Briana's Creative Heart 13th Birthday Party

Woo Hoo! Another birthday party is on the books!! My sweet gal celebrated her 13th birthday with her girlfriends. They made beautiful art pieces and ate Chinese food for dinner.

Before heading out for the party, I asked Bri to pose for a couple of pics for me (she looked so pretty in red)...

First, we asked the girls to join us at an adorable art studio called "Your Creative Heart"...

The girls picked out signs to paint and put on aprons...

The girls took their seats and it was time to create...

Picking their paint colors...

Working so diligently...

Mary wanted to splatter paint her sign, so she was banished volunteered to move to another room while she splattered (LOL!)...

The art pieces drying...

Briana's creation...

Creative girls...

The studio has a "heart" wall and everyone who paints there is asked to paint a small heart for the wall. That way they leave a "piece of their heart" at the studio...

Our girls' additions to the wall...

The finished products (Mary, Meredith, Katie, Chani, Imerie, Maisie and Briana)...

 Then it was time to eat some dinner. The girls (and a few parents) went over to Bri's favorite Chinese restaurant...

Giggling and laughing over dinner...

I made cupcakes for the occasion...

The birthday teenager...

Getting slightly embarrassed with everyone singing to her...

Blowing out the candle...

One last group photo before heading out...

Hugs goodbye...

Doug found a place to hang Imerie's sign (LOL!)...

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday Briana. We love you so much! We hope you enjoyed your party!

(This time of year is always crazy for us {end of July and the beginning of August}. Between final get-togethers before school, school shopping, school open house, Briana's gotcha day anniversary, the start of school and all of Briana's birthday celebrations - it's an exciting yet exhausting and emotional time. I have to admit that I'm ready for life to get a little quieter now - at least until the holidays!)

Food Glorious Food

If you have been reading my blog long enough, you should know by now that Doug and I are total foodies. We love trying new restaurants and I love taking pictures of food. I mean, I took a lot of food pictures in Hawaii if you hadn't noticed. LOL! We've had some amazing food in 2019 - especially this summer.

 Years ago, Doug and I went to a restaurant called "The Optimist" and it was delicious...

 Currently, a new show called "The Chef Show" starting Jon Favreau is streaming on Netflix. In one of the episodes, Jon Favreau brought some of his Avenger buddies to dine at The Optimist, including Tom Holland and Robert Downey, Jr. He also did some cooking with the owner of The Optimist, Ford Fry. Here are a couple of pics...

In the episode, Ford Fry showed how he makes his famous lobster roll. It looked so amazing. Doug and I had a date night coming up, so we decided to go back to the restaurant so I could try it.

It is such a "hip" place...

We had the nicest waitress. She mentioned how crazy the restaurant got once the episode aired (I can only imagine). She also shared that she waitressed at the Avengers End Game wrap party at RDJ's house (Avengers was filmed in Atlanta)! She was so star struck. How cool is that? 

Doug and I had cocktails, GA shrimp, buttered rolls, fingerling potatoes, shishito peppers. I got the lobster roll and Doug ordered the Branzino. Everything was so delicious. My only complaint was that my lobster was slightly chewy. Ack! I couldn't believe it. I was hoping for perfection, but I didn't get it. Oh well - it was still SO good...

Another amazing place we went to this summer was the Atlanta Grill in downtown Atlanta...

This was our celebration dinner for Doug starting a new job.

Doug, Bri and I all got some she-crab soup, and D and I split a lettuce wedge. Then we all got filets with bearnaise sauce. I ordered brussel sprouts on the side...

The atmosphere was so nice. It was pouring outside that evening, so no one could dine on the outside patio. The caramel popcorn sundae was delish...

Lastly, we had a new place open not too far from where I live, and I have eaten there three times now! LOL! Our friends, Amy and Kevin, introduced me and Doug to the place in June and now we are hooked! My friend Amy and I went back again joined by our friend Laura for dinner one evening. I also decided to dine there for my birthday with Bri and Doug...

The wine, beer and cocktail selections are endless and the tapas are ridiculously good.

I only took pictures of food at my birthday meal (heh). Meat and cheese tray, bacon flight, lobster mac n cheese and short ribs...

Wine flight (4 delicious wines), peanut butter pie and bread pudding...

Between New York, Hawaii and Georgia, I have had my fair share of good eating lately!

Hopefully this post didn't make you too hungry!

Briana's 13th Birthday Recap

I honestly don't know where the time went. How in the world do I have a teenager living in my house now? My sweet girl turned 13 on Monday.

Since Briana was going to have to spend her birthday at school on Monday, we decided to have a little early birthday celebration with Gramma and Papa on Sunday. Bri wanted to only open Gramma and Papa's gifts that day (and just one from me and Doug).

Briana's request was Mellow Mushroom for lunch and peanut butter pie for her "birthday cake" from her favorite bbq place.

