Bon Voyage!

Tomorrow I'm jetting off to lovely, sunny Provence for 10 days of relaxing bliss. I wish I could pack you all in my suitcase, but alas, I'm trying to leave some extra space for all the treasures I find at the markets.

Au revoir, mes amis!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yesterday was my 28th birthday! And Mother's Day. 28 years ago I was born ON Mother's Day and Mimi was {2 weeks shy of} 28 years old. How's that for crazy?!

Source: Uploaded by user via James on Pinterest

We celebrated with a yummy dinner at Antica Posta on Saturday night. My favorite aunt and uncle, Ellen and Bob, were able to join us, as was my dear friend Erin. She *might* have been nursing a slight case of the cocktail flu, but she was so sweet to come out anyway. :)

I kicked off the festivities with a blowout at Dry Bar. That place never disappoints! Cosmo-Tai this time.

Continued getting in a festive spirit at home with a bottle of baby champers for one. #GeniusInvention

All dressed for dinner! This DVF dress always brings a smile to my face, so I figured why not wear it for my birthday? :)

After dinner, we went back to Ellen and Bob's house for a homemade mint chocolate chip/cookie dough ice cream cake. SO GOOD. Ellen is the official "birthday baker" in the family, so at my brother's birthday dinner on Monday she took my order for an ice cream cake. Lucky me. :)

 I was a little concerned about how flammable my hair was...#HairSprayLove

 Love my family. Even though Danny isn't smiling. Punk.

Me & Erin. My heart sister. <3 Gorgeous without even a stitch of make-up on!

And of course, the Mimi. Sometimes I forget to tell her how much she means to me, how grateful I am for all that she's done for me, how I love her to the moon and back. She's my best friend and #1 cheerleader. I'm truly blessed in the parents department. Daddy Dan is pretty great too. :)

Sunday was a nice low-key day. Woke up, went to church, had brunch at Tin Lizzy's with some lovely ladies, and then headed out to my parents'. All Mimi wanted for Mother's Day was a piece of chocolate cream pie from Jim'n'Nicks (they make it fresh everyday), and I was happy to oblige. I may have whet my whistle with some lemon icebox pie..mmm.. 

We then did a grand tour of Targets, Wal-marts, Lowes, and Home Depots on our way home and picked up all kinds of goodies for my patio. I'm now the proud owner of a GRILL. We'll do my pots/plants this weekend. I'm feeling incredibly domestic right now, someone pinch me.

 Happy {belated} Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

If you need a laugh...

...watch this video of the Harvard baseball team lip-synching/dancing to Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe." 

I am DYING laughing!

You can thank me later. :)

Vegas Recap

Happy Wednesday! I got back from Vegas at 1:30am Monday morning, so suffice to say, I started out this week waaaay sleep deprived {we will not even talk about the 10 cumulative hours of sleep I got over the weekend..}

Sadly, this will not be a titillating recap of our Cinco de Bachelorette weekend. Just a few photo snippets to commemorate the event. The pictures are all on lock down - although none of them are terrible. We're good girls. ;)

We stayed at the Palazzo, which was GORGEOUS! I highly recommend it. Great location on the strip, amazing shopping and restaurants within, plus it connects directly to the Venetian. We had 2 suites that connected and another room across the hall. The rooms at the Palazzo are significantly larger than the ones I've stayed in at the Bellagio, just FYI.

I did some minor sprucing up of one of the rooms to make it feel a little more "Bachelorette festive."

 We had great views since we were on the 21st floor. Directly in front of us was the main pool, Treasure Island, and of course, that amazing Vegas mall. Proud to say I did zero shopping this trip.

Friday night we went to dinner at Sushisamba..mmm..and again, IN our hotel. So convenient. Then we had some Bachelorette fun.. ;)

Saturday we woke up and trekked downstairs to find coffeeee before assuming our position at the cabana by the pool. We were at one of the smaller pools (the top pool in the above pic of the main pool), which was next to Azul, aka the "party pool." Think techno music starting at 11am on the dot and poolside beds instead of chairs..umm, yeah, that place looked sketchy. But we did get to enjoy the music all day. 

Saturday night we had dinner outside at Lavo, which overlooks the strip. The food was great! The bride's sister's friend {follow?} hooked us up with a table at the Chateau nightclub in the Paris hotel. We joked that we took the bride to Paris on her Bachelorette...haha?! 

