Caribbean

St. Lucia Honeymoon at Sugar Beach

The Resort

During the winter when TJ and I were discussing where to travel for our honeymoon, we honestly didn’t have a tough time at all deciding where to visit. There are so many places I’d love to travel to someday, such as Italy and Greece, but we knew for this specific occasion right after a long time of planning our destination wedding, we would want to do one thing and that was to relax! St. Lucia had always been an island that I wanted to visit, mainly because of their iconic pitons right beside the water, but also because of a very beautiful resort that was always on my bucket list…. Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort.

I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to stay in a resort that tops this one. The second we arrived to our villa on the top of a mountain, we knew we were in for a treat that week. I have never felt more pampered and relaxed in my entire life. Sugar Beach Resort covers a large part of land centered directly between the two pitons, Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Sugar Beach, the beach we spent 90% of our time at, is also directly between the pitons and the views were unreal. I felt like I was on the series Lost or on the movie Jurassic Park, only we had butlers, drinks delivered to us no matter where we were, delicious food, the most stunning villa, and insane views everywhere we turned.

The resort offers smaller beach-front rooms and offers large suites/villas/houses as you go up on the mountain. We were fortunate to be upgraded to one of the private villas nestled up in what felt like a rainforest. Behind a variety of lush, tropical flowers, was our beautiful home for the week. I couldn’t envision a more perfect getaway if I tried. One of my favorite things about this resort was the privacy. You could barely see any other guests’ villas from our own except for a few roofs as we looked down the hill. If we weren’t asleep at night, we were either at the beach or outside by our private pool, even on the rainiest day. Another favorite part of this resort was the food and the room service. I get sad just thinking about their scallop and asparagus risotto and how I probably won’t be able to have that for a long, long time. There were only a few restaurants scattered throughout the resort (it wasn’t hard to make friends here with the other guests since we saw them almost every day) and each one was phenomenal.

Pictures just don’t do this place justice but I’ll share some photos of the villa we stayed in and around the resort property. One thing to note is how you get around while at this resort since it is pretty spread out. I figured we would be walking everywhere but you really had to call a shuttle (either a golf-cart type situation or a vehicle owned by the resort) to take you to the restaurants/beach/back to your room/etc. The resort made it so that you literally never had to lift a finger; however, there were also plenty of adventurous options!

The Activities

There was no shortage of activities at Sugar Beach in St. Lucia. TJ and I normally love to do explore the area wherever we stay so we did some snorkeling, sailed out to sea at sunset, had a spa day at the resort’s Rainforest Spa (PLEASE see the photos at the very end of this post… this spa was the coolest part of the entire resort, in my opinion!), took a boat ride into the town Soufriere, and spent every day out on the beach drinking lime daiquiris and eating conch fritters. SO GOOD. The resort offered excursions to go to a sulfur spring bath, see waterfalls, kayak, snorkel, “snuba” with an “n”, take boat rides to wherever you wanted, hike the pitons, and so much more.

TJ and I could have explored a lot more than what we did but it was honestly very hard for us to leave our cabana once on the beach…. it was pure heaven and much needed. One of my favorite things we did was make an appointment for the spa and had the best messages of our lives. The spa rooms were in their own private bamboo huts and the entire experience was just so, so relaxing. After our massage, two doors opened up to a private outdoor bath/pool where our we had lunch. If you ever book a trip to this resort, you must book a spa appointment!

The resort itself had a special event each planned for each night near the beach including outdoor movies, a BBQ, live music, DJ at the sushi bar, and more so if you were wanting a “night out” or “night in”, you could find exactly what you were looking for.

The People

Hi y’all, this is TJ. Shelby and I are tag-teaming this post since there is so much to talk about! I have the privilege of writing about the wonderful people of St. Lucia. And when I say wonderful, I mean WONDERFUL. Everyone there is amazingly nice and hospitable. Our first interaction was with our taxi driver from the airport. We got into the backseat and the first thing we were offered were waters, juice, or beer. I gladly took one of their local Piton beers and Shelby had a water. Our driver gave us a great run down of the local sights as we headed toward the resort.

