Birthday Bash 2011

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Grabbed those ADORABLE sayings from pinterest. (LOVE IT!)

So as everyone knows, I decided to celebrate my birthday over the 8th of October.

Opening weekend of Keeneland. Weather was perfect.

I was beyond excited.

Friday all my Western KY girls were coming in.

My LEX girls were figuring out last touches to their outfits.

My brother was premixing some of the Breakfast.

I had some unexpected personal drama during the day and was so READY to let loose!

Friday the girls started running a little late.

So I ran some last minute errands and FINALLY found my outfit.

Tanned. Saw an old friend.

Then came home to wait for them to arrive!!

Just the sound of them banging up the stairs made me beyond excited!

They were finally here and I could finally let it all out.

Please don't think I don't have AMAZING friends in LEX because I do.

Katie, Becca, Ashton, Susanna and Thurman are SO good to me.

They drag me out of the house, wipe my tears, listen to me bitch, make me laugh,

deal with my shopping habits and always include me!!

I would NEVER trade any of them!

But my Western KY girls KNOW me, the REAL me.

Inside & Out

The type of friends that you don't have to say how you feel because they already know.

And between work, my Nana, and stupid drama I was at a breaking point.

I am SOO glad they got to come up here!

SATURDAY

The Itinerary went like this:

9:15 Get up

11:00 AM Breakfast

12:00 Leave for Keeneland

4:30 Leave Keeneland to come home and change

6:00 Dinner reservation on Sal's Patio

Then down to Drakes and OUT!

(Keep in mind that was the planned itinerary):

9:45 We all Finally Got up

11:20 Arrived at Micah's

11:25 First Mimosa

12:30 Left for Keeneland

5:00 Left Keeneland

6:10 Arrive at Sal's

So YEAH, of course we were running a little BEHIND.

But you have to LOVE  that.

That is just how we are!

Breakfast was awesome!

The brother made breakfast casserole, fruit, and whole wheat toast.

Of course with mimosas!

Keeneland was great. It was beautiful.

The club house tickets were amazing and I was so thankful!

After seeing General Admission I would have been miserable!

I won $6.55 on a race!

But didn't even break even!

Alison, Rachel, Me, Lauren



Me & Lauren



Rachel and Me



We actually arrived to dinner before I thought we would..

It helps just having to change and freshen up.

I made the reservation for 12 people and we actually ran out of chairs.

I felt bad everyone couldn't sit with us.

But the group there made my birthday!

Dinner was one of my favorite times during the day!!

Me and Alison

Katie J & Me

We headed to Drakes.

Where we had a good time but decided to migrate downtown.

Tin Roof is always my favorite.

So we stopped there, had some shots and dances!!

I  met up with an old good friend, which is always nice!

We then rode the TROLLEY (which I am sad we didn't take photos)

Got off and walked to Wildcat Saloon.

I had a GREAT time!

Katie & Becca in the back. Rachel, Lauren & Me @ Drakes

Me & Brother

Rachel, Lauren & Me @ Tin Roof

Having my friends around was great!

We had so many laughs, cries and wonderful memories!

I am truly blessed!

Thanks to all of you who came out!!!

XOXOXOXO

not perfect

I have had full intention of blogging this month, pretty much everyday it has crossed my mind. The good stuff, the bad stuff and the ugly stuff... Since this whole blogging experience started, I feel like my life is in the fast lane and I just can't seem to slow it down.

This blog has turned into my activity planner instead of a place I can sit back and reflect and share some laughs with you all. But when I am rushing to just post something it is hard to get to the part of how I am actually feelings and what thoughts are actually crossing my mind. So now I have a little time and I need to get somethings out!

