happy birthday, scott!

my parents have become great friends with another couple over the past few years. they live down the street from them and have kids similar in age to my sisters and i. after christmas, we all went on a cruise together and seriously had the best time ever. i had never met their daughter brooke and her husband before and seriously fell in love with them. their family is wonderful and we all love them and love the fact our parents have found such great friends.

yesterday was scott's birthday and they invited my family along too. we went to blt in the ritz and it was heavenly. i had never even been to the ritz before, so the whole experience was devine. we're all going to vegas together in 2 weeks & brooke & chris are meeting us out there too. i can't wait!

{loved my outfit. dress: ubran. blazer: urban, borrowed from roomie. sweater tights: hue. booties: bcbg. watch: michael kors. earrings: birthday present from boss via hand picked}

{caesar salad}

{petite filet}

{boston cream pie}

{happy birthday, scott!}

{just another typical monday night limo ride}

weekend.

it was a fun {short} weekend for me. friday night, katie & i went to see the vow. it was good - not nearly as wonderful as i had expected, but certainly worth a see. saturday morning i woke up and went for a run. it was rough but i was proud of myself for going on saturday morning. then i headed to work where i spent the whole day. i had a stupid event that was super frustrating, but i knew that going in, so our staff was prepared and wonderful as usual.

{baked stuffed apple en croute}

{event flowers}

saturday night we went out and had a great time. i made some stupid decisions but oh well. you only live once, right? sunday we woke up and went to breakfast. it was freezing and for whatever reason grant stripped down to model for us.

then katie, lola  & i headed to my mom's house to clean out my room. they're putting the house on the market next month and i needed to declutter my room.

afterwards we decided to head to selwyn for some brews. we scooped up derrick and carter joined us and we had a wonderful afternoon. i was in my own person heaven.

healthy living.

i stepped off the cruise ship on january 2nd and decided to change some things. these things can be summed up in 4 points.

1.  stop eating like shit. stop consuming whatever the hell you want, whenever the hell you want.
2. stop drinking so much.
3. start running.
4. be kind to your body and love yourself.

it's been about 5 weeks since then, and for the first time in many years, i've stuck with it. the healthy eating, the running, the not drinking wine every night, the loving myself. 

i got some new kicks a few weeks ago. (see below). i'd had the same running shoes since high school, and since i spent most of my time in cheer shoes, i never saw the need for new ones. after much debate, i went with the purple ones. and oh boy, am i glad that i did. 

so along with the new kicks came an awesome iphone app that syncs with a sensor (that of course i had to buy separately) in my shoes. it tells me how far i've gone, what pace i'm running at, congratulates me when i do something good, and lots of other cool shit. i'm pretty much obsessed and it really has kept me motivated. 

it also syncs up to nike+ which keeps track of every run. so since i got these purple pumps - i've ran 16 times, for a total of 8 hours and 38 minutes and 72 kilometers. i am so proud of myself!

i've also been to hot yoga a few times with  my sisters. i'm certainly not good at it, but i feel great afterwards. i am going to try and start going on days i'm not running each week.

and then comes the eating. it's hard! i try very hard not to eat out. i treat myself to starbucks every morning and i don't skimp. a girl needs her venti, okay?

and then i eat a lot of things that are green. a lot.

{zucchini, squash, onion, asparagus}

{left overs from the above mixed with lettuce, red pepper & more asparagus}

and then of course, i treat myself to my personal drug... tcby's white chocolate mousse.

i feel good. i feel the best i've felt in years. 5 weeks ago i couldn't run for 2 minutes. now i'm running 4 miles in under 40 minutes. i'm still walking some in between but my pace is fast enough to allow me to do so and still do 10 minute miles. i have more energy. i'm putting more effort in to my appearance because i feel pretty again. i feel like i'm becoming the woman i am meant to be.

 i won't fall back into my unhealthy ways. and for the first time ever, i actually believe myself.

