Soon-to-be Mrs. Pennington!

Guess what...I'm BACK! Haven't posted since February and now I need to catch up big time!

Last weekend we hit the road around noon on Thursday and high tailed it down to Rosemary Beach for Ryanne's last fling before the ring! We were very pleased to see the townhouse we had booked was amazing!





Thursday night was Cinco de Mayo so we hit up the Mexican restaurant, which was a 30 second walk from our townhouse. We sipped on drinks (%50 off that night!) and waited for the other girls to get there.

Both Friday and Saturday we spent the day on the beach. We ate lunch both days at Wild Olives, which was a great little market type lunch place. Highlights of the beach time included running into Charles Kelly of Lady Antebellum and getting to see multiple beach weddings on Saturday!

5 out of 8 of us:





Both days looked like this...PERFECT:



Gorgeous beach wedding Saturday night...



Friday night we gave Ryanne a lingerie shower and then headed over to Bud and Alleys for dinner and after dinner drinks. It was so fun!

Cute Bride and Groom cookies with their initials:





One of the more racy items she got!







Cute drink umbrella topiary as a centerpiece!



Lots of gifts!



The whole group at dinner.



The three of us got martinis...oh no!









Saturday night we left the beach a little early to come in and watch the Kentucky Derby (most of the girls were from Kentucky). We all bet on who would win! My bet was for "Comma at the Top" but unfortunately, he did not place. In honor of the royal wedding and derby, we all made "fascinator" headpieces to wear out that night. That was such a cute idea and we all sported them the whole night!

Hayley making her hair piece!



Hayley and Atlanta Design Chick



My "fascinator" (pre glue gun)















We walked over to La Crema, an adorable fondue and tapas restaurant in downtown Rosemary Beach. I loved it! The fondue was amazing and it was the perfect way to end such a fun weekend!










Looking forward to the Pennington nuptials in Atlanta on June 4th!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

DESIGN...(for a change)

Okay so let's be honest, my "atlanta design chick" blog is not so much about DESIGN and more about ME/the DESIGNER (ha). But while working on a project this morning, I stumbled across this amazing decorator and had to share!

Jamie Beckwith

We are using one of her products for some high-end speculative office suites over at a prominent building in Atlantic Station, but I couldn't helpt but notice that her stuff would look FABULOUS in my future home. I'm going to start following her blog and you should too!

Here are some items I adore:

I love this amazing combination of colors in this up-close detail.



This floor is what isnpired me. How cool would it be to have this Moroccan wood pattern in an entry-way in your home?



Love it!



Fun bowls for anywhere!



Bathroom by Candice Olson featuring a beautiful wood block wall by Jamie (this is the product we are using here at work):



I need an excuse to visit her showroom, shown below - GORGEOUS!



I love these purple chairs on a neutral background:



My future living room:



XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It's Greek to Me!

This should actually be titled "Adventures in Ethnic Hole-in-the-Walls Part II".

I profusely apologize for my lack of posts lately. We are CRAZY busy at work and on top of that, I am in the midst of studying for the NCIDQ exam. In my spare time these days, I am more likely reading a chapter in my book about construction drawings and not so much blogging about what I have been doing lately! Boooooo....

Anyways, last night (after a VERY long work day), I went immediately to meet up with Grant and Ryals at a restaurant that Grant has been dying for us to go to - Cafe Agora. Aside from it being right down the street from his condo, it offers inexpensive Greek fare.

When I pulled up and went in the restaurant, I was a little hesitant. It was pretty sketchy-looking and could have doubled as a pawn shop in a former life...HOWEVER - it was PACKED and we actually had to wait about 20 minutes for a suitable table.



Once we sat down, the Greek owner of the restaurant came over with a complimentary appetizer platter for us (Grant says he does that for everyone so I didn't get too excited). While we snacked on our apps, Grant and Ryals had a Turkish beer:



A few minutes later, I see the Greek guy run out in the street. He comes back into the restaurant and tells me my car is getting ticketed! Ahhh! He ended up paying my parking ticket for me - how nice!

As my entree, I got a traditional Greek sampler platter with pitas. I couldn't even eat half of it - I boxed it up for lunch today. The owner grabbed my to-go box and filled it up with even more food for me to take home!



Grant and Ryals both got the Mixed Grill aka Carnivore's delight. It was so yummy!



