We're Off!

We're headed down to Savannah this weekend for the first time since Christmas. T and I are SO ready for some sunbathing on the dock, taking the boat to Bonna Bella, and low country boil with friends. Seems like forever since I've been to Savannah for a long summer weekend that didn't revolve around a wedding-- I am SO excited.

In the meantime, we're battling traffic on I-95 south. Took a mere four hours to get to Richmond {story of my life...}.

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Enjoy the long weekend.

A Milestone

Today is the last day…

For the rest of my life…

That I will ever wake up…

With a new Oprah ahead of me.

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And you know what? That is the closing of a significant chapter of my life and a significant moment in cultural history.

It’s hard to believe I’ve watched so long but in these last few weeks as she’s brought back old guests and highlights, I remember those shows from 1995…1998…2001.  And even though I don’t remember my mom being a huge Oprah watcher, her show was on in our house for much of my childhood.  She’s been on TV for almost my entire life!  I started watching on my own in high school, and in college you could find me every afternoon at 4:00 on the sofa, with a bowl of Jiffy Pop popcorn, spray butter, and a diet coke {my favorite Weight Watchers snack!}, tuning in to Oprah.

And sometimes I feel like I have to defend my viewership.  Let me be clear: I do not worship at the House of Oprah.  I do not agree with her all of her spiritual philosophy.  I don’t catch every word that drips from her mouth and save it in a jar.

But I love her show.

And as I’ve been watching the last few weeks and last few episodes especially, I will unapologetically praise Oprah and say that she is an incredible woman.  She may be a bit misguided when it comes to Christianity sometimes, and I’m sure it takes a healthy ego to get where she is today.  But that woman has done so many incredible, selfless things with her power that I just watch amazed.  I admire her.  I respect her.  And in a world where a lot of people are going to dismiss Jesus and flub religion, at least there’s been a force for good out there.

As I have watched the footage and montages of the millions of books she has given, the libraries she’s built, scholarships she’s awarded, homes she has built, schools she’s restored, the dolls she gave to African children, the streets she repaved in Louisiana, I am overwhelmed with the good she has done.  I know there were thousands of people and companies that had a hand in that, but you have to give credit to the Oprah empire for bringing it to be.  She has used her powers for good and not for evil; she has changed thousands of lives over many generations; she has shone a light on abuse, body image, self image, grief, sex, divorce… You name it, she has influenced the way our culture deals with a myriad of issues in a phenomenal way.

And yes, I will miss the makeovers, the weight loss shows, the shoes, the fashion, the favorite things {oh, how I will miss those favorite things!}, and the Chris Rock episodes.  And today, I’m sure I will cry like I did when I watched Mattie Stepanek’s funeral or Erin Kramp’s last videos to her daughter as she died of cancer or the man reunited with his dog after Katrina.  I will cry like I have a million other times during her show, but tomorrow will be different.

It will be the last time.  The end of an era… and I HATE goodbyes.

Farewell, Oprah.  Thank you.

Crafty CFriday: Monogrammed Mason Jars

Tyler and I have been looking for new drinking glasses off and on since we got married-- we didn't register for any because mine were in great shape but four years later...they could be the "before" on a commercial for Jet Dry!

 

“Are your glasses cloudy?  Have water spots you can’t get out?”

 

Yes and yes.  I am only slightly embarrassed when I hand guests fresh, clean water in a semi-transparent glass.  So we’ve been on a very uncommitted hunt looking for new glasses, but just haven’t seen much we wanted.  In our shelves though, we had four monogrammed handled mason jars that were souvenirs from a friend's wedding a few years ago that we love drinking from and they're so cute.

 

So those + this idea on “Young House Love” + all of the great etched glass on Pottery Barn = my inspiration.

 

And with summer on the way, I finally decided to take on the project…

 

Monogrammed mason jar glasses.

So I bought these for $15 from Goodman's and a jar of Armour Etch from AC Moore (I paid $20, but I've seen it a lot cheaper since then...argh.)

 

 

Then, I cut two pieces of white Contact paper (shelf liner) into 8.5 x 11 pieces and printed 12 of these, which I made on Photoshop:

 

(Warning: ink on Contact paper doesn't dry...like, ever.)

 

Then I cut them out, positioned them on the jar, and cut out the circles and "G"s with an exacto knife.  Figuring out the best way to cut them out took a bit of trial and error, but the exacto knife worked really well on the glass.

I was a little stressed when they weren't cut perfectly, but the imperfections actually looked kind of cool at the end of the process.  I made six like this, with an etched G inside of an etched ring.  Then I made six that were the negative image-- an etched circle with a clear G within it.

