Five on Friday!

 Happy Halloween, y'all!!

[1]
Am I the only one that dislikes hates Halloween? I am not really into "dressing up". I would much rather hand out candy and watch all the adorable kids. I secretly can't wait to have kids so I can have an excuse to not have to dress up and go to a Halloween party myself... woops. Maybe next year we will have our own halloween party that involves drinks, games, and NO costumes?!

[2]

We are celebrating our Halloween a much more exciting way this year! Today we are headed to the western part of NC to celebrate the marriage of our best friends, Morgan and Greg! It's so rare that you find a couple who you and your other half are equally best friends with. The 4 of us have had so many great times in the past 5 years. They both stood beside us last December and we can't wait to stand beside them tomorrow!

[3]

Last Friday my PA class took a huge exam called the PAKRAT. It's a standardized exam to let you know where you currently stand and what you may need to focus more on before the national certification exam (PANCE) that I will take after graduation in about a year. My class scored 20 points above the national average! TWENTY!! So proud!

[4]
Tuesday was our 10 month anni. Cannot believe it has already been 10 months. Time is flyyyying by!

[5]
I have to admit, I wasn't really into the World Series this year. A lot of my hubs former teammates play in the big leagues but none of them play for the Giants or the Royals so I wasn't super interested. However, Madison Bumgarner, the star pitcher for the Giants, was in my husband's recruiting class at UNC but he decided to go professional instead of going to college. So, I guess I was slightly pulling for the Giants?

Happy 2nd birthday Ella James Page!

2 years ago, at 3:46pm, my heart grew 100 sizes when this tiny little human made her grand entrance into the world.

G and I were in Nashville for a wedding that weekend. Our flight landed in Raleigh around lunch time Sunday and I turned my phone back on and had a text from my mom, "We are at the hospital, don't panic. They said they aren't letting K leave without a baby." Oh my gah. K was only 37.5 weeks preggo but had a super rare liver condition called cholestasis. It causes you to itch terribly and also causes still birth. They needed to get this baby OUT! So without any clothes packed, I drove sped straight to Greenville from the airport.

K labored for 36 hours, pushing for 3 hours continuously. EJ was turned 45 degrees so every contraction caused her spine to rub against K's hip bone, causing super bad pain. I was a freaking ball of nerves. She let me and my mom stay in the room for the whole thing and it was the most amazing experience of my life. They finally suctioned her out and I was officially an AUNT! And K's first words were "get me a coke".

Ella James has made the last two years so much more joyful and fun. Not sure how I am going to love my own children any more than I love her! She is my best girl. Happy birthday Ella James Page! 

Weekending: birthday celebration for EJ!

Yesterday we celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday. Have I mentioned how much I love this little diva?? People reading my blog probably think she is my child... nope, just my niece that I'm obsessed with. And she lives right beside me so I get to see her eeeevery single day!

So birthday girl woke up from nap a tad bit grumpy [see pic below]. I begged her to let me take a picture of her Minnie birthday outfit and this is the best I could get. My sister had a ridiculous birthday party for Ella James' 1st birthday so decided to keep it small and simple this year. There was family, toys, a bouncy house, and cake. The birthday girl loved her minnie cake but was only eating the fondant off, ew. I tried to get her to dig in, but apparently she's too prissy to get messy these days. After cake she tore into her presents, getting lots of Minnie and Frozen, her two favorites.

It was such a fun time for us to celebrate this sweet girl. I cannot believe she is [almost] two! Makes me so excited to have kids one day and watch them become best friends.

Giving her cake a "hug"... ohhhh kids

Attempts at a family picture... EJ wanted none of it

 I love these people! So thankful to live right beside my sister and get to watch my niece grow up

Five on Friday: Birthday edition!

Happy Friday!! My birthday is 3 weeks from today so I decided to post on what I have been birthday-lusting over:

[1]

A new pair of boots. I may or may not have a slight obsession with Frye boots. Yes, they are ridiculously expensive, but worth every penny. They are super nice leather and stay in great shape for many years. I'm wanting either gray/taupe or black this year. I would be thrilled with any of these 3 pairs!

[2]
New additions to my make-up bag. I don't like to try new products, and I'm not big into make-up, so when my sister-in-law convinced me to try Bobbi Brown, I loved and hated her at the same time. My face loved her, but my wallet hated her. This make-up is SO great, but I rarely splurge on new colors because of the price. I have been dying to try the gel eyeliner and add some new blush colors to my winter make-up collection.

