thursday is the new friday.

happy friday to me.
that's right, I'm rubbing it in.
I'm so excited for a three day weekend.

what a whirlwind of a week it has been and I'm so ready for this weekend. it's going to be a great friend-filled weekend. tomorrow I head off to raleigh for tiff's bridal shower and I get a fun added bonus of dinner on saturday night with sarah & her sweet boyfriend mike [who I'm meeting for the first time, hooray!]

I'm off to make a packing/to-do list for this weekend but I'll leave you with these pictures of me and my little lovie Oliver.... this is pretty much what we've been up-to for the past week....

yup.

we're a match made in snuggly, lazy heaven.

m.i.a.

no no, not miami - missing in action. 

as in what I've been lately.

last week and this weekend were great, just exhausting. 

lots of good things happening at work and tons of family in town.

so yes, great times but exhausting times.

I'm thankful for a four day work-week and the opportunity to sleep in on friday and saturday.... DJ and I got up before the sun today and made it downtown and both got a workout in before 8am. pretty impressive, don't you think? however, I am currently fighting the urge to take a mid-morning nap.

speaking of being exhausted, poor Oliver was also exhausted this morning and definitely hid his face in his bed when I turned the lights on and I had to SHAKE his bed and stick my arm under his body to finally wake him up and get him out of bed this morning to let him out and feed him before we left for work.... he's definitely my son puppy, if he had an alarm clock he would have definitely been hitting snooze.  I missed the opportunity to take a picture of him but I'm sure it will happen again.

There really are very few things cuter than a puppy when he first wakes up. The yawns, shakes and stretches. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

in related news, the snoring is getting out of control. Ollie is falling right asleep when we go down to go to bed and he is seriously sawing logs and it's hindering my ability to fall asleep most nights... I think we're going to have to move his bed out of the bedroom or get him some breathe right strips. they should make those for bulldogs. so I think his bed is going to be moved outside of the bedroom tonight... sad but lets be real, I need sleep.

here's to a restful and relaxing week for all.

what I'm loving wednesday....

happy wednesday! I'm thrilled this week is halfway over - not that it's been a bad week by any means but let's get real, I'm already SO ready for the weekend. here's what I'm loving on this rainy fall wednesday in Georgia...

I'm loving... these amazing cake batter rice krispy/fruity pebbles treats that I made - YUM, they were good! cocoa krispy treats are next on my to-do list!

I'm loving... my new [old] facewash - I used to love this stuff in high school [aka eons ago] and my skin has been acting funky lately so as I was perusing the shelves at Target it caught my eye - and I am seriously LOVING it, it's definitely cleared up my skin and I love the way my face feels after washing it!

I'm [still] loving... the sweet card that my soulmate sent me....

I'm loving... that we're a little over two weeks away from our beach vacation/Mike & Carin's wedding weekend/seeing my mom!

I'm loving... that it's Grandma's 80th birthday this weekend and we're going to have family in from all over the country - it's going to be a great celebration of a wonderful woman!

[DJ & I telling grandma that we eloped on our [first] wedding day - January  1, 2010]

and as always, I'm loving... my sweet pup...

...and my adorable husband.

happy wednesday!

soulmate.

so let's back up a few days... on friday I was checking our joint checking account and balancing our checkbook when I saw DJ had bought a $3.20 app for his iPhone - I was messing with him about it on the drive to TN and he kept going on about me knowing what the app was and when a receipt popped up for it, he made me delete it and got all secretive about what it was - this was uber unlike him and I just brushed it off and figured it must be something for me [what, I trust him 100% and that's the only time that he's secretive]... well I was right.... I was sorting through the mail when I came across this in the mail...

