lately.

i've been quite the slacker lately in just about every aspect of life. hey, it happens to the best of us. so while i've been ignoring my running schedule, piles of laundry, blog, dirty house, and empty fridge, here's what i've been up to.

thursday night out with the boys at all american pub - never ends well. my sweet friend brett was in town and we partied like we used to when i first moved to atlanta. we're a mess. friday night dinner at mac's for steven's birthday - i'm in a yang sibling sandwich! saturday spent with ammie & hunter, who were in town for the weekend. saturday night dinner at ed's tavern followed by an evening at selwyn.

{via}

 

i watched both seasons of scandal - what an addictive/great show. i am obsessed with all things government related - throw in a heart wrenching affair & i'm hooked. i also want to make out with president fitzgerald grant.



{via}

 



i also watched the first season of orange is the new black - the newest netflix series. it's based on the true story of a woman named piper who has to serve 15 months in prison for a non-violent crime she committed 10 years prior. it's hilarious, heart breaking, and full of drama. netflix released the entire first season at once - so you can get sucked in just like i did!

 

i've also been listening to this song on repeat: poison & wine by the civil wars. holy beautiful.

needless to say: i'm done with tv shows for awhile. what have y'all been up to while i've been a waste of life?

weekend recap.

after work on friday, i got into my bed and didn't move until saturday morning at 5:30am when i got up to run. i watched all 6 episodes of graceland before calling it a night. ps. you should totally start watching graceland. it's a new series on usa about the FBI and it's AMAZING.

5:30am came quickly. i woke up, had breakfast, and drove to work to start my run. i really like the loop i do from work, so i like to start/end there. 7 miles before 8am (i was supposed to go 8 - woops) and i crawled back in bed for a quick little nap before heading back to work for the afternoon.

i left work around 4pm and hung around before meeting the boys for dinner at leroy fox. this space used to be the infamous hotel charlotte which closed in 2011. the space is really neat & the menu had lots of yummy stuff to choose from. i went with the buffalo chicken & zucchini fries. we spent the rest of the evening hanging at the boys apartment and eventually went to selwyn for way too many buckets of beer.

{we loved this wall - photo via leroy fox's website}

sunday morning i slept in and watched tv before meeting my parents & friends for pops and beer. we spent the afternoon at birdsong brewery & ate popsicles from king of pops. king of pops is a company that sells gourmet popsicles from pop-up carts all over charlotte. their location changes daily and they have about 3-4 carts selling pops everyday. part of the fun is that you have to figure out where they are by way of their twitter, instagram or website. they have all sorts of amazing flavors & they're absolutely delicious. on sundays, they open up their warehouse behind birdsong & noda brewery and have a "patio party." it's quickly becoming a favorite sunday ritual! if you are in charlotte and you haven't stopped for a pop yet, make sure get one soon!

 

{my sweet parents}

 

it's hard to believe this is the last weekend of july - summer is flying by!

bridesmaid x2!

rewind back to the weekend of may 10th-12th when two of my sweet friends got engaged! laura was first on friday, may 10th and called around 8pm to give us the news! her fiancé, rob, proposed at their home when she got home from work that evening. rob & laura met through some mutual friends but just so happen to be from the same small town, marion, sc. rob used laura's mom's original setting for her ring - it is so unique & gorgeous!

 

 

{both redheads named laura - things get confusing!}

 

so about a month ago, i got this adorable little card in the mail...

 

 

i am so excited to stand next to laura as she says "i do!" they will be getting married at her parent's beautiful house that she grew up in on april 26, 2014. laura has the kindest of souls & impeccable style, i cannot wait to see how she pulls everything together for her big day!

 

skipping through saturday onto sunday, i got a picture from kathleen around 10am with a big ol' rock on her left hand! kathleen & i have been friends since we were about 7 years old. we have gone to every school together (elementary-college), rushed the same sorority, and lived together all 4 years of college - definition of lifelong friend!

 



 

{over the years!}

 



brandon asked kathleen to marry him on his birthday, using the barstools from the bar they met at two years ago! i am so thrilled kathleen asked me to be part of her big day and can't wait to watch her marry the man of her dreams next may! they are getting married on may 10th, 2014 at alexander homestead here in charlotte.

