my best friend got married.

so “best friend” is a wordage (sp?) a lot of girls over use. we have lots of “best friends”. Especially for ever season in your life. You have your high school best friend(s). Then your college best friend(s). And then your post college real world best friend(s). The numbers can really add up. Which is great, because it’s wonderful to be surrounded by love encouragement and support. I know I treasure each and every season of best friends I’ve had. About a month ago my very oldest best friend got married. Her and I have been living 1500 miles apart for over 10 years. But because she was my very first best friend, she’s remained. No matter what. to be my very best. We’re like sisters, so it KILLED me not to be able to have more involvement in planning her big day (although her Pinterest boards were more than detailed… haha)

Her weekend was so.much.fun! Country, BBQ, family and friends…Vadim & I eat all that up. Especially the BBQ. It was AMAZING! It was so wonderful to be a part of helping out the day before/day of & day after.Of course it rained part of the weekend as it always and only seems to do when Vadim and I go down to Texas for a wedding…but God is so good and cool, to have the rain stop right before the wedding started (which was outside at a beautiful ranch) and the sun come out and shine down right on us. AND only to have a HUGE storm come through about half an hour after the wedding was over. Which was perfect again, because the reception was indoors. So so cool to witness God’s perfect timing.

sisters together again:)

my very best friend.

hair & makeup done!

her big day! just get that dress on!

headed to the ranch to get hitched!

Cameron’s ladies

my new fast friend Jessica, who i love.

Chrishy & Crashie

my best friend is getting married!!!

we are some strong ladies…

awww

beautiful.

Everything went flawlessly. It was such a special, beautiful day and weekend. Cameron was so beautiful. I got to say a speech that made her cry. Vadim says that means it was a good one:) And I got to be with my oldest best friend as she became a married woman. The weekend was filled with 1am Wal-Mart runs, lots of laughs, lots and lots of dancing, and the best company ever. I believe if I could I’d do it all over again:)

my night of COUNTRY

One of my favorite nights to boot in this city was Saturday night. 5 ladies. 1 zip car. a bottle of wine and 5 dixie cups. Chick-Fil-A. Late night Sonic run. Kenny Chesney. Tim McGraw.

So back in January of this year my friend Bethany sent an email out about a Kenny Chesney/Time McGraw concert that was happening Saturday, August 11th at the Met Life Stadium (where the Giants/Jets play) and tickets just went on sale. It was SO far in advance, but I am a HUGE country girl so I was absolutely on board along with 4 other girlfriends. None of us thought we would all actually be able to make it when it came time, but lo and behold 2:30pm on Saturday, Hannah & I were making the rounds to pick everyone up and head to Jersey! Our first stop past the bridge was Chick-Fil-A. yum! Hits the spot every single time. Then on we went to the stadium where we parked and “tailgated” if you will. Which consisted of a very small cooler of beer, a bottle of wine and 5 dixie cups. haha, wasn’t a big spread but we had a ball!

We went into the stadium about 5:30pm which was in between sets, right before Tim came out. This is when we took the opportunity to take the group shot, settle in etc…because when Tim came on the stage. dressed in tight white jeans and a see through (not that we could really see anything from our seats) white v-neck, and his staple black leather cowboy hat, we were all SMITTEN. He was fantastic!!! We could NOT stop talking about him. Well after he finished up I went down to see a friend who was sitting in section 111 with her fiance. And she told me to bring my girls down because there were seats available right behind them in the THIRD ROW of section 111. That’s pretty much on the field folks! I text my girlfriends and right after it sent my phone died!! So I ran up the bazillion flights of stairs to our third level just as they were walking out, so stoked that we could sit closer. We got to our seats just as Kenny came on the stage. He was SO close. We didn’t need the jumbo trons, we could really see him! My eyes caught a girl climbing over the first row into the second row right in front of us, and she saw me looking at her and smiled. It took me a couple seconds, and then I realized it was LEIGHTON MEESTER. Looking as normal as ever! Way dressed down and just enjoying the concert. bahahaha so cool! Not too long after seeing her, we get pulled by one of the security guys, asking if we wanted to go on the floor. THE FLOOR. Lord only knows how much tickets are to be down there. But there we were, 5 city girls being escorted around the floor having the best time listening to Kenny Chesney sing on a summer night, only feet away.

