Williamsburg Trip

Well since this blog, should be documenting my travels, I did not want to leave out a trip.  Last Friday, I went to Williamsburg to meet up with my mom and sister for a girls weekend.  Saturday morning we were up early (what do you expect, we are all old now), and dressed and out shopping by 10am.  We hit up the shops at New Town and then proceeded to The Cheese Shop for lunch. This is by far my most favorite restaurant EVER.  I always get the same thing: Tuna with Havarti cheese on French Bread with a side of the house dressing...YUMMY!  After lunch and a little more energy we hit up the Outlets!  I never have much luck anywhere there except for Gap Outlet and sometimes Banana Republic.  This time it was just Gap Outlet but I got lots of cute new things.  For dinner on Saturday night we tried a new place 2nd Street, definitely not my favorite place.  I got the lettuce wraps which were not great and also everything was extremely over-priced for what it was.  To be fair, my sister got the (HALF POUND) burger with pimento cheese and loved it!  So all was not lost.  Sunday morning, we were up early again and headed to Trader Joe's and Anne Taylor Loft before a quick lunch at Baker's Crust. Which was good, as to be expected.  My sister headed home and my mom and I hit up the Pottery (what a bust) before heading back to Richmond.  It was a great weekend and a nice break for my sister from her normal Mommy Routine!  I think we are going to make it an annual tradition--YAY!


Next up, Atlantis in the Bahamas, coutdown...8 days!  I promise to get more pictures there ;)

Book Update

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages

2. Sisterhood Everlasting

3. The Holocaust Diaries

4. Private #1 Suspect

5. The Fixer Upper

6. The Hunger Games

7. Catching Fire (book 2)

8. Mockingjay (book 3)

9. The Carrie Diaries
10. What Alice Forgot
11. The Purpose Driven Life

 List of books I plan to read in 2012

12. The Reservoir (started 4/26/12)

13. Generous Justice (started 4/20/12).

14. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

15. The Girl who Played with Fire

16. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

17. The Horse Boy

18. The Magicians

19. Sarah's Key

20. Unbroken

21. Mountain beyond Mountains

22. Kisses from Katie

23. The Other Boleyn Girl 

24. A good and perfect Gift

25. Lexapros and Cons

26. There are No Children Here

New York or Bust!

Well that was not really our motto...but this past weekend, I meet up with three of my good friends from college for some fun, shopping, food, and quality time.  What more could you want?  Erica, Sara, and I traveled from Virginia/Maryland up to Cortland, New York to see our friend, Amanda.  It was a great, albeit short, trip!  But we were able to squeeze in a few fun things.  Unfortunately I did not do a great job of documenting the trip, but for your viewing pleasure, here are a few pictures.

Sara and Erica chilling with Ronald on our way up to NY

The Road that just keeps going...on our way to Ithaca!

Sara is just Playin Around in Ithaca!

A quick drive by the Washington Monument on the bus ride home.

Getting back to the roots...

Since this was intended to be a travel blog, why don't I blog about my travels!!!  This coming weekend I am going up to Cortland, NY for a little college reunion with some of my favorite college friends.  I love it because I have been so busy lately and have been really needing a low key weekend and it seems some of them are in the same boat, so I have high expectations of a few evenings in sweats, watching movies, and catching up.  No doubt we will have fun day time activities though so I will keep you informed.  


Next weekend is a mother/daughter weekend in Williamsburg, which will no doubt entail LOTS of shopping and spending time with my absolute two favorite women in the world--my mom and sister!


Then it is off to the Bahamas on May 4th!  I cannot wait.  Summer will be here before we know it!

The next Sandra Lee....

So I am having a small dinner party at my house tonight and as a person who loves to entertain, I have learned a few tricks of the trade over the years....
1. If possible, always go with paper plates...I know I know, it is NOT great for the environment, but I promise I am pretty green most of the time.  But this is excellent when having a bunch of people over because no one feels like they have to "do the dishes" after its all over.  You have the luxury of sitting around and actually spending time with your guests!


2. Do as much as you can AHEAD of time.  I like to set out my plates and set up the table the night before if possible, then when I get home from work, all I have to focus on is the cooking!


3. Crock Pot it if you can.  Since I NEVER get home before 5:30 and often sometimes as late as 6.  I like to try to have the meal cooking while I am at the office. So I crock pot the main dish, then all I have to do when I get home is heat the bread, make the salads, and fit in the finishing touches.


4. Learn to delegate and FAST!  If someone offers to bring something, LET THEM!  Do not try to do it all yourself, you will be stressed!


5. Make it memorable.  I always try to think of a way to have something for people to take with them so they can remember the evening...tonight it is small candles as their place card holder!


6. Most importantly, enjoy the time yourself with your friends, what is the fun in having a party if you can't have fun too!


