Weekend Recap

My mom came to town Saturday morning and we had a GREAT girls' weekend together. We started with manis, of course, and I got what I like to call my Barbie manicure. Barbie would totes sport bright pink nails and sparkles, right!?

After manis we got some delicious Philly cheesesteaks at Galla's and then headed to the mall for some shopping. Mom was on the hunt for a khaki skirt and I was on the hunt for NARS Schiap lipstick. Neither one of us was successful. :( Sephora was all out of Schiap, but I did get to see a sample and decide if I really want it. I do. :)

After shopping we spent the rest of the evening snuggling with Mason and watching the Olympics before heading to Yogli Mogli for some froyo (a Hart girls tradition).

Sunday morning was full of awesome worship and a great message at Buckhead Church, followed by a delicious lunch at the new Tin Lizzy's in Dunwoody.

Mom had to head back to LaGrange shortly after lunch to take care of some stuff on the farm, so I had a very relaxing afternoon snuggling with the pup, watching the Olympics, and enjoying this nice adult beverage. Perfect for a hot July afternoon. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

{Outfit Post} Vintage Blue

This is yesterday's OOTD. A vintage blue breezy belted dress and nude platform wedges, which I found at Payless, believe it or not!

And here's a close-up and better look at the dress's actual color. I especially love the print. It's little apostrophes! I am such a nerd...

I think I mentioned last week that I'm in charge of renovating and redecorating our entire corporate office. It's been much more of an undertaking that I anticipated. So as cute and comfy as those wedges are, I do NOT, I repeat, do NOT suggest wearing them shopping. After running all over Atlanta yesterday afternoon hunting for tile, paint, baskets, wall hanging, frames, etc., I now have no less than three Mickey Mouse bandaids on my feet from the blisters. Beauty is pain, right? 

Makeup Makeup Makeup!

I admittedly am not exactly a makeup aficionado. I may or may not beg my bestie and/or her sister to make me pretty all the time, because let's face it, I'm not the best at sculpting the "perfect eye". But with some practice I've managed to at least not elicit weird looks in Publix.

But today I need some face and lip product recommendations from y'all. My face regimen mainly consists of moisturizer and powder. I've been using MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish Natural pressed powder and I REALLY like it. It's light, perfect for hot southern summers, but still has good coverage.

So I've got the powder covered, but with fall quickly approaching I think I'd like to try some foundation for a more polished office look. I was thinking about trying MAC's Studio Fix SPF 15 foundation, but if y'all have any better recommendations please let me know! I'm completely lost here folks.

Next month marks the beginning of my first semester of graduate school, Junior League duties, college football, and let's not forget about weekly bible study meetings and that full time job. I'm already seeing small dark bags under my eyes so I can only imagine what they're going to look like come August or September. So with that in mind, I think it's time to invest in some concealer. Again, I was looking at this creamy concealer from MAC, but am kind of afraid it will look too cakey. Have y'all tried it or do you know of something better??

And then last, but not least, I'm ready for some bright pink (almost neon) lips! I keep seeing these colors everywhere and I'm now on the hunt for the perfect shade. What a fun way to glam up any look right!? Trying to choose between these three right now, but I think NARS Schiap is in the lead. :)

Let me know what your favorite products are! Pretty please!? 

Weekend Recap

Whew! I'm currently sitting at my desk with a big cup of coffee recovering from such a busy weekend. Caffeine, what would I do without you?

Friday night NTP and I had supper with some good friends of ours at Kaleidoscope in Brookhaven. My meal consisted of fried catfish, shrimp, collards, baked mac n cheese, and white cheddar cheese grits. Ummm, yeah. Needless to say, there are no pictures because that was the LAST thing on my mind as I inhaled a meal I hope they serve in heaven.

Saturday morning started with some relaxing reading and coffee time before it was off to the farm in LaGrange.

