Mother's Day 2015

 Mother's day weekend was so perfect! Even though I am technically not a momma yet, Kev made sure I felt as special as ever as a momma-to-be. 

On Friday night we picked up BBQ take-out and enjoyed it out on the back patio. The weather was so perfect. Casual nights in are our favorite! We turned on some country music in the background and talked about all things Baby Girl. The love we have for this child already is insane. Kev was meant to be a daddy and our sweet Livy is beyond blessed that God choose him to be her father.

After dinner we opened up our NURSERY FURNITURE!!!! My bother and Kev had picked it up earlier that day. I am semi-obsessed with it. The detail wood work is beautiful and it's everything I wanted. I can't wait to finish this space....if I could just decided on bedding y'all. 

Saturday morning we got up and had a small breakfast and headed to Nordstrom around lunch. Kev took my shopping at Kenwood for almost 5 hours letting me pick out anything I wanted. He even watched me try on things and gave input. He would grab me smaller or larger sizes and even picked out things on his own that he liked. So so so stinkin sweet. He was so plugged in that day with something that is not his favorite. He may or may not hate shopping. We had lunch at Nordstrom cafe and then hit up a few more stores before calling it a day. I should mention the man left me in lululemon alone at the end of the day.....major gasp haha! We then headed to Mason for a successful trip to find a glider.

We called it a day by meeting my brother and Brittany for dinner at Dewey's Pizza.

Sunday morning we woke up early to go to a volunteer meeting at church to sign up for regular serving opportunities at church on Sunday's. This is something I feel like we have been talking about forever, but had yet to put action behind it. Felt so good to finally do it and establish a new and important rhythm for our family before the baby gets here. We attened service after our meeting.... and boy was it a good one. John Gray, associate pastor to Joel Osteen, spoke that morning and lit the whole congregation up with the word of Jesus. It was electrifying, funny and moving all at the same time. 

We finished our evening at OTR at Bakersfield over tacos and beer (non-alcoholic for me of course) and hit up the Brave Experience (an  interactive prayer experience put on by our church) on our way home.

Our weekend centered around God, each other, family and our little Girl. The most important things to us. Such a special "semi" first Mother's Day.

makes me wanna take a back road

If you follow me on insta, then you already know about my hot date with the fellar on Friday night.

We took a casual ride down a country road with a cooler full of cold beer, a bucket of fried chicken and a blanket to have dinner on the back of his tailgate out in the middle of nowhere. I am talking zero cell service kind of nowhere.
The leaves are all changing here in Kentucky. While it has been a week full of rain, friday we were blessed with 70 degree temps and the weather was just perfect. Everything outside just screamed fall!

I can totally see Kev and I living out in the country one day. It speaks to our souls. The country girl in me absolutely loves it. 

We parked way out in a clearing on the edge of a park and dropped the tailgate, turned on a little country music radio and poured cold beer into dixie cups. I took a couple of photos when we first go there and then we both left our cell phones in the truck. There were zero people around and zero distractions. Just me and my hubby enjoying good conversation, good food and good craft beer.





Now don't get me wrong, I love teasing my hair and throwing on fake eyelashes just as much as the next gal, but this causal kind of date night was perfect....our kind of perfect. It was just so much fun to disconnect from the world and be connected to each other in nature. It always recharges us to spend time together outside. 

At the end of our evening, Kev and I were just chatting and I looked over at him....his eyes were as big as saucers. I was pretty sure a bear or coyote was about to attack us, but it was just a family of four deer who came to check out our party. We were soooo close to them. They were very interested in what we were doing on their turf. After a few minutes, they frolicked along back into the woods. It was a great way to end our night.

Such a fun, but simple date night. Loving this man and doing life with him is my favorite.

The Perfect Weekend!

This past weekend was one for the books for the husband and I. However, the truth is that we didn't do a whole lot of anything. We slowed down the crazy pace at which we have been moving at and took some us time. We realized this weekend that we have clearly not been doing enough of that. 

Friday night we headed to Louisville (after a major disaster, but more on that in a future post) to meet Chris and Dana to spend the evening with Joel Osteen. It was such a great message and so powerful. We even got to meet and shake Joel's hand. Although Dana and I tried, no photos were allowed. The man had the security detail of Kate Middleton and baby Prince George.

