24th Bday and More!

I know I promised I'd try to talk less about what's going on in my life and more "deep thoughts" but things have been so crazy, I haven't had time for thinkin'!

Saturday started out early by driving down to Washington, NC for the Blessing of the Fleet at the Washington Country Club, where my dad keeps his boat.  It was a little weird and a lot fun.  They had a minister who prayed and sang hymns for about ten minutes, and then everyone toddled off to their boats.  We all got on our boats, took a lap around the creek, and then came back by the dock to get squirted with a water gun by the minister.  My dad was happy to have his boat blessed as he leaves for the Chesapeake in a week or so.  It was great to get out on the boat, its been six years or so since I last was down there. I need to make an effort to get down one weekend this summer, as I forgot how much fun it is to be out on a sailboat.  After the blessing, there was a potluck cookout with a much needed cold brewski because it was HOT on Saturday.  Louise and I drove separately so we had a fun little sing-along on the way back to Raleigh.  It was nice to spend time with Louise since she leaves for Chicago tomorrow.  Idk if you read this Andrew & Hilary, but thanks for telling us what were the Greenville radio stations - they were essential!

Once back in Raleigh, I took a super fast shower and headed off to graduation parties.  A lot my good friends from the sorority graduated Saturday, so I saw some at Maggie's graduation, some at Caro's and some out at night!  Congratulations to all my graduate frands - y'all so smart, luv you!!

Running along through Saturday, Mother, Kyle, Louise, and I made the trek to Durham to eat at Revolution for my [first] birthday dinner.  I love Revolution for the food and atmosphere, so I was very pouty when they stuck us in the dungeon.  They had a million reservations for Duke graduations, so it was crowded to say the least.  I did get an awesome cocktail (So Far, So Good) that made up for everything - gin, lavender, lemon, and honey - swoon!  It really was a very good birthday dinner, even though I started out a little pouty.  After dinner I met up with Emily and we hung out at the Busy Bee for a few hours before this old lady turned in.  There were so many people downtown, probably from graduation and concerts, but it was crazy busy, there were so many more people than I've ever seen.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and Kyle and I cooked and cleaned all morning for my mom, Louise, Gerry, and Andy to come over midday for Mother's Day tea!  And by tea, I mean champagne and fancy snacks....  Everything turned out so well!  I made smoked salmon sandwiches with lemon-caper butter, cucumber dill sandwiches, strawberry tarts, beet terrine, and scones with clotted cream, lemon curd, and jam.  The strawberry tarts were originally rhubarb, but I overcooked the rhubarb the first time around and couldn't find anymore.  It was a great success and so much fun - if only Cindy could've been there, then all the moms would've been present.

Monday, was my birthday, and was perfect!!  Kyle and I woke up early to go to Yellow Dog Bread Co for breakfast, and as we got ready to leave, we found my bday present from STG - flowers, cupcakes, card, and a cupcake balloon all on the front porch! What a great surprise, although I did wonder what Sienna had barked at 5:15 that morning!  Yellow Dog was great - cinnamon roll and a strawberry-lavender latte (not super sweet, was very good) so we will definitely go back.  Then I had to go to work, which was whatever.  But the real fun was after work.  Kyle, Mother, Louise, Daddy, Allison, Arthur, and I all went to Cala Vela for dinner, and it was so good and so much fun!  It is such a happy restaurant, and I LOVE their spicy pineapple margaritas are to die for.  It was everything I wanted - friends, family, and margs, so I was a happy gal!!

Louise's Graduation

Louise graduated this past weekend!! In true HPU fashion, everything was extraordinary!

I was a lucky duck and got to leave work early on Friday and made it to High Point in time to eat dinner at Southern Roots!  Southern Roots normally is crazy busy, but graduation on top of that?  Insane.  We got there at 4:30, they don't start serving until 5:00, and the place was PACKED by 6:00.  What a fun dinner it was with all my favorite people - my mom, dad, grandfather, Louise, and her friend Rae.  The food was amazing as usual, and it was great catching up with everyone.  Not to mention the great band that started now long before we finished - the singer was a great vocalist and entertainer!  But, by far the best part of the evening was Grandfather chasing Daddy around the parking lot for paying for dinner.  Definitely up there in the top ten moment of my life I think.

