Nashville Trip

We had an amazing time and got to see a lot more of the city we'd love to call home. We did priceline for a hotel and scored the downtown Hilton for our long weekend stay. Our visit really started on Saturday morning, after the 10! hour car ride we were pretty much done Friday night. I spent the day hanging out with one of my favorite friends Hillary--shopping, grabbing some delicious lunch and then cupcakes!, and getting a tour of the city.


Saturday night we went to Cabana, a romantic and chic restaurant that has tapas as well as regular entrees--American with a little southern thrown in. I had the most amazing shrimp and grits! After dinner we went to this little speak easy bar in Midtown called Patterson House where they make every drink from scratch and there is a velvet curtain keeping people waiting from the library-like bar.


Sunday we went to Noshville, a NYC style diner, for brunch. Delicious fried hashbrowns, I was sold! It was freezing for our entire stay but especially Sunday so we hung out in the warmth of our hotel and watched the Olympics.


Monday morning we had to stop by the Pancake Pantry on our way out of town--seriously the best pancake you will ever eat. The place has been around since the 19th century and there is a reason they are still in business.

I realize this entire post has been about food thus far...we obviously ate pretty well, haha! The other reasons we had a great time in Nashville are the amazingly friendly people, the just enough but not too much energy of the city--it's just our size, and all of the fun things to do--live music, museums, NFL/NHL, country music star sightings!, great restaurants/shopping, outdoor activities, etc. It's in a beautiful state and relatively close to family--and Vanderbilt seemed like a great fit for Bry. Cross your fingers and we'll see what happens!

Happy Friday everyone--

Dress Shopping, part 1

Hello! I'm sorry I've been slacking lately with my blog posts--there has been a lot going on between wedding planning, traveling, Bryan waiting to hear from schools/interviewing, etc. This weekend my mom and sister are coming into town for some dress shopping!! We had planned a weekend about a month ago but with all the crazy snow storms we had to cancel it. I was kind of feeling nervous about trying on dresses the first time we were scheduled but now after a little more time, and trying on a few at the J Crew outlet when I was home, I feel prepared and excited! I think I want a sheath style dress with some kind of texture, probably lace, and a sweetheart neckline. Here are some of the dresses I would loveee to try on (though I've heard you should try a bunch of different styles to really see what you like best):


Love this Monique Lhullier dress--


And this one for some reason...its gorgeous!


I tried on this confetti dress at J Crew and really liked it, though I wasn't convinced it was the one


Ok I am obsessed! with this dress--from Jim Helm, I love the darker fabric underneath and all the beautiful lace

Just because I'm the bachelor doesn't mean I'm a...

NORMAL GUY!

Pheww if you've been following along with Jake and the smarter, more together, and much more attractive women this season (with the exeception of Vienna and that crazier than wack Michelle girl) you know it's been a "bumpy ride", could they have incorporated more airline puns into the show btw? And because of all the spoilers, which have been worse than usual, I know--but will not reveal, Jakes choice. Instead tonight I'll cuddle up with my kitty and a bottle of wine to watch what will most certainly be, "The Most Shocking Finale in Bachelor History...EVER".

I'm just looking forward to Allie jumping up there next! We need someone normal in the house--

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're hanging out in Nashville for the weekend but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day!

If I see Taylor Swift it will make my life

On the way to Nashville for the weekend--be thinking of us during the 10 hour! car ride from Virginia. Bry is interviewing at Vanderbilt and I'll be hanging out with one of my favorite sorority sisters. I can't wait to get there for some delicious eats (including the Pancake Pantry, that will change your life), live music, touring the Country Music Hall of Fame, and seeing old friends!

Have a great Valentine's weekend everyone!

Ring Photo Shoot

I finally decided to take a few engagement ring pictures with my camera, inspired by peoples beautiful photos on weddingbee.com. I love the way they came out and thankfully it was a sunny day so I got great light, which you have to have! I'm a big fan of using seashells and starfish around the house for decor so they served as the perfect photo props.




This is a picture from the night we got engaged, right before we ran out to get champagne!

Most.Amazing.Invites.Ever

I have fallen in love with these Kate Spade June Lane invitations. After pouring over hundreds of different invitation styles, colors, fonts, etc. nothing has come close to how much I love these. Simple, chic, and a touch of whimsical. I love the gold dragonfly emblem at the bottom of the invite, and the little bug on the reply cards. Right now I'm still leaning towards white, gold, and either green or silver (to keep it all metals).


I also love the fact that we could receive matching Kate Spade china, frames, champagne flutes with the same pattern!

Why do these have to be so expensive?! Does anyone have a wholesale wedding invite connection? (if those even exist...haha)

Another weekend snowed in...

"Why must it always snow on me?" We've got another huge snow report coming our way and snow is falling right now, as I sit at work....silently pleading with my boss to tell us to go home!

This weekend I'll be making chili, coffee cheesecake--come on, it's a snowed in must, tomato mozzerella and pesto paninis, and maybe some eggs benedict. We'll just be relaxing around the apartment with Reagan (Bryan's flight to NY was canceled today, so he won't be interviewing at Rochester in person--which kind of sucks) but at least he'll be home to keep me company! I'll try to make the best of another weekend stuck at home, with no chance of breaking out--if only we had better sledding hills near our apartment...it would be a totally different story.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Let's talk about Bras

That's right, it's time to break down the bra situation that had been pushed into the deepest, darkest, inner circles of my brain until yesterday, when I stepped into Victoria's Secret and my world turned upside down. I'm big into buying clothes, shoes, jewelry, really anything you put on your body that other people can see...and that's where it stopped. I couldn't care less about the state of my braness, if this fit was working out for me, have I had these underwear since college--it was a sad situation!

I decided I had to go bra shopping to find something to wear while trying on wedding dresses (!!!!) which led to spending close to 200 bucks on new bras.

#1 I never buy anything retail, EVER, unless it's food or alcohol related--I feel like a little piece of my soul floated out while swiping my red-hot credit card yesterday.
#2 I have a weird size, I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I'm a small person with not so small assets (much to my chagrin).
#3 The teenage girls, I mean VS employees, were ridiculously apathetic to my cause--I had to hunt them down every time I needed a fitting room.

Needless to say I had a bra fit party last night, trying on every bra I have currently and ended up ditching 10! bras, bad fit, too worn, ridiculously small, etc. I have turned the corner and now understand the importance of a good bra! (and underwear) I don't know how I've gone this long through life without paying any attention to this area?!

Cabin Fever

We experienced a lot of doing nothing this past weekend with snow piling up outside, we even missed a day of work on Monday because the streets were so bad. I love! snow--usually--but not on the weekends when you're supposed to be running around doing things. I also decided not to cook last week so our stockpile of possible dinner choices included takeout pizza, mac and cheese from a box, and other pasta related options. Haha it wasn't the greatest, but we got through it with a few bottles of wine--at least we had that!



We did however watch some awesome documentaries this weekend, The Cove which was a netflix pick, and then we rented Food Inc from the local movie place. Both were really really good! The Cove is amazing, kind of sad but you really learn about a practice that I had no idea still existed, I'm sure you didn't either. Food Inc made me want to be way! more conscious about what we're eating--add that to the New Years Resolution list. Its not very graphic or anything, which would have been a deal breaker for me, but extremely informative about all kinds of things Americans are sold by the meat/corn/fast food industry. Go rent them right now!