Needless to say it was FRICKING AWESOME. What made it even better was when Tim McGraw came back out and sang duets with Kenny. in tight ripped jeans, a wife beater, and that sexy black cowboy hat. The duets were by far our favorite part. Because we were so close to them, hello!!!

To end the night off we stopped at Sonic where we got limeades and cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper, and the best Grilled Cheese ever. Perfect girls night. Perfect.

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3 years in the concrete jungle

We recently “celebrated” our 3 year NY anniversary. Is it really possible we’ve been living here that long already?! So, as is per usual, I will do the “this is how this year in NY has changed us” post. Long quotation I apologize. So to see what has gone on the past year I referenced my Facebook Timeline (thanks for the tip V). Normally I do bullet points on the big, fun happening that have gone on, and I could do that. But I really noticed that this past year (via Facebook) has been mainly about our friends. It’s been the year that our NY friendships have flourished the most. In NY that can be hard to do, as it’s typically a temporary residence and no one stays all that long. Although we have seen that with some friends; for the most part our friends seem grounded here in NY for the long hall (or at least a few more years). so this past year:: (since July ’11)

We moved to BROOKLYN. this really just speaks for itself

We had our best couple friends here get married in May. We get to now live life with them which includes dinners, Tuesday night basketball/bbq/wine drinking this summer, and just hanging out. we just LOVE that they’re our neighbors! and that we get quality marrieds who we feel we’ve known forever, close by:)

We got more involved with our church this past year. I lead a guest relations team and Vadim manages the Facebook page and helps with the website. Our church has REALLY become family. Seeing what is God is doing in the city has been the coolest. The quality of life in New York isn’t the greatest let’s just be honest. But our church keeps us here on the weekends. We love the people SO much. Growing together with new friends and friends of a few years has been what’s been the biggest blessing this year for SURE.

Travel was also huge this past year. We got to go to South America (Argentina & Chile) AND China! Traveling together is probably one of our favorite things to do, which is great because with my brother and sister-in-law moving to Singapore in September the international adventures are sure to continue! Not to discount our domestic travel which has included the midwest & the south and all the people we love in those places.

Going back to Brooklyn…living in the amazing bk has really allowed us to open our home in fun new ways this year like bbq’s, temporary roommates, couples dinners, just chilling on the patio listening to country pretending I don’t live right smack in the middle of way too many people:) Our new home has been the second biggest blessing this year. Next to all the amazing friends and “family” that fill it every week. Excited for what the next year will bring! God is so faithful.

fire island

We are really getting after our bucket list! Well fire island wasn’t on it, but it should have been! What a magical place fire island is. It’s not quite as cool as the island on LOST, but man…pretty close! (sorry about the spastic exclamations…) We got invited last minute by our friends Max & Candice to come with them on a day trip last Saturday. We jumped on the adventure, and are so glad we did. Fire Island is off of Long Island somewhere (don’t ask me where…) but c’mon an island off of an island has got to be one of the coolest things…and driving in a car listening to country music as we headed out of the city to the island….that’s the kind of summer I’m talking about! It was a day full of seafood, beer, sun, sand, great conversation and ice cream, hello! Definitely a place we won’t forget, and hope to do again soon:)