It was a really gloomy morning so the parents said to just come for a visit - it wouldn't be a work trip. Woohoo! Don't get me wrong... I love working on the farm, but on a mid-July day in Georgia? No thanks. We did discuss the upcoming planting season, what would go where, when to start, who to hire for help, etc. so we did get a little bit done. And my parents got to see sweet Mason, who they adore. Mason really likes playing with my dad. It's hilarious. This is after a rambunctious play session full of jumping and howling (by Mason, not my dad).

Sunday morning NTP and I headed back to Atlanta, dropped Mason off at his grooming appointment, and headed to Dekalb for our first trip to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. OH MY GOSH it was AMAZING! I'd heard it was awesome, but whoa. It was HUGE for one thing, and they had fruits and veggies I'd never even heard of! I stocked up on a week's worth of fresh (and I mean FRESH) produce and bread for $9. NINE DOLLARS.

Now this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't add a photo of Mason with his new hair cut. Let's just say I don't think he likes it very much based on this facial expression. :) Bless his little heart.

Weekend Reading

TGIF. For real.

This weekend is jam packed with fun stuff. Tonight NTP and I are meeting another couple for dinner at a fun restaurant here in Atlanta, tomorrow morning my apartment complex is having a big garage sale and I'm hoping to sell some clothes I don't wear anymore, then we're headed to the farm in LaGrange to do some work and see my parents, then Sunday it's back to ATL for Mason's grooming appointment and a much-anticipated trip to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. Whew!

But during the down time (if there is any) I'll be reading "Mark Twain: A Life" by Ron Powers. I got this biography for Christmas a couple years ago (or one year ago? I can't remember) and just hadn't gotten around to reading it. So last week when I finished Rules of Civility and found myself novel-less and no room in the budget to go stock up on more, I decided I'd learn a little bit more about one of my favorite authors. And let me tell you this book is no joke! I'm a nerd, so I actually kind of enjoy reading biographies, but this has to be the most interesting I've read. It's written in such a way that it actually feels more like a story than just a chain of events. It probably helps that Mr. Samuel Clemens led a really interesting life, but still, I'm really enjoying this biography.

Do y'all have any good book recommendations? I'll probably be back in Barnes & Noble scouring the racks again in a couple weeks and would love some suggestions. :)

Meet my garden!

I know I mentioned an outfit post today, but yesterday I was a hot mess running around at work and then hustling to Brookhaven in miserable traffic for bible study, so needless to say it didn't get done. And this morning Nick's new Xterra wouldn't start. So that's where we're at right now. Instead, I thought it would be fun to share my little garden with y'all!

When I was apartment hunting about this time last year, one of the major selling points for the apartment I chose was it's adorable little garden area. Read: Little plot of dirt, and large-ish patio area surrounded but a lattice fence and gate. When I first moved in, the aforementioned little plot of dirt was covered, and I mean COVERED, with stones. Not just normal rocks, but those little colored beads that you'd see in a diner's table vases with a faux flower stuck in em. We raked and dumped about two buckets of those bead/rock things before we found the Georgia clay.

I loooove to garden and play outside and reap the fruits of my labors, if you will. So in the past year that little plot of dirt and my L-shaped patio area have turned into my little happy place. Growing in the garden is...

- Foxglove
- Gardenias
- Coleus
- Purple Coneflowers
- Blackberries
- Jasmine
- Dahlias
- Lilies
- Hydrangeas
- Mint
- Basil
- Rosemary
- Cowhorn Peppers
- Banana Peppers
- Jalapenos
- & a few flowers that I don't know the name to. Whoops.

Next year I plan to grow some tomatoes, sweet potatoes and okra, among others.

Above is my little plot of dirt. And below are some close-ups of all my favorite things in the garden.

Now I just need a couple Adirondack chairs and a cold adult beverage to make this even more perfect. (Right now I'm using folding camping chairs. Whatever works, right!?)

Hope y'all are having a wonderful Thursday! We're so close to Friday!

