Parties, Wedding Dresses & a Fish Fry

And of course, Monday morning rolls around again, just like it always does. And this week will be the first full 5-day work week for me, after so much wedding stuff and a holiday last week, so obviously I'm not looking forward to that... What I am looking forward to though, is another week full of wedding planning before Jeff's twins arrive on Saturday! And of course I'm looking forward to them being here! But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's do a weekend recap. It's been a couple of weeks since I've even done one, so it's definitely time. So let's jump right into it!

FRIDAY
Met Jeff after work, and then headed out to a graduation party for one of my youth
Rode an old bicycle around the cul-de-sac waiting to help a family member of hers. Love the cruiser-style bike!
Had a great time eating ice cream and catching up with some old friends and youth and hanging out
Headed back to Jeff's house and watched "Fast Five" in order to get ready to go see the new one sometime soon!

Jeff took this on his phone, and it turned out so great and cute! :)

SATURDAY
Jeff picked me up from my house, and we headed out to another graduation party for one of my youth
We played ladder golf and ate some yummy cookout food

Then Jeff dropped me off at Vocelles Bridal with my Mama, sister & aunt for another dress appointment!

(I found one I loved there, but it was about $600 over the budget...sad.)

After that store, we went back up to Thomasville again to visit The New Image, where I had found one with my Mama about a month ago, but wanted to wait until my sister could see it too...

And we ended up buying it!!! (And this one was only $75 over the budget :) But my Papa said it was OK!)
I NOW HAVE MY WEDDING DRESS!!!

Later that night, Jeff and I went out to meet some friends for dinner at Miller's, then went to their house for game night

 SUNDAY
Sunday school and church, and it was Graduation Recognition Sunday, so we honored my favorite class of seniors
(This is the one class that I have been with from 6th grade through 12th grade, so they're very special to me! And this is only about half of them - there are many more who I also love a whole lot too, but couldn't make it to church yesterday.)

Grabbed a real quick lunch with Jeff at Moe's, and then went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to start our first registry!

We were there for four hours, and it was exhausting, but we're now officially ready to accept gifts ;)

Then we went to my Grandparent's house to celebrate May family birthdays -  Jeff (fiance), Aaron (cousin) & Bo (brother-in-law) - with a giant fish fry

Tilapia, catfish, shrimp, crab cakes, frog legs & hush puppies. Yum.

It was quite a busy weekend, but of course it was a great one! I got to spend time with family and friends and youth and Jeff, and that's what makes me the happiest - the amazing people in my life! I was seriously tired and dragging this morning when I first woke up, but it's worth it to be able to enjoy my weekend so much! So it's A-OK with me. We have quite a bit more wedding plans to conquer this week, so it'll be crazy busy again. But I'm at a really fun point of wedding planning right now, so I'm excited about doing everything this week! As more stuff starts happening, I'll definitely be posting more about it all. For instance, I'll probably write a post later this week about the dress-finding process, so look for that later!

Anyways, the weekend was good, and of course I wish it just could have been longer! Don't we all though?! I hope y'all had good weekends as well, and that your Monday morning isn't too rough so far. Can't wait to catch up with y'all and read about your weekends as well :) Happy Monday!

Linking up with Covered in Grace, Sami's Shenanigans & Synfully Delicious.

Prompt 1 - My Life in 250 Words

Back with a second post today (my weigh-in was posted earlier this morning), because I want to share my super quick auto-biography, in 250 words or less. (Mine turned out to be 249! Bam.) I just found this fun idea today, and I can't wait to join in the rest of the month. I doubt I'll be able to do every single prompt, but I'll do what I can, when I can. If you want to join in on the challenge to Write Every Day in May, visit Jenni's cute blog HERE.

