Concert Craziness!

Hello 2019! We kicked off this month with a challenge we haven’t done before, which is called “dry-uary” (dry January). This is where you obstain from drinking any alcohol for the entire month. It wasn’t really that bad, however, as you will see, they were many events that were centered around a big social activity where we normally would have had a glass of wine or two. That was especially tempting, but we both powered through and stayed strong throughout the month. On the positive side, I’m sure it helped perform a reboot of our systems after the holidays and also allowed us to try some creative “mocktail” concoctions.

The first weekend of the month, we celebrated a fun night out with our neighbors at a local restaurant. Later that week, about 11 girls went to dinner at The Cellar at Duckworth’s prior to going to the Justin Timberlake concert. We had an absolute blast and the concert was incredible. He sang nearly all of his hits and the stage was super impressive! In the center of the entire arena was a circular main stage with something incredibly unique—there was a bar surrounding it with bartenders serving people drinks. I have never seen this before and it was so awesome how the stage was set up with catwalks spanning both sides of the center stage so he could really work the entire crowd. His dancing and singing were equally incredible!

On a separate note, we have begun discussions with local contractors to remodel our master bathroom. After interviewing about four different firms, we settled on one that our great friends used for their kitchen remodel and are looking forward to getting the project underway. The next step is selecting all the materials and working on the design. We anticipate the project will take about six to eight weeks once all the materials are in. Can’t wait to show off the before and after photos.

Hanleigh attended a slumber party at her best friend, Mila’s, house and we celebrated GG & Dadaw’s 70th wedding anniversary by surprising them at a local restaurant. The entire family was there and they had no idea that we were going to all be there. In their honor, we all donated to the foundation that is in their name at Western Kentucky University which provide scholarships for students. It was so great celebrating such a huge milestone with them!!!

Brayden had her monthly Cotillion class, where they discussed table etiquette. We are going to sign her up for the second year as well. It’s a great learning experience for her! Hanleigh’s school had their annual movie night, and we spent one day car shopping. Both of our cars are getting up there in terms of mileage and we are trying to figure out what our next move will be in terms of purchasing a new vehicle. We are definitely looking at used cars so that we are not dealing with the huge markup that occurs with new cars. We’ll see what happens. I really don’t want a car payment! My concern is that we don’t end up having to buy two cars at the same time, so we need to at least replace one of ours with a new vehicle in the near term.

We took my mom out to dinner for her 67th birthday one night and then also went to see the movie “Free Solo”. We have been pretty obsessed with learning about Alex Honnold and the amazing accomplishments he has achieved through the sport of free climbing. We watched documentaries about the sport and are just in awe by what he has done. It was awesome to see such a huge achievement captured on film! It even won an Oscar!!!

Brayden went to a slumber party at her best friend’s houses one evening, and Trent and I enjoyed a fabulous night out at Essex for dinner, followed by seeing Panic at the Disco in concert. Brendon Urie’s voice is so incredible, especially his falsetto. He had such a great energy during the concert and it was awesome to see them. I’ve been wanting to see them in concert for so many years, so glad we went!

Brayden got round two of braces put on this month as well. She will have to wear them for about two-and-a-half years and is taking it all in stride. I don’t think braces or glasses have the same social stigma as they did when I was growing up. Kids these days actually look forward to getting them!

A bunch of girls celebrated my friend, Julie’s, birthday during restaurant week by going to Corkbuzz for wine (of course, I wasn’t drinking anything) and then headed to Upstream for dinner. I’m pretty sure the tables around us lost their appetites based on our conversations and loud laughter at dinner. The restaurant was incredible and I cannot wait to go back. I love this group of girls from the hip hop class I take!

We rounded the month out by going to Kendall and Andrew’s house for his birthday party, and spent the night at their house. Their new home is beautiful and is on the lake. We stayed up late, hanging out by the bonfire and laughing a ton. I am looking forward to creating more memories with them this year during some really exciting trips. Lastly, Tonya and I had a great time at lunch one day catching up over some delicious food.

Surprisingly, there aren’t any Brayden-isms or Hanleigh-isms this month. I’m sure they said things that were completely hilarious, but I just didn’t capture them here.

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