After Pics

As you may remember, despite the fact that there was a huge drought and it was record high temps for about 3 weeks leading up to our wedding, the week before our wedding AND our wedding day was both fairly mild AND really rainy.  However, after the wedding and all of the family photos, somehow, the rain stopped for about 15 minutes and Patrick and I headed outside with our photographers to try to get at least a FEW decent pictures outdoors together. 

These pictures are some of my most favorite Patrick and I have ever made together.  Something about those moments really helped finally calm my nerves from the stresses of the entire day and really allowed me to relax and enjoy being Mrs. Sun.  Take a look for yourself.

This last pic was taken at Rocketown inside the skate park that inhabits the other side of the building!  The guys in there were so fun!  They loved skating for the sake of being on camera!

Stay tuned for all the reception fun one day next week!

What I’m Loving Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you all are having a wonderful week!  Here’s what I’m loving today:

1.  Short work weeks!  And, yes, there is a theme here…last week I was loving 3 day weekends…since that has come and gone, I choose to focus on the fact that I get another weekend in 4 work days instead of 5!

2.  Vacation Planning!  It’s official…Patrick and I have picked our summer vacation.  We will be flying to Los Angeles, renting a car, and making our way up the coast up to Seattle over a period of 2 weeks!  Our stops along the way include Los Angeles, Fresno (Patrick’s dad, stepmom, and sister live here), San Francisco, Napa, Redwood National Forest, Portland, and Seattle.  Needless to say, I can’t wait!  Now, we just need to book hotel rooms in each of these cities!

3.  Dinner with Old Friends!  I found out today that my friend, Nikki is going to be in town this weekend visiting from Nebraska, and she asked Alysia and me to meet her for happy hour on Friday!  I am so looking forward to a little bit of girl time…just like the good ole days when she and her husband, Mark lived here!

4.  Turkey Pepperoni!  I know this is a very strange thing to LOVE, but I really do…even more than regular pepperoni!  And I can eat 15 of them for only 1 Weight Watcher point!  Now THAT’S my kinda snack!

5.  And finally, I’m always loving my beau and my Zo!

Weekend Update!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!  We certainly did at our house!  After work on Friday, I treated myself to a summertime pedicure.  It was just what the doctor ordered and extremely relaxing!  I love the color:  OPI’s Red My Fortune Cookie!

After a Saturday morning workout, I headed to the pool for the first time this season…and man, was it wonderful!  Since last summer was filled with lots of wedding activity, I decided this summer is going to be the summer of the pool!  Here’s to spending a lot more time doing a lot more of this:

That evening we took in a Nashville Sounds game with Chase and friends!  We had a great time, and even stayed for the fireworks after the game!

On Sunday morning, Patrick and I tried out a new church.  We had heard many great things about Crosspoint and even though I’m not really used to non-traditional church services, since I was raised in a very traditional Methodist church, I was very pleasantly surprised!  I definitely think we will be heading back to another church service soon! 

After church, we headed over to East Nashville for a yummy lunch at Nuvo Burrito and then hopped on our bikes and took an 8 mile bike ride over to the Shelby Bottoms Greenway and back to 5 Points.  I have to say that this was one of the most fun things I have done in a long time!  Was it exhausting?  Absolutely!  But we had such a great time and were really able to spend some QT together!

That evening, we headed over to Clay and Amber’s beautiful, new house for a cookout!  It was a great way to end the day and was also great to catch up with friends!

On Monday morning, I was back at the gym for another Zumba class, then Patrick and I spent a few hours in the front yard chopping down some massive bushes in front of our house!  When I say “we” I really mean that Patrick chopped down the bushes, and I carried stuff away and did whatever he told me!  These bushes are so flippin’ big that I SWEAR they look more like trees!  We will both be so glad when they are gone!  I think it will make the house look so pretty!  And, yes, I could kick myself that I forgot to take a before shot…oh, well, I’ll definitely post after pics once we get mulch laid and flowers planted…

After that, it was back to the pool for some more relaxation and sunbathing.  That evening, Patrick grilled out fish tacos, corn on the cob, and zucchini and squash.  It was delicious!  Oh, and I MAY have had tried the Crystal Light Margaritas…they are OK…I wouldn’t give them 5 stars or anything, but let’s face it…low calorie drinks usually don’t result in tasty drinks, no?

