hello, twenty-three!

my birthday weekend was super busy. on saturday, the 4th, a friend of my mom's threw me a pre-wedding party. it was fun because i got to dress up all pretty and that's really when it hit me that i'm going to be a bride in just a few short weeks. there was some dancing and music, but mostly just hanging out with lovely friends of mine. :)

the day before my birthday, though, i walked to the mail box for the millionth time that day to finally receive a very special package in the mail. my birthday present from the fiance. as always, he surprised me with some amazing presents. the most special thing about the gifts he sends me though, is that they're all chosen by just him. whether it's make up, clothes, or pretty jewelry. he never fails to amaze me with the things he picks out for me, and i love him for the effort he puts in. to better explain how i feel about him, i'll just that he's my favorite person. like, ever. :)

here's a small part of the lovely package. it's tiny in size, but i swear it means more to me than anything:

later that night, right at 12 o'clock, when it was finally my birthday, i got another surprise. first off, let me just say that i have some of the best friends ever. these girls are more like sisters to me. and i feel super blessed to have had so many memories with them. so these amazing friends of mine showed up at my door with a small birthday cake and candles and these really yummy cookies.

we did the whole midnight surprise last year for everyone's birthdays but i was sure we wouldn't keep up our little tradition this year. i'm glad they did though because this is just one more memory that i can store in the back of my mind forever. thank you to everyone who made my weekend so memorable. and here's to another year that i hope will be filled with blessings and happiness and more unforgettable moments. here's to the future. :)

the bride to be

yesterday marked exactly six weeks on the countdown until the big day. the nerves are beginning to set in but i'm excited more than anything. and along with the huge realization that i have too many things to do with not enough time, yesterday was also my bridal shower. :) 

my sister, sister in law, and a few of my close friends decided to put a few ideas together and throw me one last party before i move to the dirty south forever. ;)

what i wore:

i got this insanely cute peplum dress from charlotte russe. for just twenty bucks, i'd say it was a steal. ;)

we found this cute 'bride-to-be' sashe and tiara with a veil at party city. i think i was more excited about that cheap, little veil than anything. 

decorations:

this fun caution tape was my sister in law's idea. the guests were commenting on how much they loved seeing this as soon as they walked up to the door to come in. :)

the decor inside was very simple. a few streamers here and there and bunches of balloons. we decided to focus on the food more than decor, so we didn't do much.

food:

we decided to have a mexican theme for the food. enchiladas were made by my sister, and a friend's mom made the ground beef for tacos. we also had chips and salsa, and this really yummy punch that was a big hit. (email me for recipes!)

the dessert was the main focus of the entire party. we made a variety of different sweets for the dessert bar including: brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate mousse, jello shots(non-alcoholic) and fruit skewers. for a bunch of girls to hang out and not get bored, we knew that having desserts, and a lot of them, would do the trick. the guests, and hosts ;). stayed busy with these small, easy to eat desserts the entire time. plus, what girl doesn't love an overload of chocolate? ;)

games: 
we planned a few different games for the guests. guessing how many hershey's kisses were in a jar, naughty and nice advice(this one was a lot of fun!), and a question game about how much i knew about the fiance. apparently i don't pay enough attention because for every wrong answer, i had to eat a piece of gum. by the end of it, i was chewing on eight, huge pieces. *embarrassed* 

(photo cred: google/craftsalcoholicsanonymous.net)

the game that was one of my favorites, and also a favorite for the guests was the mustache and tiara question game. for this one, we passed out popsicle sticks to each guest, one which had a mustache on it and one with a tiara. both the fiance and i were asked the same questions and the guests had to decide who gave certain answers to certain questions. this was fun because the guests were convinced that 'love story' by taylor swift had to be my answer for favorite song. turns out, the guests holding up the mustaches won a point for that one. ;)

party favors: 

we saw this cute idea online for party favors. we bought individual nail polishes for each guest, and tied a small ribbon with a slip of paper thanking them for coming. at the end of the party, as the guests started leaving, we let each person choose a color of nail polish they wanted. this was a simple idea for party favors but still fun for our guests.


planing for the bridal shower was stressful, but i'm so, so happy that everything worked out just fine. and i wanted to thank my family and close friends for putting this together. and to the guests, for giving me a night filled with memories that  i won't soon forget.

these past few days

two days ago, i had the most relaxing day ever. i treated my brother to bahama bucks, which is this really yummy shaved ice stuff. 

in return, he treated me to chick fil-a, which i've been craving for days now. i'm obsessed with lemonade and theirs is the best. i also got my nails painted an obnoxious bright pink with these pretty sparkles because it was just that kinda day. 

also, there's just under two months until the wedding. and i still have half a million things to get done. typical bride talk. but yesterday, after shopping around for a while now, i finally found the perfect pair of shoes i wanted for the big day. exciting, right?! :) and, i went to starbucks with the girlies only to find out that they had free caramel macchiatto's which is my favorite.drink.ever. so my day = made.

the beginning

i don't know exactly what i was doing before the fiance showed up in my life. if i can remember correctly though, i spent late summer nights making a bucket list with my best friends over frozen yogurt. we swore we'd make that summer memorable. but then, that list was never finished. neither were any of the exciting things we'd written down because life came in the way. but in the best of ways.
it was early june when I talked to him for the very first time. and i swear i knew in my heart from that first phone call that this was it. he was the one i was going to marry. he was handsome and funny and kind and generous and just everything that i had always wanted. it was a little over a month later, in late july, when we made things official. when he gave me the ring and i gave him my heart.

we've been engaged almost 8 months now, but on the 25th of may, we'll tie the knot. and then i'll be off to atlanta, where we'll start our lives together. and if you want, you can join me on this journey, too. i can't wait to experience life with him, and my future in-laws who are awesome, by the way. i also can't wait to document the important things here, where i'll always have them to look back on and reminisce. i hope you'll stick around and come along for the ride. :)