What I'm Doing This Weekend

My very first, can't believe it's going to be 96 degrees, bound to be interesting after four hours in the hot summer sun and walking distance to the bars on lower Broadway, Mafiaoza's 9th annual Music City Brewers Festival.

Here's a sampling of the the brews they have to offer. This could be trouble. (Insert voice that says Lillian, you are now 30 years old. Time to behave, missy.)

The hubs insisted we buy our tickets a month ago because he LOVES this event. Like, has been looking forward to it for months kind of loves it. Good thing we did - just heard both sessions have completely sold out!

Happy weekend!!!

Soda Shop E-Session

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED our super fun, slightly rustic, fresh-off-the-farm, sunset engagement session out at Southall Eden. I mean, loved it. And did I mention we won it for free in a contest from Photographix? All you had to do was submit a photo showing love. And I thought this one did just that.

And apparently they thought so too, because we won! (Insert special thanks to all our friends who submitted votes). Yep, that was awesome. In fact, let's take a quick little stroll down memory lane and relive that lovely day, shall we?




But be still my beating heart - when I saw this fabulous engagement shoot on the Schultzes blog, I found my ice-cream loving self saying- now why didn't I think of that? Isn't it SO MUCH FUN?

And because this inspired me to google "soda shop engagement sessions" I discovered these bits of 1950's-esque eyecandy here.

That sound you hear? It's me swooning...

'Nuf Said

Don't we all need this fabulous little poster in our lives? I know I do. I find myself thinking "that is so blogworthy" these days, or after snapping a picture with friends, saying "that's going on the blog!" rather than "that's going on Facebook!" The times, they are a-changing.

Purchase one here (or one of the other tongue-in-cheek updates to the classic "Keep Calm and Carry On") or better yet, enter to win one here! I know, I just totally made your Wednesday.

Keep blogging!

Little Show-Stealers

Whew. The Mister and I had quite a whirlwind weekend with the in-laws (see previous post for how much I love them) - traveling to Virginia after work on Thursday (note to self: arrival of 1 a.m. is NOT a good idea - I hit my breaking point around midnight and just reclined my seat and snoozed until we got there - bad wife), spending a day at the pool with my sister-in-law (me) and playing golf with the brothers (him), family dinner tastefully cooked by my fabulous MIL, family reunion and highly anticipated hometown tour of the tiny town of Floyd, VA (where my FIL grew up), drinks and lots of funny stories with the brothers and their wives in downtown Blacksburg, and then a loooooong trip back to Nashville on Sunday. No wonder I was a complete zombie at work yesterday.

But we did get to see all his little nieces and nephews under one slightly chaotic roof, which rarely happens unless it's a holiday, and though they haven't quite warmed up to this new girl their uncle is bringing around, I think with a few more visits (and maybe a few toys to sweeten the pot) we might just make some progress. So with their cuteness fresh on my mind, I thought I'd share some photos of the little ones on our wedding day. They quite simply stole the show.

The queen of cuteness - Miss Lilly (flower girl)

Carly, niece of Mr. T (bell ringer)

Courtney, niece of Mr. T (bell ringer)

Lucas, nephew of Mr. T (and a dead ringer of Mr. T at his age), ring bearer

Lucas, nephew of Mr. T (and twin to Lucas), ring bearer

Posing with their uncle, the oh-so-handsome groom

Posing with me! (Funny story, they were totally freaked out because they thought THEY had to kiss the bride)

All the little ladies!

I think she liked my bouquet.

Quite possibly the most perfect flower girl EVER.

Dancing with Lucas, just before he went in for the kiss!



Just a couple of cowboys (in their PJ's) hanging in there until the very end.

I told you they stole the show!

Virginia Bound!

