A toast to my hubs and a girl's weekend

My and David's weekend began a bit early with a celebratory dinner for David's recent MAI achievement. After the holidays, David's mom planned a family dinner to toast David. It worked out for us all to join in Dunwoody last Thursday night.

My in-laws chose Peter's in Dunwoody for our special dinner. It was delicious...from the wine, to my ravioli, to our creme brulee dessert - so good!

We were so glad Ben came to join us too! We were happy to spend the evening with Amanda, David's Uncle Chris and Aunt Jane, and David's parents - Mr. Benjy and Mrs. Pam.

I found this set of 4 fun glasses to mark the occasion - Cheers! to David's accomplishment!

David's Uncle Chris, also an MAI, generously gave David his MAI pin and a handwritten note.

 Early Saturday morning, I set out to meet Hollie, her friend Rebecca, and my mom and her girlfriends for a day at Scott's and a night celebrating my Aunt Jill's birthday. David stayed home to relax and recharge...he's been a busy boy lately!

There were some beautiful things this month....but none more so than this amazing acrylic bar cart. It was my favorite find of the day, even though it couldn't be mine.

I even loved the lamp....you can see my smile in the reflection!

And if I'd had a trailer and about a million dollars, I would've packed up the bar cart and lamp along with this gorgeous porch set. Isn't that sofa just incredible!?!?!

 After leaving Scott's, we had a bit of a siesta before me, Mom, Jill, Claudette, Jennifer and Stephanie headed to CineBistro for dinner and a movie!

CineBistro is in the new Town Brookhaven.

The inside is super cool. It would be fun to get there early for a movie and hang out here for a bit.

We had tickets to see The Vow - it was so good! A TOTAL chick flick, but I think the fellas will like it too.

The girls were in town to celebrate Jill's birthday...and it was a fun night! Glad I could be there!
L-R: Jennifer, Mom, Stephanie, Jill, and Claudette

Mom and I split the hummus and sliders, and the girls had sangria with their dinner. I tasted Mom's and it was really good!

It's really neat to watch a movie and snack on dinner at the same time!

 On Sunday morning, us gals enjoyed brunch at one of our faves - The Buckhead Diner. I had the salmon benedict, and it hit the spot!

When I got home to my hubs, I had an early Valentine's surprise.....

....Cupid Mom had delivered our Valentine's fudge, pralines, and cornflake candy!!! Thank you so much Mom, Jill, and Susie for all of the love and time you put into our sweet box!

Happy Early Valentine's Everyone!

Dancin' Shoes

I started my weekend off with a great Friday! I got to spend the day with my best friend Christen and her neice Vivian in Marietta. Christen and I haven't seen each other in so long, so I was thrilled to hang out with her since she was in town from D.C. After a good ol' Chick Fil A lunch, we scooped up Vivi from school and then headed to have our nails painted. She's so stinkin' cute, and took having her nails painted very seriously. We took Vivian for a little shopping and treated her with ice cream too!

This is Vivian - the sweetest, cutest red headed little girl I know. She was so excited about her strawberry ice cream cone with sprinkles!

And while Christen and I had our gel nails done, little Vivi had hers painted too!

 I was so glad to catch up and spend time with Christen. I hugged her "bye" and got back on the road, scooping up David in Atlanta.
After meeting Brince and Laura Lyn in Macon, we headed to Statesboro to visit Abbye for the weekend! Abbye is a senior at Georgia Southern, and we love an excuse to play in the 'Boro! On Friday night, we were pretty low key - we spent the night around Abbye's table playing games, laughing, and catching up.

Saturday was spent playing Salt n Pepa and cornhole in the front yard.

Our friend Daniel's new puppy, Huck, was the mascot. He's such a little cutie!!

Later that night, before our taxis came to take us to the bar, we had friends over and played silly games.

Here's me and Abbye with Abbye's roommate Sarah! She's so sweet, and we all had the best time dancing!

These pictures crack me up! You can totally tell how much fun we're having! Me, Abbye, and Ashley had a ball!

So glad to see Nola and Andrew!

Brince and Laura Lyn had fun dancing too!

And we're always so happy to see our friends Ansley and Ben!

It was such a fun weekend! And Abbye is a fantastic hostess. We were able to see so many of our Statesboro friends, and it was gorgeous weather. Now, we're at home watching the Super Bowl, preparing for our busy week. Hope you all had a fun, safe weekend too!

Happy Birthday Ryals!

Its been a fun weekend again! It began with David's MAI dinner on Thursday night, which I have already blogged about. On Friday night, we headed into Atlanta to have dinner with Brince and Laura Lyn at JCT Kitchen. We had a great meal catching up with them. Afterward, we ran into Ryals and Lauren upstairs and got to hang with them for a bit! (Little did Ryals know, but we were going to be seeing him the next night too!)

JCT Kitchen was wonderful!

 On Saturday night, we helped surprise Ryals for his 30th birthday at Prime in Lenox Mall. Lauren was awesome at planning the whole celebration, and we were all so happy to be a part of it. Everyone was waiting at the top of the escalator in the atrium waiting to yell surprise!

Here we are anxiously waiting...

Here they are walking in with Meredith & Johnathan and John and Kelsey...Ryals had no idea!

And once we yelled surprise, we were so excited to get the party going!

Woops! the cake maker thought Lauren said Ryalas! haha!

Our group after dinner! About to head to Johnny's Hideaway!

Johnny's was packed!!!! And so much fun!

Happy Birthday Ryals! I know 30 is going to be great!!!!

Today, we rounded out the weekend with brunch at West Egg with Laura Lyn and Brince again. It was such a fun weekend, but this party girl needs some down time to get over this pesky little bout of bronchitis. I am on the mend though! And we are going to visit our favorite Statesboro Gal - Abs!- this weekend!

David's MAI

Last night, I had the honor of attending David's designation meeting in Atlanta. He recently received his MAI Designation, and the Atlanta chapter of the Appraisal Institute recognizes the new recipients. David's boss, Rob Jaeger, gave a short toast in front of the chapter and presented David with his certificate.

It was definitely official when this packet came in the mail!

He even gets a "pin"!

And these announcements too.

To commemorate his achievement, I found this one-of-a-kind cuff links. They're made of recycled silver and vintage Georgia maps. After all, a map is an appraiser's best friend!

On the big screen!!

After a dinner of chicken and veggies followed by creme brulee, Rob manned the podium to present David's certificate.

**I am so sorry for these blurry pics! There was a photographer there who was surely taking better photos.**

And in true David style, he gave the nicest remarks to the crowd. Really, it was perfect.

David's gracious co-workers drove into Atlanta to celebrate the event too!
L-R: Cliff, Charles, Richard, Rob, David, George, Steve, and Brent
They're all so proud of him!

And here is the man of the night with his proud wife! I am sure he'll think this post is super cheese ball, but I am so proud of him and all of his hard work to reach this goal before 30. Way to go babe! I love you!