Lucky for my bank account, many of my best friends from college don't live in Georgia. But this past weekend, one of my dear friends Whittney decided to venture down to the Peach State to celebrate her 25th birthday in Athens. We have a sorority sister who's still in school there, so we had a free place to stay - and it's just over an hour drive for me. Perfect!

We all arrived on Saturday to perfect weather. We spent the afternoon looking through cute boutiques and enjoying a cocktail at the Georgia Theatre rooftop bar. Whittney loves a good skyline.

After dinner at Fuzzy's Taco Shop, we headed back to get ready for our big night out acting like college kids again. Danger! We were supposed to start the night at a Dem Franchize Boyz concert at a frat house, but we were a little late. I blame my little brother's friends for not telling us they were coming on so early!

First stop was Boar's Head. Love my birthday girl!

I didn't take pictures at all of our stops, but here we are with the DJ at 9D's, a bar that strictly plays 90's music. We always end up in the DJ booth, whether we're allowed to or not.

I found one of Adam's old baseball buddies from college, Jordan! (Kissy face was out in full force.)

And of course we ended the night harassing my poor little brother's friends. Sorry for partying, Bennett and Nick.

I came home on Sunday morning just in time for Jillian's engagement brunch at South City Kitchen. I've known Jillian since I was 14, and she has remained one of my dearest friends. So happy for her and Austin! How adorable are these Sprinkles engagement cupcakes?

Because Hank is just so cuddly and funny, I'll end this post with a picture of what he looks like right now. His life is so hard. (I'm also glad someone is using the dog bed we spent a pretty penny on for Ruthie.)

march shenanigans

Shenanigans is an Irish word, right? That would mean it makes sense to pair with March, right? Maybe I'm just thinking of the restaurant from Waiting. Moving right along...

Adam had to work this weekend, so we didn't think we'd get to go all out for St. Patty's day this year. Think again! Kelly and Jason saved the day with fun plans.

I headed down to their condo on Saturday morning to watch the St. Patty's Day parade with the crew. We had an amazing view of the parade from their balcony, but decided to head down to the street to really experience the action. Not before a couple of Irish Car Bombs, though!

We didn't make it down in time for the Budweiser Clydesdales, but I did get to see them from the balcony!

Are llamas Irish? Who cares - they're in little green hats!

Scottie came to play! (And check out my hair - so short! I love it. Back to me.)

Adam got off work at 8, so I crashed the Coopers' condo for a solid 9 hours before he arrived. (Thanks for the hospitality! I think I owe you a handle or two of vodka.) Once he changed into his favorite St. Patty's shirt, we walked down the street to Front Page News.

Happy St. Practice Day! We love the Coopers!

Adam had to go back to work on Sunday, so I spent the day hanging out with the pups. The best and worst part about having two dogs is that they play outside together all day. Even when it's gross and rainy. Case in point... look at Hank. They both got very intense baths that day.

Speaking of Hankee Doodle... he is the sweetest, cuddliest (is that a word?) little nugget. I just want to eat him up. (And we still love Ruthie a lot, a lot! She's just not quite a cuddler.)

I don't know if you can really tell in this picture, but look at how Hank is sleeping. He's such a little weirdo.

We celebrated Adam's birthday with the Bakers on Tuesday night. Haven't seen that clan in awhile, so it was fun (as always!) to catch up. Shocker - Debbie made a delicious dessert.

Our annual chef photo shoot landed on Adam's birthday, so I spent the morning with some really awesome chefs and some of the kids at Genesis Shelter who directly benefit from our event. Twist my arm!

On his birthday, Adam decided he wanted to make dinner - homemade pasta and sauce. Yes, please! He finally got the portions right and it was just enough for the two of us and not a third world country. Of course, the one time we don't have much extra, after serving myself I went to throw something away and it all went sliding off my plate. OF COURSE. I'm so proud of myself for not crying and not figuring out a way to blame Adam. He was generous enough to give me a little of his, and there was still a little in the strainer. Crisis averted! It was a great night with great food celebrating the greatest person, ever. Happy birthday, handsome!

While I got him a few little trinkets, his big present was a baseball signed by Bobby Cox. When he read it and figured out who it was, he freaked. Our friend's parents just moved in next door to Bobby Cox at Amelia Island and asked him to do this. Could they be any sweeter? Thank you, Bambroughs!

And with that, this post is over.

the last big home improvement hurdle... for now

When we first moved into our house, oh - 18 months ago, we did a lot of painting and such immediately. And in typical Baker fashion, we did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but haven't actually completed a real project project, yet. Until this weekend!

Our office served as the previous owners' baby room, and you would have thought it would be the first room we would repaint - the walls had a ladybug border. Unfortunately, the paint was oil-based (or something shiny and slippery looking), so we saved it for a rainy day. One hundred rainy days later, we finally decided to tackle it. I'm working from home the majority of the time now, and I was getting real sick of working at our kitchen table or bar. Papers were everywhere and I felt like work was staring at me at all times.

