South Florida trip

June was a busy month for me. After Matt and I went to NYC, my sister, Katie and I went to south Florida for a few days. Specifically Sarasota and Siesta Key. Both are gorgeous. I definitely plan on going back. We did a lot and we had a wonderful time. Here are some of the pictures that were taken during our trip...

I love Sarasota

Siesta Key is one of my favorite places. The beach is paradise and the sand is the texture of powdered sugar. No joke.

We had a great lunch at a really fun oyster bar called, Siesta Key Oyster Bar (SKOB). The oysters were really good.

So pretty.

I love this tree.

We walked and shopped all around downtown Sarasota, which is one of the cutest places ever. I loved this really cute store called Shore.

While we were downtown, we went into this adorable little French macaron shop called Le Macaron. I adore French macarons, they're so cute & colorful.

Later we had dinner in downtown Sarasota and I fell in love with all the pretty Bougainvillea growing everywhere.

There are Banyan trees everywhere as well, and I love them. I think they're really interesting.

We had such a great time!

oxox,
lauren

Fun for the 4th

I hope y'all had a Happy 4th of July! We sure did! We went down to Pensacola for four days and it was wonderful! :) We went snorkeling off of Ft. Pickens and we saw lots of hermit crabs and really pretty fish! Matt saw a blown up puffer fish and Katie and Matt both saw red snapper, but I was on the beach at the time and did not see any...maybe next time! Katie and I were laughing at Matt as he tried to body board in the small waves one day because he just kept getting tossed around in the surf but he would get right back up and do it again and again like a little boy! We had so much fun! We ate lots of great seafood, laughed a lot, thoroughly enjoyed the beach, stayed up too late, and had a ball. I can't wait to go back! I did not take many pictures while we were there, but below i posted a few of the little I did take.

This quote sums up how I felt while we were on our vacation...

:D

Matt and me at Jaco's in Pensacola for dinner

Meghan and me

Matt and me

Meghan, Katie and me

Yay for sisters being together :)

Katie's boyfriend, Bryan, and me

Matt & me on the 4th of July

Matt snapped this picture of Katie and me without us knowing and I think it's hilarious

This one we're prepared for! :D

I cannot believe the 4th has already come and gone! Summertime...slow down please!

oxox,
lauren

*image courtesy of Tumblr.

Hello Stud(ded)!

I think studs add great detail. Depending on my mood, i love to mix my more girly pieces with edgy studs to break down the girlyness of an outfit. I love how they come in all different shapes, sizes & colors. And let's face it, studs just look cool, especially if they're done right.

This dress is so fun! I love the color! Unfortunately it is no longer available, but i think it's still fun to look at.

Oh, those oversized studs!!! I want this bag...badly!

These studs look so dainty and pretty

I adore wrap-around watches, and i think this one is perfect

Studs can even look great on pillows

I think a great studded belt is an essential and i especially love how this one is braided + studded

Gotta love the studded detail on these gladiators

Hexagon shaped studs!

This adorable jewelry box from Anthropologie is no longer available, but i loooove it

Glamorous studded striped sweater

I have a pair of Minnetonka moccasins (my pair are not studded though) and they're the most comfortable pair of shoes i own, hands down!

Cute shoes!

Last week i went down to Florida to visit my family and had the. best. time.!!! I got to see my beloved beach, ate a lot of delicious seafood and talked Katie's ear off! We had a blast! :)

oxox,
lauren

*party dress, awesome Milly bag, strappy Manolo sandals, wrap watch, linen pillow, brown braided belt, canvas gladiators, hexagon wrap bracelet, cute jewelry box, striped sweater, Minnetonka moccasins, leather + canvas Tracy Reese sandals

Getting settled

Well, we're now residents of Nashville, TN! We moved in a little over a week ago and we are getting acclimated with Nashville and our new home. I have been busy unpacking boxes and trying to get re-organized! It's a lot of work! I so wish there was an easier way to unpack everything and put it in it's proper place!

Matt won two tickets to a Nashville Predators ice hockey game in a drawing at work, so we went to the game last night had a good time. It was a welcomed break from unpacking!

With all that has been going on in our lives, I have not had any time to get to any new posts, so I am going to post some overdue pictures from over the holidays when we were in Florida...

Me and Matt at McGuire's

Katie, Meghan, Me & Matt having lunch at McGuire's

Out shopping

Cool light fixture

Distressed from all the amazing furniture...I wanted all of it!

