A Kentucky Wedding Weekend to Remember!
So I hope you have some extra time on your hands because you are going to need it to get through this entire post! We are squeezing a wedding weekend jam packed with activities into this post! It's all worth it, but it may take a hot minute to get through it all. But PLEASE NOTE: we saved the best part for last...
So, the last weekend of May 2014 we headed up to Lexington, Kentucky for fun times with family and an amazing wedding! Paul's cousin Haley Perdue was getting married to her long time boyfriend/fiancé (of 9 years), so we made the wedding weekend into an extended family affair!
Our first day in Lexington, was packed full of fun and educational activities! We started our little adventure with a trip to Buffalo Trace Distillery, "the world's most award winning distillery," and not surprisingly so, considering it's been around for over 200 years! We toured around the campus and learned about the different types of bourbon, how the aging process varies based on where the barrels are stored. We also got to see the bottling process which was actually really cool - and it was surprisingly a much more hands on process, i.e. people and not machines! From there we headed to the tasting which was obviously the highlight of the entire tour! My favorite was the Bourbon Cream - I know... blaspheme! But I am a milk drinker so it's only fitting. Second favorite was the bourbon balls! YUMMMM! And of course I believe Paul thoroughly enjoyed the Buffalo Trace, and we can't forget Liam aka Baby Man - who had his first root beer and couldn't get enough!
After the distillery tour, we headed to the state capital where Paul's Dad's cousin, John Minton, is the Chief Justice for the Kentucky State Supreme Court! We got the VIP tour around the capital by the Chief Justice himself! It was definitely a cool experience and quite a beautiful building as well! The highlight for us was when we got the awesome shot of Liam doing his chief justice impersonation in the courtroom! You gotta see that one!
Before we left the capital Paul caught this impromptu pic of the family all squeezed in the elevator! How fun is that!? Looks like we should be in a reality show, sitcom of something.
We were all starving at this point... can you tell?? So our next stop was a LATE lunch at Rick's White Light Diner in Frankfort, KY! It may have been because we were all starving, but this was some of the best New Orleans style food I've had! They were featured on Diner's Drive-In's and Dives, and I can totally see why. It was definitely your whole in the wall kind of place, it had an awesome atmosphere, interesting bathroom, and some awesome food! I have to say, I think I enjoyed it better than a lot of what we had while in New Orleans last year! The Muffaletta was to die for and the po-boys were definitely amazing too!
Look at that adorable baby man! He was so tuckered out from that busy day!
Day Two in Kentucky we had plans to go to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill! We started off with a delicious lunch at the Inn at Shaker Village. Again, Liam couldn't get enough of the delicious food, and I also must say the old fashion high chair totally beats out most of the restaurant baby seats these days!
We shopped at the Craft shop that had all kinds of great local merchandise and more importantly tickets for the Dixie Belle Ferry! I think it may have been Liam's first ferry ride and he embraced the experience - took charge sitting proud in the captain's chair! It was a beautiful ride, and we had a lot of fun!
And check out the above image of High Bridge - the Dixie Belle takes you right under this "engineering marvel - built in 1877 - and standing 6 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty!
But the most fun and rewarding part of the whole trip was the opportunity to not only share in Haley and Marcus' big day, but to also play a part in capturing the memories (as videographers for the wedding) they will have from that day for the rest of their lives, and the lives of generations to come! While it was a lot of work, especially for Paul, it has been such a great experience! Check out the highlight video from the wedding to get a glimpse into what we all experienced!
[vimeo 97449324 w=750 h=422]
To view the full length video, with an awesome speech from the Father of the Bride, click here!
Paul's Mid-Life Challenger
Paul turned 35 on January 20th, and this will be a big year for us as we are expecting our first little one. But 2013 is the year of more than one "baby" coming into our life!