I was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida. For a long time, my little family was “broken” and so my mom took care of my sister and me basically all on her own; then my parents divorced when I was 12. Even through the trials though, my Mama raised us in a Christian home, and we know that our faith in the Lord is what brought us through some of those tough times. Luckily, my Mama got remarried to an amazing man when I was 16, and he loves us as his own. I was a cheerleader in high school, and was also involved in a ton of groups and activities in both school and church. I went to Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, for college, and made an incredible group of friends who I love dearly. I am so grateful for all of them! I am now living in Tallahassee again, engaged to an amazing man and planning our wedding for this upcoming October! Jeff and I love riding our bikes and going on adventures together. Besides blogging, I like to learn new recipes, try new crafts, and attempt cute nail art. I’m also on a journey to become healthier and lose weight, so that’s a big part of my life now too. I’m very positive and organized, and somewhat outgoing. I love smiling and laughing and playing games with my friends. I am a blessed woman, and I thank the Lord for what he’s given me! 

Photo by Phil Pullen Photography

Post Office, Beach, Planning & Gifts

Today is harder for me to start off as positively as last Monday - and all because of a bad "commute" to work. What usually takes me ten minutes, took me 20 because of an accident and a million police cars. And then an idiot pulled out in front of me, making me slam on my brakes and my horn. Then he proceeds to drive about 15 in a 35. Sooo frustrating. I know I need to just brush it off an move on though, so here we go with attempting that! I did have another great weekend, and so I need to ignore the rough start to my morning, and just decide to make today a more positive Monday again, in spite of the craziness!

And I feel like writing my shenanigans in list form today to let you know that "This Weekend I......"

FRIDAY
Finally bought the new Justin Timberlake album, and listened to it allll weekend. What took me so long?!
Worked on my "Will you be my bridesmaid?" gifts right after work
Shared a giant roll of sushi with Jeff for a light dinner
Went back to AMC to re-watch "Jurassic Park" after the power had gone off halfway through on Thursday night
Completely finished up my "Will you be my bridesmaid?" gifts, and got two ready for mailing :)

Dragon Roll. May not look super appetizing, but believe me - this dragon was delicious!!

SATURDAY
Woke up, chatted with parents and sister, got dressed and packed a beach bag!
Did a quick errand at Kohl's for my sister's fancy "Will you be my Matron of Honor" gift (she got me a beautiful gold watch when she asked me to be her MOH. And I got her diamond earrings!)
Met at Jeff's house, and got all of our beach gear packed and ready to go!
Mailed two of my bridesmaid gifts at the post office
Ate a Whopper from BK for lunch (and felt so full I thought I might explode - need to stick with the Whopper JR.)
Drove to St. George Island with my fiance for the day!
Spent a nice four or so hours basking in the sun, walking in the surf, and collecting shells to use as wedding decor
Shared a couple appetizers at the Blue Parrot together, then headed back home to Tally

SUNDAY
Got my second coffee in a week, after not drinking it since the very beginning of January, and it was delish
3rd grade Sunday school, big church, then Mexican food for lunch with my fam, plus Aunt, Uncle & Cousin
Gave my sister her "Will you be my Matron of Honor" present, and she said yes, of course!
Went shopping with Megan looking for junior bridesmaid dresses for her wedding, and found none
Hung out out at Jeff's house, and did a bit of wedding planning! (We have a great idea on our cake now!)
Ran errands with Jeff to T-Mobile, Michael's, Old Navy & Publix and ate dinner at Jersey Mike's
Then we went back to his house, chatted with his mom, and did some more wedding planning
And then he made phone calls to officially asked his groomsmen to be in our wedding! (Couldn't get a hold of 1 though)

Iced coffee, with hazelnut, skim milk and Splenda. Yummy.

Officially my Matron of Honor now! (Well, she'll be a "Matron" in a little over a month!)

See? A good weekend. A great weekend really! I got to watch a movie, and go to the beach, and work on my tan, and hang with my fiance and my family, and talk about my wedding, and relax just a little bit! Hooray! But I just know this upcoming weekend is going to be even better, because we're finally getting our engagement pictures taken, for real this time! And we get to do them in St. Augustine!! :) Soo looking forward to being over there, and seeing all my friends there, and of course taking our pictures too! Can't. Stinking. Wait. (Biggest "dilemma" for the engagement pics now - how should I do my nails?! Should they be matchy-matchy navy with my navy dress? Or should I do something that will stand out, but still coordinate? I'm still thinking about turquoise jewelry, so maybe turquoise-ish nails too?! I don't know!) Anyways...I hope y'all had great weekends too!

