Sunday Happenings

We're enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend catching up with friends and doing some brunching!
Met some friends for brunch yesterday morning at South City Kitchen, one of our faves. And went to Tree House for brunch this morning with my friend Heather.
Snuck in a few Pure Barre classes and catching up on a little work this afternoon.

Something I think I want to try this year for my "Sunday Happenings" posts is to focus on a few specific topics to focus on such as: 

fitness, funny, food, faith, family and photography (perhaps a photo of the week?).

I can't promise I'll always stick to these topics but thought it might be a fun idea!

Fitness

A new year often comes with goals about health.
And I'm hoping to keep up my commitment to Pure Barre in 2017. It's something I've really enjoyed not only seeing the results but it just makes me feel better overall.

Be on the lookout for some tips for your first PB class I'll be sharing on the blog soon!

Funny
Have you seen these pictures of poor George W trying to put on a poncho during last week's inauguration? I lost it watching this hilarious video where the whole scene unfolded.

Faith

Been jamming out to this on the way to work each morning. Absolutely love this worship song!
Our church does a worship evening every so often and it's always incredible. There was one we went to last year that they handed out a North Point CD called HEAR and it's amazing.

Here is one of my favorites!

Photography
I am terrible at keeping any sort of plant alive. My sweet mother-in-law bought us an orchid several months ago for our home and I was pleased to find out it requires a little water about once a week to stay alive, thought I could handle that.

Well I think I remember about once a month to actually put some water in the vase. I made a comment last night that I was shocked it was still alive, and Houston admitted that he's been watering it once a week for me which I thought was the absolute cutest.

I had to take a picture of our beautiful orchid that is only alive because my sweet husband waters it for me because I never remember! Isn't he the best??

Happy Sunday, friends!

xox, A

Sunday Happenings

 I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend last weekend, it was definitely nice to have a short week. I also had my one year anniversary at work this week. Hard to believe it's already been a year at such a great company. I feel so blessed to be there and love my team and what I get to do every day.

I was determined to go to Pure Barre 4 times this week to recover from some post-holiday eating. We went to Highlands, NC last weekend with our family (I'll share pictures soon!).

I mentioned GreenBlender a few weeks ago but we received our first shipment of fresh product to make delicious smoothies last week so I've been making them this week. The blueberry pluot smoothie has been my favorite this week, recipe below if you want to give it a try!
Do you have a smoothie recipe you'd recommend?

GreenBlender Blueberry Pluot Smoothie Ingredients
1 yellow squash
1 orange, peeled
1 pluot, pitted
3 oz blueberries
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup water
1 cup ice

Here are some Sunday Happenings this week:

Chiptopia
Chipotle has a new summer rewards program to entice customers to frequent the fast-casual restaurant this summer. Here's a quick video on how it works. Register your card online and start getting free food after 4 trips! There are 3 levels of status: mild, medium and hot. You can even get a summer party catered for 20 people worth $240!

I'm starting to crave a Chipotle burrito bowl...

Dyson Hair Dryer
Dyson is known for their amazing vacuums, but did you know they've developed a blow dryer?? They spent 4 years and roughly $72 million in research and development to completely reengineer the blow dryer.

It's $399 *gasp* but it looks amazing!! It comes out in September.
Learn more about it on their website here.

What to wear?!
Our friends are getting married outside of Chicago coming up and I can't decide what to wear. So I think I'm going to rent one on Rent the Runway. If you haven't used RTR before, I highly recommend it for special occasions to rent a dress for a fraction of the price rather than buy one you might only wear a few times. If you haven't tried it yet, use my link here and you'll get $30 off your first order!

Keith Urban pulls fan on stage and plays guitar
A fan was pulled up on stage with Keith Urban last weekend during the Ripcord tour and ended up playing the guitar off Keith's back during "Good Thing." It's unbelievable!