The day of Paul's actual birthday, we didn't have much going on. We met up with his Mom and sister at an Antique Mall in Cumming, and from there didn't have much planned. SO, Paul wanted to go test drive some cars for fun. We decided to go over and look at what Curtis (one of Paul's best friends) was working with at Rick Case Hyundai in Duluth. I think it was a pretty quiet day for Curtis anyway, so we were able to check out a couple of cars! We started with the Hyundai Genesis Coupe - a small sporty ride. While it handled nicely it just didn't feel like it had the comfort and quality we were expecting. We both have Hyundai's and LOVE them, but this was nothing compared to our XG350L and the Santa Fe. And, yes I know, the Genesis Coupe is a sports car so it's not got the kind of luxury of the other rides, we wanted it all!
Next we test drove a 2011 Dodge Challenger... a sexy white muscle car with power, handling and surprising luxury! It's a sports car yes, but it's big and ironically quiet! Both Paul and I drove it, and we were absolutely enamored! It's comfortable, yet handles well. It's quite the looker, and quite spacious too!
Now I know what you are thinking... "They are about to have a baby and they are buying a sports car?!" Yeah, we thought about that too, but the backseat is roomy, and we already have my car which is a perfectly good "mommy mobile!" And after our little man arrives, what are the chances we can enjoy a vehicle like this?! We took an extended test drive, and literally fell in love!
Monday, Paul called the insurance company to see what we'd be looking at there, and you know what? It was actually less expensive than our 4 door XG350L because it has better safety ratings! Another sign we were leaning towards moving forward with the purchase!
Pros:Spacious
Quiet
Handles Great!
Better Fuel Economy Less on Insurance Better Safety Ratings And SUPER SEXY! Cons: Hmmmm... the only one we can think of is 2-doors instead of 4, but what can you do, it's a sports car!
Later that evening we headed to the dealer and a deal was made! We couldn't be happier and we've already gotten a lot of use out of it! I'm hopeful this baby could be a collectible we can give to our baby one day! ;)
Kindness... as Interpreted by Ze Frank
During the election I came across some hilarious commentary by Ze Frank about the debates and ever since I've been enjoying my Youtube subscription to his channel and the video I came across today just stuck with me and I needed to share! It's about KINDNESS! And during this time of fresh starts with the New Year and resolutions I think it's such a great message!
Check it out below!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=504__4ZzHac&w=640&h=360]
While the entire message stands out to me, I did pull an awesome quote that I'd love to share and hope you enjoy whether or not you watch the video!
"Kindness - It's like little rays of light that emanate out from the interactions you have with people, maybe little candles that light inside them...You can tell the people that have had a lot of experience with kindness, they glow like they do have a lot of tiny little candles burning inside of them." - Ze Frank
Pass on the kindness and start glowing and seeing others glow!
2012 In Review | What an Awesome Year to Blog!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for perdueosity.
Here's an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 35,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 8 Film Festivals
Click here to see the complete report.
Our Trip to Waltrip Racing
A family friend, Janet, that works with my parents at their UPS Store is into racing hardcore! And when I say hardcore, her husband works for Napa Auto Parts, and her son used to race and now actually works at the Waltrip Racing facility (where they build their cars).
Because we were so close by (in Lake Norman), Janet got us some VIP passes to tour the facility and I have to say it was definitely an interesting trip! None of us are into racing at all... Paul loves cars but even he hadn't ever gotten into Nascar.
But seeing this facility was actually really cool! The spaces inside were divided up by specific vehicle functions like suspension, transmission, body work, etc.
We started by walking through the suspension area to get to the body and frame section. It was actually really amazing how sterile and white everything was! Not like what you see when you got the a normal mechanic's shop!
From the main floor we headed outside where we got to see where they clean and load up the cars. These trailers can hold anywhere from 2 to 4 cars at a time, and I think hold all the tires for the race too. It's insane! And on any given race they have a couple million $$$, between the cars and tires, traveling with them. This is no joke! We also got to check out where the pit crew practices and unfortunately came on a day they were not practicing. But it was cool to see where it all happens.
