eleventy thousand reasons why may is the best month ever

Ok, if you've known me for over a year, then we've lapsed my bday at least once, and you would know that we call it:

RACHELPALOOZA! 

I don't know why I love my birthday so much. Perhaps it's because it's always around Memorial Day weekend, so people want to do something fun (like the beach or lake) and I get to celebrate while on vacay with others. Perhaps it's because it's the perfect weather for being outside. Maybe it's because May is the only month that doesn't have to be abbreviated. WHO KNOWS! Here's why May is the best month ever for me (and it's not only bc of my birthday!):

1. Surprise birthday treat from Chick-fil-a! (ok, this one does have to do with mah birfday)

My mom gets us chickfila calendars for Christmas every year. Did you know Chick-fil-a coupons never expire?!? Even if there's an expiration date on the coupon, they'll take it! My sister used 2008 calendar coupons last year for several meals.. I'm sure they were thrilled.  

 Ol' chickfila has wised up and discovered that the public knows that they'll take expired coupons, so now the new calendar has a card to be swiped instead of paper coupons. Therefore once the month is over, they won't be able to take it. How rude/smart of them! 

All that being said.. when you register your card, you put in your birthday, and look!: 

They gave me a free cookie since Rachelpalooza is this month! WOO! 

moving on..

2. Cinco de Mayo!

Any holiday that has it's own drink and decor (margs and mustaches, duh) is a plus in my book. My friend Anne Kimball is getting married and they had a Cinco de Mayo themed party. They had a pinata filled with mustaches! along with delicious tacos and some very strong margaritas of which I need the recipe.. 

My friend Trae was one of the hosts and his lovely wife made the delicious margs. Trae is one of the Dothan peeps and we've gone to school together since kindergarden. Aw wee! Apparently I was so excited that I got the crazy eyes. 

The day after that party was actually May 5th, so naturally this happened: 

Which brings me to #3: 

Baseball season! 

I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I am a fan of drinking outside. Lucky for me, Birmingham has its own baseball team, the Birmingham Barons. Candace, Brooke, and I went to the game on Sunday dressed in our finest sombreros. (You remember them from the D.C. trip)

Brooke caught this t-shirt.. HA! 

It was freezing outside, so we warmed up with some brewskies. 

Beer. Baseball. Birmingham. Barons. Beets. Bears. Battlestar Gallactica. (Office, anyone?)

We hoped we would get on the news. Did anyone see us? 

The stadium is brand spankin' new, and I LOVE this giant Birmingham sign on the outside. So. cool. I also can't help but notice it's the same font as ol' Herring Design Co. :D 

Well after the cold got down to our bones and some drizzly rain started to fall, we decided to go across the street to the Good People Brewery.

I had never been here, can you believe it?! 

Of course we had to round out the evening with some cheap Mexican food and margaritas! 

Ok we're getting off track..

#4: It's time for the big chop for Beautiful Lengths! 

I'll be cutting this mane off at the end of the month (i think..). May marks a year of growing out this madness. If I'm standing and look up, my hair can touch my butt. I haven't been able to do that since 5th grade! As nostalgic as that may be, it gets annoying, gets caught in my armpits (sexy), and I find myself constantly messing with it.. braiding it, twirling it, tying it to my face to make mustaches & beards with it. 

Don't worry. I plan on doing it all over again once it's chopped! 

#5: It's LAKE SEASON! 

Our family got a boat! Binky is dying to get a captain's hat. 

Everyone loves boat rides!

Would you like to know what's still in our lakehouse? 

a Christmas tree.

My dad thinks it will be hilarious to have a naked tree for the 4th of July, so he goes over and shakes it every so often so the needles will fall off. 

We all met up at the lake for Mother's Day weekend. 

I found this little gem while we were there. A while ago, I hid some Junior Mints in a random drawer that never gets used. I forgot about them, but dad stumbled upon them and left me this little note. HA!

This is what Cotton does bc she's so terrified of my dad.. sits in the back most corner of the porch. 

Do you know who isn't afraid of him? Possum. They're practically BFF.  

Ahhhh, I can't wait to come a million times this summer!

Captain Ray.

While we were hanging out one day, I decided it would be good to "shave" Cotton. I use quotations because I'm not actually shaving her.. I've gone through 2 sets of clippers, and her fur is so thick that it breaks them. So I used scissors. 

Oh, are those flowers floating on top of the water? Nope. Tons of Cotton fur. 

She sat on the dock by herself for about 15 minutes after I was done. Embarrassed? or trying to get a tan with her new short do? 

Let me tell ya who isn't embarrassed of their do: ol' Ray. 

Is that how you light a grill, or what?

We always have quite the spread at the lake. Shrimpies and burgers. DELICIOUS!

