That Fabulous Dog and a fabulous afternoon

Yesterday was one of those days you just dream about. After church, Conner had an appointment with a new groomer. I'd already had a lovely conversation with David at That Fabulous Dog when I scheduled the appointment so everyone in our house was looking forward to it. From the minute we entered this gem on Mitchell Street, we knew we'd taken our little furry baby to the right place. David is Atlanta's Dog Whisperer! Check out the Facebook Fan Page here. While Conner was getting the spa treatment, David suggested we go next door to Lunacy Black Market for a bite to eat.

We were not disappointed! On Sundays they have all you can eat Pasta/Risotto for $9.95 per person. We weren't hungry enough for that, so we opted to try all the side items with our Riesling. We ordered the Antipasto Plate, the Green & Purple Cabbage Salad with Gorgonzola Cheese, Sauteed Shrimp, and tons and tons of bread! It was all crazy delicious and incredibly affordable!

After lounging around the restaurant for another hour or so, we took a stroll down Mitchell Street. Since we are Downtown residents, we have a keen interest in and passion for seeing the core of Downtown revitalized. And while there are still far too many vacant buildings for our liking, places like That Fabulous Dog and Lunacy Black Market give us hope for the future. Oh, and check out how fabulous Conner looks:

Sally Hansen Spring 2011 Collection by Tracy Reese

Tracy Reese is one of my favorite designers and thankfully she has partnered again with Sally Hansen to create a limited edition of must-have spring shades. Check out the beautiful hues. The blue one (Barracuda) is my favorite, I think. According to reports, these should be hitting the shelves of stores by the end of the month. As soon as I get my hands on one (or more!) I'll write a review and post swatches.

Tomorrow I will post about an AMAZING CVS haul I got this weekend. You won't believe the deals!

Nails of the Day: Kleancolor Catch Me

The beauty supply store near my house sells Kleancolor nail polish for only $1! I stopped in the other day to see if they had any new nail polishes when I saw Catch Me. Now this picture is with flash so the color appears to be brighter than it actually is, which is more like a neon turquoise. Still, a very nice shade for the Spring. Check out another shot without flash below:

Wet n Wild Blue Moon

Now that I'm 3 weeks post surgery I'm starting to venture out into the world a bit more. No, I'm not quite up to my normal pace, but I'm getting there....slowly, but surely. Anyway, I was out the other day and had about an hour to kill between appointments. With some coupons burning a hole in my pocket I headed to CVS to see if there were any good cosmetics sales. Unfortunately I didn't see much, but I did pick up a super pretty polish for only a buck! Behold, Wet n Wild Wild Shine Blue Moon

I know in the bottle it might not look all that impressive. But trust me, it is gorgeous in person! It's a deep, bright perfect blend of navy and electric blue. I did a quick swatch on my toe (which I wouldn't dare post. lol!) because I just couldn't wait to see it. And after a quick Google search I learned that it is a dupe for OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue! Beautopia wrote an excellent post comparing the two polishes HERE

Save Money on Drinks for your Wedding

We decided that an open bar at our wedding reception is a must because we thought a cash bar at a wedding is just a bit....well, tacky. Our wedding is a sort of DIY kind of affair, but we don't want to scrimp on style. So we researched ways to save some money on the alcohol for our big day.

Because we're having a destination wedding, our Big Day will really be more like a Big Weekend for our guests and we want to make sure they enjoy themselves. To save some extra cash, we decided to host our Rehearsal Dinner at The Laughing Boar, owned by our caterer Chef Nick Mueller. Thankfully, we are able to use his glassware, which gives us more money for alcohol and food. Instead of having a full open bar, we've decided to offer wine (red and white), beer, and soft drinks. To go along with the rustic chic vibe at the Laughing Boar we've decided on a self-serve set up with beer in large copper buckets on the restaurant's patio, where we'll have a brief toast before we're seated for dinner. We'll also set up a small table there with some wine glasses and a few bottles of chilled wine. Our dinner will be served family style and we will place wine in decanters on each table as well.

We're having a cocktail hour before our wedding reception to give us enough time to sneak off and have dinner before all the crazy fun festivities kick into high gear. During the cocktail hour we'll serve beer, soft drinks and a simple, signature cocktail. The full bar will be reserved for the reception. We hired a bartender and a bar back from a local beverage catering service (Johnnie Ganem) at a very affordable rate and we decided against a champagne toast.

Now for the calculations....there are some really cool calculators online that help you figure out how much alcohol you need to buy. I used THIS one to help estimate our costs. For 100 guests, it suggests starting with:

9 cases of beer

5-8 cases of wine

5 Liters of Vodka
3 Liters of Gin
2 Liters of Rum  

2 Liters of Scotch
2 Liters of Rye
750 ml of Vermouth
3 Liters of Kahlua 

Here are some additional tips for saving money on alcohol for your Big Day:

1) Have your reception really early - such as a brunch. People are less likely to consume copious amounts of alcohol before noon and you can limit your bar to yummy cocktails like mimosas and Bloody Mary's.

2) Choose a less popular day of the week for your celebration like Thursday evening or Sunday morning, which would also save big bucks on venue and party supply rentals.

3) Have a limited bar that features only soft drinks, beer, wine, and a few signature cocktails. You can even purchase some tonic and a few bottles of premium liquor to be served on the rocks or in mixed drinks as well.

Happy Wedding Planning!!

I've been M.I.A

I know....I know.....it has been weeks (GASP!) since I last posted! Life has been all kinds of crazy. Let's see....I went on a wedding planning trip to Savannah with my family and future in-laws and had abdominal surgery in addition to all the other snags life can throw your way. Now that I'm home recuperating for the next 6 weeks or so, I'll have more time to post and I have so many updates to share over the next few days and weeks. Thanks for continuing to read!