DWTS

I don't sit down for two full hours to watch the show Dancing with the Stars. It's more of something I put the TV on while cooking dinner or cleaning. I'll stop what I'm doing to watch when certain celebrities dance.

This season I was most interested to see how Kate Gosselin, of Jon and Kate + Eight, did.

Let me just say that she needs to head back home and raise those babies. Dancing is not her thing. Quite frankly, the show is making her seem kind of like a bitch... not so sure this is the best image for Kate. I think it worked out more in her favor when her image was that of a scorned wife and single mother. At least I liked her better in that role.

She may stick around for the entire season... but she would have to come a loooong way.

O.T.W. (over the weekend)

Whoo. To say I'm tired this morning is an understatement. We ventured to Andalusia, Alabama over the weekdend for a wedding that Ryan was in. Two of his best friends from high school tied the knot!

We drove down Friday afternoon and came home yesterday. It was action packed. We attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday night. The rehearsal dinner is always such a fun time. It's so sweet to hear the different friends and family share stories about the couple. The slide show is always a bit of a tearjerker.

Some of the groomsmen with the groom. (groom is in blue)

The same picture, but this time Gus (in orange) is suggesting that everyone in attendance show their tatas!

Me and My Boo! (isn't ryan a hottie?)

Brittany or roomie for the weekend.

We roomed with Chase and Brittany. Two of Ryan's friends from back home. The guys had pictures and what not during the day Saturday, so Brittany and I passed the time by grabbing lunch and getting a pedicure.

The wedding was beautiful. So sweet! The reception was a where everyone let their hair down. We spent the night dacing and having fun. Seldom do all of Ryan's friends from high school all end up together for a weekend of fun, but this past weekend they did just that.

Prom pose!

The Maid of Honor with Brittany and I.

The lovely bride getting down!

All the guys having too much fun!!

What a weekend!! For the most part everyone had a lot of fun and were on their best behavior. Congratulations to Nutt and Meg... who are in Mexico right now taking it easy. Oh, how jealous am I?

Rock of Love

A dream, to crazy not to share.

I am an "active" sleeper. I talk in my sleep, I move around all night long, and I occasionally walk in my sleep, or yell at you about who knows what!

Well, I have heard of brides having dreams or, better yet, nightmares related to their wedding! *knock on wood* This hasn't been the case for me.

I have, however, been having dreams that are realted to the fact that I am getting married. Most recently, I had this dream:

I was at the beach with my friend Lacey and her mom. (not sure why) We had decided to walk down to the boardwalk. Once we arrived at the boardwalk, Lacey and her mom venture along the pier. I suggest to the two of them that we should go play in the ocean. Neither of them are really up for this idea, so being the independent person that I am, I tell them that I am going down to play in the waves on my own. They are fine with this and I take off.

The ocean is perfectly clear. The waves are crashing in and I am jumping up and down. I'm having so much fun, when all of a sudden some man comes up behind me and picks me up. He's strong and he's holding me as if I weight but only 105 pounds (which isn't far off in real life). The sea water is in my eyes and I can't make out who it is that is holding me... he's unfamiliar. He then begins to tell me that he loves me and he can't live without me. He goes on and on about what a great person I am... how I'm so kind, and so giving, and he cannot possibly go on in life if I don't agree to run away with him!

At this point... I finally make out who the man is... I am only familiar with some of his work. I do not know him personally.

I quickly stop him and explain to him I am spoken for (because this is 1905) and that I am getting married very soon. I tell him that he is too late. No one can ever compare to Ryan! I then shake his hand and walk away. 

I rejoin  Lacey and her mom on the peir. They have been watching the entire scene play out. Lacey asks, "What did Dwayne want with you?" and Mrs. Linda said,  "From where I was standing it looked like Dwayne was out of line!" I recap what just happened on the beach below....

.....and then I wake up!!!!

Are you wondering who the strong man, whom Lacey and her mom referred to as Dwayne [like we know him]? Well, it was none other than

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON!!!

What the hell? Who has dreams about "The Rock" being in love with them? Why couldn't it have been Brad Pitt, Gerrad Butler, or even Zac Efron? Nope. I dream that "the rock" is madly in love with me...

I recapped the dream for Ryan and he cracked up when I told him who I had dreamed about.

The moral of the story is this: Even in my dreams- I'm faithful!!  I shut "the rock" down because I'm spoken for!

Great Minds...

