, i wasn't quite sure what to do. but i did know i wanted to throw some veggies in there.

i had been to the farmers market earlier in the day and picked up my weekly stash of veggies. i got a pound of lean meat (96%) from the teeter & some ripe avocados from trader joe's. i decided to use zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion in my burgers. i sliced up the zucchini with my mandolin and finely chopped about half a bell pepper & 1/4 of an onion.

once the veggies were chopped, i combined them with the meat in a large bowl and used my hands to mix & knead them together. i also threw in some sea salt & pepper. i separated them into 5 burgers and turned on the stove (my grill needs propane). i sprayed the griddle with coconut oil cooking spray from trader joe's and threw two burgers on at a time. i cooked one side until i could see it browning on all sides, flipped them over, let them cook, and cut into them to make sure there wasn't too much pink.

 

 

{my griddle is from ikea}

 

i topped the burgers with two small slices of raw goat's milk cheese, and homemade avocado spread (avodcao, lime juice, salt & pepper). YUM!

 

for my side, i made lemon & garlic okra. i simply cut up the okra into small slices, let olive oil heat in my skillet, and threw the okra in (it should sizzle). i squeezed half a lemon in & also sprinkled some garlic salt. i loved the flavor.

 

 

{that is samuel smith's organic strawberry beer - super sweet but refreshing}

 

not too shabby for my first go at burgers!



 

michigan weekend!

friday afternoon i hopped on a plane to detroit, michigan, to see one of my dearest friends. brittany (or brg as i call her) and i worked together in atlanta and quickly became inseparable to survive our workplace environment. i moved back to charlotte in april 2011, and brg moved back to michigan in august that same year. she came to visit me in charlotte for a weekend before she left, but i haven't seen her since then - almost 2 years! so i decided to make an extra long weekend and go see my brg!

 

i got in around 8:30pm and smiled big when i came down the escalator into this trippy weird light tunnel. i had been to detroit once before, but forgot about this little treat!

 

britt picked me up and we headed home to her new adorable house that she bought at the beginning of may - i can't believe how much she already had done! her house is about 30 minutes outside the city in royal oak, michigan.we spent the evening catching up & drinking sangria before crawling into bed. britt had the guest room all finished for me & even put one of my CHEERSPORT blankets on the bed to make me feel at home!

 

saturday morning we woke up and went to bodypump class at her gym, powerhouse gym. it ROCKED. now i understand why brg is so obsessed! after class we ran some errands including the most awesome place ever, westborn market. it was like the farmer's market // whole foods // earthfare all rolled into one place. after showering & prepping for the cookout, britt's two best friends came over for lunch. brg made a delicious marinade from scratch & we hung out on her back porch until it was time for the tigers game!

 

{ market & my colorful lunch plate}

brg works at the renaissance marriott in downtown so we parked there & ran up to her office to print our tickets. her office has a great view of the river! we walked to the game & i loved how close the baseball & football stadiums are to each other.

{ center building is brg's hotel // view from her desk // ford field // tigers stadium}

 

we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of baseball & beer! the stadium is gorgeous.

{brg & i // brg, darcy, me & lisa}

 

after the game we headed to a detroit staple in greektown, new parthenon. of course we had flaming cheese! we headed back to royal oak & called it a night.

 

{oompa!}

 

sunday morning we woke up late & went to brunch at what crepe - holy yum! i had the mexican with chicken instead of sausage - it was delicious!

 

after brunch we rand some errands and then drove down to the river to meet brg's friend ron. he took us out on his boat & we spent the afternoon drinking & laying in the sun - it was beautiful!

 

next stop was a cookout & bonfire at two of brg's friend's house - jerry & clio! they were wonderful hosts & fed us yummy burgers & clio even let us wear her clothes cause we were chilly. thanks for a great evening!