Summer Bucket List

Gooood morning y'all! I originally planned to do an outfit post today on office-appropriate attire that will keep you from completely melting in this Georgia heat. But that will have to wait for tomorrow since my morning has been spent picking paint colors for our entire corporate office, kitchen, bathrooms, production center, etc. Soooo let's throw up a little prayer that I at least make half of all these employees happy with my choices. I do NOT want to go down in the company history books as the girl that picked the awful paint colors.

ANYWHO.

I figured I'd share with y'all my summer bucket list instead. I wrote it onto this handy dandy chalkboard project I undertook a couple weeks ago (and still need to hang on the wall). I've added a few things since, so here's the full list. And if any of you Southeastern ladies have any other awesome ideas please let me know! And keep in mind homegirl is on a budget.

1. Atlanta Botanical Garden (Check! Went to Cocktails in the Garden a couple weeks ago, sponsored by Lilly Pulitzer, and actually won the raffle they were doing! Goodies included an insulated cooler, murfee scarf, necklace, men's tie, ID wristlet, and gift card!)

2. Shoot the Hooch (AKA tubing down the Chattahoochee River with some adult beverages)

3. Dekalb Farmer's Market (This is on the agenda for this weekend! I'll make sure to take some pics!)

4. World of Coca-Cola (Still surprised I've lived here for a year and haven't done this yet. I LOVE Co-Cola!)

5. Hike Stone Mountain (Again, surprised I have yet to do this.)

6. Movie on the Green

7. White water rafting on the Ocoee (I LOOOOVE white water rafting on the Ocoee. Love it. But no, really. I love it. )

8. Atlanta Food Truck Park (Check! Went with my Bible study girls a few weeks ago and we had such a blast.)

9. Amicalola Falls

10. Lake Lanier (Check! Nick, Mason, and I went for the 4th of July.)

There are also a good number of restaurants on this list that I've been meaning to try, but seeing as I'm practically on a spending freeze and eat grits and biscuits for dinner every night, I'm not going to include them here.

What are y'all hoping to do this summer?!

Back at it

Ok y'all. It's been five months since I last posted. FIVE! Tee-totally unacceptable. Especially since one of my New Year's Resolutions was to blog regularly. (But we all know how resolutions go...)

 Anyway, I'm back at it. And this time I should actually be able to stick with it. So here's some quick updates...

 1. In just a couple weeks I will have lived in the awesome, fabulous, gorgeous, super fun town of Atlanta for a whole year. I think that's cause for celebration.

 2. Work is great. Enjoying my job and the people I work with.

 3. Joined the Junior League! Whoop whoop!

 4. Was accepted to FSU's (GO NOLES!) online MBA program and classes start in just over a month. EEK! I'm super excited because I'm a total nerd and actually really enjoy school.

 5. Puppypants (AKA Mason) is doing great! He's all grown up now (cue sadz face) and he brings SOOOO much joy to my life. I'll have to video tape his "salsa dance" sometime. He gets so excited to see people that he wags his whole backside and it looks remarkably similar to something from Dancing with the Stars.

 7. Joined a Bible Study back in January and receive daily blessings from the amazing girls I've met and grown with in the past few months.

 That's about all I can think of right now. I plan to catch up on all of your blogs ASAP and hope all is well with everyone! So for the sake of actually posting something of interest to people, I thought I'd start with a book review (seeing as I'm a bonafide bookworm).

The lovely CBK suggested I read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. The story is set in 1930's New York City and follows the stylish, exciting, and whirlwind events that are set in motion after two friends fortuitously meet a wealthy man on New Year's Eve in a side street jazz bar. I absolutely loved this novel and thought Towles' writing style was perfectly in line with the era he was writing about. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to lose themselves in the glamour of NYC and experience the determination of the human spirit in Depression Era America. Run, don't walk, to your closest bookstore. You won't be disappointed! 

Are y'all reading anything great right now? Let me know!