january = breaking bad + girls.

way back after christmas when i came down with the plague that left me in bed for 5 days (and i still have the sniffles), i finally started watching breaking bad. i've been wanting to watch it for a while, but got distracted by all the other millions of tv shows that i decided to start watching over the past two years. being sick + traveling every weekend therefore staying in during the week + freezing temperatures left me with a lot of time this month to watch netflix.

so i watched breaking bad from start to finish and just like everyone else, it left me slightly speechless. the writers are insanely smart, the actors are incredible, and the whole thing ended perfectly. i fell madly in love with jesse pinkman and maybe even cried for him once or twice. i think i need to watch it over again just to relive the brilliance. now someone buy me this tee shirt.

 

{source}

 

another show i have been wanting to watch for quite some time is hbo's girls. i have loved lena dunham ever since i watched tiny furniture and realized how strange, yet painfully normal she is. well i finally caught up with the 21st century and learned about hbo go. so i got my parents to give me their cable login and watched every episode ever made in an embarrassingly short amount of time. holy hell, i love this show. what i love most about it is how different all the characters are and what they represent. it's similar to how i feel about parenthood - i just love everyone's stories. and sure, sometimes things that happen to these girls seem a little bit ridiculous, but we all do dumb stuff that leads to hilarious nights. well... maybe not as much anymore.

 

 

and they're also all seriously gorgeous. i love them.

 

so... what show should i get addicted to next?

 

mini CHEERSPORT weekend {atlanta, ga}

last weekend i went to atlanta with my dad to work a CHEERSPORT competition. {read more about CHEERSPORT here} i was planning to drive myself down after work on friday, but my dad had a busy day and ended up not leaving when he was supposed to, so we got to ride together. we got to atlanta around 9:30pm, checked into our beautiful suites, {thank you connections & omni for taking care of us!} had a beverage at the bar, and headed to bed.

{view from my room}

 

{view from my room - atlanta got a ferris wheel.. not sure how i feel about that!}

my 5am wake up call came quickly! i don't think i've woken up at 5am since nationals last  year. it was a loooong and pretty uneventful day which is always a good thing. we ended the evening having a drink with some of my dad's employees, i love them.

{i love our new backdrop}



{teams competed from 8am-10pm, breakdown was done in an impressive 30 minutes}

 

sunday morning i woke up too early for having been awake from 5am-2am on saturday. i laid in bed for a few hours doing absolutely nothing & it was glorious. i have been on the go non-stop since christmas, and i really enjoyed the down time on sunday morning. dad & i packed up and headed home around 11:30am, but not before i enjoyed room service in bed :)

{i love you, atlanta}

 

it was a quick but fun weekend and what i loved most was getting to spend so much time with my dad! being the baby of 3 girls, it's very rare that my dad & i get to spend one-on-one time together. i cherished our time together this weekend!

after 4 out of town trips and 1 weekend filled with baby showers all in the month of january, i'm looking forward to staying in charlotte this weekend. next up is a weekend in hartsville, sc {aka the middle of nowhere} for a bridal shower & the next week i'll be headed back to atlanta for 4 days for CHEERSPORT nationals!

mountain weekend 2014! {boone, nc}

since mary emerson decided to make an early arrival, i wasn't sure i'd make it up to mountain weekend this year. but with all the hoopla & family members we have in charlotte, leigh & derrick assured me i was there for the important stuff and told me to go. so i packed up on saturday morning, stopped by the hospital to see the baby, and then headed up to boone!

after a quick 2 hours drive from charlotte, i turned onto the street that was supposed to take me to our house, and quickly started sliding all over the place. i was FREAKING OUT & actually terrified.  i put in a 911 call to the boys and 10 minutes later all 9 of the guys showed up to the rescue. the end result is that my car spent the weekend at the bottom of the mountain, but not for lack of effort!

{view from the porch}

once we recovered from climbing the mountain with all of my stuff, i convinced the girls to head into town for some exploring. i had done some research last week so i knew where i wanted to go. first stop was our daily bread for lunch - yum! we stopped in mast general store for some shopping and then went to the appalachian mountain brewery! we sat at a picnic table on the heated porch, drank a lot of beer, and played card games for awhile before heading back up to the house. it was such a fun day with my pals!

