Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Bridal Shower #2

My second bridal shower was given to me by our home congregation! 
They have been so sweet to us over the past few years and we really enjoy our time with them.
Forgot to get a picture before they started cutting it lol


How cute is this?! My old roommate's mom made this for us...so crafty!
She put "Coats" on there with small clothes pins so if we wanted to we could put pictures on it!



Sweet sweet hostesses!
The punch was GOOD and I ate so much fruit...YUM
We got a copy of our church cookbook!! Woo hoo, we are pumped about this!!



How cute is this?! It's an insulated cooler and came with glass mixing bowls in it...love!


Our kitchen is going to be stocked!

Mother of the groom and mother of the bride!

Brides to be and our moms!



And that's our second bridal shower. We are so overwhelmed with how generous everyone has been.
Thankful would be an understatement!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

My first bridal shower

So far we have been blessed with two bridal showers! They have been so much fun and I have enjoyed getting to see everyone.
The first bridal shower was given to me by my family. It was for family and family friends!
My mom, sister, aunt, and two grandmothers hosted it, and everything looked great!!
The theme for this bridal shower was:
"Brunch with the bride" so fun and so delicious ;)



My cousin made my cake! Turned out beautiful and tasted incredible!! 
 My mom, sister, and aunt crafted away and made most of the decorations. I loved it all!

How cute is this fabric banner?!
and of course our married monogram ;)
The centerpieces were adorable!


And all of the food was so good!










Followed tradition and kept all my bows! I didn't break one ;)
And that's my first shower! I still can't believe I am having bridal showers. This is all so fun and I am trying to soak it all in and really enjoy this season of life. What a blessing!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Monday Chats

Happy Memorial Day!
I feel as if our preacher at home said it best yesterday morning at church, It is an honor and our responsibility to remember those who have served. I could not agree more!
So thank you to all those who have served our country . Your time, efforts, and sacrifice will never go unnoticed.
As I am typing this I am at home and sitting on our front porch. The rain has just started and I have been watching these two squirrels chase each other off and on for the past two hours. One of my favorite things about being home is waking up earlier than my family and coming downstairs to sit on the front porch by myself. By far the best way to start my day. As dramatic as it sounds, these mornings are coming to an end soon and I am really going to miss them. Don't get me wrong, waking up at our new place with my HUSBAND, after we are married, excites me more than anything, but it won't be the same as waking up at home. The place I lived at for 20 years and the place I have been coming home to almost every weekend since I moved out, two years ago. 
We are 54 days away from our wedding and it still hasn't really hit me that WE are getting married. I'm not really sure why lol it just hasn't. I am watching so many friends get married (we knew 5 people who got married this past weekend) right now and I just keep thinking to myself, "I can't wait until OUR day" but it still feels so far off. I'm sure it will hit me soon, like when my dress finally gets here!!!! Fingers crossed it's this week or next week! I have been so anxious about it.
So much has changed for our wedding, all my "plans" I originally had are almost gone and have been replaced with new ideas. I'm not mad about it, my taste has just changed, as well as being fiscally responsible. I just can't imagine pouring so much money into 1 day. Most of the decorations if not all will be used as decor in our home after the wedding is over. I just can't think about buying stuff for the wedding and then have nothing to do with it after our day is over. So I am working with my aunt to make sure whatever we decorate with at the wedding can be used to decorate our home.
Mine and Matthew's 5 year anniversary is coming up this Friday. I still can't believe it's almost been 5 years. Usually I already have our anniversary planned out and his gift, but this year, to save on money, we are keeping it low key. I think we are going to a Sounds baseball game and grabbing dinner somewhere before, and that is perfectly fine with me! 
Today's plans include, wedding crafting and shopping for my mom a dress for the wedding!
HAPPY MONDAY

Friday, May 22, 2015

Blogging? What's that??

Long time no blog...
Life has been spinning like crazy and I feel as if I never get time to sit down and blog, and when I do I choose sleep. Sorry, but it's true. I used to blog at work, I have an earlier schedule so I would blog as soon as I got there before we got really busy, well a little over a month ago they updated all of our computers with new software and it now block everything on the internet. Including things we needed on a daily basic so they had to go back in and reset some of the settings, unfortunately blogger didn't make the cut. I spent the first little bit of every morning when I first got to work to read your blogs and then write my post, but now I have to do it outside of work, and to be honest I don't know how y'all do it!! I have started multiple posts on here but got so tired I couldn't stay awake. Maybe one day I'll finish them and finally post them. 
 
 
I WROTE THAT ^ OVER THREE WEEKS AGO.
Got tired. Saved it in my drafts and called it a night. Seriously how do y'all do this?? I know once the wedding is over I'll have more time and maybe can take a rainy Saturday afternoon to write up a couple of posts but goodness, right now there just isn't time.
So what have I been up to? 
Well let's see...
-I have had two bridal showers so far. What a blessing our friends and family have been so far! Organizing, planning, crafting, cooking, and decorating. All of it has been SO overwhelming, but one thing is for sure- we are blessed with the best! They have showered us, prayed for us, and have been so generous with gifts and advice.
 

