twenty six.

is it embarrassing to admit that this was the first birthday i have ever spent without a single member of my family? i hope not. 

but none the less, they went above and beyond to make sure i had a special day.

{my mom & brian sent these giant balloons that i had to fetch from the front desk and carry all the way through the hotel... nice touch, momma.}

{my team & i celebrated with this delicious homemade cake!} 

{my stepmom & dad sent me a yummy edible arrangements!}

after work, linds and i quick changed and headed to burger up for dinner! the place is always packed so we got there a little early to have a beer and put our names in. dinner was delicious and i was so happy to have such a great group of girls come out to celebrate with me. 

i  felt so very loved on my first birthday in nashville! thankful for friends who already feel like family, and friends and family who know how to love me so well from hundreds of miles away. cheers to twenty six - the best is yet to come!

birthday fiesta: katie & chelsea's birthday party!

this past saturday i threw my two best friends a birthday fiesta! chelsea's birthday is october 2nd and katie's is today (october 7th) so we had one big joint celebration over the weekend. i've been decorating all week and i love the way everything turned out. it was the first time we've had people over to our new (ish) place, so it was really fun to have friends over. i hope the birthday girls (and everyone else) had a great time!

 

 

{medallions from party city}

 

{homemade streamers & puff balls}

 

{blank canvas painted with chalkboard paint}

 

{piñata from target filled with mini bottles & reeses cups - what else do you need? }

 

 

{our new firepit!}

 

 

{so we didn't have any candles...}

 

 

{c & k's birthday cards}

 

{birthday girls + me}

 

feliz cumpleanos!

pre & post birthday celebrations!

since i was out of town for my actual birthday - i got to strech the celebrations over a few weeks!

the wednesday before i left for aruba, my mom & brian took me to dinner at one of my favorite charlotte spots, 300 east! we had all my favorite things - hummus, onion soup, and the black bean & green chile tortilla that will change your life. we ended the night with trivia at angry ale's - no better way to celebrate! my parents got me bluetooth headphones that i've been wanting for months! 

friday before my birthday, i walked into my office to find my desk decorated with all sorts of fun! my boss & coworkers are too sweet to me. they also got me some awesome gifts including a owl coffee mug, an awesome cook book and these cute measuring cups from anthro that stack into a milk jug!

we got home from the trip on tuesday, and i had planned to have dinner with my two besties on thursday night. they picked me up around 7pm and we opened more awesome presents before heading to dinner at heist brewery. when we walked inside, about 15 of my friends were there yelling "SURPRISE!" katie & cheslea have surprised me two years in a row now - y'all are sneaky! i was so glad to see all my pals and thankful everyone could make it to celebrate. thanks k & c for getting everyone together!

it was a fun filled two weeks of celebrating my birthday! thank you to everyone who made it so special - i am lucky to be so loved!

birthday trip to aruba!

my dad & stepmom took court & i to aruba to celebrate my 25th birthday! i hadn't been to aruba in about 4 years and it was so good to get back!

we left charlotte on saturday morning around 7:30am and we were all checked into our hotel (marriott stellaris) by 1pm. we had lunch and hit the beach for a few hours before getting ready for dinner at texas de brazil.



 

{view from our room}

 

after a delicious dinner, we headed back to the hotel to play blackjack for a few hours before hitting the hay after being awake since 5am!

 

sunday was my actual birthday so we woke up early and ordered room service, of course! we got ready and headed out on our excursion for the day. we rode UTVs all over the island of aruba - it was amazing. i saw a lot of the island that i had never seen before and we rode all sorts of crazy places. the tour lasted about 4 hours and we had a great tour guide from de palm tours! i highly recommend doing this tour if you are ever in aruba!

 

 

after the tour we beached it for a few hours before dinner at our favorite spot on the island, la trattoria el faro blanco. the restaurant sits up on a hill and you can see the whole island from there - it's absolutely beautiful at sunset. after inhaling my favorite menu item, the gnocchi, and a few bottles of wine, we headed back to the hotel to play some more blackjack & get a good nights sleep. it was an amazing way to bring in year 25!

monday we spent the entire day vegging at the beach. monday evening we went out on the sunset cruise - something we always love to do when we're in aruba! it is a 2 hour catamaran ride around the island with drinks and hors d'oeuvres - it is so relaxing & always a good time. after the cruise, we walked up to ruinas del mar at the hyatt to have dinner. i had a delicious onion soup & a filet with a markers mark demi sauce - holy yum!

tuesday morning we hit the beach for a few hours before having lunch & heading to the airport. another great thing about aruba is that you go through US customs in the aruba airport, so once you get back to the states, you're home free.

it was such a wonderful few days in aruba and i am so thankful that my parents took us for a getaway! cheers to 25 - i have a good feeling about this one!

aruba, jamaica, oh i wanna take ya...

tomorrow morning i'm off to aruba to celebrate my 25th birthday!

my family loves to vacation in aruba because it's a direct 4 hour flight from charlotte. it has been about 4 years since i've been to aruba & i can't wait to get back!

{via}

 

we are staying at the beautiful marriott resort & stellaris casino. my birthday is on sunday, and we have all of our favorite aruba activities planned!

 {via}

 

so cheers to bringing in 25 with this view and a drink in my hand!

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!

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