Exciting/Stressful/Busy/Draining Week!

It's official...for the first time since I really started blogging, I feel like a TERRIBLE blogger!  I haven't posted anything since Monday night, and I totally missed my Thankful Thursday this week...Thursday posts are one of my favorites, and I really don't like missing them, but I guess everyone is entitled to an off week every now and then.  =)  I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch everyone up on what's been going on in mine and my friends' lives this week:

• As I mentioned in a couple of posts recently, I spent last weekend in Knoxville visiting my parents...my mom and I did lots of shopping, and I spent lots of time with their dog, Peppermint.  On Saturday night, I had dinner with Andi and heard all about her honeymoon, which was very fun...however, I learned one important thing...if you ever go to Hawaii, NEVER EVER do the bike ride down the mountain.  =)  I also went to church with the fam which is always fun since there are TONS of people there that I am close to and I love to catch up with them!  I finished the trip off with lunch at one of my Knoxville favs with my mom, dad, and brother.
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  Another exciting event of last weekend is that Kathleen and Mickey got engaged!  For those that don't know, Kat is my BFF from grad school and she just so happens to be engaged to Mickey who is one of Patrick's good friends from college!  Should be tons of fun seeing their wedding come together next year!  Congrats guys!  =)

Please excuse the pale skin/tired look on my face...this picture was taken about 2 weeks before April 15!

• Monday night was my Fantasy Football draft for my all girls league!  It was so much fun to draft with all the girls.  I somehow doubt there was as much trash talking as the boys league, but it was still lots of fun!
• Also, on Monday night, my mom convinced me to walk a half-marathon with her in November.  Even though that seems soooooo long from now to me, it really is only 11 weeks away.  Therefore, I had to start training on Tuesday morning!  I guess that's one way to do it...commit before you have time to change your mind.  =)
• On Wednesday, I went back to Knoxville for an accounting recruiting event called Meet the Firms (yes...CPAs are that cool).  It is always a fun trip to head back to my alma mater (the University of Tennessee) for this event, but it is also VERY tiring!  It really wears me out so much that it takes me a day or 2 to recover.
• Thursday was a VERY happy day for me, because it was the day that I FINALLY got to see my beau after 3 long weeks of him being out of the country.  We celebrated by heading to the Tennessee Titans last preseason game (tickets courtesy of the CPA firm I work for).  It was a great time and the perfect way to celebrate him being back in the country! 

Both of us were pretty happy to see each other!  =)

It was great to see Reca and Aimee in line for the concession stand!  And special thanks to Reca for loaning us money...the credit card machine was broken!  YIKES!

My favorite Titans player -- #31 Cortland Finnegan

My second favorite Titans player -- #10 Vince Young

Well, besides working hard to try to finish all of my tax returns that are due by September 15, that's about all that's been going on in my life!  It's been really, really busy, but as you can probably tell about me, that's the way I like it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  Get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather and the final hoorah before Summer is officially over.  =( 

Wonderful Wedding Weekend

As promised, here are the details of Andi's wedding this past weekend.  The wedding festivities began on Friday evening with the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Not having been in many weddings, it always amazes me what goes into planning a wedding.  However, Andi had everything figured out and somehow managed to organize 8 bridesmaids, 8 groomsman, 8 ushers, and a whole lot of family members.  She should go into wedding planning because it ran like a well oiled machine!  After running through the ceremony a couple of times, it was time to head downtown to this place for dinner!

For those that aren't from Knoxville, Calhoun's on the River is a staple in that town known for its delicious ribs.  They also have a banquet room upstairs with a beautiful view that is often used for parties.  The dinner was very nice and the food was delicious!  Andi had put together a slide show and SEVERAL friends and family offered toasts to the couple...heck, after a couple glasses of wine even I got brave enough to give a small speech!  It was a great evening of celebrating the soon-to-be-married couple.  Here are a few pics:

Patrick and I enjoying the view from the balcony.

Me with both the Bride and Groom

After the rehearsal dinner, Patrick and I headed to my parents' house where we got in some quality time with this special girl:

It never ceases to amaze me how crazy I am about my parents' dog!  She is the smartest, funniest, sweetest dog EVER...in my opinion, anyway.  =)

On Saturday morning, I woke up extra early because in the middle of the night I had a moment of panic when I remembered that my dress needed to be ironed.  After trying and trying to iron my dress, the massive wrinkles WERE NOT coming out!!!!!  Thank goodness for my mother because she agreed to take my dress to be steamed so that I would not be late to my hair appointment.  After a small mix-up at the hair salon (imagine me looking like Annie...yeah, the red headed, curly haired little girl in the movie...minus the red hair), everyone's hair and make-up looked wonderful and it was time to head to the church. 