Love when we're all together!

I guess I better get back to the boxes and the organizing!

oxox,
lauren

New Year, New State

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!

We went down to Florida to spend Christmas with my mom and two sisters and we had a great time! We all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you did too! We came back to Atlanta to celebrate the New Year and Matt and I had a wonderful dinner out at Pricci (one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta) to celebrate and it was delicious.

With the New Year brings some big changes for us. First of all, we're moving to Nashville, TN! My hubby got a great job opportunity there and now we're relocating. Matt and I have been a whole three times in our entire lives, two of which were for his interviews and one to house hunt last weekend. It's been a whirlwind. The whole process began back in the beginning of October! They brought us over twice for him to interview, and then made him an offer right before Christmas and he accepted a few days later! Whew! So far I know where the two best malls are (sounds a bit lame, but one of the days he interviewed for nine and a half hours and I was by myself all day wandering around Nashville, so, yes that is how I spent my time alone!), some great restaurants, cute shops, Vanderbilt and that is about it. Last weekend we had a tour of downtown Nashville and the surrounding areas so we learned some more about the city. It is going to take a little while. We are very excited for this change in our lives! It is always a bit intimidating to move to an unfamiliar city and also in our case, an unfamiliar state, but 99% of the people we have spoken to about Nashville really love it and we think we will too!

So, back to December when this became official, I surprised Matt with a very nice dinner. I cooked him a porterhouse steak, and that was the first time I have ever cooked steak in my life! I went to a butcher in Buckhead and bought a 1 1/2" thick porterhouse and used an epicurious recipe that you can find here, if you would like. I cooked these mashed potatoes as a side dish along with asparagus. I bought some rolls that he did not even touch because the steak was the size of a basketball and he had two side dishes to go along with that...it was a lot of food, but I had planned out the whole menu and bought the ingredients before I got to the butcher and saw how enormous the steak was! I was so nervous about messing up the steak, but Matt promises it was the best steak he ever had! I feel like I set the bar a bit high though, I mean let's be honest, I am not going to be cooking him porterhouses on a regular basis here! My husband is definitely a meat and potatoes kind of guy and he had a permanent smile on his face that whole meal. It was so fun to see how excited he was...I mean, he was giddy...I am not kidding!

I told you it was a lot of food! The steak was huge! He ate the entire thing though, just not all of the mashed potatoes and he could not eat any of the bread (understandably)!

Mixed cherry tomatoes are not really in season, so I just used all red, but I don't think Matt had a problem with that!

This is now my husband's favorite meal and he talks about this darn steak a lot!

I don't eat steak, so I had chicken instead. I have to say that the mashed potatoes were really good, if you're looking for a new recipe you should try these.

Well, we have a lot going on! It looks like we are headed back up to Nashville tomorrow to continue our house hunt (we did not find a place last weekend) and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we find a place because Matt starts his new job in the middle of next week!

oxox,
lauren

A great escape!

Pretty sunset from our view


So, two weekends ago Matt and I went on a mini vacation to Florida and it was so great to escape for a bit. We went down to Pensacola to visit my family. Matt & I were lucky enough to get to stay in a fabulous home on the water overlooking the bay. The home belongs to some friends of Katie's who she was house sitting for. Thanks so much Katie! :)


The beautiful home where we stayed


The view from our bedroom!

We had such a nice time relaxing and enjoying each others company!


Matt & Me


Meghan, Me & Katie


Katie & Me


Cute :)


Me & Matt enjoying lunch with Katie at McGuire's


While we were there, we had a lot of fun cooking and drinking wine and margaritas!


The awesome kitchen!

And of course we ventured over to the beach a couple of times and it looked great...no sign of oil! Matt, Katie, her boyfriend Bryan, and I went to this fun little open-air bar on Pensacola beach called Bimini Bar and had mojitos and oysters while overlooking the water. It was great to get to see my sisters, Katie and Meghan...I love when the three of us are together!

Meghan, Me & Katie

Oh, and one last thing, the season four premier of Mad Men was last night! Matt and I love that show and have been anticipating last nights episode since the ending of season three! I thought it was fantastic, as always, but I have to admit it felt weird seeing Don and Betty divorced and living separate lives (even though they sort of always have) but seeing them really apart was different...I want them back together...without all of Don's cheating, of course (but then I guess there would not be much of a show)!

oxox,
lauren