Oh it’s almost over! Summer will be leaving us shortly, and fall will be here soon. {However, for this Carolina girl, I know good and well that the summer heat lasts all the way into October…oh joy!} I don’t know about you, but I’m sort of ready for the fall?! Don’t get me wrong…I absolutely LOVE summertime…but I’m ready for scarves, boots, and that crisp autumn air! {Oh, and pumpkin spice vanilla latte’s…YUM!}

This past summer was absolutely amazing! I had such a great summer and stayed pretty busy throughout {hence the no blogging about it! Sorry!} So, to make up for all of it…I’ve decided to put together a little recap of pretty much everything I did this past summer! {by the way…some of these photos come straight from my phone {so sorry about the quality!}

Enjoy!

My summer started Memorial Day weekend visiting one of my best friends in “the D”.  Elizabeth moved to Detroit almost two years ago and I hadn’t been up there to see her, so I flew up over the weekend! It was quite an experience!

Spent lots of time with this little girl! Love my niece! 

My office during one of the many, many rainy days we had! {Please excuse the mess on the desk!} My office isn’t completely finished and put together…but it does the trick for me! 

Savannah turned 3! She had a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party! 

At Savannah’s birthday party I asked my grandma’s to take pictures with me so I could fill my new house up with pictures of my family WITH ME ACTUALLY IN THEM! I love these next few pictures of me and the women of my family! My mom and I!

My grandmas, my mom, and I.

Nothing like a good pair of sunglasses, right? 

Shot lots and lots of weddings this summer! This is what I typically look like when I’m at a wedding…big ol’ camera bag, binder with shot list and timeline, and messy hair of course. Some photobooth fun at Lily & Jake’s wedding day.
Put some pink peonies from my front porch on my dad’s gravesite on Fathers Day.  That was a pretty tough day for me… It’s not easy for this Daddy’s Girl to be without her Daddy that’s for sure!

My best friend Morgan came to visit me and my new house! She brought me the prettiest bouquet of green hydrangeas too! She’s the best! 

Us on my front porch!

My work crew! Love working at Hawthorne’s and I love my job as a waitress! 

Marlo and I at a family dinner one night…Isn’t she gorgeous!? 

I absolutely love living in Downtown Monroe! I literally ride my bike everywhere! {Even to the post office to deliver client DVD’s!} 

I got all brand new equipment this wedding season! I couldn’t be any happier!

Our Family beach house! Love that place!

Savannah and I having a little photoshoot in the car on vacation!

I love beach days and salty hair!

Sitting on the ferry waiting to go over to Southport on vacation.

Carolina Beach

Probably the best donuts in the world. Hands down. My sweet savannah! 

I let Savannah {carefully} grab hold of my camera…She took a TON of pictures…This is the way she sees me…blurry.

Provisions Restaurant in Southport.  I absolutely LOVE this place…it’s my favorite restaurant in the world. Nothing too extreme, just simple.  Paper plates, fast food, no fancy table settings…just great food, cold beer, waterfront dining in the heart of Southport.  I will live there one day. I took all these pictures for Provisions.  I plan on having some of them framed and hung up in the beach house kitchen. Peel-n-Eat Shrimp.  Best meal ever.

Mom & I on vacationI’ve been doing very well on my dieting and exercising this summer so I thought I’d indulge in some peanut butter icecream after dinner one night on vacation.  Needless to say it was amazing…

Beach life ain’t bad life.

Bought my new Lilly Agenda.  This one is my 5th one I’ve owned…I absolutely LOVE these planners! 

A little sneak preview of the house…I hung that canvas to the left finally! It’s a canvas that my friend Katy hand painted with Proverbs 31 on it.  She did these canvases to raise money for her mission trip. I love it!
Finally completed my living room mantel!

Found this old table at an antique store for dirt cheap! I was really just going to buy the chairs, but for the price I couldn’t pass up the entire set! Of course, I recovered the chairs the day I brought them home. Dining room chairs before….

Dining room chairs AFTER! I covered them in a lime green burlap fabric. {Cost me $8 to cover all four chairs!} Never be afraid to go for color! The color literally makes the chairs pop now! 

The whole table after! I love my dining room now! 

Morgan and I at Trivia night at Dunwellz! 

My running attire! Since the end of May, I’ve been waking up at 7:00-7:30ish and running by 8:00.  When I started, I could barely run a mile without being out of breath! Now I’m running a 5K every morning and LOVING it!! I still have more to go, but I absolutely love the high I get from running! I’ve lost 22 pounds since I’ve started! Woo!

I’m a collector of state plates! I finally hung these plates in my breakfast room. It’s so much fun to collect something like these plates! Anytime I’m at a flea market, vintage store, or thrift shop, I always am digging through the plate section to find one of these bad boys.  I end up finding them for cheap too! I then come home and write where I found the plate and the date on the back of each! Love this!

Morgan and I at Keith Urban concert tailgating! Love her! I had SO much fun that night! 

We started the concert ALL THE WAY in the back of the lawn section.  When the concert started, a guy came up to us and gave us all pit passes! We then moved all the way up to the front! It was awesome!  Being this close to Little Big Town and Keith Urban was amazing!

Found a cute little restaurant in Monroe that I bike to occasionally. 

Getting my workflow on…I worked a lot this summer…only to go on a lot of vacations too! 😉 All play and no work, right?

While on my morning run one day, I ran onto the set of a commercial for Bank of America! They asked if I wanted to be an extra….uhh….of course! 

My mom and grandma and I at the beach!

Morgan and I at the beach!I decided Morgan looked too cute in her vintage red skirt to not take pictures of her! She looked so gypsy like!

One of my favorite pictures of all time! {Morgan called this our “funeral pic”….you know, the picture that will be displayed at our funeral….haha!}

Now looking back on it, I really wish I would’ve done more blogging over the summer…and believe me…I will try my hardest to blog more! {Pinki promise!} I still have yet to blog about my house which a ton of people have asked to see…{I’m the worst at this y’all, I swear I am!} So be on the look out for the house blog post soon!

Enjoy the rest of the summer y’all! {or what’s left of it, at least!} Thanks so much for taking a peek at my summer fun! I hope everyone had a great summer of their own as well!

Love y’all!

Xo, Emma Loo