Weekend Shenanigans

What a fun weekend it was... being back on a college campus, soaking up the energy and spirit... the nerves and the giggles. Recruitment season has defiantly arrived in full fashion! I have the pleasure of helping with four chapters recruitments this fall, and this was my first stop along the tour. This was my home for the weekend....

The beautiful AOII House at East Carolina University

They are an amazing group of women and I know they are going to knock it outta the park this week!! 

On Saturday my parents celebrated their 39th Wedding Anniversary! How lucky I am to have two amazing parents still going strong after 39 years.... 3 kids... 4 homes... thousands of baseball/softball/volleyball/basketball games... 2.5 college tuition's... 3 weddings... 8 grand-babies and countless late nights waiting up on the sofa. Thank you for always being there - through the good times and the bad times - I'm so blessed to have such amazing parents. I don't know who I'd be today without you both!! Cheers to making the 40th year a year full of fun and laughter! 

Circa 2010 at our Engagement Party

On my way home, I made a brief stop for some Ross shopping/treasurer hunting. I scored this adorable bowl for $3.99.

Crackers? Silverware? Keys/Phone? ...the possibilities are endless!

Sunday night the hubs cooked me a yummy welcome home feast and we enjoyed a nice Sunday Supper... complete with a delicious bottle of vino.

I hope everyone enjoyed a nice weekend doing all the things they love!! Busy week ahead with {real} work and community work...and a fun Walk-n-Wobble with the gals on Wednesday, but I'm home, which is always a blessing!

xo, trace

The New Patio!

As you may or may not have picked up on... we actually rent the house we live in right now. We do own two other houses in Lex, but when we got married it just made sense to live where we do. And now - it really is hard to leave. We live just steps from downtown. One block from our favorite family pizza shop. Two blocks from our favorite bar. Three blocks from the Farmers Market on Wednesday... you get the picture. We may be graced with 700 square feet of foot space - but you know the old saying location, location, location. It's just impossible to give up!

So, when it comes to house renovations - we have to keep it simple. Raise the curtain rods, sure. A new microwave - sure. New trashcans - well, that was the landlord... re-cocking the bath - that's really what the landlord is for, right? A girl could get used to this. But to say we are spoiled would be an understatement. New trash cans just arrive in the old ones spots without a word. New calking in the bath is done on a weekend we are out of town. New braces under the 1920 original floors - done while we were at work one day.  Well, the latest landlord gift  to us was a patio. We didn't even ask. She stopped J in the yard one day and just asked if we wanted one and if it was "ok" to cut down some old trees from the {her} yard. Yes, she is asking us - too funny!  Of course, we said go right ahead... thinking it would be months or even a year until it was done.

One week later, a guy shows up and the trees are gone. Then the fence was up! The next day, gravel was in place, and then pavers. We took some progress pictures throughout the week, so I could share the transformation with my blogger friends. In all of about 10 days, we went from tiny space for the grill, to large back patio!

The final product {for now}.

Did I mention that she also power-washed the house, sidewalks and front porch.... and weeded the beds and fence lines. Yes, she did. So spoiled! It's so fun to actually have something house related that we can make our own. We bought fun new plants and put some hostas in the ground... purchased some nice new tiki torches, so we can bare through the late summer nights. Now, it's time for furniture. What a better time to buy outdoor furniture than at the end of summer. SALES, here we come!!

I would really love wooden chairs with cushions, but I'm trying decide if they are "weather-friendly" or if they will be ready to toss in the dumpster after a month outside.  Any suggestions?  What kind of patio furniture do you have? Or love? For now, it's the old faithful set from Nashville... holding strong.

Now, it's about cocktail time... and the patio is calling my name.

xo, trace

Fashion: From Misses to Mrs.

