icky icky

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just what the doctor ordered.  with my first big work event at my new job kicking off in less than 24 hours, naturally i have come down with a cold.  hoping that a healthy dose of chicken soup, ginger ale, and vitamin C will help keep me running until i can collapse into bed on sunday afternoon. wish me luck!

my weekend

this past weekend was likely the last weekend until after the wedding that the beau and i had time to relax, so we took full advantage of it.  i was up bright and early saturday morning to head to my favorite place on the planet for a reunion planning meeting {yikes, we're old!}

walking into the football game with my college bestie with an airplane bottle of bourbon hidden in my purse brought back so many wonderful memories. 

after the game, i headed to two of the many fabulous vineyards in the area to pick up our wedding wine!

you should've seen my poor little volvo weighed down with all of this!  and this doesn't include the 3 cases of champagne on the way...

on sunday, the beau and i headed to my new favorite place on the planet: middleburg.  it is the most fabulous little town {a favorite of jfk and jackie, they planned to retire in a nearby town} and just a short drive from our new place.  we had brunch at a little bistro called the french hound, where the beau was uber excited to find croque madames on the menu {a recent obsession for him}. 

and they served the best bloody mary either of us has ever had.  yum!

we strolled around and peeked into some of the cute shops and made a mental note to come back post-wedding so we can spend more time there.  but we had to be back home in time to watch the ravens game with baltimore's cutest little fan.

from here until the end of october, we are busy, busy, busy!  final details of the wedding are being shoved are falling into place, and i am getting SO excited.  this weekend is my first big event at my new job, so once that's finished, i'm hoping to spend next week sharing some fun little wedding details and pictures from my bachelorette weekend. 

happy hump day!

thirsty thursday: signature cocktail

yes, i realize it's been three weeks {!} since my last blog post, and while i promise plenty of updates on what has been going down since then, i need your help!

today's post is in honor of sweet new mama, sweet southern prep, and her fabulous thirsty thursday series.  since i am a sucker for details and can't make anything easy on myself, i've decided a month before the wedding to add a signature cocktail to our wedding beverage lineup. 

i saw this delicious looking concotion on pinterest yesterday and i knew we had to have it.  {p.s. cat, the creator of this drink, is just as helpful and sweet as can be!}

2 parts ginger ale, 2 parts fresh apple cider, 1 part bourbon. yum!

the only problem?  it doesn't have a name!  and what's a signature cocktail without a catchy moniker?  so i need your votes/ideas.

so far, the names i've come up with are:

1. the apple dapple {totally dorky and doesn't really mean anything}
2. the shenandoah {we live in the shenandoah valley and apple orchards are everywhere here}
3. the apple pie {since, you know, apple + ginger equals apple pie?}

so yeah, i haven't really come up with anything cute or groundbreaking.  can you help me?

p.s. we'll be serving these with these darling straws from sur la table.  i know the striped straw thing is all over the place and kind of "done", but i just love them so much!

fit train friday

I promised I would be more accountable to Fit Train Friday, so here I am.  I feel like there's not much to report on this week, since I just started the bridal bootcamp program on Tuesday.  But I've done the workouts every day.  The cardio is definitely my favorite and as much as I hate circuit training, my thighs, bum, and arms are deliciously sore from all the squats, lunges, and dips from wednesday's work-out.  AND I've lost 2 pounds this week, with 4 more days to go until my next actual weigh-in.  Fingers crossed I stay on the path straight and narrow this weekend!  Since fall classes haven't started up at our gym, my work-out today is going to be exploring the amazing biking/walking/running trails near our new condo and 2 sets of Wednesday's work-out.

inspiration for this weekend, courtesy of brooklyn decker

Thank y'all SO SO much for your helpful advice from yesterday's post.  Please keep it coming!  I am feeling much better about our original plans now and have all sorts of good ideas to help us feel 100% confident about our reception seating.

My final bridal shower is tomorrow in the beau's hometown.  One of his mother's best friends is throwing the shower, which is a Set The Table theme.  The hostess is a Mississippi girl, born and bred, so I'm counting on some delicious food and beautiful decorations.  Can't wait!

What are y'all up to this weekend?

wedding drama - i need your help!

OK ladies, I need your feedback.  With less than two months to go, the beau and I are in a bit of a panic about our reception seating.  Here's the scoop:

Since our reception isn't at a "mealtime" and since we're doing heavy hors d'oeuvres stations, as opposed to a plated three-course dinner, our caterer + wedding reception director suggested we only do seating for approx 50% of the final guest count + bistro tables on the perimeter so that people had a place to set drinks/food/purses/etc. They said this way people who want to sit have a place to sit, and it encourages mingling/moving around. Also, I think we're going to have bocce and cornhole on the lawn and there's additional seating on the covered porch. So at the time, we were like, "OK, sure, that sounds logical."

this is our actual reception site, tables, and chairs, just decorated for a different wedding. via

But then we went to a wedding on Friday night and the beau is now convinced that the first thing everyone is going to do when they get to the reception is find a table and sit down. The thing is, we really don't want people to do that, we want people mingling and moving around, but at the same time, he's got a good point. That IS the first thing everyone does when they get to a wedding reception, even if it's just finding a place to put your purse/jacket/shoes. Also, even though we're only doing heavy hors d'oeuvres, a couple of the food items require a fork or a spoon, which is hard to eat standing up.

a slightly different view via

So now we can't decide if we need to now rent a lot more tables, chairs, linens, and get more flowers and do a seating chart for everyone, or trust the caterer and wedding director and stick with what we've got. I went to a wedding last year that didn't do seating for everyone and there wasn't a seating chart, and I feel like that was A-OK with everyone, we all had a blast and just crowded around the same table {which we probably would've done anyways}. I've looked around online, and it looks like people are split pretty 50/50 on this topic. I asked my bridesmaids yesterday and THEY were split 50/50 on this topic. 

What do y'all think?  It's going to add cost quite a bit more, once you factor in additional chair/table/linen rentals + centerpieces, and we're already over budget, but if it means our guests are comfortable and aren't like, "Where the hell am I supposed to put my jacket?", then it would be worth it.  But then again, if the caterer + wedding reception director think 50% is fine, then who am I to question it?  They do this for a living.  Aaaaargh, I don't know what to do! HELP!

p.s. Fo reference, the wedding in the above pictures had the same number of guests that we're having and they had seating for everyone.