 

{we never wanted to get out!}

 

monday morning we slept in (again!) and made this frittata from scratch. we had no idea what we were doing, but it turned out to be really yummy. brg had been wanting me to paint a sign for over her bed - so we spend the next few hours doing that - i really like how it turned out!

after we finished arts & crafts, we went to royal oak brewery for lunch & beers. we had  pitcher of their vidal saison and really liked it. then we stopped at bastone brewery where i tried both of their seasonal beers - the smoked porter & the raspberry tart. extremely different beers, but i enjoyed them both!

tuesday morning came & it was time for me to head back to charlotte. i had such an amazing time & loved spending 4 days with my brg. when you're lucky enough to have friendships like ours, it doesn't seem to matter how much time passes between visits, it's like we never missed a beat. thank you britt for showing me around your city & letting me get a sneak peek into your life for a few days - i love you & miss you already!



happy long weekend!

this week has been full of fun & productiveness & my usual crazy/random life shenanigans.

wednesday i met up with brad who recently moved to charlotte. we are going on a "get brad to love charlotte" tour of all my favorite bars/restaurants with a different stop every one or two weeks. first stop was my fave bar, whiskey warehouse, & then to gallery twenty two for $1 drafts (ok, they ran out so it was $1 pbr). gallery twenty two is an art bar so the collections change every 6 weeks or so - it's a very fun & eccentric spot! i had derrick drop me off at ed's to meet my coworker for a nightcap which we both were wishing we never had at 8am on thursday.

{rooftop at whiskey warehouse}

thursday afternoon our parents asked to take court & i to dinner and we NEVER say no to that. we met them at bricktops for a delicious meal & even more delicious wine. 

{filet & roasted corn}

after heading home quick to pack, we headed to our usual thursday spot, selwyn pub. ran into some old friends, made some new friends, and had a lovely evening with my sis. 

{not sure that's something to brag about, foursquare // court's clearly so pumped the hornets are back}

 i am heading to michigan in a few hours to see one of my best friends that i haven't seen in almost 2 years! we are going to be partaking in all sorts of fun activities & crafting things for her brand new house. i literally may cry happy tears when i see my sweet brittany!

hope everyone has a safe & fun long weekend celebrating all of those who have died keeping us safe & free. cheers!

recipe: banana & raspberry smoothie!

i'm not very good at making up recipes. since i started cooking virtually everything i eat back in april, i have been following recipes pretty strictly. i am always amazed by people who can just create yummy dishes by throwing things together. i think my biggest fear is that it will suck, and then i'll have wasted time & money on something i don't even want to eat.

well i decided to take a leap of faith and throw a bunch of stuff in a blender to make a smoothie. i got lucky with my first made-up recipe - YUM!

ingredients:

1 organic banana, sliced
6 raspberries (that's all i had)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup unsweetened plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup crushed ice
1 tbsp organic honey

i threw it all into my little oster single serve blender & was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. it was  extremely fluffy & refreshing. enjoy!

ps. i love these glasses - they are 100% recycled glass. mom bought me a coffee cup a few months back from this same line and then kristin found these fabulous cups at home goods, so i picked up a few.

my beer filled weekend!

after finishing the race on saturday, derrick & i grabbed breakfast at flying biscuit, headed home to change, and then went to steven's pool. after 2 beers, i needed a nap. i ended up taking 2 naps that day before getting ready for the evening. kelly, court & i headed up to triple c brewery in southend - what a great spot! i had their 3c ipa & also the sal's paradise saison and loved them both. i love breweries & charlotte is full of awesome ones. there was also a food truck there called papi queso (hey justin) that serves gourmet grilled cheese. food trucks are awesome & i love that they are all over the place in charlotte. court, kel & derrick all had one - derrick's face below explains how much they loved it!

after triple c closed, we headed to tyber creek. and then to the boy's apartment. and then to brazwells. around 1am kelly & i called it quits and headed home.