{turkey philly with white beach & turkey soup}

{crooked common & honey badger were our favorites}

the rest of the weekend revolved around food, alcohol, a sketchy hot tub, never getting out of our pajamas, card games, and football. 

{dalton made venison burgers}

ammie and i got a little stir crazy and decided to go sledding on sunday between the games... i was so happy to be there for ammie's first time on a sled!

it was a wonderful weekend filled with my college pals + some awesome new friends. as i was driving down the mountain on monday morning, i felt overwhelmed with happiness that this life is mine!

already looking forward to mountain weekend 2015!

i'm an aunt!

my sister had a baby! i still can't believe it! mary emerson leigh barger made her way into the world on friday, january 17th, at 11:10am. 5 pounds and 15 ounces and 19.5 inches long - she is perfect!

the baby came 2.5 weeks early but both momma & baby are happy & healthy. i am so proud of my sister and so happy she can drink wine again! here's what mary emerson has been up to since she showed up... 

{our first picture together!}

{friday}

{friday}

{saturday}

{headed home on sunday!}

{monday}

{tuesday}

the first grandchild for all 7 grandparents and first niece for her 3 aunts... i'm convinced this baby will never learn to walk. welcome to our family, m.e. - we already love you so much!

welcome, 2014!

things have been wild in my world since 2014 rolled around! i've been slacking on the ol' blog but 2014 has been quite amazing so far.

my college gang + some hilarious dudes from tennessee rang in the new year at red's ice house in mount pleasant, sc. after being sick for 5 days, i wasn't sure i was going to make it. but since i already bought a ticket, and didn't want to leave my girl ammie in the dust (we're the only single ladies), i made a day trip to charleston. i am so glad i did - we had such an awesome night! we stayed in Charleston to watch the gamecocks whip up on wisconsin before heading on back to charlotte.

that weekend we had leigh's baby shower: see here. we had all sorts of friends and family in town this weekend so it was jam packed. we had dinner at BLT at the ritz that evening followed by a night out uptown which does not happen often!

the next weekend (last weekend), i headed back to charleston for a couples shower for my sweet laura! katt & i got in around 8:30pm on friday & we stayed in for a girls night. saturday morning we woke up and met laura for lunch at ammie's fave place, taco boy. frozen screwdriver? yes please! we drove to the beach to put our toes in the sand before getting ready for the shower.

laura's sisters & her bff, meredith, did such a great job! there was delicious food, adorable décor & fun games. after the shower we stayed out in summerville at this bar called montreux. bar games, cheap beer, and an awesome live band - it was like college all over again!

{laura & her bridesmaids}

 

sunday morning katt & i woke up at the bum of dawn to head back to charlotte so i could make it to the panthers game. i was so lucky to be able to go to the game & even though it was a bummer of a loss, we had an amazing season! i am proud of what they've done this year & can't wait for next year!

 

 

tomorrow i'm off to "mountain weekend" in boone with my college gang. looking forward to relaxing {aka drinking} with my pals in a cabin for a long weekend! cheers!

 

french inspired baby shower!

this past saturday, we hosted my sister's baby shower at the duke mansion! since finding out baby b was a baby girl, my sister decided to decorate her nursey with a paris/french theme, so i knew i had to do her shower with the same theme in mind!

it is really fun to plan events at my place of business because it gives me a chance to do all the things i envision doing for other people's events!

and a special thanks to our amazing staff for taking such good care of us - y'all rock.

 

{we enjoyed champagne & pink lemonade in the grand foyer}

 

 

 

 

 

{entrance into the solarium}

 

 

{momma made this awesome diaper cake}

 

{ mirror from M.E.'s nursery that i used on the gift table}

 

 

{favors. can't hardly see it but there is a pink stamp that says "merci"}

 

{OPI - it's a girl}

{dessert station}

{momma & i made the cake pops - not so beautiful but very yummy}

 

 

{soon to be mom & dad!}

 

i forgot to get a picture of the meal & also all the gifts! leigh and derrick now have literally everything they could ever need for a baby, which is good because looks like mary emerson is making an early arrival!

 

 

venue: the duke mansion

linens, napkins & white draping: party reflections

florals: the place for flowers

black eiffel towers: bought off ebay