Weekending

This weekend, we had a much needed weekend at home. With being on the go the last few weekends, it was so nice getting to our house checklist and finally getting some things done. Friday, Stephen had off work so he went to work on clearing out one of our dirt with weeds landscaping areas in the backyard. So basically our landscaping needs a LOT of TLC. It's basically all cheaper plants and we found out that there was a lot of other plants grown in that were just cut at the root - some of them are starting to regrow. Stephen really did a great job pulling up the gigantic root systems these plants produced. We are pulling out all the plants on the side of the house, back of the house and front of the house in hopes to make the landscaping better. The sides of the house we will re-sod, I'd like to add some flowers to the back of the house but we're still not 100% sure what we're going to do with the front of the house.

Here's a before and after of the back landscaping area:

Once we figure out where we can buy sod, we'll sod the area, to the right, in

This is one side of the house we worked on Saturday. I failed at a before picture, but you can kind of see how big the bushes were in the before picture above.

While Stephen was hard at work on Friday, I ran to Old Navy during my lunch break to pick up this cardigan. It was a daily deal and was on sale for $12. It's lightweight which is perfect for Florida or leaving it in the office, which I will probably do. 

For dinner on Friday, we drove over to meet to meet Stephen's family for dinner at the Willow Tree, which is a super authentic German restaurant. We had a great time celebrating his mom's birthday with some great food. Total blogger fail - I didn't get any pictures of the restaurant. 

Saturday, we woke up early and I began our big house deep clean while Stephen ran over to help a friend with his boat. After he got home, he went right to work pulling out the bushes on the side of the house. After finishing my cleaning for the day, I joined him - surprisingly, we had fun ripping out all the plants which is good since we still have a lot more to go ;) 

After all our yard work, Stephen was a trooper an ran with me to the mall. I wanted to take advantage of the Columbus day sales but I ended up not finding anything. We did find some delicious pumpkin things from Target and picked up a welcome mat, for the back patio, that was on sale for $4! 

Saturday night, we finally watched the real-life Cinderella and it was really good - even Stephen enjoyed it! Definitely a lot sadder than the animated version but still a great movie! Now I can't wait for the real-life Beauty and the Beast.

After church on Sunday, we went to lunch with some friends and then I got right back to cleaning the house while Stephen worked on the lawn. It was non-stop but it feels SO good to have a clean house! For dinner, I made Christina's Chicken Enchilada Soup and it turned out delicious!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! Cheers to a great week :)

Linking up with Biana.

Five on Friday

This week has been so busy it's been ridiculous. I've been super busy so the blog has taken a backseat this week which I really hate but it's Friday and I'm back!

One
A few weeks ago, Target was having a sale on their TRESemme products to I picked up their new Make Waves gel cream from their Runway Collection. I decided to try it out Wednesday night so after getting out of the shower, I added the gel and then slept on it. Thursday morning, my hair was wavy (this is a big feat for my hair)! I really like the product because it doesn't make your hair crinkly like regular gel does and it felt very light. The biggest kick I got out of the whole thing was I cut my hair about 2 weeks ago and 4 people (yesterday) asked if I recently got a hair cut when my hair was wavy - guess I should wear it wavy more often.

Two

Stephen recently found out that he was picked to represent his company at the White House! When we found out he'll be heading up to the White House, we ran over to Jos A Bank to find him a new black suit. They were running a deal buy 1 get 3 free (I know it's a total marketing ploy but each suit ended up being a little cheaper than just going and buying a suit from Macy's. Plus since Stephen's so tall and skinny, he needs a special size - Jos A Bank was the best choice) and he got 4 fabulous suits! He is finally set for any and every occasion that comes our way ;)

This one is his "fun" suit since it's a lighter blue than navy. Now, we need to find him some fun shoes like the ones in the picture! He looks so handsome in his suits :)

Three

On Tuesday night, I had a dinner after work that I had to get dressed up for. It was so much fun and we couldn't leave without getting a picture!

Four

Thursday was our first night home for the entire evening all week so I had Stephen break out the gas grill. He cooked BBQ chicken, squash and corn and oh my word, it was so good! I am so tickled he finally has a grill and can make me all this delicious food ;)

Five

While we were grilling on Thursday, we had some uninvited visitors in our backyard and of course, I was snapping away. Two Sandhill Cranes decided to join us and they were NOT happy...

If you want to follow along my snapchat name is ashleyhirst23

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are glad to finally have a full weekend at home and we're planning on ripping out some of the bushes along the side of our house that have worn out their welcome. 