Saturday started early in the morning - we were on HPU's campus at 6:30 am for the 9:00 ceremony!  The seating was outside, and those New England parents don't play - they didn't drive all the way down from Connecticut to get a poor view of their baby walking across the stage.  Mother and Grandfather camped out with mimosas and chicken minis and saved our seats.  The ceremony was VERY HPU, in that it was slightly over the top, but really pretty cool at the same time.  From the bagpipes for the entrance procession, to the speaker (we'll get to that), to having every graduate walk across the stage, and finally Clark at the end.  It was my first time seeing the president, Nido Qubein speak, and I really like him.  He has such a great outlook on life, its great that he's in education.  Again, in typical HPU fashion, they got Colin Powell for their commencement speaker.  Lets just let that sink in for a second.  Little teeny High Point got the ex-Secretary of State to come talk.  He was excellent.  He talked about the importance of education, but that education was just the base to build up, and with hard work and passion, anyone was capable of accomplishing anything.  He did go somewhat into the political realm, but that is the public servant in him.  I truly feel lucky to have listened to the speech.

After Colin Powell spoke, all 1,000+ graduates walked across the stage, which took an hour and a half or so.  While it was a long time to sit there, it was pretty neat that Louise was able to walk across the stage, and she also got to shake Colin Powell's hand!

Nido and Louise

Colin and Louise 

Aside from Colin Powell's speech, the most entertaining part of the ceremony was the bald eagle (Clark) who they had fly over the heads of all the graduates.  So Hight Point.

Clark

After the ceremony, there was lots of congratulations, pictures, parties, and one bad Sienna to clean up after she got into the trash in Louise's apartment.  What a day! 

The boys

Family!

Love this pic of Mother & Grandfather!

To round out the celebrations, we went to Print Works Bistro in Greensboro for dinner.  It was a lovely restaurant, with great food.  We were all pretty tired, so I'd like to go back again after not quite so long of a day.  Congratulations Louise for graduating, and can't wait to see all that you do in Chicago! 

Spring Things

I've been a bit neglectful of the Diva Chronicles as of late, partially because of my schedule and partially because I didn't really have much to say outside of working, riding and going to the gym.

The gym is part of the reason my schedule has been so wonky as of late.  I recently transitioned from working out full time (3x/week) with one trainer, to working out 2x a week with a trainer, 1x on my own, and now I'm doing everything completely on my own.  Which I like more than I thought I would.  I honestly thought I needed the trainers to ensure I'd actually go to the gym, but I've really been better about going on my own than with the trainer, because if I'm tired one day, instead of having to try to accommodate to someone else when rescheduling, I can just go whenever I want.  Which generally results in me going to the gym at 5AM or 9:30PM.  I really like going when the gym is empty and the meatheads are a little less bountiful (downside of a corporate gym).  So I'm just still getting in the groove there, so the blog has suffered a little for that reason.

I wanted to share what fun Kyle and I had this weekend.  We went to the Art of Cool festival in Durham, because one of my co-workers nightlights as a hip-hop artist and he performed over the weekend.  It was a beautiful day, and the people watching was great because it was families, teens, grandparents, people my age all in one spot listening to the same thing, which I thought was cool.  Not to mention, Josh is amazing. If you have a Spotify account, you can listen to Josh, HERE.

