Don't Stop Believin'...

....that Google Reader is gonna say "jk" on July 1st. 

Are you over hearing about GR going away and Bloglovin' being the best thing since sliced bread? (PS I have to do it....go follow me here #shamelessplug) Now a show of hands....who else is still using Google Reader and will cling to it until it's dying breath post? Just me? I really love it. I have everything all pretty and organized it in. I know I know, McBlogLovin' can be organized too, but I like my Reader. So I'm reading all your lovely blogs today and through the weekend on GR. Monday may be a hard day for me. 

Anyways, besides being sad about change, this week I marked another something off my wedding to do list. We got officially registered. One of the places I registered had a super annoying website that made me want to throw my laptop out the window! And since I wasn't going to register for a new laptop, I decided to take a friend (and recent bride)'s advice and switch to a different place. 

Being a girl, I have been going to wedding and baby showers as long as I can remember. I hated them when I was 4 and had to wear a frilly dress with bows, but hey...there was cake! But I know pretty much everything that's going to show up on a registry. I didn't think about how entertaining it was going to be explaining to J why there were eleventy-seven different types of bowls to decide between. 

I also didn't expect to see this suggestion when I was looking for a gravy boat...

This is actually bigger in person. That is a regular pitcher. Definitely not a gravy boat. 

This was right after he asked me if the salad bowl I was holding was for him to put Ranch in and dip things. I was laughing and he had no idea why. 

In the luggage section, he pointed out a nice "makeup" bag for me....

If I need that much makeup, then he probably shouldn't be taking me out in public much less vacation, mkay! In his defense, I do have a large toiletry bag I take on vacation but it has everything for me, him and B that we could possibly need out of the bathroom. If you decide you want to wax your eyebrows or decorate your nails, there's probably stuff in there that can do it. I also don't get travel size stuff unless it's a sample from somewhere. So there's a foot tall hairspray bottle in my bag....that I have NEVER once used on vacation. Always prepared though! 

So go ahead and mark registry off the list. That baby is donezo! Next project...finding a DJ! Any tips on that?? The one I have seen at weddings before is booked for our Saturday. How do you know if they are "good" or have the right music or will keep from playing "My Chick Bad" while my grandparents are still there??

Tying that Knot

Today I'm linking up with Holly and Mel to talk weddings! I was so excited to see this link up. I'm always trolling for more wedding ideas on pinterest but now I can look to my blog loves for more inspiration. 

Here are the deets we have so far: 

Date: We are getting married September 14, 2013....wow, 85 days!

Location : We are getting married at the Chamber Center on the square in my (kinda) hometown. Growing up I spent a lot of time on the Square because my mom worked in the court house (and this is how me and Lindsey go way back...her mom held an office there for many years). I've always thought the square was beautiful year round and now I get to get married there. And it's where some of our fall pictures were taken. I like the old brick on all the buildings.

Colors: We are going with a deep fall purple for bridesmaids dresses. No clue on flowers just yet. I have ideas of arrangements but I won't know specifics until closer to the wedding. This was my original inspiration for the purple.

Bridal Party: My sweet sisters will be my maid and matron of honor. J's sister will also be a bridesmaid along with 3 other friends. And I have honorary bridesmaids because some decided to get preggo (cough, Lora, cough #Louie). Brooklyn is going to be a junior bridesmaid and my niece Gracie will be our flower girl. 

First Dance Song: I actually have not made this decision yet (sorry Mel!)...I mean, we, we have not decided yet ;) I am a big fan of mushy fairytale fate love story type movies, and I know I've said "I want to use that for my first dance" about a million times. Nothing stuck though, so I'm still on the search. Maybe I will watch some chick flicks for inspiration. J still says our first dance should be to My Chick Bad.....

DJ/Band: We are going with a DJ. I kind of want my wedding to be like one of those nights when you hit the bar with a bunch of friends and the band ends up being amazing so you dance the night away. Yea, I'm going for fun with a little bit of sweet wedding to start the party. 

Random: We cannot decide which version of Canon in D to play when I come down the aisle. Is that weird that that is undecided? I love the classic version but I really really love the rock version. J liked the Celtic version. Maybe we will flip a coin. 

Honeymoon: Another undecided item, suggestions?

What would you do different? I should have started planning a year ago before he even asked me hah! I never wanted a long engagement but apparently I needed longer to plan!

That's most of the decisions that are made. I still have to pull everything together now and write checks to everyone and their brother, so that's fun. 

I can't wait to go check out the rest of the posts in the link up. Make sure you check them out and share your own story!

Well that was awkward....

So I flashed the cashier at Wendy's yesterday. Luckily I didn't know it until I got back to work and flashed two more people. Public service announcement, ladies....a light weight button up shirt and a crossbody purse just do not mix. The more you know....

