Gulf Shores!

Tomorrow morning we go to Gulf Shores! I am really looking forward to it, though I am worried about the storms. But working at a TV station tends to bring out the Chicken Little in me with weather. Brian said we will take it slow and hopefully we will make it in time for my hair consult appointment at 2 p.m.

I think the part of the weekend I am most excited about is being with Brian by myself for 2 whole days. Since he started working again, we have not seen each other as much. I work the normal 9-6 day shift and he works 4-11 p.m., so we don’t see each other until late at night. By then, we are so zonked that we don’t get to talk and hang out as much.

It is supposed to be beautiful the rest of the weekend after the bad weather passes through tomorrow afternoon. So hopefully we can get some time in at the beach Sunday.

-K

One month!

Y'all, I'm getting married in a month. One month!!!

It's been a busy week so far. This weekend was the 'wedding weekend extravaganza' in Atlanta. My mom FINALLY found a dress - a Calvin Klein at Macy's. I attended my sorority sister Casey's wedding, which was so much fun -- we are sharing our Maid of Honor. Robin is such a blessing and she did a great job at Casey's wedding. It was like a free preview. lol.

I'm on the right looking super pale. Time to work on the tan! The bride Casey is in the middle and Jennifer, one of my bridesmaids is on the left.

Today at lunch was my third dress fitting. It finally fits, although I was initially a little bit uncomfortable when I tried the dress on. But once I adjusted 'the girls' and let the dress loosen up around the arms, it was OK. All that's left is making a bustle and reinforcing some the the buttons and we're all set. I'm sorry to be so vague but Brian may still read this thing, so I can't post photos or be really specific just yet. If you're dying to know more about my dress, just comment and I will e-mail info to you.

Here's the agenda for this weekend in Gulf Shores:

Saturday: Hair/makeup consult, shop for my dad's shirt at Tommy Bahama outlet.
Sunday: Order wedding cake & groom's cake at Publix, scout for rehearsal dinner venues, get some time in at the beach.
Monday: Consult with florist on reception setup and bouquet ribbon, go to Bay Minette for marriage license on the way home.

-K

ATL!

Welcome to Atlanta where the players play, And we ride on dem thangs like ev-ery day. Big beats, hit streets, see gangsters roamin, And parties don't stop 'til eight in the mo'nin ~Ludacris

So for those of you who don't know, I grew up outside of Atlanta, in Marietta. I was born at Northside Hospital. My parents spent a few years while I was toddler and preschool age moving around to different places like Nashville, Houston, and Orange County, Calif., but ultimately we ended up back in Marietta when I was 7 and starting second grade.

I graduated high school in 2001 and started college at the University of Alabama. Originally, I planned on transferring to UGA after a year, but I fell in love with UA, my professors and my major, the beautiful campus, the football team, my sorority, and Brian! The Crimson Tide love took hold and I did not want to leave. I am so grateful to my parents that they let me stay and continued paying out-of-state tuition for the remainder of my time at UA. I ended up excelling in my major, working for the campus newspaper, becoming vice president of my sorority, and I also marched piccolo for two years with the Million Dollar Band... that's where I met Brian. He played bass drum. ☺

So anywho, after college, I came home to Marietta and worked for the hometown newspaper... very briefly. I'm talking 3 months during the summer of 2005. Really, I was ready to strike out on my own and needed to get out of Marietta.

That summer, Brian had moved down to West Palm Beach to live with his best friend Billy and work at the Mar-A-Lago resort on Palm Beach. I thought Florida sounded cool, so I started applying for jobs. I ended up getting hired as a copy and Web editor for a publications company in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. I got a lot of great experience and I wouldn't trade that year for the world... but of course, after a year in Florida, Sweet Home Alabama came calling and Brian and I moved to Hoover, Alabama in August 2006.

We truly fell in love with the greater Birmingham area. It's only 45 minutes from UA, the people are extremely nice, and the cost of living is reasonable. We loved it so much that in Feb. 2007, we bought a house! It is our little fixer-upper. It is a 1,300-sq-ft cottage built in 1949 with all hardwood and tile floors. It's hard to believe we've been in the house for more than two years now.

Anywho, apparently we spread the Alabama love around so much that my parents decided to give it a go and they moved from Marietta to the Birmingham area in September 2007. They were able to downsize on their house, get out of the Atlanta congestion, and be closer to their youngest daughter..moi! In fact they're just 6 miles from me.

So since September 2007, I have not been back to Atlanta. Not ONCE! It's hard to believe. I've been to San Diego, New Orleans, Florida, Nashville, Kentucky, and even Americus, Ga. since that time, but not Atlanta. So I am very excited because my mom and I are driving to Marietta tomorrow night.

