Halloween Supper Club

Last week it was Matt and I's month to host supper club! We pulled together a chili and cornbread feast, vodka basil martini's and a delicious pumpkin crumble cake for dessert!! It was a hit :)

Dress Shopping!!!

I am so excited to be heading to my old town of Atlanta this weekend to go wedding dress shopping!! My amazing cousin, Alex, put it all together for us and I am so excited that she is flying into town from New York City! It is going to be such a fun girls weekend.

Here is a few images I love:

Which one do you like best?? I already have my favorite. I've been told that many times the bride ends up with a dress that is totally different than any of the pictures she brings in. What was your experience??

fiancé

Matt and I have been together for 3.5 years and on our trip to France this June he became my fiancé. I wonder if in his well thought out plan, he thought about the word fiancé coming from the French language and felt it only appropriate to propose in France. Yeah, I don't think so. However, it was in his plan to propose in the most romantic city in the world and he put together an absolutely unbelievable engagement night. It was perfect. Here's the story:

It was our 2nd night in Paris and we had dinner reservations with the five of us on the trip (Me, Matt, Bryan, Erin and Mom) for 8pm. We had all agreed to meet in the bar of our hotel early to have some wine before we left for the restaurant. When we got down there, my Mom told us about these gardens that were right by our hotel and on our way to dinner, that the travel agent said we had to go see and get pictures at because they were gorgeous. Because we were a group of 5, we needed 2 cabs. It just so happened that Matt and I got in the first cab and our concierge had told the cab driver in French (which I wish I could say that I understood) that he was to stop at the Jardin du Luxembourg first and wait for us and then bring us to the restaurant for dinner. I was under the assumption the rest of the group was right behind us and joining us at the gardens as well. They were not. They were all in on it together. Matt and I walked into the gardens and as I turned to go pose for a picture of this gorgeous public garden with the Eiffel tower in the background, he was down on one knee asking to spend the rest of our lives together! We hugged and kissed and smiled and shed a few tears and I said YES and admired my beautiful ring for a long time! Then we got some great pictures...


Back in the cab, showing off the bling to Mr. Cabbie and headed to dinner to meet the rest of the group and celebrate!

He did so good :)

We had dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Maison Blanche that had tons of windows that looked out over the city and a great view of the Eiffel tower that lit up at night. Mom, Bryan & Erin had champagne waiting for us at the table for an Engagement Toast!

Picture with the Eiffel Tower in the background

We decided to continue our celebration beyond dinner and head over to the buddha-bar for some fancy cocktails.
Mint from my Mojito as a new hair piece
We then decided it was a Saturday night in Paris and we should hit the club scene. So we walked to the VIP Room and danced and celebrated and hung with midget superman.


Mom and I admiring the ringErin and I getting the dance floor started
Matt joined us on the dance floorCELEBRATING!!
The whole evening was perfect and I absolutely loved being able to celebrate with my family. It was very special to me that ALL my family actually had a hand in this occasion. My oldest brother, Brandon, was instrumental in actually helping Matt find the ring. Bryan secretly helped Matt scope out the perfect setting in Paris. My mom was the ring GUARD and couldn't let that thing out of her sight for the first 48 hrs in Paris and of course good ole' pops had to say YES when Matt asked for his permission to marry me!

We are so excited to begin planning the festivities and enjoy the next 9 months of being engaged! We are so happy and so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and thank you to all that have already sent your well wishes.

Expert Insight

It's been months again since I have made a post and a few weeks ago my brother told me that I needed to write shorter posts so it would not feel like such a burden for me. I constantly feel like I need to play 'catch up' on the blog; but instead, I really need to make simple post with just a picture or two so that I will post more often!! And he's really smart...

So I am taking his advice.

Yesterday, my brother Brandon, launched his website {www.expertinsight.com} that he has been working towards for many months. I know it was a very exciting day for him and the rest of the family is so proud.

Expert Insight- The name really says it all:

"The idea is to bring this coaching model to everything." said Brandon Adams, 32 year-old founder and CEO of Expert Insight. {Bloomberg.com Interview: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/harvard-s-adams-enlists-nobel-economist-charging-5-000-for-hour-of-advice.html}

At Expert Insight, you have some of the top authors, economist, sports coaches, poker players, and investors right at your finger tips (with only more to come). This site is connecting the everyday Joe like you and me to some of the smartest, most-talented, successful people out there through video stream. The opportunities are endless and fabulous! Think rockstar, athlete,top chef, real estate mogul, fashion designer, reality TV star, interior decorator, super nanny, etc...

Who would you pay to speak with on Skype for one full hour?? Give me some ideas. Is it that celebrity you would kill to flirt with or is it the role model you have looked up to since you were a kid and aspire to be like?

Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, said "I'd pay a lot of money to give my daughters the chance to video chat with Taylor Swift. I can't see any way that will happen other than Taylor Swift signing on with Expert Insight." (Bloomberg)

This article will tell you more about the site and quote some of the experts that Brandon has recruited to the site so far. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/harvard-s-adams-enlists-nobel-economist-charging-5-000-for-hour-of-advice.html

I am so excited to see where this goes! Bring me Lauren Conrad :)

December Recap

I had hoped to fit in a few more posts in the month of December, but instead I am going to have to give an extremely quick recap of a very busy month. I had a wonderful holiday in 2010. We started off the first weekend in December with the Adams Homes Christmas Party in Pensacola at 600 South. It was a fantastic party and so much fun to see everybody from the entire southeast.

