Favorite things!

Today, I decided to link up with miss Ashley over here!! I love her blog, so why not join her for the first time?


Some of my favorite things include;

#1.

cake batter ice cream with sprinkles. Seriously my favorite.

#2.

Nobody actually forgot about Razzles, right?!

#3.

Finding pictures from old photo-shoots I've done.

#4.

being fun with my amazing grandma (I call her nanny, always have, always will)!

#5.

celebrating my friends :)

#6.

uh.. YELLOW. hello ;)

I love thinking about my favorite things... makes me happy. What are some of your favorite things?? Be sure to stop by Ashley's blog & link up with her today!

Too much fun for one weekend

Like I told you all on Friday morning, this weekend was going to be AMAZING, & I always hold true to my word... so yes, if you're wondering... my weekend actually was amazing!

So, this picture above may not be from the weekend, but it was last week when we went out to celebrate Caleb and his mom's birthdays. It was a blast.. and you KNOW I got my warm pretzel bites on ;)

Friday was Caleb's 24th birthday, and I wanted to do something extra special (on his last birthday, I was broke as a joke... soooo I wanted to make up for it). I took the whole day off, and we went out for donuts for breakfast.

That, my friends, is a butterfinger donut. AMAZING!

Then we relaxed at my place for a bit, and I decided I couldn't wait anyyyy longer to give him his gift (that I bought a month in advance!).

Yes, thats right. I got him a banjo!!!! I was SO excited about this. For those of you who don't know my wonderful soon to be hubby.. he is OBSESSED with music. I mean, really... and he has basically self taught himself every instrument you can think of... but one he didn't know how to play (or have), was a banjo. One of our favorite bands is NEEDTOBREATHE (check them out here), and also Mumford and Sons -- and they both have extreme banjo solos from time to time... he wouldn't stop talking about it for months, so I knew it was the perfect gift. His face lit upppp when I finally showed him what I got him...see??

I live for this kind of stuff. Surprises, birthdays, celebrations.. making people happy. Its a great feeling to give someone something, especially when you know they are going to DIE when they see it :) So.. after he played it for a couple of hours ;) we took a trip to our local Jungle Jim's... I was STOKED about this because I've never been. For those of you who don't know, Jungle Jim's is basically a ginormous international supermarket... its kind of amazing! The free sushi samples don't hurt either ;)

fun house mirrors... scary!

By the way, this may have been his 24th birthday... but he's really just a kid at heart. I'm so excited that when things start to feel too serious, he'll always be there to make me remember to find the joy in every situation. (cue fun fall random photo-shoot in a random pile of leaves)

Then I decided to treat us out to a night on the town, and when I say town... I mean the casino. Where we went for my birthday, which you can read about that amazing night here! There was all you can eat CRAB (Caleb maaayy have the photo of me with 6 claws of crab legs on my plate...oops)!! I am a total fatty when it comes to crab legs. Then we went out to the casino and blew too much money, but hey... it was in my budget, so its okay, right? ;)

We had a really great night... gambling and getting to know our new favorite card dealer, Bruce. He's the man. We walked hand in hand, and bet with those chips like they weren't even real money...
Overall, Caleb and I both really enjoyed the day I planned for him. We laughed so hard my throat hurt the next morning.

Which brings me to my next point, Saturday morning I went dress shopping... and (AH) I found "the dress" :) it was so pretty it made me cry. The first shop we went to, truly was the experience that every girl deserves. I will never forget it! Can't wait for May to get here!!

Some bridesmaids and family with me while I tried on dresses ;)

Happy Tuesday all, what did you all do this past weekend?

BIRTHDAAAAYYY!!

Happy birthday to the sweetest guy I've ever met... I'm so excited I get to walk through life with you!!! :)

This is an excuse for a post, BUUUUT I have a big day planned for my man and I (I even called off work-oops!), so I will be back this weekend with details :)

PS- tomorrow I get to go wedding dress shopping with my favorite ladies in the entire world. Ahhh! How were some of your ladies first times dress shopping? I am excited!

A few things

I have a few things on my mind.

One; I am wearing burnt orange today... which makes me feel like fall is going to last forever... except its 81 degrees today in Ohio! WHAT?! I know... for those of you who don't know...Ohio kind of has the most BIPOLAR weather in the world. Not that I am complaining... its just pretty crazy.

 

Two; I am dreaming of a Barnes & Nobles/Starbucks date with my soon to be SIL pronto, since we've been e-mailing back and forth all flipping afternoon about it. *Vanilla Frap with 2 pumps peppermint please* (all year round ladies).