Saturday morning we have an appointment with CoverUpsLinens in Roswell to pick out my seat covers and table toppers. Then we are going shopping for my mom's dress for the wedding...no, we are but 5 weeks out and she has yet to find one! We should probably go to Northpoint Mall since we will be close by. And we might squeeze in a trip to IKEA. Saturday night, I am attending my sorority sister Casey's wedding in Norcross, Ga. It is at an old historic mansion called Flint Hill and it looks gorgeous! I can't wait!

We're also looking for a place to dye my shoes, and my mom is attending a bridal shower on Sunday as well. So it's basically an Atlanta weekend wedding extravaganza!

-K

Groom's Cake!

Photo from theknot.com

What I am thinking of for the groom's cake, except one tier instead of two. I need to find some shakers and some UA napkins....

-K

My first attempt at an inspiration board

Click on the board and it will blow up larger for you to see. What do you think?

-K

Beautiful design

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a green cake:

This is by far my favorite cake design I've found, as far as the piping goes. Gorgeous!

-K

Whoosh...went the weekend.

Well, Saturday marked 6 weeks until the wedding. eeek!

Saturday was spent running around with my mom doing things for the wedding. First, I had my second dress fitting. The seamstress is working on the bust area and after adding some fabric in places and taking the dress in on the sides, I feel 110% better about my dress.

We ran to Old Time Pottery to look for votives and lanterns and came close, but no cigar. Same with Hobby Lobby. Then we tried HomeGoods and we found the lanterns for our aisle markers!

My mom and I got the idea to use large black lanterns as our aisle markers after looking at an album that our photographers sent us of another wedding at The Beach Club:

Photo by Grand Photography

The lanterns we found at HomeGoods are about 20 inches tall (hopefully almost as big as the lanterns pictured) and are also black, but they also have criss-crosses across each pane of glass. We got 4 lanterns, 2 for the front row and 2 for the back row. I suspect we'll have 4 rows of guests rather than 5 as pictured here.

Acquiring the lanterns was a bit of a wild goose chase once we found them at HomeGoods. They only had 2 of the lantern in stock at the Highway 31 Hoover store, so we had the manager call the Highway 280 store. Luckily they had 2 more in stock and agreed to hold them for us. But beware, T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods now have a "no-hold" policy -- they only held the lanterns for us because we had the manager call and ask nicely. So we had to drive completely out of the way to the other HomeGoods location at Brook Highland on 280 to get the other 2 lanterns.

On Saturday, we also found some goodies for our flower girl and a sand and water playset for my nephew/ring bearer. He turns 3 tomorrow. Happy third birthday, Jake!!!

-K

Considering I'm having my wedding at this beach....

Well, this comes at no surprise!

With Love From New Orleans posted her results from the Sproost home style quiz, so I thought I would do the same!

My results:

50% Nantucket Style

33% Cottage Chic

17% French Eclectic

Nantucket Style -50%

Oh how you love the beach! Who doesn't, right? And so your dream home is either perched in your favorite beach town, or you've brought that favorite beach town into your house.

Your art and accessories speak directly to the activities that are found at the beach. Pieces of driftwood you found here, pictures or paintings of the amazing views there. Things that remind you of the coast - surf boards or fishing boats - are found throughout the house. The feeling of the seaside is both abstract and literal in the design of your space. The fabrics are natural, cottons and linens and are light in color and touch. Much of the furniture is wood or wood framed (the lighter the better, think driftwood!) and wicker, when done right, is a must.

And since your true inspiration is the sea, the colors and textures in your home are the same that you would find at your favorite beach: white, light beiges and grays of the sand and driftwood, a variety of blues for the ocean and sky, and greens and vibrant blues of the sea glass but the key is white! Your space should feel light and airy and give off the mood one has when at the beach: laid back!

Your furniture is comfortable and the layout is cozy. The more it reminds you of actually sitting on the warm sand, the better! And what do you do at the beach? Hang out with family and friends - and your home is just an extension of this play place. And though the space is filled with large white furniture, it somehow manages to feel both durable and casual.

------------

Cottage Chic -33%

Who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheesy? Not you!

You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each. What better way to show off these treasures than with a light background?

----------

French Eclectic - 17%

Parlez-vous français? Even if the answer is no, you can confidently say your home does! French Eclectic somehow manages to be both formal and casual, classy and unassuming at the same time. You like your spaces to feel inviting from the moment you (or your guest) opens the front door and this feeling should continue even after you've entered your most formal room.

