My weekend involved lots of excitement. Everything from Central Park to Governor’s Island and lots of things in between like :: the Auburn Bar, Whole Foods, walks along the West Side Highway, church sermons, indian food, design your own drinks, and pilates classes.

What did you do for Labor Day my lovely readers? Was it fun-filled with lots of family, friends, relaxation, good food and to-die-for weather?

Oh and and on another note, a highlight of my weekend…

Well highlight – that just might be a slight overstatement – but the quatrefoil”esque” shapes on St. Patrick’s Catherdral are on up there on my list. You might remember my quatrefoil obsession from an earlier post here.

And from the outside:

Back with more for all my lovely readers, family and friends when life allows for more “down time”. 

Happy Monday!

xo! julie

we picked up two baskets of these babies.

although these peaches are yum-O on their own, you all know there is just nothing better than homemade peach ice cream.

:: here is the recipe ::

my grandma’s homemade peach ICE CREAM

6 eggs

1 can condensed sweetened milk

3 cups sugar

1-1/2 t. vanilla

-Blend the above ingredients in a blender until throughly combined. Whisk in 1 large can of evaporated milk. Stir in 7-8 mashed fresh peaches.

-Put the mixture in electric ice cream maker. Fill with whole milk until it reaches the “fill line”. Let it do its thing for per the instructions included with the machine. And finally ENJOY!!

Oh and better yet…

if you live in Auburn and do not feel like making your own homemade ice cream, you can buy it by the pint at Amsterdam Cafe. I do kind of find it ironic to “buy homemade ice cream”. But hey you cannot go wrong with anything from Amsterdam. They buy local, and as a matter of fact their peach ice cream is made with Chilton County Peaches too. It is DELICIOUS.

WAKE-BOARDING! 

[the boat driver in training :: andrea]

[the photographer :: me]

When it came to wake-boarding, some of us were professionals. And some of us were newbies.  We definitely used our talent t show off our tricks.

For me that meant making it over the wake. 

For girl boarder #2, Andrea, that meant getting up for the first time, and conquering her fear of that “bump” in the water.  

And for “brother”, it meant catching some air.

…followed by a “hard”, but successful, landing. 

This morning I woke up in complete soreness. A total muscle confusion for my body, I used muscles I never knew I had. Hope you have a Happy, “Pain-free” Memorial Day Weekend!! Off to bake a red velvet cake for a dinner celebration tonight! YUM if it was not 7:52 in the morning! 

I have been apartment hunting with my mom for an entire week in New York City. We saw a million different  little, itty-bitting, tiny-teeny apartments/lofts, we (oops I mean “I”) became overwhelmed. My favorite loft was one right here. Maybe it was the Italian fashion that surrounded the loft entry? It brought back memories and my love for Italy. I loved living in ROME!!! This is a Italian NYC experience all my own.

All joking aside, no decisions have been made, but our search was informative and gave us guidance for our continued search!

In the midst of all of that I had two job interviews. Neither of the places hiring at the time, but  they have prospective openings in the next few months. We shall see. The interviews went really well. The first one at Bunny Williams. It was fabulous. I walked in-up to the 5th floor and into her studio. The place was bustling-the way any good designer works…total chaos. It was an absolutely fabulous space on the Upper East Side. Stellar…

The other interview one of the 10 largest architecture firms in the world. The HR lady calls me. It’s Thursday at 11:30am. She wants me to come in for an interview on Friday at 9am?? What? Major problem. Mom’s flight leaves in 3 hours. I need her. She is leaving. I’m stressing. Calm down, Julie. AGH! I do not have the appropriate attire for that. And my portfolio? It has been catered for the interior design interview. I am NOT prepared. I start sweating bullets. Literally, and I do not sweat. Even if I am sprinting HARD. Is that to much information for you. Sorry. My thought…”Mom, you canNOT leave now”. No choice. Flights the next day are full, and she has “mom+wife duties” back home. I had already claimed her as “mine” for the whole week. We run downstairs hop in a cab to my favorite store (Theory), and I turn myself into a big girl really quick. It was the fastest shopping trip I have ever completed. Mom leaves. I remind myself to breathe. I cry out, “Lord, give me patience and calm my anxious heart”. He does. Amen.

Friday: 9am

I trek up to Union Square. Subway ride 3 stops uptown. Up way to many steps in heels. I meant to wear my flats, then change. I guess my mind was somewhere else when I left. Could of taken a cab? Didn’t cross my mind. That is kinda pricey anyway. Let’s make this a local experience. Oops is that a blister coming on? It is okay there is a CVS right below the office. Blister band-aids rock.  In the elevator again. Do not really know where I am going. Portfolio in hand. No jittery feelings. It’s cool. God calms me down.  Once again, the space was fabulous. The interview lasts two hours. The people were great. They ask lots of questions. I ask lots of questions. We chat. We laugh. They give feedback. I’m loving it…advice is openly accepted over here!! They are suppose to have openings in September. Once again, we will see?? It’s all in God’s hands, I find peace in that. Friday night cannot come soon enough…

I get to meet some of Stan’s friends that he works with. We went to Brinkley’s in SOHO-yes my new favorite area. SOHO is it’s own little neighborhood nestled in a BIG city. Back the restaurant, the mac-n-cheese rocks. 7 forks hit that bowl all at once. And a connection was made instantly between me and people I’d never met. We were sharing healthy heaven in a bowl. Even better, the 3 girls at dinner were all ChiO’s. We were just all from different schools. Small world. Yeap, we connect again. We laughed a lot that night. As it got later, it got even better my bestie from Auburn, Amory, was in town too. She came and met up with us at Mercer Kitchen. We laughed some more.