Right after Mr. T and I got married (almost 7 months ago - whoa) we made the decision to make a better effort of visiting our folks as often as we could, since it's so easy to get caught up in starting our new life together here and somehow forget along the way the great places - and people - that made us who we are. You've honestly never met two people with more pride for their football-loving hometowns than the two of us. We often talk about how extremely blessed we are with solid, loving, salt-of-the-earth parents, who provided both of us with clear pictures of how marriage was intended to be. So if we ever screw up, we certainly can't blame it on the example of our parents! Since my folks are in Alabama and his are in Virginia, the fact that we live in Nashville, Tennessee is actually pretty perfect - it's just about as centered between our two hometowns as you can get! Actually, Tuscaloosa is about two hours closer than Blacksburg, but who's counting?

That said, I've sung the praises of my in-laws before on this little blog of mine before (great - now I'm singing "this little light of mine" in my head) but in the spirit of gearing up for a weekend trip to Virginia to visit them - and attend my first family reunion with the extended family - I thought I'd share a few of my favorite photos of them from our wedding day. Aren't they just adorable?

Isn't my MIL beautiful? I'm sure she's giving me some sage advice here.

What a great smile, Charles! You must be happy to have Mr. T off your hands!

Bride, Groom and Groom's Parents


Plus the groom's older brothers...

Plus the wives and kiddos = The Turman Clan!

I truly think I lucked out on the in-laws. Looking forward to seeing ALL of them this weekend, and enjoying some of my MIL's delicious home-cooked meals! I dare say she's the best cook in all of Virginia, and I'm not leaving until she shares some of her recipes with me. And that's final!

I'll leave you with one of my most favoritest photos of all - just look at how much he loves her! Makes my heart smile...

Allergies Much?

So I went for a bit of allergy testing yesterday to try and figure out what was going on with my allergies. I knew I had a severe food allergy (aka anaphylaxis) to pine nuts from when I bit into a pesto pizza when I was a teenager and immediately developed hives and had trouble breathing. That was fun. I remember walking into my parents room and saying "I think something's wrong" and then we hightailed it to the ER where I'm sure I looked like Will Smith on Hitch upon arrival and was pumped with epinephrin for the next few hours. Several years (and unfortunately several ER visits) later, I've learned to carry one of these beauties around in my purse, just in case the need arises.





In fact, Mr. T had to use this bad boy on me last summer when I accidentally ate an hor d'oeuvre at a friend's wedding shower that had pesto hidden underneath a tomato. Thankfully, I had just shown him the week before how to inject it, just in case of an emergency, so he was a pro. When we got to the ER, they basically said he was a lifesaver. Apparently you have only a few minutes with my kind of allergy before you go into anaphylactic shock (lucky me!), so doing the injection quickly is crucial. And let me just tell you - my guy didn't even flinch. Oh, how I love him. (And now, you can bet your bottom dollar he's even better than me about asking about the pine nuts if we're dining out. I don't think he ever wants to have to do that Pulp Fiction scene again.)


So after a quick visit with the doctor, he sent me to have a skin test done, so that we could determine exactly what I was allergic to. I was thinking maybe dogs (which kills me because I want one so badly!), and maybe some tree pollens (from seasonal sneezing fits when I run) but little did I know I would test positive to almost everything on God's green earth. See exhibit A:





Sorry if I completely grossed you out with that lovely photo. But ding ding, apparently I won in almost every allergen category. Or they won, as the case may be. We didn't even have to go to the next step (under the skin, eeewww) to determine mild/moderate allergens, since these were so severe. Weeds, grasses, trees, dust, dogs, cats, and even Brazilian nuts - you name it, I'm apparently allergic to it. (Wait a minute - does this mean I get out of dusting the house, pulling the weeds, and mowing the grass for the rest of my life? Hmmm, maybe this isn't such a bad thing.) Doc was quite surprised at how "highly functioning" I was to have so many allergies and not even know it. So I've concluded I'm basically a medical marvel. Ha - as if.


And so, please meet my new best friend.



Anyone tried it? And if so, has it changed your life?

Volume 25 Love: Little Reminders

In light of the extraordinarily relaxing weekend I had with my honey and just feeling thankful for all the good things in my life, I thought I'd share my newest Etsy obsession: volume 25.

