weekend recap Archives - Page 12 of 21

:: monday things ::

April 4, 2016

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

thanks for letting me take a break from the blog last week.

every night after work we were having to run errands for our construction project in the basement – and the whole thing will likely be done this coming Friday! I’m so excited.
I can talk about it now because it’s finally almost over.

we have a large basement level with a big living room and our laundry room. we decided to take the back half of the basement and put in a bedroom and a bathroom, and move the laundry to underneath the stairs.

here is a progress pic of the bathroom, and I will do a before and after when they are done!

I’m really glad we bit the bullet and did the renovation – we both are so happy with everything so far.

(and the adorable Irish men doing the work are the nicest people ever with the best accents and I just want to drink all day with them)

luckily my friend that lives right around the corner from us has been letting me wash my clothes at her place on Fridays while her and her husband are at work in exchange for walking her pup (slash her great dane pup walking me)

surprising Kipper for a quick hello.

We had a great time at our friends wedding this weekend in Evanston.

It snowed on and off all day Saturday and when it wasn’t snowing it was crystal blue skies – strangest weather ever. And then Sunday it was sunny and 75. Of course. Because that makes sense.

worlds most comfortable dress, worlds most uncomfortable shoes, but they’re so cute I just have to.

the shoes worked GREAT in the snow. it was just perfect.

Brunch @ Corridor Brewery with friends on Sunday

the croque madame waffle was insane.

followed by a big day (and a big bill) at Home Depot for more basement items.

we got this vanity for the bathroom and I love it.

WHAT is Katy Perry wearing at the ACM’s?

horrible.

my new Rocksbox set arrived and I love it!

anything Kendra Scott is always a favorite, and the color of these earrings is gorgeous.
I also love the Y-shaped necklace, I don’t have anything like that already so I’m excited to wear it.
use code tayloroshayxoxo for your first month free!

one of my favorite instagrams of the week :

and also, the whole “turn on notifications” scare was then completely uneventful.

which I’m happy about.

However I am NOT happy about the snapchat update.

can’t deal with it! whyyyyy did they do this!?

this is where bloggers say “add me on snapchat”,

but those words will never be uttered here.

I embarrass myself enough publicly with the blog,

the real sadness and pathetic things displayed on my snapchat are things only a select few can see and continue to be my friend.

Lifestyle, weekend recap

:: when I became best friends with a RH ::

February 2, 2016

sooooo if you follow me on instagram you may have seen my insanely professional stalker collage of my meeting with Lady Sonja Morgan where we became BFF’s at SoulCycle.

okay so perhaps we didn’t become friends and it was more like me trying not to stare in the mirror the entire time at her over on her bike front and center next to the man friend she arrived with.

you know this was the highlight of my weekend in every way – so I will recap the entire experience for you 🙂

on Friday after lunch and wandering around for a bit, we went to the SoulCycle on the Upper East Side for a 5:00 class.

we got there early so my friends could do the first-timer-paperwork (which I didn’t have to do because I am a SoulCycle expert who did it ONCE and couldn’t feel my crotch for a week and my right leg for two. not my left, but my right thigh was torture for two weeks. I’m a spin-master)

there were only about 2 other people there since we were early, and suddenly, my ears perked up IMMEDIATELY at the sound of a very familiar voice.

I look over and BE STILL MY BRAVO BEATING HEART ITS SONJA!!!

expert stalking photo exhibit A

she was with an older man friend, which, clearly was not a lover because he was definitely over the age of 25.

so, I hear her voice, and slowly turn to her just sitting there no make up waiting to enjoy spin class with me. luckily, one of my friends is as big of a housewives fan as I am, and (in the same mumbled tone that chandler uses when saying IM TRAPPED IN AN ATM VESTIBULE WITH JILL GOODACRE)

I turn to her and say

“sonja. morgan. is. stitting. directly. to. our. left.”

