May 2012

Hard Work, Rewarded

by KT on May 25, 2012

There has been a lot of change around our house. A few months ago REF decided to leave his job of 4.5 years. He felt like he had gone as far as he could in that role, dealt with a really terrible work environment, and was just ready for a change. So, he decided to ramp up his consulting business while simultaneously looking for a new job.

After TONS of interviews resulting in a trip to Vancouver, a trip to Chicago, and a trip to Raleigh he was finally offered two very different positions at two very different places. One job would be what could be described as REF’s dream job & one of job could be described as a great opportunity to gain an immense amount of experience. One required a lot of travel and one didn’t.

After lots of discussion he decided to speak with the dream job folks and explain that he had been offered the other job, too. When they realized what the other job was they actually encouraged him to take the other job. In doing so, he could gain a bunch of experience & be a more valued potential candidate to dream job.

Let me back up… the dream job would be IT and software consulting. A consultant bills a client for hours worked, similar to an attorney. You essentially work on a project until it is finished & then move onto the next project or client. Projects can last anywhere from 1 month to years. If the project is in Idaho, then you’re in Idaho M-F. The dream job (consulting firm) basically told REF with the experience he could gain working at the other job for a year or two his billing rate could possibly increase by a very significant amount. They also said this would only increase his chances of being put on a project by the firm.

So….

He accepted the other job and he loves it, so far (it’s been about a month). He’s working for one of the banks here in town & we are able to carpool since both our offices are uptown. It’s actually been an unexpected perk. While I’m not the best morning person I do like the time we have together & it is so nice to chat together on our way home.

One other exciting work related thing around these parts is that I GOT A RAISE!! I started with my company in May of 2008. In September of 2008 the financial world crashed (duh) and that significantly impacted my industry (double duh). So, while I’ve had some raises, and they’ve been GREATLY appreciated, this was a BIG raise. It’s one I’ve been working hard to hopefully receive.

This weekend since we have made plans to not make plans we might just open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate!

Happy Weekend Y’all!

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A Big Ol’ Random Update

by KT on May 24, 2012

I feel like I’m always trying to catch up here on the blog, but that just is what it is…

Warning: All Iphone pictures…

We had a nice mother’s day weekend. REF & I drove 40 minutes north to celebrate with his mother, grandmother and sister. I gave everyone a tin of candy from The Shops at Target. Later that evening REF and I cooked dinner for my parents. My sister and I gave our mom the same tin of candy, but also got her this lovely arrangement that I found at my local Harris Teeter. I don’t love the vase, but I thought the flowers were beautiful!

Speaking of flowers… REF and I also worked for about 6 hours Mother’s Day weekend in the yard. I planted all white and pink flowers this year. I need to do a full post about on all of that, but I want stuff to “fill in” a little more before I photograph everything. I did snap a picture of these black urns, because for about a year April and I have been talking about black urns. I’m not even sure we had met in person yet, but we had chatted about our garden wants. I have wanted to pull the trigger on some urns SO many times, but they were either too expensive or too big. I finally found these that Saturday at Home Depot for $25.00 + 20% off. I snagged up two of them and promptly tweeted April!

I’m not a big baker & I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but I had an abundance of strawberries on hand a few weeks ago and I had just seen this recipe on Pinterest for a Strawberry Lemon cake that I decided to give it a try. Let me tell you…this is HANDS DOWN the best cake I’ve ever made. It was delicious. REF loved it, my mom & dad loved it, and three coworkers asked for the recipe. It was SO good. I’m definitely making it again & next time I think I’ll throw in some blueberries too!

It was my sister’s birthday last Monday so I went up to visit with her & Charlie for the weekend. When I got there this was drying on their table. How precious is that?! I told her she needed to make one of his hand too. My mom has hand prints from both of us from when we were little in shadow boxes. They hang right below our college diplomas.

