Lilly bridesmaids...

I've been scoping out different options for my bridesmaids - even though I still haven't officially asked each of them yet...still working on that. I shot myself in the foot by deciding to do something special in asking each one...and I'm struggling to get it all finished... but more on that later.

I love the idea of Lilly Pulitzer bridesmaid dresses...but they are a) too expensive for my BMs' budgets and b) too casual... but how cute would some of the new Spring line dresses be as bridesmaid dresses? I actually think the navy and gold accented dresses would be perfect with cardigans if the accents were silver instead of gold. Doh! Still too expensive though...



And you also know I'm a huge fan of Anthropologie - so I'm excited and anxious for their new bridal boutique (bhldn.com) that launches Feb. 14th. I'm hoping for dressier options of their amazing dresses for bridesmaid dresses - and fingers crossed for navy!

I've also been on the hunt for the perfect rehearsal dinner dress... something cute and casual, so I've been eying some Lilly and Anthro of course, along with some other sites...but how about this gorgeous, not quite a rehearsal dinner dress spotted on Mila Kunis at the SAG awards last night?? One can dream.


This weekend was a fun one celebrating my fiance's 31st birthday - we spent Saturday morning working on our Save the Date which turned out AMAZING. I will share once it's ready! :)

I'm still struggling to fight an annoying cold that hopefully (fingers crossed) will eventually go away this week. I've got lots to do this week at work and at home... plus a puppy to help look after.

My preggers sister is due Feb. 8th - so it could literally be any day that I get the phone call that my niece is making her entrance into the world...I'll have to hop in my car and start making the trek to Atlanta.

Monday is almost over...hooray. Here's to a productive and "positive thought" filled week! Cheers!

My very beachy condo decor...

Last July when I moved into my 'very close to the beach' condo, I decided I wanted to decorate the condo with nautical and beachy decor to celebrate my new location.

I had so much fun shopping for beach-themed decor online and at local Charleston stores. I'm very fortunate that the local Marshalls and T.J. Maxx are filled to the gills (no pun intended) with beachy items.

I had every intention of taking photos of my finished spaces, but Halloween arrived and much of this decor was replaced with Halloween decorations. Then it was Christmas...

And then finally things were back to normal and I could take some photos and share them on the blog... here are pictures from the main living space of the condo where my favorite decor is located. The bathrooms carry on the beach theme, but aren't nearly as interesting as the main rooms.

I love walls with different frames scattered across it and tried to create a mini version of this on one of my walls - I bought a pack of Charleston notecards from a local shop that were on clearance and framed them in clearance frames from T.J. Maxx. And yes, that would be my thermostat framed, lol. The table runner over the dresser is made from straw placemats (also on clearance) from Target that I connected together with twine I bought at Lowes.

I've collected a few Ernest Lee palm tree paintings over the years, and they worked perfectly with my decor. Ernest Lee is an eclectic artist that roams Columbia, SC - nicknamed the 'chicken man'.

Remember this post where I had a decor dilemma with some tricky wall space?

Decided upon wooden, blue oars and a DIY wreath... purchased wreath from Michaels and decorated with glued on bag of sea glass, also from Michaels.

And yes..that would be my Electra beach cruiser parked in the den. I paid entirely too much for that thing to let it sit outside and rust away with the salty sea air. While not ideal squeezed into an already tiny condo, the bike hasn't been in the way too terribly much... and I kind of love how it's right below a painting of a beach cruiser on the beach.

Hope you're having a fabulous Monday... even if 'fabulous Monday' might just be an oxymoron... :)

Bottles N' Brushes

I'm obsessed with Bottles N' Brushes - a fun place in Mt. Pleasant (they have a location in Summerville too) where they provide all of the painting supplies and walk you step by step through a painting. All you need to bring is your own wine and snacks. This is such a fun 'break' to do during the week...

I really enjoy it.. tonight we painted crabs! We started with a canvas covered in newspaper clippings then painted the crabs on top.

Bath Time

Gratuitous cute puppy picture for your Saturday

Taking care of a little puppy is a LOT of work... we knew it would be, but we're constantly having to take this little sucker out to pee, playing with him when he's full of energy, and making sure we're consistent in training and schedules etc. We wake up at 3:30am every night to take him out to pee...it's like having a new baby...definitely feeling the lack of sleep.

I hate leaving him all alone while I'm at work. I leave Nick Jr. on TV to keep him company. We're crate training him, but during the day we put his crate in the doorway of the bathroom so he has the bathroom to play around in and then his crate to sleep in.

Willow is doing great though. He's learning so fast. He's having little to no accidents in the house and he's starting to go to the door to let us know when he needs to go out. He already knows how to "sit" and he's good about staying close to us and coming when we call. He loves to get curled up in his crate and sleep at night and gladly climbs in when we say "Night, night Willow."

He's a big fan of his puppy food, but he also loves apples, carrots and peanut butter as treats. He also has big time puppy gas...lol...and really lets some stinky ones rip while he sleeps.

We are over the moon in love with him and can't imagine why no one else adopted him before us. It must have been meant to be...he is the perfect puppy! And I know I'm biased, but he really is.

He's definitely keeping us busy though...I haven't been able to get in any running in the past four days and I feel like I've already gained 10 pounds. But when he climbs in my lap, curls up and gives me a puppy dog face..it's all worth it!

And just to clarify, Willow is named after the 1988 movie Willow.... not Willow Smith of "I flip my hair..." fame. :)

Baby shower fun

This past weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for my sister at my sister's house in Atlanta... theme was frogs and pink and green.

