2011.

2011 has been an amazing year. i got the idea from busy bee lauren to do a year in review blog post. here we go!

in january, b and i moved in together. it seems nonchalant when i word it that way, but it was a HUGE, major, massive big deal. i actually want to post more about the subject because it was such a game changer and i remember i was desperately searching to read more about the subject/get advice, etc.

right before we moved in together, i also decided to stop eating meat. {i know you're thinking how lucky b was!}  

so, these were pre-blog days. when i took my camera everywhere, but didn't snap quite so many photos. but, here's a good moment captured in february: b got a brand new car! back in december of 2010 i witnessed him get into a horrific car accident and total his truck, which i still can't really talk about and has literally scared me for life when it comes to driving in bad weather.

also in feb: the day after valentine's i came home from work to find b making a romantic dinner. in the process, he had also cut the entire top part of his finger off. so, we spent the night in the er. unforgettable. i have photos, but thought the car one would be more enjoyable. {you're welcome.}

belle meade plantation! {which i blogged about as one of my nashville top 5 must-sees.}

also in march: i tried pimento cheese for the first time and my life was changed. thanks to my friend mary katherine for suggesting it, my friend ben for whipping up homemade for me all the time since then and my iphone photos for reminding me that happened.

april: i dyed my own hair! haha, hot mess. this photo was taken right before we participated in great urban race. that was such a fun event. we literally ran miles and miles all over the city, collecting clues and taking photos of ourselves doing crazy things. i would highly recommend it.

may was an INSANE month this year. we went to seattle, i turned 25, i went to los angeles to see my friend hannah place second on the biggest loser, and i started this blog. which, fun fact, was originally called "me + b".

in june i got to see my bff from college, shari! she lives in vegas now {after relocating from myrtle beach, she is always fun to visit!} and we had a great time. and i had this blog, so i blogged it!

b's parents came into town for their first visit. we took them on a whirlwind tour de nash. also in july we did the nash trash tour, which was hilarious and worth it. easily a top 10 of the year.

in august we went to camp! i blogged basically about nothing else for that entire month.

in september b had a birthday! we also traveled to melissa and ryan's wedding. and i fell in love with michigan.

in the midst of a deep freeze, we went rafting! it was such a fun trip, and so special because it's really hard to get five busy people out of town together for a weekend. #memories

i also hit 100 blog posts!

and now, the holidays have been celebrated, i got an amazing {surprise} gift and we're gearing up to celebrate new year's eve with dinner out and champagne at home.

whew! what a year. i'm so thankful for each one of you reading.

cheers to 2012!

resolutions.

DRAMATIC quote, right?

i feel like i've been seeing it everywhere: blogs, twitter, the onmipresent workout pins on pinterest that always pop up as i'm having my nightly spoonful of nutella.

jim rohn was right. this past year, i have totally freebirded it up. vacations out the yingyang, kate spade shopping like it was my job, spoonfuls of nutella like it's a workout regimen. and, i have felt the sting of regret. now, it's time to buckle down and get serious about this little thing called life. and a big part of that is being disciplined to set and hit goals.

last year, i wrote myself a long letter instead of doing any set resolutions. some of those things i hoped for happened this year, some are still in the works and some totally did not get off the ground {run a half marathon, anyone?}.

this year, i'm all about self improvement. i like nicole's long, semi-insane 27-steps-per-month process. that's exactly what i need. a look back at achievements, a focus for the year as a whole and then bite-sized pieces i can take to work toward awesomeness in 2012.

are YOU making any resolutions? i'd love to know!

christmas from a dog's perspective.

"from the smell of these, i think they are my gifts."

 "are we ever going to open these?"

"no, really, let's get to it."

 "yes, yes, yes, yes!"

"i love christmas."