[I removed the last name/address... clearly it was all there... and then for the return address it said soulmate]

I looked at DJ and it all came together and I started laughing and got really excited to open it up... here's what I saw...

he's a keeper that soulmate of mine.
it was such a great surprise for no reason and brought such a smile on my face.

ps - the app he made with was the new Cards app 

[which only works with the iPhone 5.0 software update or the iPhone 4S]

Rocky Top....

so we had a great weekend in Knoxville, filled with fun times with great friends new and old! we had a fun and relaxing night on Friday and then on Saturday we headed to the Market Square Farmer's Market and had some good food, coffee and just walked around for a bit.

then we headed to out to tailgate and watched the first quarter in a local watering home -- then we ended up getting free tickets to the game -- amazing seats and free?! what could be better than that --- TN vs LSU right at the 50 yard line, score. we had such a great time. It's been a few years since I'd been to a college football game and I have definitely missed that atmosphere.  It was interesting to watch a game that I wasn't really invested in... honestly, I could care less who won it was more about watching the game and the "football" of it all - if that even makes sense.

saturday night was interesting to say the least - and I'll be nice and just leave it at that. haha. oh man oh man - what a weekend. all in all, a great time and so great to spend quality time with Lindi. It's so fun to me to see how close Lindi & DJ are - they're so cute together [is that weird to say?] and I love how protective DJ is of Lindi, he really loves her and knows how important she is to me and because of that, she's important to him. Makes my heart happy. here's to another great week - we have a ton of family coming in town and we're getting ready to celebrate grandma's 80th birthday!

falling into fall friday's fancies...

I'm so ready for fall to be here - the leaves need to change color ASAP and I need some mini pumpkin pies in my life!  oh well, maybe next week. for now, I'm ready for this work day to be over and to be en route to Knoxville. Yeehaw. In honor of fall [and UT] here is my falling into fall friday's fancies... pop of color [orange!] and lots of camel and gold = fall to me. enjoy!

falling into fall... by hitajblog featuring super skinny jeans

lagging behind.

these rainy days have not done a whole lot of good with my motivation levels... to say I've been lagging behind is an understatement but I'm doing my best to rest up and get excited for our upcoming weekend trip - DJ and I are heading to Knoxville to visit Lindi, hooray! We even went shopping last night for some fashionable orange attire... crazy [I will add that it was very hard to find and we're definitely going to be sporting more of a Auburn orange than a TN orange but hey, it's the thought that counts].

Anyways, I'm excited for the next day and a half of work to fly by so we can go spend some QT with Lindi-Lou!  DJ hasn't been to Knoxville since his college days and the last time I was there Lindi and I spend less than 24 hours there before jetting off to Asheville so I'm excited to soak in Lindi's new home and experience it fully!

snapshots from Lindi's last visit to GA [and the UF/TN game]...

...can you believe we promised Lindi we'd leave the Florida and Carolina gear home?!

egg-zausted.

I'm baaack. The bachelorette party was a blast and I hit the ground running today with an event tonight at work and a whole lotta stuff going on this week.  Needless the say, plenty of fun was had this weekend and Tiffani had a great time. Great people, fun times, good food and lots and lots of laughter - perfection.  Let's be honest though - Grandma is tired. We stayed up until 4am on Friday night - and of course I woke up at 8:30am... that was definitely NOT enough sleep for me... hence I was sick all day Saturday [and Sunday] but luckily I got 8 hours of sleep the past two nights.

I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight and to be feeling better tomorrow because right now between the sniffles and the feeling of nausea that will not leave me - it is not looking good. Barf. Literally.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the weekend... of course I was sick on Saturday so I didn't take any [fail] but here two that I did manage to snap on Friday night [and that I can share, haha]...

good times.

now I'm off to blow my nose and eat crackers, be jealous.

hello [girly] weekend.

hello weekend! it's officially here [for me] -- I'm off to partake in bachelorette madness... I cannot lie, I am quite excited for some quality girl time. I feel like every gal needs a dose of it and I haven't had my fair share lately. It's definitely difficult being far(ish) away from a lot of close friends but I feel like that's a part of growing up... and I can't complain because I do have an amazing husband who I get to spend the majority of my time with and he puts up with me like the best of them.

I do miss the days of sharing forty closets in the ZTA house though [it's no fun borrowing DJ's clothes] and there always being someone who was up for what you were... whether that was a crazy night out, a low-key night just laying on the couch watching Ellen stand-up [she didn't have a TV show when I was in college].  I also miss the days of grad school and UNCW and having friends close by who could [and would] come over to help me pack for whatever trip I was going on [fashion show, anyone?!]. I remember the day that I tried on EVERY SINGLE item of clothing I owned for one of my friends in effort to clean out my closet. [Do you think DJ would go for that next week? haha, riiight].