Post FiThe weekend was chill. It involved at 130 block hike up the West Side Highway where I discovered the most awesome public seating ever. Oh, the little treasures of NYC never cease to amaze me.

I am home. Not well rested. Glad it’s summer. Happy SunShine!!!

There was absolutely no space left for anyone or anything! These two ladies were in charge of the candy table. I am not talking an ordinary candy table, I am talking intense. We told our partner in crime here to layer up her outfits for the weekend, because the luggage room was limited. Very limited. Oh and I should mention this was just one car of candy stuff, another one was on the way. The bad news when we arrived…the ballroom was not available until TOMORROW. What? So we set up the display in our hotel room. (btw…how do you like the decor? ha) We stayed at the historic Mills House. Our theme song for the weekend: “The Candy Man“, LISTEN HERE. We were inspired, and we pretty much opened a small weekend candy store in Charleston.

And when space is limited, storage gets creative.

Now unfortunately I did not get to explore up and down lots of charming streets because weddings are busy, but look I really was there. It was just was not long enough.

But the bridesmaids were so much fun it didn’t really matter.

They were all so beautiful, on the inside and the out.

We shared lots of laughs + silly stores at this table.

and were completely shocked to find our dining room at the restaurant to be named after the brides (below) finance. Hilarious.

But the reason we were all there…to celebrate the marriage of beautiful Kaley and her now husband Cooper. She was a stunning bride.

I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. Love you beautiful!

****disclaimer: if something does not make sense, my brain is not all here. after hitting the pillow after the wedding at 1:30am Saturday nigh, I had to wake just a few hours later at 3:30am. We were headed back to Auburn to see Variation’s (where my sister-in-law is artistic director) Spring Dance Recital.  They (my little sister included) were performing Cinderella. It was day two of the show, and not an empty seat was to be found. She blew us all away. She has a HUGE amount of talent. Not only does she do all of the choreography, she puts together a show. It was amazing. Watch our for weekend recap post #2.

Love you beautiful!

I like to call myself the family paparazzi, chasing everyone around with my camera in hand. Especially this little one…

and his partner in crime [aka twin sister], meet Miss Lily.

They were rather intrigued at their brothers bull riding skills

and decided to give it a try themselves.

Surprisingly Whit made it up there all by himself, while Lily opted for some time to be held by her favorite cousins.

Whit found it to be lots of fun! For those that do not know, bull riding is one dangerous sport. Whit’s attempt to stay mounted for at least eight seconds while the bull tried to buck him off  is claimed to be ”the most dangerous eight seconds in sports”. AND HE SURVIVED. [I am totally kidding. You know that right? This bull is completely stationary and we are NOT abusing 2 year olds out here.]

Some of us here enjoy the more recreational and proper horseback riding sport.

Or better yet…hula hoop competitions.

remember, it’s all in the HIPS!

Or maybe just being an onlooker?

We have pretty much covered all the bases, so you thought. We also had baseball games,

sandbox time,

football throwing,

lawn mowing,

easter eggs hunts [more of a easter egg "pick-up"...they're not really hidden]

bubble machines,

and even a tooth-pulling session.

Sara was bound and determine for this tooth to COME OUT, and COME OUT TODAY! She so dearly wanted to lose it last night, but her dad assured her that was not a good idea. The easter bunny and the tooth fairy coming on the same night just might not play out very well. He had totally convinced her that they’d have a brawl on their front porch. So she gave it up yesterday, but 24 hours later – post “bunny visit” – the tooth is OUT.

While ALL these fun and games were going on, I decided to check on the hamburgers and hotdogs. We had lots of little tummies to feed, and the smell of grilling out filled the air.

In reality, maybe the real reason we were dying hoping to eat was because we knew what was coming for dessert.

5 gallons of homemade ice cream!!!!!!!!!

The ice cream maker was our new hand crafted, 5 gallon wooden bucket – powered by an old John Deere motor.

When time was up, dinner had been eaten, tummies were still talking, and hands were coming from all directions.

that stuff was PURE heaven……and these two WILL MOST DEFINITELY agree. They walked away HAPPY!

With that, “Happy Easter Bloggers!”

Hope your Sunday was swell like ours. What did you do? I hope it was filled with family, friends, pretty weather, yummy food, chocolate, and a celebration of the resurrection of our LORD and SAVIOR!

Give it a shot too: it’s easy, takes few ingredients, and will rock your tummies world!!!!

And for a little baseball inspired “FUN”…

the baseball puffball dress was created using 26 nylon baseball jackets [+]

fruity famous baseball player [+]

autographable jewelry [+]

team logo art [+]

giant leather glove seating [+]

carved baseball bat sculpture [+]