After the Art of Cool, Kyle and I went to my/our fave wedding venue, Fearrington.  I'd been wanting to go for weeks, since the trees started changing, but the temperatures didn't coordinate until this past weekend, but it was worth the wait!  We got drinks, meat, and cheese at Roost, their beer garden.  On the porch of Roost they had a great live band who played bluegrass.  I hope to get out there for drinks and music a few more times this summer, as Roost is only open seasonally, and even then, only Thursday-Sunday.  We sat there for maybe an hour and a half, before going to walk around a bit.  There wasn't much for us to see because it was late in the day, which meant wedding stuff was going on.  They have a wedding there nearly every weekend, so we couldn't go into the gardens at all because of the ceremony and pictures, and then the cocktail hour happened in front of the barn while we walked around, so we couldn't peep in there either.  It was okay though, we walked down to the restaurant and looked across the cow pastures for a few minutes, and then left.  It was cool, because I unintentionally went the almost exact same week my mom and I first visited Fearrington for a wedding tour one year ago.  So it was almost as if it was my and Fearrington's one year anniversary (yea I feel that way about the venue - we're in love).  What is also funny is that the tulips tipped me off to the fact that it had been a year because I took a picture of them last year, and they were blooming again this year.  Fearrington has the biggest most beautiful tulips.  While I love my November date, I would also happily get married in late April, just for the tulips out there.

Sometimes I think Kyle and I should've gotten married THIS November because, let's be real, I'm going to have everything done by then!  Also, the more I do, the more excited I get, and the harder its going to be to wait.  I know there is no harm in waiting, but its so fun.  I don't get excited about things unless they are going on (ie growing up, I never got excited about Christmas until the day of).  With the wedding, I didn't really ever get excited unless we went to Fearrington, but since I've now shopped for and bought my dress, and I can buy my wedding band on the 15th of this month, the excitement is finally non-stop.  Then this summer is booking the photographer, looking for bridesmaids dresses, etc so all the fun is still to come, but now I just can't wait!

Tulip picture I took on our first trip to Fearrington

Live music, wine, and cheese at Roost

Pathway to the restaurant (cow pastures to the right where the white chairs are)

Sunday was a bit of a sad day because it was the Circle degree of initiation for all of my sisters, where they go from collegiate members to alumni.  Usually this is just for seniors, but since the chapter is closing, everyone did it.  Nobody was too emotional, I think at this point everyone has had a chance to accept the chapter closing, so that was good because if any of them had cried, I would have as well.  I'm sure the end of school when they move out will be hard, but they are all so strong that I know they will bounce back.  I think a lot of the ones who aren't graduating are still living together next year, which makes me so happy.  Below are some pictures of my beautiful family.

Me, Emily, and Katharine

The best little I could've ever asked for

 Finally, I wanted to share pseudo-recipe that I want non-stop nowadays - sweet potato chips!  Kyle worked to perfect these babies for a year now and finally he did so!  We tried baking and frying - neither resulted in a crispy chip, so finally we took to microwaving.  That still took some finessing, but it is the easiest, quickest, and most reliable method.  We start by cutting up the potato (the mandolin we got for Christmas made this part SO much easier!) and then throw on oil of some kind (we like coconut oil or bacon fat if we have it, but butter or olive oil works just fine too), salt, and pepper.  That's it!  We mix it up and then place each chip in a big serving bowl.  The chips can overlap a little, but you don't want to put multiple chips on top of one another.  The first batch will probably have to cook 8-12 minutes in the microwave, but the batches after that generally take less than 8 minutes.  And voila!  Crack chips! They are great plain, but I love them with taco salad or for dipping.

the one

I had THE MOST fun this weekend!  STG, my mom, and I all went to try on wedding dresses and swoon, just swoon.  They all looked amazing on me, so it was just a matter of seeing which ones looked best.  The bridal salon setting and decor made all the dresses look even prettier than they already were.

Y'all know I love me some hardwoods, brick, and chandeliers!

