Man, life has been good lately. I haven’t been feeling that way on a daily basis necessarily – in fact – quite the opposite some days! But after browsing through my Instagram feed it feels hard to deny it – life is good.

The weather is finally warm and weekends are being spent outside on patios overlooking the city and eating delicious food from our favorite local food trucks. I’m constantly aware that we’re making some of the best memories during this time in our lives – hanging out with friends on the weekends, seeing our favorite bands live, having a beer and chatting on the couch into the late hours of the night!

Nate got his first tattoo on Sunday – there’s a little sneak peek of him on the table in the above photos! Some of you may have seen the tattoo already but I took some good shots with my big ol’ DSLR and I can’t wait to share those with you guys, along with the story behind what he got. It couldn’t be more perfect for him!

Don’t you all just love the bridesmaid card that my friend Kristie made and sent over? How perfect is the idea to give out paint swatches when letting your bridesmaids choose a dress in a various shade of a color? AND, how great is it that she chose various shades of mustard? I mean if I have to buy a dress in my favorite color *I GUESS* I will. Don’t be surprised if you see an inspiration board of mustard dresses plastered up here soon! There are a few events coming up that I need to buy dresses for- shew! Better be counting my pennies and saving up! Especially since I’ve started getting my hair professionally done to get back to platinum! It’s been so easy to get carried away with going out and having fun that we’ve realized we need to take it a little easy and save up for some of the things we have planned. I still have so many things I want to do/buy for our home. I can’t wait until we can fence in the backyard and I still need to work on a photo collage leading up the stairs! Oh and I want a record player (that works) almost more than I can stand it! Oh life, we’re just never satisfied are we? ;] But this evening I can thank Instagram for helping me realize that I should feel plenty satisfied and thankful! That’s my favorite part about these posts – reflecting back on my favorite pieces of the days! Have a great rest of the week and make sure to check back to see if you’re the winner of the Shabby Apple Giveaway over the next few days!

The Derby Festival Marathon last weekend was a nice mini getaway! I’m sure it was nicer for me, seeing how I didn’t run 26.2 miles! Nate finished with a time of 4:19 – a little bit outside of his goal time. He was slightly disappointed. It’s always hard for me to fathom being disappointed because I’m still really proud of myself when I run 2 miles.. on the treadmill.. slowly.. in a controlled environment. I still don’t think he gets how truly awesome he is compared to most people! I understand though because when people praise my blog in any small way I’m all, “No – I don’t think you understand how many page views a good blog gets..” We are competitive .. in different ways.. and my obsession is not benefiting my health or doing a whole lot for anyone. Fail. ;]
The Friday evening that we arrived in Louisville was pretty quiet. We walked down to Bearno’s Pizza; a pretty well known local pizza joint! We turned in early so Nate could get his rest. I say “we” but what I really mean is – I stayed up all night watching episode after episode of Hart of Dixie. I haven’t been this obsessed with a show in a while! Or, maybe I have but Nate and I are always watching together so I can’t just stay up by myself and watch 5 episodes without him. After not going to sleep until 1AM I woke up not but a few hours later with horrible stomach pain (too much pizza!) so I didn’t sleep a whole lot. A giant iced coffee was my best friend after packing up and checking out with my Mother-in-law’s help! She met me at The Galt House and we made our way down to the finish line to wait for Nate. We were pretty irritated that The Galt House (the official hotel of the marathon) decided not to tell us until two days prior to our stay that no one in the hotel could have late check out. Uh? What about all of the people who have traveled long distances to this marathon and probably need to shower afterward? Luckily Nate’s Grandparents live in Louisville so we were able to go visit with them and let him take a shower real quick. All in all, it was a nice start to a very, very busy weekend! And what a good weekend it was!

Sunday lunch at Logan’s Roadhouse. Yes, I’m aware that one of my eyes looks bigger than the other!
This weekend went by in a flash – as they all do. I spent most of last week sick and even had to call out of work on Wednesday for the first time since I started my new position. I’ll still be playing catch up this week – crossing my fingers that it will all go by quick since I have Friday off! Nate and I leave Friday afternoon to head to Louisville for his marathon on Saturday! Then on Sunday two of my very best friends from Sebring are stopping in to hang out with us for the day and spend the night! I am so excited to see them and have them here – HERE – in my house – in my city! The drive from Florida to Kentucky is quite a long one so I’m pretty understanding about not having a lot of visitors from home. It just makes it that much more sweet when friends do make the journey up here!

This weekend was a relaxing one and for that I’m so thankful. I jumped into my pajamas almost immediately after getting off of work on Friday and had no shame! I watched the last half of the first season of Hart of Dixie (again, no shame), stayed up late, ate pistachio gelato, and slept in way later than I should have. We did manage to do a few adult tasks – we bought all new pillows and enough paper towels to last us until next year. Ok, not really but – there was a ridiculous sale on paper towels at Target and we felt pretty awesome about the great deal we got. See? There is nothing more responsible than having the foresight to stock up on paper towels when they’re cheap. Saturday night Nate fell asleep on the couch and I went on to bed. He has slept on the couch a little to avoid coming down with whatever I’ve had and even though I was feeling mostly better I went on upstairs without him – he just looked too comfy to move. A few hours later I finally just came back down stairs and asked if I could sleep on the couch with him- ha! I literally couldn’t go to sleep without him after just a few nights apart. We slept cuddled and squished on the couch for a few hours before we both woke up like, “Uh… there is a queen size bed upstairs … what?” and made our way up to bed. It was just nice to sleep in our squished little ball for a few hours. Sometimes I think about these times where we’re doing just what we want – just the two of us. It’s fun to picture what our life will look like when it’s not just us anymore. That’s still a ways off my friends, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t on my mind! Like .. all of the time.

Have a great Monday!! (..and if you’re reading via a feed reader please stop by and check out my new design!)

Back in December I met up with my friend Erika for a little impromptu photo shoot! I wrote a little about it here, posted one photo, and then waited for the perfect time to blog the rest. Does anyone else do this? You love something so much (a DIY you put together, outfit photos, etc.) that you don’t want to post it because once you do then you wont have that perfect thing sitting in your back pocket ready to go up on your blog at any time? I kind of do this with everything. I will keep a new outfit in my closet for weeks/months waiting for just the right time to wear it for the first time. So, that’s what I did with these photos .. and this jumper dress! My In-laws got me this dress for Christmas (2011!). It made it into a few Instagram shots and one or two blog photos but that was it! I was just saving it for the perfect outfit post. There really isn’t a better time to debut an outfit than when you have an actual photographer willing to take your photos, so I’d say that worked out well!
I really need to meet up with Erika again soon. It was so fun hanging out with a new friend who shares an interest in some of the same things! We had a totally dorky moment when I mentioned something about knowing this blogger from Nashville who has a photography business with her husband (*cough*Kaelahbee!*cough*) and we realized we both knew of her blog and started chatting about how much we love her. Haaa. Kindred internet nerd spirits? I think so. I’m excited to dream up a few locations and plan some outfits with her! I’m thinking fun props and themes for upcoming shoots! Just need to nail down some solid ideas! I think first and foremost I may need some new clothes! I realized a few days ago how few new pieces I’ve purchased in the last year. I suppose I’ll have to get my remix on.. and maybe I can thrift a few new things! Maybe that’s a good idea for a shoot… thrifting! ;]

Make sure to hope on over to Erika’s Tumblr and follow her on Twitter!

Outfit Details:

Dress: Forever 21
Top: H&M
Boots: Kmart
Hat: Target
Cape: New York & Co.
Bag: Shii