Weekend Recap: Asheville Edition

This past weekend was spent in Asheville, NC with Brian! Asheville is where we met (remember this post), so it's always fun to go back! His family has a condo in downtown Asheville, so that is the area where we spend most of our time when we're there! We can walk everywhere, which is an added bonus! It was a much needed weekend away with just the two of us!!

View of Downtown Asheville from the condo!

We arrived into Asheville right around dinner time Friday night, so we decided to grab some pizza from Barley's Taproom. They have delicious pizza and a great beer selection. It was the perfect atmosphere after a long, rainy drive! After dinner we did a little bar hopping, which is always a good time! 

Saturday morning we went to City Bakery Cafe for breakfast. If you're ever in Downtown Asheville I highly suggest eating here! They have the best stuffed french toast (french toast + cream cheese + local jam). It was even better than I remembered! 

Saturday was pretty rainy for the first half of the day, so it was the perfect excuse to go see Gatsby in 3D (finally). I had been anticipating seeing this movie since I saw the previews months ago. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was amazing or everything I thought it would have been! I definitely still like the book better. If you saw it what did you think? 

The weather finally cleared up the second half of Saturday and we were able to enjoy our view on the balcony, have a nice dinner downtown, and play around town!! We did discover that one of our favorite bars had closed though. It was a favorite of mine, Brian, Bre and Jeremy's! Looks like we will have to find a new favorite spot the next time we're all there together!!

Sunday was definitely a nicer day. I really wish Saturday had been as nice! We spent a few hours enjoying the weather before it was time to say goodbye to Asheville once again. This was the first trip that I made it to the double decker bus, Double D's, for coffee!! I had always gone by it and wanted to try it, but never had! I am so glad we had time to yesterday. It may be my new favorite place for coffee in Asheville. Aside from the awesome bus, the coffee was excellent! Quite possibly the best iced vanilla latte I've had! 

It was such an enjoyable weekend with Brian, although the end of the weekend means it's back to long distance. I'm so glad we got to spend a weekend just the two of us in one of our favorite places! I'm already looking forward to next weekend.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Thanks for reading!

 

Favorite Blogs

Happy Sunday, ladies and gents! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I definitely enjoyed my time in Asheville, NC with Brian. Today's topic (I'm really late, I know) for the blog every day in May challenge is "your top five favorite blogs and why you love them." Seeing as how I read a ton of blogs a day, it is extremely hard to narrow them all down to just five. That's asking quite a lot from me! And let's be honest, we all know I am very indecisive! Here are my top five blogs that I enjoy reading, in no particular order!


BEAUtiful Mess & My Keep Calm and Carry On

Stephanie and Katie are two peas in a pod! Not only are they best friends in real life, but they have two awesome blogs. Anytime I find myself going to Steph's blog, I am immediately heading over to Katie's (or vice versa.) These ladies keep it real, they have a great link up called "Saw it, Pinned it, Did it" that I am constantly getting ideas from (I will eventually participate!), and they just seem so down to earth! 

Southern Curls & Pearls

Caitlin from Southern Curls and Pearls is such a sweetheart! I've had the pleasure of meeting her in real life and she was just as cute and personable as she is on her blog. Her fashion posts, style, and amazing product finds always keep me coming back for more! Oh, and can we discuss her perfect hair?!? I want it!! 

Turquoise & Teale

Ashley from Turquoise and Teale has a fabulous blog that consists of lifestyle posts, great recipes, and things she's currently loving! I am always seeing her blog posts about cute finds. I love that she we have similar taste and her posts are very relatable! I also secretly blame her and her currently loving posts for some recent online shopping I've done ;-)

Long Distance Loving

Alison has such a great blog! Her weekly link-up, Fridays Fancies, is one of my favorites that I look forward to participating in. I love the design and look of her blog. I always go to her site and find beautiful photos, great posts, and pin-worthy images! What's not to love?! 

There are so many blogs I read, but I certainly think you all will love these!


 

Childhood.

Today's topic for the #blogeverydayinMay blog challenge is "tell a story from your childhood." Well, now to narrow it down to what story to tell..... I have the most vivid memory. I always have. I can remember ridiculously specific details that no one in my family even recalls. My mom often jokes that she must have been in outer space during my childhood because she doesn't even remember some of the stories I tell!! 

I have liked clothes since I was teeny tiny. And not just clothes, but accessories too! I was definitely destined to be a girly girl (although I went through a major tom-boy stage!) There are two specific memories that I remember as a child that I think explain me and my love for clothing so well! 

The first is when I was at the ripe age of three. My parents would be watching television in the living room while I was playing with dolls in my room. I was always easily entertained, all I needed were my dolls and music. I guess that's where I began to *think* I could sing as well...why didn't my parents tell me I was a horrible singer??? Anyway, I recall having my dolls dress up and put on a show. I decided I wanted to do that too! So, I went into my mom's closet, put on her bra, underwear, high heels, pearls, and a top (all huge on me) and went out and sang "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus for my family. We have it on video and any time it is shown at a family event I end up in tears from laughing so hard! (too bad I can't find this picture!)

