Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy Go Lucky!

Happy St. Patrick's Day y'all! Don't get pinched - are you wearing your green?

I did a little pre-Patty's day prep on Friday before date night with Ry where I donned my favorite green dress.
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Dress: Banana Republic (sold out, same dress in print here), Necklace & Sign: Prep Obsessed

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Shoes: Target: (sold out, similar here) - please excuse my leafy patio!

This choice was a very close runner up for date night, but I had already worn it earlier this week when I was trying to give Mother Nature a big HELLO, we're ready for Spring!

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One of my favorite things to do is send little surprise surcies to friends and family. I coupled this with my New Year's resolution to send more mail and created a little care package.

For this fun holiday, it was all for my Sisk! My Sister-in-law is in college at my Alma Mater, and if I remember correctly, this is one holiday we always celebrated in great spirits. Can you say green beer!

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Card, Candy, Mustaches, Socks: Target (sold in store)

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After the surcie was packaged and in the mail, we headed out for our date. We were celebrating living in Virginia for one year (unbelievable!) and went to Heritage, one of our favorite local places, to eat a great RVA dinner!

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The Burrata cheese special was AMAZING!

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The Bourbon Barrel Smoked Pork Belly was so delicious, Ryan was in love!

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Even though we couldn't eat too many because we're low carb'ing it (more on that later), the Shrimp Crackers were so crunchy, savory and just perfection. They were like pork rinds, but with shrimp instead, YUM!

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The Roasted Half Chicken was great as well.

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Oh the Hangar Steak, so juicy!

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 Think I like citrus? Gotta love the pops of green!

Cheers y'all! Don't forget, today is the day to be Happy Go Lucky, so live it up!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Bachelor Viewing Parties

This season of The Bachelor (with Wahpawlo) was just horrible. I admit it. I had high hopes, I really, really did, but it became obvious pretty quickly that this year's Bachelor was whack.

Although... this horribly awkward season did lead to some good convos and laughs every Monday with the girls over wine and apps. We decided if we were going to come together for a girls-night-in over the trashiest of trash TV, we might as well make it interesting with a little friendly competition.

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Thanks to lots of time on the road over the holidays, I got many a chance to pick my husband's brain for game ideas. I think it worked pretty well for coming up with it from scratch! Here's how you can play with your gal pals.

What you'll need:

  • Poster boards (3) - one for each team and one for your points key

  • Double stick tape

  • Individually cut and laminated contestant faces (see below for details)

  • Marker/s

  • 2 Notebooks (to keep score)

  • Pens

  • A list of buzzwords and actions

  • Roses labeled (optional) - to decide teams

  • Paper cut into strips (optional) - to write Bachelor style questions on as an ice breaker

We had a group of 14 girls which I met from a mix of different places (Junior League, work, neighbors, even Instagram :)), so the first night we went around and gave our Bachelor style bios. We included our name, hometown, profession and answered one random question pulled from the jar I had compiled of actual questions from the contestant bios.

We each then grabbed a rose that was labeled one or two. This determined who was on each team. The chosen team names were "Juan Direction" and "Don't You Juan't Me, Baby?" (DYJMB), we're so creative!
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Then it was time to watch the entrances from the girls for some context, pause, and draft our teams. I pulled the girls pics and names from the ABC website and pasted them into a doc that I had printed and laminated at a FedEx print center. I then cut them individually, laid them out for the girls to see and added double stick tape to poster board.
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The teams each took turns choosing a player back and forth until there was only one left. There was an odd number of contestants this year, so we gave the extra girl to the team that had less people after roses were handed out. Our teams were set!
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Ahead of time I also came up with a list of words and actions that would gain points for our teams. They were tiered with one point if our girls said one of the listed buzzwords, five points if a girl on our team did the action or was involved in what was listed, and finally, ten points if one of our girls got a rose.
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We switched up the score keepers each week and all yelled out points when our girls said or did something.

Mid-way through the season we had to do some switcheroos because teams got really uneven. I think at one point there were three players on Juan Direction and seven on DYJMB so Juan Direction chose one girl to give DYJMB and in return, they gave us three girls. Essentially, the rule is just to let the team giving away the players pick who they give.
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In the beginning team DYJMB was the clear winner, but team Juan Direction came back in the end and won with both Clare and Nicki on their team.
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We switched up who brought food and drinks each week, so playing hostess was so easy (and kept me motivated to clean every Sunday!). It was so much fun, see our girls-night-in when we postponed watching two episodes to a Friday!
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Stay tuned for a post coming soon on our finale celebrations.