Linking up with: Covered in Grace, Sami's Shenanigans & Synfully Delicious.

Prepping for Springtime

Happy Monday ladies! This is my second post of the day so far, but the first one was simply pictures for the Ten on Ten link up that happens every month. This post is for the usual blogger-weekend-recap, of course!

Friday right after work, I went to the local high school track, and ran/walked two miles! And I think I did an excellent job. My routine is run/walk every other lap for the first mile, and then for the second mile, I run the straights and walk the curves. But I was able to do it faster this time, and I ended up running almost the entire last lap of the second mile, and it still felt great. I mean, I was definitely breathing super hard and out of breath, but it felt great to finish strong and be able to push through it! My total time on Friday was 27:50! Slowly but surely I'm getting faster and better!!

I let my watch run longer, because I forgot to start it for the first lap, and then it was all off from my RunKeeper stats...

After my run, I met Jeff back at his house, and we headed over to house/dog-sit for one of our friends. We made ourselves a delicious dinner of chicken, green beans and couscous, and watched a couple episodes of Fringe! It was a really chill night, and we enjoyed the time to relax and play with the dog before we both went home for the night.

Saturday morning, my family went out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and it was soo good. I tried to order as 'healthy' as possible, and then only ate half of the giant meal that came! Afterwards, my mama, sister and I all went shopping for a few hours! We were looking for dresses to wear for the upcoming wedding showers for my sister, but we weren't all successful. My mom got her potential mother-of-the-bride dress (unless she finds something she likes better), and another dress too. And Megan ended up with a cute little dress for her honeymoon. After hours of wandering the mall and Ross, we finally decided we were done for the day. While at Ross though, I found these super cute pots, for only $15 for both! So I bought them and will save them for my future house with Jeffrey :)

Then Jeff and I continued our day of shopping and random stuff, and also drove around to every single used car dealership possible, 'window shopping' for a potential new car for him. (He's been thinking about trading in, in order to get a smaller car payment to start saving more money.) We ate a delicious Faturday (that's not a typo people) dinner outside at Gordo's (pretending it was a bit warmer than it actually was), then did some more shopping at Target. And I got a new pair of undies, in a smaller size!! We also picked up some cookies to bake, and then headed home to watch some more episodes of Fringe!

Sunday of course was spent helping my mama teach 3rd grade Sunday school, and then going to big church just like normal. Then I headed to Jeff's house, and we immediately hopped in the car for another mini road trip down to the coast! We found a cute little restaurant on the water at the marina in Panacea, and ate a really late lunch. Then we went to Alligator Point, and explored Bald Point State Park a little bit, and then drove down the rest of the island! We got to spend a little bit of time on the beach, with our toes in the sand, and taking pretty pictures of gorgeous water. We eventually made our way back to Tally, I painted my fingers and toes, and then once again spent the rest of the night cuddled up watching more episodes of Fringe!

This was definitely one of those great weekends that are slightly busy, but completely full of fun things. I got to spend time with my family and my fiance, and some time in the sun. And I also got to eat some good food, although it wasn't healthy for me at all... And I got to just relax and chill and enjoy some down time too. These weekends are the best. And our mini road trip down to the beach yesterday got me really ready for and craving spring and summer time!! I'm ready for warm weather and lots of sunshine and sun dresses all the time and tan skin. Bring it on Florida!

Hopefully you had at least half the fun and relaxation that I did! I tried Prepping for Springtime this weekend by being outside when possible, and dressing for warmer weather! Hopefully it comes soon :) How were y'all's weekends?!

Oh, and I almost forgot to show off my nails from last week! This was another way of trying to prep for springtime just a little bit more, and usher it in faster, on my nails at least! ;)

Linking up with: Covered in Grace, Glitter & Gloss, Sami's Shenanigans and Synfully Delicious.

