Thursday, January 31, 2013

One weekend catch up... before the next begins!

Busy Busy week over here... and with the way the weather has been, it feels like it was 5 months long.  (32 on Sunday, 80 on Wednesday, chance of snow tomorrow?!?)
 
Last Friday night began with a lovely little snow storm.
I headed home early Friday, through on the comfiest clothes I could get my hands on (aka Brandon's pajama pants and an old sweatshirt) and enjoyed the snow fall!
 
 
Amazing!!
 
Saturday began with a trip over to our reception venue.  They were holding a wedding there this past weekend and I wanted to see how it was going to be arranged. 
The venue is normally a restaurant, and can only do weddings in the beach's off season.  I have been there a few times to eat, but wasn't sure how they would arrange the tables for a 200 person reception!
It looked gorgeous, but oh to be the bride that woke up on her wedding day to the beach sand covered in an inch of snow! 
 
From lunch at the restaurant, I headed over to a pool tournament {think billiards, not swimsuits} for our league team.  Pool was something Brandon had started to play when we lived in Christiansburg and I kind of tagged along until they roped me onto the team too.  When we moved back to the beach area, Brandon found a new team, and eventually I got roped in to playing on this one too.  Love the people we play with though, and while I may be a pretty awful pool player, it's a good time!
 
Sunday morning my sister and I headed down with her two boys to the outerbanks for a quick little weekend get away.  My cousin and her daughter were down there too, so we had a fun little girls weekend!
 
After we got settled in and had lunch (love that our beach house is only a hour and half drive away!) we took the kids to the aquarium in Manteo, NC.  They had such a good time staring at all the tanks, and playing with the interactive turtle exhibit {awesome place to take little ones if you are ever down in the outerbanks!}
 
Here are the pictures I snapped while we were there... (my child photography skills are lacking as you can see!)
Gabriel would have hopped in that tank with the fish if it was open... couldn't get close enough!

Baby Jack Jack!  The fish tanks were a perfect height for him!

Lily thinks she may want to look into a career as a crocodile hunter... didn't end well for the last guy!

Jack had much more important things to do

After we saw every fish, and rescued the turtles (twice) we headed back to the house for appetizers (goat cheese dip I made was yummy if I do say so myself) and dinner!
 
We stayed the night, spent the morning straightening up and headed back home.  A great little weekend that ended too soon... but only have to get through tomorrow  before it starts again!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday, Friday!!


Linking up with Lauren @ From my Grey Desk for #H54F

{one} No picture to go with this one because my brother is "too cool for pictures"... but he signed an offer on a condo at the oceanfront Thursday.  This is definitely a high for my week (as well as his) because i am his Realtor and if things go as planned, this is my first home sale!!  whoop whoop!!

{two} Dinner out with friends on Wednesday night to celebrate Brandon's buddies birthday!  We went to a hibachi grill.  One of the guys had his 2 year old with him and the look on that little guys face when the chef started chopping and making the big fire bursts was priceless! 
One of the guys diaper bags was the greatest thing I had ever seen.
It's an old fire suit turned into a true "man bag"

{three} for the first time in a while, I was able to truely enjoy a morning.
I grabbed my coffee and planner, caught up on e-mails and just soaked up some quiet time to start my day.  {I may have to start making this a personal priority}
[side note - can we talk about how adorable my new monogram target mug is.  oh how my love for target grows!!]

{four} SNOWWWW!! We have been teased with chances of snow lately, but it's really here in all its glory! 

This area doesn't get snow often, so when it comes, the world shuts down!!  This is what we consider a full on snow storm!  I went to college at Virginia Tech {go hokies!!} in the mountains and it was a true shock when it was snowing there and people still went about there day.

{five} Brandon met me for a mid-day margarita after I met with a mortgage guy to get this ball rolling on building our own home! 

Monday, January 21, 2013

I don't trust mirrors

Oh Clueless!  What an amazing movie! Cher and her friends brought us such memorable life lessons as, Be weary of a crush who dresses better than you, If you have a problem with a teacher (or boss) set them up on a date and all troubles will be solved, and You should always do a few laps around a party before committing to a location.  But the best lesson of all is to never trust mirrors! 
 
I whole-heartdly believe that Cher from Clueless is the original inventor of the #OOTD. In the nineties, before people word vomited acronyms and hashtags on twitter was a concept, Cher was doing her own OutFit of The Days to get ready for the important things in life, like driving tests and dates with gay classmates!
Now, we have definitely evolved from wiping out our Polaroid to capture these gems, but the concept is still there.
 