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photos by my fab husband Vadim:)

experiencing brooklyn…& rooftops

Last weekend Vadim & I actually took advantage of all the fun to be had in our fantastic BK borough. Friday night we had a date night at the Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg. If you live in the city and you haven’t experienced this, you.need.to.GO! It really is such a fun experience. Dinner AND a movie. Dinner AT the movie. We had a blast! And the food was really good too!  Saturday we got up and went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. They’re on the other side of Prospect Park where we live, but well worth the hike across. We discovered online that Saturdays before noon are FREE. So we hustled after it to make sure we made it in time. (makes us sound lazy, but we love our Saturday mornings…)

in the garden with all the cool flower names

heavenly place

After the Gardens we headed to the Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. We had heard SO many great things about this and finalllly got to experience it ourselves. The food was AMAZING. So were the slushes…wow!! we’ll definitely be hitting that back up very soon.

the amazing slushy! Ginger & white peach. yum!

the delicious asian dog!!

Saturday night we actually ventured into the city. Funny to say that, but when you move to Brooklyn, you usually stay there on the weekends! Our good friend Bethany was celebrating her 30th birthday black & white rooftop style Saturday night on the Upper East Side. what a fun party!! The view was absolutely stunning, as was the sunset. And when the sun went down, dancing on the roof with NYC in the background was just the coolest. we had a great great time! Any excuse to dance to the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen & Nicki Minaj is a great summer rooftop party to me:)

the view for Bethany’s birthday

Now note, not all of our weekends are that jam packed…but I was super proud of us for getting all those adventures in in a weekend. Go team Lavrusik!

best friends.

today is 3 years being a mrs. what a crazy fun ride it’s been. all the adventures. all the travel. it’s just SO fun doing life alongside my best friend!!! on the way to work this morning he introed me to this song. little did he know it’s the perfect song for us.

to many more years of adventures & fun with my best friend:) happy 3rd anniversary sweet husband of mine.

snorkling in cabo!

perfect couple contest winners on our honeymoon!

Miami!

Qintay, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Summer Palace in Beijing, China

the great wall of freaking CHINA

Summer on the Patio!

Well we’ve had just two weekends of “summer” in our new back patio, but they have been fricking AWESOME weekends. From Memorial Day weekend bbqs

Vadim, Grill Master Flex

To homemade waffles on Memorial Day (what’s up domestic me!)

Cows & Ducks

To Saturday mornings just soaking up that sun!

Our back patio has been a little slice of heaven in our crazy city lives.

Hance’s Wedding Weekend!

One of Vadim & I’s best couple friends  just got married this past Saturday in Dallas! Hannah & Lance VILLIO:) It’s so exciting to finally truly call it what it is….Hance. It’s like Brangelina or Bennifer, only ten times better because it’s them, and they are two of the best people we know! The weekend was absolutely perfect. Totally them, totally fun.

We flew into Dallas Friday morning where the festivities began immediately with Vadim dropping me off at the bridal luncheon. Talk about the perfect welcome to Texas! I felt a little bad because Vadim & I were both starving, and I got to walk into a kitchen full of amazing food AND amazing women! Most of the the girls there I’d met at Hannah’s bachelorette weekend back in February, so it felt like I was getting to see all of MY college friends again (even though I didn’t go to Auburn). There was a little break between the luncheon and rehearsal, so we all went back to the hotel & napped & chilled. Rehearsal & Rehearsal dinner were fanatastic. La Hacienda Cantina…heck yes Mexican food! Anticipation for the big day was so apparent as Hannah & Lance (and everyone else for that matter) were nothing but smiles. Rehearsal dinners are just the best. Being surrounded by those closest to the bride & groom & hearing about why everyone loves them so much & how much they mean to them just warms the heart & just makes like good! So life was good Friday night, and all weekend for that matter:)

Saturday: WEDDING DAY!

