Plane Tickets for the Honeymoon Have Been Purchased

So for a very abbreviated story real quick - I was cut off BIG TIME in traffic this morning on my way to work, and it infuriated me. I was yelling and laying on my horn like crazy, and my heart was racing. My mama (who was directly in front of me in her car), saw it happen and she said was so livid she wanted to get his tag number and call the police to report his aggressive driving. Suffice it to say, that wasn't the loveliest way to start off my day.....

But in much more pleasant and exciting news, I really just wanted to stop in here for a bit and say how freaking EXCITED I am, because Jeff and I got our honeymoon booked last night!!!!! Thanks to his very generous parents and their time-share-owner-points-stuff through Sheraton hotels, we will be spending seven nights at the Westin Lagunamar Resort in Cancun, Mexico!!!!

We also got a jump on it and booked our plane tickets last night, and found a pretty awesome deal through Priceline.com. Thanks for negotiating those prices for us, Mr. Priceline Dude. We appreciate that! So now, Plane Tickets for the Honeymoon Have Been Purchased, and the reservations at the resort have been made! And clearly I'm pretty pumped about that! Just to make you drool a little bit, here's some photos from their website of where we'll be staying :)

You guys, I'm so excited about this I can hardly even stand it! We're only 58 days away from wedding day, but that feels like so long in respect to boarding that plane to Cancun! Holy crap, we're going on our honeymoon to Cancun! Seriously, I might explode with excitement and happiness. Be prepared to clean up bits of confetti and glitter and sunshine rays, because I'm sure that's all that's inside me right now with all this excitement :)

Much Love,
Halie

Patriotic Festivities

"It's Independence Dayyyyyy!" (Pleas sing to the tune of the classic Martina McBride song from 1994. That's such a great song, and don't you even try to deny that.) You know what else, it's also my super sweet Granddaddy's birthday today as well. Yes, he shares his birthday every year with our country's birthday as well. And so every year, we get to celebrate a national holiday, and a family birthday as well, so of course it's always lots of fun! 

I for one am super excited about today, and so I wanted to share some about what my day will look like!

First of all, I'm totally splurging on this healthy eating kick, and eating a super delicious meal for dinner tonight, including ribs, baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese, and some dessert thrown in there as well. And I'm not going to let even one ounce of that deliciousness make me feel guilty.

Found via Google image search

Oh, and that mac and cheese I mentioned earlier, Jeff and I are in charge of bringing that, so I've scoured my "Pasta is my Favorite" board on Pinterest for the past week, in search of the yummiest recipe. And I think I've found the winner folks. We're going to be using cheddar, jack and mozzarella cheeses, and adding fresh crumbled bacon on top. Hello?! Who wouldn't eat that yummy, cheesy goodness?!

From the recipe post on White on Rice Couple blog

Moving on from food now, I will be rocking as much red, white and blue from head to toe as I can possibly manage - as long as that doesn't include my blue and white umbrella in all this nasty, thunderstormy weather. Come on Florida, get it together. I have some ideas in my head of outfits I can wear, but those are my backups. But first, Jeff and I are gonna hit up Old Navy to see if we can find something matchy-matchy to wear, and just be that sickeningly cute couple :) Now, I don't think it'll be quite like the picture below, but who knows? If we find it on sale, maybe...

Found via Google image search

In addition to my sporty red, white and blue outfit I'm sure I'll be wearing, y'all know I'm also gonna be rockin' some festive and patriotic nails as well. I actually already painted them two nights ago, but I don't have a picture right now, so I'll just wait for Mani Monday to share them with y'all. In the meantime though, here's a picture of some awesome nails, I only wish I had the talent to paint free-hand!

Photo found on the Pams & Kin Facebook page

Now what I'd like to be doing tomorrow afternoon before dinner is laying on the sand, with the sun shining bright in the beautiful blue sky, getting my tan on. But noooo, the weather in Florida has to be rainy and crappy all week long, so the chances of my preferred scenario happening are pretty slim right now. However, if I had it my way, this looks like the perfect spot to hang out on the 4th of July...All I would need is a bottle of sunscreen, a cooler of snacks and drinks, and a book to keep me company. And I guess my fiance would be a good addition too ;)

Photo found via Google image search

Oh sorry, I gotta jump back to food for a bit. Since my whole family (of 12) is eating together, we're doing it potluck style and each contributing, thus why we're in charge of the mac and cheese. So my mom is bringing some dessert for us, but she's keeping it a surprise and won't tell us what it is. We know it's festive in some way, but that's about it. Oh, and she said she's sure it'll end up tasting good, but she's not sure how it will end up looking, so who knows what she has up her sleeve. I'd love to see her attempt something as pretty and Pinteresty as this, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...!