Saturday afternoon was spent wrapping up last minute details and taking pictures before the wedding started at 6:00.  It was a beautiful wedding and Andi looked AMAZING!!!!!  Here are a few pics:

Andi and I before the ceremony

Ginger and I waiting for the wedding to begin

Patrick and me...doesn't he look handsome?  =)

Bride and Groom as they head to the reception

After taking a few pictures at the World's Fair Park, it was time for the reception to begin!!!!!  Soon after the DJ started playing, everyone was dancing and no one really stopped until the Convention Center kicked us out at the end of the evening!  =)  The cakes were beautiful and delicious and the drinks were flowing!  It was a VERY fun evening!  Plus, I was able to catch up with people I haven't seen in years!  Nothing is better than that!

My mom and me...don't we look alike!  =)

Patrick with my mom and dad

Patrick got to meet Heather, Elizabeth, and Greg!!!!!  It was great for me to catch up with them, too!

The Groom's cake...notice the Alabama Groom and the Tennessee Bride...LOVE it!

After the lights were turned on at the wedding venue (signaling that it was time for us to get out), several of us decided to head out and have a few drinks!  After realizing that I left my ID in my mom's car, Patrick and I worked some magic to get me into the bar only to stay just an hour and then decide we were wayyyyyy too tired to be out drinking!  Instead we decided that some late night pizza was a much better idea!

All-in-all, it was a wonderful weekend, with a beautiful wedding, an even prettier bride, a fun reception, some much needed family time, and a nice weekend with my beau.  =)  Couldn't have been better! 

Andi and Rob, have a great time on your honeymoon and I can't wait to see you when you get back!  Congrats again!

Week in Review

No, I don't always do a "Week in Review" post, but this was one fun week, so I thought I'd share the highlights.  The first exciting event of the week was the trip Patrick and I made with my work friend, Leslie and her husband Shawn to this place:

They had a 21 and up event and we decided to check it out.  We had a blast!  Here are a few pics from the evening:

Leslie and I before riding the space machine

Me hanging out with the dinosaurs.

Watch out...it looks like Patrick is drinking and driving.  =)

Another fun happening of the week (that I mentioned in this blog), is seeing the movie Ramona and Beezus with my mom!  Again, we both loved the movie, and had a FANTASTIC time!  It was so fun to hang out with her one last time before she heads back to work in a couple of weeks.

Friday night, I got in some girl time with this chica:

Alysia and I first became friends when we worked together a few years ago, but even though we don't see each other on a daily basis anymore, we still have a FANTABULOUS good time when we do hang out!  On this particular evening, we decided we both needed pedicures, and we grabbed dinner while we were at it.

Saturday afternoon/evening was one of the biggest events of the year for my group of friends...the annual Music City Brewer's Festival!!!  Now I know you are probably scratching your heads right now because in this post I explained that I'm not much of a beer drinker.  However, this event is SO MUCH FUN!  SO many of my friends attend, and even though I don't like beer, I still have a BLAST!  Plus, they MAY have a Woodchuck Cider tent, and I MAY have been such a regular at that tent that they recognized me by the end of the night.  =)  Although the night ended with a rainstorm, it was still a great time!  Here are a few pics:

Me with some Junior Chamber friends at a Brewer's Festival Pre-Party (Happy Birthday Jessica!)

Drinking my first taste of Cider

So fun to have all my girls together!

Patrick and I at the beginning of the evening...

...and Patrick and I after the rain.  =)

This wonderful week was wrapped up with a kickball game on Sunday afternoon that went into 2 extra innings because of a tie, and Kick This managed to come away with a win!!!!!  WOOHOO!  What a fantastic week!

MAS

St. Louis, Here We Come!

Over the holiday, my beau and I decided to head out of town for the weekend.  July 4th marks our 2 year anniversary as a couple, and we also wanted to get away before his big 3 week trip across the ocean which is coming up soon.  Therefore, we decided to head to St. Louis!  After working most of the day on Friday, we finally set off on our journey:

Stopping for slushies and snacks for the 5 hour drive!

We didn't arrive at the hotel until pretty late that night, so we decided to get a good night's rest to be ready for the craziness that the next day had in store for us!

