Country Clubbin' - Hope Gala

This past Saturday night, I attended the American Cancer Society's Hope Gala.  It was held at the super nice Country Club of Birmingham and Bob & Patsy Riley were the honorees.  Woo-hoo Clay County!  I talked to him for a few minutes, not that he has a clue who I am.  I asked what he thought of the new high school in our county and he said he hasn't actually toured it yet.  What!  Someone give the former governor a tour (I would like one, too). 

Several friends from work also attended the gala and I took my friend, Dana.  Here are some pictures from our fun evening. 

Cassie & Leanne

Matt (Leanne's hubby) & Cassie - love this guy!

Dana, Cassie, & Leanne

Cassie & Drayton

just me :)

Cassie & Dana - ready for the after party

fun with glow things

And, the best.party.favors.ever.  Let the record show, however, that I did not eat a single donut.  

Our next big event is Zoo Gala on 9/15.  It's always one of the best and we're already making plans.  Can you say party bus?  :)

The Non-Post Post

I wanted to do a "Friday's Five Faves" post and I had a few things in mind, but they will have to wait till another Friday.  I'm exhausted and busy.  Exhausted because I've been working and working out a lot.  Yes, I said working out.  Pick yourself up off the floor.  I also now have a personal trainer.  Really.  Session #2 was last night and she is kicking my a$$.  Work is busy with many things, including upcoming tax deadlines.  I'm trying to focus on those things and will maybe be a little out of touch for a while. 

Closing on the townhouse is Tuesday with re-model work starting on Wednesday.  Yea!  I hope it all goes smoothly because I don't have time to deal with anything related to that (thanks to my contractor, I shouldn't have to do a thing). 

Anyway, happy Friday and have a great weekend!  Read back through some old posts if you start missing me.  ;)

Stoned...

Not really.....but I saw a lot of it!  I went today at lunch to select the granite for the kitchen in the townhouse.  When thinking about how to match granite/flooring/etc. to the existing kitchen cabinets, it seemed like a bit of a challenge since I want to select everything before closing and have work begin immediately after.  I fixed that problem, though.  I "borrowed" a kitchen cabinet door from the sellers.  A moment of brilliance on my part, I think.  Today, my cabinet door and I went to Maranatha Granite in Pelham.  My assumption was that I would be looking at tiny samples of granite, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to see actual full slabs.  I knew that I wanted a lighter color, so we just walked around holding up the cabinet door to different pieces.  Everyone at the shop was very friendly and helped me pick something that I love.

I selected a slab called St. Cecilia Yellow.  Of course, it didn't occur to me to take a picture and the images I've found online vary in color.  This is the closest picture I can find.  It was exciting to find the one I liked and watch the person write "Sold" on it.  My contractor and I were also able to get a small sample piece that's similar to use for selecting the back-splash tile. 

I also picked out a sink - nothing exciting, just an under mount stainless, single bowl.  There are a few more selections to be made next week (flooring, back-splash tile, & faucet).  Flooring will be tricky since I'm doing wood and the cabinets are stained.  Luckily, my contractor has taken the cabinet and granite sample to narrow down my choices.  If I see too many things, it can get confusing.  Once these selections are made, I think that's it and I'll just be waiting for closing.  I don't have to be in a rush to move, but I'm getting anxious to have the work done so I can get in and get settled.  I've already started looking at the calendar to see when I can host the first (of many) gatherings.  I hope I haven't lost all of my hostess-ing skillz!  :)

A Good Excuse to Eat Chocolate

Not that I really need an excuse to eat chocolate, but I love to read the phrases on the inside of Dove chocolates wrappers.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

"Women's intuition.....don't leave home without it!"

I feel like I am sometimes guilty of not following my intuition.   It's often difficult, though, to distinguish what's intuition vs. fear vs. other feeling/emotions.  I've learned a lot about myself lately and what I want to get out of life.  It's hard to trust myself completely after going through what I did, but I'm getting there.  The important thing for me to remember is that God has me where he wants me and will get me to where he wants me to be.  I will trust in the Lord, not in my own understanding.  All of that said, some decisions just have to be made in the moment based on what we know and see--and we need to make sure we aren't ignoring or overlooking some things just because of certain situations.  When I'm shopping and can't decide about something, I walk away from it.  If I'm still thinking about it in a week, I go back for it.  If it's there, it's there; if it's not, then I got my answer!  :) 

Another very memorable Dove quote that I've seen (don't have a picture, though) said:

"What would you do if you could not fail?"

