Feels Like Fall

Wednesday is the legit first day of Fall, but it's definitely felt pretty dang autumn-ish around here for a while. The temps have dropped, football is in full swing and the trees are starting to turn. Yesterday we spent the day with Jason parents and Aunt and Uncle, in town from North Carolina, at a Fall Festival. Kenley was loving life! She got her face painted, got to play on a playground and go to the world's most random petting zoo {goats, ponies, kangaroos and a zebra....what?} And me, I was happy as a clam making my way through a giant corn maze with my Totchos and Hot Apple Cider {can a get a heck yea for hot apple cider? LOVE IT.}

House Projects

Now that we are settled in our new house, I feel like I have a grasp on the projects I want to accomplish to make this home more ours. Thanks so my amazing mom and mother in law who helped us out SO MUCH on moving day and the days to follow, we were able to knock out a couple of top priority projects right away {and by "we" I mean they because they did it all}. Nothing on this list is super urgent but will be fun to do, hopefully over the next few months. I figure as I finish the house room-by-room I can share the "after" photos, but here are the before photos to go along with the project list!

GUEST BATHROOM

□ Paint walls                     □ Freshen up wainscoting, door & trim                  □ Buy Hand Towels

□ Buy Bath Towels           □ Buy Bath Mat                                                      □ New Lightbulbs

□ Valance (?)                    □ Trash Can                                                            □ Artwork

□ New Doorknob            □ New Toilet Paper holder                                      □ New hooks

GUEST BEDROOM

□ Paint walls and wainscotting                                     □ Paint window, closet door & trim white
□ New knob for closet door                                        □ Print & frame Coffee Buzz Pic

□ Gallery Wall

FAMILY ROOM 

□ Paint                                      □ Buy Entertainment Center                          □ Buy Coffee Table

□ Buy End Table                      □ Frame TCF Bank Pic                                   □ Gallery Wall

□ Kid’s Table                            □ Baskets for toys                                           □ Craft Organization

DINING ROOM

□ New Dining Room Table (?)                                              □ New Chairs

□ Rug (?)                                                                               □ Bar Cart

KITCHEN

□ New tile                                                       □ Shelf liners

□ Rug (x2)                                                       □ Towels

LIVING ROOM

□ Refinish Coffee Table                                               □ End Tables

□ New Light Fixture                                                     □ Rug for entry

KENLEY'S ROOM

□ Paint                                                       □ Refinish dressers

□ Refinish bed                                            □ Paint Rocking Chair 

□ Gallery Wall                                            □ New Bedding  

□ Rug                                                         □ Lamp

MASTER BEDROOM

□ Closet Organization

UPSTAIRS BATHROOM 

□ Paint                                                          □ Shower Organization

□ New Lightbulbs

SPARE BEDROOM 

This room has yet to have a to-do list. Someday this will be a nursery {should we be so lucky} but right now is housing all the boxes yet to be unpacked and all of Kenley's baby stuff. I know that no matter what I want to paint the trim and window white and get a new white closet door beyond that I'm saving this room for last for now.

What do you think? Any ideas! I'd love your input! 

Ohio Road Trip

The end of August, I went with my dad and stepmom to Columbus to move my baby sister to college. It was an emotional trip but it was a fun one! We left Minneapolis at 6am on Friday morning and were on our way. 

We had a suburban packed to the brim with dorm accessories and school supplies. We killed time through Wisconsin and Indiana with the most eclectic mix of tunes you could think of {everything from Michael Jackson to Fleetwood Mac to Big Sean to JoJo, remember JoJo?} We had decided to break up our trip a bit and make a stop for the night in Cincinnati where my stepmom's bestie lives. This worked out PERFECTLY for me as my very best blog buddy, Erin, lives in Cincinnati! Erin and I have been following each other for YEARS and now chat in some form every single day. She is truly one of my best friends and we had been trying to conjure up a way to meet for quite some time now. So big thanks to my sister for picking OSU because I got the opportunity to turn Erin from a blog friend to a real life friend. 

Me and the fam met Erin for dinner at The Pub and had an amazing time. Erin and I may have ditched the group for some private dining in a little back corner by ourselves but we needed to make the most out of every second we had! Our time went much too quick and saying goodbye was so hard. I know Erin and I will hang out again some day but that time just isn't coming quick enough! 

The next morning we were up early to drive the final couple hours to Columbus. The drive went so quick and before we knew it we were on campus and Kara was getting her dorm keys, her OSU football tickets and our car was being unloaded. 

 We spent the morning unpacking, organizing and chatting with Kara's roommates. I can't get over what a great set up she has. She is in a quad but their room is two doubles separated by a living space, they have so much room it's crazy! Of course, there was an obligatory Target run for some last minute stuff as well as a mad goose chase for a missing cart with the notorious shoe rack {sorry, inside joke}. While out and about we stopped at a place called Piada which I have since had dreams about. It's kind of like a Chipotle meets Noodles where you make your own pasta bowls. Holy smokes it was so good. Word on the street is there's one coming to Minnie and I will post definitely be frequenting!

The rest of the afternoon we finished up the dorm to make sure it was perfect! It ended up so cute and I have no doubt Kara is going to love living there over the next year. 

Kara had an evening dorm meeting, so the rest of us took that time to check in to the hotel and take a little mini tour of campus. OSU actually reminded me a lot of the University of Minnesota so I definitely got a good vibe from campus. 

I always love seeing college football stadiums and Ohio Stadium was a pretty cool one. I can't wait to get inside come November when my Gophers roll in to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes!

After Kara was done with her meeting we picked her up and took her to dinner at Mad Mex. I ordered brisket nachos and it was without a doubt the largest plate of nachos I've ever seen. I'm almost sad it was so big because I couldn't come close to finishing them and they were SO.GOOD! 

terrible picture, incredible nachos. 