Also awkward, I didn't take a lot of pictures this weekend. Crazy, right? What I did do this weekend though, is register. Is there anything more awkward that doing a wedding registry?? Ok, maybe that's not the most awkward thing (see paragraph above), but I found it pretty difficult. Plus I forgot to bring one of those checklists with me so we walked out of there registered for like two kitchen utensils, 4 bath towels, and 1 wash cloth. I had to keep going back to previous aisles to see what colors I had picked for things. Did I mention we have not decided on colors for our house since we moved? Yea, add that to the fun. Target...just the place I wanted to decide on colors for my whole house. Am I the only person that feels weird making a registry? After I actually looked at a registry checklist I felt like I needed to register for a new house too. Or at least a shed. Where else am I going to put enough table settings for the Biltmore Estate?? 

Either way, after a few online additions to the registry I think we will be done with that. And if all goes well over the next two days I'm going to finish another little handmade project that I can talk about in Holly and Mel's linkup! Or maybe not. We will see. 

And just because I can (and I didn't do a weekend recap), here's my cute kid....

Little miss got herself 5 strike outs in two innings. She didn't let anyone know she was nervous this time. We are making progress!

Writing Letters Yall

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and punch yourself in the face?? No? Luckily, Holly and Jake are hosting a link up today to write a letter to your college self. Saved by the link up. Go check out the other letters and add your own to the list. 

Dear College J,

First...do NOT take a semester off. Your scholarship is kind of a big deal. You eventually WILL have to pay those student loans back. Live on less. Trust me. I'm older, wiser and actually have a business degree now. Oops, surprise! Yes, I said Business! We'll get to that. 

You are so much stronger than you realize. All you need to do is believe in yourself. It sounds so corny but you can do it. You can do this ALL by yourself if you have to (and you will eventually, why not start now). 

Apologize to your parents. You have been a real brat. Big time. They just want what is best for you and turns out, you will want the same things eventually. You will save yourself a lot of tears and heartache if you just take a step back and listen to them. 

Pick a major with math. Math is your thing. Honors Chemistry?? Are you freaking insane? Get a grip, drop that shit, and move on! Actually, head on over to the business building and while you are at it, either pick up a minor or a second major. Make business your goal but if you want to take some classes in arts, go right ahead. Now is the time, not later. The minimum to graduate is 120 hours....go for 150, it will help you later. 

Vodka drinks are your thing. Stay away from anything else until you are at least 28. You're welcome. Oh except bubble gum vodka. But you won't make that mistake until you are like 27 anyways. That's your own stupid fault. 

Saturday classes and 3 hr classes suck like nothing else, but go ahead and sign up for that one. You will be reconnected with someone from high school that will become one of your closest friends. You will both go through some troubling times and the friendships you form together will be the kind that will last a lifetime.  

Take that job and never let anyone shame you for having "family connections" that got you there. It will jump start a career. That job leads to another job where you actually meet your future husband. Don't worry, it's not that kid that is drunk every Monday and not the freak that looks like David Copperfield with acne. You actually won't meet him in person until years after you leave this job....now I've said too much. 

Get used to working out. Believe it or not, one day you aren't going to be able to chug Dr Pepper all day, eat a medium pizza, wash it down with a snickers and still fit into your size 2 jeans....I know, shocker! But trust me on this. 

Get OUT of the tanning bed! SPF is your friend. Spray tans will stop being orange one of these days, so you will have more options. 

Ok, that should be plenty of life lessons for now. The rest you have to figure out on your own. 



Love ya, bish!
Your older, wiser, and better-insurance-carrying self

PS Your oldest accounting professor isn't going to keel over in class so stop making bets on it and pay attention to what he is saying! His two classes are kind of a big deal, mkay?

PSS You are going to be just fine, kid. When you hit 30 you are going to honestly be happier than your college brain could even fathom. Believe that! 

Dressing my Maids

Remember that time I gave myself some wedding "to do"s to mark off my list?  Would you be shocked at all to hear I didn't mark a single one of those THREE things off my list?! No? But I have excuses, don't worry. 

My ring couldn't be sized last week because lunch with one of my friends/wedding coordinator extraordinaire got moved to this week. Couldn't not have it for our lunch, duh. And I kinda worked on the invitation task. I found two that I am planning on mixing and making my favorite. And bridesmaids dresses....I finally chose the dress after my sister tried on every option they had.

Yes that is pretty much all the normal looking options. I'm not picking a $400 dress for my 'maids and I'm not getting anything that has much craziness going on. 

After looking at dresses and talking with my friend about the wedding over lunch, I had a nightmare that night. Apparently on my dream calendar, September was the month right after June and I was crying because I had waited too late to send Save the Dates. Not to mention, the invitations were not going to be ready and mailed until 3 days before the wedding. It felt so real I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I was so upset. Then I realized it was just a dream and I didn't want to get out of bed for the normal reasons. So just in case I never get save the dates or invitations sent out....

