oh hey, Friday! Friday Finds and Fun

Linking up with one of my favorite bloggers, September Farm, for her oh, hey! Friday series. If you don't already follow her blog, she's one of my favorites! She will always make you laugh and cry and smile... and just feel good about life. Hop on over to her blog to read-along and link up today! Now here is my five... for Friday!

ONE

It's sidewalk sale time here in Lex, and man do they have some deals. We had a staff outing for coffee this morning and hit up a few stores while we were out and about. I snatched up 3 mens sport shirts for $45 each. We're talking Vinyard Vines, Southern Tide and Peter Millar... such a steal. If you're in Lex, be sure and get out early. The deals are going quick! 

TWO

I migrated to the adobe Cloud today... has anyone else? I think it's going to be nice to have all the updated software for Photoshop and InDeisgn, just worried about how much time it's going to take to learn a new system.

THREE

Who else is loving the new show on Bravo, Jersey Belle? For those of you that aren't from what we like to call "the deep south," don't let them fool you. Y'all these gals are for realz! I can hardly believe  it's all true when I'm watching it, but it really is. I feel like I'm back in Alabama surrounded by anyone or everyone I went to college with. It's funny, and it's sad, and it's hilarious how true it is... and it sorta makes me miss my good ole southern roots. Yes, I'm still in the south - but y'all, Alabama is very different from the valley of Virginia.

FOUR

Has anyone else taken the Lays challenge?  I'm a potato chip fan - sure, but they are not on my normal shopping list, and only on a special occasion do they actually come home to the Lyons den. Usually it's fourth of July, a beach trip or cookout, where I'm piling them in the buggy, but not on the usual run to the grocery. But gosh darn - they know how to get ya! Have a contest with a featured flavor, I'm sold! It really doesn't matter that this flavor is only a slight variation of the last, or the one that's on the shelf year-round, I' still buying it. So, mango salsa it is. Yes, I opened the bag on the way home from the store as well, no shame. Delish!

FIVE

Photobucket.

We are HOME this weekend ...and I am so excited. Does anyone else feel like it's fall and we have game day to look forward to?  Maybe it's the 65 degree weather outside... or the sidewalk sale on tap... or the music in the park tonight. Or maybe I'm just SO looking forward to house-work and hanging with the hubs?  House-work, who looks forward to that? Well, we're getting close to our house warming party in just a week... so it's going to be a flurry of excitement all weekend with projects, painting, gardening, etc. Can't wait to show off the new digs next week!

Happy Friday friends!!

House Remodeling: Guest Bath Decor

With house renovations well under-way, we are mostly settled in, but still have a "to-do" a mile long. I think after two straight months of painting, packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, renovating, we got a little burnt out. We are just now venturing back to the projects list, in hopes of finishing for our house-warming party next weekend. One project still on the list - decorating the guest bathroom. The major projects are done.... new floor, new sink, fresh walls, new mirror, light, shower curtain, etc. Now for the decorating part. Today, I thought I would share a few of my inspirations for our new look. First, here is what we are working with.

We need to jazz it up a bit! Here are some ideas I'm loving. 

via my fabulous life.

Jute Door Stop

Asbury Metal Waste Basket

Rustic Coordinates

Coral soap dish

Rustic Bath Mat

I'm leaning towards the chabby-chic look, with a touch of the coast. What do you think? 

Time Well Spent

We are back from a whirl-wind of a weekend... that was exciting, adventurous, so meaningful and actually, quite relaxing. We got to see so many friends - old and new - that I was reminded every day how lucky we were to have such great families and friends in our lives. It was certainly time well spent.

I mentioned in my blog friday that we had made it down to North Carolina, where we spent Thursday afternoon through early Sunday morning. I started the trip with a little work visit to UNC Asheville. A very cool campus tucked into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains... and just a stones throw from downtown Asheville.

Me and my bulldog friend! 

That evening we got to visit with Jesse's parents for dinner. We enjoyed a fabulous home-cooked meal fresh from his dad's garden, and stuffed ourselves silly with BBQ chicken, green beans, baked gators, salad and homemade yeast role - so scrumcious!

We got up Friday morning and headed to Cullawee, Dillsboro and Sylva. Jesse had a nice lunch with the Founders of his chapter, from 50 years ago. It was so sweet to see how much fun these guys were having with each other. The stories and the laughter went on for hours.... makes you appreciate the friendships.  It was great! I found a cute little coffee shop and did some work, sometimes I get so much more done when I'm not in the office. How is that possible?

Perk and Pastry in Sylva, NC

We had a great trip to Asheville and enjoyed a nice day out Saturday with our friends, Larry and Dawn. We ate like kings and drank like queens.... literally. Check out my "Queen Mary" from Tupelo Honey in downtown Asheville.

The Queen Mary

Cheers!