We love every change we get to hang out with these two. How did we function in life before them? But seriously??!?! 

Saturday was the absolute perfect day for Kev and I which consisted of 

Sleeping in with the puppies

coffee on the back porch

a trip to lowe's

lunch at whole foods

grocery shopping at whole foods

basement planning 

watching college football 

cooking an amazing dinner together (chicken parmigiana with spaghetti squash) 

beer and wine on the front porch

 an amazing sunset

and more wine on the back porch in a fall hoodie listening to country music

Our Saturday looked a little like this ......

We decided on Sunday morning that we simply needed more of those kinds of Saturdays in our life. Kev and I are true homebodies at our core. We love being in our home and spending time together as a family with our fur children. Absolutely love it!

Sunday we spent all day grubbing in the yard. I am rocking a horrible sunburn on my back to prove it. Yikes!

We also made a big batch of Turkey Chilli and have been loving the cool crisp air we had in the evenings this weekend. Fall is definitely our most favorite time of the year. We plan to be out on our back deck A LOT! 

Happy Monday Y'all!!! 

That's My Kinda Night (Luke Bryan Concert)

Last friday night was definitely my kinda night. Literally right up my alley.

Kev and I headed to Lexington to watch Mr. Luke Bryan shake it for me (shake it for Kev ....not so much, but he is a fan of his. just not so much in the booty shaking department).  

Insert shameless car selfie here.

And yes, I rocked a headband, it's a given for country music concerts. Just channeling my inner Carrie Underwood.....

I was so excited to be back in my old stomping ground. I miss Lexington so, so much. It will always be my second home.

We met my bestie and her hubby downtown at Shakespeare and Company for dinner before the concert. Kev and I love this restaurant. The goat cheese and beet salad was on point as well as their bbq pizza that Kev and I split. In true Kentucky spirit, we sipped on some bourbon in a few mint juleps. They make a damn good mint julep at that restaurant. We ran into a few friendly faces while downtown and it was so refreshing.

This little lovey ran into my hubby while I was in the ladies room. We had texted earlier about meeting up and we made it happen. I sure do miss my Jilly and can't wait to see her again soon. We already have lunch plans in the next week or so when I am back in Lex. 

Hubs and I kinda matched in our button ups. I swear it was unintentional, but cute nonetheless. 

Lee Brice and Cole Swindell opened up the show. We are big Lee Brice fans and were also pleasantly surprised how much we liked Cole. 

But the best was yet to come......

I stole these pics from my girlfriend's facebook account. Ummm no, our seats were not this close. 

Luke set Rupp Arena on fire. I have been to my share of concernts at Rupp, but none this crowded. It was truly sold out and Mr. Bryan brought his A-game.
He covered Dwight Yoakum, Mackelomore and Ryan Lewis, and Tiao Cruz and of course played all his current and past hits.

I teared up during Drink A Beer. It gets me every time. I tried to mentally prepare for it, but hearing it live was hard for me emotionally. It hits so hard to home with what my brother is still going through with the recent loss of his best friend.

Back to happy thoughts......the man literally did not stop shaking his derrière. So much hip action throughout the entire night.

oh luke.......

So much fun in historical Rupp  .....I don't think Megan and I sat down one time while he played.
Thumbs up Luke Bryan.....you played one hell of a show!

Until we meet again :-)

The Exploring Cincinnati Chronicles

Kev and I have been exploring Cincinnati one weekend at a time. However, the weather has not cooperated. We have had so much snow this winter, therefore most of our weekends have been spent snowed in at our house. Don't get me wrong, we are total homebodies with a capital H, but we are beginning to get cabin fever. Can't wait to explore more of our new city as soon as the weather breaks. I have made it my mission to blog about our adventures in this town and hope you enjoy them as well. 

After church last Sunday, Kev and I headed downtown Cincy for lunch at Nada. Sweet Katie had recommended it when we first moved and it has been on my radar for weeks. Let me tell you....it did not disappoint. Think chic and eclectic mexican food. My mouth is watering just thinking about their chips and queso. So so so good. 

Even though it was freeeeeeezing, it was so fun walking around downtown Cincy and stopping by fountain square. If it had been a tad bit warmer I think I could have talked Kev into ice skating.