... think alike. If that saying is true then Deidra and I have great minds! For the party over the weekend, we both wore purple dresses:

Given, they aren't the same shade of purple, but purple all the same! But the real kicker here, is not that we wore the same color, but that we also had these guys dressed exactly the same:

Now, both Ryan and Shaun clarified that they weren't dressed exactly alike because Ryan's logo was the "classic polo" and Shaun's logo was the "colored polo." (I'm talking about the little man on the horse over the left breast, here). At the end of the day, regardless of how they may have distinguished their outfits... they were twins (and they both hated it)!

So to my like minded firend, Deidra, I think your man looked awfully handsome in that stellar green and khaki color combo and purple is also quite the stunning color (on the both of us)!!

O.T.W (over the weekend)

I have something on the agenda every. single. weekend. until our wedding on May 15! This is so wild to me and a bit overwhelming. But the way I look at it you only get married once so let's party hard, man.

This past Friday night was Lacey and John's Engagement Party. It's a party that the hometown girls' parents put together for each girl once she becomes engaged (I guess that's pretty obvious). Mine was back in January. Each party has the same concept- good food, good music, and great friends all coming together in celebration of LOVE.

I'm sure Lacey will do a more indepth post, but here are a few pictures from the evening.:

Mr. Blake giving a toast... If I'm not mistaken her referenced a man name, Tom, who didn't have a thumb. I think he said they called him, get this, Tom Thumb.

Me and my boo, with Justin and Kaci.

Mack, Kyle and Jackson enjoying the party!

Me and the girl of the hour!!

Lacey and John's engagement party moved on down to John's house on the lake. I had told everyone that Ryan and I would not be attending the after party because I had to be on my A-game early Saturday morning. However, after Ryan and I hopped in the car and saw everyone leaving, we just couldn't help ourselves. We like to be a part of the party- so off we went late into the night....

...which made it quite difficult when my alarm went off at 8:30 on Saturday morning. I had a brunch in my honor and I couldn't be late. You know the saying, "if you're going to be dumb, you've got to be tough?" Well, I told myself that over and over as I was getting ready to go Saturday morning.

The brunch was themed 'Monograms and Mimosas.' It was for my mom's closest friends. Saturday morning was beautiful and we sat on the porch of the old house where the shower was hosted and enjoyed mimosas. Oh, I could have sat out there all morning, sipping the sweet champange infused orange juice, while the sun beamed down and the flowers bloomed.

Mother of the bride, myself, and mother of the groom!

My sweet Aunt Celia, my mom's good friend, Linda and Ryan's mom.

After enjoying the beautiful morning we ventured inside for brunch, which consisted of breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, hash brown casserole, and coconut cake. After the lovely brunch it was time for presents!!

I (we) got so many great things. From a monogrammed apron to stationary, picture frames, towels... you name it, if it could have a monogram on it I probably got it.

Just call me Vanna White... look how I'm showing off those gifts!

The ladies who hosted the party were so sweet to do so. My mom was so excited that we were having a party for her closest friends to attend.

The hostesses with mom and myself.

The weather was perfect, the company was great, and the shower, overall, could not have been any better!

Edie

I saw this posted over another blog and I couldn't not share it. It brought tears to my eyes. I am a huge dog person...



Edie just needed to be loved. That's it. That's all it took.

My First Shower

Over the weekend I was given my first bridal shower. It was a miscellaneous shower, given by several of my mom's closest friends.

I had been looking forward to it all week. When Saturday finally arrived I was beyond excited.

The grandmothers, mothers, and bride!

The lovely ladies who were kind enough to host the shower!

From L to R: Cindy, (me), Alison, and Lacey.

Cindy, Alison and I take it way back... like all the way back to preschool.

Kylee, one of the sweet flower girls. She looked so cute, with her little cardigan on.

She wasn't exactly ready for this picture...

No wedding post could be complete without a picture of me and the MoH!

Bless Lacey's heart. She had to travel last week for work, so she had to take

the red eye from California Friday night in order to make it to the shower.

I'm just sayin... that's a true friend. Way to work it out Lacey.

(oh and btw- "great picture")

My sweet sister-in-law to be... Also known as the "wedding historian."

She captures all the memories!

We got lots of great presents. I'll have to say Ryan was really loving this gift.

It's a modern picnic basket, filled with all sorts of tailgating goodness!

Ryan was sweet enough to stop by towards the end of the shower to help pick up all the gifts!

These are just a few of the wonderful things we received from amazing friends and family.

Check out that KITCHENAID MIXER- my dream came true. I forsee cupcakes in the future.

We also received a great food processor, Paula Deen Cookware, and a number of other misc items.

I could not have asked for a better shower. All my family and friends made a huge effort to be there. The ladies who hosted the shower did an amazing job with everything from the food to the set up.

 Ryan and I are beyond blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Charlie B.

