life has been busy

Hey y'all! 

A lot has been happening since the last time I checked in. 

• I got a NEW JOB! I started my new job on September 1st. I am still at the university, just in a different department. I am loving it so far. I am in culture shock a little bit. My new office is so laid back and all of the people are super nice, completely the opposite of my old office. 

• My best friend (of 20 years) got an awesome new job and moved 4.5 hours away. Very bittersweet. 

• I have not mentioned this on the blog yet, but D is carrying on a tradition in his family. He has taken over his family's BBQ sauce business. He FINALLY got the last piece of the long and frustrating government requirement puzzle today ... inspection of his facility. The inspector wants a few small things changed. But D is one step closer to full production.  

• {Small Rant Ahead} I am sure it is all state governments, but trying to navigate Georgia bureaucracy to get all of this stuff approved is like moving through mud. They do not get into a hurry for anything and dealing with multiple offices has been a nightmare. D has literally gotten contradictory information for the same question from different offices ... multiple times. Ridiculous. But it is necessary to deal with them. So, you do what you have to do. I'll post more information about the sauce (probably a blog post by itself) in the next couple of weeks. 

• In other news, I found out that I have to get my wisdom teeth removed. The surgery is scheduled for October 2nd. Not looking forward to that.  

I am not going to promise that I will be around more often, because who knows. But I will update again soon. Thanks for stopping by! 

apartment tour -- library & bedroom

Part two of my apartment tour is my library & bedroom. 
You can see Part One here. 

The library is my FAVORITE room in my apartment. 

When I was apartment searching, 

two bedrooms was one of the only requirements. 

I have to have a space for all of my books. 

The library is also the office, craft room, & music room. 

I am slowly learning to play the piano and 

D keeps a guitar there as well. 

On to the pictures: 

Library ... 

One of my favorite parts of the library is my gallery wall. 

My best friend, Ams, is an incredibly talented artist. 

{previously gushed about here} 

She has sketched a ton of my Dr. Seuss books. 

So, I framed a few of my favorites and created a gallery wall. 

It turned out amazing! 

click on the picture for better detail

click on the picture for better detail

click on the picture for better detail

My bedroom is the one room that needs the most work decor wise. 

I just don't even know what to do in this room. 

Bedroom ... 

I wish I would have gotten better pictures of this.
I turned a desk into a vanity, where I do my hair & makeup. 

I think I need more scarves ;) 

There you have it, 

my apartment. 

It is small and cozy 

and I love it! 

The big open living area makes it great for entertaining. 

Well, my kind of entertaining which means no more than six people allowed. 

I have already warned D that I will never want to move again. 

Linking up with 

 The Secret Blogger Club

&

adventures in atl

Thursday night I had a work reception in Atlanta.
My best friend had to work the reception as well and she had a work conference the next day in Atlanta.
Instead of riding the work bus, we decided to drive up and stay overnight.
Oh the perks of working with your best friend!

We got to Atlanta early and ate a late lunch/ early supper at the Cheesecake Factory.
Always a big hit!
Then we killed time by browsing around the mall.
We scored some fab finds at New York & Company for 50-70% off!

S'mores cheesecake ... divine! 

The reception was long and we were both thankful that we could go straight to the hotel and crash.
Well, The Varsity was on the way to the hotel and neither of us could resist stopping for a chili dog.

We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Indigo.
I would recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Atlanta.
It is super unique and has excellent customer service.

Friday morning it was freaking freezing in Atlanta.
I mean it was 15 degrees.
That is COLD for Georgia.
Of course, A and I could not find the building we needed downtown and proceeded to walk around for 20 minutes in the cold before finally finding the right place.
We were popsicles!

Before leaving Atlanta, a stop at Chipotle for lunch was necessary.
That's two weekends in a row.
A girl could get spoiled!

I am moving into a new apartment this coming week/weekend.
D and I spent all day Saturday painting at the new place.
I need to find a chiropractor pronto.

First meal in the new place ... look at that fortune

On a non-weekend related note, the forecast is calling for SNOW this week!
I know not to get my hopes up and it is still probably wishful thinking.
But I really want snow!

SNOW!

the one where the bestie turns 30

Today is my best friends 30th birthday! 

To celebrate this milestone birthday, 

I threw her a backyard birthday bash this past Saturday. 
The theme was blue & green chevron. 

The bestie's favorite dessert is red velvet. 
The star of the party was the dessert table. 
It, of course, had a red velvet theme. 
I baked a red velvet cheesecake cake, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese filling, red velvet brownies with white chocolate buttercream, red velvet cake donuts, and red velvet white chocolate chip cookies. 
Red Velvet EVERYTHING! 

It ended up being a fabulous party! 
Great food, great music, and, most importantly, great friends! 

Get ready for a picture overload. 

Unfortunately, in all the madness Saturday, I forgot to charge my camera. 

So, all of the pics are from cell phones and the quality is not that great. 

Invitations by Little Law Prints
Kristen was so great to work with!
If you are planning a party, you definitely need to check out her site. 

The Setup

  

The Dessert Table

Love this table! 

Birthday Cake

Yes, that is 30 candles. 

Red Velvet Donuts

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Top & bottom: Red Velvet Brownies
Center: Red Velvet Cookies 

The Food 

Please pardon the fly...
it is South Georgia

The Drinks

The Entertainment

i ♥ my bestie!

My best friend is super talented!

As she says, she dabbles in painting and drawing.

However, she does way more than dabble.

Right now, she is sketching her way through my Doctor Seuss books.

I am definitely going to frame several of them to hang in our library!

I have been badgering asking her for years to paint me something to hang above my bed.

Consistently her answer was, "no, I am not good enough."

Psh...whatever.

She finally caved!

Yeah I have awesome powers of persuasion ;)

She threatened death if I shared the finished product on my blog.

So, if this is my last post...you know why!

My ACS original:

And this is some of her other work!
She is going to think of a VERY creative way to kill me.

BTW, it is difficult to take a good photograph of a picture.