best concert ever!

What feels like eons ago, the hubs told me he heard that tickets were going to go on sale for Garth Brooks in Atlanta so I told him to set a reminder in our calendar for the sale day. On August 8th at 10am our phones buzzed and by 10:25 we had a confirmation email. We were going to see Garth! 

The hubs was SO excited, and don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to it too, but I wasn't nearly as bouncy as he was haha. The concert was at Philips Arena at 6:30 so we followed the advise of my best friend and took the Marta into the city. 

Since my day started bright and early with a bouncy toddler, I knew I would need to refuel before the concert. I'm addicted to Dunkin Donuts pumpkin spice iced coffees. I don't care how cliche it is.

We stopped by the concert gear table before heading to our seats. There was a camo hat with the Garth logo in orange. It was meant to be. Somebody *ahem* was thrilled.

Our seats were pretty amazing. We weren't down on the floor but we definitely weren't in the nosebleeds either.

Hands down Garth Brooks was the BEST concert I've EVER been too. No contest. His energy, his singing, his interaction with the audience, just EVERYTHING.

He bounced around stage like my toddler, running around, climbing the set. It was amazing.

Add Trisha Yearwood to the mix and….sigh, just perfection. They sang, the embraced, they kissed. Adorable. Garth came back for 3 encores until, I imagine, Trisha held him hostage back stage and told the crew to turn on the house lights. He had another show starting only an hour after ours ended!

We were definitely on a high afterwards. I told the hubs whenever Garth is back in town, he doesn't even have to ask, just get the tickets. 

Since the concert was in Atlanta, we stayed with my best friend Shannon and her husband. It's also her birthday on the 25th so I brought her some goodies. While I completely forgot to take any pictures of the birthday girl, I did snap some of her presents. 

She's pregnant and just found out it's a girl! This hot pink tote was screaming her name and I thought it would make a fabulous baby bag. I embroidered an M on it (for her last name) since they aren't 100% official on the name just yet.

She also got a long sleeve tee with her monogram on the front and a big lab appliqué on the back. I just love how this one turned out. I'll be making one for myself very shortly. 

The last goodie was actually for her little fluff nugget, Tilly. They just got a standard poodle puppy the day before we came to visit. She's an absolute doll and so completely mellow. Her name, Tillman, is after one of the buildings on Clemson's campus. They are calling her Tilly for short.

We had the best weekend and you know what they say…time flies when you're having fun!

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it's not fall, it's football season

While in northern parts of the country the start of September means fall, down south it means football! It certainly doesn't mean fall weather as we nearly melted at the Clemson game this past Saturday. I'd definitely welcome some cooler temps. 

Friday, I took off work and took bubs to see Sesame Street Live in Greenville. His daycare was able to get group tickets and asked parents if they would like to join. A little while back we took him to see Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He was pretty terrified then, but I thought maybe, this time, he'd be just a touch older and better prepared.

Haha, NOPE. He clung to me and the lovies the entire time. He didn't outright cry, but he did tell me "we can go home now." After a little while I got him to relax and point out the different characters. During intermission he told me that he was having lots of fun. Kids are weird.

We went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and back home for a nice long nap while I packed us up to go to Clemson for the weekend.

I walked into the living room to bring all of our bags and found this little train he had set up. He's obsessed with lining up all his toys in a row. He gets everything the way he wants it then climbs into his truck and watches tv. I'll say it again, kids are weird.

Something that I'm obsessed with are these 31 utility totes. I just got a third one so each person in the family gets a tote for the weekend. They are the perfect size for a weekend away and so sturdy. I love how the opening is structured and doesn't collapse on you. Quinn always wants something while we're driving so the open top makes it easier for me to hunt around in there. 

Quinn got to wear his game day outfit on Saturday. He loves pointing out the different tiger paws every where and telling us "goooooo Tigers!" #raisethemright I put a tiger paw tattoo on my cheek and Quinn about flipped. He wanted one of his face too, ha.