Hmmmm, that's a tough one.  I hope to be able to answer it someday!  

Friday's Five Faves

Another weekend is here!  The weather has been rainy and nasty this week, but the weekend looks like it may be pretty nice.  Hope I can find a pool to crash........here are some things I'm excited about today:

1.  Taziki's Friday Pasta - this yummy pasta is so good that they had to start serving it all weekend.  I think it's so funny when I order the "Friday" pasta on a Sunday.  It's a bed of lettuces with penne pasta and grilled chicken tossed in their balsamic vinaigrette, topped with tomatoes, feta, and fresh basil.  They will also cater this item anytime.  I love it when I show up to a party/event and they have it.
 

2.  Celebrating with co-workers - I work with a great group of people and all of the girls are awesome.  Last night, we went to 26 to celebrate the upcoming marriage of Marta (in the middle). There were several other girls there, but we didn't get a group shot of all of us. 

3.  The Message - I love this station on my satellite radio.  The songs are so uplifting and inspiring.  I've had to create a Pandora station that's similar so that I can hear it while I work, too. 

4.  My new Zella gym bag - Zella is a brand of workout clothing and gear that is exclusive to Nordstrom.  I found this bag in the Atlanta store last weekend and it was love at first sight.  It was on sale, too!  It has several inside and outside pockets.  I never knew I could feel so chic carrying a gym bag!

5. Giant Smarties candies - these aren't easy to find, so I buy several when I do.  I almost can't eat the little smarties because I like the giant ones so much more.

 

What a random list.....anyway, have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

WIDTW

Another "What I Did This Weekend"  (again, because I know you all are deeply interested)

My Aunt Dee and I left Birmingham Friday afternoon and headed over to Atlanta.  I used Hotwire to book a hotel and we actually ended up at The W in Midtown.  I've stayed there before and was happy to go again, though sadly there was no time for the Bliss Spa that is there.   We had dinner at South City Kitchen.  I try to eat there almost every time I go to Atlanta and it did not disappoint.  The best part was dessert - pecan pie with brown sugar bourbon ice cream.  Yum!!  I didn't take any pictures at dinner because it was sort of dark in there and I didn't want my camera phone flash disturbing anyone.  The meal was delicious and it was a fun evening out in Midtown.

On Saturday morning, we got up and out early to head a little north for sweet Baby Owen's baptism.  I've never been to a Catholic baptism and it was really nice.  Isn't this just the sweetest baby boy!!

Parents James & Micki, Baby Owen, big sister Ellie (being held by daddy), and the God parents.

Cassie, Micki, Owen, Aunt Dee

I got this handkerchief made for Owen.  I hope he has it forever, then his bride can have it as her something blue and/or old.  During the baptism, the Deacon talked about how that day was Owen's "birthday" in the church.  

After the baptism, Micki and James served lunch at their house.  Their house is really nice and the lunch was delicious.  We hung out for a while, then we left from there and headed a little further north to some outlet stores.  They were ok......your typical outlets.  I could have shopped more at Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, but it's hard to know what I really want for my townhouse at this point.  We made our way to a Nordstrom Rack and the serious shopping began.  It was awesome.  Micki met us out for dinner that night at an Italian restaurant.  I stuffed myself with bread, wine, Mediterranean salad, and gnocchi.  I never get to spend that much time with my cousin, Micki, and it was so nice to be there with her and her sweet family.  Micki - get that guest room ready! :)

On Sunday, our only plans were brunch and shopping.  We had a yummy breakfast at Murphy's in Virginia Highlands.  We did "cheers" with our coffee since you can't order alcohol until 12:30!!!  Who knew GA was just as backward as AL.....

