Week in Review - 8.15 thru 8.19

Here is another fashion entry... what I wore last week!

Sunday

Shirt: Express

Skirt: Black House | White Market

Shoes: Tory Burch

Monday

T-Shirt: Express

Vest: BCBG

Jeans: Express

Shoes: Nine West

Hat: Target

Tuesday

Shirt: Express

White Tank: Forever 21

Pants: Anthropologie

Shoes: Nine West

Wednesday

Jeans: Ann Taylor Loft

Tank: Dillards

Cami: Forever 21

Cardigan: Wallace

Shoes: Nine West

Thursday

Shirt Dress: H & M

Cami: Forever 21

Jeans: Diesel

Shoes:  Nine West

Enjoy!

This is why...

I don't know if you noticed in the pics I uploaded yesterday but I have gained some weight recently.  Don't try to be nice and tell me you didn't see it... haha!  Well, I know exactly why I have... I call them 30th birthday treats.  Here are some of them... some are still on my camera and I have to take them off and add them here...

Birthday Cake at the Surprise Party - thanks Jennie!!!

Saturday wasTurtle Mocha Coffee at West Egg 

courtesy of Odessa - yummy!

After West Egg was Gigi's Cupcakes with Odessa & Eric

My IT Team surprised Andrej and me with yummy cookie cake!!

Monday was a Piece of Cake Strawberry Cupcake courtesy Buckhead Church!!

(I forgot to take a picture of it so this came from Piece of Cake's website)

Monday night Jennie and I had Cami Cakes cupcakes!!!

The only picture I don't have is from Erinleigh... she made me a chocolate ice cream cake!!! Of course there was no dairy in hers!!! It was amazing!!!

No wonder I can't fit into my pants any more!! LOL!!! And... no wonder this is how I ended up...

Week in Review - 8.8 thru 8.12

So, I have been a little bit too busy and my fibro has been going crazy.  Because of that my spare time is spent laying on the couch instead of upright and typing.  That means no posting.  And that could mean very sparse posting in the near future.  However I did manage to take pics of all the outfits that I wore last week...

Sunday

Dress:  Dillards

Shoes: Nine West

Cardigan: Wallace

Monday

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Dress: J Crew

Cami: Forever 21

Cardigan: J Crew

Shoes:  Tory Burch

Tuesday

Dress:  Macy's

Shoes:  Nine West

Man Beater ;) - Target

Wednesday

Shirt:  Dillards

Cami: Forever 21

Pants:  Anthropologie

Shoes:  Tory Burch

Thursday

Dress:  Dillards

Shoes:  Nine West

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I could also have titled this 30 and FABULOUS!! haha!!!  I'm very excited to enter this new decade of my life.  I mean, I don't have a choice, so why not be excited right??!!!?!?

Thought you may want to see some pictures from 30 years ago...

Aren't my parents hot!!! And I'm an just cute as a button! ;) LOL!

Here are some other pics that I found when looking for the above shot:

And I figure we need a few pictures from past birthday parties:

Thank you to my Mom, Dad, Dan, and ALL of my family and friends for making these first 30 years absolutely amazing!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

SURPRISE!!!!

I feel so blessed!!! I have the best friends... seriously, the best!!! Jennie & Teesha put together a surprise party for me this weekend and they got me good!! 


They told me they were both too busy to actually plan the day so it was just going to be the 3 of us for dinner.  Jennie spent Thursday asking me all sorts of questions about what I want to do, where I'd want to go.  Then on Friday Teesha had to "work late" so she would just meet us at dinner.  And the weather changed what we had decided to do the day before so they made an executive decision to go to Eclipse De Luna. 

Friday night Jennie was text messaging Teesha who was "at work" to find out when she would be able to get out to meet us so we had a drink at happy hour at the condo. 

Then she got the text that Teesha was ready to meet us so we headed over.  As we walked into Eclipse there was someone at the bar who looked familiar however they were facing the other direction.  Next I hear Jennie say, "there's Teesha"  and then I hear "SURPRISE!!!!!"  It took me a minute to put it all together but I was completely surprised!!!  So many of my friends had gathered to celebrate my birthday.  And as this weekend has progressed I've heard more and more stories of people who were in cahoots with Teesha and Jennie!! 

I haven't quite decided if its a good thing or a bad thing that my friends are so good at lying to me... haha!!!

Jennie had even made cupcakes for me...

 
And we did a bit of dancing...

