TGIF, Battle at Bristol!

Battle at Bristol

It is no secret that I am a Kentucky fan true and true. But, I was so immediately attracted to my now husband, that I completely ignored the fact that he was a Tennessee fan, and from Knoxville. I've learned to adapt, and I've learned to wear orange, but I will never put aside my love for the Wildcats. 

Anyways, this weekend is the Battle at Bristol. If you aren't familiar with that, Virginia Tech and Tennessee are going to be playing a football game inside Bristol Motor Speedway. Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds. My in-laws had to reserve tickets THREE years ago. Needless to say, the hype around this game has been going on for years, and the weekend is finally upon us. I'm hoping it will be a lot of fun, but an 8:30 kickoff makes for a long day. 

Kentucky Football 

Speaking of good ol' Kentucky, how about that game last weekend?? How many more days is it until basketball season? I am not a fair weather fan. I will cheer my heart out for Kentucky on all occasions, but that does not mean it is not disappointing to see a team flat out blow a 25 point lead. I don't act like I know enough to try to point blame on whose fault it is or isn't, but for the first time, I do feel pretty confident that it is a coaching problem, not a player problem. Kentucky has one of the best recruiting classes they've had in a long time, and the first half last weekend proved it. Then comes the second half, and it's like they were thrown back out there with no direction. Maybe they were. Here's to hoping for a miracle against the Gators tomorrow! 

Painted Furniture

I mentioned last week we were going to paint our very small foyer - and take off the existing wall paper. Y'all, it was hard work. We are very pleased with the results though! In addition to painting the walls I also decided to paint a small table we had in that area that served as a catch all for mail and keys. It was originally black, and I am just not a lover of dark colors. Honestly, I hate black furniture. I think it can look nice, but in my home I just want things light and bright. So I painted it, and it turned out awesome! I'm not really sure what I expected to happen, but it definitely looks better than I could have imagined. Naturally now I want to paint everything. 

Gilmore Girls

I am SO excited for the Gilmore Girls revival! I have been re-watching the entire series from the beginning, and it is just so good. I tend to re-watch most of the series every fall, and it is even more excited this year knowing that in late November I'll have new episodes to watch! I am definitely team Logan, maybe Jess. Dean drives me crazy, especially in these earlier seasons. What about you? 

Corn Hole Bags Galore

A few weeks ago, a girl on a local Facebook page was looking for someone to make custom corn hole bags. I'm always trying to have a little extra cash, so I thought I'd volunteer. (I definitely undercharged her.) Then I decided to add them to my Etsy shop, just to see what would happen and the orders started pouring in. And by pouring in, I mean four orders in two days. But still, pretty good traction for a new item. So I spent most of Monday getting all of the embroidery on the bags, and Tuesday and Wednesday assembling. I love to craft and make things, but there is only so much that I can make for myself, so it is really fun to be able to still put that to use, but for other people. I'm sure my husband appreciates it too. Is Corn Hole a thing where you live? I think people also call it bags. It is a staple at all tailgates around here, and barbecues, and back yards. Basically any time at least four people are outside hanging out, someone is bound to breakout the Corn Hole boards sooner or later.

What are your plans this weekend?

Have a great weekend, y'all!

xoxo

linking up with:

Oh Hey Friday | Five on Friday | xoxo Rebecca | High Five for Friday | Friday Favorites 
The Wednesday Showcase

TGIF, it's football time in the Bluegrass!

okay, okay, I know, its football time everywhere :)

Football Tailgating Season

Y'all. There is nothing I love more than a good tailgate. I love to plan them, I love to go to them, I just love everything about it. We didn't get to go to the UK or UT games last weekend because we had to  meet with the wedding planner (see below), which was pretty much the opposite of a football game. This weekend we're heading to the Tennessee v. Oklahoma game in Knoxville and I am so excited. Not only is this going to be a big game for Tennessee, but they are also doing "Checker Neyland" again, and it was a lot of fun last year. From what I understand it started as a big push from a couple of fans to get everyone to wear either white or orange, depending on where your seat is, so that from far away it looks like a checkerboard. And let me tell you, it. was. awesome. It actually worked, and worked well. And honestly you didn't have to be that far away to see what was going on. Basically from anywhere inside the stadium you could look across and it looked like a checkerboard - I was very impressed. Here are a few pictures from last year, and I'll be sure to document it again this year because it seriously looked photo-shopped it was done so well.