Lo & Sons: Up to 40% Off
I've mentioned Lo & Sons several times as a bag I've had my list for a long time to want to buy. Well right now they have a sale going on with up to 40% off some of their gorgeous bags. The Brookline and The O.M.G. bags are at the top of my list. Which one do you like?
Sale ends Monday, 8/1 at midnight EST!

Hope everyone has a great week!
xox, A

Sunday Happenings

Happy Sunday & Happy Father's Day!

I'm so thankful for my amazing dad and all he's done for our family through the years. He's such a godly example for all of us and has gone to all our games and competitions and plays throughout the years for Betsy, Michael and I. I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day!
Here are some of my favorite pictures of me and my dad!

I love this picture of my dad and me walking down the aisle together.
Photo by: Kristen Weaver Photography

A favorite moment together for our father/daughter dance to "Isn't She Lovely"
Photo by: Kristen Weaver Photography

Here's what we've been up to this week:

My friend Elise told me about this great book she loved and I finally bought it two weeks ago and am loving it! It's called "Make it Happen: Surrender Your Fear. Take the Leap. Live On Purpose." and is written by Lara Casey who is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Southern Weddings magazine. In just 3 days I read the first half of the book and would highly recommend it!

On Thursday after work, my friend Amanda and I went to the soft opening of a new Pure Barre in Brookhaven. The layout is a lot different from some of the others in town and I liked that there is natural light in the studio! And valet parking was included (and tip, major plus!) anytime you go! Pretty luxurious for a workout :)
They also handed out free tanks and snacks as a thank you to everyone for coming!

Friday nights have become H and my unofficial date night of the week. We went to Seasons 52 for dinner, one of our favorites. We weren't that hungry so we split their steak and cheese flatbread (we swapped the blue cheese for goat cheese) and split the fillet. You can't go to Seasons without getting their adorable mini desserts which cast her feelings of guilt since they're so tiny!

Had a fun Saturday morning with my friend Kristin. We went to Pure Barre, grabbed a smoothie, then headed to the Peachtree Road Farmer's Market at The Cathedral of Saint Philip to walk around. Then we wrapped up the morning with a little mani/pedi. H had a fun morning golfing with his friends and then we watched some of the US Open tournament and then grilled out.

A few Sunday Happenings this week...

Green Blender
I first heard about Green Blender last week through one of their ads on Instagram.
It's basically Blue Apron but for smoothies. They send you fresh ingredients for a week of smoothies - 5 recipes for 10 servings. I think it's pretty expensive to do every week (I really don't drink smoothies that much), but you definitely save money than if you wanted to buy these ingredients at the store.
I think there's also a 20% discount on your first order when you sign up.

Summer Cocktails
How delicious do these summer drinks look from BuzzFeed?? I especially want to try #9 the Fresh Watermelon Mint Juleps.

Dads & the "Cheerio Challenge"
Apparently there is a "Cheerio Challenge" going on, on social media where parents are trying to stack cheerios on their sleeping babies. These pictures are absolutely hilarious! Perfect timing with Father's Day this weekend.

Image from BuzzFeed

Christina Grimmie
It's been a heartbreaking week for Orlando and our nation as we grieve the horrible things that have happened. Last Friday night, Christina Grimmie was tragically shot and killed in Orlando after a concert. She was so talented and is awful that she was senselessly taken away from us on earth so young. She was so outspoken about her faith and Savior Jesus Christ which I find so admirable and pray her legacy lives on for years to come.
Here is a video she posted a few years ago singing one of my favorite worship songs, "In Christ Alone."

xx, A

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy "Make it Happen: Surrender Your Fear. Take the Leap. Live On Purpose." written by Lara Casey using this link, I make a percentage of your purchase.

Sunday Happenings

Time is flying - I can't believe it's already June 5th and summer is officially here in Atlanta with days in the 90s and afternoon rain showers becoming expected in the afternoons.

