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Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2012

Lauren's 24th Birthday Surprise!

This week has been so busy (...I feel like I'm saying that a lot lately)! I went to Clemson Monday to have dinner with a friend who is heading to Air Force training to be a fighter pilot (yea, he's a badass).

There was a Clemson/Greenville Young Alumni kickoff party at the Thomas Creek Brewery on Tuesday, with free local beer and BBQ. It was a good thing we were inside, because it started pouring almost immediately after I got there. Check out the scary sky on my drive over:


On Wednesday, we celebrated Lauren's birthday!! I had planned a surprise to take her to one of those painting classes that are all the rage these days. I invited two of her old roommates as a surprise also. I finally had to tell her where we were going when she asked me what she should wear!

We had appetizers at Lazy Goat, but we had a drink at the house beforehand. Lauren's boyfriend Tyler once called her "short stack," which Ryan translated to "pancake." Maybe he enjoys calling her that so she'll also have a nickname relating to food. I found out about this wine first from Christina at Hungry Meets Healthy from Trader Joe's. I knew it would be perfect for Lauren for her birthday, and she could take it to Design with Wine! (It tastes pretty darn good, too, for only $5)!



The last picture was a delicious champagne cocktail with strawberry limeade and mint. I'll post the recipe soon!

We had so much fun painting, even though being artistic is certainly not our forte. We had three accountants! Meg might be the closest in creativity - she works in PR!





Pawley's Island Pier Sunrise - think I'll hang it in the beach house!
Lauren, Meg, me, and Sarah with our final products!
We had so much fun painting, drinking wine, and laughing! I highly recommend y'all try this with a group of girlfriends!

I'm off to Arizona tomorrow -- my bags are all packed! I can't wait for a vacation! Sun, relaxing by the pool, a massage, and some hiking/sight-seeing along the way!

I'll leave you with this fun painting that I'm dying to paint next! It's the Liberty Bridge in Greenville at night!


Happy Memorial Day Weekend!! 

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Weekend Update ~ Home Sweet Greenville

Ahh, Sunday! It may be one of my favorite days of the week. In college, I used to spend all day Sunday studying and catching up on homework neglected since my last class on Thursday afternoon. Then Sunday nights were dedicated to sorority Exec meetings and then chapter.

Sundays in the real world are much more relaxing. I stayed in bed till almost noon, just drinking coffee, watching Friends, and reading blogs/the news/Twitter.

I'll rewind to Friday night, which we spent at the Drive game. Our firm has 2 sets of 4 tickets, that the employees can have in a ticket lottery. I had tickets a few weeks ago, but switched with Lauren because we were already going to the game with Ryan's company. The seats are awesome and the Drive won! Yay! They have a fireworks show every Friday night, and I was actually really impressed with the show. They must've spent several thousand dollars - I felt like a kid again on 4th of July!





Ryan, Lauren, Trent, and I went to Liberty Tap Room after the game and had a few beers and appetizers, with an appearance from our favorite waiter. Our waitress sat down for a little while, too!

Ryan and I had a debate going during the game as to who was better at Scrabble. We had agreed to have a face-off when we got home. Well, we didn't leave Liberty until about 1:30 am, and we recruited Lauren and Trent to play with us too. Nothing like a little late night, slighty tipsy game of Scrabble.


Ryan kicked our butts. So I guess that debate is settled...

Saturday was spent by the pool. We recruited a big group (all coworkers minus Ryan) to hang out at Ryan's apartment pool. There were a lot of young people out and some people watching.



The ducks from the pond made their way inside the gate, and couldn't resist going for a swim. Watching them hop out of the pool was quite entertaining. Cute duckies!

I headed home to shower, then we were off to dinner to celebrate birthdays for two of Ryan's coworkers. We went to Sassafras, one of my favorite restaurants in Greenville. I had the special, swordfish with peach mango salsa served over grits. 


I've never had a bad meal there, and this one was no different! I always like to order meals in restaurants that I wouldn't typically cook for myself. I haven't done too much cooking with fish yet, but maybe I can come up with some fresh fish recipes for summer!

It was great company! I was just so tired from the late night on Friday that I was ready to go home before midnight! 

Happy Birthday Andrew and Gina!
After I got out of bed Sunday, I worked on a little craft project. As an accountant, creativity isn't really my strong suit. The last time I was "crafty" was when I was making presents for my little. ZTA had a tradition of giving the girls teal aluminum buckets filled with presents on the day before Big/Little Reveal. That was quite an undertaking for this not-so-artsy girl. But I think they turned out alright - here's some throwback pictures!




Anyway, back to my craft project. I have been meaning to display my jewelry instead of keeping it hidden in my jewelry box. I have so many earrings that I never wear because I just don't think of them when I'm rushing out the door in the morning. So now that they're on display, hopefully I'll switch it up more often! Also, these cute little earrings from Anthropologie have been purchased by my sister in California and will be given to me once we're reunited in AZ next week. I really wish they would hurry up on the construction of the Anthro downtown Greenville. It will be bad for my wallet, though!




Ta da! I'm so glad they're all on display in my closet now!

I made a last-minute trip to the mall to pick up a few things for my trip next week to Arizona! The dress section of Banana always gets me! Here are my finds:

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I saw the first dress, a knit mini-stripe, on one of Ryan's coworkers at a Drive game. I was instantly loving it - it looked so comfy! She told me she got it at Banana when I complemented her on it. I waited several weeks before going to try it on myself. I'm thinking I'll wear it on the plane next weekend!

I've been looking for a new maxi dress. They're so comfortable - it's like wearing pajamas. This one was flattering and had a little more interest with the pattern than my other solid one. Bonus, it has pockets! This will be making it in the suitcase as well!

The last dress happened to be the only one left on the sale rack! I love finding a good deal. I plan on wearing it with a skinny belt and gold sandals. Ryan said this one was his favorite of the 3!

After my shopping trip, I went to the Fresh Market to buy dinner's ingredients. Fresh Market is by far my favorite grocery store (although it's pricey). I only go to buy dinner on special occassions, but I could spend hours in there. I cooked a yummy, indulgent steak dinner - I'll be posting the recipes tomorrow! 

I went on an afternoon run on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. It was pretty hot today and I really wished I had a hat to shade my face from the sun. But overall, a solid run! About as consistent as I can get!



Hope everyone had a great, relaxing weekend, too!