We decided to paint the walls navy and do a white beadboard. I thought we were well on our way to completion when we painted the room the first week of February (actually the day of our Olympics party, because who doesn't want to attend a party at a house that smells like paint fumes?), but little did I know. Turns out you don't just Elmer's glue beadboard to the wall and say "voila!" - you have to cut it and angle it and measure it and remove the floor trim and add ceiling trim and replace the floor trim and paint and blah blah blah. HUGE kudos to Adam and his dad for doing 99% of this work. Honestly, this was Adam's baby. I told him I wanted to do navy walls and white beadboard and he ran with hit. I love the room and am ready to start decorating (ha! Want to start taking bets on when that will actually happen?).

Some progress pictures...

February 8 the paint is on. Silly me, I thought we were almost done! (By the way, the paint color is Indigo from Sherwin Williams.)

Beadboard and floor trim are up!

As of the wee hours on Saturday, March 15 - it's done!

This will actually become the baseball memorabilia room/office. I won't even bother guessing how many baseball-related items we have. (Disregard all the mess. I'll tackle that....eventually.)

So there you have it - our first "remodel" of a room! 

little bit of this, little bit of that

Since Adam is now working at the airport Enterprise branch for the next three months, his schedule is whack. As in, sometimes he works 1pm - midnight and sometimes he works 6am - 5pm... and he always has different days off. Luckily, he did have last Saturday off and the weather was beautiful. We decided to take the pups over to East Cobb Park for the afternoon. It's a pretty cute little park, like a super-mini Piedmont Park.

Ruthie is our water dog. She would spend all day splashing around if she could. This was Hank's first experience with water like this, and he wasn't too sure about it.

We all enjoyed people and puppy watching.

Because of Adam's whack-a-doodle schedule, our pre-planned St. Patty's Day/Birthday party on March 15 wouldn't work out this year as he's working both Saturday and Sunday this week. We took advantage of him not working last Saturday and had a few people over last-minute to celebrate.

The big 2-6!

We spent a good bit of the evening playing Cards Against Humanity (so fun!) at our house before we moved on to 120 Tavern up the street. Turns out Dominica dominates at Foosball. No mercy!

On Sunday, Adam had to work so I decided to take the pups and go hang out with the 'rents for the day. Little fatty was quick to find the secret hiding spot of their dog food. I couldn't find him for a couple minutes and found him here in the laundry room, chowing down. 

Speaking of the little fatty (he weighs 18lbs now), look who has started to climb into his kennel for naps... all by himself! However, he's getting even worse at night and we have succumbed to his cuteness a couple times and let him sleep with us. Bad move!

On Monday, I was back at my parents to celebrate my mom's birthday. My dad spoiled her this year and got her a new wedding ring (she lost her a couple years back).

I bought her some tequila shot glasses she mentioned awhile back - they're made out of Himalayan sea salt so you can remove the 'lick' step from the complicated tequila shot process. Mom, Kathy and Dad enjoyed testing them out.

And then Tuesday night we celebrated mom again with some friends at Ceviche. The woman just can't get enough tequila!

Also on Tuesday, I finally decided to chop all my hair off. Jae at Bob Steele Salon did such an awesome job! I'm pretty low-key with my hair. I'm of the mindset "If I don't like it, then it'll grow out", so I trusted Jae and let her do her thing. Ta da! I finally look like an adult. It's taking some getting used to, but I love it!

So that's that. Happy March!

shortie

I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for doing such a good job continually updating this blog in 2014 (so far). With that being said, I don't feel like writing a whole story, so you're just going to get pictures and captions this time. 

My parents won a Four Course Wine Dinner at Bocado at one of my events... they let us tag along last Tuesday when they redeemed it. Yum!

I spent the end of last week in DC for my team's annual retreat. Quick pit stop at Whole Foods with the kids.

I came home Friday night to these beauties. Thanks, handsome!

After checking out this amazing hole-in-the-wall by our house for lunch (Presto Latin Grill), we headed to Decatur with Erik and Dominica. First stop, Brick Store Pub.

Next stop, a couple rounds of Bocce (and beers) at Leon's Full Service. Adam and Erik made a new friend - he made "snow angels" in the gravel. We laughed.

Next stop, Mac McGee for whiskey flights.

Back to Brick Store Pub for snacks...and a selfie.

Sunday Funday with Adam and the pups. Look, I'm wearing shorts! Such a gorgeous day.

Adam and Hank really got into the Academy Awards.

Did I mention Adam and my dad played tennis together this winter? Division winners! I was finally able to watch a match - their first playoff match - but they lost. They both had a great time, though!

Last night, we attend the 2nd Annual #BowlForNick at Brunswick Zone. Nick is a dear friend of ours who passed away in November 2012, and this is a fun way to get everyone together and raise some money! (Adam and Nick played baseball together when they were younger, and Nick's mom burst into tears when Adam walked in. One of the sweetest/most heartbreaking things I've ever seen.)

Hank has learned how to hump (yay). If he's not in my lap or outside, he's humping my leg. I picked the lesser of two evils yesterday. He really helped me get some work done.

Speaking of Hank, this picture makes me sad. The one of the left is the day we got him (February 1), the one on the right is exactly one month after we got him (March 1). Growing boy!

Ta da!

Oh, yeah! Lent started yesterday. No paleo for us this year (phew). I gave up.... Facebook (I know, right?), cheese and bread. Such a random combo. Adam gave up... booze! (He said he'll do the "cheat on Sunday" thing, which we did last year.)