Wedding Weekend: Murray's Mill

Jeff and I made our second trip home to NC this May. It was definitely needed because we were at the end of our rope with the clutter and lack of sleep from the heat.

Not to mention I was really ready to celebrate my birthday properly, and by properly I mean with cake. 

While we were home Jeff also got a much needed hair cut, which has given him a major confidence boost with his new cool doo.

Then came our mini road trip to Catawba for our good friend/dear SAI sister's wedding.

I may or may not have taken an energy supplement that morning to get through a work out and the rest of the day. So, major organization and work was in order before I left.

2.5 hours later we arrived at Murray's Mill a little bit early. It was BEAUTIFUL and perfect for the bride! Few snaps below

Whitney had the SAI sisters who attended come early and she gave us each a rose. I thought the gesture was so sweet, and I definitely am pocketing the idea for my wedding! (Thanks Whitney!)

Then came the beautiful bride

And the rest is history

Vita Brevis, Ars Longus

The wedding was really lovely. The reception was fun. 

Spot on Whitney! We had a great time and loved the fire works that night!

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We ventured back to Charlotte that night to stay at Jeff's grandma's house. I absolutely love visiting Charlotte and that house. We didn't stay very long that next day, just enough time to eat some breakfast and journey over to the jewelers to get Jeff's grandma's wedding bands sized. 

I will be very honored to wear those. 

The trip home was a different story. I'm not sure what was wrong with my stomach but all the sudden it was like bottoms up. One pitstop and forced back seat sleep later, I made it back to Jeff's house but before I knew it I was upstairs in his bed in so much pain and tried to sleep more for a few hours to get what ever it was moving in my stomach to a settling point. I finally managed that night to join his family and eat a little before I headed home.

But once again that night I woke up in the worst pain, and NOTHING helped. After breaking in to a few cold sweats I was able to go in and out of sleep. That morning was better and I tried my best to relax that whole day before the flight back to NYC.

So, here we are today, I've had to take a nap already but I'm a lot better than what I was the other day. I was finally able to eat a meal with out things locking up. So, hoping things passed and this week will be fine! Back to a stricter diet to see if that helps... Though I was really wishing for some BBQ this memorial weekend, we will just have to make up for it.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend and a good short week ahead!

xo,

Paige

23

Well, it was bound to happen.

Jeff and I both turned 23 this week and are rapidly approaching quarter life crisis.

Last Tuesday was Jeff's birthday and we started the day early with a brunch at Max Brenner, followed by a trip to Bluth's Banana Stand, and back down to REI to get him a hammock (since his Bespoke Post box STILL hasn't arrived.) I then had to pause his birthday to finish up a few things for work, and then I ended the day by making him some mason jar pineapple upside down cakes. 

My birthday however...
My weekend started out promising with getting free tickets to GoogaMooga in Brooklyn on Saturday and leaving 30 minutes early from work. That however, was followed by my bus only going to Grand Central 4 stops shy or where I normally need to get off. No problem, stopped at Magnolia's to get some cupcakes, then I went down to get on the subway and my card swiped 3 errors before giving me the dreaded "been used." UGH.

It was 6:00 in Grand Central on Friday where everyone is going some where. The line for customer service to buzz me in was 30+ people long, so I decided to just put 5 bucks on my metro and get through. Well, the machine didn't like my debit card and the credit card was out of commission until Saturday and I felt bad for backing up the line for so long.

I was stuck with 10% phone battery life in Grand Central. I got a short phone call in to Jeff, who came to meet me and eat our cupcakes. We decided to go and try and see Star Trek 2, which I should have guessed would have been totally sold out on a Friday Night. We ended up just walking around, grabbing some drug store popcorn, and going home to watch a movie. By that point my allergies, which I haven't pointed out where flaring up all day, got the better of me and I had to knock myself out.

I woke up some point around 11 still drowsy and moving at a snails pace to get ready for the day. By around 2 I was all set to go to GoogaMooga and was out the door when Jeff said "Want me to grab an umbrella?" I stepped back inside and looked out the window and of course it had started to rain. We re-evaluated if a trip out to Brooklyn in the rain would be worth it while I still wasn't feeling too great and decided against it. We fandango'ed some tickets for Star Trek 2 so we would be able to see it, and went there instead. That was great, I totally enjoyed the movie! Even stumbled on to the set of Anchor Man 2.. Before we knew that is what it was for. After that we came home and got the middle room cleaned up and rearranged which was needed and had to kill a bunch of ants* in the kitchen.

