{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: August 2025

August 2025:

What to Wear to Tate McRae's "Miss Possessive" World Tour

      One the things I am most looking forward to this fall is seeing Tate McRae on the Miss Possessive Tour with some of my girlfriends! Tate has become one of my absolute favorite pop artists over the past year. Her music feels so nostalgic to early 2000s pop, especially Britney Spears's earlier albums. I was lucky enough to see her in concert for the first time last December on the iHeart Radio Jingle Ball Tour, but I cannot wait to get the chance to see her headline an arena tour! 

     Tate's style is extremely "Gen Z Cool Girl." She's able to make very casual outfits look both sexy and effortless! She favors black, dark red and neutrals in most of her looks, but still likes pops of glam here and there. Her style is honestly a bit intimidating to me as a 30-year old preppy fashion lover. One of my colorful Lilly Pulitzer dresses would certainly not fly at a Tate McRae concert. 😂 I'm viewing attending this concert as a chance to get out of my normal fashion comfort zone. 

     Below are some affordable outfit ideas for Tate McRae's Miss Possessive Tour! A lot of these finds also come in multiple color options.

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: July 2025

 July 2025:

Life Update: WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!!! 🏡

      I am beyond thrilled to share the most exciting life update with you today. As of yesterday, we are first-time HOMEOWNERS! 2025 has been really been quite the year so far. I thought that finally getting a new career opportunity in May would be my biggest life update of the year, but I think this might even trump that. 😊 

HOTEL GUIDE: Historic Boutique Hotel in Washington DC - The Phoenix Park Hotel

      Last year when I was working as a hotel front desk agent, I won a great raffle prize at the annual staff Christmas party. There were several hotel stays at other properties in driving distance to Virginia Beach that were being raffled off. I ended up winning a free weekend stay at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington DC. I was excited to use it, and decided to book it for late March, guessing that might be a good timeframe for the cherry blossoms. (Since I moved to Virginia in 2018, it's been a big item off of my travel bucket list to see the Tidal Basin cherry blossoms in DC at peak bloom!) Not only did I correctly predict peak bloom weekend and finally get to see it, but Ryan and I also had the most wonderful stay at the Phoenix Park Hotel, which I'm excited to review today! 

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding Day - The Reception

      I truly can't say enough good things about our wedding reception venue, the Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel. We went with the very classic "afternoon church wedding ceremony, evening hotel ballroom reception" combo for our wedding day. I think there is something so timeless and wonderful about a hotel ballroom wedding reception, and it really is easy from a planning perspective as well (since the linens, tableware and food and beverage is usually done all in-house). 

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: June 2025

June 2025:

Our First Golf Major: Attending The 2025 PGA Championship

      Last month, Ryan and I got to cross off a bucket list item for both of us: attending a major golf championship! Majors are the four most prestigious annual competition events in the golf world. They include The Masters in April, The PGA Championship in May, The US Open in June and The Open in July. This year the PGA Championship was held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC. Ryan and I got to attend on Saturday May 17th, and I'm excited to finally recap our day at the PGA here on the blog!

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: May 2025

May 2025:

What to Wear to Megan Moroney's "Am I Okay?" Tour 💙

      My first concert of 2025 will be seeing country singer Megan Moroney in a couple weeks! She's currently on her "Am I Okay?" tour, and it's the largest tour that she's done to-date, with shows all over the US this spring, summer and fall. I've been a fan of Megan since first she came on the country music scene a few years ago. Her first hit single "Tennessee Orange" started gaining popularity during my first year working in country radio, and I've loved following the rise of her career ever since. I thought it would be fun to share some concert outfit inspiration for Megan's current tour! 

Life Update: My Next Career Chapter Begins!

      Popping in on this Tuesday morning with a little life update: I am starting a new career today!

BED & BREAKFAST GUIDE: A Luxurious New River Valley Stay at The Lilly Valley Inn

      If you're looking for a quiet, restful and romantic escape that's surrounded by beautiful nature views, look no further than the Lilly Valley Inn in Pearisburg, VA! Ryan and I recently had the chance to visit and experience this lovely and unique bed & breakfast, located in the heart of Virginia's New River Valley. Keep reading for my full review of Lilly Valley Inn, and information on unique activities in the New River Valley area!