 -I have been reading a lot! I have read two books some friends from church recommended..
His Needs, Her Needs by Williard F. Harley
and
Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
His Needs, Her Needs was good, but my goodness, Love and Respect, it definitely was my favorite.
Seriously, I can't say enough good things about that book. I am hoping to do a post over it. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favor and read it ASAP. So many things in that book absolutely blew my mind and left me speechless. We aren't even married yet, but since reading that I have already noticed some positive changes in our relationship.
IT'S THAT GOOD!
 
-I went on a work mission trip with the SOC last week...my last SOC trip. Let's not even talk about my emotions after I dropped everyone off that rode with me, and I realized that. Such a fun trip, even though some of us had to come back early.
 
-My sister graduated high school. Yeah, I still can't believe I typed that out,
MY SISTER GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL. Keeping right on up with the crazy emotions, they were seriously all over the place. Happy/proud/sad/excited/freaking out...you name it.
Sometimes I still can't believe she is old enough to drive and have a debit card, but graduating high school? I just did that...four years ago. Time is flyin' y'all!
I really am proud of her! She worked so hard all through high school, especially her senior year, taking dual enrollment classes to get college credit, volunteering tons of hours, staying on top of her grades, and so much more. She is getting her first two years of college paid for thanks to the Tennessee Promise and then scholarships will kick in after that. We had a big graduation party at our house for her the weekend before and it may or may not have included a nacho bar. Heavenly.
 
-I've still been working out as much as I can, eating healthier options, and smaller portions. So far I have lost 18lbs. I'm not at my goal weight yet, but I still have time. Also, I am losing inches. At first I had only lost around 10lbs and kept getting so frustrated on why I wasn't losing more, but then I started trying on some clothes I hadn't worn in about two years and they fit SO good. Some were even a little loose (insert praise hands emoji here). I do have to say that is one of THE best feelings. I was literally down to about two pair of dress pants for work because all of my other ones wouldn't even zip up anymore and I refused to buy new ones (they are expensive!!) Now, they ALL fit again!! Even pants from high school fit....like I said...best feeling ever!
As crazy as it sounds, one of my favorite workouts is running bleachers at our football stadium.
We set goals on how many we want to run, 10 or 15 depending on time. We can usually finish them up in 20-30 minutes!! Add in a few sets of squats and calf raises and our workout is done in 40 minutes.
 
-We had our engagement pictures made!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously a day I have been dreaming of finally happened!! I was on cloud 9 all week because I knew we were having them made that weekend. I felt like we put it off for so long, because I wanted to loose weight, everything to turn pretty outside, and for good weather. We didn't send save the dates and we aren't sending any pictures with invitations so we didn't have a deadline, thank goodness!
We made some in Murfreesboro and then the rest in Cookeville. The weather was perfect and we had a good time...at least I think we did. I had a blast, Matthew on the other hand was totally out of his comfort zone but handled it all like a CHAMP! We may or may not have rewarded ourselves with Cookout after for over three hours of picture taking. HAAAAAY engagement pictures!
We have the ones we made in Murfreesboro back, but the ones from Cookeville we only have a sneak peak. I'm pretty sure I squealed for a solid 10 minutes when we got that and ran around the kitchen a few times, bless my parents soul. I'll be sharing those with y'all when we get them all back.
 
-One of my sweet friends from work got married at the beginning of May. We spent ALL last summer talking about her wedding, mine and Matthew's fall wedding (he had me convinced we weren't getting married until the fall), wedding crafts she could do, how crazy it is that she was finally getting married, and everything else. It made the work days go by faster and we loved chatting all through the day, we sat beside each other. So seeing her walk down the aisle to her groom literally almost made my heart burst out of my chest. She had it at her dream wedding venue she had wanted it at since she was a little girl, her dream wedding dress, and her best friends from elementary school standing beside her. She was glowing the whole afternoon, and the weather could not have been better. A dream I tell ya! They actually went to the same place we are going on our honeymoon!!
 
-My three best friends graduated from college. Another huge emotional rollercoaster over here. One of them found out she got her dream teaching job the Thursday before she graduated. She told me right after she found out I was on my lunch break and big ole alligator tears came pouring. I am so incredibly proud and excited for her. She has worked SO hard all through college. Making good grades while most of the time balancing two jobs. Honestly, I don't know how she did it. She had told us about the interviews coming up and We prayed and prayed for guidance and peace when it came time for the principals to make a decision and they called her! She is teaching 4th grade and will be getting her classroom this summer!! We are already brainstorming ideas on how to decorate it.
Fun fact: We met and became best friends in the fourth grade and she got to student teach with out fourth grade teacher! She had a huge impact on both of us and we made so many sweet memories in her class that year. Sarah, was definitely lucky to student teach with her!!
I know without any doubts she is going to be the best teacher. I get so overwhelmed thinking about all those precious kids that are going to come through her class over the years and how big of an impact she is going to have on them.
 
Okay, I think that is about it for now. Last Saturday afternoon was the first time in over a month I was able to sit down at home and relax for more than two hours at a time. Sweet sweet times, three hour nap and then some wedding crafting followed by hotdogs for dinner with my family around the fire.
 
If you made it through all of that, you.are.a.boss.
I am hoping to get back in the swing of things and blog regularly again, not making any promises though ;)
 
oh, and 57 DAYS UNTIL WE ARE MARRIED!