I think I tried on maybe ten dresses total, and really liked eight.  One of the later ones I tried on had the most beautiful skirt on it, but the top had too much bling for me.  The girl, Kelsey, who was helping us (and is the star of the day) said they had another dress with the exact same skirt, and a different top.  Kelsey pulled it off the rack and I had these reactions:

 Thennnn I tried it on and I had this reaction:

We all went into the appointment with the intention of just figuring out sizing and styles...butttt THE dress was perfect, and had the perfect price (already reasonable, no sales tax, and then 10% off too!!!)! I didn't want to take it off, and it was so gorgeous I couldn't stop touching it.  I still can't stop looking at pictures of it.  It just so perfect, there is no other word to describe it.  I know its really early to buy a dress, and like I said, I didn't intend to buy one, but there is no way I will change my mind.  Its exactly what I always pictured I'd wear on my wedding day...  I am so happy!!  Lots of smiles all around!  Thank you so much to STG and my mom for going with me and being so helpful in talking through each one.  I owe you both, big time!

As a small teaser, here are some of the dresses I liked a lot, but don't hold a candle to the one I ended up buying.

To round out a perfect weekend, Bubba won the Masters.  We had an office pool where everyone gave $5 and then drew a golfer's name out of a hat, and I drew Bubba, so I won all the money!  Hooray!!!

HPMKT Spring 2014

There is really nothing for the avid shopper (like myself) that can compare to High Point's Furniture Market, which it hosts bi-annually.  "Market" as it is called gives all the furniture and decor companies a chance to showcase new collections and designs in beautiful showrooms.  High Point is the furniture capitol of the world, and while High Point is a teeny tiny town, when Market is going on, you'd never know that by all the people who flood the town.  All kinds of people!  There are so many beautifully dressed interior designers, business men in tailored suits talking into the phone nonstop, pairs of people chatting away in all different languages, and then the furniture designers themselves, usually stylishly dressed and running around like a chicken without it's head.  Its so hard not to get stars in my eyes when looking at all the beautiful furniture and decor and imagining it in my own house!  Swoon!

Market is just FUN!  There's not other way to describe it.  There are so many beautiful things to look at, its impossible not to have a good time.  My favorite designer by far was the family-owned Taracea, where Louise worked over the weekend.  The Spanish, family-owned company not only had the most beautiful wood furniture I'd ever seen, but also the perfect setting to showcase their work.  The Radio building was an old bank, so the main floor has two story ceilings that are covered in windows on one wall, mirrors on another, and blueprints for the building on the others.  The vault which is still in the building is pretty cool too.  Other favorites include Stanford furniture, with the cushiest of chairs, and the coolest leather patterns, as well as Fauld for their beautiful English made furniture.

Potentially the best part about Market is the happy hour that starts around 4:00!  Everyone busts out the snacks and drinks, all for free (my fave) and it turns from a business environment to more of a house party environment, which is appropriate seeing as how each showroom is basically its own house.   Shout out to Eastern Accents for having the world's best and most mysterious sangria!

Prancing pony statuettes in Wildwood

Drool... Fauld settee

Fauld Buffet Table

Taracea...absolutely stunning!

Taracea again.  SO my style!

My lovely companions, who taught me about good furniture!

baby french sandwiches (part 3)

This weekend I attempted the macarons again... with improvement this time! The good part was that the cookies did not stick so much this time, and got the little feet perfectly! The bad part was that the recipe was supposed to make 30 sandwiches, but only made 18.  Which might not totally be a bad thing because I don't need to eat 30 macarons.  I made pink cookies, some with a rose buttercream (a little too much rosewater, need to but in a little less next time) and some with a lemon curd.  I loved both, but I think the lemon curd a little more, but just because the curd I made was so amazing. 

Look at the perfect little feet!!

Rose Macarons

Lemon Curd Macaron

I did a LOT of cooking this weekend - not just the macarons!  As I mentioned above, I made a killer jar of lemon curd, but I also made some pimiento cheese, just because its my favorite southern food....ever.  THEN we had friends over for dinner on Sunday night, and I had all that gorgeous lemon curd with no purpose, so I made a cake to go with the lemon curd!  For dinner, myself and one of Kyle's friends girlfriends, Hilary, made dinner of pork chops, balsamic glaze, and bomb couscous salad.  SO good, and so much fun to have people over!  Sienna was the perfect hostess, as per usual!