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding Day - The Ceremony

      Continuing on with my photo recaps of our November 2024 wedding day. Today's post is all about our wedding ceremony! We were married at Virginia Beach United Methodist Church, at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. We had some wonderful premarital counseling sessions with Pastor Tim in the months leading up to our wedding, and then he performed our wedding ceremony. 

      One of the first decisions that Ryan and I made for our wedding was that we wanted a classic late afternoon church ceremony. I know the trendier decision for brides these days is to have the ceremony and reception both at the same venue, but I wanted to be traditional in this regard. Both Ryan and I liked the traditional aspect of having a church ceremony, and I also liked how it stressed the importance of faith. I also knew that I wouldn't be able to handle planning for an outdoor ceremony and needing a rain plan if the weather didn't cooperate on our day. I loved knowing that we would have lovely ceremony pictures inside of the church no matter the weather on our wedding day. 

     Our ceremony was fairly brief (only about 15-20 minutes long), and we opted for traditional piano and organ music instead of using a DJ or recorded songs. We didn't have any additional readers or speakers for our ceremony, it was only Pastor Tim. I was very excited to have a receiving line following the ceremony for our exit of the church! We purchased bubbles wands and bubble guns for our guests, which created some fun photos of the exit. 

      Without further ado- here are the photos from our church decor, wedding ceremony, and church receiving line!

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: April 2025

 April 2025:

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding - Getting Ready

      I'm so excited to finally start recapping my wedding day here on the blog! For my wedding day recaps, I want to kind of let the photos speak for themselves to tell the story, and not add too much writing to these posts. (Not my norm! 😉) 

    Ryan and I got married on November 16th, 2024 in Virginia Beach! Ryan, his dad and the groomsmen spent the morning hanging out and getting ready at his parents' house. 

      Myself and the bridesmaids spent the night before and the wedding day morning most beautiful beach rental home, Bayberry House by Transcendent Stays. I had the hairstylist come to Bayberry to do everyone's hair, and my mom and Ryan's mom came over as well for their hair appointments. Everyone did their own makeup, which I was so pleased with! My mom and I then got a few photos together in my dress, and then I did first looks with my bridal party and my dad. (Only my mom and Ryan's mom had seen my dress prior to the wedding day.)

     Without further ado- here are the photos of getting ready and first looks (with my bridal party and my dad)!

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: March 2025.

March 2025:

Travel Diary: A Quick Winter Trip to South Florida 🌴

       This trip already happened about a month ago, but I wanted to share a recap on the blog before it gets too much further out. I had a wonderful and much needed quick trip to the Sunshine State in late February! My good friend Gentry from Girl Meets Bow had an exciting last-minute opportunity to attend an event for influencers in Miami with LTK, which is the main affiliate link platform that most bloggers use. She was able to bring a plus-one, and kindly invited me! The stars aligned perfectly for me to get off work, and use flight credits that I already had for a free flight! I also extended my trip on the front end a bit, and all-in-all it was a great time. 

Wedding Wednesday: My Wedding Dress(es)

       Before I start sharing the photo recaps of our wedding ceremony and reception,  I thought that my wedding dress deserved a detailed blog post of its own! I first wrote about my wedding dress shortly after I purchased it last winter. But that entire post was written without any photos of the dress, since the wedding hadn't happened yet! And then a second dress (reception dress) came into the picture as well. Basically, I have a lot to catch you up on dress-wise, and it seemed right to do that before starting wedding day recaps! 😊

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: February 2025

 February 2025:

Apartment Bar Cabinet Reveal + Styling 🍸

      Ryan and I recently finished my favorite home decor project to date: our bar cabinet area! This is such a glow-up from how this area of space in our apartment used to look before. I shared all the details on my Instagram last week, but I wanted to share here on the blog as well.