While visiting with my sister we decided to do a little shopping. I had brought up the extra car seat base that my parents have so that I could drive everyone around & give my sister a break. However, I had no idea on how to install said car seat base so Charlie & I chilled in the trunk of my car while my sister wrestled with the installation.

On Sunday morning I grabbed Charlie to give my sister and brother in law a little break. We played in my bed for a few minutes & I snapped this picture. He looks SO much like my dad here…as in my dad makes that face!

This memorial day weekend REF & I are going to work in the yard, head to the farmer’s market & just chill. We’ve made plans to make no plans. I got a little sad about that this morning when I realized that my sister and brother in law had a fun adventure planned, my mom was meeting old friends for a spa weekend, my dad was playing in a golf tournament with old friends, and bestie was heading out of town to Chicago. Oh well…hopefully, I’ll be well rested after the 3 day weekend!

xoxo

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The Wedding Day

by KT on May 11, 2012

The ceremony took place on the golf course at Cassique. We were so lucky to have amazing weather the whole weekend & Saturday was no exception. We had the ladies locker room from noon until the ceremony started at 6pm.

This was the view the guests had during the ceremony. I was able to take a few pictures on the second story porch of the ladies locker room. This picture definitely does not do justice to how pretty this site is. The bride & groom received a really special gift on Friday night at the rehearsal dinner of a framed one of a kind painting of this view. It was given to them by friends of the groom’s parents and will be such a special keepsake for them.

The ladies locker room was beautiful. It had a long table with mirrors & chairs on each side of the table. We all had our own little station to get ready.

Naturally there was a lot of this going on… And then my camera battery died!!!!! I still don’t know why I didn’t just run over to the house to get my charger, but I didn’t. So, the rest of the photos are iphone pics or borrowed from friends. :(

These were the bride’s shoes. I should probably mention that the on paper it would seem like the bride & I shouldn’t be friends as we are total opposites. She grew up in the pageant world – she had won 3 cars by the time she was in high school!!! The opposites attract theory worked for us! So, needless to say her wedding was quite blingy!

Photo by Friend of Bride

Isn’t she beautiful!!

Photo by Fia Forever

We had the best time with the photographers, a husband and wife team. They were amazing…the perfect balance of calm & assertive. I loved them. If you’re thinking of getting married in the Charleston area you should definitely look Fia Forever Photography up.

Photo by Friend of Bride

This is the bride & her dad walking down the aisle. It was so special & may people had to wipe their eyes. Notice the bouquet…it was antique broaches from the bride’s grandmothers & mother. Super sparkly.

Photo by Friend of Bride

I love this picture of the bride & groom. Having known both of them for 11 years it was that much more special to see them tie the knot.

Photo by Friend of Bride

The reception was in a tent at Cassique. The entire tent was draped in white lines & had up-lights in shades of pink. The dance floor was flanked by white leather couches & the chiavari chairs were wrapped in pink & silver. As you can see, the flowers were amazing. Seriously, every detail was perfection.

This is a terrible iphone picture, but after dinner the bride changed into a super sparkly, super tiny reception dress. It was AMAZING & she looked KILLER in it. I’m not looking too hot here as this was after LOTS of dancing & several ‘really awesome cocktails’.

Photo by Fia Forever Photography

Here’s the whole wedding party. I’m the the 3rd bridesmaid from the left. I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures from Fia Forever. I know they are going to be perfection!

Congratulations my friends. REF & I love you so much & wish you a lifetime of happiness.

xoxo

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Luncheon

by KT on May 11, 2012

Sorry for the little hiatus, but life has been crazy the past two weeks. I’ll post about that sooner then later too, but now onto the rest of the wedding weekend.

Saturday the bride’s mother hosted a lovely lunch for the bridesmaids at the beach club. We were set up to be outside overlooking the ocean, but it happened to be VERY windy & therefore very cold so the staff scrambled & moved us inside. We had an awesome lunch complete with drinks.