Sometimes you just need these little reminders, don't you think? Me too. And today's quote on the uber-lovely vol. 25 blog?

Love that.

Fun Friday Find: Frame the Date!

Here's a fabulous find for your Friday! (Oh how the English major in me loves some alliteration).

Introducing Frame the Date - a fun way to capture and display the big dates in your life. I think this would make a fantastic (and personalized) wedding gift for close friends (or even for your hubby), or even an anniversary gift for parents or grandparents. And for you new and/or expecting parents, frame the date b.a.by. is a sweet and unique way to remember your little one's birthday (as if you would ever forget). Isn't this adorable?

You have options galore in terms of the framing, whether to include a photo or not, etc. and the like. I think it's genius. And you can bet one with 1-2-10 will be making it's way to my house. I think it would look great centered among a collection of gallery frames, filled with wedding day photos.

And speaking of wedding day photos, I was able to finagle a DVD of the hi-res images from our wedding photographer of our special day (not originally included in our package) so now we can design our own albums, print our own prints for family and friends, and basically do whatever we like with them! Woo to the hoo.

All you future brides, take note - this is definitely something worth asking about as you interview photographers. I'm discovering that little DVD is like a nugget of gold!!!

Hope your weekends are lovely!

Now THAT'S An Altar...

Can you say SWOON? I am love, love, loving this unique altarscape from Holly Williams' July wedding just outside of Nashville (yes, as in the daughter of Hank). Check out the feature on Style Me Pretty for lots more eye-candy, courtesy of Tec Petaja (yes, as in the husband of Chelsea of Oh My Deer Handmades fame, who happened to design my gorgeous hair lovely for the wedding). That's like six degrees of separation to ol' Bocephus, right? Score. Anyway, I just loved the background story on the design for the altar and thought I'd share.

A bit about the outdoor cathedral at Cedarwood:

"These stately ten feet tall Gothic windows were salvaged from the Douglas Street Church, designed by Nashvillian Hugh Thompson, architect of the Ryman Auditorium, otherwise known as the Mother Church of Country Music. We knew the minute we saw them at Restoration Station, they were destined for continuing sacred service at Cedarwood weddings! After an extensive search, we acquired thirty two antique solid Oak carved church pews to fulfill the vision of our open air countryside cathedral in the Cedarwood meadow."

Don't you just LOVE that kind of creativity? By now you all know that the Ryman is near and dear to my heart (since that's where my now-husband proposed) so if we ever renew our vows, I'm calling Miss Holly up and asking if we can re-purpose that lovely backdrop. You never know!

Baby Fever

Now don't freak out on me, I'm not getting baby fever just yet. In fact, just when I start entertaining the thought, I think about how much I love my 8 hours of sleep each night, my disposable shopping income that I get to spend on a new pair of stilettos instead of a new stroller, and most of all, our ability to up and road trip it whenever we freakin' feel like it. But Lawd is it abounding in my hometown! (Sidenote: I remember when Mr. T and I were dating and everyone I ran into back home would not-so-carefully ask when we might be "taking the next step." I would get so annoyed and in my head would respond "when you mind your own business" and then come back to Nashville and be SO thankful that I hightailed it out of my hometown where marriage, babies and being a SAHM was every girl's aspiration by age 25. It amazes me that as soon as I've gone and checked marriage off the list, they can't wait to start in on asking about the babies! Oy.)

So Mr. T and I headed south on I-65 late Friday afternoon and did the Tour de Tuscaloosa all weekend long. We ran into the mother of all summer thunderstorms about 50 miles south of Nashville and I could barely see the rain-soaked road, which caused me to hydroplane for about a nanosecond which naturally caused me to shake like a leaf until we could safely exit and Mr. T could calmly take over. We stopped at my favorite on-the-road joint, Chick-Fil-A, for the new spicy chicken sandwich. I was underwhelmed. I mean, yes, it's good, but it's no spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, in my opinion. And it was a little freaky seeing all these kids (and adults) dressed up like cows, all in the name of getting a free meal. One guy literally stuck black-marker scotch tape dots on his white t-shirt and confidently stood in line thinking his costume was brilliant. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Wow, no idea why I thought that tangent was blogworthy. My apologies for boring you to tears.

