Presidential Inauguration

I try not to discuss politics on this here blog, but I just have to share that I absolutely loved watching the inauguration.  In fact, I almost forgot about it yesterday morning and luckily remembered before I left the house and set the DVR so Patrick and I could watch last night.  I loved watching Barack Obama’s speech, I loved watching the celebrities in attendance (I know…very shallow), I loved watching Malia and Sasha enter looking so grown up, I loved Michelle’s bangs, I loved hearing Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce sing (didn’t they sound amazing?), and I loved seeing Barack Obama be elected to a 2nd term in office. 

I really want to go to the inauguration one year (I’m super jealous of you, Christin).  I fact, I think I’ll add that to my bucket list!  In the meantime, I think I’ll just live vicariously through a few pictures I found online.

I am not a big Beyonce fan, but dear lord, she looked beautiful, no?

And who couldn’t love hearing Kelly Clarkson’s voice!  She sang beautifully and she seemed so excited to be there!I absolutely love the Obama ladies’ fashion sense!  Do they not look beautiful?!?!And finally, the man of the hour, being sworn in while his wife holds the Bible!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Weekend Update!

Last night, when the weekend was winding down, Patrick and I both agreed that this was a great weekend!  Not sure what made it so great...after I tell you about it, you will see that it most certainly wasn't extraordinary by any means...it was just nice!  I have come to find out that I cherish these ordinary, nothing special weekends much more as I get closer and closer to tax season.  It provides a little clam before the storm, I guess.

As part of my wedding gift from my beau, he gave me a gift card to The Groom Room, and I decided to cash it in on Friday night.  I got a facial and it was so relaxing and heavenly.

Saturday, I had to work in the morning and then the afternoon was spent FINALLY taking down our Christmas tree!  Yes, you read that right...I took the Christmas tree down in mid-January.  That is so unlike me, but I was sick the weekend before New Year's when I had originally planned on taking it down...that evening, Patrick and I were going to go see a movie, but decided that we needed to get a few more things out of my condo, so we just went to dinner and watched a movie at home instead!

Sunday, we both slept late, which was ah-mazing, and then it was time to do a last big cleaning of the house before tax season is upon us!  We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and the house looks pretty darn good!  After that, we headed to Tin Roof to watch the Falcons/49ers game with friends.  We had a great time!  That evening, it was time for the moment I have been waiting on for quite awhile.  We met with the NEW TENANTS of my condo!  Woohoo!!!!!  I am so happy to have it rented and I feel really good about the family that is moving in!  They are really sweet and I think they will love that condo as much as I do!  After making a quick trip to the grocery and cooking dinner, it was time to relax for a bit and then head to bed.

See?  Nothing spectacular, but still so nice!  Nothing like some good QT with my favorite dude!

How was your weekend?

Getting Ready!

Ah, more wedding posts!  Oh, how I love to relive that day…In pics, of course!  Reliving the actual day would be just too much!  Oh, but the pictures are so much fun!  My bridesmaids and I got ready at the Hilton Nashville Downtown, and we had an excellent time!  It was the perfect location since it was so close to our wedding venue and all of their rooms are set up as suites.  Therefore, we had 2 large rooms and a huge bathroom in which to get ready!  Here are some of my favorite pics from that day!  All pics are courtesy of Streetlight Republic!   

As you can tell, I had some ah-mazing bridesmaids helping me out that day!  They were a huge help and made sure everything was taken care of!  Also, my mom was a big helper, too!  Not only did she bring lunch to all of us hungry girls (who am I kidding…I couldn’t eat a bite that day), but she also drove her car back and forth from the parking lot to keep the girls from getting drenched in the rain.  So sweet!

Finally, I need to give credit for my hair (Julie Holt of Hair Expressions) and my makeup (Kelley Miller of Style Makers Salon and Spa).

The Great Souptacular!

Hi ladies!  I’m linking up with A Blonde Ambition today for her huge recipe spectacular!  What a great idea, no?  Well, I’m here today to share my favorite soup recipe:  Hearty Cabbage Soup!  And the best part?  It’s healthy!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

3 1/2 cups shredded cabbage

1 medium zucchini, halved and thinly sliced

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 18 oz. can ready-to-serve Progresso Hearty Tomato soup

1 10 oz. can Rotel, undrained

1 can chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:  In a large saucepan, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Add the cabbage, zucchini and mushrooms cook and stir 8 minutes longer.  Stir in the soup, tomatoes, stock, pepper sauce, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

Enjoy!

What I’m Loving Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you all are having a wonderful week!  Here is what I’m loving on this wonderful Wednesday!

1.  Sweet Zoey being back in our lives.  She is settling back into life at the Sun household and we are so happy to have her back.  I love having my nightly cuddle bear!

2.  Anniversaries!  And this past Monday was my 6 month anniversary with my beau.  It’s been a wonderful 6 months and we celebrated at my favorite, Las Palmas!

3.  The Golden Globes!  I hardly ever get into “Awards Season” but this year, I caved and watched the Golden Globes (mainly because there was no football on) and I really enjoyed it!  So many pretty dresses!  Here is one of my fav moments:  Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck!

4.  Justin Timberlake!  I have to admit, I’m not LOVING the new song!  However, I will always love JT, and I can’t wait to hear more music from his new album!