The second memory was when I was in kindergarten and picture day was coming up. What a big deal that was! The morning of picture day I was adamant about picking out my own clothes, which I loved to do. My mom tried to persuade me as much as she could to get me into a dress she had bought me for "the big day," but I resisted. Instead she finally let me pick my outfit to avoid my fussiness. In the photo below (sorry for the bad quality) you will see that I have a red and white bow in my hair, a top with flowers, bottoms with different flower print on them, yellow socks, and clear jelly shoes. Apparently all of my favorite things as a five year old. Oh, and we can't forget my 101 Dalmatian with me (we were allowed to bring a stuffed animal). I'm still trying to figure out why I have the sad face in the photo....maybe it's because I was made fun of for wearing that ridiculous get up!!  When my parents got these photo proofs they laughed for a solid five minutes about the fact that I had put this outfit together for picture day. 

What is a childhood memory that you recall?

 

FRIDAY FIVE

Happy Friday! It has been one hell of a week for me and I am so ready for this weekend! Brian and I are headed to the condo in Asheville for a weekend away! It's been a few months since the last time we went, so I am excited to relax, eat, drink, and enjoy the beautiful weather!

{one}

Just like every single week, I found myself at Target (I'm not even sure why I originally went in there). There was an underwhelming amount of buzz for the new Sam Edelman collaboration with Target, Sam & Libby. I hadn't even heard of it until I stepped into shoe heaven. I am a huggge fan of Sam Edelman and his collaboration with Target didn't disappoint. I snatched up quite a few pair! Some of the styles resemble his designs so much! It had me even more excited than usual upon leaving Target! 

// one // two // three // four //  five // six //
(I got the first and second ones!)

{two}

Twice a year our Baseball team hosts a "Bark in the Park" night where guest are allowed to bring their dogs to the baseball game. It is so much fun to see the other dogs, watch them interact, and enjoy the game! Last year it occurred on Dingo's first birthday and this year it happened to fall on his second birthday! It was a fun little doggie celebration for him! It was a fun night, he even made it on the big screen,but as the night went on it got pretty chilly!!

{three}

Today's topic for #BlogeverydayinMay is "a favorite photo of yourself an why." I'm not sure I have a "favorite" photo. There are photos that I like, but not one that I would pick out of a bunch. This photo I chose because I am blissfully happy. It's from when we were on our cruise and my parent's surprised me with horseback riding on the beaches of Turks & Caicos. It has always been on my bucket list to ride a horse on the beach. It was an absolute blast!! The best part? We got to ride them in the ocean as well. I was freaking out. The tour guide had my camera and captured this photo. I like it because it's a candid and you can tell just how happy and how excited I am!!! (note: at this point I am like a 7.89 on the Kristen Bell crying scale ;)!!!!)

{four}

I am l-o-v-i-n-g mirrored furniture lately! I have one piece in my living room, but would love to have more throughout my house. I saw these photos on Pinterest and now I can't stop thinking about having a big, mirrored chest of drawers! While obsessing over mirrored furniture on Pinterest I found a great tutorial for a DIY mirrored dresser. Something tells me mine wouldn't turn out as great! 

I also realllly love this coffee table from Target but I'm so afraid that it would get really scratched! Does anyone have mirrored furniture and can tell me if it scratches really easily?

{five}

This week's Friday Fancies is all about stripes. I could go on and on about how much I love stripes, but I'll save you the pain! Stripes are a go-to of mine and I constantly find a new piece to add to my ever-growing stripe collection. This week I am letting the stripes speak for themselves with this outfit.

 

What I Wore: Neon Pink

If you all remember correctly, I was quick to discount the neon trend when it came around. It's not that I didn't like it, but I couldn't seem to find neon pieces that didn't scream "80s!" Well, recently neon things have been popping up all over my radar! Purses, shoes, tops, and denim. You name it, I've seen it (and loved it!) I'm still a little apprehensive about diving in head first with the neon trend, but a few pieces here and there will do just fine!! 

I picked up this neon dot top from J.Crew a few weeks ago and it was a match made in heaven with my pink bag! This outfit was perfect for a day of shopping with my mom last week! It was very comfortable, yet put together! (Is it just me, or do you still like to look put together for a day full of shopping?!?) Cuteness > Comfort. 

Top: J.Crew, similar style here // Denim: Old Navy Rockstar (I swear by these!!!!) // Bag: Target //
Shoes: Old Navy, old // Watch: Michael Kors, similar //
Bracelets: Stella + Dot c/o, J.Crew, David Yurman, Stella + Dot c/o // Nails: Orly Boho Bonnet //