Cassie & Steve's Wedding

This past weekend Alan and I went to Nashville for my sorority sister, Cassie's, wedding. We had a blast staying in Franklin with Janie & John and reuniting with friends over wedding festivities. On Friday night, Janie & John took us to JJ's Wine Bar in downtown Franklin. It is the coolest place ever! When you walk in you get a card to start a tab which you can use to select a sip, half glass, or full glass of wine...it was super fun! Christie & Jared also joined us there so it was great catching up with them :)

On Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market. They seemed to have everything! We wandered through the booths while sipping on some delicious organic mint sweet tea that is one of Janie's favorites.

I told Janie that if I lived closer these flowers would most definitely be coming home with me!

Peaches: a classic Southern staple

Janie sometimes gets her veggies here too

This time, Janie talked John into letting her get a birdhouse she had been eyeing for a while, I can't wait to see it set up in their backyard!

After the Farmer's Market we went to brunch at Puckett's, which is a sweet little spot in downtown Franklin and that afternoon we headed a little further south to see our friends, Caitlin & Wyatt, who just bought a new house in Thompson's Station, it is precious!

That evening we went to the wedding which was in downtown Nashville. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was wonderful! Here is a picture of Cassie's "cake"...I absolutely love it!

It was so fun catching up with friends we see way too little of, love you Christy :)

of course we had to sing the Tri Delta Wedding Song

I love these girls!

Here's a picture of Alan and I with our fabulous hosts for the weekend who truly made this one of the best weekend roadtrips ever, love y'all!!!

Father's Day Weekend

I can't believe it is already Sunday night and our weekend is over! We were super busy with lots of fun things to do- let me recap for you: on Friday night our Sunday School class at Cedar Springs had a social at the Two Rivers Pavilion. Apparently, it had to be booked in February since it is such a popular spot. The weather could not have been more perfect. We had a pot-luck dinner and enjoyed just spending time with friends and relaxing at this beautiful property by the lake. Here is a picture as the sun was setting:

On Saturday night we went to dinner at Lakeside Tavern with Kaki and James Reynolds. These are friends of ours from college (Alan and James have actually been friends since high-school) and we had so much fun catching up with them and feeling like we are finally getting re-connected in Knoxville. Kaki also invited me to a Bible Study she attends on Wednesday nights and I am really excited about that as I have really missed the Bible Study I was a part of in Saint Louis. This is a picture of Lakeside Tavern, an old favorite restaurant of ours:

Sunday was Father's Day so Alan and I split our time today in order to celebrate with both our families. After church this morning, we went to Alan's parents' house for a delicious lunch and then afterwards the guys watched the US Open while the girls took afternoon naps, which was wonderful!

Sunday night we went to my parents' house. Since my mom, Patrick and Colin were all out of town, we decided that carry-out from Bravo was the way to go and we were not disappointed! I also ordered one of my dad's favorite cakes: a chocolate pound cake from Ham 'n Goodys which was also quite yummy!

It's now almost time to go back to work; however, I think this week will go by pretty fast as I am super excited about Cassie's wedding in Nashville this coming weekend! Here's to hoping for a quick week!

Brooke & Bowers' Wedding

This weekend Alan, Katie, and I went to Memphis. Our sweet friends, Brooke O'Neill and Bowers Clement got married! The wedding was absolutely perfect and oh so beautiful. It was such a great time to catch up with college friends that we wish we could see more often. We also got to see (and stay with) Alan's grandmother, Nonnie, which was a real treat! We love her so much and wish she wasn't so far away (XOXO Nonnie!!) The reception was at the Memphis Country Club and every little detail was just right, Brooke did an amazing job planning out her perfect day! Here is a picture of the gorgeous (and delicious) bride's cake:

the 1st dance for the happy couple

so happy to celebrate this special day

Alan and I do love a great wedding!

Alan with a few of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers

On Sunday, we went to church with Nonnie and then out to lunch at Danver's (which is a usual lunch spot for us) before driving home, I just wish we could have stayed longer!

Sign of the Arrow

While Alan and I were in Saint Louis, one of my friends there, Lauren Graham, got me interested in needlepoint after seeing several of her husband, Randy's, belts that his mother had made for him. Lauren explained how her mother-in-law, Susie, taught her to needlepoint and told me of a cute little shop in Clayton that had everything you could possibly need for any needlepoint project. It was then that I learned about Sign of the Arrow. It really is the sweetest craft shop you've ever seen and after going in to look around I decided that I wanted to learn how to needlepoint. I went in one day and sat down with a precious lady who works there and who patiently showed me the basic stitch. She also gave me this in case I forgot :)

After learning how easy it really is I decided I was up for a project of my own. I had the best time looking through all the fun patterns and all of the beautiful threads.

I finally chose a Saint Louis Cardinals ornament. I decided that this would be a fun project and Alan and I would be reminded of our year in Saint Louis each time we hung this on our Christmas tree.

There were several colors included in the pattern and it didn't look like anything too hard which was perfect for me as I was just getting started.

I was so excited to begin! I began with the lightest color (white obviously) as instructed and sat down as soon as I got home to begin. This is what I accomplished that first day:

Slowly but surely the canvas began to fill up...

There was a lot of white!

The day my flight to Nashville got cancelled in April I sat down and finished it (not having anything better to do that day!)

So proud of my completed project, well almost that is... once I got done I had to take it back to Sign of the Arrow to have them send it off to the "finishers"

Today in the mail I received the finished product! I absolutely love it and it means so much to Alan and I who both now love Saint Louis so much. Only 6 more months until Christmas when this will go on our tree!

Live.Laugh.Lake

Yesterday marked the first day Alan and I got out on the boat this summer! It was heaven! Alan's parents keep their boat at Fox Road Marina which is pretty close and we have been aching to get out. Katie came too and it was so fun to laze around in the sun, sleep some, read some, and just relax. Alan brought a few beers with us and I fussed at him for not bringing any water...you know you're getting old when you'd rather drink water than beer, yikes! Good times though and finally a chance to work on my tan too! :)

Summer Nights

I feel as though summer has truly begun! Last night, Alan and I went to the Parkway Drive-In movie theater in Maryville. We picked up dinner at Sonic on our way and once we got there pulled out camping chairs to watch our double feature- X-Men: First Class and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I loved that we were sitting outside on a summer night enjoying a classic East-Tennessee date night. The movies were great, the people watching in between shows may have been better!

Tonight, we met Patrick and Elizabeth who are in town this weekend at Bruster's which is one of my all-time favorite ice cream shops. I had what I normally get: the chocolate raspberry truffle and Alan got cookies 'n cream...Yum! It was fun to see Patrick and Elizabeth while they are here and get to catch up with all their happenings in Nashville. Stephen, one of Patrick's best friends, also came with them- along with Christa and Annie so we had a fun little group hang-out at the Bruster's in Rocky Hill...good times!