Cheers to 30 Years!

Last Thursday Alan turned the Big 3-0! I wanted to do something special to celebrate so we had a party this past weekend. I am so thankful for his life!

I loved that so many people came to celebrate with us! Nonnie we missed you!!!

Cheers to 30 Years!

One of Alan's goals was that when he turned 30 he would run his first full marathon... 26.2 miles. He is currently training to run in the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis this December. In lieu of gifts we asked people to donate to his Hero Campaign to help him reach his fundraising goal. You can learn more about that here and if you want to donate we'll send you a koozie or two!

Knowing Alan you understand that we not only had to have the UT game on but the Alabama/Texas A&M game too, ha! It was a fun day for football (but not the Vols, sadly).

Go Vols!

my sweet parents

my siblings except for Colin which we left a space for :)

BBQ, mac n cheese, baked beans, potato salad, and a green salad... yum!

It was an AMAZING fall day and we had awesome weather!

group picture!

Natty Em's made Alan's birthday cake for me and Natalie did an incredible job! I was so pleased and everyone loved it!

You're never too old to blow out a few candles... make a wish!

beautiful sunset

Towards the end we built a fire and it was the perfect night for it!

Happy Birthday, babe! I love you!

Tradition

So I'm a sucker for tradition... Alan and I decided that we would celebrate our anniversary each year with a trip to the Melting Pot. It's a restaurant that we really never go to otherwise but we love it and for this it is perfect. Well we were at the beach for our anniversary so we never made it to the Melting Pot. I told Alan that we had to go, even if it was just for dessert. So that's what we did and it was perfect. So happy to be with this guy for the past 6 years, here's to many, many more! 

Football Time

Alan and I had a great time at the first football game this year! We started the season with a win (which we should have) and it was great to be in Neyland Stadium again. I'm looking forward to a new season, a new coach, and hopefully lots of fun with family and friends. Go Vols!

Kiawah

This year Alan and I decided to take a beach vacation. We haven't been to the beach just the two of us since our honeymoon so we thought it was about time. We decided to go to:

Our first full day there we celebrated our 6th anniversary! I can't believe time is going by so quickly, I am so thankful for Alan and the joy he has brought to my life. He is so thoughtful, so kind (now don't get me wrong, our life isn't perfect by any means) but we are blessed.

 We went to dinner at La Tela which is an Italian place in Freshfields Village, it was great!

 So happy to be here :)

Pretty much every morning we went for a bike ride. 

There are over 30 miles of bike trails and it was so much fun exploring the island.

And then we would hit the beach! It was great being able to truly relax. We both were able to read a couple books, take a couple naps, etc. it was wonderful!

 beauty everywhere

 These fishing boats were right off shore almost every day

 One day we went into Charleston!

 We started the day down by the battery, we LOVE this city!

We made it down to the market right before noon and then went to the Charleston Crab House for lunch, it was delish!

 We did a little damage on King Street and then of course had to stop and get pralines!

That night we went to Red's Ice House for dinner (thanks for the recommendation N+D!) Red's is a great little place at the Marina in Seabrook which is really close to Kiawah.

 The sunset there was beautiful!

One splurge on the trip was dinner at The Ocean Room at the Sanctuary. We loved the opportunity to wander around the Sanctuary and dinner was fantastic!

Some nights we would take our beach chairs and wine glasses down to the beach. We soon realized we weren't the only ones who liked coming down to the beach in the evening! Several times we were joined by deer!

On our last day we went to lunch at the Ryder Cup Bar in the Ocean Course Clubhouse. This course hosted the 2012 PGA Championship and the clubhouse is right over the 18th green. 

Our last night we went to Freshfields for Music on the Green. We got an ice-cream and enjoyed local music and people-watching. We even ran into some sweet friends who were there the same time we were. The week went by way too fast but it was a great time of relaxing and soaking up some sun!

Spring Break...Catch Up!

After an embarrassingly long blog hiatus I am back and promise to try to be better about keeping up with this. I really don't know what hit me, I guess just the busyness of life, but that is a lame excuse I know. Before I catch you up on what we have most recently been up to, I thought I would do my best to summarize what happened this spring:

My 29th Birthday

I celebrated my last birthday in my twenties with Alan at one of our favorite restaurants, Foothills Milling Company. If you haven't been there before, I would highly recommend it! My family celebrated my birthday and my dad's together since they're only 5 days apart. I must say that some pretty wonderful things have happened in my twenties but I'm really not that apprehensive about my thirties... I say that now while that still seems a long way off!

UT Young Alumni Orange and White Game Event

Alan and I attended this year's Orange and White game with the UT Young Alumni. We had so much fun visiting the locker room before the game and then hearing some of the football players speak about the upcoming season. We then got to watch the game from the skybox which was a fun experience.

Proud Wife Comment: Alan was actually selected this spring to be part of the UT Young Alumni Council which is a two year commitment where he will work with others to execute and promote the University of Tennessee through young alumni events!

Junior League Rose Gala

At the end of each Junior League year we have our annual gala on the eve of the Kentucky Derby and the theme is "Big Hats, Bigger Hearts". Alan and I dressed in our derby attire and made a night of it! It's really fun coming together with women I've worked alongside all year and just have a night of fun and festivities. I also may or may not really enjoy getting to dress up!

Memorial Day

This year my mom's sister Claire and her husband Peter came in town from Connecticut. It was so great spending this holiday with them and the rest of our families.

Learn Something New Everyday Moment: I have always wanted to know how to steam live lobsters and then shell them so for the holiday, we got our lobsters and then Claire taught everyone the entire process start to finish. It wasn't as hard as I thought and did I mention delicious?!

Brittany & Paul's Wedding
In June, Alan's family congregated at a lodge on the Nantahala River for his cousin Brittany's wedding. Brittany and Paul met in college at Furman and truly make each other so happy. Despite ALL the rain we've gotten this spring, it was a beautiful day with much celebration!

4th of July

We started our holiday with lunch at Frussie's Deli in south Knoxville which was a real treat! Definitely one of the best sandwiches in Knoxville. Alan's parents had a neighborhood party which we went to that afternoon with some friends of ours which was so much fun! Also, two of my mom's brother's and their families came in town from Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and Colorado. It was so much fun spending time with everyone which is something that unfortunately doesn't happen as often as we'd like with so many people trying to coordinate schedules. We had a great time hanging out together, eating wonderful food, and shooting off tons of fireworks! 

Cardinals vs. Braves Game

While we didn't make it to St. Louis this year, we did just recently go to a Cardinals game when they played the Braves in Atlanta. We've enjoyed this little post-season rivalry between these two teams and getting to see the Cardinals play is always a good time. Hopefully, we'll make it to St. Louis next year!

Stay tuned for our anniversary trip to Kiawah! 

Be Mine Valentine

Alan and I had a fun filled Valentine's Day. We celebrated with dinner at Bistro by the Tracks.

Our dinner was delicious but we weren't really loving the atmosphere (maybe it was just us?!) so we decided that we would continue our night at one of our all-time faves Echo for dessert! Alan had his staple "apple jack" and I had the chocolate mousse! It was the perfect way to end our night!

We also enjoyed some yummy chocolate covered strawberries!

I will say we had a wonderful time but what I truly love is spending time with my sweet hubby. I am so thankful for him. I am thankful for his spiritual leadership, for putting up with my craziness, for challenging me when I am unmotivated, and loving me despite everything. I am one lucky blessed lady!

Fat Tuesday

In celebration of Mardi Gras we picked up a king cake today! Not quite as exciting as watching the parades from the streets of New Orleans but a fun way to start the day!