 

 

Then, according to the directions, I painted on a good amount of the Armour Etch (which shares the same consistency of Elmer's Glue or Mod Podge, if you've never used it).  I let it sit for five minutes, keeping an eye on the Contact paper to make sure it wasn’t being eaten away (I never saw any sign of degradation so I was more liberal how long I let the next glasses sit).

 

I then rinsed off the cream, peeled off the Contact paper and…

TADA!

Getting the stickers centered just right on curved glass is pretty tricky, but only one or two are wonky (and we just stuck those in the back of the cabinet, so they rarly get used!).

 

 

I love them and I think they're super cute all lined up in the cabinet!  I took my time getting them done and they took me about a week to do all twelve (I just did three or four each night—cutting them out was the most time consuming piece of the project).  They've been run through the dishwasher at least 10 times now and they still look great! 

 

Loved this project and now we're all ready for summer parties—any takers??

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This second part is just for my Mom—I tried to texting and emailing her pictures of the flowers in my backyard, but they wouldn't go through.  I became so determined in sending them that she thought I was trying to send her a picture of a positive pregnancy test!  Nope.  Sorry.  No embryos, just peonies!

 

{And rhododendrums}

 

Happy Friday!

Kentucky Derby #137

I know, I know—the Derby is, like, SO yesterday.  But I can’t tell you all about the The Oaks and not about The Derby!  And if you’re like me, you have no idea what a day at the Derby is like, so I’ll fill you in… {I really knew nothing going into this weekend, so this is kind of long…}

We were up bright and early Saturday, despite the lack of sunshine outside… It was cloudy and overcast all morning, but the forecast was similar the day before and turned out beautifully, so we were optimistic.

After showering, rolling, plucking, and letting my hat air out…

I was all ready to go!  Luckily, I’d packed a white trench coat and even had ponchos stuffed in my clutch should worse come to worst. {I won’t lie, I put a lot of time and effort into my Derby outfit and in NO part of my Derby daydreaming was there a poncho.  I was really hoping these would not make an appearance…}

We boarded the charter bus outside of the Marriott and headed west to Louisville.  A lot of our group also lacked Derby experience, so we received the full rundown on how to bet on horses, who to bet on, how the weather factored in to the race, trifectas, superfectas, boxed bets, and perfectas… We learned it all.  And everyone who seemed to know anything about horses seemed to agree: this year’s Derby was wide open—any horse could win it.

And just as we pulled into Churchill Downs, the rain that had held off all morning began to dot our windows.

Perfect.

Luckily, the drizzle never really amounted to anything significant and we never needed those God-forsaken ponchos {though there were a few close calls}.

The red carpet outside of Gate 10, where we came in.  We stood and watched for a bit, but the only person we saw come in was the guy from “Man vs. Food.”  We don’t watch it though, so I had no idea who he was.

{My first mint julep!}

Once inside, we waited in line for our bracelets so we could come and go without showing our tickets.  We headed straight for our seats to check out our view—it did not disappoint!  That white pole sticking out from the left of my hat?  That’s the finish line pole.  Front and center, baby.

Our seats were front row, but despite the view, these were not the posh seats.  Behind us were the balconies and the higher you go, the nicer the seats were.  The top balconies held all of the enclosed “jockey suites” and while there was no line for the bathrooms or betting windows, there also seemed to be a lot snotty, old rich people so I enjoyed our “cheap” seats…

Behind the seating area is all of the food and betting windows, similar to a stadium.  There was everything from stadium food to lobster rolls and champagne.  We passed the area for the “$1000 Mint Julep Experience”—a silver engraved Tiffany’s mint julep cup filled with the best bourbon and mint.  My very first mint julep {above} was not purchased from this fine booth.  Thank God I didn’t pay $1000 for it because a mint julep is just bourbon and water over ice with some mint leaves in it.  And while Tyler warned me over and over “You’re probably not going to like it,” I was still imagining it tasted something like Firefly.  No dice. They say there’s simple syrup in it, but I only tasted bourbon and water…

I quickly switched over to drinking Lilies—the official drink of the Oaks.  Not sure what was in it, but it was pink and came in a really cute stemless wine glass.  

Our first of many two celebrity sightings: Guy Fieri from the Food Network.  You can kinda see his platinum blonde spikes sticking up back there…

Not a celebrity, just liked her hat…

Another losing ticket… We bet on horses all day long and didn’t win a single dollar!  The minimum bet in horse racing is only $2, and you can win a lot only betting a little, so we put money on horses throughout the day to keep us interested in the races {The Derby is the tenth or eleventh race of the day}.  We were chatting with friends we ran into {yes, my husband seems to knows people everywhere}, whose mother-in-law placed an $8 bet and won $2,400.  Sadly, this was not our story.