Wedding Planner

After having a couple  lot of moments of extreme stress over trying to plan our wedding and trying to coordinate everything that needed to be done, as well as keeping all important parties informed, I finally decided that we definitely needed someone for day of coordination, and preferably someone who could help out a little bit along the way. Luckily my mom was able to talk to a few people at home and found a woman who can do as little or as much as we need, which is perfect. We met with her last Saturday and I feel 100x better about everything. There were definitely still some stressful moments because me, my finance, my mom, and both of my fiance's parents were there - so there were a lot of opinions. But, I could tell she was working towards what I  wanted to make happen and not getting bogged down with all of their ideas as well. I'm hoping this will be a much smoother process and all of my winter wedding fears will subside. Well, most of them at least :)

Unpacking

I have finally (almost) finished unpacking from moving out of my apartment and it is so nice to come home and not see boxes and boxes everywhere. I also did a major purge of some clothes and my closet, at least for now, is very organized and looks great. I invested in getting all new hangers for my dresses because I just think it looks so much better when all of your hangers match, if anything it can give the illusion of organization. I'll try to include a few pictures soon. Working with a small closet is always a struggle, and especially trying to use the empty space on the sides that I can't really get to. If y'all have any suggestions, it is still a work in progress and I am always looking for input!

Goodbye to the Pastels :(

While I was unpacking and getting my closet organized, I also started putting away all of my summer clothes. It was definitely a good thing because it cleared up some space in my closet, but I just hated to put them all away. Don't get me wrong, I love boots and oversized sweaters as much as the next girl, but I love bright colors, pastels, seersucker and sun dresses. I am also an extreme rule follower, so when Labor Day came around I knew I had to put them all away for now. That being said, it is barely going to get to 70 today, so I guess mayyybe it was time to pull out my fall clothes anyways. 

BigBrother

Do any of y'all watch Big Brother on CBS? My mom and I have literally been watching it since the first season - which I can not believe was 17 years ago! I've since been able to get the finance into it, to the point that he sometimes is more interested in it than I am. They are down to the final 5 now and I honestly don't know if I like any of the ones that are left. I kind of felt like this season there weren't any major stand outs that I was really pulling for. I do think John is hilarious though! If you watch it, what are your thoughts??

Have a Great Weekend, Y'all! Go CATS! 

xoxo

linking up with:

Oh Hey Friday | Five on Friday |  Casual I Friday | xoxo Rebecca | High Five for Friday | Friday Favorites  

Wednesday Showcase | Turn It Up Tuesday

TGIF, go Vols!

Happy Friday, Y'all! This has been such a crazy week, but it has also been so great - let's get started!

1. Tailgates

When we were planning out which UK games and which UT games to go to we planned for mostly games at the beginning of the season so that we would have more time on the weekends as it got closer to exams to study. Well, this is the last game of the season for us and I am so excited about it! Not because it is the last, but because it is going to be so much fun. As you may have gathered from yesterday's post, I love tailgating. What's not to love? Great food, drinks, and company! This was the scene a few weeks ago -

2. Writing Requirement, almost Done!

I'm sure all law schools have some kind of writing requirement so those of you in law school are probably somewhat familiar with it. We have to write a paper that is about 6500 words, which works out to somewhere between 25 and 30 pages. Let me say, that is a lot of writing. I finally turned in a first full draft this week and it is such a relief!

3. My BareMinerals Arrived 

Way before (okay, a few years before) Birchbox and Ipsy and all of the other boxes were around I started getting my BareMinerals make up delivered to me. This was mostly out of necessity because there was not a Sephora or Bare Minerals store where I lived, but I have come to love it. Apparently some people don't know this even exists - even some of my friends who wear Bare Minerals - but it is great! Every 4 months, I receive the powder foundation, mineral veil and primer. I wear make up somewhat regularly, but I don't make my self late just to put it on. Every 4 months works great for me because of that, but you can also get it every 2 months or every 3 months if you wear makeup more frequently. Because I only get it ever 4 months it is always such a great surprise and my October shipment finally came this week :)

4. The Shopping Freeze is OVER

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I put a self imposed spending freeze on myself. For no real reason I put this weekend as the dead line (it was over a month), and it is finally over! Sometimes I get in a routine of ordering a lot of things online or going shopping - what girl doesn't, right? So every now and then I just put a spending freeze on myself to force me to stop and think about what I actually want and what I actually need. Since it is over, it means I will probably be ordering this jacket verrrrry soon!

