Happy Cinco de Graduation

Yay!!! What a long 2 years, but totally worth it! Derek finished up the MBA program strong and celebrated strong! Since graduation was 2 days after Cinco de Mayo, he decided to have a sombrero party! You all know, I'm a senorita at heart and love Mexican food, so I was so excited for this party!
A trip to Costco served Derek and I well and saved us a fortune on catering. And thanks to Derek's mother, Claudia, the food was delicious! And the margaritas weren't bad either :) We even had a sombrero pinata filled with airplane bottles. With all our friends, neighbors and wonderful family, this day turned out to be so special. We love to host and we love to celebrate!
Congratulations D-rock!

Mint Juleps Anyone?

Just the name alone makes me happy! I am a true southern whiskey girl... and I love Mint Juleps! May 1st, 2010 was The Junior League of Wilmington's 2nd annual Mint Julep Jubilee at Poplar Grove Plantation. Derek and I attended last year and had a blast, so we recruited a gang this year! We enjoyed an absolute beautiful Saturday afternoon of cocktails, boccie ball, corn hole, ladder golf, a silent auction and of course... the Kentucky Derby! Unfortunately, our horse didn't win, but the hoot-n-hollering was still a lot of fun. And what could be better than ladies and gents in their best dressed and southern hats!? I love everything about this event and I'm so looking forward to next year! Great job MJJ committee members!

Me and Lindsey Suggs! Love the hat!

Derek and I betting on our horse!

A Month Full of Events!

Oh my goodness I can't believe I haven't written in over a month! So this post will be a recap of April's events and weekends (sorry its so long!)

March
Mayfaire's Easter Event was tremendously successful! Our retailers saw a 20% increase in sales! What more could we ask for?! And yes, the Easter Bunny costume finally came in... one day before the Bunny visits started..talk about stressful. But the wait was worth it becuase he was adorable!

April
With all the Azalea Festival Activities going on in Wilmington, we were lucky to get the Budweiser Clydesdales and Miss USA, Kristin Dalton, at Mayfaire.
I absolutely love horses, so seeing 8 huge Clydesdales up close was a dream come true! They were so beautiful! I had the opportunity to not only pet the horses but ride in the official beer wagon... a once in a lifetime moment!


And continuing with once in a lifetime, shopping with Miss USA wasn't too bad either. She was super sweet and a lot of fun!


This fun filled weekend in April also included my cousins wedding. Derek and I were lucky to have my family stay with us for the weekend, so we hosted a family cook-out game night Friday and of course enjoyed the wedding on Saturday.

Me with my little cousin, Cooper Meadlock.

I caught the bouquet!!!!! (now there's no excuses D :)

I love Sparklers!

And last my not least, Derek turned 27 on April 18th! And of course...we had a party (so not surprising... we are always hosting a party!). The day was filled with flag football, 1 lap around "The Loop", a walk on the beach, Bojangles (yum!) and afternoon cocktails!

Oh!!!!!!!!! And I got my 3-wheeler! My step dad, Trip, built me a 3-wheeler basically from scratch! It is so awesome! Now Derek and I can just ride our bikes to the beach and carry beach chairs, a cooler, the umbrella... almost anything in the "Blondie" beach bike! Thank you Trip!

This will be a very short post becuase this Monday is crazy!
As you all know, Easter is just around the corner....literally, for me! My "Visits with the Easter Bunny" at the Shopping Center begin on Sunday. Yikes! All morning I have been hanging pipe & drape, flowers from the ceiling, laying down green AstroTurf & filling Easter baskets with 1,000 eggs.
For the past 3 weeks, I have been hunting (ironic choice of word there) for the best Easter Bunny costume at the best price and aha! I found one on ebay! Clicked, ordered, paid, shipped.
Well, my ebay "Easter Bunny" package arrived today, just in time for me to steam out the wrinkles and make any necessary changes.
These are the days that make me love my job.... when I can run down our hallway, large bag in hand, singing "Here comes Peter Cotton Tail, hopping down the bunny trail.."!
My anticipation as I'm opening the package is overwhelming (I get really excited over this kind of stuff), as I'm tossing packaging paper left and right with my entire Mayfaire staff watching. Finally, I'm down to the last part, opening up the black bag and..... "green?". "Hm, I don't remember this costume having any green parts".
My entire mood went from ecstatic to pissed off! They sent me a green turtle costume!!!!! Oh my goodness, I have no idea what to do right now, except for... take a photo of myself in the green turtle costume of course! Who wouldn't do that, right?
Yes, my mood switched right back to happy again as I was pulling the turtle body suit over my work clothes. Did I mention I was laughing hysterically? Well, so much so that tears were coming down from both my eyes and my boss' eyes. This was too funny. Before it was even lunch time, we had 3 official turtles in the office: Me, Sue & Melody.
Several phone calls and emails later to the ebay company, I just received word that I had a second tracking number (package) on the way. "Must be the Easter Bunny" they said.
Now this is even more ironic.... ever heard of Tortoise and the Hare...?
The turtle always wins! haha
Well, for now I have a turtle suit, so, if you want your photo taken with the most adorable turtle in town, COME TO MAYFAIRE!
"Here comes Peter hard back shell, crawling down the turtle trail.."

