Red Carpet Inspiration

How many of y'all watched the Oscars last night? I was so excited that Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor because he is such a phenomenal and hard working individual. Besides watching the actual show and predicting who would win what, my favorite part was watching the red carpet. I love, love, love seeing what all the celebrities are wearing and imagining what I would wear if I was attending. My favorite looks were hands down Cate Blanchett and Rachel McAdams. Seeing all the beautiful looks got my wheels spinning so I pulled a handful of stunning gowns that I would consider if I were to attend this glamorous event. Can you figure out which ones cost a pretty penny versus the more reasonably priced looks? Either way, which look is your favorite? What would you wear if you had the opportunity to walk the red carpet?

Summer Inspiration

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm trying to save money, I would have already gone ahead and started purchasing swimsuits, sandals, floppy hats and all things summer clothes and accessories. Summer is by far my favorite season and I've been counting down the days until it's warm enough to spend lazy days by the pool, going on picnics and driving with the windows down. In the meantime, I've rounded up my favorite inspiration for warmer days that I'm lusting over!

Coffee Date

I don't know about you but I have an obsession with coffee shops. And the smell of coffee. I guess you could say coffee in general. Oh, and spending time with my husband. I'm obsessed with that too. If you asked me, I'd say that coffee shops are great to go to and unwind, study/work (if you don't get distracted easily!) or meet up with friends. I actually feel lucky that I married someone who enjoys coffee as much more then I do because we get to try different shops all the time. Even though we enjoy trying new places, we still have our favorite; Not Just Coffee.

Fast forward to Southern Weddings saying they would like to feature us for one of their series, Southern Newlywed: Date Night (you can read our feature here). Not only was this an honor, but I knew just the place to go and was as giddy as a school girl when Allison Kuhn agreed to join us and capture it all on camera! Aren't the above photos amazing? I mean, we met up at 8:30 AM and look at how well she worked with the lighting. Pure goodness if I must say so myself!

So what are some of your favorite dates to go on with your significant other? Do you have any date ideas that aren't real expensive? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Will and I like to have game nights, go on walks around our neighborhood, go to sporting events and watch movies at home. Nothing extravagant but just as fun! And for those who might be interested, I listed a few of my favorite orders from coffee shops in the Charlotte area below!

Not Just Coffee - Vanilla Sugar Latte

The Mayobird - Caramel Latte

Amelie's French Bakery- The hot chocolate with whipped cream is the bomb! Side-note: it's listed in french on the menu as "Chaud Chocolat"!

The Daily Press - Just a plain ole' Cappuccino

Smelly Cat Coffee - I've heard that the Iced Chai's are delicious

Caribou Coffee - Vanilla White Mocha

Starbucks - Caramel Apple Spice or the White Chocolate Mocha depending on my mood

Crispy Crepe - Cookie Butter Latte...just don't look at how many calories are in it!

Sunflour Bakery - The Hot Chocolate...and PS they now have two locations

Terrace Cafe - The Tiramisu or Brown Sugar Latte

January Review + February Goals

Happy Monday and first day of "love" month friends! One month down, 11 more to go! I don't know about you but I'm sooo glad it's February. January was a good month and all, and I'm really enjoying 2016 so far, but the first month of a new year always tends to be a little bit of a challenge for me. You feel me?

I always make a list of all the things I want to accomplish, whether it be weekly, monthly, or yearly goals. Half way through January I found myself stressing out and forgetting to take things day by day. But this month I'm going to do a better job at reminding myself to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak. But like I said, January was good and I was able to check off a few of my goals I set for the year which was a win in my book!

January accomplishments:

Spend two + weekends visiting our parents (not including the holidays). My mom had knee surgery at the end of December so I decided to stay with my parents for a few days and keep mom company and helped with a few tasks around their house. Will wasn't able to come with since I went during the week, but I still counted this as time with family!

Reach out to my group of girlfriends on a weekly basis. I'm really proud of myself for this one. It might sound silly but I created a note in my phone that contains a list of my favorite people that I use as a reminder of who I need to reach out to regularly. Maintaining relationships is important to me and I often get caught up with all that's going on in my life. I wanted to do a better job this year at putting others first and this has been really helpful.

Clean out my closet and invest in essential items. I was able to clean out my closet and ended up with two boxes full of items I was able to sell and give to Goodwill. Next on my list is taking inventory of what I have left in my closet and then create a list of items I want to invest in. One thing I know I want, and is an essential item in my book, is a pair of nude pumps like these or these.

Develop a 30 minute morning quite time routine that I do everyday. Ehh, I tried to adopt this new routine but was not successful at doing it everyday like I wanted and I will tell you why. I have a hard time and get overwhelmed with myself when I try to utilize too many resources at once. There were so many things I wanted to incorporate into my quite time such as reading Jesus Calling, Join The Journey, and reading my First 5 and Joyce Meyer apps. This didn't work and I had to step away for a few days and re-evaluate my plan of action which is to focus on using just one or two of these. Any advice you can give would be so appreciated!