Sometimes it blows my mind that I live in a full blown city. I grew up in a town with three stoplights and the closest Walmart still closes at 6pm on sunday. I grew up very naive and sheltered, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. With that being said, downtown Cincy overwhelms me at times, and it always shocks Kev to remember that I have only lived two places my whole life prior to our move....Lexington, KY and Whitesburg, KY. (He still doesn't know how I managed two weeks in Europe at the age of 22 haha!)So when we first walked into the restaurant I immediately went into my shell. It was hopping and full of so many different types of people....and I LOVE THAT, but I can't believe i live here. Like I live right next to a big, bad city. How did that happen lol?!?! I can't wait for us to explore more things here together....i may have a two page list of things I want us to do....and every time we cross the bridge, I get so awe struck by the city skyline. It's gorgeous and I am learning to call it home.

but remember,  you can take the girl out of the country, but you can never take the country out of the girl :-) Amen!  

4th of July

 KR and I spent our first 4th of July together as husband and wife this year

Summer holidays don't really exist in health care, but I actually had the day off. Yay!

Kev's parents invited us to their house for a cookout however mother nature did not cooperate. Kentucky has been SLAMMED with rain since Wednesday. Non-stop!

That didn't stop us from heading down I-75 to spend time with family. We still chowed down on cookout food inside the house and we didn't let a lil rain ruin our parade.  

It was a laid back kind of day spent around hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad with family and good conversation.

(hubs and his momma and daddy)

Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday!

Happy Birthday America. You make 200 + look good.



Nashville Birthday Weekend

June13th-17th

Kev and I spent 4 fun nights in  Nashville to celebrate my 29th birthday several weekends ago.
Boy did we have fun!
Y'all know I am such a country gal at heart and I can't even begin to get on my soapbox about my love for country music. If we were forced to move to a city of our choice --- I would pick Nashville in a heartbeat. I love it there and so does Kev. It's an easy 3.5 hour road trip from Lex and something we see happening more frequently in our future weekends.
Here is a look at how we spent our time in Music City........

I packed, no lie, 4 pairs of cowboys boots in my suitcase. I mean one for each day right? Right!



We woke up early thursday morning and headed south. Insert shameless selfie of my traveling outfit.
I got this dress on sale at Loft a few weeks ago. I like to think of it as a birthday gift from Baily and Uggie Sue. It traveled so well with no wrinkles. Such good material!

We got into nashville just in time for an early lunch and went straight to the famous Loveless Cafe. If y'all are going to Nashville any time soon, we highly recommend this hot spot. Go early and avoid the weekend crowd if you can. We only had to wait about 15 min for a table.

We sipped sweet tea and moonshine, who cares if it was before noon.
Their homemade jams are the bomb.com.
We even snagged a couple at the gift shop to bring back to our house and give some to our parents.
Lunch was deeeeeelish!
Kev had an enormous breakfast omelet, while i choose fried chicken with all the country sides.



After our food coma, we walked our the property and picked up some souvenirs. This place is just as country as cornbread....and i loved every second.

At the gift store we picked up a couple of goodies for our pantry.

Kev and i also like to collect coffee mugs when we travel, i picked up two adorable ones - one for our house and one for my momma and daddy's house.

After our great experience at Loveless cafe, we headed to our hotel.
We stayed at the historic Union Station Hotel on Broadway.
It was super nice!
The hotel was an actual railway station in 1900 and now restored as a hotel.

We got settled into our hotel and I was a little obsessed with our 18 foot high ceilings. The room felt enormous.



We then freshened up and headed down to Broadway for some casual daytime honkey tonkying 

Ahhh, I love this city!



We spent time on thursday afternoon crooning with the bands at Honkey Tonk Central and Rippy's upstairs patio.



We had dinner that night at Etch. An upscale Americano restaurant that was so delish.
There's quite a funny story to go with that one.
Let's just say we had quite a few sippy sips of our drinks that afternoon. I knew if we went back to the hotel to change, it would be game over as we probably would have fallen asleep in 2.3 seconds.
 Girlfran gots to eat.
I convinced Kev he was not under dressed at all in his cargo shirts, tshirt and tennies to go to this restaurant. In my head at the time he really wasn't. We walked off the beaten path of Broadway to find this restaurant, and boy did we stick out like sore thumbs. Whoops. We just casually ate at the adjacent bar and all was good. The food was incredible!