I gave mom some sweet tea vodka for Mother's Day, and we both got a little out of control.

Haha! I was drinking bourbon, working on some string arts, when I realized it was midnight and I could shout HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. I turned around and she was out, so I decided this was more appropriate. 

Maybe I should get my hair cut like this:

I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of Diesel (or Murray or Neanie). My schweet baby pup pups. This is my lame segway into

#7: Cotton and Diesel's Birthday! 

Yep, I sure did dress them up for a photo shoot (that lasted all of 3 minutes). It is their 7th birthday after all!

Most people don't believe it, because they are opposite in every way, but they are brother and sister. Their mother Dixie is my pup back in Dothan. She got knocked up and I picked these two precious nuggets to come back to Auburn with me!

You can read all about their birth story here! 

Some puppy pics, shall we? This is Diesel and their sister Biscuit. I knew I wanted one of the white ones. 

We had tons of fun in Auburn!

I think this is my favorite picture of Cottonball. 

AWWWWW! 

Could they be any cuter?

Diesel just loves his sissy.

They're birthday is May 15th, so I gave them several treaties for their big day!

and the birthday excitement doesn't stop there.. 

#8: Sweet baby Cam's birthday! 

That's right, I share a birthday month with the chosen one. Here's his cake from a couple of years ago: 

Yep, he's smiling bc he also knows May is the best month ever.

And who else shares it with us?! 

MURRAY!

#9: Murray's Birthday!! 

Saved the best for last! 

My dear sweet Mur mur's birthday is a mere 4 days after mine, so we've been trying to think of a fancy name to shout at the epic birthday weekend coming up.. 

Murraystock! 

Murrayroo! 

Murraymania! 

RACHELPALOOZA AND MURRAYMANIA 2013, HERE WE COME!

I think we need some coozies done up for the occasion.

tin bama blocks

Oh my word, it's finally a non-traveling post! 

I took these babies to the art show last month. When my ma brought all that wood up here, these cedar pieces were in there. The wood is so pretty up close and in person. 

I didn't want to cut them up because they were such thick, lovely pieces. I did cut up the thinner slats for the herringbone bama art piece. I thought about painting something on top, but ultimately stuck with my favorite shape: the great state of Alabama. 

As usual, I had my trusty assistants on hand. 

Aw wee!  

I'm not going to put these on Etsy (at least not yet), and I'll be pedaling them at art shows. I don't have many more of the thick cedar pieces, but I do have some wide pieces of pine that I'll start using once I make more. The fourth one from the left with the rust on top of the bama is the only one that's sold so far, so if you'd like one, just shoot me an email. $35 plus shipping, y'all (unless you live local, then we can meet up). 

And in case you want to know where your art is coming from, the wood is from Dothan and the tin is from Auburn.

kentucky road trip!

My old roomie Kate had her wedding in Kentucky a couple of weekends ago. Murray and I ended up driving by ourselves up there, and I've got to say this was one of the best road trips I've ever taken! The only downfall: I didn't bring my nice camera. Of course I realized this was a huge mistake a few hours outside of Bham while trying to take tons of scenery pics out the window. 

First off, you know the weekend will be good when you wake up to this. 

Hilarious.

Cotton had to get in on the bed action too. I know I've announced on the blog that I let them sleep with me, but once I got a new comforter, I made them sleep in doggie beds on the floor (for months now). Sometimes when it's time to wash the bedding, I'll let them up (best mom ever). My super sweet neighbors watched them while we were on the trip.

ps- Cotton does in fact have 2 eyes. Not sure why the right one is creepily blacked out..

We set off on our journey around lunch. Murray so nicely drove so I could do string art (and take a million pictures) in the passenger seat. We passed through Nashville mid afternoon

and once we passed into Kentucky, we realized how epic our trip back would be..

I'd like to take the time to say how awesome it is to have a smart phone. I was able to check and see if Dinosaur World was open (we just barely missed closing on Friday) and made sure we'd be able to hit it up on Sunday (FO SHO!). Had they not been open, we might've just found a hotel in Cave City for the night..

Btw, Kentucky is just lovely. Not only for the scenery..

But also for the bourbon and 40s. Ya know, because we can't have these babies in Alabama. 

There are barns everywhere! Tons of them, and half of them are falling apart waiting on me to come pull the wood down to make art with.. Who'd like to make a trip back up there with me, sneak into a field, and load up my car with slats of wood?

The wedding was in Danville, and we got into town right at dinner time. We decided to eat at Bluegrass Pizza and Pub. Murray got meat lovers pizza.. I got chicken pesto. Note: I lost the who-ordered-the-better-pizza game. We also drank some White Rascal beer. Yum yum.  