Clemson has new construction going on all over campus. The one that I'm most excited over is Spirit Point near the Brooks Center for the band. My parents bought hubs and I bricks with our names on them to be put in the walkway there. Maybe they'll be going in soon and we'll be able to look for them. It's such a great thing to have for the future. I can't wait to have Quinn help us find our names in the walkway.

Like I mentioned earlier, we nearly melted at the game. It was hot hot hot and I was so glad to not be in a uniform. I do miss marching with Tiger Band and being a part of the color guard, but after a game like that I do NOT miss wearing a uniform.

Tiger Guard has 32 girls this season! Or at least that's how many we counted. I think the band overall has 305. Tiger Band has done a great job over the years and I love to see them growing. IPTAY got them new uniforms this year as well. They look pretty sharp.

We stayed until there was about 5 minutes left in the third quarter. When the Tigers scored again to make it 44 to 0, we decided to throw in the towel and seek air conditioning.

Quinn didn't go to the game with us, but I'm fairly certain he had a better time with his cousins. They went to a pirate pool party and even came home with loot. Then we let him stay up late building towers and running around like a maniac. That's what weekends are all about, right?

He turned into a snuggle bug the next morning though when it all started to catch up with him. He took a pretty solid nap on Sunday to recover. The house was so quiet while the boys napped and I indulged in some sewing. The best.

And to end on a random note, have y'all tried the Blue Moon harvest pumpkin ale? If you like pumpkin flavored drinks, I highly recommend it!

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apple festival

Every Labor Day weekend, Hendersonville, NC has an apple festival. We've never been able to go because Clemson normally has their first football game then. This year Clemson played against Georgia in Georgia so we were free to go! 

Of course this weekend is still sweltering hot, even if it is the beginning of September. Quinn was grumpy at first, but we got him an ice cold apple sipper and all was good. He kept telling me, "I like my apple sipper!" He went through three of them!

We walked up and down Main Street looking at all the goodies in the different booths. There was a booth will tons of wooden toys and I noticed these duck flappers. I immediately flashed back to my own childhood as I had a penguin version of it. My mother likes to tell me how I drove her crazy flapping that thing all around the kitchen. We opted NOT to get Quinn one, hehe.

To take a little break from the heat, we decided to go to the children's museum. It's called Hands On and it's fabulous. Quinn lives for places like this now. He can crawl, jump, slide, touch, and bounce around. I was thankful for the AC and a real bathroom, ha.

He loved building lego race cars and then sending them flying down the ramp where they would bust into a million pieces at the bottom. I believe he's going to love derby car races when he's a little older.

The hubs always seems to have just as much fun as Quinn does at these type places. He followed Quinn around from activity to activity and joined in all the fun. Watching them play together is simply the best. The father-son bond grows stronger each day.

We took a little break to have a hot dog and while the hubs was off finding Quinn another apple sipper, bubs decided to do a little dancing in the street. It was so funny. He bobs his head to the beat and stomps around in circles. Of course as soon as I tried to get it on video he quit.

I got a little souvenir from the festival. One of the booths had many many hand made clay ornaments that could be personalized. I had to get the apple tree! I originally picked the tree with only three apples, but the hubs said I should include all the furbabies too.

Monday I realized we hadn't done the grocery shopping yet so the executive decision to go to Cracker Barrel and the park was made. Quinn didn't want to color on the kids menu while we waited….but somebody else did.

Quinn is finally big enough to climb all over the playground on his own. It's pretty awesome. We try to get him to run around and go down the slides as much as possible before he locks in on the swing.

But it's no secret that the swing is his favorite. He'll tell us to go faster and that he's not done yet.

I wasn't going to let him go on this part of the play ground because I didn't think he could do it without falling. Yep, he totally showed me. He climbed up it multiple times like a champ.

After nap time (3.5 hours!) we had fun rediscovering all of his toys in the back of the cabinet. Trucks, pirate ships, and building blocks galore. I don't know what we're going to do when he gets a fresh batch for his birthday and Christmas.


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wait, you sew?

I tend to get a few baffled looks when I tell people I sew. It's not exactly a popular craft with today's generation, but it should be! I think being able to sew is a great talent! It's one of those basic life skills that everyone should know how to do. But that's just me.

