What's Up Wednesday: September 2017 Edition

Hey ya'll! Cooler temps are supposedly on the way, and dare I say it's finally fall?! Like FINALLY?!  Over, the heat. OVER. IT. 

I'm back today to share another round of What's Up Wednesday -- where we catch up and answer these questions ....

What We're Eating This Week: Uhm BBQ. We had the fan bam over Monday night to celebrate this month's birthdays and I overestimated the consumption just a wee tiny bit. So, I've been packing everyone in the family lunch, adding smoked chicken to avocado toast and serving mac n' cheese to Lainey (it's her favorite) for nearly every meal. I'm not gonna lie though, I'm pretty excited about eating out tonight with my gal pals (for yet another bday celebration) and munching on something other than smokey meat. Ha!

What I'm reminiscing about: My birthday ... because even though I'm one year older ... birthdays are always fun! I mean when is waking up to presents and having your kiddos spit all over your birthday treat NOT the best day ever ?! :) Plus, I had a total "me" day had my nails did with my bestie, and even got my hurr did at drybar!

For some reason I can only find the "before" selfie I sent MaKenzie .... but the after was cute too. I had a little braid and curls -- let's be honest though ... it looked exactly the same as my hair does nearly ever day - HA!

And when Bruno Mars comes to town on your birthday ... it's NEVER a bad day!

What I'm loving: Watching my big guy play sports. We're officially in the thick of soccer season and flag football started last weekend, and little man is LOVING it. Shane and I were both athletes growing up, and we love watching him play all the games. "Soccer mom-ing" is my jam. 

Flag football and daddy is the coach

 He thinks he's so cool with his little mouth guard :)

What we've been up to: We have been SO. STINKING. BUSY. If it's not school, it's a meeting, if it's not a meeting it's a dinner, if it's not a dinner it's a party, if it's not a party, it's a game. Whew! Some days I struggle to keep up!

We celebrated my birthday with Shane's family at the LouCity game ... and Sissy even called ahead and brought homemade cake to the suite! Score!

We agreed to a Build A Bear stop on a random Saturday .. complete with stuffing fill,

 warming up our animals hearts.

 giving them lots of happy thoughts,

 making a big wish for their future,

 and giving them a big kiss with lots of love,

 and of course baths.

We've attended birthday parties + had our faces painted ...

What I'm dreading: Still November. November is going to be a HUGE visit (PET scan, CT scan, MRI of the abdomen, MRI of the brain, blood work, derm visit) THE WORKS. And there are a couple of really subtle spots they've been watching for a long time and we think this visit will kind of determine a decision one way or another (if they've changed). Sooo ... while it's still a while away - I'm dreading it. It's been heavy on my heart. 

What I'm working on: Would you believe me if I told you I'm getting ready to tackle ANOTHER construction project :) ?!! I know, I've officially lost my mind. But I met with the contractors last week to go over plans and we've filed for permits - so I'm crossing my fingers and diving in head first. More on that at a later date ... but let's just say I'm nervous and excited to the Nth degree. However, the use of these old doors as makeshift walls is totally an idea I'm stealing for this new little space and I think it's so great.

What I'm excited about: The mail :) ha! I've got some goodies on order and I've been checking the window to watch for the mail lady like a hawk. My blinds are also being installed today, so I'm also really excited to finally take my temporary accordion paper blinds down! Also, I'm excited our little guy is starting to eat some new foods! About a month ago we put our foot down and had a big family chat - BENNETT IT IS TIME TO START EATING! - And we all agreed he would try one new food every night at dinner. We decide what it is, and it's lots of things. Sometimes we choose things we know he'll love (like a donut) so that it's not miserable ALL the time ... but other times we choose black beans, it's a give and take but either way it's PROGRESS and I'll take it! He also has started to use band-aids (he used to hate them for some reason) .. and the other day he took "I'll wear band-aids now" to a whole new level. And that made me smile. He told me he was a zombie, so this was the only face he would make.

What I'm watching/reading: THIS IS US! It returned last night and I'm so excited about fall shows being back in the lineup! I also just wrapped Shauna Niequist's book, Present Over Perfect, and it was such a breath of fresh air in this busy little life of mine.

What I'm listening to: Game of Thrones - if I'm at my computer (which seems to be a lot lately) I"m streaming Game of Thrones. 

What I'm wearing: Hopefully the last of my summer wardrobe. Did I mention I'm OVER the heat? Because I am. We all adorned summer attire at the Company picnic this weekend and I am hoping that was the last social function of the year that we have to wear those threads! Bring it fall.

What I'm doing this weekend: I can't believe it, but we have a relatively low key weekend! We've got soccer and flag football of course - and we're toying with some Friday night plans - but the forecast is calling for fall temps and we're planning to finally spend some time around the house (garage, basement, etc) and tackling some tabled projects we've been putting off since we moved in. 

What I'm looking forward to next month: Ahh FALL! Pumpkins, apples, family photos, more football, Halloween, I really really like October. 

What else is new: We're starting to plan a little bit for Spring Break and some items that are on the horizon -- but other than that we're just working to tack our to do lists!

And that's about it folks, what's up with you this Wednesday?!