I love summer. Growing up in Florida the warmth is what I'm used to. We had a fun weekend - Friday started with a belated birthday dinner celebration with my wonderful in-law's at Canoe, one of my favorites! The weather was perfect, so we sat outside on the porch. I ordered the pork rack and we split a bottle of one of our favorite Club W wines (newly re-branded to Winc), the 2013 Prismus Reserve Cabernet Savignon from Napa Valley.

Then Saturday I went to Pure Barre with my friend Amanda and then we picked up our guys and had brunch at South City Kitchen in Midtown. I had never been but it was delicious. Definitely a new favorite brunch spot in Atlanta! So basically we did a lot of eating this weekend.

(I think I need to start a list of my favorite restaurants! Any suggestions??) Then we had a fun birthday dinner to go to.

Then this morning I went to my Pure Barre class, came home and H and I have been knocking out some much needed house chores while it was rainy/cloudy this morning. The sun is starting to come out and I think we'll run a few errands before church tonight at 6:00.

So here are the Sunday Happenings!

Yummy Food O.T.P.

Mom & Dad were in town a few weeks ago and we ventured O.T.P. (if you live in Atlanta you're familiar but this means Outside the Perimeter, 285 road that separates inside Atlanta to the 'burbs) to Avalon.

We wanted to show them around so we started with wine and appetizers at one of my favorites, Cru Wine Bar. If you go, you have to get the Fried Goat Cheese balls that are AH-mazing. They have lots of fun wine flights to try. With it being warm, I had to go for the rosé flight.

Flight of rosé at Cru Wine Bar at Avalon

Then we grabbed dinner a Colletta, a delicious Italian spot we hadn't tried before. We had their famous meatballs for an appetizer, which was voted Atlanta's #1 Meatball this past September! So those are some new favorite restaurants I would recommend. And for dessert we had a salted caramel chocolate cake they call "Almond Budino" which was unbelievable. 

Baby Bachelorette

With the new season of the Bachelorette kicking off a few weeks ago, Jimmy Kimmel did a hilarious "episode" of Baby Bachelorette. Who else is watching the Bachelorette with me?? It's my guilty pleasure.

Speaking of the Bachelorette, The Bachelor/Bachelorette instagram account posted this funny video of Jojo watching her own episode of the Bachelorette.

Ruth B live Lost Boy

This has been my new jam at work lately - love her voice just with the piano. It's beautiful.

Lo & Sons Work Bag

I've been on the hunt for a new work bag and I think I've found the perfect one, The T.T. Lo & Sons bag. I think Lo & Sons has beautiful, well-made bags. You can tell they've been extremely thoughtful in their designs in what women look for in a bag. Some day maybe I'll splurge for one! 

I'm going to The Grove Summer Party Picnic put on by Passion City Church with my Bible Study tomorrow in Piedmont Park. Last month was the first time I've gone to The Grove, a monthly gathering of women for worship and a speaker. I think it's so cool how packed it was with thousands of women in Atlanta learning about the Lord together. Is anyone else going to the picnic? 

Hope everyone has a great week!

P.S. Did anyone go to the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival this weekend?? I'm super bummed we didn't know about it until after the fact and it looked amazing! Definitely on our list to do next year!

xx, A

Sunday Happenings

It's been a great week!! I made it to 5 classes of Pure Barre since last Saturday this first week and was quite proud of myself for that! I can already tell I'm getting stronger and am excited to see results the longer I go.

I found out that I got a new job (same company) that I interviewed for and am really excited to start in two weeks! Houston and I went out to dinner to celebrate to a new restaurant we hadn't been to before called Antica Pasta and it was delicious! Our waiter suggested a glass of the Super Tuscan II Borro - Merlot, Cabernet 2011, Salvatore Ferragamo that was really good. For dinner, I ordered the bow tie pasta with crab meat. Houston ordered this amazing gnocchi pasta with meat sauce. Everything was delicious!