24k gold.

about a month ago, we decided to have a cocktail party for our roommates 24th birthday. it's pretty common (or used to be) for everyone to come over, get drunk, and pass out on our couch so we wanted it to be different... classy even. so seeing as how she was turning 24, cait's mom came up with the cute theme of "24 karat gold." cue the pinteresting.

we sent out invite with this fantastic website called paperless post. after much debate, this is the one we chose.

the party finally arrived this past weekend and it was a lot of work! i know i do this for a living, but being the event designer/hostess is way different than managing from a venue side. i had to worry about decor, space issues, making the food, etc. cait's mom was a huge help - she is an event planner too so we were a great team. 

some of the food labels i made. 

buffalo chicken wonton dippers - receipe from pinterest here. i also made pizza bites and brie & pear tarts. yum!

24 banner over the food table.

thank you pinterest - i couldn't stop glittering everything and they turned out so great! super easy too - i just taped around the jar, painted on mod podge, sprinkled glitter on the jar and pulled the tape off.

mantle.

table on the front porch - my fave shot of the night.

yes, those are real carrots that are spray painted gold. mrs. hewitt is so creative!

cmh banner & the mantle.

me, katie, birthday girl, chelsea and carrie.

hope you had a great birthday, cmh!

this was after i had an outfit change due to a little spill. 

and this is me, still hungover at 9pm on super bowl sunday, and my wonderful momma. 

valentines day.

i think this day is hard for a lot of people. we are trained to think that if we're not having a candlelit dinner for two on february 14th that we're total losers. so this year i decided to make some v-day cards for my pals. even though most of my girlfriends are in relationships now-a-days, i still think it's important to let your people know you love them.

revamp.

i started this blog because i wanted to write & to share. i haven't done any of that. so this is me making a commitment to blog at least 3 times a week. i don't care that no one reads this - i want to do it so i will.

2011 in review.

it's hard to believe that 2011 has come and gone. i've got one more year under my belt and had 365 days last year to be thankful to wake up for.  new years has always been one of my favorite days of the year. the let down of new years eve (cause let's be honest, it's never that fun) is always followed by the refreshing realization the next morning that we have something new to cling to. a new year is hopeful. a new year is cleansing. a new year is inspiring and full of the unknown. it's truly amazing how the roll over from 11:59pm to 12:00am can change your mindset & your heart. i love it.

i remember thinking last year that no year could be as full of change as 2010 was. graduating college & moving to a new city seemed like it was as dynamic as life could get. even one year later, it's funny to see how wrong i was.

this year my sweet step dad checked in the hospital because he thought he was having a heart attack and two days later was laying in neuro icu completely paralyzed. he went from running marathons and kicking my ass on black diamonds in colorado to not being able to hold his tooth brush. it's truly heartbreaking and has been the hardest thing my family has ever had to go through. and in that same breath, so much has changed since the first time i got to come home to see him. he's walking in his walker somedays. he's playing wheelchair rugby. he is driving some (something i'm not happy about). he can take care of himself and doesn't need as much help. he's happy and dedicated and inspiring. it's been almost 10 months since he called my mom to take him to the hospital and his journey is a reminder to me of how much can happen in 1 year.

this year i moved home to charlotte. when i got home to see brian, i knew i couldn't go back to atlanta. i realized i was living in atlanta and working a job i hated to try and prove something to myself. so i decided i had proved it and decided to move home to everyone who loves me. if you had told me this time last year i'd be living in dilworth with my best friend and down the street from my sisters, i would have told you that you were crazy.

and then there are the other things. the things that i don't think have changed at all. the things that frustrate me and make me wonder how another 365 days have passed and these "things" are still relevant. it's discouraging and the stagnation is weighing on me this year more than ever. but i'm thankful for grace and for the hope of something better. and i'll keep clinging to grace & hope until things are different and my head is clear and my heart is free.

so here's to 2012. to finding out just how much more can change in 1 year. i can only hope that in 2013, i'll be saying the same thing i'm currently saying about 2011. cheers.