Family & Football

This past weekend Alan and I, along with Rachel and Colin, took a quick road-trip to Nashville to visit Elizabeth and Patrick. We may or may not have gone to the UT/Vandy game (I hate to admit to watching such a painful loss). The weekend began with a delicious dinner Friday night that E+P made at their home. Everything was fantastic and it was nice just spending some time catching up and and discussing the upcoming holiday season. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go to the...

Molly drove from Clarksville with her kiddos to join in the fun! We had a great time laughing over biscuits, coffee, and more biscuits!

 Being silly after breakfast :)

 Love these sisters of mine!

 So blessed by family!

So yes... we did in fact go to the game with E+P and we stayed until the very end. It was definitely a sad loss but there will always be next season (and the season after that, and after that, and after that...) God bless Tennessee football!

Weekend in Nashville

This past weekend Alan and I took a quick road-trip to Nashville. We stayed with E+P and it was wonderful catching up with them and seeing the beautiful updates they've made to their home. When we arrived Friday night, we ate a delicious dinner at the house and then went out for dessert! Saturday morning we woke up early and went to breakfast at the...

The line was shorter than normal and our meal was worth every minute of the wait! That afternoon I went to a baby shower for Emily- one of my sorority sisters in college. Oh the memories!

She was beautiful of course and I wish it could've lasted longer! It was so much fun seeing everyone! That night we went out to dinner to one of E+P's favorite places: Blackstone. It's a local grill and brewery which reminded Alan and I alot of out favorite Knoxville brewery: Downtown Grill. Sunday morning we went to E+P's church Grace Community and were blessed by our chance to worship with them. We sang one of my new favorite songs- All I Have is Christ. Such sweet words.

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way.
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave.
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will.
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still.

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace.

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone

And live so all might see

The strength to follow Your commands

Could never come from me.

Oh Father, use my ransomed life

In any way You choose.

And let my song forever be

My only boast is You.

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI), by Jordan Kauflin  

Ashley's Baby Shower

This past weekend, all of my college sorority sisters and I got together in Nashville to "shower" Ashley as she prepares for her first baby, a boy: Riggs Crocker Leonard. We are all thrilled!

sweet cupcakes that Rachel made

I made cake pops :)

sweet Riggs is adored already!

Instead of a game, we had everyone fill out "Wishes for Baby' cards which we read as we opened presents, so much fun (and you can find the template on Pinterest for free) !

Looking forward to May already!!!

Happy New Year 2012!

Good-bye 2011 and Hello 2012!

Alan and I had a phenomenal weekend ringing in the New Year! We went to Nashville and stayed with Patrick & Elizabeth who have recently purchased their first home in West End. You can read up on their home improvements and creativity here :) Colin & Rachel were with us too which was a real treat since Colin is still in training in (far away) San Diego with the Marines. So recap on the weekend: we got to Nashville on Friday night, ate in (Patrick made us a delicious BBQ Chicken Pizza) and just spent some time catching up. Saturday morning, the girls went out to run errands and do some after-Christmas-sale shopping while the guys stayed at home to watch football. That afternoon we went to Green Hills where we did some more shopping and made a stop at one of my all-time faves, The Cheesecake Factory, for an afternoon treat. Saturday night we went over to some of Patrick & Elizabeth's friends' house for a New Years Eve party. They have a super fun group of friends and we had a great time meeting everyone.

We left there around 9:30pm and went home to then take a cab downtown. Got downtown around 11 o'clock which left us just enough time to hang out for a bit and get up close to where the "music note" would drop at midnight...gotta love Nashville!

The evening could not have been better! The weather was perfect, Alan of course loved the people watching, I loved being with my sweet family, and we just had a great time. I will say, there was a fight that broke out near us literally right after midnight so that was a bit of a distraction (crazy what some people will do after too much alcohol) but all in all, fantastic night.

Rachel, Elizabeth, and me

Patrick, Alan, and Colin

Such a great night, Happy New Year!

2012!!! Is going to be great, I can tell already!

Sunday we went to Patrick & Elizabeth's church Grace Community and then out to lunch where Maggie joined us. We spent the afternoon hanging out and then we all went out to dinner at Maggiano's where we all ate way too much and re-emphasized our resolutions to get on better diets... ha! All said, great weekend, loved spending time with the fam, and so excited about 2012!

Living...Southern Style

This past Sunday, Alan and I drove to Nashville for reasons of our own:

Alan's Reason: go to a Titans game
My Reason: see the 2011 Southern Living Showcase Home

Let me just say, if you think Pinterest gives you great ideas, you (are right of course but) haven't seen nothin' yet! A...MAZE...ING is all I can say. Not only do you get to walk through a beautiful home, each room custom designed and decorated, but you also get to speak to the designers, ask them any questions you want, and the best... open up every drawer, closet, etc to see all the incredible details. The pictures below do not do this home justice but enjoy:

front door (already decorated for the holidays, I love it!)
living room
breakfast nook
mud room (this was one of my faves)
awesome sliding glass doors opened from the living room to screened-in porch
master bedroom
this little detail was one of my faves...double doorway
beautiful hallway upstairs, notice Elizabeth's "slippers" we had to wear, ha!
family room (this was Alan's fave)
backyard
After a late lunch, we went on to the Titans game.
cool display of the American Flag during our National Anthem
Elizabeth and Patrick... thanks for inviting us, we had a blast!
Such a fun day!

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!!!