Brad Paisley

This is completely random, BUT I was watching The Voice last night and Brad Paisley performed. All I could concentrate on was how cute his guitars are. I've seen him in concert before so I knew that he always has a paisley guitar (hmm...wonder why??) But last night I just couldn't get over how much I would want a paisley guitar (if I knew how to play it...) Just thought I would share a few random pictures of him and his guitars.

xoxo,

Upcoming 4th Plans

I hope everyone is as excited as I am about the 4th of July being mere days away! I love love love the 4th!! Fireworks are my favorite! For the longest time, I never knew how loud they were because my dad would always cover my ears when we went to see them. I just learned to love the bright flashing lights. My favorite part has always been the finale when they light EVERYTHING.

This year, my BFFFF and I decided to have some people over to my house for appetizers and cocktails. Then we're all going to head downtown to the Peabody Rooftop and watch the Mud Island fireworks (they're the best in the city)!

I'm sure I'll be going to other smaller firework shows around Memphis, but I'm REALLY excited about this particular one!

I'll also be sure to pick up some sparklers because those are my favorite fireworks to play with. Guess I'm not one for danger (no bottle rockets here!)

I hope you guys have fun stuff planned for the 4th!

xoxo,

Who Does That??

Unfortunately, I'm back from my Florida vacation. I'll never understand why vacation days go by so much faster than regular ones. Other than the heat, it was a great time. Lots of good shopping, sand, seafood, and sunshine (didn't mean for those all to start with S's).

Normally at this time I would share all the wonderful pictures I took while in Florida. However, I managed to come home with zero. Didn't even think to take my camera out one time. Who does that??

I'm usually the person people are asking to stop taking pictures. Nope, not this time.

Oh well. Guess I'll just have to play with all my new goodies I purchased to make me feel better.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

xoxo,

6 days!

I forgot to post my celebratory "one week until I leave for vacation" post yesterday, so today I will just have to be excited about my trip being one day closer.

In 6 days, I will be here...

Destin!!

One of my best friends and her husband live down there. He's in the Air Force and that's where they are currently stationed (nice place right?). I'm so excited to see her. I haven't seen her since my last trip to Destin in August! Her husband is currently deployed, but right before he left she found out that....She's pregnant!! I'm beyond happy for the two of them. 

A lot of my friends have gotten married; however, they haven't started popping out kids yet. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl so I can start shopping!

Last May at her rehearsal dinner

Last August when I was in Destin 

and got to see her! 

I can't wait to get out of Memphis for a bit and hit the beach! 

xoxo,

Rain Rain...

GO AWAY!! I know us Memphians had a small break from the storms (which was replaced by ultra-hot temperatures), however, that does not mean that we are ready to be berated by Mother Nature again.

It's storming again in Memphis today. It is also supposed to storm for the next couple days, as well as temperature highs in the mid 90's.

Thanks a lot Mother Nature.

xoxo,

Going to the chapel...

No, I'm not getting married, BUT D's sister did get married over the weekend. That's the reason I disappeared for a few days. We have been crazy busy with all of the wedding activities plus all of the family that was in town. Here are a few pictures from our busy weekend...

D's sister and I on our way downtown Thursday night

Totally unrelated to the wedding, BUT this was 

Friday after the Rehearsal Dinner. D and I went to Italian Fest,

and I got to hang out with one of my good friends Jamie.

D escorting his bridesmaid down the aisle

D, his sister, and I at the reception

D and I at the reception

Since some of D's family is still in town, they are all spending this week at Pickwick Lake. D and I couldn't be gone that long, so we're going up tonight after D gets off work and spending all day tomorrow on the water. Thank goodness! I need some lake time!  

xoxo,

Name Brands

Hi, my name is Kara, and I'm a name brand-a-holic. I will usually pay 50 cents (I just realized there is no cent symbol on keyboards) to a few dollars more just because something is "name brand." I am a marketer's dream.

However, if you think about it, for many people even if they don't insist on buying name brand, much of our vocabulary is shaped around them. For instance, when you get a cut do you ask for a Band-Aid or an adhesive bandage? I'll assume most people use the first term. Also, living in the south, basically any carbonated beverage is called a Coke, even if it's Sprite. I also refer to almost all tissues as Kleenex, and if it is meant to clean windows, it's called Windex no matter what the package says.

I'll hop off of my soapbox now and explain my ramblings. I've been using this certain Aveeno (Daily Moisturizing) lotion for about a hundred years awhile.

About a month ago, I noticed Target had come out with their in-store (Up and Up brand) version of the same lotion. The price difference was almost $3 ($9.59 for Aveeno vs. $6.74 for Up and Up), so I figured what the heck I'll give it a try. If it really was the same then that could save some money in the long run (see D I do know how to budget---kinda).

Some things should cost $3 more...the lotion was terrible. Okay, terrible might be a little harsh, BUT it definitely was not comparable to the Aveeno brand. However, I had already purchased it, so I went ahead and used it.

I went to Target today because I was out of a few things. I bet you can guess what one of the things I left with was. (My name brand Aveeno lotion!)

xoxo,