5. Payday!

I mean, let's be real - who doesn't love payday?? Lucky for me that my shopping freeze just happens to be over too!

How was your week?

Have a Great Weekend, Y'all!
xoxo

Tailgating Essentials

We're about halfway through the football season and I have already been responsible for four tailgates. "Responsible" makes it sound like a bad thing, let me clarify, I have already been able to enjoy planning four tailgates. Not to mention the dozens and dozens I have attended and planned in the past.
Let me tell you, it takes some planning, but it is all SO worth it. Here are a few things that I never go without.

Large Tote Bag or Basket

At some point I may include a true "Tailgating Checklist" which would include a lot of small things like napkins, forks, trashbags, etc. and you need somewhere to put all of those things. I have a big Lilly tote/cooler or an LL Bean tote that I usually stick to. I think the Large or Extra Large is ideal for the LL Bean totes, I use the Large and have never had to worry about having enough space. You need something that is big enough to hold all of the paper products and miscellaneous items you need as well as any day-of odds and ends you want to toss in. A bag or basket would be fine because ideally this will remain in or near the car, so it doesn't need to be super easy to carry or anything like that. Here are a few options that I think would be perfect.

1 | 2 | 3

Cooler

There are literally hundreds of coolers, but some are better than others. My boyfriend has a Yeti, well actually he has two, and we always use those. They are definitely on the more expensive end, but those suckers work. They work so well that we can actually pack the cooler the night before with ice and it will still be cold for the entire day of tailgating.
If we are going to grill and have frozen/cold food we try to take two coolers. It's not that I'm all that worried about cross contamination, but sometimes we just need the extra space.
I also have a Lilly tote cooler that I will occasionally put my champ and OJ in, mostly because I want to take any excuse I have to use it. Depending on what else we're bringing, sometimes this serves as our catch-all bag as well.

Tundra (45) | Roadie 

Hand Sanitizer

One Word. Port-a-Potties. Some do have that weird hand sanitizer foam in them, but that is not something you want to count on. This is one easy item to toss in your bag and one that you will definitely be glad you did!

Food

Recently we have been plagued with noon kick-offs which makes it much more difficult to plan food wise. Depending on how early we want to get up is really the deciding factor. Last year for the Tennessee-South Carolina game we were in Knoxville and started tailgating at 7am. This tailgate included breakfast sausage, biscuits, and hashbrowns - all on the grill - and it was great. One game this year we just picked up a couple dozen donuts and some beer cheese and that worked out fine as well.
When the game is set for a 3:30 or 7:30 kick-off it is much easier to plan out what kind of food and how much to bring. It is important to make sure you have enough food to go with all of the drinking that is probably going to occur. We always tend to overdo it on food, but I would much rather that be the case than to have too little.

Drinks

This is also something that definitely depends on what time the game starts/what time you want to start tailgating. As I mentioned, we have had a lot of noon game this year so I have been having a lot of mimosas and bellinis - no complaints here. We generally try to have a small variety of drinks, usually some beer and occasionally bourbon, but again, it really depends on the length of the tailgate.

Water 

Because duh. But seriously, you need to bring water or gatorade or something that isn't alcohol. This is good for hydration, but also sometimes you just want something else to drink and this is often forgotten when you are picking up things last minute.

Layers 

Tailgating and football games are an all day affair. At least in Kentucky, Tennessee, and most of the South that means the temperature can change by twenty degrees from the time you start tailgating to the time the game is over - especially towards the end of the season. Enter: layers. A vest will be your best friend. I have found that as long as it is not forecasted to be literally freezing, a vest is generally enough as long as you are dressed relatively warm otherwise.  It is so much easier to take a vest off and on when you get hot or cold and it is much lighter to carry around. Scarves can also be a key player in dressing for the day and keeping you warm when the sun is coming up and when the sun is going down.

Check out some other great southern traditions at: Celebrate Southern Link-Up!
What are your tailgate essentials?

Have a Great Day, Y'all!
xoxo