#WWC #WinterRetreat

Last December I took a trip to St. Louis with Wendy and Lindsey. We had a blast! So. Much. Fun. And we promised we would do a trip every year around this time. We actually picked opening weekend of deer season, since you know... men. Then life happened and we couldn't get together. We tried nailing down dates so many times and it just never worked! 

When did we get so grown up and always busy?! So imagine my excitement when Lindsey text our group message one day and basically said-Wendy and I are coming Saturday evening and leaving by 7 Sunday morning. What a FUN 12 hours it was! 

We went to dinner at Samantha's Taproom, cocktails at 109 & Co and had the very best time. So much to chat about and catch up on! So thankful for these ladies and their sweet friendships. #BLESSED ;) 

On another note, Happy New Years Eve! We're looking forward to a low key weekend with some of our favorites, Scott and Holly. Happy 2017!! 

Craftin Lately..

I haven't created too many new things lately-- I'm working on something new but really need to perfect it before posting. Fingers crossed!! Today I'm sharing a couple new fun items :) 

I made these for some of my coworkers Christmas gifts. I bought this metal stamping kit a couple years ago and swore I was going to teach myself how to use it-- and often! Blah. I didn't. I tried this year and the result was OK. Thankfully these coworkers loved them even though I'm not a master yet! 

Custom door hanger for one of most valued customers! Can't wait to do a fun rework of this one with some year round color!  

For my Rodan + Fields consultant and A State fan-- she ordered this custom and I think it turned out so good! 

Custom for one of my MILs friends. So cute!! And actually pretty similar to one I have for myself :) 

Enjoy! XOXO. 

Birthday + Going Away

Now that I've wrapped up our Europe trip-- what will I post about?! I'm generally not that exciting. I'm slow in blogging some things-- so I'll start with Brian's 31st Birthday and our trip to El Dorado for Mom and Dad's going away party. 

We had a low key celebration for Brian's big day. We went to our normal birthday dinner at Capitol Bar and Grill but decided to try a little something new this year. We walked about the corner to 109 & Co. Cocktail Lounge. 

Excellent cocktails! I've already been back since. 

We left bright and early Saturday morning for El Dorado. I think I've mentioned that my mom and dad are leaving my hometown of El Dorado and moving to Batesville. They have been splitting their time between the two since October but officially move on Jan 1. 

Some of their sweet friends hosted a party last month and it was great! So many friends-- old and new, great food and so much fun catching up. So many of these people have been a huge part of my life. 

Dad dancing with Rosie. He's very subtle with his hints of wanting grand kids. 

 Hey Mr. Jim, your head looks a lot like a pan. 

 Clark, Uncle David, Mom and Aunt Lou Ann 

Hard to keep kids still these days... (so I hear) 

The sweet hosts-- Terry, Angie, Jim, Beth, EJ, Pay, Tim, Liz

Now let's see what Batesville has to offer for the next 36 years ;) 

Thanksgiving in Wynne

I have one picture from our Thanksgiving in Wynne. That's it.. the best that I could do. Brian in his camo (insert crying face emoji) and me at the Wynne game. I think this was a championship game-- of which they won and went on to the BIG game-- of which they lost. :) 

Post-Europe

8/16/16
LHR --> LIT

I'm not use to waking up early mornings now. I guess this was the alarm that brought me back to real life.  It reminds me that tomorrow it will go off at 5:45 and instead of getting ready to explore a beautiful city in a fascinating country-- I'll instead be driving myself to 1st- Starbucks to make sure my man club breakfast club is still meeting and 2nd- down Cantrell to AEDC. Which reminds me-- school started while we were gone and I will again hate Episcopal Collegiate traffic. Man, I just got low and so negative. Let's not end my fabulous trip on this note. 

The car picked us up at our hotel at promptly 6:30 this morning. It felt like the longest drive ever to the airport. When we pulled up to Heathrow, all I could think of was the quote in "Love Actually." It's a giant airport. Seriously planes take off every 2 minutes. I timed it since we sat on the runway for so darn long. 

I snapped this going in to the London airport. I realized I never grabbed a picture of us wearing these darn backpacks. 

 Holly and Scott left about 2 hours before us so we had some time to waste. We did plenty of duty free looking. Should we buy the booze? Why would we buy this? We can buy it in America. Well Maybe let's buy cologne? Those are just some of our conversations. We did try to track down some cologne for Brian but quickly got headaches and decided against it. 

I found a Zara and tried on basically everything. Why is it that I find like 6 coats that I love but don't need AND they won't fit in my bag? The real reason I haven't bought more is the latter. I do have plans to get online sooner rather than later and purchase at least one. Or 4. I promise I'll get rid of at least 1 that I don't wear anymore. 

Boarding our plane was a nightmare. We were actually in the first boarding group but waited some since there were so many people! Finally, we get to the front only to be pulled out of line since we hadn't been "screened." So we had to wait, for a long time. And then we were basically interrogated by someone we couldn't understand. For the first time, the entire trip, we were frustrated... and rightfully so. It was the worst game of 20 questions, ever. "Why are you here? Where did you go? What was the address of your hotel? What countries did you visit? Where are you going? Why? Where do you work? What is your boss' name? How long have you worked there? What city? Give me a vial of blood." Okay, not the last one. But you get my point. WHY?! We are Americans entering America! 

