Five on Friday!

It feels so incredibly good to officially have Five on Friday back!! We have deeply missed this little link-up but are glad to have had a mini summer break to refresh. I hope you will join Darci, April, Natasha and I today by linking up and sharing 5 things.
So here we go...   - ONE - We have teamed up with some of our favorite vendors to offer our first Five on Friday giveaway next Friday!

Come back next week to enter to win a whole bunch of amazing items including:

Whatever is Lovely Print by Morgan Alexandra

 The Palm Tree Boutique Fall Fringe Scarf in Mustard

The Palm Tree Boutique Boot Socks in Navy

Plaid Blanket Scarf from Heart & Home Collection

HEY Y'ALL Mug from Shop Crystal Faye

For Posh Sake Adult Bev2Go Adult Sippy Cup

For Posh Sake Monogrammed Deco Bangle

Mollie and Lou Macaron Monogram Notebook

Triple S Designs Personalized Phone Case

 

- TWO - For my birthday my sister sent me a fun, chunky necklace from Loft. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

 - THREE - Planning to mix up some delicious Apple Cider Donuts this weekend. Once I pull these out of the oven these are usually gone before they can even cool down! I am so excited that the apple cider season is back.

- FOUR - At daycare pickup the other day I found the most hilarious "award" taped inside of Caroline's crib. Girlfriend is out of control these days.

- FIVE - This weekend we are planning to visit the pumpkin patch! It's going to be a pretty fall weekend and I cannot wait to get outside and pick some pumpkins!

  Wanna join Darci, April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is... 1.) Write your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!). 2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!  

Baby Footprint Stamped Tea Towels

My mom's birthday is a few days after mine and each year she gets harder and harder to buy for. I've pretty much been using framed pictures of Caroline for every gift for family since she's been born and I'm sure everyone is thinking "thanks, but please not another picture frame" so I had to get a bit more creative for this occasion. I wanted a practical grandma gift that would get good use so I decided to make footprint stamped tea towels!

Now, you're probably thinking you don't need a tutorial for this and you're right. But it's definitely not as easy as you would think. First you have to paint the baby's foot, then you have to somehow pick her up without her feet touching anything (including you) and carefully stamp her foot in the middle of your towel.

It's imperative that you buy a pack of at least 5 towels for lots of attempts. Only one of my attempts at stamping Caroline's foot was successful...

My first piece of advice is to not use red paint. The outcome looks like a creepy Halloween project. Lesson learned.

By the last towel I got a decent footprint but I'm still not entire happy with how it turned out so I sent it to mom along with some flowers. I guess some projects are better left on the pages of Pinterest.

If you have any other (preferably less messy) gift ideas for grandparents I'm all ears!

Birthday Weekend in Asheville

We spent the weekend in my second favorite city (to Charleston, SC) ever - Asheville! As part of my birthday gift we booked a room at the Grand Bohemian Hotel Asheville. What a huge surprise this hotel was! Every single detail is absolutely stunning from the moment you pull in. 

via (my outside shots just didn't do this hotel justice!)

We arrived bright and early on Saturday morning and although our check in time wasn't until 4 pm we were immediately whisked up to the 4th floor to the most gorgeous room. The service was incredible and the lobby was so warm and inviting. Oh, and there are unbelievably beautiful chandeliers everywhere.

 

We loved our room. The Grand Bohemian doesn't miss a detail from the oversized velvet-tufted headboard and gorgeous light fixtures to the huge tub that opens up to the sleeping space. It was all around perfect...and Caroline agreed.

 {Side note: This probably sounds like a sponsored post but it isn't. Although, if the GB wants to give me a discount on our next stay I wouldn't mind one bit!}

 This little munchkin had her own crib next to our bed.  I took full advantage of that tub...and the bath salts and bubble bath from the spa too!

We spent the afternoon walking around downtown Asheville listening to all the street corner musicians and had lunch at one of my very favorite places, Early Girl Eatery. We even bumped into one of my old college friends while we were wandering around.

The weather was absolutely perfect too. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend to visit Asheville. After lunch we went back to the hotel to let Caroline nap and cracked open a delicious bottle of The Dreaming Tree wine.

If you're looking for a deliciously smooth wine I cannot recommend The Dreaming Tree Cabernet Sauvignon enough! It's affordable ($15 for a bottle) and it was created by DMB frontman, Dave Matthews! Highly recommend!

Months prior to our trip I made reservations for dinner at The Admiral at the recommendation of one of my best friends (who loves Asheville as much as me). The dive bar turned restaurant is small (less than 10 tables) and books up fast! It also has hundreds of outstanding reviews (google, yelp, etc.) and is rated almost 5 stars. However, when we first arrived we definitely thought we were at the wrong place. The exterior of the restaurant screamed "dive bar" for sure and it was located in between a junk yard and gas station...what?!

The website even describes the establishment as "a modest cinderblock building on the wage earning side of town". Despite the appearance of the outside The Admiral was definitely every bit of 5 stars and served the best seared scallops I've ever had!

We had an early dinner reservation to avoid any potential meltdowns at the table. Caroline was absolutely perfect through dinner so we decided to push our luck and head back to the hotel for a complimentary birthday dessert at The Red Stag. We went with the "award winning" five layer red velvet cake!

With full, happy bellies we decided to get back to our room and put Caroline to bed. To my surprise we were greeted with complimentary champagne to continue my birthday celebrations! Um, did I mention how awesome the service at The Grand Bohemian is?!?

The next morning we awoke to the most amazing view...

...and a happy baby! 

For breakfast we dined at Corner Kitchen, another highly recommend place that did not disappoint! I'm still talking about the delicious cream cheese scrambled eggs with chives and fresh herbs...mmmm!

And of course, one of my favorite parts of the trip was driving the Blue Ridge Parkway to show Caroline the mountains for the first time. 

I never get sick of this view.

Our first vacation as just the 3 of us and it couldn't have been more perfect. This birthday goes down in the books as the best.