While we were there, we ran into a group of people that were going to the wedding! They knew Kate and were from Birmingham. They asked us if we wanted to go with them to the Maker's Mark Distillery the next day. Uhh, yes please! Instant friends! 

Kate had tons of little details planned for the wedding weekend, including this welcome bag in the hotel room. It had the address on the card, which I thought was smart, because a lot of peeps probably didn't bring the invitation with them. I've yet to show you them, but Kate got me to design the wedding invitation suite! It included the logo, which is the initials within the laurel wreath below. EEE! 

So the next day, our little group headed out to the Maker's Mark Distillery for a tour.

It was almost an hour away from Danville, but it was worth it. If you're ever around there, GO! 

It was a bit dreary, but that wasn't going to stop the tour! 

The story is very cool. A family bought the distillery back in the 1800s. The water they use is limestone filtered and is from a spring-fed lake right next to the distillery. Below are the copper stills. They distill the whiskey, and when it comes out of these, it's clear. They actually started bottling that 120 proof goodness and sell it ONLY in the gift shop at the distillery.  

Ain't they purdy?

The distillery holds a world record! 

Below are the cypress fermenting tanks. They actually let us stick our fingers in there to taste.

They're about 4 foot tall when you walk in the room, but the barrel goes down to the floor below. Below is a pic looking down. 

From there we walked across to the place where they store the barrels.

They rotate them by hand. 

Me and Murray in the barrel room. 

Next up was the bottling room! (sorry for the fuzziness)

I honestly thought it would be bigger than it was. 

Here are the corks

and here is where they dip the bottles in the wax by hand! The bottles come down the conveyor belt and the workers dip them into the melting pots there below. 

Our lovely tour guide showing us how they dip. There are only 4 people dipping at once, and they dip one bottle every 2 seconds. Craziness! They work in 30 minute shifts to prevent injury. ALL of the bigger Maker's Mark bottles are dipped here by hand. The only thing they outsource are the minis, and those are also dipped by hand. 

She told us if you take a tour on a weekday, you can watch them dip! I must come back!! 

Next we headed to the tasting room. Notice anything cool about the shutters? They have the shape of the Maker's Mark bottles cut out in the middle! 

The tasting rooms were lovely! 

There was Maker's Mark themed art

and of course the bourbon itself. 

Everyone had three glasses with Maker's White, Maker's Mark, and Maker's 46. 

The Maker's White is the one I told you about earlier that they only sell at the distillery. Maker's 46 was created by the 3rd generation owner (i think), and it's only been available for a few years. 

I took pictures of the art in our tasting room. Barnwood painting, ftw. 

More barnwood with a barrel top. This was my favorite. 

A wax dip painting.

and more wood with barrel lids. 

another view of the tasting room

The tasting room across the hall.

They had these chocolate nuts as we left. I forgot what they were called. 

Next up was the gift shop. There was another painting on old Coca Cola crates. 

We got to do the coolest thing of all: dip our own bottles! 

The bottles are really expensive in the gift shop, so just know that going in.. That's why we got a smaller one. 

I had to put on an apron, sleeves, gloves, and safety glasses. 

Listening to the lady give me instructions.

All you did was dip..

spin the bottle,

then sit it down. 

I forgot to get s pic in the shop, so I took one in the car on the way back. The label had a place that said "dipped by ____ on ____" so I'll always know I dipped that bottle! How exciting!

We grabbed some lunch back in town and then got ready for the wedding! The weather was a little overcast. It was suppose to rain all day, but luckily it held out! 

Here's the beautiful bride coming down the hill. I didn't want to whip my phone out, but it was just so picturesque! That and we were on the back row, so I didn't have to hold it above everyone's head. 

Walking out as husband and wife! (and photographer)

The wedding was at Kate's grandparent's farm, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Tons of farm land.

The reception was held in the barn.

Isn't it nifty?

The barn is painted black for a reason.

Black barns mean it is meant for tobacco. They were painted black to help warm up the inside and dry out the tobacco leaves. 

Below you can see the slats are spaced out to allow ventilation for the leaves, which were hung from the beams you see in the foreground. 

Murray, me, Katie, and Bradley

my hair is out of control.. almost time for the big chop, yall. 

The awesome bourbon bar. 

They had these delicious ginger drinks. Also, very yummy Old Fashions (cherry bourbon drinks).  

Cheers!

The couple arriving to the reception

Roomies! 

More farm shots from the view of the reception barn.

There was a big family style table on one side. The food was delicious!

At the end of the night, they brought around warm cookies and milk! 

It was all glorious.

There was a bluegrass band to go along with the Kentucky theme. You betta believe we got down on the dance floor! 

Kate's married! EEE! 

Kate got down with the moms and grandmas! 

Isn't her dress perfect?