We had a great afternoon and Bri got spoiled by Gramma and Papa. Gramma made Bri the sign she is holding above. Isn't it the cutest?

Here are a few pics...

And my present to Bri that day was a blanket made out of all her soccer jerseys (from age 5 to age 11). Soccer was such a huge part of her life, and I want her to always remember that time. She loved it...

Monday was Bri's 13th birthday, and she headed to school. In the morning, she woke up to her traditional balloons on the ceiling. She had a guitar lesson that evening and then she wanted honey bbq wings for dinner. And I made her birthday brownies for dessert. On the way home, we saw a rainbow!

Bri opened her gifts from Doug and me, and her aunts and uncles. She absolutely loved everything...

And as I posted earlier, Bri had a great time with her buddy Jackson at a nearby gaming center right before school started...

So, Bri still has one birthday celebration to go. This Saturday, she is having a get together with some of her closest gal pals. Since we didn't want to subject poor Jackson to a room full of giggling, crafting teenage girls, we thought it would be best to celebrate B's birthday early with Jackson - separately. I know he greatly appreciated that. LOL!

I think the start of Bri's teenage years has gone quite well so far. Happy 13th birthday to my sweet girl!

Back To School Week

Last week was back to school week in our neck of the woods. Let's just say Bri was less than thrilled (me too for that matter). But, we made the most of it. What else are you going to do?

Right before the end of school, Bri mentioned she might be interested in taking guitar lessons. She loves music and is quite artistic, so Doug and I were definitely on board. She loves the music of Jason Mraz, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran - all guitar players. So, this totally makes sense. 

We had a super busy summer, so we weren't able to look into anything until recently.

I heard about a nearby music center that gives lessons, and Doug, Bri and I checked it out. Briana is now signed up for lessons once a week on Mondays after school (her first lesson was the Monday of back to school week)...

 She's had two lessons and she is doing great! I'm so proud of her for practicing every day...

 Tuesday was Briana's gotcha/family day anniversary. It was also open house day for school in our county (it usually lands on our gotcha day - boo).

Briana got some goodies that morning (bookmarks and earrings from me and a book and book clips from my parents).

We went to the open house that afternoon (which was a total madhouse) and I (GASP) did not take any photos!

After the open house, we went to Briana's favorite Thai/Sushi place for dinner and did some school supply shopping afterward...

Thursday (Aug 1) rolled around and it was showtime. First day of 8th grade! Back to school time...

 Isn't B's backpack so cute?

She had a good first day. She really likes all of her teachers and had at least one friend in each class - which is a good thing.

Here she is stylin' on Day 2...

As I waited in the middle school car line to pick Bri up, I witnessed the first fender bender coming from the high school. On Day 2. I am sure I will see many more of those in weeks to come (ugh)...

After all the anticipation of starting school and Bri conquering her first two days of 8th grade, it was nice to meet our friends, the B family, for some Mexican food Saturday night.

Bri and Mary Lin love hanging out together...

So that was back to school week. We all survived!

My next post will be all about Bri's birthday festivities. The beginning of school also means Bri's birthday being around the corner!

My girl is now officially 13! There's a teenager in the house!!!

Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park

We had a wonderful "last hurrah" of summer vacation with one of our favorite families - the C family.

The Saturday before school started, our two families went to Lake Winnepesaukah (Winnie) Amusement Park in North Georgia. It's basically a large permanent amusement park located right over a lake. I had heard a lot about it, but I had never taken Bri. We are so happy the C family introduced us to this fun place!

Fair rides, water rides, carnival games, roller coasters, food - you name it, they had it.

Here are some pictures of all the fun we had...

Bri and Meredith rode almost everything. Dane (M's younger brother) kept up with those girls very well!

 I'm not really a ride person, but I rode a couple of things and I really just enjoy watching the kids have so much fun!

I really wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, but it is very old and it seemed to not be in the greatest condition that day, so we decided to skip it.

They were completely out of hot dogs at the park that day, so we had to choose either hamburgers or chicken fingers for lunch - both were not up to par unfortunately. Funnel cakes, popcorn, snack foods, etc were probably good (but we didn't eat those). The actual "food" was not too great though. It didn't damper our spirits one bit though!

Here are some of the rides the kids (and Kelly!) went on (the one that drops is just crazy to me - it was B's favorite of course!!!)...

We had such a good time with the C family! Lots of laughs! The weather was actually really pretty in the morning with it getting a bit warm in the afternoon. There was low humidity that day though, and in Georgia in July - that was a miracle!

 What a perfect way to end summer break! A big thank you to the C family!

Happy 13th Birthday Briana!

And she is now officially a teenager. How in the world did this happen? Our baby is now a young lady.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to our amazing THIRTEEN year old...

Proceed with caution (my mom made this for Briana)...

We are so proud of you Briana. Welcome to your teen years!!!