We had a great time and to top it off, we got free baklava! My meal came to a grand total of $10. Much better than Mykonos Tavern that we tried that one MNGD!




XOXOXOXOXO

Adventures in Cham-bodia

Last night I had the pleasure of joining two of my friends from work (Jennifer and Beth) and one of our former employees (Dale) for dinner a la Buford Highway. Dale was our former IT/AutoCAD guru and still drops by the office from time to time. He is moving to Asheville in a few weeks, so we wanted to catch up with him before he heads out. Dale lives in Chamblee and recommended that we meet up to have dumplings at one of his favorite restaurants, Chef Liu. Being that Buford Highway can get somewhat sketchy the further you go, I was skeptical at first. But I was assured that this place is legit. After we scheduled the dinner, I opened an old issue of Southern Living and saw that it was featured in the magazine under an article about hidden places on Buford Highway to eat!

Here is what it looks like from outside...



Upon entering, I noticed that the restaurant was very busy and consisted mostly of families from the area dining in. We were seated at a table by the window by a lady who spoke little english.



We left the ordering up to Dale, who ordered a spread of food for the table. The food was brought out quickly and in courses. The first thing we got was Leek Pie. This is one of the dishes that was featured in the Southern Living article and let me tell you, it was the BEST. We had 4 orders of this!



We also ordered wonton soup, chicken and corn dumplings, "soup" dumplings (dumplings that are filled with a broth that you have to eat with a spoon) and lamb skewers. OMG is all I could say! It was delicious and the best part was for a huge meal that left me stuffed we only paid around $9 a person!

"Soup" Dumplings



Lamb Skewers - Yum!



Chicken and Corn Dumplings - all steamed and pretty healthy!



I'm thinking we need to go back for Monday Night Girl's Dinner soon!!

XOXOXOXO

Party at the RITZ!!

Another Christmas party that Ryals and I attended was the Atlanta Lawyer's Club party @ the Ritz Carlton, Buckhead. It was on a Wednesday night so we had to be a little bit tame, but it was so fun (Note: at last year's party, we stayed out past 2, late nighted and felt like crap at work the next day - lesson learned)!

Before the party, we went to Ryals' house for a drink and his dad presented him with an amazing framed piece for his office that had the past 5 generations of Stone family lawyers' law licenses framed - his license being the newest! It was so special!





You can see that I got another wear out of Meredith's beautiful bridesmaid dress - I got so many compliments on it!





We socialized, ate delicious hors d'oeuvres and listened to a swing dancing band. We called it quits around 12 since we had the Boone & Stone Christmas party the next night that we had to save up for...more to come on that next!

XOXOXOXO

2 Happy Years!

It's hard to believe, but this week Ryals and I have been dating for two years! They have been two very happy years! Last night, we went to celebrate at one of our favorite restaurants, Prime (also conveniently located in Lenox Mall). I got my favorite dish of sea bass and he of course indulged in a filet with mac and cheese and spinach. Yummy!!







Cheers!!

XOXOXOXO

A West Wesley Christmas

Sunday night before Christmas, Ryals and I headed back to Atlanta to have Christmas dinner/celebration with his mother's side of the family. I was so thankful to get to finally get to meet some of his aunts, uncles and cousins I had never met!

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Herbert live off of West Wesley. Their house is amazing - I could literally move in that place as-is. We arrived to find that their house is home to two dogs, a few chickens and two GOATS. On top of that, Aunt Lisa is about to buy approximately 20,000 BEES to become a beekeeper...who knew that just off of Peachtree you could find all these interesting creatures!? I LOVED it!

Me and Aunt Lisa playing with the animals...totally didn't know when we took the photo that the GOAT was eating out of the cereal:



Aww I love them!



Whoa now, crazy!



Not so sure about this...



We enjoyed a delicious dinner of homemade lasagna, salad and a yummy trifle for desert. Afterwards we took a tour of the house with Uncle Herbert and got to see many of their family photos and artwork (including a few PENLEYS...swoon). Since Ryals' mother passed away when he was younger, it was so special to get to see photos of her and hear about the type of lady that she was...I think Ryals gets a lot of his sweet traits from her according to what all I have heard!

Next up...Rome Christmas!!

Bye Bye!!




XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO