summer is ticking away...

so i got this wonderful new watch for my birthday. well, i really just bought it for myself on my birthday. i had been in the market for a new watch since my fossil's battery died once again. i am one of those people who has to have a watch on. it kills me when i don't know the time. you might be thinking, just check your phone! but that would require me to have my phone on me 24-7 which is not realistic. so, time to buy a watch, but which one? well, i knew i wanted a watch that had a leather band and wasn't expensive. after some searching, i found this little girl at target and fell in love. she is a classic timex and can even indiglo {yep, just made that a verb}. the only problem with her?? she ticks so dang loud that it can send me into a panic attack {not really, this is exaggeration}. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. if there is no background noise, this tick can get extremely loud. i have to take it off when i pray or have my quiet time, because it starts to stress me out. moments are slipping by and suddenly i feel old. why is it that as you get older years just go by even faster? i can remember being like six and wondering if summer was ever going to end {granted this was back in the day when summer was 3 months long..thank you august}. two days ago i filled in my calendar with georgia and auburn's football schedules and i am suddenly ready to carve a pumpkin. so in a desperate attempt to keep summer alive, yesterday on my day off i soaked up some rays at the pool with some friends. had not been to the pool since mid-june. what?! i am disappointed in myself. and i miss tampa.

yesterday i also painted my toes. i used one of my new colors, opi's opi on collins ave. the bright coral color is so fun. {the other two colors i recently bought were dutch tulips and you don't know jacques. buy 2 get 1 free at ulta!}

the pool was very relaxing and fun until this guy came along. i was just minding my own business and this huge bee appeared in my hair. he kept crawling all over my head thinking that he had just found his new home. now, my hair was very tangled, but i don't think it was resembling a hive. anyways after dunking and swimming around and desperately trying to get him out one of the girls finally flicked him off. i am so glad i didn't know how big he was as he was crawling over my head. yuck. welp, happy summer!

the moms came to town!

this past weekend, my mom came to visit us in atlanta for my birthday. our weekend was jammed packed with great food and fun sights. we had so much fun being tourists! it was so good to see my mom and show her atlanta. we started off the weekend at cnn. tyler showed us around and we went on the behind the scenes tour. it was so much fun and we learned a lot about cable news network.

the longest/tallest free standing elevator in the WORLD

on saturday, we had lunch with our family friend in atlanta at ok cafe {which was yummy} and then went to the aquarium. i had only been to the aquarium once, so it was definitely fun to see all the animals again! we walked through centennial park to get to the aquarium and there was this huge african art festival going on. there were people dressed up on stilts and booths everywhere. it definitely made our walk through the park entertaining!

so many people

the city!

we started the aquarium off at the touch pool. i love me some sting rays!

totally, dude.

get me out of here

camouflage. gets me every time.

the piranhas. i learned that they actually don't eat people like the upcoming movie portrays.

oh, why hello there mr. penguin!

i love the belugas.

mana ray

the whale sharks. so cool!

you are pretty, but i don't like you.

me and moms. i know, we look nothing alike.

nemo!

okay so after touring the beautiful georgia aquarium, we went over to the world of coke. as we were standing in line, it started pouring. after hiding behind some covered coke machines {yep, we did} we decided to try back on sunday. good decision. then came the decision of where to eat dinner. we were tired from the touring so we didn't really want to go out somewhere, but too tired to cook. so we got take out at alon's bakery. best idea that i've had in a while. i love alon's and it is even better when you get it to-go. the best part: we each picked a dessert to try. oh my goodness, i want to go to alon's right now as i type this!

so yummy!

on sunday we went to church and then to this precious place for brunch called riseanddine. it was so good! then, we went to the world of coke and it was entertaining, interesting, and delicious as always. i left the nikon at home, so no pics to share on that outing. i will spare you the image of us wearing 4-D glasses and me guzzling free coke. bummer. anyways, the weekend was wonderful! thanks mom for making the drive!

just a few more.

i can't help it. he is just too precious! only 2 more weeks with this little guy :(

look out

i got photoshop elements. very overwhelming, but fun. this took me a good 30 minutes to finish. hopefully i will be a quick learner! you can't tell on the blog, but the edges of this photo are also rounded. had to watch a video online to learn how to do it. i could spend all day on this program...so much to learn! thanks mom!

dad's day

happy birthday dad! back-to-back birthdays are the best!

here is a little shout out to all the dad's out there!

the birthday

23. only my favorite number.

i started the birthday off right with some chick-fil-a breakfast! katie and i enjoyed a long breakfast together filled with hugged nuggies {also known as chicken minis} and lots of laughter.  after breakfast, katie and i went to target so i could get a new watch and by ulta to get some birthday nail polish.  ulta had a buy two get one free deal so it was amazing.

  then, we  met up with meghan at bakeshop for lunch. it was so yummy!
meghan made me hummingbird bakery cupcakes! {a recipe from the best bakery in the world!}after lunch, we went to centennial park and ran through the olympic rings with all the children of atlanta. it was a first and it was fun.

trying not to get soaked.

then, we went to the up-and-coming atlanta beltline.  they are in the process of making the old railroad into a walking trail filled with art.  it will be so cool once they finish!

being artsy with the art.

enjoying the grass.

next, we went to piedmont park and played like little girls.

jump if it's your birthday.

our final stop was to king of pop's popsicle stand. i got peach and it was delicious!

perfect on a hot july day.

katie got mango and loved it.