We made it home and caught up with the parentals before heading to bed just before midnight. Yes, we are CRAZY in our old age. As we were getting ready for bed, I looked at my new husband getting under the covers of the bed that I had slept in since I was a tot. And it was like worlds colliding. Very weird - I almost felt like I had snuck a boy into my room or something. Any other newlyweds feel like that on your first few trips back home with the new husband? Just me? Okay, never mind then.

So anyway, the point of this post - babies. Saturday started with a baby shower for my friend and brand-spanking new blogger Candice, who welcomes a baby girl, Mary Emma, in just a few weeks. You've never seen so many gifts - bottle brushes, bows, diapers, burp cloths, faucet covers that look like little ducks and even wet wipe warmers - yes, they really make wet wipe warmers, folks. This child is pretty much set with everything she could ever want for her first year of life. And when that year is up, guess what she'll be wearing to her first football game?

That's right - an Alabama sundress complete with bloomers that have elephant prints on the bottom, from her favorite Aunt Lillian. Oh, I just couldn't resist. Even if the smallest size they had was a 12 month. I'll just have that much longer to anticpate her cuteness in it. I not-so-secretly hope all my friends have little girls - I have so much fun buying clothes for them. When it's a boy I completely shut down and have to go the toy route. Which is way more boring for the shopper. Because obviously it's all about me and my shopping desires. Wow, pretty sure I just cursed myself to having all boys by putting that in writing.

Here are all the hostesses with the cute little mama-to-be in white. I know, you can hardly tell she's preggers. If I didn't love her, I would have to hate her for that.

After the shower, I scooped up Mr. T after he and my dad went to town on a slab of Dreamland ribs ("ain't nothin' like 'em nowhere!") and we stopped by to visit the new arrival of our friends Laura and Brad, Miss Camryn Culp. Check out her adorableness. And for anyone who's very observant, yes, those are little owls on her pajamas - hootie hoo, Chi Omegas!

I've known Laura since high school when we cheered for arch-rivals, but have always loved her to death. She and I got to be great friends while we were training for the half marathon two years ago, and it amazes me to see how she has completely fallen in love with motherhood. She's also honest enough to tell me it's not all rainbows and butterflies and that two hours of sleep is a good night (this is not looking good for me), which makes me love her all the more for telling it like it is. I so love that trait in a person. I also love that she and her husband Brad might be the most hardcore Bama fans I have ever met - if I told you how amazing their tailgate setup is, you might just think you had died and gone to football heaven.


We followed the Baby Parade with family dinner at my folks' house, after which I convinced my brother to get an old set of golf clubs out of the attic so I could take them back to Nashville with me to practice. Lo and behold, we find FOUR dusty old sets, one that had my grandpa's initials on them! After hitting a few balls into the woods behind our house, we ventured out for a RedBox movie and decided on this.



I give it a B minus. I wanted it to be so much better what with two amazing actors like Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, but it just didn't do it for me. However, what DOES do it for me is The Bachelorette, and I for one cannot wait for tonight's episode - can you say HOMETOWN DATES?!

And with that in mind, Mr. T is firing up the grill as we speak. Pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus, and oven-roasted potatoes are on the menu for tonight, the thought of which makes this doozy of a Monday get a whole lot better all of a sudden. And I just realized what was going to be my after-work hour at the gym to make up for Mom's home-cooked grits turned into my after-work blogfest. Now how did that happen? Oh well, I think the best part of being married is having someone to come home too, regardless of what kind of day you've had. Bonus points if they cook for you. And double bonus points if they admit to even enjoying your girly reality shows. And the baby fever? Let's just say I'm in no hurry to share my guy with anyone else just yet. I kind of like having him all to myself for now.