Now I am in no way knocking the OOTD, I am a big fan.  I have laid in bed scrolling through past OOTD's I have taken to decide what to wear in the morning {Partial laziness, Partial it's good to see how it actually looks on me}.
 
So I pay homage to Alicia Silverstone and the brilliant 90's chick-flick that is Clueless with some of my recent OOTD's!
 
Sweater and leggings from www.simplystyleboutique.com


Top from Franchesca's
 
Bow shirt from www.simplystyleboutique.com
cardigan and boots from Target (aka - heaven!)

As you can see, I have a slight obsession with that particular pair of target boots.  But you have to admit... they are kind of perfect!!
 
(I also admit that I do have a right arm, I just apparently like to hide it sometimes!)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Wedding Expos

Last weekend my mother, sister (who is my maid of honor) and my friend/bridesmaid Jana hit up a local bridal expo that was in town.
 

I got a "Bride" pin to wear!
My sister, mom and I had been to one back in September that was fairly tame and nothing too flashy, but this event on Sunday was a complete 180!  The amount of vendors they fit into the space was incredible;  the amount of people in there at one time was just pure chaos!  I had more cake samples than one person should have in a month (but they were all so delicious!)
 
Going over the list of what we have arranged for our wedding and what is still left makes me a little nervous.  We have our photographer, my gown, church, Deacon (a very close friend's father will be performing our marriage ceremony{I am not sure if "perform" is the term you use... but we'll go with it}) and reception hall (which has it's own on site catering and is located in a hotel for guests to stay).  I thought we were doing pretty good, but walking through the expo I realized we need a DJ, viedographer, bridesmaid and groomsman attire, cake, florist, transportation (if we want to be fancy!) and still need to finalize my decoration ideas plus whatever else I am not realizing!  I still have plenty of time till September to work on all this, but my goodness... so many choices!
 
There were also some random booths they had at the expo.  The coolest one we came across was the shop that turned your bouquet into beads!   How neat of idea is that! They had necklaces, bracelets, and even rosary beads {fun fact: original rosary beads were made of rose petals by the nuns, hence the name "rosary" beads}
 
Someones bouquet as a jewelry set
I am loving this idea as a perfect wedding keepsake!  I may have to put aside some wedding funds to make this happen!  The company is called The Queen and I and they have showrooms in Norfolk and McLean Virginia but take orders from all over.
 
Would you preserve your jewelry this way? 
 
Now I have the task of going through all the cards and pamphlets I picked up and see if all the walking (and eating) were worth it!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Saw it. Pinned it. Did it._Link Up!

I am linking up with the lovely ladies over at Keep Calm and Carry On and Beautiful Mess for
Saw it. Pinned it. Did it!

 
I drink water all day, and a lot of it.  So when Starbucks offered their super size cup as a reusable option, i hopped on board.  Now everyone has them, and I wanted mine to stand out... enter "Glitter Cup"!

 I also saw this little DIY over at Basically Bre!  Hers looked so great I couldn't wait to make my own!
 
I picked up the supplies at JoAnn's Fabrics (an arts and crafts/fabric shop around here).
 
You will need:
Spray Glue {Elmer's Craft Bond, Multi Spray Adhesive was the brand I used}
Glitter {I used 3, 0.6 oz tubes}
masking tape
plastic wrap
Something to cover the workspace {I covered the floor with old newspaper}
 
the spray glue and glitter!
I first separate the cup and covered the top part with the plastic wrap and tape {this is to keep the glitter out and to cover the top from getting glue on it.  One mistake I made was not properly covering the groves where the cup goes back together and had to wipe the glue off.}
 
 
 
Next you'll spray the outside of the cup while sprinkling the glitter overtop {make sure that nothing is in close vicinity to you spraying, I made the mistake of getting the top part of the cup sprayed too.  I found Goo Be Gone gets the spray right off!}
After you have it covered to your liking, set it down to dry. {it shouldn't take more than an hour to be set!}
 

 
Clean up the glitter that has gotten everywhere, screw the cup back together, and you are DONE! Gotta love a DIY project that is done in less than 15 minutes {minus my 2 mistakes!}
 
End result!  Love the pink!
 
 Now go out and get awesome compliments on your new and improved "Glitter Cup"!

My New (web) Home

Decided to start the new year fresh with a new blog home!
 
Welcome to Simply Styled Emily!
 
I am here to record the crazy happenings in my twenty-something life! 
 This year is a big one... Brandon and I are getting married, we are moving to the country and building our first home as newlyweds and my lovely sister and I decided to start our own Boutique (why not, I have got some down time somewhere on the calendar!)
{check out our shop at www.simplystyledboutique.com}
 
So sit back with your morning coffee (or mimosa...) and enjoy!