Well, that was it for the Suns’…I think we need a vacation weekend from our vacation weekend, but alas, work is calling and it’s not going to do itself.  Here’s to a nice productive week!  Happy Tuesday everyone!

What I’m Loving Wednesday!

Hi Ladies!  I hope you are all having wonderful weeks!  I definitely have a lot to love this week, including all of the following:

1.  Impromptu Date Nights!  My Beau and I made a last minute decision on Monday night to head downtown and check out Nashville’s new Music City Center.  For those that don’t know, Nashville got a big freakin’ convention center…like massive!  And I have to admit, my Nashville pride came out in full force!  I’m so proud of this wonderful city we live it and I think this center is going to be one of the big things that puts us on the map!  As you can see, the views of downtown are pretty impressive!

2.  Three Day Weekends!  Yes, I am a little more than excited about Memorial Day weekend!  We have lots planned…including pool time, cookouts with friends, and even a Sounds game!  And, it looks like the weather may actually co-operate, too!  Take a look at this 7 day forecast!

3.  My New Patio Lounging Area – I can’t wait to show you all the work I have planned for my little patio area on our back deck!  I hope to do any entire post on it one day next week (once everything is finished), but here is a sneak peek of what I have planned!  I found this on Carolina Charm and I just love it!

4.  Scandal!  Yes, I know I am way, way, way late to the party on this one, but I watched part of the first season back in April when I was working so much, and I have since caught up and watched the entire series so far.  After the season finale, I am dying for September to get here so I can see what happens next!

5.  And, last but not least, my beau and my Zo:

Weekend Update!

Another successful birthday weekend is in the record books.  It’s so funny to me how much they have changed over the years, but while this birthday would have seemed pretty uneventful to my 23 year old self, it was just downright perfect to my 33 year old self!  Ha!  =)

Friday night, Zoey and I had a little girls’ night since Patrick had plans with the fellas!  We just hung around the house and relaxed.  And I’m not saying that we DID go to bed at 9:30, but I’m also not saying that we didn’t.  =)  I think being sick earlier this week is still taking it’s toll on my body!

After sleeping in on Saturday, I spent most of the morning doing chores and running errands.  That evening, several of my favorite people all met up at The Local Taco for my birthday!  We had a great time and I loved getting together with everyone.  Also, just to brag on their service for a minute, this restaurant was amazing!  The manager reserved an area on the patio for our large group, they were very attentive to any requests we had, they checked on us several times, and they even told me Happy Birthday about 10 times!  I definitely recommend checking this place out.  Anyway, I didn’t take many pictures, but here are a couple I did get:

After dinner, a few of us headed next door to Neighbors for a few drinks before calling it a night.

On Sunday, I slept in again (this is becoming a bad, bad habit) and then I relaxed in bed with my coffee and Kindle for awhile:

That afternoon, Patrick and I put my bike together (finally get to mark another item off the 101 Things list) and I took it for a spin. 

That evening, we both agreed that we haven’t done a Sushi Date Night in quite sometime, so we decided to take advantage of all the veggies currently in our fridge and we whipped up a few sushi rolls.  It was yummy!

After that, the weekend was pretty much done, and it was time to get ready for a new work week.  Boo!  At least we get a 3 day weekend after this one, right?  Hope you all have a great week!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Hi Ladies!  I hope your week is going splendidly!  Here is what I'm loving on this beautiful day:

1. All the Birthday love I received yesterday!  I swear...all you people out there make getting older not so bad...Everyone from my hubby who took me to dinner, to my co-workers who went to lunch, to all of my family and friends who called, texted, or Facebook commented...all of you are wonderful!

2.  That the Birthday celebrations didn't end last night...this weekend, a group of my friends and I are heading out to The Local Taco to eat some Mexican grub and drink some margaritas!  So fun!

3.  That other than my fun Birthday dinner this Saturday, our weekend is pretty much wide open!  That should be nice since I have a long list of house chores I'm hoping to knock out!