As gifts, Hannah got all us girls monogrammed button down shirts. I never in my LIFE thought I would own anything monogrammed…it’s a southern thing…and now I guess I’m on the bandwagon. lol We went to the Flora’s for brunch where the girls chowed down on yummy grub. I love the Auburn13 girls. they can eat. and so can I. There was no making sure the girls/bride were eating on the wedding day. Instead it was deciding who was gonna do a Chick-fil-A run an hour after breakfast! (thanks Ivy & LeighAnn!) The girls then parted ways to start getting ready for the wedding to be at the church by 4:15pm for pictures (7pm wedding start time). Riding back to the hotel with Abbi, Lance’s sister, I randomly said, “hey would you want to see if we can get blow outs for the wedding?” she was all on board! Then started the process of searching for salons near us (thank you iPhone) and calling them to see if they could take two girls for blowouts, um, NOW. haha New York side coming out just a little bit…we found a place! And after the blow out they curled our hair for us too…Texans are so nice:) As we headed back to the hotel to pick up Abbi’s dress I asked if she wanted to maybe find a Sephora to get our eyes done-yep true New Yorker I’m telling ya;) So we DID, and made it to the church by 4:15 on the dot. Done & done!

Hannah was stunning. When she put her dress on, all of us girls were just gawking at how gorgeous she was! Wedding time came so soon, and before we knew it they were kissing and we were headed to the reception! The reception was a BLAST. Zach Williams played with his band and they rocked it! Normally live bands at wedding are…eh…, but they were AMAZING. After Hannah & Lance left via a sparkler exit, the iPod came on with some fantastic jams & we continued to dance the night away…til they kicked us out. Sunday morning welcomed us with the best memories of the weekend. Vadim & agreed that that wedding was one of the best we’ve been to. I loved every minute. We love Hannah & Lance Villio so very much & are pumped that we get to live life with them.

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bbqs, painting, projects….springtime be crazy

holy taledo. I can’t even begin to tell you where this spring has gone, much less this year!! So a month and a half into our bk apt (bk is Brooklyn for short y’all) we have had I think 4 bbqs, had Ms. Hannah Flora move in and out (she’s getting married THIS weekend!!!), painted our apartment (bedroom & living room), and finished our outdoor space (well we still need to stain two chairs…). On top of that Vadim has been a traveling machine. He was in California all last week and Europe the week before. Needless to say I’m happy to have my husband back home. We get to head TOGETHER to Texas tomorrow for Hannah’s wedding which is going to be such an epic weekend I cannot wait! The fact that it’s May 10th blows my mind. How are we half way through the year almost?? My head spins thinking about it all.

in all the madness of time going a million miles a minute and feeling the constant need to catch my breath, I’ve been really trying to daily focus on Psalm 46:10. “Be still and know that I am God.” Taking a moment. breathing. and remembering that truth, brings my heart back where it needs to be. just be still. know that He is God.

We moved to Brooklyn y’all!!!

So I feel like most everyone knows, but for those who don’t the Lavrusik’s changed boroughs!! We are now Brooklynites! We moved on St. Patricks Day, so we’ve been there about two weeks now and we LOVE it. Here are some of the perks about our new place:

• Washer & Dryer IN our apartment. BAH!!! this is amazing!!! 🙂
• Outdoor Space, PRIVATE, our own. BBQs this spring/summer are happening EVERY weekend. We’ve already got a grill & patio furniture & are working on a fire pit…I get SO exciting thinking about this
• Dishwasher, hello!
• Stainless Steel appliances
• Granite Countertops
• Open Kitchen floor plan, PERFECT for entertaining, it opens right up into the living room.
• Bigger bedroom
• 2ND bedroom!!!
• 3 blocks away from one of our best couple friends, Hannah & Lance…well they get married in May, bonus is that Hannah’s actually living with us for the month of April, and then moving 3 blocks away:)
• two blocks from Prospect Park, an AMAZING park with lots to do in it including summer concerts

Thing I’m still getting used to:

•  a longer commute to & from work. Thank God for my Kindle:)
• Not having a CVS close by (In Manhattan they were EVERYWHERE)

Haha, obviously to pros far FAR outweigh the “cons” Picture to come, I SWEAR. Just wanted to make sure I spread the news & excitement of our new place because Vadim & I are PUMPED.