Photo found via Google image search

And of course at the end of the night, after gorging ourselves on some yummy food, and maybe playing a game, and definitely sitting around having weird, random, hilarious conversations, eventually there will be fireworks. Now, I don't actually know if we're doing them ourselves, or if we're going somewhere to watch them, but either way, they'll definitely be happening. And if they can look even a little bit like the ones below, I'll be a happy girl.

Photo found via Google image search

I'm so grateful and thankful for this country I was blessed to live in. I hope you guys know how lucky we truly are here in America! I hope y'all have a great 4th of July celebration today (and throughout the weekend too probably), and that you enjoy your time with family and friends! Happy Independence Day, and Happy Birthday America, and another Happy Birthday to my Granddaddy!

Python, Water Park, Beach & Pool

It feels like I'm still halfway sleeping, so instead of words (basically any words at all), I'm just gonna flood y'all with a ton of pictures from our incredibly busy but extremely fun weekend...Ready, set, GO!

FRIDAY
Took the afternoon off to go to the beach with Jeff and the boys. And we lucked out with perfect weather.

SATURDAY
Pool day with lots of friends for us and lots of friends for the boys.

SUNDAY
Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Georgia. We did the water park section first, then did the regular rides and stuff as well. (Get to cross another thing off my summer bucket list, because one of them was to take the boys to a water park - DONE!)

Obviously, it was super fun and we all had a blast. But I definitely still need some more rest and recovery before I'm back to normal! I'm feeling exhausted this morning, as I'm sure you would expect, but it was super fun, so it is definitely worth it. I'm thankful for amazing weekends like this we get to spend with the boys, and memories we get to make as a little "family!"

Linking up with Glitter & Gloss, Sami's Shenanigans and Synfully Delicious.

This wasn't a perfect mani, but I still liked it! And this was a few days in, so there's some chips already...

Pumped For the Weekend

And on this gorgeous Friday morning, we will have yet again another random blog post day. I actually just really like writing whatever happens to come to my little noggin' and then calling it "blog-worthy." I mean, it's nothing that's winning me any writing awards or anything like that, but it'll do for this little space of mine on the internets, right?!

So first of all, how awesome is it that Instagram now has video? I mean, I just recently jumped on the Vine wagon, but by that point, everyone else seemed to have already jumped off of it. So it felt kind of like a sad ghost town, even though I was mildly obsessed with it. But now - now! We can make even better videos on Instagram! They're about twice as long, and you can view and edit your clips before the final posting, which rocks. I of course had to test it out last night, so you can check that out here. And if you wanna follow along with my randomness, my username is HalieRenee88.

Tonight around 6, Jeff and I are going to look at a cute little duplex to see about renting it! (I will be moving in wherever we find first, then he'll move in after we get married.) It's in a great part of town (exactly where I want to live), at a great price. I am so stoked about it. Can't wait to have a look-see at it!

I grabbed some new snacks at target the other night to try, and they've both been delicious. I got two different kinds of Chobani yogurt - the little 'Bites' and one of the 'Flips.' I got coffee with dark chocolate chip Bite, and peach with pistachio and chocolate Flip. And I really enjoyed both of them! Will definitely be grabbing more of these next time I'm grocery shopping.

This morning I stepped on my scale to see a surprising 183.6! Just Wednesday I was at 185.6. I stepped off, waited for it to reset, and then stepped on again to see the same thing. So I don't know if this will last, or if it was just some fluke this morning, but I'm really hoping that it's real and that I only go down from here, not back up to 185 again.

Jeff is taking the boys to the beach today, and he's trying to convince me to make it half day at work and go with them. And I'm reallllyyyy torn about that. Because of course I want to go so bad, but I also feel bad about just skipping work for no 'real' reason at the last minute. I don't know though - if my boss get's here soon I'll ask her and see. And then maybe I'll get to spend the afternoon soaking up some sun and play time, rather than planting my but in front of my work computer. I'd much prefer the sunshine.

(*Update: before I even finished writing this, my boss got here, I nervously went in to ask her, and she said it was fine! So now I'll be headed to the Gulf Coast for a bit this afternoon! Hooray!)

I got a new Influenster VoxBox earlier this week, and so I've started trying out one of the products - a new whitening toothpaste! I'll be writing a full review on this and all the other products later once I test them all, but for now, I'm just giving a little teaser.

Well, now I'm just too excited about officially going to the beach this afternoon to really write anything else. So this blog post turned out to be kinda lame. Can y'all let it slide this time, and I promise next time I'm here trying to write something, I'll come more prepared, or try to keep my head on straight the whole time. And then maybe I'll end up being able to produce some better content. For now though, I gotta get scootin' on some actual work-work, so that I can have things done and ready by noon! Because then I'll be tryin' to run outta here so fast there might be a whirlwind of papers in my wake.

