You're the Only Ten I See...

Corny, I know, but I can't help myself sometimes.  Here's the weekend recap.

Cam and I (and his little brother and Ritz) headed down to Tennessee this weekend to spend Memorial Day weekend with his family.  Of course, Cam is spoiled and his favorite dessert, banana pudding, was waiting for him when we pulled in driveway. His step-mom also made these phenomenal cookies with chopped up snickers bars in them.  I've just learned the accept the 5 pounds we gain every time we go down there because the food is just so good. It was overall a very well needed, relaxing weekend.  I got a lot of sleep in (which was good because I've been exhausted recently) and did the initial above the line edit (a substantive and grammatical edit, not source edit) of a journal piece, so it was productive as well.

On Saturday, we headed down the lake for the morning because it was supposed to rain that afternoon.  I was really hesitant to go boating as I just got an assignment on Friday regarding an awful boating accident, but it ended up being a lot of fun (and no accidents). Don't you just hate with work starts relating to real life?  Of course, we forgot our camera, but Cam's sister put up these great pictures on her blog already so I am stealing them. Thanks Amber! Cam's nephew, Brady, was too cute and thoroughly enjoyed driving the boat and reminding everyone that he is number 1. 

 

Amber and Brady on the boat.

 Our captain, Brady (for the record, the boat was off and anchored at this time). 

That night we ate dinner at a hibachi restaurant, which I love.  Sunday morning we went to church and then went to brunch in Bell Buckle, TN. It is a cute little town that reminds me of Midway, KY (a restaurant and antique shopping town).  Sunday night we had a big dinner at his parent's house. It was a full house with all four children, their spouses and children, his dad and step-mom, and his grandmother and her husband. His dad recently built a fire pit in the backyard, so we made s'mores around the fire and our brother-in-law played the guitar.


This morning we had a big breakfast and then drove home.  Ritz, our dog, clearly had a great time in the fields and brush because we pulled 17 ticks off of her (and, yes, we do use Frontline religiously on her).  Luckily, most were dead, but it was pretty gross.  We cleaned the house up, did laundry, picked the weeds, and went grocery shopping. 


My goal this week: to blog daily again--I've missed it! Hope you all had a good weekend!

Housewife of the Year Award

According to my husband goes to me.

So I may or may not have tried to be good and cut back on our dry cleaning bill by washing a sweater that states it can be machine washed on the tag with our other darks.  The sweater may or may not have shedded all over hubby's polo shirt (to the point it looked like it had been our cat and dog's blanket for 10 years).  I may or may not have tried to hide it and grab the lint roller quickly to try to de-fuzz the polo, at which point my hubby may or may not have come upstairs and seen 2 used sheets of lint roller on the floor, a filthy sweater, and me frantically trying to fix the situation.   And he may or may not have laughed hysterically and told me just to wash it again becuase there clearly weren't going to be enough lint roller sheets on the roll. 

My favorite part: hubby suggested that wanted to make a blog to share my awful house-wife skills (I'll admit, he does have some good stories--I didn't know how to do dishes, laundry, or basically anything when we got married and had some pretty funny attempts at learning) and would entitle this post "Is she serious?" and just put a picture of up of the filthy sweater hanging in his closet (fyi, there is no such picture, otherwise I would have included it in this post, I promise). We were literally laughing for hours about how fuzzy his shirt was from the measley sweater. 

I know he was clearly kidding about blogging, but I had never thought about my husband having a blog or what he would even blog about (besides his addiction to watches).  Cam reads mine and occasionally takes photographs that he deems "blog worthy," but he isn't really involved in my blog at all, so I never think of him even reading my blog. I would love to read a blog he did, so I may make him do some "guest" postings on here if he would be so willing.  What would your husbands blog about? Are they involved at all in your blog? Would you want your husband blogging?

Take that, Silly Bandz

Remember those awesome slap bracelets that were all the fad when we were children that we woud slap on and off so much that the cloth covering would wear off and we would end up cutting ourselves with the metal? Who doesn't miss that? 

Well, my work decided the slap bracelet should make a matured come-back. They passed out coozies that are two slap bracelets with a neoprene covering  (bearing the logo of the firm, of course).

rendering of how a slap coozie works

I love finding new uses for things from the past, don't you? I'm now officially ready to go to the lake this weekend, slap coozie in hand. Betcha silly bandz can't keep a drink cold....

Kitchen Remodel Design

 

Okay, I'm going to quit apologizing for my blogging absence. First week of work = busy and long hours with all the training.

This picture was one of our biggest inspirations.  We loved the look of the light tile with the ivory cabinets and light countertops. So, with this in mind, this is what we picked out for our kitchen remodel plans (work begins officially in a few weeks): 

Our kitchen is generally shaped like this one above. Right now, we have no island, so we will be building one to fit our space.