Here ya go

Review: Internet Friends

This Friday was the Harbortown 5k. One of my favorites! (Note: any race that involves jello shots is my favorite) 

Normally it's so hot in Memphis by this time of year, you break a serious sweat just getting out of your car at this race. Luckily the weather was kinda nice....beautiful if you ended up not running the race. 

We pull into Laura's beautiful neighborhood and spot Hubby Jack on the phone outside the front door. If I had thought faster, I would have rolled down the window and catcalled at him. By the time we gathered our things and got out of the car, the crew was gone but Laura's hubby Shane was nice enough to golf cart us to practically the starting line.  

Lora, Jaime, & me

We didn't have much time before the race so we just said a really quick hello and good luck. Then we were off to a good corner on the race path to hold our signs and cheer. 

I think we were set up somewhere after the 2 mile point. We knew where the finish line was and what direction the runners would take getting to that point, but we were a little iffy on the other street we were on. It ended up being perfect for spotting them and taking some snapshots!

My apologies to Jake though. I swear I was looking for him but by the time Jaime spotted him he was heading away from us. It was pretty funny though. We didn't get to officially say hello to him before the race so we are standing there and Jaime yells "oh hey, there's Jake". He hears her as he's running and turns. I know he thought "who are these crazy people"....or maybe he just read the signs and figured it out, whichever. 

We were able to quickly walk one street over to the last turn before the finish line to cheer them on some more. 

Super proud of this chick right here! This was her very first race and she finished it like a pro. There was a pic of her from the first street but I'm pretty sure you can see the curse words she's yelling at us in that one, hah! That just added to the fun of people watching though. It was the first time for me to go to a race and not run it. Half the time I felt bad for not running and the other half of the time I wondered why I didn't just bring a chair and come people watch at all the 5Ks. 

After the race, we all found each other at the street party that was everywhere, headed back to Laura's to change and then over to her MIL's pool to relax and gain food babies. It was a really fun time and I'm so glad I got to meet some more of my internets friends. Holly absolutely was Southern in a past life. I met her with a big hug just like Meredith who is also one of the sweetest people I've met since I started blogging. HJ (It just feels weird to call him Chris) was fun but not as loud as I was expecting. Maybe he was just taking in our "hillbilly" accents. Sitting by the pool, eating, drinking and chatting made it feel like everyone had known each other forever. It was a fun time and I can't wait to see everyone again soon! 

Quickie for Ya

I know I use the "busy week at work" excuse all the time....or just on the first week of the month, but I'm serious, it really is busy. And I like getting done and getting home on time so I usually work straight on through lunch while I snack on some carrots and hummus.....or a bag of chips, whatever. 

For picture-sake, I had to at least update with some photos from this weekend. 

Two of our friends got married this weekend, yay for wedding season! Traditional wedding at the church and then onto the groom's parents' for a country themed reception. I loved the "redneck photo booth". We had fun with it too. 

Oh my word, do you ever not noticed how badly you need a spray tan until you post pictures on your blog?? Just me? Ok. I got this dress a few months ago during a sale. I was not too hot on it but the friend that was shopping with me basically forced me to get it. I couldn't really wear it to work so I decided I'd save it for this wedding. Then I put it on Saturday and thought it was a complete hot mess but I didn't feel like coming up with another outfit so I went with it....and do you know practically everyone I saw that day before the wedding gave me some sort of dress compliment?? Crazy. Maybe I would like it better with a tan? Guess I will keep taking my friends' advice. It apparently works out. 

After this weekend, I realized that the next wedding in our group of friends would be ours!!! As of today, we have 102 days until our wedding, wow. And while trying to catch up on blogs this weekend, I read Jax's post about things she marked off her to do list last month. {her wedding date is about a month before mine} So she was my inspiration to come up with some weekly goals to check off the wedding to do list. This week I'm going to keep it super simple, I think. Three goals.....

• Take my ring to get sized. I can't keep wearing it with something wrapped around the band to keep it on my finger. 
• Decide on an invitation. I think I have narrowed it down to 3 really cute ones. 
• Officially ask my bridesmaids to be my bridesmaids. Yea, don't judge me. I am behind a little. I just wanted to think of something really cute to do for them but I may need to keep it simple and just ask them individually. I think my sisters already know they made the cut, so they probably aren't really waiting on anything officially. Actually one of them is supposed to go try on dresses this week, so yea. 

And that's the list. Only 3 things. That can't be too hard right?? We do have a venue and I have my dress, so there are two big things off the list. We have most of the guest list down, we just need to compile addresses. That's another big thing to check off very soon. 

Any tips from you married ladies? Or ladies going through this process? And yes I know....destination weddings are so much easier, hah! Already heard it!