Barbecue Stain

There was a time in my life I'm certain where I could hear a Tim McGraw song and not squeal like a twelve year old girl ... but ever since Hubs and I saw him and Kenny Chesney at an outdoor concert in Cincinatti, OH those days are long gone. The man literally is aging in reverse and is one of the only male humans that can wear the tightest black t-shirt on the plane with legit intentions to display "man-cleavage" because apparently that's a thing now ... and I don't bat an eye thinking that's the slightest bit odd. Holy Mackerel. 

A few weeks ago hubby and I hit the road for a much needed weekend getaway to see the Tim and Faith, Soul to Soul tour in our old stompin' grounds ... Nashville, TN! Sigh, I miss it there. The city, the people, the music, our friends, my routine, the excitement, the cranes, heck even the traffic, ha! But, either way I'm thankful it's so close and such a great getaway!

Our annual family reunion unfortunately happened to be on the same weekend as the concert (we bought the tickets forever ago -- when we had no idea we wouldn't be living in Nashville at the time) ... so the littles packed up and head to Cincinatti with my parents for the weekend. We had an unexpected date night Friday (we left Saturday am) - WAHOO!

We were having unseasonably AMAZING weather so Hubs and I hit up a great little patio here in town and had the BEST night. 

Then Saturday we hit the road - with nothing but Tim and Faith on the radio and tons of laughter in the air (that sounds so ridiculously cheesy, but really ....).

 One of my long time pals is the PR director for 21C Hotels so she hooked us up with a sweet room down on Broadway - thanks Holz - you're the BEST. And if anyone happens to go there and stay ... take my word for it and order the fried chicken bucket to your room. HOLY YUM.

 We changed up and headed out to go Honky Tonkin -- with one of our first stops naturally being the sushi car at Acme -- because duh it's so great.

 Then we hit up lots of our favorite staples - Tooties, Rippy's ... you know all the usuals :) and headed over to Bridgestone!

 Hubs was super excited because they sell Tin Man Brewing inside the arena ... it's the latest acquisition Falls City Brewing  has made (and the acquisition that has completely stolen my husband - whew! Hello giant workload!). But I'm super proud of him and the growth of this little beer brand!

 And then this happened and we were all smiling and singing the rest of the night.

I mentioned earlier we purchased our tickets FOREVER ago. They were running a special through our credit card and we had no idea where the seats were - they were just relatively cheap and we were down. And then near the end of the show - HOLY SMOKES they walked right in front of our seats! I was all fan girl Snapchatting -- but here are some screenshots.

 And just like that it was time to come home and snuggle these sweet kiddos. I love weekend getaways with my boyfriend, but coming back to these little things sure is sweet too!

All of that to say ... if you exist out there and don't sing along to "I had a barbecue stain on my white t-shirt" we cannot be friends :) 

Kentucky Derby 143

Another Kentucky Derby is officially under our belts and this year was MUCH better than last year (ha!)!  I was in super recovery mode last year from a series of pretty nasty surgeries, so to be right up in the action with finish line seats was a far better time this year!

I've been going to the Derby since I was a youngin' - my parents were always awesome and included us in such a Kentucky staple. And even though I've been more times than I can count, every year it's always just as magical. And it's the absolute BEST time to live in Kentucky.

This year the weather was a super bummer (rainy + cold), but the Bluegrass has some Derby magic and come time for the 143rd run for the roses the sun was indeed shining bright on our old Kentucky Home! <3 I rocked black jumpsuits, wellies, and fascinators both days and couldn't have been more pleased with my choices.

First up was a gals day at the track for the Kentucky Oaks. I went with one of my lifelong besties, Jessica, we've been friends since kindergarten and it was such a fun gals day (minus the frigid temps). Before we left for a super fun breakfast little Lainey gal joined the fun and wore one of my fascinators from years past.

If you know anything about Derby week, you know it's ALLLLL about the fashion ... well that and the ponies ... and the celebrities, and the parties, and mint juleps (HA!)! But .... back to the fashion. There are A LOT of options of places to sit (or not for that matter) and with better places to sit comes a heft price tag right along side of it. So, for a fun a last minute girls day ... we opted for the cheap seats (because we had no idea the weather would be so cray) ... and therefore when you're not under cover and gonna be walking for miles ... you ditch the beautifully fancy shoes and embrace the rain boots! BEST decision EVER!

All of these girls ended up ditching their heels and wearing rain boots too ... but for the sake of the photos they adorned heels (look who didn't have hers, heheheee).

 We finished the night with a yummy yummy gals night dinner and wrapped the Oaks, just to wake up and do it all over again for Derby!

And whew, my Derby date was lookin FLLYYYYYY. Oh heyyy rain boots (again!) ... I actually switched out of the rain boots by race three and rocked heels for the rest of the day because the weather gods were on our side with that Kentucky Derby magic. But, alas - the only photo we have I'm rocking those pink wellies again.

 Hey pretty mama!

And all the fascinator love! I made both of my hats you see in these pics (I've done it every year since I've been a kiddo - a lot of us Louisville gals do) and it's absolutely one of my favorite parts of Derby. I think my Oaks day fascinator was actually my favorite of the two, but it didn't photograph that well. The top of it was much more to write home about than the straight on view. But, either way, my late night glue gun creations are my favorites and seeing all of the hats and fashion at the track is just something unlike anything else.

 Fam Bam!

And finish line fun with the baby bro in from NYC and daddy-o! We didn't have the winner, but man did we have fun!

Hope to be back next year for 144 ... come with me, I promise you'll have a good time!