SO. we go stand in the locker room to put our shoes on and I am KICKING myself for not going over and sitting down next to her to put my spin shoes on.

she was CLEARLY waiting for me to sit next to her in that big open spot to her left.

luckily my friend stealthily snapped this stalker pic for photographic evidence of my second housewives sighting

(my first was about 4 years ago Vicki walked past me on Hubbard street in Chicago…. once again, the voice was heard before face was seen – Lord knows you can’t miss Vicki’s voice).

….. but I digress ….

SO. I wanted so badly to be a freak and ask for a picture, but she had no make up on and was in gym clothes and I figured no way in hell would she be pleased about that. I was scared I’d forever have a bad housewife memory if her reaction was not a good one.

so instead I just watched her as much as possible in the mirror during class.

it was the fastest 45 minutes ever, and I don’t know if its because the biggest loser contestant instructor lady was so motivating and the music was awesome and I was having fun whilst sweating my ass of, or because I knew a Real Housewife was in my immediate presence, but I would bet its the Housewife.

theres nothing like the high from a bravo sighting to get you pumped.

I also did my best to channel my inner Unicorn for the whole class.

so, she looked great. no make up and in just leggings and a white tee.

her skin is fabulous.

she had her glasses on the top of her head and kept messing with them just like she does on the tv.

and, biggest shocker, NO MISSING FRONT TOOTH so hopefully she’s finally found a dentist and solved that problem for good 🙂

anyways, the weekend in NYC was great.

one of the highlights was eating at Stanton Social where I ate forever ago and just had to go back strictly for the french onion soup dumplings.

they are insanely good.

I wore my new BB Dakota Capelet and love it.

:: bb dakota capelet ::

we did lots of shopping saturday after brunch at mercer kitchen,

for brunch and shopping I wore my fringe sweatshirt – it’s on sale (and I snagged it on super sale with a code, runs TTS)

:: fringe sweatshirt ::

then more dining and galavanting about.

so, that is the story of the weekend I became best friends with a new york housewife.

Lifestyle, weekend recap

:: weekend things ::

January 25, 2016

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

image
I started a post Sunday morning with weekend links, but never posted it!
so this is a combo of that and a few Monday things!

Friday, I went to Barnes and Noble with a gift card from Christmas (I love, love going to bookstores – thank goodness we actually still have one open that I can go to!)
and I picked up Gwyneth’s cookbook It’s All Good.
Natalie is one of my favorite people for recipes, and after she talked about the cookbook and I saw the roasted cauliflower and chickpea recipe, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it !

I made the veggies friday night and OH MY GOODNESS they were amazing.
Kip even devoured them too!
The cookbook looks great, and while there are some recipes with some ingredients I’m not sure I could tackle, there are just as many that I definitely can.
And since the veggies were so amazing, I will definitely be trying something else of hers soon too!

// crane + canopy bedding // it’s all good cookbook // homegoods lamp // pottery barn hydrangea that you can’t kill

I had a very JLo filled Sunday, reading InStyle and watching Monster In Law.
If it is ever on TV, I always watch – it’s one of my absolute favorite movies.

My Emily Ley planner arrived last week and I LOVE IT.
I love that their are full pages for each of the days.

and it came in a super fancy pants box too that you can use to store stuff…. because lord knows I don’t have random boxes and junk all over my house as is.

links for the weekend :

1. The 30 Day Closet Cleanout
all I am seeing is closet clean out stuff, but especially because of this Marie Kondo lady everyone keeps talking about!

2. Jordan Spieth’s New Dallas Mansion

not my style decor, but in love with the brick and beams

3. This cake is next on my must bake list

4. I need this alarm clock

and some under $100 finds :

1. zella on sale at nordstrom, including tanks and jackets I’ve posted in the past!

2. the cutest lace BB dakota top for now + late

3. faux fur wellie warmers for under $30

4. the perfect striped tee, on sale too!

5, and I have this capelet blazer and this red option on their way to try out, both under $100.

also, my co worker had a copy of The Revenant – she somehow gets all the movies – and it is playing right now and I’m about to vomit and telling my husband he needs to go watch this somewhere else because I am having SEVERE anxiety and nausea and it is not helping my bedtime Sunday Scaries.

I love you Leo….. but not like this. Not. Like. This.