First we are removing our current soffit lighting and putting in can lights into our ceiling.  We are refinishing the tops of our cabinets. 

Building a new cabinet to expand to the ceiling to cover our vent and putting crown moulding on the top of the cabinets. Also, we are building an island with an eat-in style breakfast bar.

Refinishing the cabinets to be french country ivory (while leaving our current stainless pulls). 

Our granite we have purchased is called "river gold". It is very light with a light swirl of greys and golds, so it blends well with our current tile.  Once the island is built, we will have the granite countertops and backsplash installed. 

 We have purchased pendant lighting that is similar in shape to this (three lights on a track)....

...but they are stainless like the two above and have these style holes in the sides to expose more light. 

I picked up this piece of art yesterday. It is a large metal copper piece with a patina-ed diagonal stripe. We will likely turn it on its side so it would be horizontal instead of vertical.  I absolutely adore it in our bedroom with our bedding, so I may end up eventually moving it up there. But, Cam hasn't seen it  yet, so he may veto it when he gets back in town today.

 

We have this faucet from Delta (with a pull out style spout to act as a hose).

We also have picked out this Elkay sink because we wanted to still have the two bowls but wanted one to be much larger than the second so one can be for washing and the other for rinsing. It also is extra deep and a flush undermount style with a sound deadening system, so it is large but quiet. The faucet will be angled in the dip down section above the smaller bowl.

Any suggestions or feedback? We are still looking for barstools. Our kitchen table may not blend, but we are going to try to keep our current table if we can. I may re-finish our chairs to blend more with the color scheme.

BIG BIG NEWS

I am so excited to be able to say officially....

...CAM AND I ARE RENOVATING OUR KITCHEN THIS MONTH!

In case you can't tell, I'm excited.  I just walked in the door from work and we are running out to dinner now, but I promise a big post soon to explain the detailed plan, but for now it includes refinishing and painting the cabinets, getting granite countertops, building an island with breakfast bar, and removing a sofit, replacing the lighting, getting an extra deep, extra large sink and new faucet, and building a new cabinet to cover our vent.  

I'm MIA all this week because I'm stuck in orientation and trainings all week, but hopefully I'll have more time to devote to blogging again once I settle in to the job. I finished my first assignment today, so I feel pretty productive.

Working Woman

Sorry for the late day post, but today was the first day of being a working (er...interning) woman.  Although today was mostly orientation, meet and greet, and eating, it still felt good to be productive and seeing the possibility that I may earn a paycheck and that I'm not just paying an institution tens of thousands of dollars for nothing. I think I have a wonderful summer ahead of me--everyone seems great to work with.  


Mom had taken me shopping this week to get new work pieces. We went to the Talbot's outlet here and I was pretty impressed with what we got for the price.  


I got: one swing jacket in this swing style cut, but in toile print....

This boat neck sweater in heather grey....

...and two silk tops, two cardigans, and a dress. 

She also picked up these nude pumps for me (on left), which I am beyond excited for this season: 

 

I also filled out scholarship papers for next year today, so fingers crossed! Ugh. I wish money didn't rule the world. Until then, I'll be slaving away....

Hello, My Name is Lauren...

...And I am an addict.  Yes, I am at the point that I have to admit I have a problem. 

In one week's time, I have spent 52 hours watching Lost episodes on Hulu (I'm in the middle of Season 3 so no spoilers please!).

 
Let's not talk about this week's Brick Breaker game, where my current score is 208,790. 

Gah, I need a life.

Wedding Wednesday: My Dress

Today is a sultry, rainy Wednesday. I just adore the sound of the rain, so I am sitting here, with the windows open, just listening to the storm and being thankful that I don't have to water the plants today.

I was thinking the story of my dress would pair nicely with the post about my veil last Wednesday. 

I always imagined myself in a very simple, straight line white dress, with lace or beading.  

 

I adore this simple, beaded dress from Rivini. 

 

I tried on every dress that matched this description that I could get my hands on--probably close to 50. I liked the Rivini above, but my mom wasn't crazy about it.  She begged me to try on a big, Cinderella style dress because she always envisioned me in one. I tried on a few poofballs, just to appease her.  I felt like a child dressing up as a Disney princess, which wasn't exactly the feeling I wanted on my wedding day.
And, then I tried on this one:

I felt so beautiful in this Romona Keveza. I loved how it was fitted through the bodice and then flared out below the hips. I literally wore it around the store for close to an hour--I couldn't bear to take it off. The only small alteration I wanted was to make the neckline a sweetheart, but I was sold. 

However, I couldn't bring myself to justify the large price tag for a dress. I kept searching for a dress, trying new ones on in this style. I tried on quite a few dresses with the pick ups, but none looked like this or looked the same.  

