Haunted Pub Crawl Happy Birthday

What better way to celebrate my 26th birthday than with a friends on a Downtown Raleigh Haunted Pub Crawl? It is becoming a birthday tradition...

4th of July Weekend Recap

The end of long weekends are Aaron was off for the 4th and I was able to work from home. We drove out to Rocky Mount, NC to meet my mom and dad (hi guys!), who were on their way home from their first ever trip to the Outer Banks. After lunch Aaron and I stopped at Sonic to celebrate our America and our Freedom to drink Peanut Butter and Bacon milkshakes. Oh yes, we did!

When we got home I hung the Star Spangled Bunting that I found in the Target dollar section last week. Look there is proof that I actually did decorate for the holiday! I know it's a crummy photo, the light in the main living area of our apartment is terrible 24hrs a day. The two bedrooms are the only rooms that get any good, natural light. When we start looking for houses next year, natural light will be close to the top of the wish list! 

We didn't make it out for fireworks this year, but I did grill a few hot dogs to enjoy along with side salads and an icy cold Redd's Apple Ale or two. 

On Friday it was back to work for me, but Aaron went with a group of our friends to go SKYDIVING! Whhhaaatt?! Yeah, he has always been interested in trying and the timing worked out perfectly, so he took a big jump! I really admire him for being so brave to do this, but I was totally nervous the whole time until he texted me that he was back on the ground! Maybe I will get him to share his story here on the blog.

On Saturday night we celebrated Aaron's 26th Birthday with a ride on the Trolley Pub! We peddled our way to a handful of downtown bars including: Isaac Hunters, Landmark Tavern, The Raleigh Times, and Tir Na Nog. We spent the rest of the night at The Ugly Monkey playing and having a great time! We made a late night pit stop to Snoopy's before heading home. We had a fantastic time with the Trolley Pub and would recommend it for a birthday party our just a fun night downtown!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Wedding Wednesday: A Bridal Shower

Earlier this month Aaron and I drove up to MD for the weekend for my bridal shower! My amazing sister, Dana, along with my aunts and other family members had been planning this party for months. 

Even though we decided to call it a "Bridal Shower" I knew that I wanted to invite men and women and have it be more of a couples shower. There are plenty of ladies who enjoy the traditional women only Bridal Shower with girly decor, a fancy sit down brunch, and toilet paper wedding dresses games, but I'm just not one of them! I wanted to be able to invite all of my friends and family to celebrate while we were in town. 

The shower was held at my aunt and uncle's beautiful house in Annapolis. They were amazing hosts and were so kind to open up their entire home for the shower. We had lunch set up in the kitchen, a delicious dessert table in the dining room, a slideshow of photos of each of us growing up, and drinks on the deck, including a signature "Manassa Punch" created by my aunts.

After lunch we played a round of "Who Said It?" with ginger mustache (for Aaron) and hot pink lip (for me) props, and then we opened gifts. After the shower "ended" friends and family stuck around to hang out on the deck until the evening. 

Thank you to everyone who helped plan our shower and to everyone who joined us in Annapolis to celebrate! We cherish the moments that we spend together and always look forward to the next party!

Polka Dot Palette Painting Class

On Friday evening Cassie invited me to go to Polka Dot Palette for a BYOB painting class! She had purchased a deal on Living Social and it was the last day to use the voucher! We picked up a bottle of wine on the way and we were ready to go!

The theme for the night was "Little ______ Dress (Choose Your Color)". Before the class began our instructor, Brandon, came around, welcomed us to the studio and asked us which colors we wanted to use for our painting. 

This class was so much fun! We started with a blank canvas and Brandon showed us how to create the background and dress. We all followed him step-by-step, but every piece of art looked a little different. I am going to hang mine up in our guest room!

This is a shot of how our final pieces turned out! Mine is the blue one on the left and Cassie's is the coral one on the right. I can't wait to sign up for more classes in the future! If you are interested in attending a class like this be sure to check out Living Social or Groupon to see if there are art studios offering discount vouchers in your area!

Have you ever tried a painting class?