 

 

kathleen gave me this little bottle of champagne that she got all crafty with (she's insanely talented) to officially ask me to be her bridesmaid. the picture is kind of dark but it says "i have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, but the day won't be complete without you. will you be my bridesmaid?" i will be keeping this little bottle forever!

 

i am so excited for both my girls and am so honored both asked me to be one of their bridesmaids! it's gonna be a busy 2014 and i can't wait!

summer sick: party of 1.

i've been down for the count since about wednesday of last week. who gets a nasty cold in the middle of july? this girl.

so i spent most of the week/weekend in my bed watching one tree hill reruns and feeling like i was back in high school. but of course i crawled out of bed a few times to eat with my parents.

friday night i met daddy & leigh at block & grinder. it's a new spot over by flywheel (aka the devil spin studio i go to) and i had been wanting to try it out. well we're going to have to go back because i litearlly couldn't taste anything because my head was so stuffy. my dad had wild boar for the first time in his life & fell in love, so i don't think i'll have to twist his arm to take us again. i sure hope that $40 steak i had was delicious!

saturday morning i slept in until NOON. can't tell you the last time that happened! court & i met momma & b at crispy crepe in south end. i had the chipotle chicken crepe & we ended with a chocolate peanut butter crepe for dessert - thank goodness i could taste by then! both crepes were delicious & i loved the variety of the menu. we will definitely be back!

sunday morning i planned to get up and run, but i was up until about 3am coughing so that didn't happen. i finally felt like a normal human by 1pm, so met my parents at birdsong for a beer & a pop from king of pops.

after birdsong, we hopped over to heist brewery for a beer & some appetizers. that was my first trip to heist & i need to go back sometime other than a sunday at 4pm. i liked the beers & the staff was super friendly. since apparently we hadn't had enough beer yet, we ventured over to bulldog beer & wine in dilworth. this is a dog friendly bar/craft beer store and i met this adorable baby bully named carson! i seriously wanted to steal him.

our last stop of the night was at rus an's for dinner. after filling up on sushi, i retired back to my bed and watched more lucas scott & peyton sawyer on netflix. not a bad weekend when you're sick & you still get to try out four new spots in your city!

crafty.

last week before vacation, i made a few cards for people i'd be seeing at the beach.. i scored some individual lowercase letter stamps (i despise capital letters) a few weeks ago on sale & set out on a journey to use them.

here are the three cards & envelopes i made: i really love how they turned out!

i also made my friend laura who is recently engaged a little basket full of goodies.

includes: twine wrapped W for her new last name, chalkboard with her date, candle, his & her cups i picked up at the vintage market a few weeks ago, a bath fizz ball, & of course, a bottle of andre.

i used hot glue each time i needed to start wrapping in a new area - easy to do but took quite a while to wrap!

happy crafting!

miss crockas is 25!

saturday morning we woke up to the glorious 25th reunion of ammie's birth! we had to be out of the house by 10am, so it was an early & busy morning. once we packed up, we stopped for a miserable breakfast & headed to the beach. over the years, we have always parked at the yucca avenue beach access to go to the beach. it's like home base for all our friends. so we went to yucca and slowly but surely the rest of our pals arrived. we spend the afternoon there until this redhead had too much sun.

ammie & i had a slice of pizza and some time to kill, so we went to the arcade. cause what else is there to do on your 25th birthday? 40 measly tickets later, we traded them in for two whistles that didn't even work! around 4pm we headed to myrtle beach for the night.

rachel so kindly got us hotel rooms with some points for the evening. after we showered and relaxed for a bit, we hopped in a giant van that smelled like pot and left for dinner at king kong sushi. YUM. after we stuffed our faces, it was on to crocodile rocks! we had a great evening celebrating our ammie with a good chunk of our best friends!

sunday came quickly but the drive back to charlotte did not. we finally got home around 5:30 & i have been in a state of post-vacation depression ever since then. it was an amazing 5 days with some awesome friends that i am lucky enough to call mine!

murrells inlet, sc: the fourth of july.

i took a half day on tuesday and headed down to murrells inlet for the rest of the week! in a last minute change of plans, i stayed with ammie & her family & was so excited to spend some time with her parents!