UF Tailgate 2015

This past weekend was my company's annual UF tailgate and we had an absolute blast! I've been lucky to attend the tailgate the past 3 years and it truly gets better and better every year. Honestly, I've been raised to always hate the Gators but I love going to the tailgate and helping out. I was so thankful my sister was able to come down and spend the weekend with me and Stephen was able to join us on Saturday after a long day of work on Friday.

Speaking of Stephen working, early on Friday morning he had a rocket launch and it was the perfect time to watch it. As the sun was coming up, you were able to see the solids falling back down to earth and it is the most incredible thing to watch!

Friday evening, I threw a welcome reception in the hotel lobby for the customers and employees that came up to stay in Gainesville Friday night. I loved throwing this little shindig and definitely had to consult Pinterest for some decorating ideas. After, we all headed out for dinner and then over to the Swamp. We didn't last too long since it was so crowded but it was fun!

The tassel garland turned out great ;)

Saturday morning, Stephen made it to town and we all headed over to the tailgate to get ready for everyone. We had such a great time entertaining customers and spending time together. Shockingly, the weather was beautiful and perfect!! We all ended up wearing jeans and we actually felt fantastic, which was totally out of the norm. My sweet friend, Susannah and her husband were going to the game and stopped by to say hi! We loved talking to them and catching up. 

So blessed to have such sweet friends as co-workers

Meridith got to hit the drum

Sunday, we headed back home and did the usual - laundry, grocery store, lawn care and blogging. It was an awesome weekend and can't wait to go back next year!

Linking up with Biana.

Five on Friday

One
This weekend I'm heading up to Gainesville for the UF vs. Old Miss game! Every year my company hosts a big tailgate for our customers and I've been able to help the last 2 years. We always have a ton of fun and this year, I'm hosting our welcome reception tonight. I am so not a UF fan (born and raised to be a Tennessee fan) but I always enjoy this event! Last year's tailgate can be seen here.

Two

Last week, Shelby was talking about how she needed to get her hair cut and posted some adorable pictures as inspiration. I saw the one below and decided to get it cut that day. I had to go back on Monday to get it cleaned up but I'm really happy with how it turned out! Please ignore my super awkward selfie, I never take them and definitely don't know my "good side".

Three
I've been wanting to get a full-length mirror since we moved to the new house and finally got this one from Target. Right now it's 10% off! I'm loving finally being able to see my whole outfit and making sure I don't look like a goob in the morning.

Dress (last season) Similar / Scarf (old) Similar / Shoes / Purse (outlet) Similar

Sweater (old) Similar / Pants / Shoes / Purse (outlet) Similar / Necklace

Four
Recently, Stephen and I have been watching The Office together. Let me tell you - it is so much more funny now that we're working in the "real world". I watched The Office back in high school so I didn't truly get all the jokes but it is hysterical! It's funny to see how much of that stuff actually (semi) happens.

Five
If you missed it this week, I posted a tutorial on how to make a diaper cake from my sister-in-laws shower. It was super easy and I loved making it for her.

Thoughts for Thursday

I don't think I've ever done a blog post gab of random thoughts before but what better time to do my first one than for Thoughts for Thursday.

I am so excited it's officially October! I love this month - fall is officially in full swing, the temperatures should be cooling down and most exciting of all, our niece is due this month!!! It'll just keep getting better from here!

Gah, I just LOVE her hair! I wish so bad I could get mine to curl like that! I am AWFUL with curling hair, especially with bigger waves/curls like this and that makes me sad. Wish I had some hair-savvy girls in my life.

via

The other day, Carly over at College Prepster shared an old post she did on how to roll your sleeves like J Crew. I have noticed J Crew does it differently and always really liked it but couldn't recreate it. Can't wait to try to do this!

I could die over this adorable etched pie dish. I have etched a few pyrex items but I have to use stencils because I don't know how to do it with the transfer paper. One day I'll get brave and try it. These are perfect Christmas gifts!

After finally getting some booties, I'm itching to wear them all the time! Unfortunately, I can't wear them to work but I'm hoping to break them back out on Friday! I got to break them in over the weekend with my new Vineyard Vines dress.

Love her look!

This made me laugh... Unfortunately it's very true and I need to do something to start working out. I just feel like we never have time during the week and I'm already up at 6am and don't want to be waking up at 5am to go running.

I love a freshly made bed (I try to make ours everyday - it is very important to me and Stephen totally doesn't get it). I love beds even more that are well decorated. This bed looks so put together and so cozy! Now I know I won't ever have a bed that looks like this - Stephen thinks the amount of pillows we have now are too much plus we definitely don't need more blankets in Florida - but I can dream.

Linking up with Annie.