Mayfaire Town Center wins "Best Shopping Center"

And another one bits the dust, JK (sort of).
I am so excited that Mayfaire won "Best Shopping Center" by Encore Publications for the Cape Fear Area! Once a year, Encore magazine publishes a "Best of" issue by readers choice. Readers go online and vote "best" for numerous categories such as: restaurant, retailer, spa, pizza, beer, tourist spot, etc for the Wilmington Area. Mayfaire beat out Lumina Station, The Forum, Landfall Shopping Center, Hanover Center and of course...the Independence Mall!
This is my second year with this award and honestly, the best part is the awards ceremony! Encore holds the awards ceremony downtown at Level 5 City Stage and boy is it a show! I was fortunate to miss the preview show 2 years ago featuring "The Full Monty" and from what I heard... it certainly was. The Encore Awards' host & presenters are local comedians and actors. They are hilarious and really make this event extremely entertaining.
Now, this isn't a Golden Globes ceremony by any means, but it certainly takes as long as the Golden Globes, with over 100 categories! Luckily, Mayfaire was within the first 20. Normally I have no fears with public speaking, but the city stage actors are on a hunt to embarrass almost everyone who goes up on stage to accept their award.... all for a good laugh. And this intimidates the heck out me! Luckily, they only ranted me about Mayfaire Gift Cards, so I got off pretty easy.
So all in all, it was a great night hanging out with Wilmington's best.

Why Dads are so great!

Derek purchased his first house in November of 2008 and we have been updating it little by little ever since we moved in. From new kitchen appliances, interior paint, a full exterior paint job and a new roof, we are having a blast with all our home improvement jobs.
Next on the home improvement agenda was the fireplace. When we moved in, there was black tar like glue all above the fireplace with no mantel and an unfinished hearth. What a job it was for Derek to remove it with a scrapper and liquid "gook-be-gone" ... leaving the house smelling of a combination between rotten eggs and gasoline. Just a horrible smell!
But after that, it didn't take long to sand the walls down & re-paint above the fireplace. Unfortunately, it stayed that way for several months. But not anymore!!! We finally finished the fireplace this past weekend by calling in the forces of my Dad and step mom, Jackie (queen of fireplaces) on Sunday.
But for us, the hard part was actually deciding on tile that we both liked, and then creating the design. I think the design work is by far the hardest part!
I knew without a doubt I wanted mosaic tile along the outside of the fireplace, but couldn't decide on the hearth. We visited the famous Home Depot probably 6 times (yes a few of the employees, including the manager, knew me by name by the end of the weekend).
I am all vision and Derek is all numbers, so it was the perfect combination when designing. We had a tough time deciding between two hearth designs, but in the end we chose the bordered mosaic design. Friday and Saturday consisted of cutting the mosaic tiles, hammering them up on the wall around the fireplace and laying out the design. Once all decisions were made it was time to lay down the mortar and set the tile. We were exhausted Saturday evening (mentally and physically), but good friends and a few beers certainly lifted our spirits!
Dad & Jackie came in on Sunday with every tool you could possibly think of and basically handcrafted the mantel framing from scratch. They not only built the mantel, helped us grout the tile, & hung our flat screen TV above the fireplace... they fixed our guest bedroom window, painted our kitchen ceiling and made us dinner.
Wow!!! That's all I could say. Well, that and... "I am so glad I don't have to live through Derek and I trying to do all this". Major props to Dad and Jackie! We worked you guys hard and we are very thankful for your helping hands and home improvement knowledge.
We have a few more things to do, like repaint the mantel and add the bottom trim around the skirt of the hearth, but for right now, we are loving our new living room!