Lifestyle, weekend recap

:: weekend, resolutions, and things ::

January 11, 2016

image
hope you all had a great weekend!

I was home sick for the majority of the weekend. womp womp.
In a way, a cold weekend in January is the time to be stuck on the couch, and I slept and watched TV pretty much three days straight. Somehow I am still exhausted though – it’s like I couldn’t get enough sleep no matter what, but I am feeling a bit better today.

One thing I saw during my pinterest-perusings was A LOT of Valentine’s Day things.

PUMP. THE. BRAKES people!
I just took my Christmas tree down! Today!

Can we at least get two weeks or something reasonable before we move on to the next Holiday?

I haven’t even posted my New Years Resolutions! we can’t be talking about Valentine’s Day!

so…. a week late…. here are some of my resolutions.

I like to keep things simple….. I’m a low expectations kinda girl 🙂

cook more

I make dinner for us every night but it’s simple things. I don’t try new recipes as much as I used to, so I’m hoping to spend Sundays trying out new dinners and desserts like I used to.

read more

I go through reading phases…..

now that its wintertime hopefully I’ll be jumping back into it.

I’m currently reading this, and I read Amy Poehler at the beach and loved it.

workout outside the house / more classes

I already work out as much as I would like to – at least 5 days a week, sometimes 6.

I really need to start upping the workouts though; trying new things and pushing myself more.

As you know I watch my shows when I workout at home, so a lot of the workouts aren’t super intense and I’m not seeing results like I used to.

To help kick past the plateau I want to go to workout classes 2 days a week, which for me sounds terrible. AHHH. I hate leaving the house to workout and hate going to a class alone. I currently go to a Pure Barre class once a week, and I only even started doing that when I went with a friend for weeks before every going alone. It’s time for me to up it to 2, or to try a new workout class in general (but no way in hell will I try a new one alone, so Emily this ones back on you again to take me!)

no social media within an hour of bedtime

I did this last week and it was great. I had a much easier time falling asleep.

I’ve gotten back into reading for a bit before bed and it’s helped.

less tv before bed

I meannnnnn we all know I’m not going to watch less television.

Why would I do that? Why would I do something so horrible to myself?

So, while I will still watch nine thousand of hours of TV per week (barely exaggerating), I WILL work on having the TV be off for at least an hour before bed along with no computer/instagram/etc. except it’ll never work on wednesdays because the nights I write coffee talk go really late and that’s why I make absolutely no sense. I don’t know what my excuse is for the rest of the time.

make better use of the weekends

this is obviously self explanatory, but I am a lazy S.O.B. a lot of the time and its like I work all week waiting for Friday and then somehow it’s Sunday night again.

I did practically nothing this weekend, but had the sick excuse, so hopefully next weekend I’ll do a bit more 🙂

and some blog related goals….

prepare posts in advance

I’m just the worst at this. I am such a damn procrastinator and night owl.

get better with photography

I am just literally the worst at this. No explanation needed, you’ve seen it first hand.

comment on other blogs/reply to readers more

Notice the theme: I am just the worst at this. But if I prepare my posts in advance more I’ll have more time during the week to read my favorite blogs and comment and reply to people 🙂

do more fashion posts

I told myself I would do that this year….. but it didn’t really happen. I’m a sissy pants and get self conscious so I half-ass it with the mirror selfies…. we’ll see what comes of it…..

:: bedroom updates ::

nope, not exciting blogger-esque bedroom updates like I’d hope.

realistic FML WTF OMG crap up in hurr.

soooo this is the current status of our bedroom while I watch the Golden Globes.

goodness gracious DON’T EVEN get me started.

hopefully the next update will include a beautiful photograph of our bed with the perfect pillows and a beautiful floral arrangement on the nightstand.

:: grand cayman ::

a reader asked about recommendations for grand cayman last week

(and look at me making good on it – check that resolution box!)

we have been going there for 10+ years and I absolutely LOVE it.

it is possibly my favorite place ever.

as for where to stay, anywhere on 7 Mile Beach – but definitely stay on 7 Mile Beach!

