Showing posts with label Summer 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer 2017. Show all posts

Monday, September 18, 2017

LIFE LATELY

Summer is wrapping up and I am hoping to get back into somewhat of a routine, and hopefully get back to blogging a little more. I do believe we had something to do every weekend this summer but one or two, and while it was great and a very busy summer, we are ready for some down time! So here's what we've been up to the past few weeks.

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Gatlinburg and it was such a nice getaway, and could not come at a more perfect time!

On Labor Day, I took down alllll of our summer decor and brought out the fall decor. Fall and Christmas decorations are my absolute favorite so I was not one bit sad to see all of our summer decor boxed up.

hello fall!
I am trying to hold off another week or two before I buy our mums and pumpkins, but I've been seeing them out at all the stores and it's making me so excited!

I left the following Tuesday for a work trip to Connecticut for the week. It was great meeting one of my clients face-to-face, and I got to mark another state off my bucket list! While there I got to catch a very quick glimpse of Yale University after work one day on our way to dinner. Very cool experience! I told Matthew that one fall we have to go to Connecticut for a personal trip because it was such a cute place and I'd love to see it in the fall! Being the huge Gilmore Girl fan that I am I was pretty stoked to be in Hartford and on Yale's campus. ;)


I FaceTimed Matthew one night to tell him about my day and Reagan heard my voice and kept sniffing the phone in his hand LOL.

I arrived back in Nashville Friday afternoon and Matthew picked me up at the airport, and we headed straight to dinner because we were both starving. After dinner we headed to the grocery store to pick up a last few minute items that I needed for the next day. Saturday we threw my parent's a surprise 30th anniversary party at the church they got married at! I am planning on doing a whole post on that, but for now here is a 'then and now' picture from their party! (Note: their cake topper...we found their cake topper from their wedding and used it at their party)

A couple days later was my 25th birthday and I woke up to a delicious homemade breakfast! Matthew woke up early and made me white chocolate strawberry pancakes...with a homemade strawberry syrup. Literally the best breakfast I have ever had!!!!!! So good and so many calories, but hey, calories don't count on your birthday ;) He gave me my gift at dinner and completely surprised me with tickets to Dave Barnes Christmas concert in a few months! I have talked about wanting to go to that concert for years and he remembered. So I am definitely looking forward to our fun Christmas date in the future!
We went to one of our favorite Mexican places for lunch later that day to continue to celebrations. Bummed I forgot to snap a picture of the two of us but I did snap one of my cute lunch date!

We had out first crock pot of chili this fall last week as well. It was 62 and rainy one day so chili for dinner it was! I had planned on making cornbread to go with it, but Matthew and I both ended up working so late that by time we got home we were so hungry we just ate the chili by itself lol. Sadly, the temperature has gone back up into the high 80's so I don't think we'll be having chili anytime soon, for now at least.

I snapped a picture of Reagan the other day and it reminded me of one I took a couple of days after we brought her home...I love her.
Continuing on with the #crazydogmomstatus...I have been on the search for a cute Halloween costume for our girl, and there are so many stinkin' cute ones to choose from!! We'll have to see which ones fit her though lol. 

My best friend is having a baby boy in January (!!!!!!!!) so me and my other best friend are throwing her a baby shower sometime later this fall. We have chosen the theme, "Ahoy, it's a boy", and there are SO many cute ideas on Pinterest, so we are very excited to plan it. 

I am also working on planning our third annual Friendsgiving. This is our absolute favorite dinner party to host and we have a date set, invitations designed, and now I'm searching Pinterest for cute fall tablescapes!

This past weekend I bought my bridesmaid dress for my best friend's wedding next March, and I am in LOVE with it. Absolutely beautiful...the color and the style! Also, it's super comfy!! Matthew is in the wedding party as well, so we are really looking forward to it.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

WILSON COUNTY FAIR | 2017

After almost 25 years, I finally made it to a county fair! We decided to go after our Summer Soiree since we were all together and it was opening weekend. One of our friends knows the Wilson County Fair really well, he's been going every year for a long time and has showed a couple of his animals there before.



This thing was MASSIVE!


The fair food was delicious and 100% awful for us, but completely okay because we were at the fair!

The best date to the fair!

We had fun, experienced fair food, fair people, a crowd, a monkey riding a dog (lol), a tractor pull, and a ton of other things you experience at a fair. 1st time at the Wilson County Fair was a success! 