"and i love all of you. even if my face doesn't show it."

hope your christmas was as good as jadie's, bloggy friends!

and winner of the best christmas present ever goes to...

as you can imagine i sobbed like a baby.

also: his big present was a bowling ball.

i am the luckiest.

from my iphone.

from l to r:

unseasonably warm on a december night.

hot winter = peep toes.

my first time at nash staple south street.

annual holiday work breakfast at monell's.

view on the way back from denver.

first trip to frugal macdoogal; stocking up for the holidays.

last day of work for the week. tgit!

neighbors.

right next door to personal fav park cafe is neighbors, a newish bbq place.

we walked down during the football game sunday and i was at first a bit put off by the lack of choice on the menu. i think they actually are more of a bar than a food place, but the reviews i'd heard were all amazing - and only about the sandwiches.

a look around the place. sweetly decorated for the holidays right now. {they're actually open on christmas if you get bored with the fam and need a drink.}

brisket and deviled egg salad. plus pickles. always insta extra points if a place serves pickles with their bbq.

tebow time! i know i already tweeted this, but EVERY team i root for lost on sunday. packers, browns, titans, broncos. sigh.

and now i bet everyone else is sighing :)

quick pic from our quick walk. we'll be back to neighbors for sure.

hopefully this time watching a winning team.

currently craving: organization.

{neat desk.}

{emily ley planner.}

{jonathan adler bookends.}

the end of a calendar year and beginning of another is reminiscent of late august as a high schooler, getting prepped for a whole new grade. that's what this time is like as an adult. filing away projects completed, making sure work goals have been achieved and then coming up with new ones for next year. it all gets me itching to organize. i keep seeing the infomercials for the neat desk. which is ridiculous. it is basically a scanner, but for some reason costs almost $400. and clearly, i want it. plus, a beautiful new planner from a blogger i admire. and some funky bookends.

in which i would stack all the paperwork i need to scan on my neat.

look at that: i'm more organized that i thought.

ice! at opryland.

thanks to courtney, we got to go ice! last week.

check out these awesome coats everyone gets to wear! so, ice! is basically an indoor exhibit of ice sculptures. and it's totally a kid thing, so this year's was all about madagascar.

we weren't the only group with no kids there. promise.

look at that detail.

slide time!

we weren't the only group with no kids going down the slides, either.

there it is! we all were totally frozen after that.

but luckily, it was 65 degrees outside that night. {the weirdest december weather, ever.} so, we walked around the block to check out the lights at the opryland hotel.

opry's lights are kind of a big deal. people drive in to see them {and to meet santa, which melanie was ballsy enough to sit on his lap.}.

here's the gigantic tree. inside! with full-sized teddy bears as ornaments!

and outside: jesus! the start of the wisemen's journey is on the other side of the lawn, palm trees and everything.

opryland: frozen trees, palm trees, giant trees. they've got christmas covered.  

fill in the blank friday.

welp, regular blogging just aint going to happen today. instead, let's do fill in the blank friday with the little things we do!

1. My most favorite "little thing" is: lounging around with our christmas tree all lit up in the living room. holiday decor does not get old for me.

2. I give anything to: have approximately 35 hours in the day today.  

3. I can't believe: that i still want to dvr the kardashian show. i'm embarrassed of myself. i just really like kourtney. i love how fashionable and hippie she is. ridiculous. 

4. The one thing I'd like to achieve today is: being productive. that actually includes a lot. i'm looking forward to seeing my mom and jade for dinner, though!

5.  The last thing I want to do today is: be productive. 

6.  If I were writing my own blank today, it would say: i wish i could: slow down time! how is there only a matter of days left in 2011??

7.  My favorite candle scent is: tranquil mint from bath and body works. this question is acutally how i knew i MUST do fill in the blank friday. b+b stopped carrying the scent about two years ago, so every once in a while i check ebay and craigslist for it. b once surprised me with two of them, but since then no luck. i actually can't bear to throw away the totally burned out ones. #hoarderadmission

it's friday, friday, gotta get down on friday. happy weekend bloggies!

me right now.

{illustration from society 6}

i keep hoping things will slow down, but it's just not happening.

lots to do and so little time. only 10 days til christmas and less than 20 until it's a whole new year.

and i'm at my desk with 247 things spinning in my head.

back to regular blogging tomorrow.

it's on the to-do list anyway.

denver 2.

we knew we wanted to drive up toward the mountains while we were in colorado, but we had no idea how easy it would be to get there. they're just hanging out less than two hours away.

and one of the best part: you have to drive through boulder to get there. boulder is awesome - a totally hippie place with AMAZING food. we had snarf's for lunch, which was one of the best sandwiches i have ever had.