Tiff, me, Liz
The Girls
Matt and Brian
Made it to Seville to keep the party going
The 2nd weekend of December my Mom, aunt and I went to my old stomping grounds of Atlanta, GA. We had so much wining, dining, and Shopping!!! It was the perfect weekend to get us in the Christmas spirit. I loved getting to catch up with my ATL girls: Em, Jess, & Greta, for lunch at the Tavern too! (so sad we didn't snap a quick picture)

My favorite fireplace at the Ritz


Ella, Me, Mom
It was a quick trip, but sure was nice to get a head start on all my Christmas Shopping.
Weekend 3 of December we stayed home in Ocean Springs and enjoyed fabulous Christmas parties and celebrated my very best friend since age 5's 26th Birthday at Jia in the Beau Rivage. Very fun night and was so glad I got to be a party of it :)



We had one last holiday party before we left home to Pensacola for Christmas. We went to our best friends in Ocean Springs for a perfect Christmas party. Hayden didn't spare a thing as you would expect if you know her! I walk up to the house and am greeted with this:

The perfect bar that she put together on her front porch that had delicious cocktails calling my name. Specifically, the Poinsettia cocktail. Yes, I had never had this before and fell in love immediately. You should check into it.

The host and hostest with their assistant

The lovely ladies of downtown Ocean Springs :)

Stathams, thank you for a fabulous party!

Matt and I headed home for Christmas on the 23rd of December. Both of our families live in Pensacola which is really wonderful;however, we are four Christmas' and everyone expects your attention. It makes for a pretty hectic holiday, but it's a lot of fun. We spent Thursday night at my Mom's house and had a delicious dinner with my whole family.

Erin with our penguin seat placement cards compliments of www.ourbestbites.com
Christmas Eve afternoon, I met up with my GB girls and had such a good time catching up, sipping wine and exchanging gifts!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at Jacksons
My sister in law and 2 brothers
Sister-in-law, me and Mom dressed up in our matching PJ's for Christmas morning. It's a family tradition :)
Matt playing santa and smiling with Bella Boo

For New Years Eve this year, Matt and I kept throwing around all kinds of different options for the weekend. We finally decided over Christmas that we were headed to New Orleans. We managed to recruit my brother, Bryan and his girlfriend, Erin and our friends Mike and Tiffany from Mobile. My best friend from home, Kalyn, and her boyfriend joined us in NOLA too. A few days before heading to New Orleans, my bro thought it would be a great idea to wear costumes on the 31st. So I took his idea and ran with it. We were going back to the 1920s and here is what we ended up looking like:

Erin, me, Tiff at the Monteleon

Matt the Gangster
The Gang at Galatoires

Happy New Year!!

I truly can't believe that 2010 is over! It has flown by. I am looking forward to a wonderful new year. I have so much to be thankful for and so many amazing people in my life to enjoy it with. Thank you all! :)

Christmas Decor has made it feel like HOME!!

Okay, I'm back! I can't believe it's been over a year. It sure has been a crazy one. I have taken a new job, moved from Orlando to Ocean Springs, MS, moved twice since I've lived in Mississippi, got a dog, made new friends, reconnected with old friends, and have absolutely been loving being back in the South (I didn't really consider Orlando "the south").

Although I have been in Mississippi now for over a year, it seems like it has taken me a while to get settled. In fact, I have just started feeling settled within the last couple of months. And it is such a nice feeling!!! I got a jump start on Christmas decor this year and actually got my tree and decorated it the weekend before Thanksgiving!!! It was awesome. Matt was out of town and I finally had a weekend at home (we're on the road most weekends). I found myself getting into the holiday spirit a little earlier than usual this year and I took full advantage of it. I was so happy when I got home from Thanksgiving that the tree was already DONE! There are a few other decorations that I am still working on like my mantle though. I hated not having a mantle to decorate (no fireplace), so I made Matt hang a shelf that we could use to hang our stockings. It's certainly making due :) Now that our new apartment is finally feeling like a home and decorated for Christmas, I thought I'd give a little tour of the downstairs.

Living Room- Front door is to the right of TV

Living Room-View when you walk in front door

Half bath

Kitchen that I love!

Homemade Mantle- missing my stocking

Dining Table/ Breakfast Nook- Doors to outside porch

Christmas Tree updated with some red balls and tree topper!

And for those of you who haven't gotten to meet my little Bella Boo, she is all ready for Christmas too!!! She enjoys being dressed up very much :)
The new place is very cozy and in such a cute part of town. It's walking distance to all the cute shops and restaurants that Downtown Ocean Springs has to offer (and 5 min from the Biloxi casinos)! Most of all though, I love being close to home in Pensacola. I'm 2 hours from Pensacola and 1.5 hrs to New Orleans, so it makes seeing family so much easier! I love it. Hope you enjoyed. I always love seeing other peoples decorating ideas!

It's a quick update, but hopefully I'll be back again soon!