I've been lucky enough this week to be able to have great meaningful conversations with a lot of my close girlfriends - it makes me so appreciative of the decisions I've made throughout life and the people I've chosen to surround myself with and the friendships I've put effort into maintaining.  I truly am a lucky girl.

With that being said, I'm so excited to spend this weekend with Tiffani and her favorite girls to surround her with the girly goodness that she deserves.  There's something magical about bachelorette parties - not the drinking and the partying but the quality time that you get to spend with your favorite people [other than your future husband of course]. As the bachelorette, you're surrounded by your closest girlfriends from all aspects of your life, some don't know each other [some may not even like each other] but they all gather and celebrate you - I'm excited for Tiffani to experience that this weekend.

Don't worry, the Rev won't get too wild this weekend - who knows, maybe I'll meet some folks that want to elope and I'll get to practice my officiating.

And because a post isn't complete without pictures, here are some from my amazing weekend with my favorite women [aka my friends are the best because they threw a bachelorette party for me after I eloped and my husband is just as great because he was okay with sending his married wife off to a bachelorette party in her honor]...

great memories with great friends.

can't wait to create even more this weekend!

queen city weekend fit for a queen...

It's quite unfortunate, I'm wearing an extremely ill-fitting dress to work today. At least it's too big and not too small.... oh well, and I may or may not have taken my tights off because I was just over wearing them... I feel like a bad 5 year old at school. I know, things you didn't need to know...

Anyways, I'm so excited because I'm taking Friday off from work, hence today is my work "Thursday" - heck yes. I'm psyched to spend the weekend in the Queen City [Charlotte] celebrating one of my favorite people - Tiffani.

Tiff and I at my "ladies weekend" last summer...

It's crazy to think that we've known each other for almost six years now... it's been such a joy to watch her grow from a freshman in college, to now a graduate student, and soon she'll be a professional. And outside of just watching her grow - personally, she has definitely become a huge part of my life - she's like a little sister to me and I'm so excited to watch her on these journeys that she's taking and so thrilled to see her become a wife.

I don't know if I've shared this yet, but awhile back Tiffani and Josh asked me to officiate their wedding [that's Reverend Hita to you] - so as honored as I am to be there at their wedding and to stand up with them - I'm even more honored and humbled to be the one to marry them and pronounce them husband and wife.

With all that being said, I guess this weekend can't get too crazy considering the Rev is in the house.... nah. I think we'll be just fine.

Guest Posting at All In My Twenties!

hi everyone, you can find me over at All In My Twenties today! 

Be sure to stop by and check my guest post out! :)

bedside manners...

now don't get me wrong, I love my husband... but let's get real. every relationship has it's quirks and every person has those things that they do that make you want to scream flinch. DJ is a sweet, lovable, cuddly man - but he is no exception* - he particularly knows how to irk me in the bedroom [mind out of the gutter, not like that], and here is the short list:

- towels on the bed - do NOT put wet towels on the bed, ugh so annoying and just yuck.

- not using his inside voice when the lights are out: it is NOT okay to yell at the dog for something when your wife is sleeping
- elbow to the face - this happens weekly, if not more
- he has been known to steal pillows, yes - while I'm sleeping from under my head [?!]
- sometimes I have to wake him up to  move him from the center of the bed

*he would add that I'm not an exception to the perfection rule either, things I do that make him want to scream include: hanging up on him, taking the fresh towel and leaving him the used one, not putting my clothes away after I take them off and the clutter on my nightstand [just to name a few, I'm sure he can add a dozen more]

with all that being said, I do enjoy having the bed to myself sometimes but nothing is better than going to bed and waking up next to the man I love every night.

in unrelated news, we're both home sick today. no fun. I just went to the doctor though and got prescribed the mother of all meds - ZPAC to the rescue. I need to get better ASAP though because I have a bachelorette party this weekend [yay Tiff!] and sick hita is no fun.

do you sleep next to someone every night?

do they do anything to drive you batty?