So this afternoon is the beach, then checking out a potential house for Jeff and I. Tomorrow will be spent pool-side with friends and other little ones for the boys to play with - followed by a cookout and a sleepover for them. Then Sunday is Wild Adventures day! (Jeff & I have season passes, and it's bring-a-friend day, so the boys get in for free! Score!) So much fun going on over the next few days I can hardly stand it. Obviously I'm just super Pumped For the Weekend!

Happy Friday to y'all! Hope you have a good day, a great Friday, and an awesome weekend!

Patio Dining & Sunshine: Reasons I Love Florida

I'm feeling a little tiny bit creative today, coupled with a feeling of just really loving where I live. So I've decided I want to come up with a list of the reasons why I love living in Florida. It won't be anything fancy, but ya know, it'll do :) So the following is a quick list of some of my favorite things about Florida.

+ It's nickname is "The Sunshine State," and that right there is enough reason for me to love it. I mean seriously, it's sunny here about 89% of the time (I totally made up that statistic on my own, so don't quote me or anything), and I'm a girl who loves my sunshine. I mean even during the months of November through February when the majority of the country is drowning in rain, snow, sleet and hail, we can still have gorgeous blue skies and a bright shining sun. I love the sunshine.

+ Hand-in-hand with the glorious sunshine, are the gorgeous beaches that surround 89% of the state (that's a made up statistic too, in case you hadn't already assumed that). I mean, did y'all see that picture above? That's not taken on some remote, Caribbean island. That was taken on the Gulf Coast, at St. George Island last year. Beautiful. Am I right, or am I right?

+ Florida State football is perhaps the greatest in all the land of college football. Don't even try to argue with me on this one, or I'm pretty sure we can't be friends anymore. The Florida State Seminoles are my absolute favorite. And plus, I look pretty good in garnet and gold.

+ We have some of the most amazing entertainment places within just a few hours' drive of anywhere in the state. I mean hello? Orlando is like the top tourist spot in the country or something, right? (I guess I could have actually done some research to give y'all real stats, but I'm not all about that today...) Orlando alone is home to Disney World, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Harry Potter world, Epcot, Sea World, Wet-n-Wild, and about 15 other amazing amusement parks.

+ Just about every restaurant has a patio for outdoor seating, and you can sit there almost the entire year. There's just something a little bit special about eating at a restaurant, but still getting to sit outside. Do y'all agree with me on this one? Especially the places at the beach where you can just walk up off the sand, and plop down right in your bathing suit and still get service. Those are the best.

+ And for more entertainment, there are of course zoo's and aquarium's, and there are even some pretty neat museums too. (Nerd alert over here for this girl!) But more importantly, you can take airboat rides in the Everglades. Which is pretty stinking awesome. And they even let you hold baby alligators.

+ I can wear flip-flops and dresses basically year-round. Yeah, people will sometimes be all like, "Hey crazy girl! Aren't your feet freezing?" And yes, sometimes they are. But sometimes I just don't care. And I hate having my feet all confined in restrictive shoes, so I'd rather just brave the "cold" and wear my flip-flops in December. And I know all you Northern girls love your Hunter boots, but I barely even know what those are. (Never heard of them before this past winter in fact.) And I'm glad I don't have to wear them just to make it to my car to prevent my feet sinking down in the snow and having frostbite start setting in before I even make it to work. No. thank. you.

There really so many other reasons I love living in Florida, but I think it's time to wrap this up for now. Maybe I'll do a Part II to follow this up sometime in order to rub it in your face how awesome Florida is fully detail why I love my state.

If YOU live in Florida, what are some of your favorite things about living in this sunny state of ours? Let me know, and I might include it in my next list. :) But if you don't live in Florida, I want to hear why you love the state you live in! I guess some of the others out there are pretty cool, so let me know about that too! In fact, we may even make it a one-time link-up, but I don't know yet. I just threw that out there as my brain thought of it, so let me marinate on that a bit more. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, and I'll let y'all know later if it'll actually be a link-up or not!

Much Love,
Halie

Puzzles & Parks - My Summer Bucket List!

Apparently the thing to do around blog-world this summer is make a summer bucket list. So of course, y'all know I just had to jump on that bandwagon! I mean, hello? Summer is my absolute favorite season. (Thanks Florida for basically an 8-month summer!) And obviously I'm a sucker for a good list or two, or three, or forty-five... And so the two together? Summer and a list? I just had to! And now without any further ado or rambling, I introduce you to my...