The friends we were with had an all access pass to the Downs, so we headed down to the paddock later in the afternoon.  Despite my lack of Derby experience, I knew that this was kind of a big deal…

This is the area where the horses are prepared for the race and the jockeys and owners all gather.  Then they trot out to the track and everyone cheers them on.

Calvin Borel, a jockey who’s won three Kentucky derbies {I have typed and re-typed Derbys and Derbies about eight times and just can’t get it to look right… I give in.}

Everyone talks about how short these guys are, but all I could think about was how crazy their hip range of motion was and how many issues they must have.  Unfortunately, there were no other physical therapists nearby for me to discuss this with…

While we were out hunting for lunch, I saw a food stand with these cute little sticks with fruit and, what I thought, were cheesecake balls on them drizzled with chocolate.  I asked Tyler to grab one for me and he came back with this… Cheesecake on a stick!  Just a straight up huge piece of cheesecake with a lollypop stick in it. {What I’d seen earlier was not, in fact, cheesecake…}

You spend most of the day chatting, socializing, and drinking until a few minutes before each race and then everyone lines the balconies and rails to watch and cheer.  Even if you have no idea what’s going on, the roar of the crowd and all of the buzz and excitement  seems to come out of nowhere and it’s really fun.

The day gets busier and really crowded as the last race of the day draws near… And at its height, Carson Kressley walked by.  Second and last celebrity sighting of the day.

The photographers came out and set up for the perfect shot…

And they’re off!

Here they come aaaaaaand Animal Kingdom wins!!  All of our money was on Mucho Macho Man…

It was a LONG, fun day for us and the best people watching experience I’ve ever had.  And even though we’re fond of dressing up for football games in the South, I have never participated in a sporting event quite like this.  The atmosphere, the history, the attire, the food… It was so fun and I think everyone should experience it at least once in their life—be it from the stands, the infield, or the backside. 

And to wrap up this post, I have to share the two most meaningful things I learned from my day at the Derby…

#1: It doesn’t matter what you wear.  I mean, it kind of does, but it doesn’t.  I was so worried about finding the perfect hat and the perfect outfit, thinking that I was going to stand out as an imposter if I didn’t replicate Jessica Simpson ala Newlyweds episode #2.16.  There were 165,000 attendees there from all different walks of life.  There were thousands of people who looked better than I did and plenty that didn’t.  There were be people in $400 BCBG dresses and $50 Loft dresses.  And no one stood out.  I share this not to disappoint you, but to relieve your stress if you happen to google “What to wear to the Derby” and stumble across this blog.  Wear a cute spring dress, find a cute hat and you’ll be fine.  And if you want to have a crazy Lady Gaga moment and wear something ridiculous, go for it.  It’s one of the few places you’ll be able to get away with it.  One more word to the wise: I saw a ton of the same Lily Pulitzer dresses… If you’re mortified of being spotted in the same dress as someone else, Lily is not the way to go… {Prediction: LP stock plummets tomorrow. Sorry.}

#2. I made it my mission to find the biggest hat I could… Bad idea.  I LOVED my hat and am quite excited to get some summer use out of it {The Royal Wedding has made me determined to bring back the hat}.  However, the brim was so long that I was constantly tilting my head up to make eye contact with people.  It was hard to hold a conversation, I couldn’t get within a foot of Tyler, and it was very difficult to navigate the very heavy crowds with something 3 feet in diameter balanced on your head.  I thought I needed a huge hat to blend in.  Next time, I’m going for vertical height… Because there will be a next time!

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And this concludes my Derby talk for 2011…I think I’ve met my quota, right?  We are SO thankful we were able to experience The Kentucky Derby and so appreciative of our friends who invited us to share in it with them.  Of all the people they could have asked, they invited us and that thought was not lost on me.  Thank you Jamie and Michael—we had a blast!

Happy Wednesday.

Kentucky Oaks: The Backside

Welcome to Part One of our recent trip to Kentucky {don’t worry, there are only two…}!  You may not know this, but my dad’s side of the family is Kentucky born and bred, so I’ve got plenty of bluegrass blood flowing in my veins.  I spent many a Christmas and summer visiting family in Louisville and Lexington growing up, but I don’t get back there too often these days.  So beyond the Derby, I was really excited to get to visit and spend time with my family.

Friday morning, Tyler and I hit the interstate by o’dark thirty with the car packed and my hat strapped to its personal trailer.  It was a typical Grassmeyer road trip, complete with sports talk radio, me being bored, some car dancing to cure my boredom, and of course…

Chick Fil A.

The trip was quick and easy.  We watched the sun rise through Maryland, beautiful mountains through West Virginia, and before we knew it, we were pulling into the Griffin Gate Marriott in Lexington, KY.