Find a CPA to help us with our taxes. We did some research and asked around for recommendations and scheduled a meeting with a CPA this week to see if they are a good fit for us.

Help Will pay off the rest of his student loans. I am proud to say we are DEBT FREE! Yay!

Take a SkillPop class and discover a new passion. Last week I took a class on Interior Design which was led by the amazingly talented Sarah Scott. I loved learning about top paint colors and what trends are in for 2016. I HIGHLY recommend taking a SkillPop class if your in the Charlotte area.

Read at least six new books. Last month, I read The Ten Best Days of My Life by Adena Halpern.

Take a weekend getaway to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Will's parent. Check! We stayed at Alpine Escape Cabin and had fun playing board games, enjoyed the snowy weather and exploring the downtown area.

Goals for February:

1. Host a game night at our house.

2. Back up all photos/documents/etc. on my laptop.

3. Increase my prayer life.

4. Try new plan for having quite time in the morning.

5. Pick a CPA and start working on our taxes.

6. NO SODA!

7. Meal-plan healthier lunch and dinner options.

8. Read Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst which I started a few days ago and I'm already hooked.

9. Start planning for our trip to Chicago. Let me know of places to go, things to do, etc.!  

What are your goals for the month?

Goals for 2016

Ah, 2016 is finally upon us! I don't know about you but I feel like 2015 went by so fast. In 2015 alone, I got engaged, Will and I moved, I gathered inspiration and planned for our wedding, we got married in June, honeymooned in St. Lucia, spent a long weekend in NYC, visited Brooklyn, and welcomed a precious little niece into the family to name a few highlights.

And although the start of a new year can be bittersweet, it's also a time to start afresh. To set new goals and try new things. In years past, I was one of those individuals who would set resolutions but always failed at keeping them. A lot of resolutions I came up with were just not "doable". For instance, why would I ever tell myself I would never, ever, EVER drink another soda again for the rest of my life? I mean...if I'm being realistic here...that's just crazy. I don't drink soda weekly, but every once-in-a-while I'll have one.

Now that I'm married, I've been thinking about traditions Will and I can implement, and setting goals for the coming year is one of them. On New Years Day, we woke up and enjoyed breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast spots; The Flying Biscuit. We don't go there all that often, so it made it feel extra special. Throughout the rest of our morning, we took time talking through what we wanted to accomplish for the year and weeded out goals we felt weren't realistic.

Nancy Ray wrote a blog post recently hat explained something worth putting into practice and it's this: "The most vital part of my goal setting process is simply this: set monthly goals. Let your yearly goals guide what you write. Break them down across the 12 months of the year, then implement them in 4-week time frames. That is the perfect amount of time to really accomplish some things".

So that's what we did! Below our the categories used with my personal goals for the year broken down for each. I thought of others, but wanted to make sure I was being realistic with what I felt I could accomplish in twelve months. And because this is my first time making a list of goals for the New Year, I didn't want to pressure myself by breaking everything out into months. However, I do plan to keep you guys updated each month on what I've accomplished!

Family/Friends

- Host four game nights at our house. We actually had our first game night over the weekend!
- Spend two + weekends visiting our parents (not including the holidays).
- Reach out to my group of girlfriends on a weekly basis. Communication is important to me.

Self

- Back up all photos/documents/etc. on all computers and devices twice throughout the year.
- Clean out my closet and invest in essential items. My motto these days is "quality over quantity".

Spiritual
- Attend an Abundance Conference.
- Increase my prayer life and pray out loud with Will more often.
- Develop a 30 minute morning quite time routine that I do everyday.

Financial
- Find a CPA to help us with our taxes.
- Go back over Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course as a refresher.
- Review our bank accounts and finances at the end of each month.
- Help Will pay off the rest of his student loans.

Physical/Lifestyle
- Attend classes at the YMCA twice a week and walk for 30 minutes three times a week.
- Go one month every quarter with no soda.
- Meal-plan healthier lunch and dinner options with Will every Sunday.

Marriage
- Celebrate our one year wedding anniversary in June!!
- Complete The One Year Love Language Devotional with Will.

Intellectual
- Take a SkillPop class and discover a new passion.
- Read at least six new books. The one's currently on my list include:

1. The Ten Best Days of My Life by Adena Halpern
2. The Artist's Daughter: A Memoir by Alexandra Kuykendall
3. Make it Happen by Lara Casey
4. Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
5. Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen 
6. The Lucky Ones by Anna Godbersen
7. Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst
8. What You Do Best in the Body of Christ by Bruce Bugbee
9. The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst
10. You and Me by Francis and Lisa Chan

Travel

- Take a weekend getaway to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Will's parent.

- Explore four new cities: Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and somewhere in Florida.

What goals or resolutions do you have for 2016? I'd love to hear what you have in mind!