As I was leaving for work this morning I spied, Charlie, just hanging out. I stopped my car and snapped a quick picture.

He so pretty and I am going to say he's probably the sweetest cat ever to live.

Happy Friday. Enjoy your weekend. Here's to hoping the weather improves!

This is How My Morning Started...

So, yeah it was a great start to this rainy Wednesday morning. Hope your day started out better than mine.

A Wedding Update (because you're dying to know)

Recently the blog has been a little slow going. Planning the wedding has kind of taken over my life. I spend my weekends making quick trips to Hobby Lobby, rushing to appointments for dress fittings, or finalizing guest lists for different showers.

I didn't want to bore anyone with the planning of the wedding, but then I got to thinking about it... This blog is about me.... it's my life and all that goes on. So I suppose it's only fitting to occasionally update the blog with the wedding goodness.

This past weekend Ryan and I went to Dillard's to finish up our registry there. Let me just say this- registering for gifts sounds fun, but it's a little bit overwhelming (or at least that's what I've found). It seems odd to pick out your own presents...

Ryan was a sport (for the most part). I had been to Dillard's once with my mom so we had picked out a good portion of items. Ryan just had to help with the linens, bedding, etc.

Here's a quick peak into our little registry:

Our fine china:

I love that I could essentially use this china for any occasion. By simply changing the table decor and charger I can host a gathering for any time of the year.

Everyday:

The everyday also has some colored pieces to mix and match. I don't think the picture does it justice.

A cool cake plate:

Because I will surely be baking some cakes when I get this bad boy:

Ryan and I agreed that this bedding suited both of us. I tend to like a lot of color and pattern... Ryan would be fine with neutrals and solids. So we setteled on a semi-neutral color in a pattern:

I got tickled at Ryan because he would find something he liked such as this, Ralph Lauen Decanter:

and he would scan it with the price gun, however, once he would note the price we would immediately remove the item. "No need in asking anyone to go broke for a gift"

On another note, my invitations came in. They are so pretty. My friend Katie Beth over at The Good Stuff (shout out)designed the invitation suite. They could not have turned out more beautifully. I am not going to show a picture because it will take away from the excitement of receiving them in the mail. (maybe after they are mailed I will post a picture for those that are curious). Just make note, if an invitation suite can be bad ass- mine are (in my uber biased opinion).

I don't think I've had any super serious breakdowns *knocking on wood*. I can only think of two times that I have had a come apart during this whole planning process. Once while trying to decide on a church- long story there; however, I couldn't be happier with the decision I made. The second tiny break down was while wedding dress shopping and it had more to do with the fact that I'm dramatic than any thing. I couldn't be happier with the dress I chose and I can't wait for everyone to see it.

This entire planning process has moved right along. It is roughly two months until the wedding. Boy has the time flown by! Some days when I'm trying to schedule a time for bridal portraits, or remind Ryan to pick out a tux (it's only two months away), or find a time for my aunts to come check out the church, or touch base with the florist about some last minute changes... I just stop and remember that maybe it is a lot of planning but it's also so that I can marry Ryan. 

I asked Ryan the other day if while at work if he ever thinks about the wedding and gets super pumped. He laughed at me, but I wasn't kidding. I can be driving down the road and think about how close the wedding is and just get beyond stoked about it all.

I guess what I'm saying, is that at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, I will be married to Ryan. No matter what mixer we have (which will likely be a kitchenaid) or the pattern of our fine china (which can be used for any occasion), or the flowers on the end of (how many) pews.... I will still be married to Ryan and I can't wait.

Bring on the showers of love/cool prizes for the home, the bachelorette nonsense, and luncheons galore because it's:

67 DAYS until go time!

Good Times...

I spent this past weekend with a few friends. Ryan was out of town (at a bachelor party) and I was all... I can't sit around and be boring! I need to get out- go hang with some friends for a night of fun!

So, I packed up and headed to a town I use to call home (for about a year anyway). The night started out simple enough. I met several friends for a night of grilling out and enjoying the vino. Pretty low key.

Well, one thing lead to another and the next thing I knew we were applying lip gloss and getting ready for a night on the town. I didn't have my camera, which gave me a real case of the sads because I couldn't document any of the night.

However, I am not one to be discouraged. Apparently, I busted out my blackberry (which takes horrible pictures) and took a few pictures. I had actually forgotten about the pictures until this morning.

Here's our night in three pictures:

We danced...

They kissed...

but they are getting married in August so it's fine.

And I was ever so innocent.... (like always)

For some reason, these are the only pictures documenting our evening on the town. I will venture to say we had a large time, but we're a little on the tired side on Sunday.