My handsome friend, Chad, met us for brunch.  He and his family live in the area.  His wife and kids were supposed to join us, but weren't able to make it.  I haven't seen Chad in about 11 years and I swear he hasn't changed at all.  I love it when I see old friends and it's like old times picking up where we left off.  I'm excited to meet his wife and kids in Lineville soon.

Brunch gave us just the energy we needed to hit Phipps Plaza.  I needed to spend a little time at Tiffany and actually see the inside of a real Nordstrom.  The kind folks at Tiffany saved the day and served us mimosas.  That's a good way to get me to spend $$......several hours and one worn out credit card later, we headed home.  I made it back to Birmingham just in time for the last service at COTH, then to my new friend Melanie's to have birthday cake.  I loved spending time with family, old friends, and new friends all in one weekend.  I was sad to see it come to an end.  Now, on to planning the next weekend.

No More Shoes.....

As I mentioned the other day, my shoe-buying days are numbered.  I've spent lots of quality time with all of my old and new shoes, so I think we'll be OK for a while.  While we all are sad that there won't be any new additions to the collection, we are all very excited about our new home.  I'm under contract on a townhouse!  Yea!  (I'm slightly excited, in case you missed that)  It's a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouse at a development here in Birmingham called Acton Park.  The master bedroom is on the main level along with a garage.  My Realtor can confirm that my biggest requirement for a place is to be able to live all on one level.  Upstairs, there are two bedrooms, a jack-and-jill bath, and a loft/den area.  I like that my guests will be able to be upstairs and have privacy.  The rooms also each have large walk-in closets (no doubt my master closet will have to spill over into one of them).  Who will be the first lucky visitor????  Maybe I should have some sort of blog contest like other bloggers have....

Here's a quick tour of the place.  Please note that none of the furnishings are mine as these are the pictures from the MLS listing.  I think all of my things from my old house will work well and I'm very excited to get all of that out of storage.  I haven't seen some of my belongings for almost 6 months.....I doubt that I will have to buy anything new since I have a whole house full of furniture, but I'm sure a few new things will be needed wanted. 

Looking directly at the front.  That's my garage door on the right.  

My front porch stops in the middle where the two columns are close to each other. 

 

Looking from the front door to the porch and street.

Just inside the front door.  

In that little hallway ahead are a coat closet and powder room (half bath - but I prefer the term powder room and have always wanted one!) on the left and the door from the garage on the right. 

Looking toward the front door

Kitchen, looking into dining area and living room.  

That's the master bedroom off to the back right and the two big doors just on the right are the laundry closet. The other door is the pantry.

Kitchen

Kitchen looking toward front door

Kitchen (have we seen enough of the kitchen yet??) 

Let me take this moment to note how badly I want to get rid of that long fluorescent light.  Ugh....

Dining area looking into Kitchen

Dining area looking in to Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Back porch

Master Bedroom

Master Bath - shower on the left.  

Directly ahead is the closet, toilet on the left, linen closet on the right.

Upstairs loft/den area

Guest room

 

Guest room

Jack-and-Jill bathroom

I'm also VERY excited that there is a pool.  

It looks very nice and I can't wait to start napping in some lounge chairs there!

Closing will be at the end of August, then I'll have a little work done before actually I move in.  I want to take out all of the tile and carpet on the main level and put in hardwoods (including master bedroom for allergy reasons).  That will definitely have to be done before I move in.  If my budget allows, I will also put in a new counter-top and back splash in the kitchen.  Maybe paint the cabinets.  Of course there are many other things I would love to do (hello, kitchen light) and I'll just have to make a wish list for later projects.  I may have to become some sort of DIY expert.....if other people can do it.....I know some of you are laughing at this thought, but remember that toilet seat?  I have some hidden and untapped talents!

I've NEVER lived alone and am really looking forward to having something that's all my own.  While I have enjoyed this transition phase and appreciate my friends letting me live with them, it's time to take this next step.  I've prayed about it a lot and feel like God is getting me to where I need to be.  Things seem to be happening easily and naturally.  Of course, I still need and appreciate your prayers.  I'll do another home tour once I'm moved in - which seems like will be forever from now!