Once we were at the resort we were greeted by one of our 3 butlers! His name was Gary and he was the epitome of cordial and welcoming. He had 2 ‘welcome drinks’ in hand when we got out of the taxi and showed us to our villa. As I said, we had 3 butlers at our service throughout the stay: Gary, Dwight, and Mickayla. We can’t say enough about how accommodating they were to our every need. We received a small ‘firefly’ phone with a direct line to them. We could call them for anything; dinner reservations, booking an excursion, calling for a shuttle to the beach. We even were delivered floss at 10:30pm at night by Mickayla.

We had the fortune of going on a couple excursions while we were there including snorkeling, a sunset cruise, and traveling into the town of Soufriere. On our sunset cruise we had a host named Claude. He was in charge of keeping the drinks flowing and the tunes hitting. He also gave us some great information about St. Lucia as we transversed around this island. He was extremely outgoing, kept everyone having fun, and was a fantastic host to the party.

In addition to the folks around the resort, we met a number of locals including the cutest old guy named the Coconut Man. He would walk along the beach with a bag of coconuts that he picked himself and would sell to the people staying at the resort. He chopped up a jelly coconut and gave us the ‘best water in the world’! I am pretty sure Shelby had about 3 per day. Another local we talked with almost every day was Blaze. Blaze lived a little bit above the resort on the piton. He loaded up his kayak with fresh fruits from his land and paddled to the resort to sell smoothies. These fruits were incredibly fresh and made amazing smoothies. Blaze was even nice enough to throw a little rum in them!

The Experience

A few words that come to mind when I think of Sugar Beach… relaxing, luxurious, scenic, and fun. Our trip was exactly what we needed and we would LOVE to go back some day. I’m so glad we chose to specifically stay at Sugar Beach for our accommodations because there aren’t many other resorts that have easy access to a private beach and all of the other features we were lucky to experience. We almost split up our trip into two separate hotels and I am SO glad we didn’t do that.

TJ and I were engaged for about a year and a half so, by the time our wedding came, we felt long overdue for a vacation! It was such a surreal feeling being in such a beautiful place with my husband right after our wedding (still getting used to saying I have a husband!). We will treasure this week forever and are so thankful the trip went so perfectly.

If you have any questions about our trip, the resort, or anything else, let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Hope y’all had a Happy 4th of July weekend!! TJ and I visited some of my family up in Rhode Island and it was beautiful!

xo, Shelby

the entrance to the spa!

What I Packed:

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Entertaining & Recipes

06.28.17

My Adventure Themed Bridal Shower

Ocean Current Tapestry (under $50)

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Our wedding was a couple of weeks ago but I’m still up for another ‘Wedding Wednesday’ if you are! I am excited for today’s post because my bridal shower is featured on Style Me Pretty today including some of the beautiful images captured by Olivia at Nancy Ray Photography. I’m pretty lucky to live in Raleigh where there are SUCH talented wedding/event vendors based in this area. One of my best friends, Sara, hosted a beautiful adventure/travel-themed shower at the Mims House in Holly Springs and together with Lily and Oak, Greenhouse Picker Sisters, and so many other fabulous people (see the full list below), they all brought the dreamiest, intimate, party to life to celebrate with some of the closest women in my life before I traveled from “Miss to Mrs” for the “adventure of a lifetime”.

From Style Me Pretty… ” I was blown away by each little thoughtful and creative detail for this shower starting with the watercolored map invitations from One and Only Paper. When I first opened up the invitation envelope, I was in awe of the large watercolor map of the world that read “Love is the Greatest Adventure”. I knew then that this shower was going to be one for the books.

The space in the Mims House in Holly Springs, NC was the cutest blank slate to decorate with globes, vintage suitcases, books, old cameras, and other vintage furniture from Greenhouse Picker Sisters. Wild, organic, florals completed the look and brought a more earthy feel to the intimate white and gray space. One of my favorite parts of the party, as usual, was the global-inspired food setup featuring recipes from all over the world including a Mediterranean bar, Mexican appetizers, Southern cuisine, and Asian bites. There is never any shortage of creativity when it comes to Belle’s Catering and I had a hard time deciding between the Mini Taco Bowls, the Mini Pimento BLT Biscuits, the Ahi Tuna Bites, Shrimp Toast, Greek Flatbread, Mediterranean Cous Cous Cups, Mini Cuban Sliders, and the Chipotle Chicken Meatballs so I just filled my plate up with it all!

