Friday Rewind

I think I may be all caught up with the weeks I was gone for. It was a lot. Well almost caught up.. Once back from my trip and fully into my jet-lag, I then hopped on another plane to Florida to see my family and attend my Mama's memorial service.

The service was on a Saturday night, but I flew in Friday evening to visit with my sister and nephew. We drove over to my Uncle's house on Saturday morning with my brother-in-law to hang out with my dad, my cousin, aunt, uncle and just about everyone else. That evening lots of people came over to celebrate my grandmother's wonderful life.

We had shots of tequila, watched a fantastic slide-show and shared our favorite memories of her. Overall it was beautiful and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go. I spent the rest of evening chatting with my cousins and catching up into the wee hours of the night. Sunday brought a very early wake-up call to eat breakfast at IHOP, my grandmother's favorite restaurant. I then lounged with my family for the rest of the day and flew back to NY. That was about two weeks ago now.

For the last few weeks I've just been getting back into the swing of work, school and all things related to being home. I finally finished unpacking last Sunday, saw a good chunk of friends for a birthday brunch on Saturday and made the dreaded trip to Target for more toilet paper. And surprise! I actually only bought what was on my list for once- actually I didn't even get everything on my list. I'm still not sure how I did it...

I'm jumping back into the link-ups this week so here are my weeks five.. good and bad.

1) Good news- I just started working with Ash from The Grits Blog to start a new design for this place! I'm super excited and can't wait to see what she comes up with- I love all of her work and this blog needs a little makeover!

2) Bad news- my stress fractured leg still isn't doing anything but being a bummer. I tried to run a few times while away (short short runs of 1-2 miles) and literally the next day the throbbing was back. My marathon training at this point is non-existent. Fortunately I did a bit of research on the cancellation policy and found that if I cancel this year I will still have guaranteed entry for the 2015 marathon. So at this point that is my plan- get my leg to start healing and run it next year!

3) I'm beyond excited that Fall TV is back! I've been carefully selecting what new shows I'm going to try out (Forever, Black-Ish, Gotham, Red Band Society). And am so looking forward to all my favorites returning ( The Walking Dead, AHS, Nashville, New Girl). Also is anyone else out there watching the Outlander series on Starz? It has been more than I could have ever dreamed of- I've advocated for the book series before (because it's ah-mazing) but the show is really being well done. The characters are perfect, they are taking it slow and yeah- watch it.

4) Remember that super awesome Harry Potter/Mean Girls shirt I talked about a few months ago? well my sister got it for me for my birthday!! I was way off my sizing though so I had to send it back to get a smaller size but the new shirt is on it's way! I can't wait! Thanks Migs! 

5) My sister's wedding is only 3 weeks away!! I finally dropped off my dress to be altered (better late than never!) and my other sister and I are going over to her place next week to help finish up center pieces, favors and all sorts of wedding related shenanigans. I'm super excited for the long weekend of her wedding, seeing all our family and friends, and to just have a fantastic time!

 

Weekend Schmeekend

Welcome to Monday- where the fun never ends! Blah.

The weekend- let's see- I spent a good chunk of my weekend attending birthday parties for small children.

I started off Friday by getting cancelled on again for my second date with that kid from the other day. He was sick- which is fine, my throat wasn't feeling too great either. I ended up watching X-Men and drinking some wine with a friend.

Saturday I woke up feeling worse (lotion tissues are my jam these days) but my sister came into town, and my mom flew in in the morning and we all went over to Rent The Runway to try on and pick out dresses for the bridal shower next week and rehearsal dinner for the wedding in October. The trip was a success- I picked out a super cute Kate Spade dress for next weekend and this other cute lace dress that I  never normally would have picked for myself for the rehearsal dinner this fall.

kate spade dress

dress for rehearsal dinner from Nha Khanh

After dress shopping we went to Big J's birthday party- on Saturday he turned 5! It was adorable watching all the little munchkins run around, Big J and Little J were super excited to see me there- and my nephew, who came with us, had as much fun as a one-year old can. We had to laugh too because Little J and my nephew (who are a year and a half apart) are almost the same height!

two cuties playing together!

 My sisters, my mom and I went to lunch after and then I did some shopping while continually feeling worse and worse. I finally dragged myself home around 5 where I then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening curled on the couch with some tea and large box of tissues. Just the way I wanted to spend my Saturday! On another fun note, apparently it's okay if a guy cancels because he is sick- but not okay if I cancel because I am sick- needless to say, date #1 maybe our last... whomp whomp.

Sunday I woke up feeling better- which is good, because in just one week we are flying to Europe. (btw- I'm looking for some guest posters for the few weeks I will be gone, if you are interested send me an email!) I started "packing" - meaning I threw a bunch of things I might want to bring into a pile on my floor. This week will be lots of fun- I mean it!

packing- at it's finest!

The afternoon was spent celebrating my nephews first birthday! I seriously can't believe he is already one! He is oh so cute, crawls like a bear, is going to be walking very soon, and already loves cake. Best kid ever. I bought him a handful of the J's favorite stories along with an L.L Bean monogrammed bag (you got start them young with the monograms!).

reading with the birthday boy

The books will be lifelong favorites and the bag will last forever- they are really great bags if you don't have one (I have 3) and L.L Bean has a lifetime guarantee so once it does start to fall apart they will replace it for free. This is one of my favorite things about them, my mom has this one backpack with a leather fastener and I'm pretty sure she has gotten it replaced by them at least 3 times. Customer service is key in a business!

Off track- sorry, Sunday night I did some more packing, noseblowing, and some reading... And if you haven't checked out the first episode of Outlander yet- you totally should. It was amazing, a perfect cast and right on par with the book. I'm so glad it was made into a TV show and not a movie- now they will be able to do it like it should be done.

And on another lovely note- I've totally revamped my sponsor page with the help of Charissa from House of Bliss, check it out!!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!