From here we went into the actual shop (no pictures allowed there). This is where they are building the frames, piecing the mechanics of the cars together and I believe actually building engines (although I didn't see any engines)!
After all that we headed back inside for the "museum-like" self-tour around the upper level where you can look down over everything. It was pretty cool. Of course I think the highlight for me was sitting in the adult carseat-like structure that the drivers actually sit in. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I could see why it is necessary to keep the drivers protected!
Overall it was a very cool experience! Thanks to Janet and her husband for getting us this VIP pass! Super cool!!!
perdueosity's One Year Anniversary has Come and Gone...
perdueosity's One Year Anniversary has Come and Gone... and I missed it entirely!
August has been a bit of a wash. We've been busy, but obviously not busy posting to the blog! So sorry about that, but the month of September is looking to be a great month for plenty of posts, come back soon! And thank you to everyone who has continued to follow and check out perdueosity!!!
Productivity has NEVER been more fun!
So this weekend was a busy weekend for both Paul and I! While we clearly made time for fun, and those are certainly the highlights of the weekend, for a weekend we spent so much time with friends it was probably the MOST productive weekend we've had in a while!
So Friday night I was with my friend Kristin (Storey) helping her pack up her apartment for a move to a newer and nicer place! I was out with her hanging out and packing things up until about almost 1AM! After leaving her place, I went home to meet up with Paul, Elaine and John!
I wasn't able to spend much time with Elaine and John, but it seemed as though Paul had a really good time with them, and it was nice to see them after they've been away for a vacation to the beach! Elaine had a very nice tan!
Then onto Saturday! On weekend's we're never really early risers, but when we did rise it was time for business! We spent the entire day doing a major cleaning on the house, top to bottom! It was actually quite nice to walk through the house looking so immaculate! We did laundry, vacuumed, steam mopped, cleaned counters, did dishes, and much more! It will be so nice to chill this week in such a clean space!
After knocking out ALL of that cleaning, we had Desi and Tristan over for dinner, drinks, and a whole lot of fun and games! Just a plain good time! It was nice to cut loose and not worry about anything! We talked about anything and everything, played a couple of games and just enjoyed each others company. Tristan was the first to drop off, Desi, Paul and I stayed up a little longer but it wasn't long before we were all off to bed! But it was still another late night ending around 1 or 2AM!
Sunday rolled around and we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Jimmy Johns (they are AWESOME!) on our way over to see my parents! We had to drop off my Dad's van (Paul calls it the race van!) We visited with the parents for a little while and caught up with them, then we were back off to Kristin's again! This time to help her get unpacked and settled in!
When we got there it was just chill, watching TV and chatting and then we got busy emptying boxes! Paul and I must have been on a roll cause we have to have emptied and broken down 20 boxes or more in NO time! Paul hung some stuff for Kristin, and we got some of her electronics set-up. We made some MAJOR headway prior to getting a call from our friend Curtis!
He was getting off work and was ready to party! He stopped over to Kristin's to say congrats on the new place and get us pumped to party with him! It was to be a Hooters' evening! Curtis had a friend/co-worker meeting him at Hooters' so that was the next move! And I have to say, it was the highlight of the weekend!
Paul, Kristin and I met Curtis and his friend John over at Hooters'. The evening started off slow with two pitchers of Stella and some ok food. But once we got through that third pitcher things were starting to get good! Unfortunately John left before Curtis "blew the weekend up!"
Now the ladies at Hooters' get some free time here and there to hoola hoop! I've not seen this before, maybe it's just the location we were at, but Curtis wanted to see some "Hoola Action!" He asked our waitress to show him some hoola action and she was a PRO! And then she told Curtis he had to try! And this is where the fun begins!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7Fnsp3_rQ&w=750&h=563]
Curtis was HILARIOUS! And honestly a good learner! I don't think I could have picked up on it as fast as he did! This was truly the highlight of my weekend! The best end to an awesome weekend ALL around!