I started sewing maybe about 5 years ago. It didn't take me long to get completely hooked. Now I have a fabric stash that fills up an entire 6 drawer dresser. Oops. I definitely go on binges where I want to sew all day, every day, and then I get distracted and I don't sew again for months.

We had family beach pictures taken while in Hilton Head last month and of course I got it into my head that the kids NEEDED matching outfits. I know, I know. I'm completely crazy…especially since I gave myself approximately one week to complete the task. Ha! It was so worth it though. They turned out adorable.

Quinn had a blue seersucker jon-jon with his monogram

Eric had blue seersucker shorts paired with a monogrammed white polo

Ashley had a blue seersucker dress with white rose trim and her monogram on the bottom skirt

We haven't gotten all of the pictures back yet, but this is the teaser Erica posted and look at that cuteness!

Bubs is fast approaching the "too old for smocking" age (wahhhh) so I've been shifting his wardrobe to appliqué tees with matching shorts. He has about 6 different sets right now and I have no plans to stop.

The apple set is the latest in his collection. We are going to the apple festival in Hendersonville tomorrow, so he needed an appropriate outfit. I'm wishing I would have added a leaf next to the stem now that I'm looking at it.

I had sent the hubs out to get me some plain white tshirts and some white lining material and he sent me this picture from the store, ha. He embraces my sewing craziness as long as I make some things that he likes too. This will be the next set I make for Quinn, camo shorts with a big camo tiger paw on a white tee!

I'm mildly obsessed with appliqué for myself too. I had designed this whale for a set for Quinn, but thought it would be cute for me. Then I posted it on Facebook and friends wanted it too. It has spiraled into me making several designs and selling them on my Facebook page, Southern Sass Sweetie. (shameless plug)

My friend Jess is taking her son to Disney this fall and requested mama-son coordinating shirts. They turned out pretty adorable. Quinn is having a Mickey Mouse birthday party this year, so I just might need to make us some coordinating shirts too.

Of course this has been my biggest seller. Purple, orange, tiger paw, polka dots, and a monogram = all my favorite things! It's been really fun to see the girls who ordered them post pictures on FB and tag me in them. It makes my heart happy to see others enjoying my creations. (If you're reading this and got a shirt from me, tag me in a pic!)

You know how they say exercising releases endorphins and endorphins make you happy (and happy people just don't shoot their husbands…name that movie), well sewing does that for me. I'll admit it. I am so proud when someone compliments me on something and I get to say, "I made it!"


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all aboard!

This past Saturday we celebrated my nephew turning six! He had a train themed birthday party at the Miniature World of Trains in downtown Greenville. To prepare for the party that afternoon, bubs requested that we play with his "big choo choo."

His "big choo choo" is the GeoTrax train from Fisher Price and he loves it! I've mentioned this train before, but it really is pretty awesome for his age. The track is easy for him to snap together and he loves the remote controlled engine.

Quinn played with the train all morning long and I only had to be about 30% involved, ha! I was able to sit and sip on my coffee as he adjusted how many cars the engine pulled around the track.

I love a toy that let's him play on his own without getting frustrated. I'd say we could add more, but the boy already has a whole laundry basket full of track, cars, and bridges!

Baby Elton John made an appearance on the ride to Greenville. Those bright green sunglasses just crack me up. He loves them.

We were a bit late on our arrival because hubs' truck decided to break down on the way home from the dump. Luckily he managed to limp it home, but we arrived just in time to see Eric open his presents.

I was the boring Aunt this year who gave him clothes, but Grandma gave him a train set. All the little boys, Quinn included, were ooohhhh'ing and ahhhh'ing over that one.

There was a monster of a mountain built in the center of the room with trains running around, up and down, and through. It was very impressive. You could walk completely around the mountain and take it all in.

I'm not sure who enjoyed the trains more, hubs or bubs haha.

Right before we left, they turned the lights into night mode. That was even more impressive. The buildings and trains all lit up. There were light up signs on the stores and glowing cabins in the mountains. Very cool.

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