No, we weren’t confused—the Derby takes place in Louisville, another 70 miles west, but our group was staying in Lexington, likely for cheaper rates.  We only stayed long enough to check in, drop off our bags, and change clothes before we headed west to meet my family for the Kentucky Oaks—the annual horse race that takes place the day before the Derby.

Now, going into this weekend, I knew as little as one can know about racing beyond the fact that horses run in circles and someone wins.  I didn’t know that there was a race the day before just as fancy as the Derby.  I didn’t know that fillies raced on Friday and the whatever the word for males horses is raced on Saturday.  I didn’t know the horses were all three years old.  I didn’t know what betting was like or the name of a single jockey.  So I made sure that everyone spoke to me like a foreigner— veeeery slooowly and in very simple terms.

My learning curve looked something like this…

So anyway, Friday we headed to Churchill Downs to watch the Oaks.  Except today, we weren’t in the grandstands.  We were on the Backside.  The Backside is opposite of the grandstands {not the infield}, where all of the stables are, and only horse owners have access to.  Owning shares of horses, my aunt, uncles, and cousin are all owners, so they had a prime spot set up right on the rail.

I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be just like tailgating for a football game {“Except there’s more alcohol here,” explained my uncle}.  It was casual and fun—everyone hanging out in tents with grills and camping chairs and beer.  And if you can’t tell from the pictures, the weather. was. perfect.

Races run throughout the day, one about every 30 minutes, so everyone just hangs out eating, drinking, socializing, and placing bets until about five minutes before the race.  Then we’d all line the rail and watch the horses and owners come out as they walked to the start.

The starting gates are moved around the track with each race, so eventually one of the last races started right in front of us.  It was very cool.

And then they were off!

Folks in the grandstands get just as fancy for the Oaks as they do for the Derby.  But not us!

I don’t get to see this side of the family much outside of the occasional wedding, so it was very, very special for me to get to hang out with my uncles for the day.  I spent the first two hours hiding my teary eyes behind sunglasses while relishing stories from Uncle Rob, hugs from Uncle Marty {who looks so much like my dad it’s eery}, chit chat with my Aunt Vickie, and hang out my cousin Kyle and his new wife Kat.  They probably couldn’t tell how much fun I was having, but I had a blast.  It was so great to spend the day amongst the Ways; I only wished my dad were there too for my first experience at the track.

If I weren’t emotional enough already, we stopped at the cemetery in Shelbyville where the Ways and Martins of my family are all buried.  I remember stopping here with my dad as a kid, but I hadn’t returned since and I really wanted to stop and pay my respects.  I had my own little “Who Do You Think Are?” moment as Tyler and I tracked down the plots of my family members spread throughout the cemetery.  We found my grandmother Lois, who passed away before I was born; Jessie, the woman I knew as my grandmother; my Aunt Kathryn, my namesake; my great grandparents and a few uncles.  We also found my Pop Way, my grandpa who passed away in 2007.  It was a good thing I wasn’t really on “Who Do You Think You Are?” because the emotion of seeing his name etched in stone hit me like a ton of bricks and I went into the ugly cry.

We didn’t see Pop Way as much as my Atlanta family growing up, but he was such a character and I always knew how much he loved us despite his gruff manner.  We love to laugh and tell Pop Way stories when we’re all together, like the time he kept filling bags of ice in the freezer, thinking the automatic icemaker was going to overflow.  He called up all of his kids and asked if anyone needed any ice because he had “14 God d*amn bags of ice” in his freezer. “The God d**mn freezer won’t stop makin ice!!”

Despite his fixed income, he faithfully mailed me a check every month for the four years I was in college.  Each check had a slip of paper included with a brief sentence or two commenting on the weather, his dog, or his garden tomatoes—I still have a small pile that I saved tucked away somewhere.  And in 24 years, I’m not sure he ever spelled my name right—each check came with various spellings of Kathryn, but I always knew how much he loved me.  Seeing his name in stone for the first time just reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve seen him, so I spent a few minutes alone at his grave remembering him, crying and cleaning up the weeds around it.  I was surprised how suddenly and heavily my emotions came, but I’m so glad I was able to spend that time there.  Just when I think my family couldn’t mean more to me, moments like these make my roots feel even deeper…

By the time we left the cemetery, I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, too much fun, and heavy emotions so we did what any good Kentuckian does for sustenance…

We went to White Castle!

I inhaled these in honor of my dad and in memory of my Pop Way, and then passed out to rest up for the big day ahead of us.

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Wow—not expecting that much seriousness from the Kentucky Oaks post, huh?  Me neither.  But up next….Our day at the Derby! 

{I promise, there was no crying.}

Stay tuned.