The shower was in the late morning/early afternoon so there was a coffee and mimosa bar setup when guests arrive and the “food room” was topped off with calligraphy chalkboard signs created by one of my sweet bridesmaids, Meredith, who owns Oaks and Gray Paper. Always thankful for a bridesmaid that also doubles as a wedding vendor!

As we ate the almost-too-pretty-to-eat vintage map cake, we caught up with friends and family, played some funny bridal shower games, opened up gifts, and sipped on mimosas!

These little celebrations along the way leading up to our wedding day have been so special. There is nothing like having a large group of your favorite people all together in one room so I can only imagine how the wedding will feel. If you’re a bride-to-be, my advice to you would be to slow down and soak in each moment you get to celebrate with your family and friends along the way. It is such a special and unique time in life and it passes by so fast.”

Vendors:

Event Planning and Design: Lily & Oak
Floral Design: Bowerbird Flowers
Specialty Rentals, Decor, and Styling: Greenhouse Picker Sisters
Cake: Sugar Euphoria
Event Space: Mims House
Invitations: One and Only Paper
Catering: Belle’s Catering
Calligraphy: Oaks and Gray Paper
Map Tapestry: Urban Outfitters
Linens: CE Rentals
Romper: Rent the Runway

Photography by: Olivia of Nancy Ray Photography

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Uncategorized

06.27.17

A Dress for Summer Nights

Flutter Sleeve Maxi Dress || Woven Clutch || Boardwalk Packable Hat

The day before we left for St. Lucia, I made a quick trip to the mall to see if I could find a beachy, floral maxi dress that I could wear to one of the restaurants at the resort. I came across this $85 flutter sleeve one, tried it on, and then packed it in my suitcase later that night. Every detail of it was so beautiful and perfect for summer… the flowy lightweight material, the soft floral print and coloring, the slit in the front, the big sleeves, oh.. and the price of course. I ended up wearing this dress two separate nights… once to dinner and another night when we took a sunset cruise. I was like “I’ll just wear this dress two nights in a row… nobody will see” and little did I know that we’d be seeing all of the same people each night since there were only a few restaurants at the resort. Anyways, I paired it with this woven clutch I found the same night I bought the dress… how perfect is it for pretty much any summer outfit!? It comes in a few colors too but I felt like this natural color would get the most wear.

I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start! Mine was a little rocky to start but hopefully today will be better! I think TJ had food poisoning yesterday but I ended up taking the day off of work to nurse him back to health. Let’s hope that is over! I’m also considering trying out a yoga studio around here so if anybody goes to one that they love, let me know!

xo, Shelby

Shop the Post:

Flutter Sleeve Maxi Dress || Woven Clutch || Boardwalk Packable Hat

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Wedding

06.20.17

Back Home & Married!

Wow. A lot has happened in the last two weeks and I’m so excited to give y’all an update on where I’ve been and what’s happened since I’ve last posted on here. I’m also very excited to get back into the swing of things and post more regularly now that I’ll have more free time! Where do I even begin? I’ll start with June 8th since that is when most of the festivities began!

The week leading up to our wedding was filled with several last minute errands and small DIY tasks, finalizing calligraphy details with one of my bridesmaids (and calligraphers… y’all should check out Oaks and Gray Paper! Thank God for good friends that are talented at painting/writing anything and everything and could create even my very last minute ideas!), making sure we packed everything for Charleston, coordinating plans with family and friends, picking up my dresses, strategically packing up the cars with boxes, bags, dresses, mirrors, frames, our dog. The week flew by but it was one of the best weeks ever. On my last day at work before we left, my friends surprised me with gifts, cupcakes, snacks, a veil for my work chair… it was so sweet. It was a short work week for both TJ and myself and on Thursday morning we both drove down to Charleston! My whole family stayed in the Courtyard Marriott Waterfront and it couldn’t have been better. The pool area overlooking the water coupled with the live music every night really set the mood for what was to come!