A few months went by, and I almost gave up. But, two months later, I got a call from a store saying that they had gotten a returned dress in the Romona Keveza style, and wanted to know if I was interested as it was close to my size. The only catch: it was ivory and had been made with the bust of another Romona style and had a sweetheart neckline.  They would sell it to me at a discounted price because of the "alteration" and they wanted to mail me a picture to see if I would like it.

 

I bought the dress immediately over the phone. I was thrilled and just knew that dress was made for me.

I had a dress label (made by Monde Designs) made and put inside of my dress. The label had the same gold decor as the one pictured below, but it had my name, C's name, and our wedding day stitched in royal blue as my something blue (and no leaf).

 

 I could not imagine a single piece of clothing making me any happier on my wedding day.

 

 

 

All the Trimmings

I had awful insomnia last week, but I realized how much time I spend sleeping and how much I could accomplish in that time (okay, so I'm nerdy and immediately kept thinking of the Cullens).

So, at night, instead of just laying in bed looking at the ceiling, I pulled out the paints and painted all the trim and doors in the upstairs hallway and bathroom and painted two of the guest rooms. It felt good to be productive, and wore me out enough to finally sleep. 

Trim before (it was the same color as the walls and had been "touched up" in a different color):

Trim and doors (and hallway) after:

 
I forgot to take before shots of the guestrooms, but they were the same color as hallway. 

The grey guestroom (paint color is "slate" from Restoration Hardware):

The blue guestroom (the "nonflash" picture didn't turn out, sorry the color with the flash is kind of weird--it actually just blends to the bedding). The color is called "November Sky". I had enough color left from when I painted our bathroom to paint another one of the bedrooms:

It feels good to have actual guest rooms that are painted and finished.  And it feels good to finally get some rest!

Weekend Recap

Cs little brother graduated from UK this weekend. We are so proud of him!

We forgot our camera, but Cs mom gave me this picture. It is of C's mom and step-dad, his brother, and C and I. And, no, there is no baby. I was leaning forward and my dress was pleated beneath the chest so I look about 7 months pregnant. But hey, picture isn't about me, its about him graduating, so I'm over it.

C's family from TN came up to celebrate, and we had a great time with everyone in town.  We had a great time with everyone and ate so much good food all weekend.  Being around Cam's cute nephew makes me realize exactly how much I want to have children someday (but, I also didn't have to take care of him all night, change diapers, etc--I just got to enjoy his cuteness).  Babies in a family are such a blessing and such entertainment! I adore this commercial, isn't it the cutest thing ever?!

Mom is coming in town today to celebrate a little late. I can't wait to have an enjoyable day shopping and going to lunch with her. I feel bad I didn't get to see her on mother's day, but she is so understanding that we had a lot going on. 

Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Happy Mother's Day

Cam (left) and me (right) with our mothers on our birth days

Happy Mother's Day! Cam and I are blessed to have so many women who love us--we each have mothers, step-mothers, and grandmothers to celebrate today. We love all of them and are so thankful they are in our lives.

I've been so busy this weekend re-doing the upstairs of the house, getting estimates on a potential kitchen re-model, and had most of Cam's family from Tennessee in town this weekend because his little brother graduated from UK.  I promise to post updates of everything this upcoming week. For now, I need to work on getting my house back in order and straightened up.

Happy mother's day to all you mothers!

Wedding Wednesday: Veil

I never had any hesitation about wearing a veil.  I am of the belief that the veil makes the bride--otherwise, she looks just like a woman in a white dress. What other day in our lifetime can we wear expensive tulle on our heads and be fabulous? Exactly.  

That said, my veil was one of my most stressful aspects of my wedding. I knew I wanted a big bubble cut veil that ended right around the point where my dress poof-ed out and I wanted a blusher. I thought the big veil would help balance out how the top of my dress and chest were, but for the life of me could not find an image of the type of veil I wanted. 

I searched high and low but most bubble veils were so short. I ended up ordering my first veil from a veil company (I don't want to disclose who because they did end up taking it back no questions asked and were good with customer service).  It was custom made to be a single layer bubble cut veil. The blusher was to skim my chest and the veil itself was to be fingertip length.  Based on that description apparently, this is what they sent me:

Yikes. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed.  It was literally just mounds of tulle wrapped on upon itself that was no where close to what I was expecting. As you can tell, I could not even begin to see through the blusher and the veil and blusher were the same length. 

I showed C, and he just looked at me, dumbfounded, and eventually asked, "Is it what you want?" I about died laughing. He got this big grin on his face and said, "Thank God. I want marry you, not a beekeeper. Our wedding isn't Halloween." Luckily, the company took the veil back without any issue and I was completely refunded.  However, the situation taught me that I clearly needed to have a photograph of what I wanted instead of just describing it.