I had so much fun with these girls and I'm going to miss seeing them every Monday! We might just have to regroup starting May 19th for the Bachelorette staring our girl Andi Dorfman!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Wedding Weekend Recap!

This weekend we packed our bags for a super quick (less than 24 hrs!) trip to South Carolina. I’m from Greenville and one of Ryan’s good friends was getting married there this weekend, so we doubled up and got to see some family and friends! The wedding was absolutely beautiful! The weather was just as great as well, even up into the 70s, which we haven’t felt in months, ahhhh.

I’m going to knock on wood when I say this, but I actually don’t get car sick reading, so it’s one of my favorite times to catch up on magazines, catalogs and books that I’ve been neglecting during the busy weeks and weekends. It’s about 6 hours to Greenville from Richmond, so it’s a great time to get lost in dreamy decor and fun stories!
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My Dad has been dying to get Ryan to a new local spot close to our house called Bacon Brothers, it was quite delish!

We hung out around the house in between lunch and getting ready for the wedding. We snapped a few family photos too. (ok, yeah, you caught me, told you I haven’t stopped wearing this Lilly popover since I got it!)
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#photobombingmom

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My little brother Nick and our favorite feline, Gigi.

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This is what it looks like when my Mom makes fun of me.

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And now normal. I can't get over how big my little baby sister is getting!

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Photog.

I decided to snap a stash of #tbt photos too, here’s some favorites you’ll see on a Thursday coming soon.

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Four generations! My Mama Sue, Grandma White, Papa, Mom and me.

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This makes me laugh every.single.time. Caught in action! Both of them! And to think how skinny that little fat kid is now.

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Yeah, who am I kidding, I was a fat kid too!

After my walk down memory lane, it was off to the wedding!

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Dress: JCrew (sold out, similar style here), Cardigan: Banana Republic (sold out), Necklace: Prep Obsessed, Belt: Lilly Pulitzer (sold out, similar style here)

The church was gorgeous with simple, perfect décor!

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The reception was at the Old Cigar Warehouse in downtown Greenville, and was absolutely stunning!
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Even the bathrooms were gorgeous! I'm dying over this wooden sink counter.
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Look at the cool bathroom doors!
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Such a beautiful bride!
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Ryan with the handsome groom!

Congrats Will and Whitney! We’re so glad we could be there to help you celebrate your special day! #ayerspartyof2
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Then it was back on the road to get home to our pups, who had a play weekend with one of their doggie biffies Gordy. Thanks Sarah and James!

Phew, what a fun and whirlwind of a weekend! We're so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family to spend time with and have our backs in SC and VA!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Lilly Lovin - My Hunt for the Perfect Cup Dress!

Five years ago in Camden, South Carolina, Ryan and I met at the Carolina Cup Steeplechase. Ryan is from Camden, so we always go back every year with a group of friends and stay on Lake Wateree at his place.
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Our first photo together under the tent in the pouring rain - Carolina Cup 2009! PS: The handsome creeper in the background ended up being a groomsman, love ya Justin!

Since I've known Ryan, I've worn Lilly to Cup every single year. Here's a history of the dresses!
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2009
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2010
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2011 (love you sisk!)
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2012
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2013
Not seeing any reason to break tradition this year, I headed to our local Lilly store, Pink Palm. My MIL gifts me my dress every year for this special occasion and I look forward to it so much! It also aligned nicely with Pink Palm's 12th Anniversary where they were doing small celebrations and special giveaways! Double score!  
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Here were some of the contenders. WARNING... if you hate selfies and mirror photos, I suggest you tune out now :).

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Loved this one in Pop Pink on the Square, but not so Cup-ish.

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This was my favorite in Fountain Hopping from the beginning.

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But in the end, this was the winner in the print Bungle in the Jungle! I loved how traditionally Lilly it was!

I was SO excited to leave with my (first non-pink) Cup dress, this Elsa in one of my absolute favorite prints, First Impression, and this pullover in Trippin and Sippin that I've worn literally every cozy night since the purchase.

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Oh and as a bonus, check out this adorbs wallet I got fo free with my purchase!

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So what's your favorite Lilly thus far? Did I make the right choice? Who's going to the Cup?! I can't wait to see you there!

XO

Erin

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