New York, New York!

SO excited right now!

I'm heading to New York the second weekend of December to see two of my dearest friends, Phillip & Irene. We have been talking about it for what seems like forever but it just never seemed to be a good time, etc. Finally I took the plunge, texted her and asked her to pick a date, and then immediately booked my ticket for said date!

A little background history: Irene and I met nearly 10 years ago when I was dating her younger brother. That relationship ended after less than a year, but Irene and I had hit it off so well that I wasn't willing to let that relationship go even though her brother and I were no longer together. Good thing, too, because if I had said goodbye to her, Phillip wouldn't have her as his wife! Phillip and I met when we were in high school, I was 15, and he was 16. So we've known each other quite a long time. He drove me utterly crazy at times, was obstinate and stubborn, and would purposely say things just to rankle me. Despite those qualities, he was always brutally honest, and we managed to not kill each other and be best friends in a triangle with our other friend, Erica. I'm pleased to say we've grown up since then. ;) Phillip also taught me to ski at the tender age of 22 in Boone, NC, and it was on one of these ski weekends that I introduced him to the lovely Irene. She had come to Charlotte to visit me and I thought it would be fun to take her skiing. I had no idea I was going to be introducing my two best friends to their future spouse. Phillip was instantly smitten, but they didn't start dating for a while afterwards. And when they did, they were afraid I was going to be mad at them and hid it from me for a while. Anyway, fast forward to now...the lovely couple has been married for three years, and they are so, so, so much fun. I absolutely love spending time with them, and unfortunately, that hasn't been a common occurrence in the past few years with our busy lives and living a 2.5 hour plane ride away from each other.


Irene and I at my bachelorette party before all the craziness ensued....

New York is awesome. New York at Christmastime? Even MORE awesome. New York at Christmastime with Phillip and Irene? Yes, please. I just can't wait to be in the same room with them and stay up until 5 AM drinking wine and laughing until our stomachs hurt, and then laughing some more. There are so many things Irene and I have been through together, and there is nothing that I wouldn't do for her. She is truly the big sister I never had!

Fun weekend, catching up...

This weekend was a lot of fun for me. I ended up spending the night at work Friday night, and all three kids actually slept through the night...Baby S was up at 6:45 AM and the other two at 7, but I got a decent amount of sleep. I still wake up constantly to check on the kids though, I'm just paranoid in that way I guess. Anyway, my part-time nanny arrived at 9 AM so I headed home with the intention of taking a nap for the events of later in the day.....didn't happen. Instead, I went to the bank, paid our mortgage payment, ran some errands, watched my DVR'ed Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, cleaned up my house, and finally took a shower and waited for our stylist, Karen Jo, to arrive.

Karen Jo is absolutely amazing and so, so, so fun to work with. She understands exactly who I am as a person and what I look for as far as style, and is just a lovely person. She came to do my hair and makeup for Ethan and I's photo shoot and she did an AMAZING job. I wanted a little bit of glam, but nothing that was so over the top that people wouldn't think it was me. So, she decided to do waves and a little poof, which resulted in hair that I absolutely loved. There is no way I'd do my hair like this in real life (because I don't have 2 hours of prep time to devote each day!) but I totally loved it, and so did Ethan. Her makeup artistry was also perfect because she understood that my goal was to look like I was NOT wearing makeup. I am not a snob who isn't capable of dressing myself or doing my own hair and makeup...but the fact is: I wear makeup very rarely, and my hair is usually in one of two styles. Plus, getting our photos done is really special, and I wanted to make sure I looked great for them! So here's a goofy self-taken photo of the final results....and for those who care, I'm wearing a black pocket tee by Vince, and the metallic Dickens blazer by Smythe. (I am also wearing pants and shoes, but they're not visible in the photo)



After Karen Jo left, Ethan and I headed to Atlantic Station to meet up with our photographer, Mary Beth Thomas of Mango Street Photography. We instantly liked her easygoing manner, and she was really sweet. We're so excited to see the final results which should be back in two weeks, and of course I will be posting those photos (we bought the digital negatives so we can use the images however we want) on here and on Facebook. The shoot lasted about 45 minutes and then Ethan and I headed home - Ethan needed to go to bed for his overnight job, and I needed to head to my regular Saturday night babysitting gig. I got home around 11:30 and was absolutely EXHAUSTED....crashed...and slept until 12:48 PM. Wow. That 13 hours of sleep was soooo nice though, I do have to say. I definitely enjoyed every minute.

Other than that, life has been great. My 30th birthday is approaching in a few weeks, and I'm excited about it. I am one of those girls who couldn't WAIT to be 30...probably because I believed that was the "magic age" at which people would begin to take me seriously and not assume I was a college student anymore. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) that is not the case...I am still constantly mistaken for being 21 and in college. Ah well, what can you do? Ethan is taking me somewhere for my 30th birthday and I have absolutely NO idea where, what, etc. I adore surprises, so I will not be trying to figure it out in the meantime and just go with whatever he has planned. I do know that he loves me more than anything, and being with him is my favorite thing in the world.... so whatever it is, it will be amazing just for those reasons alone!