Here is my tablescape for my dinner tonight...Thanks to Sandra Lee for colorful ideas, Target for awesome paper products, and pinterest for some cute ideas!

Allison's Wedding....in pictures!

So the 3 days in Hilton Head flew by, but my dear friend, Anna, managed to snag some great photos, so I am stealing them from her to recap the weekend!


We arrived late Wednesday night and played a little Wii before bedtime.  Thursday morning, Allison went to get Emily from the airport while Anna and I ran some errands for her, we all meet up at Frosty Frog for drinks and lunch!

Frosty Frog!

Then we went home for a bit to relax and get ready for the rehearsal.

After the rehearsal, we stopped by to see the house where we would be getting ready and hang up our dresses on the most adorable hangers that Allison got for us!

Almost Mrs. Suddeth!!!  She is so excited.

After the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, we got going on the Bachelorette Party, there was dancing, there was music, and there was FUN!

Allison and her sister-in-law/MOH, Carrie!

Friday Morning, we were all up early cause we were so excited...we got our stuff together and headed over to the house to start getting ready.

Then onto the wedding and Reception....

Me and Anna doing the "CJ" face

Maid of Honor Speech

My super adorable dance partner/ring bearer, John

Our one LEGIT dance partner, Ryan!

Off they go to the honeymoon

Our great Send Off to the Married Couple!

I am so very excited for the life God has in store for Allison and Jason, I know it will be an amazing adventure and I look forward to watching their relationship grow!

Quick Book Update...

As of 4/10/12, I have read 9 books this year and have started on the 10th.  Since I should be doing one book every two weeks and we are 15 weeks in, I should have 8 books finished by now, so I am a little bit ahead of schedule which is good.  My reading seems to fluctuate throughout the year with some weeks/months being high volume and then some months were I don't read at all.

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages

2. Sisterhood Everlasting

3. The Holocaust Diaries

4. Private #1 Suspect

5. The Fixer Upper

6. The Hunger Games

7. Catching Fire (book 2)

8. Mockingjay (book 3)

9. The Carrie Diaries

 List of books I plan to read in 2012

10. What Alice Forgot (started 4/9/12)

11. There are No Children Here

12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

13. The Girl who Played with Fire

14. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

15. Mountain beyond Mountains

16. A good and perfect Gift

17. The Horse Boy

18. The Magicians

19. Sarah's Key

20. Unbroken

21. The Reservoir

22. Kisses from Katie

23. The Other Boleyn Girl 

24. Generous Justice

25. Lexapros and Cons

26.

As you can see I still have two more spaces for books to read, so I am open to suggestions!  That is all on the book front for now, I will post some more about my trip to Hilton Head and my upcoming trips soon.

Happy Tuesday!

Hilton Head or Bust!

So the only thing standing between me and a 4.5 day weekend is 3 hours of work, about 3 deadlines, and packing my car.....


I am off to Hilton Head today to see one of my very best friends, Allison, get hitched!  To say I am excited is an understatement.  I have been praying for an amazing Godly man for her for as long as I can remember and on Friday she will marry him (which is exciting enough but pair that with an open bar and lots of dancing and the smile on my face just got even bigger)...Let the games begin!

The Weekend....

So it has been no secret that my life has been keeping me busy of late.  Well being that this weekend was the last weekend in 7 weekends that I was going to be in town, I felt that I needed to have a LITTLE bit of downtime.  I was not able to leave work until about 6 on Friday and had to bring some work home this weekend....so I was committed to staying in Friday night at least.  Then Saturday, my friend, CJ, and I went to cheer on some of our favorite runners as they did the Monument 10k.

Afterward, I came home to take the doggies out and grab some lunch before heading back over to the other side of town to FINALLY see The Hunger Games movie (fabulous!).  Afterward, we meet up Erica, Sara, Nathan, Sarah, and her sister, Rebecca for dinner and then Hunger Game cupcakes (made by Erica--YUM!)  Then I headed home where I was promptly in bed by 10pm.  Sunday was Palm Sunday, so church stuff, then brunch at Dot's Back Inn before saying bye to Erica, then CJ dragged me around Richmond shopping with her.  I then meet up with Emily for a manicure before heading to Anna's for dinner before youth group....WHEW!  This week has started off crazy with work and life...I am trying to simultaneously get ready for my trip to Hilton Head and cram about 5 days of work into 2.5, stay tuned for how this works out.

Last night, I finally finished "The Carrie Diaries," once I got over the fact that it had to be just like the show/movie, I began to appreciate the book as an independent book and I liked it.  Its a cute, easy, young adult read--but sometimes you need those!  Now I need to pick a new book!

Cupcake Erica made for me!

I leave tomorrow for my dear friend, Allison's wedding in Hilton Head...so I just need to make it through the next 14 hours or so of work!  Then the 8 hour drive down there.