Big jar of dee-lish lemon curd!

Homemade pimiento cheese

Dinner for 5!

Mmm cake!

To round out the end of a fun, busy weekend, I had a little bit of pink cremant and a rose macaron to myself (and watched some Dr. Who)

Carolina International CIC***

Uggghhh the horse show hangover this morning is real... and I didn't even (hardly) ride this weekend!  I cannot stop daydreaming of the G O R G E O U S weather and terrain at the Carolina Horse Park (CHP) combined with almost the entire Olympic Eventing team of past and present.  I've already got nostalgia really badly.  The corporate environment is already crashing my high of happiness from this weekend.  It is so hard being so supremely happy from the combination of fantastic horses, riders, weather, and family for just a few days and then back to reality.  I'm a sad puppy this AM...

Lucky for me all the big dogs of the eventing world loved the Carolina International CIC*** and hopefully will be back next year.  Backtracking a little bit, I've looked forward to this weekend for two years now!  Once a year, all the famous eventers go to CHP for this one event, its free, and right in my backyard.  Two years ago, I was in France when the event happened, and last year it was the same weekend we brought Sienna home, so it was better for me to skip it.  BUT it was worth the wait because this year they bumped up the status of the show to an international level, which meant more sponsors, more vendors, more competitors, everything!  Southern Pines is so horse-friendly so that's part of the reason all the riders liked it, and some are already saying they will go back next year on their social media sites and in interviews.  

Goal for today: don't focus on missing the environment, just try to remember the fun, and focus on the future.  Look below for just a taste of how freaking amazeballs my weekend was!

I mean SERIOUSLY? How gorgeous is CHP?

Boyd Martin and Shamwari 4

Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Fugitive

Becky Holder and Can't Fire Me

Marilyn Little and RF Smoke on the Water

Phillip Dutton and a very boisterous Mr. Medicott

My fave - Will Coleman III and Conair

Winners of the CIC*** Marilyn Little and RF Demeter

Second Place, Michael Pollard and Ballingowan Pizazz

I mean seriously?  I really need to figure out how to watch these guys more often because they are so freaking spectacular.  The horses are such athletes with so much raw power and energy that the riders somehow can channel into perfection.  They just make the highest level of the sport look effortless.  Its so inspiring to spend an entire weekend around the best of the best on their main horses, and then their youngsters they are bringing along.  Luckily, I only have to wait until August/September to see everyone again at WEG, instead of this time next year.  

In addition to drooling all day on the cross-country course, my mom and I also went to ride this new little mare, Bacarra, she's trying to potentially buy.  While Bacarra is a fatty and out of shape, she is absolutely adorable - great mover, good brain, very attractive.  Since she's not in great shape, I only rode her for like 5 minutes to get a feel for her to tell my mom my thoughts, and then let Mother ride her for a few more minutes before she fatigued.  Maybe soon we will have a new fatty [red headed mare] to add to the family!  It's about time, Dutch-the-country-bumpkin needs a new girlfriend.  Mother and I also had an amazing time eating at our two favorite restuarants in So Pi, Rhett's and Chef Warren's.  I stayed in her new renovated condo for the first time and it was super nice!  I need to post some pictures on here soon because its beautiful, especially compared to the one she was renting before she bought this condo.  

Of course, no blog is complete without Sienna pictures.  She and I had the best one-year anniversary.  We romped around the cross country course (twice), laid in the grass, played, and one of us barked at other dogs (but only a little!).  My ultimate goal in life is to tire out that dog, and it took about 5 hours to get her to a normal energy level.

Sienna and some jumps

Mother really wanted a pic of us with a horse in the background

Look at them!  How cute are they??  

Boyd Martin liked Sienna!  While she was laying here, he walked by, stared at her, and smiled.  

But seriously, that face?  Too cute.

Finally, to round out the weekend, Kyle took me out for pizza, beer, and doughnuts because I was sad my super fun weekend was over and needed a little cheering up.  What a perfect end to a perfect weekend!