Valentines Day

What does this southern girl want for Valentines Day? Forget chocolate. I'd like a pink peppermint layer cake from Piece of Cake. Lucky for your love, they ship cakes anywhere in the country. Order from Piece of Cake.

Leopard Love

I love anything leopard so I was very excited when I ran into these two dresses at Nordstrom yesterday. The dress on the left is a Taylor Dress. The edgy leopard fabric combined with the high neckline and full skirt make it a very versatile dress. Perfect to wear to a wedding, tea, brunch or to a nice dinner. For a day event I would wear black heels. I would love to find a pair with an overstate bow on the front. To transition to night, add black tights, a pair of black suede shoes and maybe a shrug.

The dress on the right is Donna Rico. I love the pleated skirt with the leopard belt. This dress looks very comfortable too. Perfect for work.

2011 Top Ten

2012 has a tough act to follow. Here is the list of the best things that happened in 2011:

10. Year of Music

Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Avett Brothers and Ray Lamontagne. We rocked in 2011.

9.  Local Adventures

2011 took us to Rock City, Decatur Beerfest, Ziplining and Rock Wall Climbing. Everyone should see Rock City. It is much more amazing than I imagined. Rock wall climbing was a challenge. I thought it would be fun and it ended up be really hard. Ziplining was breath taking. I highly recommend it. All the different kinds of craft beer at beer fest gave me a stomach ache, but it was a great excuse for some really awesome pizza afterwards.

Beerfest Tasing Glasses

 

See seven states at Rock City.

 
Ziplining at Historic Banning Mills with Jacque and Ryan

8. Fall Football
Hotty Toddy and Who Dey! Football season took us back to Oxford for the Ole Miss vs. Georgia game. We may have lost, but our tailgate was awesome. Having so many family members and friends there made it even better. The Bengals beat the Titans in Nashville and we were there to cheer them on. 

7. Cap & Gowns

Two graduations in one month. Congratulations to my brother who graduated from Delta State University and my sister-in-law who graduated from Tipp City High School in May. We are proud.

6. Dads Turn 60

My husband's Dad and my Dad both turned 60 this year. We threw a birthday party at our house followed by a Hawks vs. Celtics game for Ben's Dad. My family took a cruise this past December for my Dad's birthday. I hope they enjoyed their birthdays as much as we did. 

 

5. Sunshine State Weddings
Two weddings one state. We took our first trip to Panama City Beach for Jess and Christie Snyder's wedding where my husband was a handsome groomsmen. My best friend Allison married her beau Shaun on the beach in Fort Walton. We had so much fun seeing college friends that we haven't seen in a few years. 

Pamana City Beach Wedding

Reception in Holly Springs Mississippi after a beautiful beach ceremony.

4. Texas weddin' sprint
Two days after my birthday, January 6th, my best friend called to tell me she was engaged and getting married in August. We had a lot to do in eight months including wedding dress shopping and the bachelorette party. The wedding weekend was four fun days in Fort Worth. In between wedding activities we had time to fit in some Tex-Mex and the rodeo.

Wedding Dress Shopping at Low's Bridal in Brinkley Arkansas

Nashville Bachelorette Bonanza

A beautiful bride and her maids

What is a trip to Fort Worth without a boot koozie and a little bull ridin'?

3. First Wedding Anniversary

The first year of marriage flew by. We had a wonderful anniversary. It started with dinner at the Iberian Pig where we ordered dessert because we thought the cake top would be terrible. To our amazement, it was absolutely delicious. Not as pretty as our wedding day but it tasted just as good. Thanks Draper's Catering of Memphis. 

2. LA LA Land

Ben's first trip to the west coast included Segway rides through Beverly Hills, the Getty Museum, lunch on Malibu beach and too many martinis to count. 

 

1. December to Remember

We fit a lot in in December and that's why I think it was my favorite moment of the year. We celebrated Christmas in New York, visited family in Ohio, hosted family in Atlanta and cruised to the Bahamas with my family all before spending a quite Christmas day with my husband. Perfect. I wish it could be this way every year.

Gingerbread display on the cruise

The Tree

Christmas at the Governor's Mansion

It may be a new year, but we are still in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas. That's why I won't be taking down all the decorations until this weekend.

Mid-December Ben's Mom and Stepdad came to visit and to pick up his younger sister from a mission trip to Kenya. While they were in town, we took them to the Governor's mansion. It was beautiful. Every room in the house was decorated for a different part of Georgia. See if you can tell which tree represents each part of Georgia: Southern Georgia, Coastal Georgia, Atlanta