I’ll wait to share the details of the wedding day for when we get back photos but for now, some of these iPhone pics should do.

Our rehearsal dinner was on Friday night (June 9th) and we invited even more family to the brewery for a ‘welcome party’ afterwards! It was so much fun seeing everyone beforehand (it also really calmed my nerves… I was a little anxious earlier this day being the center of attention) and we absolutely loved having the event at Lagunitas although I am pretty sure we were the last private event there due to a change in ownership.

For the rehearsal dinner, I wore this matching set and it was perfect for the occasion! Next thing I knew, it was already the morning of our wedding day!!!! It was a surreal feeling arriving to our venue that morning, seeing the tent and all of the rentals we selected being set-up, seeing our vision come to life, ah! It gets me so excited again just thinking about that morning. That entire day flew by way too quickly and the time spent getting ready with my bridesmaids and mom will always be some of my best memories…. the anticipation, the excitement and joy, the 2000’s rap playlist by Ash & Co (shout out to Ashley for being freaking amazing at hair/make-up!) I never knew Pop, Lock, & Drop it could be so calming.

TJ and I had our “first look” at 3pm and the rest of the day/night just flew by. The whole day was so surreal.

The weather AND our vendors both need a paragraph of their own. We knew going into our wedding that having it outside would be risky but I couldn’t envision our wedding not outside. It could have easily been 100 degrees, or rainy, but it was in the 80’s and not a drop of rain in sight during our wedding day and the few surrounding days. We also couldn’t have been happier with each and every vendor we hired to help make the day perfect for us! I’ll get into details another day but wow- our team of vendors was absolutely amazing.

Flash forward to 4am this morning and we just got back from our honeymoon in St. Lucia! Our flight kept getting delayed so we got home a lot later than expected. I made sure to bring my camera to document our stay as much as possible while still feeling relaxed and not like I was working too much. This trip needs an entire post of its own… the place we stayed was quite the resort and was definitely the most relaxing place I’ve ever been in my whole life. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park or the tv show Lost but, instead of dinosaurs, there were pina coladas, tropical, lush flowers, tree frogs, and butlers at your service!

Anyways, there are more photos to come of both the wedding and the trip to St. Lucia but I just wanted to give you all an update for now since it has been so quiet around here the past few weeks. Today is my first day back at work in almost 2 weeks and I’m semi-terrified to look at my inbox. I’m just SO excited to be married to my soulmate and be back home… these past two weeks have been too good to us.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shelby

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Our Home

04.18.17

Spring Home Refresh Part 1

Spring is going by way, way, too quickly and I am almost embarrassed to admit it but I still have a lot of my winter home décor out. Don’t worry, all of the Christmas decorations are put away, but we still have chunky knit pillows and blankets out, snowy photos of cows and trees, and even some winter candles. Something I have been wanting to do for a while is making a few changes to our living room area such as switching out the plaid and cable knit pillows for more spring-like fabrics and textures, replacing some of my gallery wall art for more florals and ocean scenes, and fill up the space with spring aromas! This spring home refresh post will be in a two part series but, today, I couldn’t wait to share with you one of my new favorite home fragrance products that doesn’t even require a flame. There have been so many times when I leave home and worry about whether or not I actually blew out the candles and turn around to make sure I didn’t start a fire so this new product speaks to me.

The new Liquidless DiffuserTM by NEST Fragrances is any home lover’s new best friend. This is NEST’s latest innovative home fragrance product that includes an open-air decorative metal base and ScentSticks that come in the options of Bamboo, Grapefruit, and Moroccan Amber. I went with the Bamboo scent and the ScentSticks release fragrance for up to 30 days. I LOVE how you can also customize the strength of the scent and use less ScentSticks for smaller rooms and more for larger spaces. The best part about it is that it doesn’t require ANY liquid or oil… pretty cool and perfect for homes with kids or large dogs (me) that like to knock things off of tables! The Liquidless DiffuserTM is available now on nestfragrances.com in early May at all of your favorite luxury department stores including my personal favorite, Nordstrom.

Over the next couple of months, I’ll be making a few small changes to our living room to really get our room in to spring/summer mode, all while on a budget (like, a serious budget, because hello wedding). I can’t wait to show you the before and after photos!

