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

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

ClassPass Atlanta: Pure Barre & Bikinis

I'm on my second month of ClassPass and still really enjoying it. This month I'm trying to hit as many Pure Barre locations as I can, I first discovered Pure Barre in college and it's always been my favorite. I've been going to the Vinnings and Druid Hills locations the most. After just a few weeks of ClassPass I've been able to feel stronger and it's a great feeling when you can start to see your body changing! So here's the lifting, toning and burning this month.

image from Pure Barre

Houston and I are trying to plan an anniversary trip for this spring/summer (I can't believe we got married almost two years ago!!), so I have some new-found inspiration wanting to look good and feel confident in a bikini! What motivates you to workout?

Speaking of swimsuits I've been shopping around for one to get for our trip, here are a few of my favorites.

Triangl Swim

Triangle Swim

Triangl Swim

Target Swim

Target Swim

Target Swim

Hitting the end of winter and with spring around the corner I'm feeling motivated for my workouts. Favorite song at Pure Barre Druid Hills this morning during "back dancing" - Whistle (While You Work It) by Katy Tiz. Happy Saturday!!

xx, A

Taylor Swift's new single - Shake It Off

Today on a live stream on Yahoo! Taylor Swift made her big announcement and shared 3 secrets. She announced that her new album 1989 (the year she was born) will be released October 27 and she performed and released the music video to her first single from the CD, called "Shake It Off."

There were some pop songs on her last CD, but this is her first official pop CD coming out in October. I've been a Taylor Swift fan since I was 13 or 14 and have loved seeing her develop as an artist. I miss her country stuff but I also think she's grown a lot as a singer and performer. I'm a major fan of the new single. What do you think?

It's available now on iTunes and you can pre-order her new CD too!