[3]

Kendra scott earrings. I don't wear earrings much, I'm more of a necklace girl, but earrings are coming back into style big time. I splurged on Kendra Scott hot pink earrings a few weeks ago to wear to a wedding, and got SO many compliments on them. I would love to add another pair to my wardrobe, either a neutral to wear with everyday outfits or another funky fun color.

[4]

Tory Burch flats. Duh. I wear the soles off my TB flats, literally. I am leaning towards the cream because the soles are starting to peel off my other pair of brown TB flats that I've had for about 4 years. How fun are the leopard print flats?! I love them but have a hard time spending so much money on a pair of shoes that you can't wear with everything.

[5]

Stella and Dot engravable bar necklace. I am dying for one with our anniversary on it. So cute!

celebrate!

Last night we celebrated one of my classmate's birthdays. A few weeks ago her husband contacted us wanting to plan something special for her. You see, he is a marine currently stationed in Arizona and wanted to surprise her with something special since he couldn't be there to celebrate with her. So, he told us he had hired chefs to come to her apartment and cook us dinner. Girl time, wine, yummy dinner, birthday surprise... sounds good to me!

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant about the idea of random chefs coming to cook a meal in an apartment. However, they surpassed my expectations BIG TIME! The chefs were teachers at the culinary school in Raleigh so they traveled all the way to Greenville just to cook for us. And boy did they know what they were doing! It was so fun to watch them cook. They brought EVERYTHING from plates to utensils to pots and pans to all the cooking ingredients. Aaaaand they cleaned up after!

My friend had no idea about this surprise! We were all at her apartment when she got home and the look on her face was priceless! Her first words were: "Why are there men in my kitchen??" Hilarious. Once she got over the fact of the random men cooking dinner for us, she was blown away.

Dinner was to die for. Here was our menu:

Appetizer: Roasted garlic artichoke spread, portobello mushroom, roasted tomatoes, feta cheese, finished with tomato vodka cream sauce, green and black olive foccacia bread point

Salad: green italian romaine creamy italian caesar salad with italian salami, cucumbers, pickled red onions and light citrus glaze, crispy parmesan bits

Main course: Braised beef short rib off the bone in a light demi glaze served over creamy sundried tomato risotto, carrot puree, alongside a stuffed pasta shell with broccolini spinach, shrimp and ricotta cheeses

Dessert: Light macerated fresh fruit in a sweet amaretto liquor served over basil ice cream

It was such a fun night! It was my first time experiencing in-home chefs and boy if I was a millionaire I think I would have a live-in chef ;) This would be the perfect thing to do for a bachelorette party or a fun night in with friends!

Weekending!

This weekend was such a great one. After finishing a week full of exams, I met my friend to get pedis. In the middle of our pedis, mom texted me, "Y'all come over, I have a bottle of champagne waiting." My favorite words. Ok, fiiiiine, I will come over and drink champagne ;) 

After champagne and porch sitting in the amazing fall weather, we met our hubs at Chipotle which just opened. I was excited to see what all the hype was about. My burrito was yummy but I still don't think I would prefer it over Moe's. I don't like that fact that you have to pay for chips, and I wasn't crazy about their salsa. Sorry! #loyalmoescustomer

Saturday we woke up bright and early and were off to our 3rd wedding of October. We stopped half-way at our favorite mall in Chapel Hill for lunch at the spot of our first date. And we stocked up on Christmas decorations from Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. We were soo excited! G asked if we could go ahead and decorate for Christmas yesterday. As much as I wanted to say yes, I decided it at least needs to be November before we do that! What can we say, we loooove Christmas!

The wedding was at Alamance Country Club in Burlington, NC and it was sooo gorg. The groom was one of G's former UNC baseball teammates so it was SO great to see all the guys and their pretty women. Whenever they are all together it's sure to be a good time. The groom is from Chicago so they had authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza flown in the day of the wedding. It was so amazing, my mouth is still watering. They also had an awesome band and the dance floor was packed the whole night.

UNC baseball boys

The world's best wedding photographer!! I love her!

 Our college friend Matt Harvey who pitches for the NY Mets. You HAVE to watch this hilarious video of him on Jimmy Fallon last season.

Such a fun weekend celebrating our friends Cydney and Colin! Back to a week full of books. Happy Monday lovelies!