Our flight was long and mostly uneventful. I do feel like they fed us 10 meals. The second half was bumpy and I was anxious. After landing, I immediately regretted checking our bags. Mine had to be the very last one to come out. Customs was easy, we grabbed Burger King and it was time to head to Little Rock. 

Every meal we ate while in Europe, I took a picture of Brian. For our very last meal (at Burger Kind) I asked to take a picture. This is what I got!

Now I'm on our last flight, from Charlotte to Little Rock. We're flying over Tennessee somewhere I assume. I'm looking forward to being home soon. We had the best trip, made amazing memories. Most of which I will carry with me forever. We ate great food, drank perfect wine, saw beautiful sights and I fell more in love with my adorable husband (above). Life is good. On to the next... where to? Central Europe, Spain, South America?? I don't know. We shall see :) 

XOXO 

I can't believe this is our last day....

8/15/16

London- last day 

Good Morning from London! We met up with the Lars this morning to tour Parliament. Until we found out that you have to buy tickets ahead of time or stand in line all day. So we got online, booked our 2:30 tickets and went our separate ways. Free day in London! 

Scott and Holly went shopping and Brian and I went to hit up some bookstores on Saville Row. The 1st one was really cool. I wish we had them like this in America. I would be way more inclined to go with Brian. We followed the big, cool one with a million small, vintage stores. Brian got 2 books and we just kept walking. Our plan was to walk to the Tate Modern Museum. But we got sidetracked-- I did a little shopping. 

 

Once we got close to the river, we went to the court/lawyer area of which I can't remember the formal name. It was really cool. Brian loved it. The Royal Courts of Justice was open so we took a look around and then walked through the "Temple." Maybe that's the formal word I was looking for? 

One of these buildings would house 30-40 lawyers, even Judges. It was just really cool. Almost every alleyway was filled with cute buildings. We made it to the river and sat down to plan what we should do for the next couple hours. Brian, always with a map.. 

We decided to skip the museum. We're almost museum-ed out. We drew out a walking path to make our way to Saint James Park. Then we got sidetracked-- again-- and saw bikes. Everyone we have talked to here hates the bikes. They said everyone is stupid and they will die, blah blah. So what do we decide to do? Rent bikes! YOLO. 

It took us far too long to figure out how to rent the bikes from the kiosk. We downloaded the app and 2 pounds later had bikes for the next 24 hours. We were able to carry all our purchased in the front of our bikes. I felt so local. 

So we took off on the bikes and rode along the River Thames. Quickly the bike lane disappeared and I got a little scared. But I just followed my fearless leader (Brian) so I knew we were OK. We basically followed the locals and acted like we knew what we were doing. It's so crazy! You can basically ride anywhere. Skip cars, ride between them. It's totally bizarre!

We stopped at a Pret-A-Manger and grabbed lunch. Brian held the bikes outfront while I loaded us up. We could even strap the food on the front of the bikes. We're totally legit locals right now. This whole bike situation was so fun. You could use the app to find places to dock your bike. It also tells you how many spots are open. 

We took our lunch to Saint James park and ate with the rest of London. SO many people. It looked like everyone grabs Pret and takes their lunch to the park. Business suits, casual, students, people doing yoga, families, everyone. 

Location of the beach volleyball from the 2012 Olympics. 

After lunch we laid in the park for about an hour and grabbed a quick nap. 

10 Downing Street 

Off to Parliament to meet Scott and Holly. The park was really close to our tour. The tour was really neat. Very educational! We got to see where the Queen sits and where she gives the "Queen's Speech." Also the chambers-- the Lord's was very gold. House of Commons was a little more simple. BTW- I'm totally obsessed with their curtains and will recreate these somehow during my lifetime. I loved the green and while theme going on. I've already tried googling images but the Queen has that ish on lock down! 

The tour was a little over 2 hours so we left right after it was over to go back to the hotel and get ready for our show. We got an uber to the Queen Theater and planned to find something to eat close by. We picked the place next door-- it was surprisingly really good. Great wine! And again, awesome bread. We've had so many carbs on this trip. But we're also walking 8 plus miles a day. I can justify that, right?! 

After dinner, I ran down the road to find a small tote bag for the trip home. Brian and I decided we are going to check our backpacks for the trek home. I settled on the ugliest London tote bag I've ever seen. Desperate times. 

On to the show! Very small theater. And can I tell you how much I miss the A/C? No air anywhere, no ice. I don't get these people. 

The show started right on time (OH YEAH, we're see Les Mis). It was awesome! I love going to the theater. It's such a production and everything about it is so fun to me. The live orchestra-- so phenomenal! We were on the 3rd row so we were all in the action! 

After the show we grabbed an uber back to the hotel and decided to try the pub idea again. We went to this really old, cool bar about a block away. I ordered a grapefruit and nutmeg gin and tonic. Perfection in a glass. 

We went back to the hotel pretty early to pack since we had an early morning flight. I DONT WANT TO LEAVE. I packed our bags and ironed. Far too tried to shower tonight. I'll wait until the morning. Hopefully it will wake me up. Leaving for the airport at 6:30 AM. 

I'm really not ready for the trip to end. I did end up writing a journal about the trip as a whole and the trek home. So let's stretch these posts out just one more... until then.. XOXO