We had the best day Saturday just getting work done around the house and a cookout with friends from my Bible study and significant others. The weather has been beautiful and I'm happy the trees and flowers in our yard are starting to blossom. Here are a few Sunday Happenings from this week:

Little Girl and her pet duck
This adorable little girl Kylie is attached to her pet duck Snowflake and they go everywhere together. Snowflake even dressed up as Olaf from Frozen for Halloween. A special bond that cannot be broken. It's absolutely precious, see the video below of their sweet friendship.

Baylor basketball player interview
I've never been into March Madness college basketball but this interview was just too good not to share. A reporter asks what seems like a silly question to a basketball player who's just bummed he and his team are done for the year. Video linked here.

The Bachelor - WARNING: spoiler alerts if you haven't watched the finale yet!
Last Monday was the finale of Ben's season of The Bachelor. This USA Today article left me crying laughing. It's written by a guy who's never seen a full episode of The Bachelor before and it's his hilarious thoughts while watching the finale with his girlfriend. Seriously, if you watched this season of The Bachelor, you will love this.

Image from USA Today article

New Music
A few new songs I heard this week and liked:
1. Unkiss Me - Maroon 5: Heard during stretching at Pure Barre.
2. NO - Meghan Trainor: Heard on the radio.
3. Humble and Kind - Tim McGraw: My dad sent this song to our family this week and I love it, hope you enjoy it too!

I hope everyone has a great week!
xx, A

Sunday Happenings

This weekend has been absolutely gorgeous in Atlanta! We've finally made it to be consistently over 70 degrees during the day, so this Florida-girl is happy!

We had a friend's wedding Friday night at the Foundry at Puritan Mill which was absolutely stunning!! Great to see friends and the beautiful couple we've known since college.

Saturday, I went to Pure Barre in the morning and Houston went golfing to enjoy the beautiful weather. We had the BEST date night :) Since the weather was so nice, we had a glass of wine out on our porch (my first glass of rosé of the season we found at our neighborhood wine shop), then we grilled out and made steaks, corn and potatoes that were delicious! Then we finished season 4 of House of Cards. Have anyone else been watching?

I went to Pure Barre this morning and today, I might try to do some yard work and then we'll go to church then dinner with some friends.

Here's a few Sunday Happenings from this week!

Springing Forward
In case you missed it - our clocks sprung forward an hour last night! I absolutely LOVE daylight savings time. It really makes the days feel so much longer and I enjoy having more daylight after work to go for a walk in the neighborhood or just be outside on our porch.

Looking forward to the longer days ahead as we head into Spring and Summer. My Pure Barre class at 9:00 this morning was pretty empty, I think everyone was sleeping in a little!

Image from someecards.com

Herb Garden

I've really been wanting to plant a small herb garden so now that it's warming up, I'm hoping to plant some soon. I found this helpful article from Home Depot's Garden Club I'm going to use. I've never been very diligent at keeping up with plants, so maybe this will help me turn a new leaf.

Image from Home Depot Garden Club

Mini Donkeys

Houston sent me this Buzzfeed article this week about 20 Mini Donkeys for sale. You have to look at these pictures, they are the cutest things I've ever seen and I want one so bad to play with our future puppy!! I've already named our future mini donkey.

Image from Buzzfeed

New ice cream + coffee at Chick-Fil-A

Starting tomorrow, March 14th Chick-Fil-A will begin serving a new coffee with ice cream. I can't think of anything better, can you? Read more from AL.com here.

Nancy Reagan & Ronald Reagan's Love Affair

It's no secret the love affair that was between Nancy & Ronald Reagan. There was a beautiful love letter he wrote her one Christmas that was read at the former First Lady's funeral this week. The video from the service is posted on Fox 2 Now, here's a snippet of the letter below.

Fortunately, all these women in my life are you — fortunately for me that is, for there could be no life for me without you. Browning asked; “How do I love thee — let me count the ways?” For me there is no way to count. I love the whole gang of you — Mommie, first lady, the sentimental you, the fun you, and the peewee power house you. 