 

5.  And, finally, my beau!  He’s a jewel!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

So, Sunday night, after traveling home from Knoxville, I wanted to cook a good dinner, but really didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing so.  Thanks to Going Jane, I found the perfect recipe!  I actually didn’t have enough time to follow the recipe to a T, so I adjusted it a little so we didn’t have to eat dinner at midnight.  =)  My version of the recipe is below.

Ingredients:

5 Small Chicken Thighs, with skin and bone

2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup

42 oz. Chicken Broth

1 Stick Butter, sliced

Large Bag of Wide Egg Noodles

In a crockpot, combine the chicken, soup, broth, and butter.  Let it cook on high for 3 hours.  Remove the chicken and take off the skin and bones.  Place back in crockpot along with the egg noodles and cook for an additional 30 minutes. 

That’s it!  Easy, peasy, and delicious!  Patrick and I both agreed it reminded us of Chicken ‘n Dumplins, except egg noodles instead of "dumplins.”  Hope you enjoy!

Weekend Update!

This weekend was probably my last work free one for many weeks, and therefore, I decided that even though I really needed to stay at home and get some things marked off my to do list, I was going to have a wonderful time.

The weekend started out with dinner with our friend Jack and his new girlfriend, Jenna.  We went to J. Alexander’s and then to Broadway Brewhouse to have a few drinks and shoot a little pool.  It was a great time, and it’s been too long since Patrick and I had a double date. 

The next morning, we showed my condo to potential tenants, and then we headed to Knoxville to pick up our sweet doggy.  We haven’t seen her in 4 whole weeks and we were beside ourselves with excitement!  After catching up with her and my family, we headed to a friend dinner in downtown Knoxville.  For those who haven’t been to Knoxville in awhile, you need to go back and head downtown…it’s so cute and so fun!  We ate at Nama, a sushi restaurant, and then headed to Sapphire for a drink before heading back to get more QT with Zoey!

On Sunday, we got up and headed to church and lunch before we packed up the car and brought Zoey back to Nashville.  The rest of the evening was spent cooking a yummy dinner (recipe coming soon), relaxing and getting ready for the work week. 

Here’s to a great work week!

101 Things Update!

It's been awhile since I gave the 101 Things list any love...and I'm here to remedy that today.  Let me give you a little update on what I've been up to lately.

#57 - Have a Yard Sale!
Done!  I accomplished this in the fall and I even blogged about it here!  It was tons of fun and we made a lot of money!  Always a nice way to start the Christmas shopping season!

#64 - Go on a girls weekend trip with Anna Catherine and Kathleen.
This also happened back in the fall...the weekend before Thanksgiving to be exact.  We had a great time in St. Petersburg and Clearwater.  We ran in the Women's Half Marathon down there and then spent a few days at the beach...Love spending QT with these girls.

#75 - Make 2 new friends.
For anyone who knows me, you know that I love meeting new people and having tons of friends.  Well, that fact alone made this task somewhat difficult.  The reason is because it's hard for me to determine at what point I've have crossed over to becoming "friends" with someone.  I mean, both of these 2 girls I have known for several years!  And I'm not exactly sure at what point I became friends with them, but it seems like one day I looked up and realized that I consider them both good friends.  They are very sweet, lots of fun, and I know they would do anything for me...and I would them.

The first is my friend, Katie from work.  She's a sweetheart and we have tons of fun talking about everything going on in our lives and what's happening outside the office.  She can also bake a killer cake and is a large supply of some of my favorite recipes.  We're also joining the Junior League together this year, so I'm super pumped about that!

The second is my friend, Laura.  She and I are in the Nashville Junior Chamber together and we actually served on the Board together, before my term was up.  Sometime last year, she joined our Kickball team and I think that's when we really got to know each other better!  Anyone who knows Laura knows she's a super fun chic!

I consider myself very lucky to add these 2 ladies to my "friends" list!  If you don't know them, you should definitely meet them!

Rehearsal Dinner–Part 2

Back again to finally pick up where I left off on the wedding posts.  Today’s edition involves all of the lovely pics our amazing photogs took at our Rehearsal Dinner.  It was super sweet of them to stop by, and we really enjoyed having some cool pics of the evening.  If you are in the market for some awesome wedding photographers (or any photographers, for that matter) you should definitely check out Streetlight Republic.  And, no, they didn’t pay me ANYTHING to say that!  =)

At the Rehearsal walking down the “aisle” with my daddy:

At the Rehearsal dinner, which was held at Events on 3rd!

What I’m Loving Wednesday!

Oh, Wednesday…how I’ve missed you and all your loveliness.  It’s so nice to have a reminder of everything  happy on this mid-week Hump Day!  This Wednesday, I am loving…

1. That we get to see this sweet girl’s face this weekend!  I’m fairly certain her grandparents (who have been keeping her for the last 4 weeks) aren’t nearly as happy about us taking her away as we are, but we have missed her so badly, and can’t wait to love on her a little bit.
2. Homemade dinners by my beau!  Last night, he made me the yummiest dinner of bacon wrapped filet, mashed potatoes, and baked beans.  Yum-O! 
3. Time to read!  This past week while out of town, I managed to read more than I have in years!  It was amazing, and I really hope I’m able to carry this desire to read right on into busy season.
4. Girls’ Nights!  I can’t wait until next Tuesday when I am getting together with a few of my favorite ladies to have dinner at The Melting Pot!  It should be a wonderful time with some of my favorite chicas!
5. And last but not least, I’m loving my beau…

Here’s to all of us having a fantastic Wednesday!