After dinner, Kara hit the town with her roomies for her first Saturday night in college {jealous!} while us old folks took our rumps to bed, one too many margaritas will do that to ya. 

We spent Sunday morning with Kara, walked around campus a bit and put some final touches on her room. We were all trying to delay the inevitable but knew that our goodbye was just around the corner. 

Leaving my baby sister 14 hours away from home was so much harder than I thought it would be. I know without a shadow of a doubt she made the right choice in Ohio State and will love college as much as I did. She may get homesick but her home until summer is a good one. I couldn't be more proud and am so excited to see what these next four years bring for my sister. I had a hard time letting go from my hug and miss her so much but know she's starting what will be the best four years of her life! 

A Very Vegas Bachelorette Party

If your best friend in the entire world gets engaged and then asks you to be her Maid of Honor your mind instantly goes to one place....LAS VEGAS. And more importantly, Britney Spears in Las Vegas. It's been nearly a month now since me and my besties took over Las Vegas but there was no way I was not recapping what was one of the best weekends, like, EVER.

There was a total of 8 girls who made the trip, flying in from Minneapolis, New York City and Denver. I used miles which allowed me to get in before the rest of the crew which gave me time to run a couple errands {ie: pick up cupcakes}, have a drink, check in to our room {we stayed at Bally's} and spend some solo time at the pool.

The soon-to-be groom's sister and sister in law arrived shortly after me and the rest of the girls had delays upon delays, so me, Liza and Marci had ourselves a delicious dinner at Martorano's {in Paris} while waiting for the rest of the crew. I had the Carbonara and am so mad I didn't take a picture - it was so yummy!

Finally, around 11pm the rest of the entourage arrived and the festivities could begin! Since it was a long day of travel for everyone, we opted for a sleepover style welcome party in my room complete with tons of drinks, Sprinkles cupcakes, bachelorette related conversation and even some inappropriate drawings. It was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

The next morning me and my roomies {Christina & Megan} rolled out of bed and made our way to Planet Hollywood for some much needed Starbucks, not knowing there was a Starbucks right outside our hotel. But heading to Planet Hollywood and seeing Brit's pictures everywhere definitely got us in the right state of mind and super pumped for the rest of the weekend.

Friday, we spent the day at the Paris Pool in a Cabana. I'm so glad we decided to do this because it was HOT, like 113 degrees HOT. So, it was nice have our own little spot to cool off and get some shade.

After a full day in the sun, we all cleaned up and walked to the Wynn for dinner at La Cave Wine & Food Hideaway. None of us had been to La Cave before and picked it based on some great online reviews and I'm so glad we did! It was DELICIOUS! The serve dinner tappas style so everyone split a bunch of smaller plates and there was not one thing we didn't love. Definitely a perfect place for a larger group of girls!

After dinner we found ourselves on the list at Surrender Night Club. It was a super cool club next to the Wynn Pool and while the music wasn't really my style, it was still a great place to dance until the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday morning, we were a slow moving train and one hurting unit. We got a late start but were still able to spend a couple hours perusing the designer shops at Caesar's Palace and of course had to pop in to my favorite Vegas bar, Fizz, for my all time favorite cocktail, The Fizz Noir! We were even able to sweet talk the bartender in to letting us film him giving us the recipe - so now I can attempt to make on at home! No doubt it won't be the same though.

And then it was time for the official Bachelorette festivities to begin! We decorated our room and everyone came over for games and gifts! Christina and I had met up with Nathan {the groom} before our trip and asked him all kinds of personal questions and video taped his answers - I then put together a little interactive video version of the Newlywed game which was hilarious! And Libby loved it! We also played a rousing game of "Do, Dump, or Marry" though we used slightly more expletive words. And finally, I had everyone send me their favorite Britney song before the trip and made a little card for each song, then Libby had to match the song with the friend and if she got it right we had to take a shot of Kinky, if she got it wrong, the shot of Kinky was hers!

After the games and gifts we made our way downstairs and outside where we surprised Libby with a limo! We cruised the strip for an hour blasting Britney and sipping champagne and then made a quick stop at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign which was packed with people so we didn't bother getting to close. It was a super fun way to arrive at Planet Hollywood for dinner and the concert!

We had dinner at Planet Hollywood and one of my favorite spots, Koi, which did not disappoint! the food was delicious and the service was awesome!

And then, it was time for BRITNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 The show was even better than last time! Not sure how that's possible but it really was. There was some new sets, songs and outfits and this time around Brit just seemed more in to it. She wasn't going through the motions, she really looked like she was having a blast! It was epic.

After the concert I got a MAJOR hookup at Chateau Nightclub {thanks Steve!} We had an amazing VIP table right under the Eiffel Tower, top shelf bottle service, our own personal cocktail waitress and a security guard. It was pretty bad ass! We sweaty danced the night away, watched what had to be a team of drug lords get drunk and fall asleep {at the club!} and overall just had an amazing time!

Sunday morning we were hurting pretty bad, but couldn't waste our last hours in Vegas. After sleeping in {which was glorious} a few of us made our way to brunch at Mon Ami Gabi which was fantastic. The we played a little black jack {and lost horrible}, walked through the Bellagio and saw the fountain and then I placed a bet in the Sports Book to finish off the trip. *I should note the original plan was to just lounge by the pool which is why I'm prancing around in my swimsuit.

It was a weekend I will never forget! All 8 girls were awesome and so much fun! Everyone got along great and there was no girl drama. The weekend could not have gone any better and I had so much fun planning this trip to celebrate my best friend!