SIDE NOTE: If you had asked me if I wanted Champagne about four years ago I would have turned my nose up to it. However, after a trip to NYC to visit my bestie & a four hour lunch at Pastis I realized that I do like it. In fact, I love it. Add some raspberries to it & I’ll drink my weight in champagne.

The bride with her mom & future mother in law.

Here’s the whole group. I absolutely hate this angle, but it was the best picture that we got of the whole group during this day. The bride gave us beautiful engraved jewelry boxes, a “diamond” bracelet & earrings, AND free gifts from the cosmetic line that she represents. It was WAY too generous & over the top, but that’s the bride!

The groom has three sisters, so I had to get a picture of the bride with her new sisters in law!

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Really Awesome Cocktail

by KT on May 3, 2012

The bride & groom live in San Francisco & they wanted aspects of their wedding to reflect their southern heritage, but their West Coast lifestyle. The food & drink was an obvious way to accomplish this task. One seriously San Francisco touch was the St. Germain Cocktail. I referred to this drink as the “really awesome cocktail” all night & everyone knew what I was talking about.

St. Germain is an elderflower liqueur & just had an extremely light taste to it. This drink is the most refreshing drink I’ve ever had. HANDS DOWN, AMAZING. It will now be my new summer cocktail.

Apparently, there are LOTS of variations to this drink. During the cocktail hour they were garnished with a cucumber, which I thought was perfection. At the reception they had a lemon twist. After doing some research I’ve seen them garnished with strawberries, raspberries, & limes. I think you couldn’t go wrong anyway you garnished it.

Can you imagine it with some Veuve?

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The Bedrooms

by KT on May 2, 2012

The cottage this past weekend had 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms + a powder room. There were two master suites, 1 upstairs & 1 down. They all had flat screens, dressers, walk in closets & beautiful bathrooms. There was a golf motif throughout the house, but it was done nicely.

This was our room. We were in the downstairs master & had a view of the putting green & pond from our window. The bed was amazing.

This was our bathroom.

All of the bathrooms had beautiful marble counter tops, rain showers with benches, and paneled walls. I loved our bathroom.

The upstairs master had a beautiful bay window. This picture has a great view of the ceilings throughout the house. They gave the house a warm, cozy feelings.

This is a great view of beautiful marble. Side note: If there was ANYTHING to complain about this it would be that the bathrooms only had 1 sink in them & there were NO full length mirrors in the whole joint.

The “non” master bedrooms had two queens. They were about double the size of the master bedrooms & were equally beautiful. This one had a dark wood dress & the other had a beautiful painted wood dresser.

All of the closets were awesome too. I love having a nice closet on vacation so that you don’t have to clutter up your bedroom. I desperately wanted to take one of those robes home with me.

This window was beautiful. It was really dramatic from outside the house at night time.

Oh did I mention that we had daily maid service too?

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Cassique Club Cottages

by KT on May 1, 2012

We had the most amazing time this past weekend celebrating our friends, Jennifer & Ian. I’ve decided that I need to break up the posts for their wedding weekend. Warning…picture overload!

Accommodations for the Weekend

A year ago the groom told a handful of the wedding party that he had reserved a cottage for us to stay in during the weekend of their wedding. He couldn’t offer any pictures, but it was supposed to be steps away from the reception site, The Cassique Club. So, when REF & I pulled up on to this house on Thursday early afternoon we weren’t sure we in the right spot.

It wasn’t until I walked in & saw this that I was truly convinced we were in the right spot! This cottage was no cottage. It was in fact a mansion.

Every detail of this house was both elegant & comfortable.

I loved the couch in the bay window to the right. Do you see the drapes? Those can be drawn for an afternoon catnap.

This is the view into the kitchen. Those glass panels could be pushed back into the wall. I thought they were beautiful.

This kitchen was a dream. It literally had everything you could want including tonic, soda water, lemonade, tomato juice, a fruit/cheese platter, a wine cooler and ice maker. I was in heaven.