4.  That one of the "chores" I want to accomplish this weekend is to secure and officially start planning our summer vacation!  Not going to disclose the location just yet...I want to make sure it's 100% before I get my hopes officially up, but it should be tons of fun!

5.  And as always, last but not least, I'm loving my beau and my Zo:

That's it for me...what are you loving today?

33

Thirty-three years old.  I’m not sure how that happened.  I swear it was just yesterday that I was 26, settling into my new life in Nashville, running around with Kathleen, hitting up every happy hour I could find.  =)  Since then, many things have changed.  I passed the CPA exam, bought a condo, got a doggy, became a wife, and traveled to many different places.  Hard to believe how different my life is from that naïve girl from back in 2006.

I’ll keep it short today…lots of cake to eat!  However, just know that I am very thankful for every blessing in my life.  Cheers!  Here’s to 33 more years of fabulous!

Weekend Update!

Patrick and I both agreed that this was a super fun weekend!  One of those weekends that you maybe didn’t expect to be this fun, and it pleasantly surprised you!  Friday night, nothing too exciting occurred.  We had lots to do to get ready for Saturday’s fun, so we just went to the grocery store, did a few chores and called it an early night.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning though, because Steeplechase was finally here!  Many people wait all year for this day, and even though Patrick and I aren’t quite THAT die hard, we were still excited to be getting all dressed up and head to the horse races.  We arrived around 10:00 and several of the people in our group were already having a GREAT time…just to put it nicely.  =)  I had named myself a designated driver this year, and even though I had a few drinks, I never really got to the point of “fun” that many of our friends were having.  The people watching is pure enjoyment though, and thanks to other DD’s in our group (thanks Reca and Kathleen), I would consider the day a really fun success!  Here are a few pics of our adventures.

It ended up being a beautiful day despite the clouds in this picture which was taken early in the morning.

Reca and me when we were walking around trying to track down the “boutique.”  BTW, they lied about a “boutique;” we found no such thing.

Me standing on the same track that horses would be running in just a few short hours.

Me with my beau; Reca snapped this shot when I was fixing his bow tie and it turned out to be one of my favorites…sometimes candids are so much better than posed pictures, no?

Patrick and some of the guys:

And, last but not least, Patrick and me with Mickey and Kathleen.

Oh, one more…just because the back of my dress was my favorite part, I have to share this photo:

Around 4:00, Patrick and I had to pack up and say goodbye to another year of Steeplechase.  Our friend, Teona, who happens to be from the Republic of Georgia, has moved her mother to the US and was having some friends over to have a small Georgian feast.  It was great to catch up with Kirk and Teona and their little girl, Adriana.  It was also great to meet Teona’s mom.  Here are a few pics of me trying my hand at making dumplings…FYI, I think Teona’s mom tried to tell me not to quit my day job…I didn’t do such a great job!

I love this picture of us with Adriana…so glad Patrick decided to photobomb us!

I think these 3 are naturals…either that or they have had a few more years of practice than I have! Ha!

All day on Saturday, I felt a nasty cold coming on…well, sure enough, I woke up on Sunday feeling like crud!  So, instead of getting all kinds of chores and errands done (like I had planned), I laid around and did absolutely nothing!  I have to wonder sometimes if getting sick is God’s way of making sure I get don’t take life too seriously and sometimes I just SLOW down!  It was so nice yesterday to just relax and spend time with my beau and my Zo.  I definitely wouldn’t have been that relaxed had I been feeling well. 

That evening, Patrick and I had reservations to Rodizio Grill.  The purpose of the trip was my way of thanking him for being so good to me and taking care of everything at home during tax season…however, because my birthday is tomorrow, too, and I received a coupon in the mail for a free meal, we sort of started my birthday celebration a couple days early.  The only unfortunate thing is that when you have a birthday coupon, they MAY come out and sing to you in front of everyone without even asking if you want that!  Patrick and I both agreed that next time we are celebrating a birthday we will tell them on the front end that singing isn’t necessary.  My embarrassment didn’t stop Patrick from snapping a picture though!

Well, that’s it for me today…I’m off to the doctor to try to get some meds!  I can’t be sick on my birthday!  Have a great day ladies!