Keeping with tradition, we celebrated Dominica's birthday at the Braves Opening Weekend game this past Saturday. Since its the third year we've done this, it's turned into quite the spectacle with friends from out of town coming in for it. What can I say? Dominica's a big deal.

Let's back up to the end of last week, first....

This little psycho learned a new trick called "Jump from the chair to the table and make noise until mom comes out and looks."

He also met his first baby at the dog park - it was instant love for both of them. Ruthie was so over Hank at the dog park. She's over all of the attention he gets. 

The celebrations kicked off on Friday night when some of my favorite out-of-towners arrived and we headed to Chuy's for dinner.

 After dinner, it only made sense for us to take Natalie, Whittney and Alex (no pictures?) to Mulligan's. Whittney spent a good chuck of change at the jukebox, and Natalie played a mean game of dice with some locals...

Love my friends! Wish you were here, Annie!

 Saturday was game day, and after a brief stint at a Wedding Shower we were off to the tailgate. We decided to take Uber and it was the best decision going down there - it only cost $35! (Coming back was a different story... nightmare.) Of course, Natalie got shot gun so Adam had to squeeze in the back with us. (Poor Alex came down with a stomach bug! But he met us at the game later.)

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! I love my friends. Even when we can't pull it together for a nice picture.

Birthday girl!

How amazing does this look? Natalie made Dominica 'Trash Brownies'... cookie dough, oreos and brownie mix all baked together. SO DELICIOUS... and so easy to make.

Adam and his newly engaged girlfriend.

Lindsay came!!!! Her whole family came to the tailgate, including her niece Rachel - who was the hit of the party.

How amazing are these wine chalices? It's how they serve wine at Turner Field now.

It was perfect weather for a baseball game... and the Braves won!

Adam is seriously the child whisperer...kids just gravitate toward him. After flirting with him all night, Adam had to break her heart and tell her he was married. Her response? "What if she dies?" Gotta love kids!

Sister wives! Love my Barb.

#westerngirls

And one more picture to seal the deal. Sorry, Madi! The rest of us look cute.

spring celebrations

I knew this past weekend wouldn't even be worth a post of its own, so I decided to hit you with two weekends in one post. What a treat. (Ha!)

On Saturday (March 29), Saira invited Adam and I to attend the USA vs. Uruguay rugby match right up the street from us at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. It was a World Cup qualifier game, so it was kind of a big deal. (Spoiler alert: We won! #teamamerica)

The weather was beautiful one minute, and then a monsoon the next. Good thing Saira and Aaron came prepared with rain jackets! (Sorry for stealing yours, Aaron.)

I went to a New Zealand vs. South Africa rugby game when I lived in New Zealand, but I didn't know what to expect at an American match. Um, best tailgate EVER! So much America and so much enthusiasm! I could have stayed there all day.

Adam and I didn't have time to actually go into the game (who does that anyway?), but we did watch the first couple of plays from behind the fence. So poor.

We were happy to skip out on the game, because we had to head over to the Bakers to see the McNeelys - our favorite Canadians! They're also some of our favorite people, in general. (Not the best picture, but at least I got one.)

After dinner with the McNeelys, we decided to head home and then to Mulligan's for a few more celebratory drinks. OH MY GOSH. Totally forgot. Adam took the GRILL (a really hard test at Enterprise) on Friday... and he PASSED! He got a bonus, a promotion and now he can start applying for Assistant Manager positions within Enterprise. So proud of him!

Of course, I had to bring him down by beating him at darts...

Last week I finally got back on board my 'eat healthy at home, splurge when we're not' kick, and made this delicious paleo meal... Stuffed Peppers! Meagan and Nathan let us borrow a cookbook called Everyday Paleo, and I'm kind of obsessed. It's so easy for kitchen noobs, like me.

The pot kind of looks like mush, but I promise it was good! Also, get so annoyed when recipes say 'Prep Time: 15 Minutes'. YEAH... if you don't count the hour of chopping before that. 

Ta da! I have to admit, it could have used some sort of sauce (tomato sauce, perhaps?). I added hot sauce to mine, but it was still pretty dry.

On Friday, the whole Koch family was in town for a wedding, and it also happened to be Frances' 60th birthday. We all celebrated with amazing food, drinks and fun at Canoe. You have to get the Cracker Jack/Popcorn ice cream.. YUM! 

The whole gang! The little blonde one is Bea... I haven't seen her since she was one, so it was fun actually conversing with her.

Adam was gone the whole weekend for Kirklan's bachelor party in Charleston, so this is basically what my weekend looked like with the pups. (Told you it wasn't worth its own post.)

And since I've only asked Adam to hang up these pictures in the office 3948794 times, I finally did them myself. Girl power.

#whittsquarterlifecrisis

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!