It was a semi buzz kill, as we had to get our act together, but we made a good memory out of it.
We laughed the rest of the night at our bar tender who was so pompous and basically shunning us for enjoying honky tonkying and our tickets to the Grand ole Opry for Saturday.
How touristy of us - she thought. She also told us we should skip wine tasting at Bell Meade Plantation and just head out to Napa for wine tasting. Ok lady - let me just get in my private jet and fly out there tomorrow. We preferred the young twenty something bar tender who told us that she walks around the honky tonks with a pitcher of beer in her hand, cause it's cheaper than ordering 6 bottlenecks. Now that's my kinda gal :-)
We  stumbled found our way back to the hotel and life was good.

Friday morning we woke up early and headed to Midtown to Pancake Pantry.


Just before 10am, the line was thirty people long out the door.
These people are crazy about their pancakes.

It was so worth the wait. Absolutely one of the best breakfasts, next to momma's, that i have had.  I had french toast and Kev had an amazing belgium waffle. Yummy!!!
After breakfast, we did some shopping at some local boutiques right in Midtown - Posh and Pangea were my faves. Well I shopped, Kev found a bookstore/ I swear the man has a nose for them.

After breakfast, we headed back to broadway for our afternoon honky tonk fix at The Stage, Tootsie's and Legends.

And then you know I had to go shopping for boots.

and Kev got him a new cowboy hat - he's my sessky man!

Friday afternoon called for naptime.
And after naptim we got ready for a late dinner.

We headed back to midtown for dinner at Midtown Cafe. People in Nashville eat dinner early and Kev and I do not. I swear I think there was one other couple in the whole restaurant. That was ok with us. Our server ended up being a Lexinton native, which was neat.
We stopped by Legend's on our way home to hear the evening bad and called it a night.

But not before having silly fun on the elevator

Then there was Saturday - aka my birthday.
I woke up not feeling well, not feeling well at all. It wasn't so much a hangover, it was the dreaded stomach bag.
I spent the hours of 7am to 2pm nonstop in the bathroom. And to save you the nasty details, let's just it wasn't pretty seeing my sprint back and forth from the bedroom to the toilet. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.
I did come back from the bathroom, with the sweetest birthday card from my hubby on my pillow. He's a sweetie!

We had big plans to go to Midtown for the day to listen to some of the bands at Red Door, Winner's, Loser's, etc, but it did not happen. Instead, Kev went and stocked up on imodium, saltines and gatorade. I would have killed for some zofran.

I was determined to pull it together, it was my birthday for pete's sake.
I felt awful for ruining our plans. We had tickets that night to see Loretta Lynn, Patty Loveless and Vince Gill at the Grand Ole Opry. And this girl was not missing it!
I tried to shower, but could not stop throwing up. Gross, I know.
It took me probably 2.5 hours to get ready, cause I had to stop and take breaks. I was sooooo dehydrated.
I managed to throw myself together and we headed to the Opry that evening.

Happy 29th birthday to me!
I think I cleaned up nice, especially under the circumstances. Y'all have no idea how awful I felt.
Once we go to the Opry, I had to sit down ever 50 feet on a bench as we made our way in.
Kev was so patient with me.

I snuck in my saltines and sucked down sprite all night to try and settle my stomach.
And yes, I got to sing my heart out to Loretta Lynn's coal miner daughter.
It was a bucket list moment for me seeing her live at the Opry. In that moment, I had never felt better. Needless to say, we went home and Kev put me to bed with my gatorade, tylenol and imodium.

The Opry was my favorite thing we did. It was almost magical to us being the country music fans that we are. It was our first time there, and I see us being frequent visitors. It was a really fun experience, regardless if I was sick as a dog.

All in all - Nashville was a blast! I am so glad we choose to spend my birthday there - just the two of us. It was a much needed weekend away from lexington. Had so much fun with my guy!
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 Thank you Kev for the perfect birthday weekend getaway. There is nobody I would rather spend it with you than you. I love you with my whole heart!

Thanks to Katie, Nancy J, Katie and Natasha for your awesome Nashville recommendations. They did not disappoint!