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

SUMMER SOIREE 2017 | TACO 'BOUT A PARTY

A couple of weeks ago we hosted our second annual Summer Soiree. Last year we kicked off summer with our first annual Summer Soiree, and because of a crazy summer schedule this year we ended up winding down our summer activities with our soiree. I decided to go with a taco bar for simplicity's sake and it was a hit!

Here's the invitation.


We had a very simple taco bar and a big ole crock-pot full of queso. 

I cooked the taco meat like normal about 2 hours before we ate and then moved it to the crock-pot and kept on warm until it was time to eat. 

I picked up those cute and festive banners from the Target Section. They came with a big fuchsia balloon on the end but I quickly remembered (about 30 minutes before everyone arrived) that in order for the balloons to stay up they would need helium.  So we cut the balloons off and just used the banner as a backdrop. Work with whatcha got, amiright?!


Katie's boyfriend couldn't make it so Reagan stepped in for a picture!



After we ate we loaded up and all headed to the fair. It was my first time going to an actual fair so I'll share about that in a separate post soon.

We had a great time and I am already looking forward to our next dinner party....which is Friendsgiving!! My favorite dinner party of the year. I designed the invitations last week and confirmed the date with all our friends. We can't wait!



Wednesday, August 23, 2017

COATS WEDDING #3

I'm really behind on blogging, but I couldn't let my BIL's wedding weekend recap fall through the cracks. So here is a belated recap!

Matthew was in Knoxville all week for work so he met me in Chattanooga Friday afternoon just in time for their rehearsal dinner. I worked half a day at the office and then headed home to pick up baby girl before hitting the road. Reagan was excited for a road trip!

They rehearsed and as you can see my other BIL, Nathan, was taking things real serious ;) and had us all laughing!


My in-laws hosted their rehearsal dinner at a hibachi grill in Chattanooga and it was delicious! After dinner we decided to all go get frozen yogurt. It had been a long time since we had frozen yogurt and I forgot how good it was.

That night was the first night Reagan stayed in a hotel and it was pretty rough. She heard every little noise and was woken up so easily throughout the night. So it looks like we just need to go on more trips and take her so she can get some more travel/hotel experience. ;)

Saturday morning we headed to the church so the guys could get ready for the big day. I hung out with my SIL, Jenny, and the bride while she got ready!!

A few hours later it was time for the wedding, and it was beautiful! I can't wait to see the pictures soon. I didn't take any pictures of their actual wedding, but we took some after and at the reception.





While the bride and groom were taking pictures we realized that we all forgot to buy window markers to decorate their car. Thankfully there was a Dollar General across the street from the church so we booked it over there to grab them. Dollar General for the win!

After pictures we headed to the reception venue, and it was gorgeous!







Sister picture!

and sibling/couples picture!


The newlyweds! 


It was a great weekend celebrating Andrew and Christina, and we are so happy for them!!

and stole this picture off their Facebook, because it's just too cute not to!

And just like that the Coats family is complete!

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

ECLIPSE DAY 2017

Everyone's talking about it, so I'm sure some people are already over it, buuuuuut it was incredibly cool and a once-in-a-lifetime experience....so I am doing a full recap of our Eclipse Day! 

We both decided to work from home since there were about 1.5 MILLION extra people making their way to Nashville for the day. Fighting all that traffic just didn't sound too appealing.

I woke up and cooked some omelets for breakfast and then we both got to work. My office is upstairs in our home and Matthew's office is downstairs, and Reagan could not decide who she wanted to hangout with so she hung out on the stairway between the two of us lol.

I wrapped up a conference call and ran outside with Matthew to view the initial contact. We downloaded a pretty cool app that had a timer on it and told us when everything was happening. Best $2 we've ever spent on an app!
After we saw the first initial contact happen we came back in and worked a little and would go back out and check every little bit until it was close to totality time. 

After hearing a ton of horror stories online, I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. I have awful vision already so I didn't want to ruin it anymore, but I did read that if you take a break from looking at it (with your glasses on, obviously) every few seconds then you would be okay. Fingers crossed that's true, ha!






Loved all of the filters for Eclipse Day!

And then it started getting darker!! We could hear the birds starting to chirp, crickets, our neighbors, and the timer counting down. When we hit full totality we heard a ton of people in our neighborhood cheering. It was one of the coolest experiences we have ever experienced.




So incredibly cool, literally, the temperature dropped and we stopped sweating for a full two minutes. Pure beauty right there.

The coolest day with the coolest (& cutest) guy, ever!