Thank you to NEST Fragrances for sponsoring this post.

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Carolinas

04.09.17

Our Stay at Sanderling Resort

A few weeks ago, TJ and I spent a weekend at Sanderling Resort in Duck, NC and it was our second time staying there. Our first stay was last summer but we only stayed one night so we knew we would have to plan a second trip sometime this year to fully experience it! Today’s post is all about the resort and I’ve broken the details down into the categories: accommodations, location, and food… the three priorities when it comes to resorts!

Accommodations

When we first arrived to The Sanderling, we opened up our door to find a private flight of stairs leading up to a huge, beautiful, coastal chic room complete with a spacious living area, a nice balcony overlooking the sound, and the most perfect bathroom I’d ever seen. This resort recently had some big renovations done which resulted in oceanfront luxury with some major coastal cozy vibes. I slept like a baby each night. Our room also had a s’more kit ready to be taken down to their big fire pit right near their pool area but I’ll get into the amenities in a little bit. I love how this resort is right on the ocean but still had that luxurious feel to it.

Location & Amenities

If you’re visiting Sanderling Resort in the late spring/summer, you’ll find a ton of amenities to enjoy including three separate pool areas, the beach (obviously), the Sanderling Spa, and much more. If you’re looking for some more adventurous activities, you can take surf lessons, go kayaking, kiteboarding, jet-skiing, paddle boarding, etc. With the location being oceanfront, there are plenty of water sports for every one in the family. You can even ride their bikes around town! Last year, TJ and I rented stand-up paddle boards from the resort and took them out on the sound for a relaxing afternoon. If you want to fully experience all that The Sanderling has to offer, I’d suggest visiting in May-September though. I also LOVE their fire pit. TJ and I had late dinner reservations each night so we always ate our dessert first by stopping by the fire pit for s’mores before heading out to dinner.

Food

While at the Sanderling, good food is only a short walk away. For breakfast, you’ll want to make sure to stop by their Lifesaving Station (they are also open for lunch and dinner) which is known for having the “best breakfast on The Outer Banks”. Their seasonal menu is SO good and made with the freshest ingredients. For lunch, you can stop by their Sandbar, which is on their outdoor deck near the pool area. At the Sandbar, you can order more casual foods such as sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, pizza, burgers, etc. I remember ordering some seriously delicious food last summer here and taking it out to the beach… my ideal situation in life.

For dinner you’ll want to make sure to book a reservation across the street at the resort’s restaurant, Kimball’s Kitchen, which overlooks the water and has the most GORGEOUS views of the sunset. You’ll want to dress up a little bit for this one though (resort chic attire). I ordered their shrimp and grits and it was delicious. TJ and I are also self proclaimed bread/roll basket connoisseurs and their bread was on point.

Thanks for stopping by today! If you ever find yourself planning a trip to the Outer Banks area, I’d definitely try and at least stay a couple nights at Sanderling Resort. It’s such a unique place to stay and we enjoyed every minute of it.

XO, Shelby

You can see more of our stay in our video. See more videos by subscribing to my channel!

This post was written in partnership with Sanderling Resort. As always, all opinions are 100% mine.

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The Carolinas

04.04.17

Cruisin’ the Carolinas: The Outer Banks

I’m excited to launch a new video/travel guide series, ‘Cruisin’ the Carolinas’, featuring some of our favorite cities and towns in the Carolinas, both North and South. TJ and I find ourselves taking a lot of weekend trips to local cities we love in NC and SC and we’re excited to put together some posts and videos on some of our favorites over the next year. We’re starting with a place unique to North Carolina, The Outer Banks. When I was a child, my dad took my sister and I camping here, but I hadn’t re-visited until last summer when we went on a week-long trip. We went back a few weekends ago and made sure to hit all of our favorite places. In my opinion, The Outer Banks is for someone who wants to escape the crowds, spend a lot of time near the ocean, eat some great fresh seafood, and relax to the max.

