Bachelorette Weekend-Part 2

Y'all, there is nothing worse than going hungry on vacation.

It just ruins the whole experience. You can't focus on the fun because all you can think about is what you're not eating at any given time.

I had that happen, once. At Disney World. 

One Word:

HANGRY

It won't happen again...if I can help it. 

I can assure you that we didn't go hungry during my sister's bachelorette weekend getaway. 

If anything, we were full as ticks the whole time. 

Saturday morning, I prepared a big ole country breakfast so we could have plenty of fuel to tackle the day's activities.

I saw on Pinterest where people are serving Biscuit Bars at weddings, and I thought that was such a cute idea.

A super easy breakfast, that will fill anyone up.

Now, I am a gluten free girl, and it kind of hurt my feelings to know that I wouldn't be eating any biscuits. I love me a biscuit, especially with gravy.

Biscuit and gravy makes this country girl's heart sing...along with a side of grits.

Lip smackin' deliciousness. 

There are days when I crave a good biscuit, and will cave in and eat it,

but friends, I wasn't willing to deal with all of the issues I encounter after indulging.

So, I watched my sister and her friends eat the biscuits.

I felt like Captain Barbossa offering Miss Swan the apple. 

 :-)

Hopefully I didn't look this creepy offering them their food. HA!

 On the menu:

Buttermilk Biscuits

Assorted Jams

Bacon

Sausage

Country Ham

Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits (per request of the Bride)

Fruit

Orange Juice

Coffee

 

I think everyone's favorite dish was the Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits.

I will share the recipe in another post.

They were truly divine.

Once we were full, we went for pedicures.

That was an experience I won't soon forget.

I made sure to find a place that had excellent ratings. The place I picked had a 4.9 star rating out of 5, and there were hundreds of awesome reviews.

I thought we were set.

We must have gone on an off day...

One girl had her legs slapped numerous times with steaming hot towels wrapped around them. Imagine 6 girls all turning, leaning forward and looking to see what the commotion was all about..at the same time. It's not every day you hear somebody being slapped while getting their pedicure. My little guy told me hated me, then tried to flirt with me, and then didn't give me a massage. Booooo! Another girl sat in her chair for what seemed like days because her person was new, and was slower than molasses. She was the first to sit down and the last of the 7 to get up.

It was an adventure, and something to laugh about for years to come. 

We hit the outlet mall in Pigeon Forge, and later that evening, we went to the Dixie Stampede.

When it first started, the spoiled part of me thought, "this doesn't hold a candle to Disney."  Once the show started rolling, it turned out to be really fun.

My favorite part was when a man came out in a chicken suit dancing, and I laughed so hard I thought my food was going to hit reverse.

I had tears rolling out of my eyes.

It was truly a good time.

These girls made this weekend a blast!

I have one more post to share about this weekend. I'll share the welcome bags I made for the girls, and all the loot that was inside.

Stay Tuned!

Bachelorette Weekend-Part 1

My sister is getting married in just a few short weeks, and I am so excited for her.

Last weekend, I got to host a super fun, completely exhausting bachelorette weekend for my sister and 5 of her closest friends.

I was a little nervous planning this weekend because I know nothing of bachelorette gatherings, and when you search Pinterest for anything related to that subject, you will find that most of it is down right raunchy.

Homey don't play 'dat. 

I am so glad I had months to plan this getaway because I was able to find inspiration from so many areas, and I was able to keep it clean and tasteful.

(You can check out my Engagement Party Pinterest Board to see where I got a lot of my ideas).

Saying that my sister is a HUGE Vanderbilt fan is the understatement of the year. Just a few examples of her obsession: she buys season passes to all home games (no matter the sport, no matter how awful they are), just about everything she owns is black or gold, the wedding colors are black and gold, and the wedding is at Vanderbilt. She is such a huge Vandy fan that when she has children, they may be in danger of being named something like Commodore or Anchor. ;-) I kid, I kid...sort of. :-)

Since the colors for her wedding are black and gold, I wanted to keep with that theme. Fortunately these colors are really popular right now, so it made it extremely easy to find the perfect accessories for our weekend getaway.