The reunion was a fabulous time Saturday evening - they even had a photo booth. Watch out!

Sunday was a super special day for us... we become godparents to this beautiful little bundle of joy. It was a perfect day spent with great friends and family. Meg and her mom prepared the most perfect brunch after the ceremony as we all gathered to celebrate the baptism of Mary McDonald.

Wishing you a life full of god's many blessings, sweet girl! We love you. 

Hope on over to Meg's page for a full baptism re-cap.

Happy Tuesday!

oh hey, Friday!

We have a fun-filled weekend ahead, hope you do as well! Who else can't believe it's August?Linking-up with The Farmer's Wife today for "oh hey, Friday!" to share some of my favorite things this week.

ONE

How cute are these State Bangles. Such a cute game day bracelet. Can you believe football kicks-off in 22 days? So excited! 

TWO

Road Trip! 

Perk & Pastry and Sylva, NC

We are off for another weekend getaway, this time to Asheville, NC. We drove down last night and visited with the in-laws, and today I found me a cute coffee shop to do some work while J lunches with his KA's. This afternoon we are heading to Asheville for a weekend of reunion'ing with J's college fraternity. I've never spent much time in Asheville, so any suggestions for food or fun is more than welcome. 

THREE

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved reading Southern Living. Ok, ok - "reading" may be questionable, I was in it for the houses. Each month, I stole my mom's issue and flipped right to the back to see that month's dream home or featured floor plans. My brother and I would spend hours drawing our perfect dream homes on graph paper and deciding how many bedrooms and bathrooms we needed, how big our porch was going to be, and where exactly our loft "play room" was going to go - because of course, at 8 - a play loft was a necessity! 

Southern Living is featuring a fun quiz to find our what your Dream Home really is! 

I'm not surprised that mine was the Nashville dream house, "You're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. You'll be right at home in this classic farmhouse just a few miles outside the hustle and bustle of Music City." 

FOUR

I love this lace trimmed kimono from catalase.com.
They are offering a groopdealz today for $14.99!

FIVE

Mary Mac's christening is this Sunday and we are SO, SO excited and blessed
to get to be this cutie's god parents. Can't wait for Sunday.

Cheers to Friday, friends!

Wisdom Designs

This week I ordered a couple of cute downloadable patterns from this adorable Etsy store, Wisdom Designs. She has lots of great custom art pieces, but here are some of my favs.

Such cute designs for an amazing price. An instant update to any desk, bookshelf or wall. Also, she is offering this free desktop download for August!

Happy 30th Syd!

A quick shout-out to my bestie who turns 30 today!! 

Thanks for all the love, laughter, and good times together! I love seeing you as a momma and can't wait to see what the next 30 years holds for us. Cheers to mango surprises, war eagles! and sunsets on the beach. I love you, friend! 

My trip to the Beef State

Our girls weekend in Omaha was so much fun. Not only did we get to explore a fun new city {for all of us}, we got to see this precious gal become a wifey!

Kristan and I worked together at AOII after college. I started in 2007, and she came on the following year to do the same thing I had done - start a new chapter of AOII. The very first day I met Kristan for her interview, I knew she was a rockstar. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but the sweetness in her heart just overflowed with love and kindness. I haven't met a single person who doesn't just love this gal to pieces.... and not a single person who doesn't say the very same things that I am typing here. Meeting all of her hometown friends and family just re-affirmed what a wonderful person she is. We also got to meet her new MR. and he was just precious. All of us were in tears after their sweet, sweet speeches at the reception.... and just loved how much the beamed from ear to ear after the exchanged rings at the alter. SO sweet!

So more on our adventures in Omaha. We touched down before 10am on Friday, so we had a full day of fun ahead of us. We dropped our bags and headed to the old town market to have some brunch and explore. We found lots of great spots for drinks, food and shopping.

I surprised at all the culture downtown. It was a nice mix between old and new. Very old buildings and cobblestone streets, with flowers lining all the room tops of the roof awnings. It was beautiful! 

After lunch, shopping and lots of exploring, we headed back to the hotel for nap time so we could enjoy a fun night out too. But, not before a stop by the Buffalo for a pic! 

We heard they were having a first Friday's art walk, so we joined the locals for some culture... and free vino! 

We had an amazing dinner on the room top at Upstream. Delicious Omaha beef burger. Yum!  We ventured out to a few places for after dinner cocktails and sit seeing. It was a late night for us all... but we rallied and made it up by 8am to enjoy the Omaha Zoo Saturday morning. 

Who doesn't love these sweet animals? So much fun!

The wedding was just beautiful. So thoughtful and full of love... just like it should be. We boarded the party bus with the rest of the bridal party after the ceremony, so we got to enjoy a little extra time with the bride. :) 

It was a fabulous evening full of great memories, lots of dancing and a lil bit of alpha love! :) 

Until next time Omaha,