STAY

One important thing to note about The Outer Banks is that although this area covers 200 miles along the coast of NC starting up from VA, there aren’t a ton of resorts unlike other big beach towns. This is actually one of my favorite parts about the OBX and, if you’re visiting with a large group, I’d definitely recommend renting a large house. There is, however, one resort up in Duck called The Sanderling which is beautiful. I’ll write a full post on this resort later this week but you can get a feel for it in our video! If you are thinking of staying closer to Nags Head or Kitty Hawk, there are a few hotels but the houses to rent are really the best option!

I’ve written a couple of other blog posts on what to do in the OBX (you can read them here and here). We’ve done almost everything there is so I am going to just share a few of my favorite things today. First of all, what you do on a trip really depends on what type of person you are and what type of vacation you’re wanting to have. You could go to The Outer Banks, stay at The Sanderling or at an oceanfront beach house, and be perfectly happy spending the days sitting out on the beach but if you want to add in some activities to your stay, I’d highly recommend a few different ones depending on which town you’re in. If you’re staying in Nags Head, you must go visit Jockey’s Ridge State Park, the largest living sand dune on the east coast. There are also so many lighthouses that are iconic to the area including Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island. If you want to do any sort of water sport, Kitty Hawk Kites has everything you could ever need adventure/sport-wise including hang gliding over Jockey’s Ridge. You could also go horseback riding on the beach and if you’re not into the actual riding part of horses, you can go on a wild horse adventure and drive down the beaches of Corolla. We took a wild horse adventure with Corolla Outback Adventures and it was so interesting seeing a side of town that I never even knew existed. There were communities with no roads and the only way to get there was by driving down a ways on the beach… it was so fun! We also had the best tour guide, Brad, who took us to see some wild horse families and let us take some great photos.

EAT

I could eat seafood every day and be fine with it. The Outer Banks is home to several amazing restaurants and these are some of the ones that have our stamp of approval. Starting with the fine dining…

Fine Dining

Kimball’s Kitchen in Duck, NC

Paper Canoe in Duck, NC

1587 in Manteo, NC

The Blue Point in Duck, NC (recommended by a local who said this was the best restaurant in the OBX)

In Between

Lone Cedar in Nags Head, NC

Trio Wine & Cheese Bar in Kitty Hawk, NC

Casual

Roadside Bar & Grill in Duck, NC (TJ recommends their seared tuna and bread)

First Light in Duck, NC (great casual breakfast place)

Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, NC (amazing breakfast, cool spot to watch the fishermen)

Red Sky in Duck, NC

I hope this helps a little bit if you happen to be planning a trip to The Outer Banks! If you have any places we missed, leave them in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

xo, Shelby

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Travel

03.22.17

Bachelorette Weekend in Charlottesville

Invitations by Ten Acre Paper Co.

A few weekends ago my friends and I all packed up in a giant suv and headed to Charlottesville, VA for a girls weekend in celebration of my bachelorette! We had a packed itinerary which I’ll share in today’s post but, overall, we had a fun, relaxing, and great time and my favorite part of it all was getting to spend one weekend with {almost} all of my best friends at once. I can’t wait for us all to reunite again for other wedding events in the coming months. Incase you’re wondering where our wine sweatshirts are from… one of my MOH’s, Sara, custom ordered them from TheDreamWedding on Etsy. Scroll down below for more photos!

Custom Wine Sweatshirts || Bachelorette Invitations || House || Gift Boxes

When we first started looking at locations for a bachelorette weekend a lot of factors came into play. We looked at the idea of beaches in Florida, Nashville, Austin, and my total dream spot would have been Napa Valley. Since our actual wedding weekend requires some travel as well, we ultimately decided on a city 3-5 hours away from everyone to save a lot of money, time, and convenience. The original itinerary/plan for the weekend was to do a little bit of everything: go out for dinner/drinks downtown one night, have a relaxing morning at the spa, visit some wineries/cideries, and go snow tubing at the closest ski resort. We ended up having to be flexible about some of our plans but I would still highly recommend planning a weekend trip to Charlottesville with a group of friends! Read more below for the details of where we went each day!