We lucked out and our table was on the outside patio, overlooking the Bellagio. The weather was perfect, and the view couldn't have been better! We watched the water show multiple times.

 

My only legible/appropriate picture of the night - me and the bride's childhood bff. <3 her.

There was a whole group of Marines on the roof with us as well, who had just returned from Afghanistan 3 weeks ago. We had a blast hanging out with them! Who doesn't love a man in uniform? And that's all I'll say about that. :-X

Life has returned to normal. On Monday we celebrated my brother's 26th birthday with dinner at Pricci. I was stuffed but can always make room for dessert. :)

 

 Back to work...can't really complain about my view.

Our hydrangea bush in front of the gallery bloomed this year! Last year it looked dead and sad, but I've learned {from panicked internet research} that sometimes hydrangeas will go dormant for a year or two and then come back. Lucky for us, it came back this year!

Only 2 more days until the weekend! I'm hoping this gloom and doom clears up in Atlanta so I can squeeze in some good pool time before my birthday dinner Saturday night. :)

xoxo

May Day and Happy Birthday, AKP!

It's May! woo woo! 

Which  means...3 days till I'm in Vegas. 12 days till my birthday. 30 days till my work trip to France. Throw approximately another 10 birthdays into the mix, and you have one awesome, ballertastic month in the making.

To start it off right...Happy May Day! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my precious roommate and soul sistah, AKP! With the help of our amazing group of girlfriends, a surprise birthday breakfast was sneakily orchestrated. I couldn't really cook anything without ruining the surprise, so...the other girls stepped up to the plate with fruit salad, birthday cupcake/muffins (gluten-free FTW!), and an amazing egg/sausage/cheese/grits casserole that I'm still swooning over. I provided the venue, mimosas, balloons, and the birthday girl.

Right after I woke her up and hauled her downstairs at 7:15am with the promise of a "surprise." She thought the surprise was that I had made us coffee..ppsshhh.  

{This is why you never see me in glasses.}

 Kelly made these amazing cupcakes with gluten-free vanilla mix, blueberries, and lemon zest, complete with homemade cream cheese frosting infused with lemon zest as well. A veritable health food, what with all the fruit...right...?

Love these ladies! We're so fortunate that most of them live right in our 'hood, so it's easy to pop over for breakfasts and what not.

I was so nervous about how this was going to work out. I went to Publix before work yesterday to buy balloons, flowers, and champagne, which I hid in my bathroom. Poor Ash was super confused about why I was ALL about getting ready in HER room before dinner last night. The dozen balloons in my bathroom would have totes given the surprise away.... I set my alarm for 3am so I could decorate, put out plates/glasses, prep the coffee maker, etc.. I also figured out how to turn the chime off on our alarm system so I wouldn't wake the living dead with everyone coming in at the crack of dawn. See, I have skills?

Are you someone who enjoys being surprised? 

I like it, in theory, but I always act like a jackass in the moment. And say dumb stuff that I regret later. And over interrogate about how it was all executed. Sheesh, lighten up Sarah.

I finally caved...

...and pre-ordered this necklace. 

Source: baublebar.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I've had my eye on it for awhile and what better thing to do on a Sunday morning than online shop?!

My mint green obsession knows no bounds - a shade of minty/aqua green is the accent color in my casa. I would like to point out, for the sake of, um, making me look like not such a trendster ;) , that I've loved this color for quite some time and am kind of PO'ed it has become so popular. I don't want my house to scream Spring 2012!, ya know? I did decorate it in Fall 2011, so there. {insert tongue sticking out}

Case(s) in point:

I've also been rocking this shirt (from ASOS) whenever I can:

And y'all saw the dress I wore to Keeneland...

Mint green = LOVE.

I know mint and coral are the "hot" shades for spring, but alas, as much as I love coral, I'm not sure it will work for me unless I'm mega-tan. I love coral nails, but Mimi vetoed the 3 coral dresses I brought home when I was on a desperate Keeneland-dress-shopping-binge. Britt (see above) rocks the coral with her tan and blonde hair...perhaps I need to contemplate highlights and more self tanner...?

Do any of your mom's have strong opinions about things that you wear, which in turn leads you to never want to wear that color/style/etc..? Mimi told me she doesn't like me in yellow or red, thus I will NEVER buy anyhing in those colors. I personally loathe red, and I could like the right shade of yellow, but it's not worth the disapproving looks I would get. Oh mamas, we love you so big. ;)