4.27.2012

Picnic Night!

TGIF!!!

Wow!  What a week it has been!  As of last night, I had worked 54 hours this week.  The classroom was in disarray and I've been staying after hours every night cleaning out and getting organized.  Despite some serious exhaustion, I couldn't be happier.  I tend to thrive when I'm under pressure and most busy.  Additionally, I had an interview for a kindergarten position for the fall at a small Catholic school.  It went incredibly well, so I'm crossing my fingers I might be hearing good news in the next week!

Today I wanted to share a recent date night Bryce and I had.  Because we began to have a tendency to do the same things over and over, I decided to shake it up a bit last week and surprise Bryce with a picnic night.

We packed a picnic basket and headed to Brown's Island!

We checked out the views of the river before settling down.

I love this photo Bryce snapped of us!

We found a nice spot to enjoy our picnic.

We had quite the spread, Rosemont Wine, Brie en Croute, Salad, and Strawberries!
I also was so excited to use my new wine bottle stopper!


AMF gave me this cute tray, knife, and napkin set for my birthday and I thought this was the perfect occasion to use it.

Enjoying his salad...the one thing we forgot at home was dressing--Bryce got creative and poured a little wine on his!

Miss Dixie's Brie en Croute was a huge hit!

We practically had the island to ourselves!

After eating we took a little walk out onto a bridge and enjoyed the sunset!

The "MORE MOOSE" on this bridge cracked me up...I hope it doesn't have some bad connotation I don't know about!

Enjoying the James River!

Bryce and I love fun date nights like these.  Richmond has so much to offer and now that the weather has warmed up we look forward to more fun, outdoorsy evenings!

Have you been on a picnic lately?  What are some of your favorite picnic foods?

Have a great weekend!  I'm off to C'ville to enjoy the annual Foxfield Races!

4.20.2012

LEJ Engagement Celebration

Happy Friday readers!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of my new followers...be sure to say hi in a comment so I can get to know ya!

How were you weeks?  Mine has been great...just yesterday I received notice that I got a teaching job!  It's a long term substitute position starting Tuesday through the end of the year in a first grade class (perfect!).  I'll be the students' third teacher of the school year and have a tough road ahead of me, but I couldn't be more excited to have a class of my very own.

This time last Friday I was headed to C'ville for the afternoon and evening to celebrate the engagement of one of my closest friends from the Curry School, LEJ!  A group of us, all from the elementary ed program, got together in honor of the occassion and it was so fun to have an afternoon devoted to girl time.

We started our afternoon at King Family Vineyards.

It was absolutely gorgeous and think might now be the top of my favorite vineyards list.

LEJ in her "Bride to Bling" sash!

ready for the tasting


I loved this "HOT HORSES COOL WINE" sign!

the decor inside the tasting room was rustic and gorgeous

I always love seeing the wine bottles lined up with their medals.



I bought one of these wine bottle stoppers for $1 and they are awesome..might have to make a trip to get some more!

Next we selected a few bottles and headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

KTM ready with our wine!

the views were gorgeous...I don't know if you can tell but that is a POLO PLAYER PRACTICING IN THE DISTANCE!

I enjoyed a glass of the Crosé

With the future Mrs. W!

the whole group

Terrific Trio

After wine tasting we headed out to dinner and out on the town for quite the fun night!  I felt so old being surrounded by undergrads I didn't recognize.

Ready for some fun on the corner!

CLW, ABE, MBB

Are any of your friends currently celebrating an engagement?  Are you a fan of wine tastings?

Have a fantastic weekend, friends!

4.10.2012

Oyster Birthday Basket

Happy Tuesday readers!

Hope you all had wonderful Easter weekends!

Today I thought I'd share a closer look at Bryce's birthday present.  In my sorority, I was Director of Philanthropy one year and was responsible for putting together all the baskets at our Parents' Formal silent auction.  I really enjoyed putting together themed baskets.

That being said, when Bryce's birthday started to get close I tried to think of a present I could give him that would be unique.  Bryce adores oysters and even grows them at his river house.  I thought it would be neat to put together a basket centered around his love for oysters.

Finished basket--now let's take a look inside...

It was so fun searching the internet for cool oyster goodies.

The first thing I ordered was this canvas from Easy Canvas Prints

Bryce has been wanting a Southern Marsh tee shirt and I thought this Oyster Fest one was perfect!  Bryce looks great in red!

No oyster meal is complete without hot sauce.  This Crazy Jerry's sauce is made especially for oysters!

Bryce is quite the shucker and this Shucker's Soap from Georgia Oyster Knife Co is designed to "cut the yuck & de-slime in no time!"

Bryce is also a huge fan of all things Virginia, so I knew he would love this koozie from Virginia's own Rappahannock River Oysters!

This Shucker's Field Guide by Patrick McMurray makes a great coffee table book and is filled with interesting information on all things oyster!

This Southern Proper Oyster Bow Tie will be perfect for summer events.  I ordered it through County Club Prep, click here to join!

The final element in the basket was this Charleston Shucker Co personalized Palmetto Shucker.  For no extra charge, Charleston Shucker Co will personalize your oyster knife.  One side was engraved with Bryce's initials, "BAC", and the other was engraved with "25"!

After collecting all of these gifts I began to pull it all together in the basket.  For the basket, I ordered a monogrammed decal and added it to a galvanized tub Bryce can use later for entertaining.  

I used this oyster stationery as a birthday card.

I wrapped his knife.

And then styled it all in the basket..


second look

I then wrapped it in cellophane and added a raffia bow complete with an oyster shell!


When I presented him with the basket, Bryce was very excited!

He also had a little fun playing with the wrapping...

Bahaha!

Y'all know how I feel when he grows out a beard...can you imagine how much I liked this look?

I think Bryce really liked his gift and I had a lot of fun putting it all together.  I think gifts like these are great for the person who already has everything--just pick a favorite interest and put together a basket centered around it!  

Are you a fan of oysters--love 'em or hate 'em?  What are some cool gifts you've given in the past?  

4.06.2012

Monument Avenue 10K

TGIF and a "Hoppy" Easter, my sweet friends!

Today I wanted to share a Richmond tradition with you:  The Monument Avenue 10K.

Monument Avenue is a National Historic Landmark District and is a gorgeous street filled with statues of Virginia Confederates (Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson) as well as two other famous Richmonders, Matthew Fontaine Maury and Arthur Ashe.

This image I found on Pinterest is spot on!

Each year in the spring, the 10K is held to benefit VCU's Massey Cancer Center.  This year's event had more than 40,000 participants.  AMF (my best UVA friend) visited for the weekend and we walked it.  It was so fun participating in such a huge Richmond event.

we parked near Lee Monument and the street was already packed with runners!

Ready to Go!
AMF, ABE, SEG

the starting line!

The Avenue was filled with bands!

It was incredible how many people were out and walking!

There were some interesting costumes along the way...

I loved seeing homemade signs like these! The one with the pink balloon reads:
"Go Mommy! P.S. Peace love bananas"

I quickly snapped this picture of my all time favorite Monument Ave house to share with y'all!  I have ogled over this house since birth!

So many organizations were there to cheer people on--I got a kick out of The Richmond Parrothead Club!

Lee Monument

FINISHED!

We hope to make this an annual tradition...AMF even suggested jogging next year!  We'll see how that goes...

Does your hometown have any traditions like these?  Do you like participating in races?

As a side note, if you haven't checked out the Sundresses and Smiles Facebook page yet, try and stop by (and please like it)!  I just updated the "What I'm Reading..." album with three new books!

Have a wonderful weekend!