Tea with Friends

I never thought to put "having tea" on my bucket list, but now that I have officially had afternoon tea...I cannot help but think of 100 more reasons to have tea!

For a dear friend's 30th birthday some girls met at the St. Regis for afternoon tea.  First and foremost, I LOVED getting dressed up to go to tea.  It was a wonderful afternoon with these ladies!

There is just something about a delightful cup of tea, snacks, amazing desserts, and conversation with good friends that makes for a joyous occasion.

To toast the birthday girl and her life, we ordered sparkling wine (I passed mine along to the birthday girl!).

Instead of gifts, we presented pictures of our 'favorite memories' with the birthday girl to her.  It was so nice to hear everyone's stories and think back on many wonderful times we've had together.  Here is to many more years filled with happy memories!

I wish I could go to tea every weekend.  I am going to keep this in mind for future birthdays or maybe even a date for a girls outing when family is visiting.

Happy birthday Luci!

Sharing Time

July was a whirl-wind of activity for us!  Essentially, it was all about sharing time with others.  August officially marks the start of the school year for our household, so we focused on seeing friends and family for the last few weeks of "summer".

My sister visited for two weeks!  It was nice to have her here and catch up (she lived abroad again last year so it was the first time we had been together since summer 2012).  Here are the highlights of our two week adventure:

• Shopping at the outlets
• A day at the Lake Oconee
• A few dinner parties with small group friends, good family friends and even extended family
• Chamblee fireworks for the 4th of July
• Saw the movie Despicable Me 2...in theaters!
• Ventured to a new Indian restaurant for some quality time
• Dinner at the Dunwoody food-truck park
• A day in Gainesville with family friends from Fairfield, CT (love the YoungLife community!)

And then we continued the family & friend filled month with…

• A lunch date with two lovely ladies (who thankfully came to Emory Village to be closer to my work!)
• Dinner at Antico Pizza to celebrate friends who live in Bermuda and were recently engaged
• An after-work summer cook out!

We brought a watermelon to the cook-out and C thought we should match:

(sorry the picture is darker than might be ideal!)

To top off this activity filled month, I traveled to the northshore of Massachusetts to visit family for a long weekend.  The night I flew in, my grandparents hosted a small shower/dinner party!  I wish C could have been with me, it was such a joy-filled night.

Between that first night, a trip to the beach (by boat of course) and a shopping outing in Rockport - I was able to see all of my cousins and had great quality time with my grandparents.

Here are some of the group photos from our shopping trip.  It was overcast and chilly (especially for July!), but that didn't stop us from making the most of time together!

(cousin love)

(a family shot)

I am so thankful to be able to have spent time with my my mom, sister, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins....even if only for a weekend!

It was a busy month, but I loved every minute of getting to share time with so many amazing people.

My Good Friend BOB

Of all the things one could possibly buy for a baby, the one that I have been most excited about is the BOB Stroller.  I think my family may have picked up on this as well, as coincidentally it was the first item purchased off our registry!  I was beyond happy!

My love of (the) BOB started back in 2007 when I first moved to Atlanta.  I would often babysit for a family that lived near Chastain Park, so I would often walk both children in a BOB Duallie to the park where we would spend our afternoons together.  Oh the memories!

Baby E's BOB arrived earlier this week and it did not take long for me to open the box (it was open within an hour of being home!).

So great!

There was more than just my excitement of actually owning a BOB that spurred the prompt assembly of this stroller.  You see, one of our dogs, Maggie, is a bit quirky.  I like to think that she has personality (we have been together since she was 8 weeks)....but it may just be a little more than that.  For example, she will not walk across a cord on the floor and avoids bikes and rollerblades, among other unique habits.   I love her for it, but it is certainly understandable that I was a little hesitant about walking her while having Baby E in the stroller.  I am glad to be able to have the stroller to take the dogs and BOB on a little test-drive!  So yes, I plan to take the stroller on a walk :)


Later....

I am happy to report that all went well on our first walk!  We are looking forward to taking Baby E on his/her first walk in the months to come!