2013 Summer Bucket List!

1. Go tubing at Bear Paw

2. Go to a country concert - preferably outdoors!

3. Visit a new beach in Florida with Jeff

4. Buy fruits and veggies from the farmer's market

5. Go antique shopping and to the flea market

6. Ride 75 miles on my bike

7. Go on a picnic in a park

8. Complete another thing from my 30 Before 30 list

9. Eat at 3 new restaurants that have outdoor seating

10. Clean out under my bed

11. Actually start training for the 5K, with the C25K app

12. Find a place for Jeff and I to live! (and move in!)

13. Clean out under my bathroom sink

14. Take the boys to a water park

15. Plan, decorate & cook for family dinner one week

16. Keep learning the ukulele

17. Create a giant pot of succulents (once in my new house)

18. Purge & donate some of my clothes and shoes

19. Complete a 1,000 piece puzzle

20. Do some more Pinterest crafts

21. Make a really awesome summer playlist

22. Try Geo-Caching, finally!

23. Make something cute for Megan and Bo's new house

24. Build a sandcastle at the beach with the boys

The "time-frame" for this will officially be starting this weekend, for Memorial Day Weekend. And even though summer is usually considered to be over by Labor Day, I'm extending this through the end of September, because summer weather in Florida can really last through Thanksgiving sometimes... So I might as well take advantage of that. So I'm starting this weekend, and I'll get to cross things off all the way through September!

Between all of these activities and things to do, and also planning a wedding for October, we're sure going to be super busy! But I'm just excited about going out and doing more things! Life is so much more fun when you make a real effort to do fun things and enjoy your time. So that's exactly what I plan on doing over the next few months :)

Did you make a summer bucket list? Do you want to? I think we all should! Doesn't it just sound like so much fun?!

Peeps Be Graduated!

This title was for my family, specifically my dad, who has been wanting me to use "peeps" in one of my post titles ;)

Good Morning lovely ladies, and Happy Monday! A couple of weeks ago, I decided to have a positive attitude on Monday morning, no matter what, in order to hopefully create a better day for myself. And it worked! So I'm trying that again today, and forcing myself to have a positive attitude again today as well, so that this Monday won't be so bad! I had an incredibly busy weekend and I'm exhausted today, but it was a great weekend, so that makes it worth it :)

Well first of all, on Thursday I painted my nails garnet and applied gold stripes to be festive for FSU graduation!

This was for #WIDN on Instagram - later I added the gold glitter to the thumb nail.

FRIDAY
Only worked 'til noon, and then went to a grad reception for my sister, hosted by the College of Human Sciences at FSU
Had a little bit of free time so I read for about half an hour, then helped Meg finish getting ready for graduation!
Our whole family went over to my uncle's house for an at-home Chinese buffet for dinner
Got to the Civic Center for graduation really early, so I had plenty of time to people watch all the crazies...
Sat through hours and hours of thousands of students, in order to see my sister and then my cousin walk the stage!
(Yelled at and almost got in a fight with a butt-head girl and her witchy mother who wouldn't sit down in front of me, approximately 3 seconds before they called Meg's name...Why do people have to be so rude?!)
Welcomed two more college graduates into the family :)

SATURDAY
Woke up at an ungodly hour for a Saturday morning, and set out on a mini road trip to Jax with my Mama & my Aunt
Went shopping for a few hours at the St. John's Town Center, and had lunch at Bahama Breeze
Drove over to the Avenue's Mall for a few hours, and finally found Mama's mother-of-the-bride dress for Meg's wedding
Came back to Tally, had Chick-fil-A for dinner and then went over to Jeff's house
Watched a few re-runs of How I Met Your Mother and just relaxed a bit

SUNDAY
Went to church and Sunday school with my family, and then had brunch at Backwoods Bistro
Met Jeff at his house, got clothes changed and the car packed, and we hit the road for St. George Island
Drove around and checked out the outside of a house we're trying to rent as our wedding location, and it looks great!
Spent a couple hours on the beach, but the weather was crazy! We did collect a TON of shells though for wedding stuff :)
It was super, super windy and cloudy, so we packed up pretty early, and had dinner at Beef's on our way home
Rented "Silver Linings Playbook" from RedBox, and it really was a great movie!

My omelet was green pepper, onion, spinach & a tiny bit of feta. Yum! And that's a fried grit cake - but I only ate about half.

Another busy weekend full of all sorts of things that make me happy: family time, fun with my fiance, yummy food and more. I truly am a blessed girl, and I love great weekends like this! (No matter how tired I feel come Monday morning...) This upcoming week is also pretty jam-packed with stuff, so hopefully I can keep myself normal and under control with everything we have going on! And tomorrow is Jeff's birthday, so that will be fun! And Thursday I'm having lunch with my fellow Tally girl, Angie, for our very first blate! So of course we're both looking forward to that :) Lots of fun stuff ahead this week, and I can't wait!

I hope y'all had good weekends too, of course! Or that you at least got to rest and relax a little bit. Also, don't forget tomorrow Hallie and I are kicking off the spiced up version our link-up, From Firsts to Lasts, so make sure you write your own post, and come link up with us! (You can read all about it in my post from last week, HERE. It's gonna be fun!) Remember to try to be positive today, and see if you can improve your Monday just be improving your outlook and attitude! Happy Monday!

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