Merry Christmas you all — with all my love. 

Lucky me.

What a beautiful love they shared, over 50 years of marriage. I just love how you could see how much Ronald Reagan adored her.

Image from People.com

I hope everyone has a great week! Just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who reads my blog, as of yesterday the blog reached over 11,000 page views which is unbelievable to me! Thank you to those who read and let me know if you have any requests of things you'd like me to write about.

xx, A

PS - Who is watching the finale of the Bachelor tomorrow?? 🙋🏻 Do you think it will be Lauren B or JoJo? 

Sunday Happenings

This week was even crazier that last week, which was hard to imagine.

Hough Home-versary :)
Today is the one year anniversary of closing on our house. We can't believe it's already been a year! We celebrated by making a trip to my favorite store...Home Depot to get some goodies for the yard!

Super Tuesday
It was Super Tuesday here in Atlanta this week and believe it or not this was my first time actually going to a precinct to vote in person. I haven't voted in primaries or caucuses before and the last two presidential votes I mailed my vote in, so I couldn't wait to get my "I Voted" sticker.

FabFitFun box of goodies
This week I received my first box from FabFitFun which sends you a box every 3 months of goodies that are fabulous, fitness/health-related and plain old fun! Here's a picture of all the goodies I received in the mail.

Whitney A.
Houston and I stumbled across this hilarious YouTube channel for Whitney A. She's a sommelier and she has the funniest YouTube videos. Check out her YouTube channel for some entertainment and wine education.

Carly's Spring Bucket List
One of my favorite bloggers is Carly of The College Prepster. I started reading her blog in college and read it regularly. Today she posted a bucket list for this Spring, I'd like to do most of these as well. See her full post here.

Have a great week!
xx, A

Sunday Happenings

It was a long week but a great weekend to rest and relax. I completely updated the template of my blog, hope you like it! Still working out some kinks, but will hopefully get those fixed soon.

Here are my Sunday Happenings this week.

Kelly Clarkson's emotional performance on American Idol
If you haven't seen this yet, get your tissues ready. Kelly Clarkson was a guest judge this week on American Idol and at the end she performed her song Piece by Piece. She wrote it when she was pregnant with her little girl and now she's pregnant with her son. The song is about how her husband loves and cares for her, and how she didn't have that growing up. Sadly, her dad left her family when she was a little girl. It's a very touching song and reminds me how thankful I am for my amazing husband and dad.

Sleep Cycle

I felt like I hadn't been sleeping as well lately, no idea if it's true or not but I've heard how waking up in the middle of a REM cycle can cause you to feel tired. So I recently downloaded an app called Sleep Cycle to see if it would help me feel more rested. I set what time I want to wake up and it'll wake me up within 15 minutes of that time. So if I want to wake up at 7:15, my alarm will go off between 7:00 and 7:15. I've done it for about the last 3 weeks and I think it's really making a difference. Pretty neat and it will show me trends, etc. after I had been using it for a few weeks.

Comparison Trap

My bible study is going through a book by Sandra Stanley (her husband Andy Stanley is the pastor of our church, Buckhead Church) called The Comparison Trap. It's easy to get caught up in comparing myself to others around me, especially with social media being everywhere now. Here's a word of encouragement from the book this week. 

MacKenzie Bourg

I'm obsessed with the song Hallelujah and I've heard some really beautiful covers of this song. MacKenzie Bourg who is currently in the top 10 of American Idol's final season performed Hallelujah on his YouTube channel. 

Wine + Girl Scout Cookies

Houston and I have bought wine from a website called Club W for several years. They are private label wines getting you nice wines at a discount, typically between $13-18. Their blog posted this last week and I thought it was truly fabulous - they paired their wines with Girl Scout Cookies. GENIUS.

See the full blog post here

Hope everyone has a great week!

xx, A