it was such a wonderful birthday! i also met two people whose birthday was also today.  let me just say i am a magnet for july 15ers.  i think my count is up to about 10 now of people i know with my birthday and  i love it! before dinner, i enjoyed opening all the cards that i had been saving this week and hearing from sweet family and friends.  then for dinner, tyler took me to murphy's, an amazing restaurant in virginia highlands.  the service was wonderful and they even wrote happy birthday in chocolate on my dessert plate and stuck a candle in it for me.  i think the best way to say happy birthday is always in chocolate. it was such a blessed day, filled with love and joy.  it definitely exceeded my expectations! thanks friends, hubby, and fam for making me feel so loved. 

attention future brides

this dress would make a beautiful formal bridesmaid's dress.  it is on sale, right now at jcrew and it is available in all sizes.  oh please someone use this dress.  also, jcrew is having a 20% off on sale items right now, so it would be even cheaper!

puppy love

meet maddie.

i guess i haven't really blogged about our current living situation since we finished house sitting.  well, we have been living in the finished attic of some family friends' house and it has been perfect!  they have the most precious pups ever.  meet maddie. she is a golden retriever mix and she is the sweetest thing.  she isn't as big as a regular golden retriever and her fur is so soft.  this is a picture of her after a hot afternoon in the park.  i love her expression in this photo. i wish i could know what she was thinking!

meet ernie.

yep, he is as crazy as he looks! meet ernie. he is a brussels griffin, like in the movie as good as it gets. he thinks he is as big as maddie is and he has a hilarious bark.  he reminds me of my shih tzu back home, rosie posie.  his eyes are crazy like hers and he is so fun to cuddle with.  it was hard to get a good photo of him, because he would not sit still! however, i think this photo captures his essence pretty well.

my version of a base coat.

now they always say that you should put a base coat on before painting your nails.  but who has time for that? well i was in target the other day and after thumbing through their small opi collection, i went over to the sally hansen section. i have never used one of their nail polishes before, but the words "maximum growth plus" just caught my eye.  now, i could be open to the idea of putting on a base coat if it was going to strengthen and improve my nails.  i chose the color "innocent nude" and i love it!  it is a great natural look on its own {like an american manicure in one step} and when i use it as a base coat, the opi color goes on smoother and it only takes one coat.  talk about a win-win situation.

cow appreciation day!

moo.

today was cow appreciation day at chick-fil-a.  free combo for everyone who dresses up in cow attire! need i say more? i am a huge fan of cfa, free food, and costumes, so this holiday is right up there with christmas.  we went for my favorite chick-fil-a meal, breakfast.  chicken minis, tots, and a coke.  breakfast of champions.  some highlights of the morning included the employees ringing cowbells, getting our picture taken for the corporate magazine, and forty something four year olds having what seemed to be a free birthday party.  chick-fil-a is the best. 

take two.

so after dinner i was really craving a cfa milkshake.  so i dawned my cow attire for a second time and tyler and i went out in the rain to find a chick-fil-a {what a sweet hubby}.  this is atlanta, so there should be one on every corner, right? wrong.  the first cfa that the gps picked up was at a hospital.  the second one wasn't there anymore, the third one was inside the cnn center, the fourth one was closed {seriously? must have ran out of chicken...} and after driving alllll over the entire city of atlanta, we found one.  determination people.  i traded in the free entree for the milkshake, which chick-fil-a was of course okay with.  ahhh the perfect way to end cow appreciation day.

fourth of july weekend

well this past weekend was jammed pack with so much fun that i should probably make multiple posts; instead, it's just going to be a jumbo post full of fun and photos.  sound good? alright, let's begin.  the weekend started off at the braves game.  i love this view of turner field because it encompasses everything atlanta. and it is fabulous.  unfortunately this was my only picture of the night and i had to miss the friday night fireworks because i had to leave early.

turner field.

saturday tyler and i relaxed and went to atlantic station for the afternoon/evening.  we went into some shops, got a candy snack, ate dinner at cpk {code for california pizza kitchen} and went to the movies.  we saw grown ups. it was pretty funny. probably a better rental since it costs $11 these days to see a movie in theaters.  regardless, it was a wonderful day.

for the 4th we packed up and went to beautiful lake lanier.  the weather was so perfect and i don't think i have ever laughed so much in one day.  i felt like i was on the tv show last comic standing.  everyone had jokes to tell which made it a really fun day.  we went swimming, one round of tubing {due to a hole in the tube}, and ate way too many chocolate chip cookies and red velvet sandwiches.  talk about fun. 

we ended the day with a yummy cookout and a pontoon ride to watch the fireworks show on the water.  the highlight of the boat ride was when we made friends with another pontoon boat.  the boat was loaded down with tourists and just happened to be lost and without lights on their boat.  we told them to stay close and that we would guide them back safely to their boat rental place after the fireworks.  after about 10 minutes of watching this boat we quickly realized that the driver clearly had never driven a boat before.  the best part of the what seemed to be 3 hour tour was when the tourists started weighing down the front too much and the pontoon boat started sinking.  oh my gosh, you would have thought you were watching a scene from titanic. all 20 something of the passengers jumped up, put on their life vests, and got to the middle of the boat as the captain yelled "mayday! mayday!"  we calmly told them to redistribute their weight which quickly solved their problem.  we finally got them back to their dock after a good hour of creeping along the lake.  definitely an unforgettable 4th of july. 

we spent the night on lake lanier at our friend kirkley's house.  the griffeth plantation is what i like to call it :) it is heavenly.  we woke up monday morning to fresh blueberry scones with honey and a kitchen full of love.  both the blueberries and honey come from the land. how fun!  the day was full of tubing, swimming, snacking, and spending time with college friends.  it was so perfect that it was almost too good to be true.  i felt like i was dreaming.  

fourth of july perfection.