Is it just me, or does anyone else suddenly feel 13 when they put on anything too short, too tight, too low... too crazy... you get the picture. I'm stuck in their weird funk, where I feel like just about everything in my closest screams "let's go take shots" or  "belly dancin' - sign me up".  I know it sounds silly... but I am here. Stuck in between the Misses and Mrs. Is anyone with me?  I'm about to pack up duffle bags full of dresses and ship them to my niece who just started her first day of high school {there's another one for feeling old} and start over. Maybe it also has something to do with the big 3-0 looming in the not so distant future that has me re-thinking my outfits and hemlines. But I'm in need of some new staples to the closet.

I'm not really into following fashion trends... but I'll try them if they are cute. These are some of my favorites I'm thinking for fall:

Black cropped pants and chic booties.

Classic Sheath Dresses.

Peplum Tops. 

Mxi Dresses. via.

Another confession... I used to be a Today Show fan, but the hubs has switched me over to GMA. {It may have to do with one of the anchors being a KA} I have started to love Lara Spencer - especially her outfits - she is one classy momma. Her necklines and statement necklaces are the best, today she wore a beautiful green one, but here are some other favorites:

New statement necklaces. 

Let the packing begin. Here's to new to new fall trends... and longer hemlines I suppose! :)

xo, trace

Weekends at Home

They same Home is Where the Heart Is... and sometimes just a good ole dose of {being at} home makes for the best lil weekend.  It has been over a month since we {both} woke up in our own bed on Saturday morning... cooked breakfast, went for a long run through town and enjoyed a lil bit of Lex. So that is just what we did this weekend.

KJ was visiting - so we also hit our favorite hot spots throughout the weekend. We started the weekend at Devils Backbone for Happy Hour. They have a great new front porch with awesome views of the Valley. Good times with great friends!

Drinks were followed by dinner at Southern Inn. Always a good choice. The Fried Chicken never disappoints!  Saturday we slept-in {yay} and ran a long 5K through Lex. It was Blake's First birthday party that afternoon. Kelli did such a cute job with the party and Blake really enjoyed his cake...

KJ and I posed for a pic in the front parking lot - check out the view! Amazing.  

Miss you already, friend! 

Sunday was a little adventurous. We dropped KJ at the tiny lil airport in Weyer's Cave, Virgina - which ironically is where FFA was founded. Who knew?  We stopped and marked the occasion with a pic at the commemorative sign below. 

 

Next stop was Barron Ridge Vineyards for some good laughs and a lil vino with M&M. They were actually hosting a fundraiser for the MaDee Project, so we joined in on the fun - complete with a band and arts & crafts fair. Catching up with these two is always just the best - times seems to fly by and it's never enough. We also realized just how lucky we are to live where we do - there are so many beautiful things to see throughout the Virginia countryside. Each time we discover something new - it energizes us to see more!  Thanks for taking part in our adventures, Matt & Meg!

Sunday we always try to have Sunday Supper at the table, with a full meal to start the week out on a happy note. This time it was even better - because J got to cook on our new patio!!  It's still a work in progress, but I promise to give you the play by play on the blog here soon.

We finally have some veggies popping up in the garden... late bloomers, I suppose. 

BBQ Chicken, Grilled Green Beans, Chopped Spinach Salad

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I am gearing up for Recruitment season and Community Festival in 2 weeks. I can't believe it's August. Man o' Man. Where have you gone 2013? 

Happy Monday!

xo, trace

5 on Friday

TGIF

Who else is excited for the weekend!!  This is my first weekend in town in over a month, so I personally and SUPER pumped!  Looking forward to catching up with good friends and enjoying Lexington. I thought I'd share some thing I'm loving this week, so here's my 5 on Friday.

{one} Sugar Cubes. 

I know this is very random. But, this has been one of my new favorite items to have on hand. They are so cute - and give me the perfect serving of sugar. No guessing how much is in your tablespoon - two sugar cubes gives me the perfect amount of sweetness to start my mornings off right!


{two} The Sam & Libby collection at Target.