Weekend Recap

I have learned that the hibernation period in the Triangle officially ends on the first day of April. Even though our region gets a fairly small amount of snowfall, we still but we have been busy every weekend since the beginning of the month! There are so many indoor and outdoor activities going on in the area, we don't have weekends that are filled with opportunities for napping anymore (and we love that!)  

On Friday after work I joined my friend Cassie for a BYOB painting class at Polka Dot Palette, an art studio in Cary, NC. We had so much fun! I will post pictures of our paintings and go into more detail about our class in a post tomorrow. After our class we met up with two of our friends, Cathy and Suzanne for drinks at Rudino's on Edwards Mill Road. We were pretty much the only people in the restaurant, which was odd for a Friday night, but we didn't mind! We talked about how our weeks went and made plans for the weekend.

On Saturday Aaron, Cassie, Cathy and I went to the Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival at the Bond Metro Park in Cary (we have been spending a lot of time in Cary recently...) I had heard about the festival on the radio earlier in the week, and I can never pass up an Arts & Crafts event, especially when it is hosted in a park on a beautiful day! We walked around to see all of the art vendors, listened to a group of singing pirates, watched an aerialist performance, and we even spotted a baby dragon! 

Later that evening Aaron and I went downtown to the Upstairs Party Space at Centro for the Raleigh Tribe 1st Annual Birthday Bash to celebrate the first year of Raleigh Tribe programming. We had a great time celebrating with friends and enjoying tapas, margaritas and of course, birthday cake!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Buddies

It has been so long since my last Wedding Wednesday post! Honestly, since we booked our venue a few months ago (seriously? We have been engaged for almost 4 moths already?!) Aaron and I have not crossed anything off of the wedding to-do lists. It's okay, we still have time, but I know that when New Years is over and 2013 arrives, it will be time to get some planning done.

Last night I met up with two of my local friends, Brittany and Kelly, who are also getting married in 2013. All of our fiances had made plans to go out for a guys night to get wings, so we ladies decided to do the same but with BBQ Chicken pizza, wedding magazines, wine, and Bride Wars.

We had a great night sharing planning details and watching Kate Hudson get attacked by Anne Hathaway. All of my bridesmaids live out-of-state, and even though they are only a phone call or Google+ Hangout away, it's so nice to have these two to get together and share wedding giddiness.

We all have tickets to go to the upcoming Forever Bridal Show in January at the NC State Fair Grounds. It is supposed to be a HUGE event with vendors from all over the state, which is good since I haven't booked any!

My Weekend, In Snapshots

to see my weekend, on instagram (follow me @eeelishalynn)

Left to right, top to bottom:

1) I spent Friday morning packing for our weekend trip and opening packages. Wedding surprises have begun! After Aaron got home we ate lunch and went to the office to pick up our new bookcases!

2) We left Raleigh around 2pm so we would miss the Northern VA/Washington D.C. traffic madness. We stopped for dinner at the Cracker Barrel (Robinson family tradition!) in Dumfries. I was very excited to check in to the restaurant on Yelp! After dinner we walked through the shop and took pictures with adorable, fluffy stuff animals. We arrived at my parents house in MD later that evening and spent a couple of hours catching up with them before going to bed.

3) On Saturday morning Aaron and I picked up Lissan and left MD early to make it to the wedding venue by 11am. We got through the rehearsal, went to dinner in Leesburg, and drove around the area to not 1 or 2, but 3 vineyards! 

4) Vineyard #2

5) On Saturday night we went to vineyard #3 for dinner, more wine and a U2 cover band concert! It was way more fun than I had expected. They weather was perfect, the music was familiar and the company was unforgettable!

6) Lissan and I getting our hair and make-up done for the wedding!

7) Husband and wife!

8) A photo of all of the girls from high school after dancing the night away at the reception!

Wow! This weekend was amazing and it flew by so fast! I wish we could do it all over again and again and again. It was such a joy being with old friends, meeting new ones and making memories. The wedding was beautiful from ceremony to her dress and the flowers. Congrats to the happy couple!