and here she is. our rental car for the trip. cahrazy, right? the fiat is about the size of a loveseat on wheels. and b and i are each basically 6 feet tall. we barely squeezed in this thing. and then we threw caution to the wind and off-roaded in it. she did okay, but it totally got some stares.

but, if you want attention/that feeling that you're going to get smushed on the freeway/be unable to find the lock button inside the car {hint: you have to push down the driver's side door handle}, then rent a fiat. three guys in the snarf's parking lot literally stopped me to look inside. they also referenced the j. lo fiat commerical, which is awesomely bad.

made it all the way to the entrance. also: the entire trip - we're talking 4 hours in the car - i was singing "rocky mountain raiiiin, keep on fallin, keep on callin her naaamme." i mentioned that i wasn't sure on the lyrics, but we were up in the mountains with no cell signal, so no way to google. we get back to the hotel and b finally searches and ASSURES me it's "rocky mountain high" that i was singing by none other than john dever. makes sense, right?

people, i just you tubed that stuff and i had been belting ronnie milsap's SMOKEY mountain rain and just using the dang wrong mountain range. hahaha. duhhhh.

beautiful.

there we are. ignore the guardrail there. the wind, plus four inches of snow, plus my visions of people not noticing us in our fiat and accidentally running us over had my self-photography a bit off.

they're called the rocky mountains because they are super... rocky. literally did not know. but it really feels like at any moment a landslide could happen and a bajillion small pebbles would smush us. {and in our fiat it really would have only taken a few pebbles.}

downtown! one of my fav parts is that there are so many people all over downtown, even at night. the city was all decorated for the holidays. we had dinner with my friend michelle and her fiance art at the corner office, which was holy yum. and then we walked around, took the free shuttle up and down 16th street to see the lights and stores and watched people ice skate on the free rink. a totally perfect winter night. and a great end to our quick visit. 

oh that rocky mountain range. i think we'll be back.

after all, it keeps on callin my name.

currently craving: watercolors.

{via dear friend}

{anthro}

{the unbeatable rifle paper co.}

this week's cc is kind of random, but it all started when i stumbled upon rebekka seale's etsy shop and then found her blog and she is from nashville and that only increased my love for her hand-drawn art. plus, i had already purchased these monogram cards from rifle when they were having a sale a few weeks back. and now i can't stop thinking about these detailed plates from anthro.

i'm know i'm not done with my christmas list, so i'm sure someone is not done shopping for me.

hint, hint readers ;)

the mile high city.

months ago southwest was offering up $59 flights. cheap airfare = one last vacation of 2011 for us! so, this weekend it was off to denver, colorado.

{and yes, i totally know that this was the year of travel for me. i think i'll do a post looking back at 2011, so that'll be fun for me to see everywhere we've been.}

we were only in the city for a few hours. but, we got to experience a lot. driving past the home of tim tebow. {did anyone else see the highlights of their overtime win yesterday? cahrazy.}

downtown!

related: just WAIT until you all see the rental car we drove around. haha, it is cahrazy!

a cute little area downtown. the city has a very friendly feel to it. lots of holiday decor up, people walking around, dogs ALL over the place. we heard most stores and even some restaurants allow you to bring your pet in. cahrazy!

denver performing arts center. aka their tpac. wonder if they call it the dpac?

the first of our many local restaurant experiences. city o city. funny story: so, b has a bunch of friends that live in denver. his friend jay said we had to check out city o city. b was well aware that jay is vegan, but i guess we just didn't put two and two together. result: b had tofu bbq for lunch. cahrazy. i had veg udon noodles, which were delish.

and a story that deserves a real "cahrazy" tag: my camera was broken destroyed melted  rendered useless in denver. the last morning we were there we went to a local place for pancakes. end result: a huge cup of hot syrup on me and on my beloved camera. which was a gift from b for my birthday last year. it was not fully the waitresses fault, but i still am feeling totally depressed about it. b's going to let me use his point and shoot until later next year after i've saved up for a dslr. {which i talked about wanting in like my 10th blog post ever. i should have saved a dollar a day for that thing since i blogged about it. #thatswhatsuzeormanwouldsay}

i know, cahrazy, right? oh well, moving on.

more photos and happier stories coming later in the week!