I hunted high and low on Etsy for an invitation, and this is the one I went with. It's so pretty, and I love anything that sparkles. The shop owner was great to work with, and the turn around was really fast.

 The glitter and the icons on the bottom of the invite were what sold me.

We stayed in an amazing cabin on a lake. It was a very peaceful area. Unfortunately for our neighbors, we made it a little less peaceful!

There was an incident that involved a car alarm and loud cackling of 7 hens that disrupted any semblance of tranquility. 

EVERYTHING echos across a lake :-)

Our menu for Friday night was a Taco bar and Ice Cream Sundae/Float bar.

I brought a lot of stuff from home because I didn't know what would be furnished at the cabin. 

The coke glasses were a Dollar Tree purchase and went home with my sister. The candy jars were also a DT purchase.

This chalkboard frame came from the dollar section at Target. 

I used a picture from Etsy as inspiration to draw the sundae and quote on the board. Don't you just love chalkboards? I think I could sit and draw on a chalkboard all day long.

The glitter boxes, straws, chalkboard picks and ice cream cups are from Hobby Lobby.

I borrowed the Coca-Cola crate from a friend. There was actually a Pepsi crate at the cabin. One of the girls said she was so glad that I didn't put the Coca-Cola bottles in the Pepsi crate; she would've been mad if I had...obviously she was joking :-)

Aren't these little chalkboard picks so cute? You will most likely see these used in every upcoming party I host. LOVE!

We were able to eat dinner out on the covered porch. It was kind of chilly, so it seemed to keep the little bugs away thankfully.

The views were spectacular.

I found the burlap place mats at Hobby Lobby on sale, and I embroidered the W's on them. They went home with my sister after the weekend was over as well.

I had so much fun getting to spend time with this great group of girls. Learning more about each and everyone of them.

  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

I love a good laugh, y'all.

In my next post, I will share what we did on Saturday, so make sure to check back!

Old Sewing Machine Table turned Outdoor Planter

Hey Y'all! I am back after a two'ish week break. I needed to focus on healing.

I developed shingles, and let me tell you...that's stuff is NO JOKE!

Thankfully, it's passed, and I have learned so much about myself and how I handle stress (actually how I don't handle it.)

I am taking baby steps, and learning to say no, and learning to just breathe.

It's SOOO hard y'all!

Anytime I am on the mend from an illness, I always have the urge to get up and do something. I don't do well sitting still, but sometimes life knocks you down and you have to listen to your body.

I had plenty of time to dream up different projects with all of that sitting I was doing with those nasty shingles.

So as soon as I was feeling up to it, I was out in the garage tearin' things up.

I had an old empty sewing machine table sitting in my attic that was given to me by one of my mother's friends. I knew I could do something with it, but I just didn't know what.

So it sat in the attic for more than a year.

Hubby kept trying to make me get rid of it because it was taking up space, but I refused. 

I am so glad I didn't throw it out.

I finally came up with a fun way to repurpose the table.

I turned it into an outdoor planter.

This was its original state.

Sans sewing machine.

I used the wood from the stand my porch swing used to hang from, and created a box to slide inside the table. Building the box took 40 forevers!

I went with my tried and true Krylon red. This was the first time for me to use this all-in-one paint and I LOVE it. It was super easy to use!

I made sure to drill a few holes in the bottom of the planter for drainage.

I also roughed up the top with my orbital sander, just to knock off the sheen.

Two coats of spray paint, and she was ready for assembly.

I used the plastic that Lowe's gives you for your car to protect the floor mats as my liner for the planter. Dual purpose, and it was free!

I had some leftover dirt from some previous plantings, and it was just enough. Lucky me!

I also poked holes through the plastic for drainage.

I made sure to get shade tolerant plants, since they would be under a covered porch. I always seem to ignore the suggestions on those little plant tags. 

You know what? Those people from the plant stores kind of know what they're talking about, so I chose to listen this time :-)

I love the varying heights of the plants.

I can't wait until they fill in a little more.

This was an inexpensive build, and I was only out the cost of spray paint and the plants.

I am so thankful for days when I can create what I imagined. It's so fun!

So, who's ready to make their own? I would love to see pictures if you decide to recreate this piece!!