I ended up finding these Todd Pellowe pictures (a local amazing photographer) a few months before the wedding and saw exactly what I had envisioned. I have no idea who the bride is, but thank you, thank you!

 

I ended up ordering the veil through a local bridal store that is no longer in business (Bluegrass Bride, how fitting of a name for me!). My veil was custom made based on the same description, along with the above photographs, through the designer Toni Frederici. It was precisely what I had envisioned. I absolutely adore my veil and think it really was the finishing touch on my dress. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures that highlight my veil:

 

Picture of my mom putting my veil on (I ended up having to take it off to get my dress over my head, but it was a nice moment). Couldn't we pass for twins?!

 

The actual real placement of the veil once the dress was on. 

 

 

Hair comb was my "something borrowed" from one of my bridesmaids, Lauren, who got married  the year before us (and is a fabulous Louisville wedding planner--check her out!)

 

Dad lifting my veil and giving me away.

 

I was amazed at how perfect they got the length--it stopped exactly at the spot where my dress began to poof.  

2/3rds a Lawyer and Top Ten Tuesday: Goals of the Summer

Finals are officially complete! I am beyond overjoyed right now! I can't believe I will be starting my final year of law school in the fall (assuming I pass everything this semester).  I'm ready for a summer full of free time, television, reading, cooking, the sun, regular blogging, and relaxing.  

I started an experimental allergy medicine today. I am pretty convinced I have the placebo  in the experiment because absolutely nothing happened. I sat there in the office, Epi-pen in hand, ready to have an allergy reaction, and then nothing.  Go figure. I guess it's better than turning purple.  

Now that my summer has officially begun, I decided today would be as good to set forth some general goals of the summer.  Some are easy, others are lofty.  I would love to accomplish all of them and more.  Here are just ten things I thought of quickly that I would love to get done this summer. 

Ten Goals of the Summer

1. Paint the guest bedrooms (at least two of them) and paint  the trim upstairs (I've already bought the paint, so that's a start right?)
2. Read the ten books on the previous Tuesday top ten list
3. Fix up something around the house (like the convert the formal living room into an office or re-do the kitchen cabinets and counters)
4. Enjoy my summer internship as much as possible
5. Hand make something for the house (I'm thinking curtains, a duvet, or a bathroom mirror)
6. Cook a healthy dinner every night for at least a week
7. Get together with our friends at least once a week
8. Take a day trip to a local town I haven't been to yet (maybe in Eastern KY because I have never been)
9. Work on editing the KLJ article and my personal note, also pick and topic and research for my seminar and independent study papers so I don't have as much to do in the fall
10. Watch the entire Lost series

YAY for summer!

Derby Day in the Bluegrass...Home of Fast Ladies and Beautiful Horses

I am so proud to be a Kentuckian today. Being from Louisville, I went to the Derby almost every year.

Cam and I in the winner's circle and the paddock at Churchill

Unfortunately, law school and finals have (literally) gotten in the middle of that. Next year, I graduate the day before the Derby (Oaks day), so I am already planning on going.  Here are just a few of my favorite things about today that remind me why I love this great state:

My Old Kentucky Home

The Call to the Post

So ignore the "this is me" little clip and sorry its shaky, but it was by far the best version of Churchill's Call to the Post out there on Youtube.

Cam and I love the Call to the Post so much we had the bugler from Churchill come and perform the Call to the Post as our introduction at our reception. Once we entered, he played My Old Kentucky Home. It was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the night. Here are a few of the pics of it:

The Hats

Mint Juleps

The Horse Farms

Derby Pie

Bourbon Balls

We love the state so much, that I not only themed my blog and my wedding about the state, we also have a lot of home decor to reflect our Kentucky pride. Here's a peek into a few of the Kentucky themed items in our home.

We have these two posters framed in our living room from the Derby we went to together (with an abstract style Ashland Stakes framed poster on the other wall).

This is my favorite poster by far (its actually an Oaks picture, not a Derby picture. The Oaks is the fillies' race the day before the Derby, and its gotten to be just as big locally as the Derby). I think if and when I get a job, I will buy it for my office (or just buy it and put it it up in our home if I stay unemployed).

We have this "embossed running horse" pattern as our every day dishes (made from Louisville Stoneware):

And have these detail items from Louisville Stoneware up around the house (pitcher and plate on display in the kitchen and ceramic riding boot on a shelf in the living room dried wedding flowers in it).

We have a bourbon barrel as a end table in our living room with a horse lamp from Keeneland placed on it.

 

I just love this high holy day in Kentucky, rain or shine. Happy Derby Day!