*Don't know what it is about NYC ants, but there is no tracing line or reason for them being there. We literally cleared off the counters and they still scattered every where regardless so we broke down and had to coat the counters in Hot Shot to finally kill them.

On my actual birthday it rained more. Jeff was nice enough to order me breakfast, my favorite meal, and gave me the watch I had been eyeing for a month now. We pretty much just chilled all day, which was the opposite of going to Coney Island like we originally planned.

But I will say it was nice not to be alone. I'm glad that regardless of all the mishaps I had Jeff there, so things could have been much, much worse. So, no pity parties here, I just need another chill pill from all that's going on. I'm just going to rain check my birthday and celebrate when I go home this week for a dear friend's wedding (that I am so excited about!)

This is 23, and I'm going to embrace it.

The Rain Stopped

Is it the end of May yet? I've been dreading this month to start, and now that it has it's been filled with work, frumpy clothing, traveling, and rainy days. This gross weather has been making my hair a complete wreck, as pointed out by my sister last week, I've got to get it figured out. My mousey brown roots have grown in almost a half an inch, and the ombre has gotten a little funky. Playing with the idea of going a little blonde again, but this won't happen until the end of the month.

But between it all I was able to find the most amazing pants from.. Target. I feel so Brady Bunch, but I love it! I purchased this polka dot pair along with a floral pair (and a bike, that I've been hoping to ride since it stopped raining!) Above are a few snaps from where I redid my report feature image, so I wasn't sporting a Brooklyn jersey in East Harlem.

I'll be working on a mid week update after Jeff's birthday, which is this Tuesday!

Happy Sunday, back to work for me.

xo,
Paige

WEDDING UPDATE: WE SET THE DATE!

We've been patiently waiting and quietly planning while making sure our finances were in order to be able to stay in NYC after we got married. Jeff and I are pleased to finally announce our wedding destination as well as our official wedding date!

The Fearrington Farms in Chapel Hill. 

It's only 20 minutes down the road from my parents house so it will be easy for everyone to attend. 

Even though the outside venue was beautiful, we decided it would be more suitable for pictures. We want an indoor area to avoid a rain plan and ruined hair. That NC humidity is a pain.

This is a view from the indoor venue, which will be exciting to decorate. All the other walls are just giant windows so it's a great outdoor feel with an indoor setting. Here is a photo from their Pinterest of another wedding in this location.

Here is our reception area at the barn.

We were greeted by swallows.. Although they were promised to be gone by October for our bird haters.

The very spacious interior of the reception venue, which again I'm very excited to decorate.

Testing out the chairs in the bridal party waiting area. I will confidently say that these chairs and floral patterns really sold it.

So, we are happy to announce that on Sunday, October 6th we will be getting married. 

We will be collecting addresses very soon to send out announcements and RSVPs.

We couldn't be more thrilled with the place we have chosen! Especially when we saw a wedding being set up today and the mother of the bride stopped us and asked if we were thinking about getting married here. She gave the place 5 stars in terms of them taking care of everything perfectly and how wonderful it's been to work with them. 

The place is stunning, everywhere you walk is picture perfect, and the only time you really smell cow poop is when you make a point to go find and be near the cows, so I hope everyone is able to attend.

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In terms of the next steps we have to start booking odd end things like an officiant, and of course a photographer. Which brings me to the sneak peek of our next update.

We are looking to meet some new friends in NYC through Instagram. Believe it or not, I am horribly shy infront of the camera, especially for couple-y photos. It's awkward and just not us. 

So, we are wanting to meet some of our favorite and inspirational NYC based instagrammers (or those who will be visiting this summer) to meet up with us, get a free breakfast/lunch/or dinner, and just get to know each other and hopefully capture us completely naturally when ever the moment strikes. 

Really, let's just have a fun day of being new friends and remembering the moment.

More details soon! 

But if you are an Instagrammer and already know this is something you are interested in, email me at paige.e.hogan@gmail.com. 

I'd love to meet you!

Hope everyone has a lovely rest of the weekend, and if there any questions or comments about what's going on right now, don't hesitate!

xo,

Paige

PS: Happy Birthday to little cousin Sophie! 2 year old troubles now! :)