We woke up EARLY on Saturday morning and headed down to the 4th of July Parade.  There were tons of cool floats and balloons!  It was very impressive compared to other parades I've been to.  Here are a few pictures:

After that we conquered (with great satisfaction) the public transportation system and made our way to the Anheuser-Busch facility for a free brewery tour!  This was one of the coolest things we did during the trip.  A tour guide leads you through an hour long look into the beer making process and the history of the company.  They even brought out a Clydesdale Horse for us to have our picture made:

Then we came to Patrick's favorite part of the trip!  After the tour they give everyone free beer...and since I'm not a HUGE beer drinker, not only did he get HIS free beer, but he also got mine.  He was in Beer Heaven!

Once I could FINALLY tear him away from all the free beer, =) we made our way back to the hotel for a quick power nap before having a nice early dinner at a place called Lola.  Then we headed down to the Riverfront for Fair St. Louis.  While here, we both got some really cool pictures of the Gateway Arch, got to see John Legend perform and saw some really good fireworks (although, not as good as the Nashville 4th of July Fireworks, but what can I say).  =)

Sideview of the Gateway Arch

John Legend singing his heart out!

Ready for the Fireworks to begin!

Even though by this point I was so tired I could barely hold my eyes open, I decided that it's not every day you have the opportunity to go to a Casino, so we then met up with my friend, Katie and her boyfriend, Chris and headed to do a little gambling!  Katie and I mainly stuck to the slot machines (the penny machines, to be exact), while Patrick and Chris hung out at the craps table.  All in all, we both did pretty well.  Patrick won a little bit of money, and I managed to leave with $0.11 of the $10.00 I originally put in the slot machines.

Everyone thought it was funny that I was cashing in my $0.11 voucher...I figured that I had already given them $9.89; they weren't getting my $0.11, too!  Ha!

On Sunday, we slept in, which was MUCH needed.  We headed to a restaurant that Patrick scoped out called the Broadway Oyster Bar, and it was DE-licious!!!!!  They had the best Fried Oyster Po-Boy I've ever eaten, and Patrick said his Catfish Po-Boy was to die for.  They also had a really cool atmosphere and gave free water to take into the game, which definitely came in handy!  After that it was time for my first Cardinals baseball game.  We met several nice people sitting around us who were full of suggestions as to how we should spend the rest of our stay (this was MUCH appreciated since it is so hard to visit an unfamiliar place...I always want to make the most of my travel time, and these people were more than willing to share their opinions).  Also, the cardinals won, so that made all the fans happy.  The stadium was really cool and from some places, you could even see the Gateway Arch in the background...very cool!

Just before entering Busch Stadium!

Random pics inside the stadium!

Me with my favorite travel companion!

After the game, we headed back to the hotel for yet another nap!  This time, we didn't really recover quite as easily as the night before...it was becoming fairly evident that our busy, busy weekend was beginning to catch up with us!  Therefore, we decided to take it easy on Sunday night.  We headed to dinner and after having a hard time finding anywhere that was open that evening, we finally decided to eat at a local pizzeria.  It was very tasty, despite our concerns.  After this we headed back down to the second day of Fair St. Louis, and decided that the ridiculously LARGE crowds were too much for us.  Therefore, we ended up watching the fireworks from a location slightly closer to our hotel.

Monday was our busiest day of all.  We had reservations at 10:20 for the portion of the trip I was the MOST looking forward to...taking the tram to the top of the Gateway Arch.  Even though I have heard horror stories about how scary the ride to the top is, I was determined to make the trip.  It wasn't nearly as scary as I expected.  I wouldn't have liked doing it alone, but Patrick and 3 other people were in the "elevator" with me, it really wasn't too bad!  Here is a picture of Patrick and me just before we boarded the elevators:

And here are a few pictures from the top:

While hitting up the Gateway Arch, we worked up a pretty good appetite...therefore we headed to Pappy's Smokehouse (a famous b-b-que place in St. Louis that has been featured on Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel).  Even though the wait was close to an hour, the food did not disappoint!  It was yummy, and Patrick was loving it!

After that, we headed over to the FREE St. Louis Zoo, which was very impressive:

 

We saw Elephants,

and Penguins,

and Hippos,

and Bears,

and Flamingos,

and Apes,

And many, many more animals (after my camera battery died)  =( 

All-in-all, it was an excellant trip and I was sad to head back to Nashville to the real world...oh, well, every good trip comes to an end!