FRIDAY

We all left from different cities on Friday but a majority of us left together in Raleigh around 11:30am. We chose to rent a large SUV so that we would all be able to ride together once we were there (I’d also highly suggest looking into limos/wine tours that can drive you around depending on your budget!). Our first stop once we arrived to Charlottesville was a vineyard that I had always wanted to visit… Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards. We all did a wine tasting, ordered a cheese board, and sat on their patio catching up, introduced my friends to each other, etc. This winery was beautiful and I am dying to go back sometime when it is warmer! My favorite wine was their ‘Zero White’. My friend, Gena, bought a bottle of it for me and we took it back to the house!

We stayed at Pippin Hill a little past their closing time (unfortunately, most of these wineries close at 5pm every day) and headed to our house we rented through Homeaway. The inside of this house was so cute and the size was perfect for about 9-10 people. It reminded me of a house in the French countryside and I don’t know why.

After everyone unpacked and got ready for dinner, we went downtown to a restaurant actually owned by the same people that own Pippin Hill. The restaurant was called Red Pump Kitchen and might have been the best food of my life. It was so delicious and I’d add this restaurant to the ‘must-eat’ list when you’re in Charlottesville. After this, we had gelato at Splendora’s. Another place we had planned on going was the Commonwealth Skybar; however, it was abnormally freezing cold and we had to wake up early the next day so we headed back to the house to prep for Saturday!

SATURDAY

Saturday started early at 7am and we all woke up, ate breakfast, and packed in the car to drive to Wintergreen Resort. We had a big spa morning planned and did the Wintergreen Resort Spa’s ‘party package’. This allowed everyone to choose either a facial or massage and a manicure and pedicure. I LOVED this place. The people were so nice and accommodating, the facility was gorgeous, and I’d highly recommend this for a girl’s weekend or even a couple’s weekend activity.

Our plan after the spa was to go over to The Plunge, which is Wintergreen Resort’s snow tubing park. I was SO excited for this but due to the 70 degree February we had, the spa ladies told us that they had recently closed the snow tubing park for the year. This changed our plans a bit but we found a really cool brewery right outside of Wintergreen called Devils Backbone Brewing and decided to have lunch there. This place was way cooler than I anticipated and we ended up staying there longer than planned. I really want to take TJ back here in the summer… they had a really cool outdoor patio area which reminded me of Sierra Nevada in Asheville if you’ve ever been there.

After Devils Backbone Brewing, we drove literally one mile down the road to a cidery, Bold Rock. This place also had a really cool laid back atmosphere and really, really good cider. I definitely wouldn’t mind going back here sometime too! We were planning on also visiting King Family Vineyards but we were running out of time and it was getting close to dinner time. I’ll have to add that one to the list for next time I’m in the area!

Anyways, we decided to have my favorite go-to meal, Chipotle catering for 20 (thanks to TJ’s Chipotle rewards card) take-out and bring back to the house for a mexican meal and margaritas. It was the perfect dinner after a long day and, after dinner, my friends surprised me with a ‘honeymoon shower’ complete with the cutest gifts ever that I can bring on our honeymoon to St. Lucia! I guessed which girl brought which gift and it was so much fun! We ended the night with roasting marshmallows, laughing until my abs hurt, and just spending quality time with my best friends.

I’m already missing all of my friends but I cannot wait to see them in the coming months! I also can’t believe we are almost two months away from our wedding day (insert emoji with the big eyeballs). Thank you to all of my friends and sisters who made this weekend a great one! <3

We also decided to make a rap video in our Etsy sweatshirts…

Just kidding, kind of. My girl, Morgan Martin, did however get some video footage of the weekend! Be sure to follow her on Youtube!

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Uncategorized

03.06.17

The Floral Wrap Skirt

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope y’all had a great weekend. I feel like mine didn’t involve a ton of relaxing and I’m not sure I’m ready for a new work week just yet! Luckily for me, this week is a shorter week. I’m taking the day off on Friday to go on my bachelorette weekend with my fave girls and can’t wait! I’ve teamed up with some other bloggers to giveaway a Nordstrom gift-card so scroll down to the bottom of this post to enter!