{hi kel}

i woke up on sunday with zero plans. i ran to earthfare & trader joe's before meeting my parent's for lunch at one of my favorite spots, kickstand.

{best veggie burger in charlotte}

what started out as a causal sunday, turned into an insane sunday funday. after lunch, i suggested that we should go to birdsong brewery. so we went for a drink, but you never just end up having 1 drink. their up on the sun saison is absolutely delicious.

what felt like an entire keg later and after meeting some new friends, my crazy/fun mom suggested we go to the thirsty beaver. and i can now officially say that it's the scariest place in charlotte. i have pictures, but they're too awful to share. court & derrick came and met us & derrick was so scared (and sober) that he left haha! after an insanely fun/random day, we headed back home and crashed. we hated ourselves on monday morning, but it was totally worth it.

i'm headed to michigan this weekend to see my long lost best pal from atlanta - i haven't seen her since august 2011 - i can't wait!

ballantyne 10k!

saturday morning kelly, derrick and i ran the ymca ballantyne 10k. i woke up at 5:15am which is never fun. i like to wake up extra early so i can eat breakfast & have coffee & not feel rushed.

 

derrick & i left around 6:30am & headed to ballantyne. we met up with kelly before the race & had plenty of time to watch all the weird things going on around us. people sure are interesting!

 

 

{before}

 

the course was pretty boring since it was through a corporate park. we did get to run over a bridge at one point which was definitely the highlight. there was a 5k & a 10k, so they turned us around near the finish line & sent us back for a little bit of a longer loop. there was a killer hill that we had to run up twice, and the last time was ROUGH. it was probably right around mile 5.75 so you know you're close, but that didn't make it any better. we all ran the first 3 miles together, and i was with derrick up until around mile 4 but he sped up & i lost him. my mom randomly showed up on the side of the road around mile 3 too which was hilarious. you just never know with her!

 

 

{after}

 

 

according to my garmin, i finished in 57:46. the official times showed our time from when the race clock started (so my time was 1:00:11), and it took us several minutes to actually get up to the start line (there were a LOT of people & kids). seems weird they didn't use our chip time, right? i was happy with my time & i kept a pretty consistent pace throughout which is always a goal for me.

 

next up: warrior dash on june 1st and noda brewery 5k on june 7th!

mary ann turns 50 - lilly pulitzer themed party!

last friday night was my stepmom's 50th birthday bash! oh what a night! we have been talking about doing this party for years now, and in a funny turn of events, we ended up having the party at the venue where i work. so it was a little bit stressful planning a monumental party at my place of business for my stepmom, and inviting pretty much everyone i know. i couldn't have asked for a more perfect evening!

if you know my stepmom, you know she is a walking ad for lilly pulitzer. so when we were coming up with the theme of the party, it wasn't a hard decision. my stepmom is one of the kindest, most beautiful souls i know, and we had about 130 people show up to celebrate her birthday. you know you're doing something right when that many people want to celebrate with you. i hope it was a night she will cherish forever!

i will let the beautiful pictures & captions do the rest of the talking. all photographs taken by the amazing love shutter photography - i am still drooling over how beautiful these turned out!

{the invites}

 

 

 

 

 

happy birthday mary ann :)

 

a huge shout out to all the vendors that helped make this night possible. i'm so lucky to work in an industry with so many talented people who make my job easy. thank you for helping to create such a beautiful evening for my family & friends! also, to my staff, you're incredible. thank you for being so professional and fun-loving, i appreciate y'all on a daily basis but was so proud of y'all on friday. lastly, thank you to my daddy for giving me the reigns on this. it was an important evening - thank you for trusting me enough to be "the boss." thank you for loving your beautiful wife & our family so much everyday. i love you!

 

venue: the duke mansion

photographers: love shutter

linens: party reflections & classic party rentals

cupcake stand: party reflections

florals/table décor: lynette with the bloom room

band: hot sauce

cupcakes: tizzerts

white couches: AFR