I practically lived in Sam & Libby flats as a child. Those cute little ballet slippers with bows on the top. Yep, those are them. Well S&L have come a long way since the 80's... check out the new collection at Target! They are also on super sale right now - stop by your closest Target today and stock up before they are all gone. I am also excited to see what they have in store for Fall this year.


{three} Kara's Party Designs.

I stumbled across Kara's website after a good friend of mine, Stephanie Maxey, was featured on her blog for EK's 3rd b-day. EK's party was SUPER adorable and so very thoughtful, just like Steph. Be sure and check it out: "You are my Sunshine Party." Also, Kara posts the best ideas for parties... fun, creative and crafty. Just how I like them!!


{four} Under the Dome.

Who else is hooked on NBC's latest show, Under the Dome? The hubs read Stephen King's novel a while back and was excited to watch the show, so I obliged and now... I'm hooked. I can't wait to see what happens next week!


{five} Sam Adams Long-shot Brews.

Every summer Sam Adams hosts America's Longshot Home brew Contest. Where employees and those at home compete to have their home brew bottled and distributed in a six pack. Each year, they select one employee and two home brewers from thousands of entries. This year, my favorite is the Strawberry Lager... it's close to Abita Strawberry, light, crisp and refreshing!

Wishing you all a fun-filled weekend ahead!

xo, trace

Number 200

Today I just realized is my 200 post on the blog. Woo-hoo! Thank you to everyone who has been following along. I haven't really had much time these days to update you on my good eats and craftiness, but I swear next week is looking better already...

For today, all I am wishing for is more hours in the day.

More days in the week.

And more time in my bed; In my sneakers and on the treadmill. 

Safe Travels to KJ who is on her way to Lex now. Excited to spend the weekend with you and catch up on life!  Also, excited for our first Lex-baby's first birthday!! {Pics to come on Monday}

It's almost Friday. 

xo, trace

KA 75

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We spent ours celebrating a fabulous 75th convention with our Kappa Alpha family in San Antonio. Jesse was hard at work putting on a great show {with the help of a great staff}, while I worked a lil and played a lil more. 

A fun addition to the convention schedule  more recently has been "wives events" that this time in particular, were really fun!  We gathered on Friday morning to make thousands {literally} of traditional paper Mexican flowers for the banquet Saturday night. I must say, most of the work was done by the National Presidents wife, who has been working for 2 years on prepping them for us. The starting product looked a like this.. 

Tissue Paper and a pipe cleaner. And the finished product was this... 

It was fun to gather with almost 40 other wives and guests to chat and craft! My perfect morning... With a delicious breakfast and coffee too! Not to mention how pretty the banquet looked on Saturday. 

Friday afternoon we joined the rest of convention {minus the staff} at SeaWorld. So. Much. Fun. I rode every ride, got soaked to the bone and left with a few beers in the belly, a good tan, and lots of funny memories with great friends. 

Friday night was BforB, where the KOAEF raised over $70,000 for educational funds and I had the pleasure of modeling a beautiful black Onyx necklace... that went for a few grand. I was proud. :)  

Saturday we had a private fashion show at a local Texas ladies store {compete with a fabulous bridal trunk show}, at Julian Golds. They were wonderful to host us and teach us a little about what to expect in fall fashion trends. 

The rest of the trip flew by... Pool time, shopping, receptions, traditional Mexican dancing, lots of Mexican food and a great Sunday celebrating with the staff. After every KA event I am reminded just how lucky we are to be surrounding by such amazing examples of gentleman. It rings true in each and every volunteer and staff member of Kappa Alpha Order and I am very lucky to also call one my husband. 

Knight Commanders Banquet 

Staff dinner at Rossario's... Yum. 

Kudos to the awesome staff who worked tirelessly for the Order last week. You guys are truly the best and I feel so lucky to have you in my life! 

Celebration at the Menger Hotel. 

Until 2015... The Quest Continues! 

xo, tracy