I’ve been loving long skirts lately… I recently posted about this long white one but today’s look features one of the prettiest floral prints I’ve ever seen in the most perfect spring colors. I paired it with a simple white sweater and some of my favorite white pumps I own. If heels aren’t your thing, I found an almost identical flat version here! Ahhh, spring cannot get here fast enough.

xo, Shelby

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The Carolinas

01.26.17

Coffee at The Carolina Inn

Brunch is always a good idea!

TJ and I have been trying to make it to the newly renovated Crossroads restaurant in The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill for a while now. Once we realized we had a free Sunday morning this past weekend, we booked a reservation, drove down the road 30 minutes, and arrived to the hotel in true TJ fashion (super early… his timeliness balances us so perfectly). The Carolina Inn always reminds me of two of our best friends’ weddings we were in. I love the colorful decor, charm, and class of this place and highly recommend visiting sometime if you’re in the area!

Their brunch got an A+ by me. I ordered a veggie omelet with goat cheese and it was so delicious. They also had an unlimited “tasting table” with biscuits, grits, banana pudding, fruit, and a huge dessert table. Yum!

Hope y’all have a great Thursday!

xo, Shelby

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Holidays

11.21.16

2016 Holiday Magazine & Gift Guide

Happy (almost) Holidays, everyone! I’m so excited to share a project I’ve been working on for a while… a 2016 Holiday digital magazine filled with holiday outfit inspiration, gift guides galore, and other little holiday tidbits that will help kick off the season the right way! The purpose of this is to help you all simplify your gift-giving/Christmas shopping process, create a one-stop holiday shop for ideas and inspiration, maybe help you pick out what to wear this season, and hopefully get you in the holiday spirit! (PS… View on “Full Screen” mode for easiest viewing!)

Year after year, I’ve been a self-proclaimed holiday procrastinator. I have gone Christmas shopping numerous times on Christmas Eve when I could have spent that time with family and I wanted to be prepared way ahead of time this year! Hopefully, this will help you get gift ideas out of the way so that you can really enjoy what the season is all about!

There are a couple GIVEAWAYS today, too! For the first one, you’ll have to read the 2nd to last page in the magazine! You won’t want to miss it… you can win cash towards gift shopping! For the second giveaway today, scroll down to the bottom of this post!

Happy Monday! Cheers to a short work week!

XO, Shelby

PS- Thank you to Heart Stone Films for allowing me to shoot in the new studio, to Sara (bff) for assisting in the modeling dept., and to TJ for the patience, support, and photography! Special shout-out goes out to the ‘Pop Chill-out’ playlist by Spotify for the mental support.

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Now…it’s time for a fabulous giveaway! I’ve teamed up with an amazing group of bloggers to give YOU a chance to win: a $1000 Nordstrom Gift Card, just in time for the holidays!</p> <p style=”text-align: center;”>Simply enter below by completing the rafflecopter. You’ll receive one entry per completion. This giveaway is open internationally and runs until 12/5. Winner will be announced here. Good Luck!</p> <img class=”aligncenter wp-image-8139″ src=”http://www.thestyledfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/nordsgc.jpg” width=”800″ height=”526″ /> <a id=”rcwidget_8vrjtj17″ class=”rcptr” href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/85e34c0c47/” rel=”nofollow” data-raflid=”85e34c0c47″ data-theme=”classic” data-template=””>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a> <script src=”https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js”></script>

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Carolinas

11.14.16

Engagement Photos Part 2 in Charleston

Happy Monday!

Did you catch the first half of our engagement shoot here? Even though these were all taken on a hot summer day way back in June, I just had to share some of my favorite ones! Last week, I also shared our thoughts and experience on finding a wedding venue on Style Me Pretty so be sure to check those tips out if you’re a bride-to-be looking for a wedding venue!

I’m going to keep today’s post short but sweet (and very photo dense!) because I start a new job today! I’m really, really excited and this is the first full-time/permanent one since back in July when my company had a big lay-off. Since then, I’ve held a temporary position and have had a little bit more time to focus on my blog which has been nice. It’s time to get back to work though and I’m looking forward to having more structure, discipline, and be in a routine!

XO, Shelby

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Photography: Jake and Heather || Hair/Make-up: Meg Workman || Skirt/Top: Donna Morgan || Dog Floral Collar: Miele Events