The worst news I have received lately, that weighs heavy on my heart, is the fact that my grandma has been diagnosed with lymphoma. My Nana is the only living grandparent I still have and to be honest, after she made it through loosing the love of her life, I never thought anything else could slow her down. They say that older spouses usually pass on in a close period of time. So after the 6 month and then the year of my grandfather being gone, I realized even more that she was the strongest lady I have ever known. I'm praying everyday that she can overcome this. They are not sure of treatment yet but I will keep you posted. Three weeks ago she shopped all day with my Aunt around Nashville, today, she can barely walk across the parking lot to go into the doctors office. The part that scares me is when is the time that you just give up? She has seen 2 out 4 grand kids get married and now has 3 great grand kids. She lives at least 2 hours from family in their old house out in the country. I pray that she is not giving up and God is giving her the strength inside that she so desperately needs.
My Nana is definitely one of a kind. She still has dark hair even with her older age, she is a little lady in height and even less in weight. Flipping through child hood memories she is in EVERY one of them. She made us Santa's for Christmas decorations, made angels for the tree, Easter bunny baskets for us to put our eggs in. She is the best cook I have ever known and I can't remember one time (even to this day) that she hasn't brought a TON of desserts to a family function and had little dogie bags already packed for us to take back with us. She made it to everyone one of my proms, my high school graduation, my college graduation, and any school/church play I ever did. My cousins, brother and I would go to her house to play outside in the barn, get dirty or go in the house and play cards and laugh all night. She was always the cool grandma who stayed up late. I can't imagine what I would do without her and I already regret ever taking her for granted. Please say a prayer for her as much as you can!


My mom moved this past weekend. I guess part of growing up is realizing that family comes first and even if it meant spending my birthday packing boxes and unloading cars, there is a time when you have to let go of what you want and help others (especially your family) Due to my mom's MS the idea of her trying to do all that alone scared my brother and I so we had to rush over. We walked in Friday and realized she had not packed a single box. I immediately got overwhelmed and I think my brother almost had an anxiety attack. Luckily, my brother is a classified mover because he has done it so many times and he went into a full force tornado and had it looking pretty good once we left Sunday night.
Half way through the day Sunday I became overwhelmed, tired and just over it. I was grouchy to say the least and started to take it out on everyone. I called my best friend and after she gave me the uplifting words I needed, I went back in the house and finished helping. After the last load we went to the car to go eat. Since we had a total of 3 vehicles there, we were all split up. My 8 year old nephew chose to ride with me, even though my brother (his favorite) wasn't. It blessed my heart over and over. The whole ride there, I just kept thanking God that he had put such a special little man in my life. He is so smart and such as good kid even with all he has been through. He talked the whole way back to the house and then to eat. That right there, made my whole birthday!!

Through life I hope to be more and more thankful for the little things. For the nice gestures from a stranger, your best friend being there for you, your nephew choosing to ride with you when he has the pick of the family, receiving texts from my dad just to let me know how much he misses me, keepsakes made from the hands of a loving grandmother or a Saturday night where my brother just brings over pizza and we watch Modern Family.

"I am not perfect. My life is not perfect. My family is not perfect. My friends aren't perfect. But all of it together is PERFECT FOR ME!! "

XOXOXO
Have a blessed and thankful day!!

Fondness of Friday Forever!

"A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon"
(My fortune cookie yesterday)

IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!!!

Forgive my poor attempt of being cute as my title.

But it is so corny I may keep rolling with it!

No Shame here as many of you know!!

Well, today I am ALL smiles!!

Even though my sleeping pattern is less than normal.

I feel great!!!

Work is going okay, have alot of stuff in the works..

As many sales people say!

And appreciate anything new I may be getting in these next couple of months.

Not to mention at work today I got surprised!

My manager and the girls up front got me cupcakes and a card for my Bday!

They even sang to me :)

Yes, that's right.. BIRTHDAY!

Not as excited as I have been in the past.

What are really supposed to do with turning 24?

However, I am excited to celebrate next weekend.

All my western KY girls are coming up! & Mixed with my girls here!

Everyone better strap in for this ride!!

Heading to the opening weekend of Keeneland

Going out that night for dinner and exploring the town.

And maybe a little more Keeneland Sunday?

Another major topic is my addiction of SHOPPING!

Thise close to my birthday, it makes no sense.

But I stopped and saw the Kardashian line and had to purchase!!

I have also been checking out some lines at Kohl's like Lauren Conrad and J. LO.

Craving some of it in my life very soon as well!!

This weekend I am helping my dear mommy move for the 1000000 time!

Then coming back Saturday for my bff's wedding!!