Pink Flowers & Posey's Cafe

Today's first post (yes, that means there will be two today!), is simply my Ten on Ten post to join in with A Bit of Sunshine for this monthly link up post, as a way to remember the smaller moments in our every day, regular lives.

10 am: Helping teach 3rd grade Sunday school with my Mama

11 am: 'Big church' and singing old hymns

12 noon: So many beautiful azaleas blooming in my yard!

1 pm: Holding hands in the car, on our drive down to the coast

2 pm: Finally having a really late lunch at the Marina

3 pm: Leaving the marina and the dock after lunch

4 pm: Spent time exploring Bald Point State Park at Alligator Point

5 pm: First time putting my toes in the sand this year :)

6 pm: Beautiful water at Alligator Point

Pictionary, Pitch Perfect & Pizza Recap

Hello Monday morning! Hello blog friends! It's freezing here in Florida today - which always makes for an interesting day for us 'natives.' I mean it was 27 degrees when I woke up today - that is just not normal here! It's 'warmed up' a bit since then, but the high is still only in the 60's for today. (I know I probably should not be complaining because my blog friends up there in Minnesota would trade places with me and this weather in a heartbeat, but still...us Floridians aren't made for 27 degrees.)

So first of all, there are a ton more of new lovely followers today, than when I last left you on Friday afternoon! So welcome to those of you who are new around these parts! I'm guessing my very recent engagement story might have reeled a few of you in? Or maybe Maria from Agape Love sent you over here since she started pimping me out as one of her new sponsors? However you found me doesn't matter - I'm just so glad you're here! If you haven't yet, let me know you're new by saying hello, because I really would like to send an email your way and get to know you a little bit more! And in the mean time, here are a few blog posts to get to know more about me if you're interested :)

25 Facts on my 25th Birthday

My entire weight loss journey

Random facts of me

30 Before 30 list and goals

And now, here's my weekend recap, although it's not much, so don't get too excited just yet... ;)

Friday:

Ran a quick mile Friday after work
Talked to a couple lovely friends on the phone

Picked up Jeff

Went to a friend's house for some pizza, and we ended up watching "The Wedding Planner" :) 

Went back to Jeff's house early, and just relaxed

Saturday:

Hiked the trail at Maclay Gardens with my parents, and luckily we didn't get stormed on like we thought we might

Picked up Jeff, and had lunch at Tijuana Flats

Ran errands at Costco and Home Depot

Both of us got hair cuts (him a lot more than me)

Made a cute cover photo for my Facbook timeline  

Went to Walmart two more times to find the right part for his broken toilet

Fixed the toilet

Went over to a friends house for a giant game of boys vs. girls Pictionary

The girls killed it, and we won like usual :)

This cute boy just being silly with his Valentine's candy I gave him :)

Sunday:

Went to my church, but a small SS group ended up combining with another teacher, so I was done for the day

Then went to Jeff's church, and showed off my ring to everyone there :)

Had lunch at his house, then stayed home allllll day being so lazy (Pitch Perfect, HIMYM, Big Bang Theory)

Seriously - one of the laziest days we've ever had, and it was great

And that's about all. It was wonderfully lazy and relaxing, but we had fun together and laughed a lot. And yes, I still stared at my ring a lot too :) Oh, and the tulips he sent to my office on Valentine's Day are opening up and looking beautiful! There are still a few that are closed up some (mostly the white ones), but they're all still gorgeous!

We just had a big breakfast at work to celebrate our February birthday's, and now I've probably eaten half of my calorie allotment for the day...although I'm not going to input any of it into MFP, because I'm scared to know how much it truly was. I'll just promise to eat good for lunch and dinner, and make sure I do some workout something-or-other after work today! (Run if it's not freezing? Zumba at home if it is?) It was worth it though - because there were some delicious casseroles and grits. Yum! Here's to another Monday in the office (although I hear some people have today off for President's Day? Ugh, not me), and getting through another week! Then tonight I'm going grocery shopping, because tomorrow I'm starting a two-week carb-cleanse. I'm not going to eat bread, pasta or anything like that for two weeks. I did it once before last year, and it was great, so I'm hoping for good results this time around too!