 

tuesday night we headed to dinner on the inlet. we had yummy seafood & then spent the rest of the evening playing this super fun ipad game & drinking beer.

 

wednesday we woke up & it finally wasn't raining! we spent the whole day on the beach where i proceeded to get fried regardless of all the sunscreen i put on. redhead problems. wednesday night we went to the marsh walk and scored an awesome spot in the rocking chairs at bubba's. all sorts of our friends showed up & it was good to see everyone! that's my favorite thing about the inlet - you never plan to see anyone or know who is going to be around, but you always end up seeing exactly who you want to.

 

 

{ammie, laura & i at dinner on tuesday, meggy & i at bubbas on wednesday, the sweet bully i met at bubba's}

 

 

thursday morning we woke up & headed to the point! ammie's family is from hartsville & all of their family friends come to the inlet for the week, too. one family has a house right on the point, so we went to their house & walked out on their dock to the party. the point is where most people from the various surrounding beaches go for the 4th - everyone piles on a boat and pulls on up - it's a great time! we had an epic american ceremony before eating hamburgers & hot dogs that included about 30 of us saying the pledge of allegiance, singing the national anthem, reciting george washington's prayer for our country, and singing proud to be an american. i was in american heaven.

 

you see, the fourth of july is my favorite day of the year. i absolutely love this beautiful country that we are lucky enough to call home. i don't ever take for granted the fact that we enjoy a life & freedoms that most of the world could never dream of. we are truly blessed & i am thankful for those who fight for us and keep us free.

 

after packing up from the point, we showered & headed out to hot fish club. this is my favorite bar ever. think of 3 giant gazebo-like-tree-houses & you have hot fish club. we met up with the rest of our friends there & had a super amazing evening celebrating the us of a!

 

{dalton & i, the girls, laura & her bridesmaids, laura & i with the crocker girls}

friday morning we woke up and did a whole lot of nothing. dalton & i eventually went for a walk on the beach, but that was pretty much it. ammie's birthday was on saturday, and since we wouldn't be with her fam on her actual birthday, we did her party on friday night. we ordered the ever so famous prosser's bbq & had some friends over for dinner. after dinner we met up with our friends at causeway & watched the world's best country cover band, the austin mowery band. i was seriously drooling.

 

 

{the gang on friday}

 

saturday morning we woke up & it was ammie's birthday which i will write about in the next post since this one is already way too long. hope y'all had an amazing 4th of july & got to spend some time celebrating our beautiful country!

weekend warrior.

friday after work, i met my stepdad at a track near by to start running track repeats. it was HOT and i got through half the of the first workout on my training schedule before i decided i was going to die if i kept running. brian used to run marathons before his stroke & i have now turned him into my own personal running coach. check out his new wheelie tricks!

after another yummy friday night dinner at bricktops with our parents, court & i swung by selwyn for a drink before racing home to beat the storm. we called it an early night in preparation for our big saturday!

we woke up early & headed to the fillmore for the vintage charlotte pop-up market. it was awesome! i got a few things for some friends & scored some awesome candlesticks for our mantle. after speed shopping through the market, we headed down to lake wylie for the day. court's bff erin's parents live on the lake in a beautiful house they built when we were in high school. it was such a fun day with lots of beer, sunshine, hanging with old friends, and making new friends!

 

{vintage market}

 

 

{lake day - hey aly!}

when we got back to charlotte, i quick showered and headed to birdsong brewery to meet up  with kel, alex, & derrick. we hopped over to noda brewery for a beer and then made our way to whiskey warehouse. meagan & walt were in town, so we met up with them & britt & blake at whiskey. i love any time i get to spend with meg & britt - it takes me back to my college days!

{me & kel, kel & d, me with the soon to be husband & wife, me & meggy & britt}

sunday morning i had to come into work for a few hours & then ran a lot of errands in preparation for vacation! derrick & i made a trip over to the king of pops factory for some afternoon treats. holy yum. after crafting for a few hours, i picked up kickstand for everyone and headed to momma's. she helped me make a bunch of cookies for my trip. i have a few more things to pick up today, and tomorrow around 2pm i am beach bound until sunday!

 

{we take our pops very seriously}

{go america}

i am really looking forward to sunshine, best friends, hot fish club, and salt water!