Even though there are French antiques here and gold details there, the rustic country elements provide a balance and warmth that seems to say, "come in, relax and stay a while." Your love of antiques leads you to flea markets, garage sales and hours of eBay hunting.

Sproost was so dead-on!

-K

Neglect!

Neglect is the theme of this blog post.

First off, I have been neglecting this blog. Mostly because I was in NOLA for my bachelorette this weekend. Then on Monday I had a very busy day of work and grocery shopping. Then yesterday I was knocked out with baaaaad hay fever -- the tree pollen here is insane.

Second of all, I've really been neglecting myself lately. Not so much in a fitness/diet sense --I'm doing pretty well with that, Bachelorette weekend nonwithstanding. But what I've really been neglecting is my beauty routine.

I haven't had my hair cut, or even trimmed, since October. Same with color/highlights. I haven't had a pedicure in God knows when -- maybe September? And the eyebrows? Ugh. This is why I'm really looking forward to the wedding and looking/feeling pretty again. I just quite simply haven't had the funds for these professional beauty splurges.

Luckily my sister got me a gift certificate for the Paul Mitchell school here in Birmingham for my birthday, so I have scheduled a cut/style and a pedicure for next Tuesday. And I have a Clairol Root Touch-Up kit that I've been meaning to put in my hair until I get my hair colored/highlighted next month. So all that should make me feel a lot better in the meantime.

-K

Solving the arm bumps problem

So ladies, have any of you ever had that problem where you get these little bumps that crop up on the back of your arm? I always wondered what it was, and with the wedding coming up, I wanted those little bumps GONE!

It turns out that it is a common condition called keratosis pilaris (you can see a lovely photo at that link - ick!) It's sometimes called chicken skin or chicken bumps because that's what it looks like.

Now my KP is not all that bad, it's rather mild compared to the photo in the link above, but I want my skin to be perfect on the wedding day! So I enlisted my mom to help. She used to work at a dermatologist's office in Atlanta, so she used her connections there to get me this:


It's the Keratosis Pilaris Kit by Glytone. My mom managed to get it half off and it is getting shipped straight to me. Yay!

I really hope it works! I'll let everyone know the outcome.

-K

My Bachelorette!

I can't believe it's already here!

My bachelorette party is this weekend in New Orleans!

I am driving down Friday night with 3 girlfriends and we are staying at one of my bridesmaid's house in New Orleans. We'll sleep in Saturday, grab some lunch, and wait for my Maid of Honor to arrive from Houston.

We're having dinner Saturday at Mandina's Restaurant:


and then who knows what else? All I know is that the 6 of us are going to have a great time!

-K

Introducing my mom to Lilly!

My mom and I went shopping for her wedding outfit on Saturday after my dress fitting. We went to Belk at The Summit, where I introduced her to Lilly Pulitzer!

We gave a couple Lilly dresses a whirl, but they didn't fit Mom quite right. But I think I turned her on to the brand and I would love to find something that fits her and looks great. We think she needs a dress or skirt with more of an a-line silhouette. The dresses she tried on were more straight and she definitely would look better in an A-line style.

I thought this skirt might look good with a white button-down blouse. It is the Largo Lawn Skirt. What do you think? Again, my mom is 5'1" and about a size 14.

I did find two Lilly shirts for myself for work and the honeymoon! They were MAJORLY on clearance!Jonni Shirt in Pulitzer Pink Beach Blanket Stripes.

Kathy Boatneck in White Ride The Rails Stripe.

I hardly ever buy new clothes anymore so this was a real treat.

-K

First dress fitting

I got my dress fitted yesterday and I think it went really well! She is hemming it (of course -- I'm only 5'5") and will work on the bustline using fabric from the hemming. I also found that there was some puckering going on at one of the hips, so she is working on that too.

"She" is Michelle, owner of Ramsey Alterations in Vestavia Hills, Ala. The shop is named after her 10-year-old daughter Ramsey, who was hanging out at the shop with us. She said my hair was pretty and she liked my shoes -- what a cutie!

We're going back for a second fitting on March 14 to work on the bustline. I don't want to go into too much detail because Brian reads this, but basically the bustline is much too risque at this point and we will be raising it.

I think I have found a place that can dye my shoes. I am pretty positive I want to dye them light blue to match my bridesmaids' dresses. These are Touch Ups brand shoes in style Olivia. Can you picture these dyed light blue?


Then I can wear them again at lunch the next day with my white Calvin Klein shift, and I am the type who could probably find a way to wear light blue satin peep-toe shoes pretty often after the wedding too.

-K