Tomorrow is our "First Things First" link up just like every Tuesday with myself and Hallie from Life: Oceanside. And of course we would love for you to join in with us! Tomorrow's topics are:

1. First thing you do at the gym

2. First date with your current significant other (or pick any first date if you're currently single)

3. First email address you ever had

Can't wait to hear all about y'all's weekends, because I'd like to hear some of y'all did something more exciting than me?! I want to read all about it! And I can't wait to read your First Things First post tomorrow as well! What did y'all do this weekend? Was it crazy and fun, or more chilled and relaxing like mine?

Linking up as usual today with: Covered in Grace, Sami's Shenanigans and Synfully Delicious. 

Peter Pan, Post Office & Po'Boys

Not to brag or anything, but I had a great weekend! It's not that anything super terrific or crazy happened, it was just one of those weekends, ya know? I was able to get a few things done, ran lots of errands, ran 2 miles, spent time with family, friends and boyfriend, went to church and just had a good time. I love weekends like this that are somewhat busy and full, but also full of relaxation as well.

Friday:

Hung at Jeff's right after work waiting to meet some friends for a semi-late dinner

Walked outside the house, and immediately realized we were locked out of the house and my car

Tried to take a good picture of us while waiting, and it wasn't working out

Thankfully, they came to pick us up!

Super yummy dinner at Bonefish Grill with Josh and Lacey

Saturday:

Luckily, I got to sleep in a little bit

Laundry, cleaning, errands, and bought Valentine's presents

Lunch with parents at Jersey Mike's

Jeff and I ran more errands all over the place: Target, Post Office, his work, Harbor Freight & Costco

Jeff stuck his head out the car window, and got crazy hair

Milled around Target for about an hour

Had dinner at Chick-fil-A

Went back to Jeff's and watched 'Peter Pan' on Blu-Ray :)

Started working on a tissue paper garland for Valentine's Day!

Sunday:

Took pictures all day long for Ten on Ten, to link up with Bits of Sunshine

Taught 3rd grade Sunday school with my parents, and made a cool craft for the lesson

Had lunch with my parents at Po'Boys

Went to my high school alma mater again to run/walk - and I did 2.07 miles!! It felt great.

Headed to Jeff's house, to chill and relax for the rest of the day

Painted my nails, worked more on my tissue paper garland

Downloaded a ton of new music and also made an awesome running playlist

Watched a couple episodes of 'Fringe'

So you see, it's not like any of that was out of the ordinary or super spectacular. But it was just the kind of weekend that I like. Productive with some time to also be lazy. Those really are the best kinds of weekends for me! What is the perfect kind of weekend for you? And what did y'all do this past weekend?

And as usual, I'm linking up with these lovelies: Covered in Grace, Sami's Shenanigans & Synfully Delicious.

Pink All Over the Place

Ten on Ten. With Bits of Sunshine.

Ten pictures, on the tenth of the month, capturing the little, every day moments of our lives.

8-9 am: Shower time before church

9-10 am: Bananas I wanted for breakfast, but weren't quite ripe enough for my liking

10-11 am: Teaching 3rd grade Sunday school, and making crafts for the lesson

11-noon: 'Big church' Bible stories

12-1 pm: Lunch with my parents at Po'Boys

1-2 pm: Running with lots of pink (Watch, shoes, shirt, earrings, iPhone case...)

2-3 pm: Fab Ab February challenge

3-4 pm: Attempted painting my nails special for Valentine's Day

4-5 pm: Redeeming iTunes gift cards to make an awesome running playlist

6 pm: Turkey sandwich and grapes for dinner

This was so fun to do, and to take so many pictures of random things all day long. I definitely want to make sure I remember to do this again, hopefully every month! Easy, fun, great way to remember little things that we often forget about or even take for granted. Can't wait to do this again on March 10th!