For restaurants :

Calypso is a must – and get the sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

It is heaven on a plate. Heaven.

We also love Deckers, The Wharf, Papagallo, and Grand Old House.

That is just a few – the restaurants in the Caymans are insanely amazing and we always go to the same ones instead of venturing to new ones that we hear such wonderful things about. You really can’t go wrong!

For activities, I am lazy as hell 🙂 We sit around on the beach A LOT.

It’s an awesome place to do nothing.

Oh, I rent paddle boards, that is always a good one.

But definitely do Stingray City. It’s an amazing experience and year after year it never gets old – smack in the middle of the ocean, a sandbar with tons of wild stingrays that swim right up to you and you feed and hold.

in the picture below, all of the dark shadows are stingrays.

If you can, and you have a group big enough, charter your own boat. (boat behind me in the photo is not the one we chartered – you can get smaller simpler ones!)

Getting out there in the morning before any of the big Red Sail Sports and other boats come out is one of the most amazing experiences ever. Just you and the stingrays.

:: obsession ::

I am a yogurt freak. Like, I can’t get enough and I’ve been eating greek yogurt with granola for breakfast every day for years.

I was making a salad dressing for a new recipe (I’ll share tomorrow!) that needed plain yogurt and they only had the giant tubs.

The recipe also called for honey, so I figured the Honey Noosa yogurt would work.

UMMMM I now will be eating this yogurt plain for dessert.

It’s INSANE.

I just saw online that they have SALTED CARAMEL and I think I may die and go to heaven when I get my hands on it.

:: LEO ::

ummm I’m watching Leo win this golden globe and give his speech and I keep seeing Katy Perry…..

she’s in the front not even looking at him and listening to his speech.

GIIRRRLLLL you better check yourself!

PAY ATTENTION. LEONARDO DICAPRIO JUST WON.

RUDE.

and YAY LEOOOO!!!!!!! but I don’t think I can see that movie, no offense.

:: KTHANKSBYE ::

mmmmmmmk thats all for today.

have a great monday!

Lifestyle, weekend recap

:: monogram monday ::

November 30, 2015

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend!

I am exhausted but it was a great couple of days.

We capped the weekend off with our final wedding of 2015 – it was absolutely gorgeous and so, so much fun.

I literally barely moved yesterday…… I feel so worthless after four days of eating and drinking….. but it was worth it! I’m ready for some healthy foods and a break from the booze for the next few weeks!

Here are a few photos from the wedding this weekend :

the bride was so stunning; her dress was incredible!!!

I wore this dress and absolutely loved it!

:: jill stuart gown ::

and now,

a personalized find for monogram monday.

this blanket scarf is super cute, has tons of color options, and is priced under $50!

:: personalized blanket scarf ::

Lifestyle, weekend recap

:: weekend recap ::

November 2, 2015

image

I hope you all had a wonderful (Halloween) weekend!

Kip and I went home to Atlanta for the weekend for my sisters birthday, brother-in-laws birthday, and to spend Halloween with my nephew!

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

the weather on Friday could not have been more gorgeous!

and we had a night out to celebrate the two birthdays

my sister is expecting her second baby next year and couldn’t look any cuter with her little bump.

my nephew was the cutest little hamburger ever, with the fries and Hamburgler completing the family costume.

nance pants even temporarily joined in on the festivities.

kip and I borrowed old costumes of my sister and brother-in-laws, Ghostbusters.

we had so much fun handing out candy to all the kids in the neighborhood after the parade

it was a great weekend to be home.

A few favorite items that have been in heavy rotation :

:: JCrew Factory gingham button down :: fit : order down a size!

:: articles of society ripped jeans :: only $54! fit: order down a size!

this button down is so soft and perfectly thin. I don’t know why I waited so long to order it. as always, every week it is on sale so make sure you scoop it up during one of the 30-50% off sale days.

articles of society makes my favorite inexpensive jeans. order down a size! they run big.

they have the most amazing amount of stretch in them, making them hands down the most comfortable jeans I’ve ever owned.

and not as fashionable, but my favorite workout tank.

I got a couple more – because half the battle is looking cute!