I didn't realize it until after it was over, but this weekend's cookout with our Charlotte "family", was the last one of the summer. School has started already, full speed...and this morning, the air was noticeably cooler...then to top it all off, Starbucks has brought back my fall-favorite, the Pumpkin-Spice Latte. Fall is coming soon and I for one, am super excited. It's truly my favorite time of year. In fact, I'll continue my annual fall celebration of the top 10 favs of fall in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned for that:) 

Until then, there are some really exciting things coming up in the next few weeks. There are a whole slew of September birthdays...Nicole's, Kincaid's, April's, Danielle's and...MINE! Even though my birthday isn't until the 22nd, I start celebrating my "birthday month" starting tomorrow...September 1. Sorry, I just LOVE birthdays! 

Thinking about all the birthday celebrations, super fun beach trips (yay!) and school craziness, I think this cookout was the last of summer, 2009. With that being said, I really LOVE grilling out, I LOVE watching my husband (who is pleasantly OCD) work so hard to make the grill perfect, I LOVE setting the table-settings and preparing the mason jars for masanotti's summertime lemonade special, I LOVE Nicole's banana pudding, but most of all, I really LOVE that I have the greatest friends in the world to share it all with. It's a long way away from that little freckled-face (uglyspots) first-grader who never had real friends. Here are some of the highlights from this weekend, enjoy:

If you've known me for any length of time, whether in person or even through social avenues (facebook/twitter) you would have probably picked up on the fact that I LOVE hip hop. No, seriously, I really LOVE hip hop...music, culture, dance, whatever. In fact, every single Wednesday, I celebrate what I call "Hip Hop Hump Day". It actually started back in college when I worked for the Carolina Alumni Association. It was a weekly event where we had a hip hop radio station come play music on campus. The obsession was there before that, but it really grew from there.

My sweet husband and I are both pretty obsessed with hip hop. We saw "Stomp the Yard" in the movie theater 3 times AND bought the movie on DVD. One of our favorite documentaries is by David LaChapelle called "RIZE" ...it introduces the world to the popular dance movement called "krumping"...seriously amazing stuff. I definitely can't "krump" or break-dance...at least not yet:) I have great ambitions to one day take a hip hop dance class and be AWESOME...hahahaha! Maybe not awesome, but at least be good.

Hip hop gets me through the day...or the week even...hip hop hump days usually turn into hip hop hump Thursday, Friday, etc. Okay, I'll stop now, just wanted to give you a little more insight into my soul...hip hop fits in perfectly with Anthropologie and Paper Crafts, right?!? Ha:)

I'll leave you with one of my favorite new songs...love the dance too- so catchy!

 

has attacked me for the last two months, but I THINK it might be wearing off. I really hope so, I'm ready to relax...in fact, there are 36 days before my official season of relaxation...Autumn. 

Summer has been way too intense with all the traveling Jay and I have done, coupled with a few design projects and topped off with a REALLY long To-Do list for the school I work for. I managed to make a HUGE dent in the To-Do list, so that is good...and all the traveling...starting the summer off with a trip to Atlanta, followed by an AMAZING time in NYC, Charleston and then a 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean to wrap it all up. 

We had a great summer, but the busyness of it all has kept me from my passions....craft time, cooking crazy recipes, hosting themed-dinner parties and re-decorating. As Fall draws near, I am making it a goal to make more time for these things that I love so much. 

I always say that the inside of my soul looks like the inside of Anthropologie, and yet, its a crazy shame that I don't allow myself the time to indulge myself in paper crafts, design time or even taste-testing my latest culinary creations. Hopefully things will start to look up as the weather gets cooler, the leaves start changing colors and I can start wearing layers and cute coats!

Oh PS...and its a BIG PS, I have been distracted all day long with this newly released *New Moon* trailer, I am super excited for this movie in November...until then, I'll leave you with this so that you can obsess with me:)