And I'm sure you're probably wondering what the frog is about... following Hooters' we dropped Curtis off at his place and hung out for a bit. When we got there we were greeted by Fred the Frog (he's apparently a neighbor of Curtis'). Paul got that awesome pic on his iPhone and then got this super cool video on his iPhone too! So, meet Fred the Frog!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEsb_hjD_k8&w=750&h=563]
Until next time... :)
WordPress features blog posts from the hundreds of thousands of Bloggers everyday, and they chose to feature us! It's super cool, and we couldn't have done it without our awesome friends who joined us at the Grand Canyon, and Paul's AMAZING photography! We were one of the best of 402,128 bloggers, 879,696 new posts, 1,105,690 comments, & 177,690,954 words posted today on WordPress.com. 1500+ views to the site today, and counting!
Look at us now, We're Freshly Pressed! Click here to see the post.
Blog Love!
Blog Love! One of the blogs I visit regularly, "People I Want to Punch in the Throat" recently posted a Blog Love post where people can share their blogs. It's amazing how many people have responded so far, and I have found a lot more blogs I will be checking out more regularly! Like this one, "I Like Beer and Babies", is hilarious! I love it! Can't wait to check out more... and maybe down the line I'll do my own "Blog Love" post...
I Love it When the Only Drama in My Life Is on TV!
I know this isn't a post for everyone, but for those that have read the blog before, you know I LOVE the Bachelor! Not the person, but the show... of course.
So things are progressing and women are dropping off. And naturally the drama builds, especially between certain individuals. In my original post, I thought the awful "devilish" one was Monica, well she's GONE as of tonight! But ironically, she's not by any means the one I detest the most. She had actually kind of backed off her craziness, and now the "EVIL" one is Courtney!
Now there's always the possibility that those that edit these shows can portray some individuals negatively and others in a warm and fuzzy light, but there are too many clips of her saying the most petty shit! Like "WINNING."
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSnMpXYL82Y&w=560&h=315]
I guess maybe that is the mentality you must have when you're competing for one guy, but for those that really have feelings, it's not about the other girls and winning, it's about the Bachelor and having awesome moments and finding love.
So this past episode Ben let a girl go on a group date, and that was a little odd, but I don't even know who it was he let go, so I guess she must not have been that important anyway (not to be mean, but she must not have gotten much face time). Anyway, two of my favorites (to make it into the top three) are still there!
First we have Jennifer, and she is a given. She is not only beautiful, but she is also super smart, independent, has character, and according to Ben she's a good kisser (gotta have that chemistry)! It's nice cause when you see her little clips all she is talking about is Ben and how much she enjoys spending time with him and how much she likes him. That's what it's about! I hope Ben keeps her around.
Now Emily seems to be walking a fine line with Ben and her issues with Courtney, but I totally feel her pain. I think in these kind of circumstances it's hard to differentiate between a girl being intimidated by a "Model" (i.e. Courtney - the Evil One) and truly caring about a guy and the fact that he's totally being duped by the pretty girl. I've liked Emily from the beginning, I think she is another independent, intelligent woman who isn't afraid to jeopardize her own opportunity with a guy to make him aware of her concerns and hopefully make him see past facades! She definitely has Ben's best interest in mind and not "WINNING"... Emily, whether or not you ended up with Ben, I commend you for speaking out!
It's what all of us girl's at home are screaming at the TV. And to be in a house with people who may be frowning upon you for saying something they may be afraid to say themselves isn't easy! I'm glad that Ben gave Emily a rose, and hope he keeps her around.
And of course since Brittney left a couple weeks ago, I need a new girl for my top three and my third choice is Kacie B. I've actually liked her since the second episode, she's down to earth, sweet and totally in it for Ben. She will definitely be in it til the end!
So here is the current standings and of course hearts around my favorites!! I hope Ben makes the right decision... looking forward to what happens next week! hehehe