And then SUNDAY is the real BIRTHDAY!

But as previously discussed, no SUNDAY FUNDAY is in the works!

Have a blessed day!!

I will leave with this OLD song that I heard walking downtown last weekend!!

Best believe I had to stop and give a solo!!

To young to be feeling this OLD!!

I know your thinking.. "too old?" She has no idea. but really I feel old!!! Maybe it is because my birthday is coming up but I have been reminded in a couple of ways lately..

*Sunday Fundays-- So I met Brandy at Drakes for some "quick" afternoon drinks.. 3 hours later we had picked up her Hubby and was heading out to meet more people. After 3 more hours I was completely inappropriate. Needless to say after eating almost nothing all day and then heading to McDonald's at 1:00 AM I was embarrassed of my self, and not to mention my diet torn to shreds and my calorie count shattered the glass of the tallest building! After waking up Monday and HATING myself, I have officially sworn off Sunday Fundays unless Monday is holiday!! For the simple fact that I am just too old!!

*Jackets-- This weekend it wasn't cold but it wasn't warm. This imposed a big problem when I was trying to get ready Friday night. The idea of wearing jeans and a tank top made me get chills all over. So I decided to wear a dress shirt with dark jeans instead. When walking out side, to head to the restaurant I got cold and the sun was still partially up. The younger me would have said oh well! but the OLD me said, OH NO! I have to get a jacket. So the whole night I carried around my zip up black jacket. I would take it off inside and put it on before we would  go outside. I don't think you readers understand how big of deal this is. When growing up that was the constant story from my parents, "where is your jacket" "in the car" "it's not keeping you warm there" and now I am lugging it around on a night out on the town. WOW. I could  blame it on the cold I already have but instead, I think it that I am just too old!!

*Sleeping In- Sleeping to me is a gift from Heaven. Cold Air blowing, cuddled up in a blanket with an extra firm pillow. I mean HELLO! A break from the world, and all the people I have to talk to everyday. Just time for me with the dog cuddled next to me. So you can already imagine when I was growing up "sleeping in" was till 1 at least. I used to say "this is backwards, you retire when your old and they don't ever sleep in". Well this weekend I realized, I am one of the backwards people at the little age of 23 (24 in 5 days) This weekend I was BEYOND excited to sleep in! Needless to say both days I woke up at 7:30, 9:30 and gave up at 11:30 and got up.. PITIFUL! I KNOW!! I realized I am just too old for sleeping in!

Are any of you guys feeling old in some ways? Let me know about it!!

Write to you soon!!

XOOXOXOX

Happy Birthday Lauryn!

"Making a million friends is not a miracle. The miracle is to make a friend who will stand by you when millions are against you.”

REAL friends are hard to come by, but luckily in my life I have been fortunate to meet a couple REAL friends. I have a group of girl friends who are strong enough to disagree with me but loving enough to accept my apology when I am wrong. That alone makes me blessed beyond measures.

Today is one of those AMAZING girls birthdays!! I think the perfect quote for us would be...

"The best friends are the ones you don't have to talk to everyday, who understand why you didn't take their advice to not call him, or why you keep going back to him after he breaks your heart, the ones who call you at 4 am to let you know they're drunk, who listen when they've heard the same story a thousand times, they call just to say hi, and even if you are passed out, wasted and look horrible- they'll turn and say 'Hell yeah, that's my best friend."

If it wasn't for Lauryn I wouldn't have had a date to our senior prom! Had an amazing time on our senior trip while singing, "My Humps"! I wouldn't have had anyone to hit the bars with our freshman and sophmore year of college! I wouldn't have had anyone to help me learn how to cook or someone to lay in bed with and cry when a boy broke my heart. I wouldn't have had anyone to drink wine with while watching endless TV shows!! I wouldn't have had that extra piercing that I REALLY want back!! I wouldn't have had someone to make me smile, or laugh till I cried! I love her so much!

Even though today our dates end up with us eating out for dinner and me loving on her sweet precious boy, I will never forget all the crazy times we had!! She is truly one of my best friends!!

So Lauryn, here is a small colleauge of our pictures and I hope that today is even half as great as you are!!!