Life lately

Some pretty fun times have been had lately. And as you can see, I'm also still learning how to use my fancy new camera. I'm improving, but it's a slow process for sure. Anyhow, these photos aren't exactly in order. J and I caught the Stephen Malkmus show at The Bottletree almost two weeks ago with his brother and sister-in-law. It was a good time, even though I truly didn't know any of his music.

We also took a trip to Mississippi a couple of weekends ago and stayed with his friend Matt and then drove over to Oxford to see an Ole Miss basketball game (but not before breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast, of course). I love walking around the Square, such a great area. And this time the bonus was stopping in several restaurants and getting meet people that J was friends with and/or worked with at one point or another. One of these guys hooked us up with baseball tickets, so we basically caught a double header of a bball game and a baseball game. We ended up grabbing dinner at Ajax and heading back to Tupelo to stay in for the evening with Matt. After we were back in Bham, it was time to celebrate Nicole's birthday with Mexican food. Feliz cumpleaños Nicole!

One thing I am pretty pumped about is the fact that J bought a bike last week! I'm not really a biker, more of a runner, but I did buy a bike a longgg time ago to compete in a triathlon (thanks to peer pressure from Ashley). So I pulled it out of the basement and had Redemptive Cycles work their magic on it. We're picking it up today and taking our new toys out for a spin tonight. It's funny how quickly you forget how much fun riding a bike is. Especially when you're just out riding around town and not really looking at is as some type of a workout that you're doing. Maybe on our bike tour de Bham we'll make another stop by Paramount today and play video games again, who knows?! Stay tuned!

Life lately

In case you didn't notice, I was a little MIA on the blog over the holiday weekend. That's because J and I headed out for a long weekend trip to see some friends.

We started on Thursday in Nashville to see some friends of his and go to the Ole Miss vs. Vandy game. Other than a not so great start with trouble getting to our seats (Vanderbilt needs to get control of their student ticket situation. Welcome to the SEC Vandy.), we had a great time. The game was intense, and things got nerve wracking toward the end, but Ole Miss pulled out a win, so we were pretty stoked (side note: I am now an Ole Miss fan....only when they aren't playing my Crimson Tide).

We left out late the next morning to hit the road for a long drive up to Winston-Salem to see my friends Emily and Blake. We basically made it in time to see Blake before he left to work as the sideline doctor at a high school football game. But at least we were able to grab dinner with Emily at First Street. Afterward we sat on Emily and Blake's deck talking with them and one of their neighbors until close to midnight. Such good times with these people!

Em and I were up again early the next morning to go for a run. I miss running with that girl! The rest of the weekend was filled with football, food, more food and tons of laughter. We had such a great time with the Perry's...fingers crossed they move back this way sometime soon!

This past weekend was just a solid good weekend, nothing too crazy. Friday night me, J, Amy and Beth went to the Barons baseball game where we watched them win the second game of the playoffs that ended with a pretty good fireworks show. Saturday night we watched the Ole Miss game and cooked out, followed by a Sunday night $1.50 movie to see World War Z (which btw, if you haven't seen it yet, you should!).

Hope you all have had a great couple of weeks as well!

Life lately

I feel like I always say this, but it's been another busy couple of weeks. It seems like all of my social activities for the junior board I serve on has fallen in the month of July. Crazy how that happens, but we had a baseball game at the begining of the month and then a 5k run a couple of weeks ago, followed by a mix & minlge event with the governing board of Triumph–all of which were good times!

We also had a shower filled weekend a couple of weeks ago. Nicole's lingerie shower was Friday night and I loved this cute gift her sister put together with all types of lingerie—adorable. Then the next night was the couples shower at my house that I helped several of our other friends host. We had a retro theme with good food and fun games. Everything turned out fantastic and we all had a great time.

Last Tuesday J & I had date night at Bettola since he'd never been and I rarely go. Of course I couldn't branch out from my "usual" and ordered a pizza, even though he got pasta and I was eating a pizza by myself. I had leftovers for two days, which was pretty awesome.

This past weekend we went to the Alabama Outdoors party on the porch Friday night, followed by a Barons game with some friends of ours. It was the first time I'd ever sat out on the lawn at the stadium. And while it's a lot harder for me to follow the game in that area, it's definitely still a good time. Especially when the weather is nice!

Then Saturday I did my usual workout routine, followed by a hair appointment and then I made my first trip to the "new" Nordstrom Rack in town. I took Jill so we could find a dress for her upcoming high school reunion. We somehow made a great find with the very first dress she tried on, but you know us girls. We still ran around town just to "be sure" we had the perfect dress. Turns out we had it right the first time :)

Later that night, J & I had dinner with Luke, a friend of his that was in town for the weekend, and Luke's sister's family who actually live here in Bham. I am loving getting to meet all of his friends lately. I just wish they lived closer so we could hangout more often!

Sunday after church, J & I hit up the showing of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Alabama Theater with Joy and Justin. Such a great movie and I never get tired of going to the Alabama. It's just so beautiful and the organ that comes up from below the stage is always a great highlight.

Pretty soon we'll be in wedding mode for Nicole & Torry's upcoming nuptials. Excited about celebrating them and getting to see friends framily come back in town again...stay tuned for the fun!

Life lately

Apparently the name of the game lately has been working out and eating. Oh wait. Who am I kidding? That is always the name of the game. So yeah, clearly things haven't been too different.

But what was different was that I finally took advantage of the free (yes, free!) aerobics classes at Railroad Park recently. Joy and I went to yoga one Thursday evening, while Ashley and I opted to get "crunk" on a Monday night. Both were enjoyable, but the Crunk class was definitely harder. I was a sweaty girl afterward and I probably definitely looked ridiculous while trying to do these dance moves, but it was fun.