Guess who caught the garter? Yep, Murray. I got a picture of Brett, the groom, with Murray, and right before I got the shot, Brett said "put it in your mouth!". Hilarious! 

Brett and Murray are both from Selma, and that's where Kate and Brett will live.

I somehow got a shot of the couple without people around. Don't you just want to put them on top of a cake? 

Next was time for the departure with sparklers! We stood with our new friends Peyton and Kayla. Murray and Peyton (and Kayla too) all bonded over being bama fans. How fun for me! (i kid, i kid)

I love finding new friends!

Peyton lighting his sparkler on a fake candle haha!

The rain continued to hold out for us to send off the couple.

Kate wore the skirt her mother wore at her wedding, so it was extra special.

Brett went in for a big kiss!

Kate was thrilled hahah! 

How sweet! 

They gave out these little bags fill of pecans as favors. Brett was walking around at some point asking "did you get your nut sack?" hahaha! So so funny!

It poured rain right after the reception was over, but I was so glad it held out until the festivities were over. The next day, we headed back to Alabama. Since we knew the back story on the black barns, we would say "BLACK BARN!" whenever we saw one. 

It was glorious for the drive back. 

My lovely chauffeur. 

Just a few hours away from Danville was Cave City and DINOSAUR WORLD!!!! 

The Cave City exit is so kitschy. Tons of cheesy touristy goodness. 

Before we went to Dinosaur World, we went to check out Mammoth Cave. It's the biggest cave in the world! They constantly have tours (there are over 400 miles of trails underground). We took the "New Entrance Tour" which started just 15 minutes after we arrived. The website said to make reservations beforehand, but we just showed up and tested our luck. If that tour had been full, we would've gone on another around the same time. Some were an hour long, and others lasted up to 6 hours. This one was around 2 hours. 

The New Entrance meant we went through, what else, the new entrance. It was man made back in the 1920s. It looks really sketchy and is through a little door at the bottom of a sinkhole. 

Creepy, eh? 

We went down about 200 ft by a little metal staircase. 

Curses for not bringing my nice camera! 

Although the passage was tiny, the rooms once down there were huge. 

There were flat ceilings in some places with limestone.

It had rained a lot around the area for the previous weeks, so there were a lot of active waterfalls that aren't usually there. This one below was just a hole in the ceiling, dropping water into another hole in the ground. 

This part of the cave below is called the "Frozen Niagra" because it looks like a frozen waterfall. 

Stalactites!

After we left the cave. We made it through in our Toms and loafers! (Note: we didn't bring cave walking shoes/tennis shoes like everyone else was sporting). There were big ol' crickets (they looked like spiders) as you entered and exited the cave. I was terrified one might've stow-awayed in my jacket, but I was in the clear!

After the tour, they told us we could go look at the natural entrance just a short distance away, which is a huge hole in the ground.

Yeah!

So pretty!

Of course I made Murray do the pose!

The temp changed about 20 degrees once you walked through the mouth of the cave. 

I just liked this fish notice.

We saw TONS of wild turkeys on the way to Mammoth Cave, so we decided to rename the state:

Kenturkey. 

We HAD to stop at the biggest gift shop on the way back. After all, they had about 37 signs advertising it before and after we got there. 

And how could you not stop when this is in the front?

It's name is Big Moe. 

They also had TONS of rocks!!!!

How could you not love this Americana?!? 

These rocks were huge.  

Murray demonstrated.

America! If this doesn't make you want to buy some rocks, then you must be a terrorist. 

And yes, I bought a rock. What? Don't judge. 

Well you know what was next..

DINOSAUR WORLD! 

The entrance was the creepiest part.

We laughed because out of the Maker's Mark Tour, Mammoth Cave, and Dinosaur World, the most expensive was Dinosaur World. ($7, $12, and $12.50 respectively if you're wanting to recreate our magical trip)

It was well worth it thought. 

Where else can you pose with dinosaurs and learn facts about them all at the same time?!

So realistic! haha

The picture below itself was worth $12.50 hahah

This sign explains that you're about to see the dinosaur that is visible from the highway, and it is in fact made up. There was never a dinosaur painted up like a tiger, so they named him Photosaurus. 

RAWR! 

We both had to pose with him of course. 

There was also a Mammoth Garden. 

When there's something to pose with, you know I'm going to cheese it up for the photo op. 

Exhibit A: 

Exhibit B: 

Exhibit C: 

Lucky for me, Murray does the same thing.

We took several pictures with this thing..

before realizing you could crawl inside!

There was a riveting museum with some artifacts. 

and hilarious window displays. 

Before we left town, we ate at the Wheelhouse Restaurant. 

We will be back! There were tons of other touristy things I need to do, and of course, we need to finish the bourbon tour (where you go to all the distilleries in Kentucky). 

Congrats Kate and Brett!