I had a blast at dinner, the company was amazing, the food was spectacular, and I felt so loved!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Check out the pictures I have now (these are from Jennie's camera).  Mario also took pictures so once I have them from him I'll upload those and let you know!

Pickled Okra

I was at the Peachtree Road Farmer's Market a few weekends ago and watched a chef demonstration from the chef and the head mixologist at JTC Kitchen.  The mixologist made Pickled Okra and thank goodness they gave out the recipe.  I mixed it up a little bit but only a little bit and made my own.  My parents, Jennie and I loved it.  Jennie and I loved it so much that I've made a second batch and Jennie has made a batch of her own as well.

Have I become southern or what...

Pickled Okra

50-60 pieces of okra
1 quart apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 1/2 t mustard seed
1 t dill (or fennel seed)
4 cloves garlic
4 Cayenne chilies (or any other small red chilies)

Wash okra well and trim tops, leaving caps on.
Sterilize jars using a boiling water bath.
Place okra in jars.  Add seeds, garlic and chilies to jar, splitting evenly if using small jars.
Bring vinegar, salt and water to a boil.  Pour over okra in jars to cover.
Place lids tightly on jars.  If putting up, place in boiling water bath to seal, according to jar-maker's instructions.  If not sealing, refrigerate and use within a week.

Week in Review - 8.1 thru 8.5

It was a shorten week as I was out sick on Tuesday.  However, here is what I wore this week.  All of the dresses were purchased at Dillard's when my parents were in town (I heart amazing sales)!!

Sunday

Dress: Dillards

Jacket: United Colors of Benetton

Shoes: Nine West

Monday

Dress: Dillards

Cami: Forever 21

Cardigan: ??

Shoes: Target

Wednesday 

Dress: Dillards

Jacket: The Loft

Shoes: Nine West

Thursday

Dress: Dillards

Jacket:  Nordstrom BP Department

Shoes: Tory Burch

Post-Skydiving Range Shooting

What better way to cap off a great Saturday of skydiving than to go to the range!  Haha!!! Bennett joined my parents, Zach and me for a fun hour shooting guns...

In this picture Zach is showing me how to shoot a rifle... in my sparkly dress!!

What else did my parents and I do this weekend???  Well, we went to Fat Matt's Thursday night and then just hung out at the apartment.  Jennie and Jeff stopped by for a few cocktails on the roof.

Rise-N-Dine was for brunch on Friday and ran into Marcus on his lunch break.  We all really liked Rise-N-Dine!! It was yummy!! Then we spent the day shopping and finished out the night with dinner at Via with Jennie.  Via was horrible... save yourself and don't go!! 

Saturday was skydiving, shooting, and the dinner at Fox Brother's BBQ.  I am so excited about shooting... my Dad bought me a Smith & Wesson .22 revolver so I was practicing with that.  Dad and I were also able to shoot Zach's 9mm and rifle and Bennett's 45.  We had a blast shooting all the different guns. Dinner was with Bennett, Marcus, Marthalynn and Julia.  I hadn't been to Fox however I've heard only good things about it.  In my opinion, it doesn't beat Fat Matt's for ribs however it did for the sides!

Sunday after church my parents and I went to Panahar for their first Bangladeshi experience.  And they really liked it!! Of course I did too... but it wasn't my first experience!  Haha!! We ran some errands during the day and then hung out on the roof before a major storm blew in and we went to Pizzeria Venti with Jennie for dinner.

It was another fun weekend with the parents!! Preston was very happy they were in town too... they do a great job at spoiling him!!!  Hahah!!

My First Skydive!!!

Sooooo... I've got all the pictures uploaded and have the video ready to go...

Check me out!! Haha!! I had a blast jumping with my friend Zach and my tandem partner Liam.  If you are in the ATL area and want to go skydiving go to Skydive Monroe.  I had a blast!!!  And what made it even better... my parents were able to watch!!

Before going my mom was terrified however once she saw the facility, the plane, how they pack the shoot, spoke to the skydivers, etc she was fine.  When we first got to Monroe there were a bunch of clouds, which pushed back every one's jumps a few hours but we were then able to watch 2 other groups of people go before we went.  That was fun to see!!! Around 1pm we were finally able to jump and man was it fun!! I was shocked at how not nervous I was.  I couldn't believe it.  But, I guess that's a good thing.

Maybe I'll get to go again!  Now if I can only talk my parents into going with me...