Publix makes the best cakes!!

The "guestbook" were little onesies that everyone signed with fabric paint pens...

Me and my older sister - she's due beginning of February with a little girl!

This sherbert punch was actually really good - we winged it by dumping two things of sherbert ice cream into a bowl..one sherbert and one green, then poured a 20 liter of Sprite over it which made it fizzy. It was good!

One of the other hosts made these cute tissue paper 'poofs' - she folded sheets of tissue paper in half, scalloped the edges, tied in the center with a ribbon, and then 'fluffed' into balls. They looked really cute as decorations - I couldn't believe how easy they were to make.

Meet Willow

"Hi! My name is Willow and I am Christy and Bradley's new fur baby. I'm 3 months old, a rescued dog, and definitely part lab...but we're not so sure what else I am... just a cute little mutt! I'm probably going to be big because my legs are long and my paws are big! Sometimes I stumble over myself because I'm not used to my growing legs! I am still learning to potty outside, but when I do I am very proud of myself and skip around in circles. I'm so happy to have a home and I love to cuddle with my mommy and daddy. I also sleep through most of the night which makes them very, very happy."

2 miles in 5 inch stilettos

Happy 2011! I've had fun catching up on everyone's blogs today and seeing all of you're New Year's Eve photos...

I ended up wearing NYE outfit option 2 - opting for comfort with the shorts. The outfit worked out pretty well, except I paired it with this rhinestone belt that was cute at first...but wouldn't stay in place, sometimes sagging and making me look like I had a gut, and the rhinestones either fell out or caught on my jacket. So next time I think I'll pass on the belt...

My friends and I went to a 'all you can drink and eat' party at a local bar, Red's Ice House, located on Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant. It actually ended up being a decent party with several bands and an amazing seafood dinner buffet which was delicious.

Only complaints I had was they wouldn't let the band play until the Univ. of South Carolina bowl game was over...even though they didn't have the volume up on the TVs. Huh? So it wasn't until after 10pm that the band outside started playing.

They also had a pretty big fireworks show right above the building - which would have been fun if you could actually look up and watch it... sparks and ash and pieces of the fireworks were raining down on the party...seriously. We were all taking cover under the tents they had set up and the buildings. I'm thinking they'll reconsider the fireworks idea next year...

All in all it was a good time...I had a lot of vodkas with a splash of Red Bull... which of course were supposed to be Red Bull & Vodka, but the bartenders were essentially pouring the glasses full of vodka and then giving a very tiny pour - I wouldn't even call it a pour - of vodka. Hence why most of us in our group have very foggy memories after midnight.

In fact, most of us (probably because we're old and we rarely drink liquor) were 'peacing out' and going home around 1am.

New Year's Tip We Never Seem To Learn: Call a cab early in the night and go ahead and schedule your pickup.

Duh.

Every year on NYE this happens... we leave the bar (doesn't matter how late) and all the cab companies' phone lines are busy, and all the cabs showing up are there to pick up the smart people who scheduled pick ups.

My fiance and I tried relentlessly to get a ride...calling almost every cab company we could. We even called some friends with no luck...

Well...what do two liquor-buzzed, intelligent humans do? Walk home. Yup...walk home. Two miles to be exact - which at the time felt like 10 miles!

It wouldn't have been so bad if A) we were sober, B) it wasn't almost 2am in the morning and C) if I hadn't worn my 5 inch heels the entire way.
In hindsight I think it was probably better I was buzzed because that numbed the pain I surely was feeling (which I felt Saturday morning) from walking two miles in heels. And I think I had liquor strength, because I don't think I could have (or would have) done that walk if I was making wise decisions.

So Saturday morning was a fun one...waking up to two very blistered and sore feet, feeling like I had been hit by a truck.

But at least there's some positives from this... A) we didn't drink and drive, B) we burned off the buffet dinner we gorged on at the party, and C) we saved money by not taking a cab. Ha...we get the last laugh! Um... not really. {sigh}

Despite the fun festivities of Friday night, a bunch of us got up and went out to Sullivans Island for the annual Polar Plunge organized by Dunleavy's Pub to benefit the Special Olympics - this involves thousands of locals coming out dressed in all sorts of crazy costumes and at 2pm sharp, running straight into the {freezing} Atlantic Ocean.

Here's a video from some group called 'The Positive World' that will give you an idea of what it was like.

My best friend and I wore these glitter dance dresses we had worn previously for a 5k race (Beachathon) and my fiance and his roommate wore speedos... yeah...they are so mature for their age. :) I'll spare you any of those pictures... I don't want you to unfollow my blog. Lol... But we all ran into the ocean, dunked ourselves, and came running out - screaming and freezing!

In case you're wondering...yes, that is a shake-weight in my fiance's hand.

It was packed with people though - the biggest turnout they've ever had supposedly. If I had felt better, it would have been fun to stay at Sullivans and hang out all day... I'm almost considering taking it easy on NYE next year so I can partake in the festivities on Sullivans Island the next day.

The rest of the weekend was busy with me in pajamas, hibernating on my couch, watching movies and being mindless - much needed.

Now it's already full swing in 2011... I'm very excited about this year since so many great things are planned... two week trip to Europe with fiance, adopting a puppy {My Christmas gift from my fiance...YAY!! Stay tuned...}, buying a house with fiance in Charleston, turning 30 {wait, is this a good thing?}, and getting married to the LOVE of my life!!

Phew... New Year's resolutions be damned...who has time for them?

Here's a virtual toast to you and best wishes for us all in 2011! {clink}