A couple of weekends ago I went with J to Mississippi to see/meet some of his friends. It was a super good time, but unfortch the only pic I was able to get was the one he took of the Bell Tower at Ole Miss—which is his alma mater. I wish we had made it to Oxford earlier on Saturday so I could've seen campus in the daylight. But we did at least get there in time to drive around town and visit Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home, before sundown. Our next priority was obviously food so we headed directly to the square and ate at Boure, which was pretty good stuff. This meant the campus walking tour had to be taken at night, but it was still a nice experience to walk around and hear his and Hannah's stories about the good ole college days.

This past holiday weekend was kind of insanely busy with visiting both of our families on the actual  Fourth of July. We ate more than our fair share of bbq, hamburgers, hotdogs and homemade ice cream. (Ok, maybe that was just me!) Friday was spent mostly with my mom as we shopped and got a few projects done around the house and then my dad came in that afternoon. I left them to hang with some of the girls from the climbing gym and we ended up grabbing food from the Off the Hook food truck...love their shrimp po boy..it's delish!

Saturday was a busy workout/errand/chore day followed by an evening Barons game in my company's suite with J and my officemate Leslie and her family. Then Sunday afternoon I went back to Regions Field for another Barons game, but this time the Triumph Services junior board was hosting a special event for the participants of Triumph. We ended up getting upgraded to a rather large suite and it was such a good time, even though the Barons ended up (barely) losing. Follow that with a "see ya later" dinner to Kyle at Slice (the 'wing and a prayer' pizza just might be my fav) and it was one exhausting, but fun filled weekend.

Take me out to the ballgame

One of the perks I have at my job is that our company shares an executive suite at Regions Field (Home of the Birmingham Barons) with a couple of law firms in town. They pass out a few of these tickets at the beginning of each month to employees. I was lucky enough to snag a couple of them for me, J ("the boy") and two of our friends to attend this past Tuesday night's game.

Since I knew I was climbing after work and the stadium is downtown near my climbing gym, I realized it made no sense to go home and change before the game. Therefore, I needed to pick out something that was both office and baseball game appropriate.

(Insert pinstriped skirt to be worn as a strapless dress here.)

I mean, really, what could be more appropriate for baseball than something pinstriped? Am I right? And the cream lace cardigan made it office appropriate (and cute!). I also wore the wedges to the game, though I probably should've brought a pair of flats. But the wedges were just so cute. I couldn't resist.

Anyhow, even though the Barons (barely) lost, it was a good time. Perfect weather and 50 cent hotdogs. Yes I realize this is the second time I've mentioned these on the blog...clearly I love those 50 cent hot dogs!

Ok, here's the cheapskate outfit breakdown:

1. Pinstripe skirt (worn as dress), thrifted ($2.50)
2. Belt, Cato ($1.99)
3. Wedges, Charlotte Russe ($12.50) *buy one, get one half off deal
4. Lace cardigan, Banana Republic ($59.99)
5. Necklace, Noteworthy/gifted (thanks Em!)
6. Purse, gifted/passed down
7. Sunglasses, Dollar Tree ($1.00)
8. Earrings, Stella & Dot ($34.00)
9. Circle ring, Brooklyn Flea ($5.00)
10. Simple gold ring, gifted/passed down

Total: Under $125.00

ps. oh yeah, check out those lovely scratches on my right shin...compliments of a weekend camping trip and rafting the Hiwasee. Hot, right?

 

Photos: Leslie Evans

Life lately

 

One of the most fun things I have done recently is to finally make it to a Birmingham Barons baseball game. I mean, I watched construction of the new stadium as it was being built. Then I heard people talk about how amazing it was. Then a month or so later, I actually attend a game. It was everything I wanted it to be. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and I was mesmorized by how cool Birmingham looked. Oh and the Barons won plus it was 50 cent hotdog night! See, best night ever.

That week I also volunteered at the Triumph Services annual "friendraiser" art show which is an event that allows the community to come into the Triumph offices and hear more about the services they provide. It's a really fun event and I was blown away by all the talent that we have in Birmingham who also were giving back to their community by allowing a portion of their proceeds to be donated to Triumph. 

There have also been a few things to celebrate including Mother's Day and Ashley's birthday. I went home of course to see mom and then naturally the icing on that cake is to also get to spend time with my niece and nephew. It's unbelievable how big they are both getting. I mean I am holding Cade and his feet are dangling somewhere around my shins. Crazy. I also made another trip back home to see Cade's last teeball game. 

Ashley wanted to keep her bday low key so I went with her and Nick to the farmer's market at Pepper Place that Saturday and then we all went to dinner at Davenport's Pizza the next week. So good to finally spend some time with framily again. These days that seems to be few and far between! 

This past weekend was pretty chill and I even managed to score some one-on-one time with Amy when we went to a local dance company's performance. I wanted to see my friend Sara from church perform with Sanspointe and Amy just loves dance, so she was game. It was a very cool and intimate performance. Certaintly not something you see or experience everyday in Bham! 

Free fun: Birmingham Barons baseball games

Photo: Mark Almond/The Birmingham News

I must confess that I haven't been to a Barons baseball game in a really long time. But I'm pretty sure that will change once they move the stadium downtown next to Railroad Park next season.

In the meantime, they are providing FREE general admission at their last two games this season on Sunday Sept. 2nd at 4:00 p.m. & Monday Sept. 3rd at 12:30 p.m. I think that's a pretty great way to celebrate the season and 25 years in the stadium. Oh and Labor Day weekend!

Go Barons!