 

Three; Chipped nail polish BLOWS. Do you guys find that top coats actually work?! Because I'm starting to think I'm wasting my money. Boo.

 

Now that that complete randomness is over, I'm excited to get the heck out of work and eat my face off tonight. Caleb and I are meeting Erin & Jared and his parents at a local sports grill restaurant, and I do indeed plan on indulging in some warm pretzel bites and jalapeno cheese.. mmm :) 

 

In other good news, I have the day off Friday... so tomorrow is like my FRIDAY! WOOO. Sorry for the short post today; work is BUSY.

 

The Fact Is....

I recently stumbled across a blog that I really fell in love with. Nicholl is super cute and so is her blog. She invited me to link-up with her today so, I'm trying out my very first, and random link up! Yay for progress!



Fact: I am on a stupid diet, trying to make sure I have a killer body for my wedding... and there is some cake staring me in the eye. Why?!
Fact: X Factor is 57 times better than American Idol. Seacrest annoys me now.
Fact: I have no sisters... this makes me EXTREMELY thankful for my best friend and also soon-to-be sister! Those two ladies are my favs.
Fact: One of my favorite things to do is buy candy and rent a redbox. I don't need fancy schmancy everyday ;)
Fact: My soon-to-be hubby turns 24 this Friday, and I am SO thrilled to treat him to an entire day out.
Fact: If you wanna win me over; buy me candy. That'll do it.
Fact: I'm a sucker for a good book. Seriously.. if I could read all day and turn off EVERY electronic device I own... I would. But lets get real, its 2012... and the world makes it hard. I do sometimes make myself "unplug" to dive into my Bible.
Fact: I collect Mason jars... I mean, lots. The bluer the better. & you better believe they'll be ALL over the place on my big wedding day next Spring.
Fact: I have an incredible little brother who will be 15 next month, and who is extremely protective over me. Good thing he likes Caleb, or we'd be in trouble. ;)
Fact: Anthropologie is probably my favorite store to just peruse through... if only I had a thousand dollars to just blow.

Happy Tuesday all... is this SERIOUSLY my fourth day of blogging in a row?? Yaaaay for more progress, heh.

so giddy.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!

Sorry about that....well, not really.

Caleb and I had our engagement shoot tonight and OMG you guys... one of the most fun nights Caleb and I have probably ever had. I mean, seriously.. our photographer had us jumping off of light posts, laying on brick streets, sliding off of railings, jumping in the air, and cracking up ALL night. So, since I can't actually show you any tonight (because it will probably be 1 or 2 weeks he said) I will show you some of my favorite silly/funny/awesome pictures of us to date...

I know that none of those are the "greatest" pictures ever, but they are us... and thats all that matters. We are so goofy when we are together, & I think God likes that we act childish sometimes, just like in our faith. We are called to have "child-like faith". 

Don't mistake this for immaturity, we just like to have fun ;) I am so lucky he walked into my life when he did. God is so good.

& Caleb if you're reading this, can't wait to marry you and being our "forever".

Now that I got out my giddiness, let me tell you what happened to me this morning. I am sitting there at a stop light.... changing the radio station, when BAM!... my neck jerks back, then my head hits my steering wheel. Guys, this was my first car accident.. and I'm thankful it wasn't MY fault! We both pulled over, and this was the moment I was thankful I had a full time job, because I was dressed up. If this had happened last year, I would've had to get out of the car in my pajama pants and baggy sweatshirt, and yes... maybe even slippers.

SOMEHOW-- my car was not damaged, not even a little. & neither was hers... but man, after I drove away. I began to freak out. I think my nerves caught up with me...I just thank God I'm okay and so was she! So, yes... my Monday morning may have been the typical Monday-morning-blues type, but oh did it end with a bang. Overall, it was one of my favorite days ever.

Happy Monday all, hope your Tuesday is even better!

Here to save the world

...alright, not really. BUT, this weekend... we pretended we were ;)

See those cute little skeleton "trophies"?! The gold one that says "Best Couple" went to my soon to be SIL and BIL. Love them to pieces. I'll let their photo speak for itself... ;)

I mean, they make some pretty convincing pirates if you ask me ;)

This weekend we went to Caleb's cousins annual Halloween party! It was a blast, as usual. We had some games, dancing, eating too much, and plenty of laughter. Its a fun time, and they go ALL out on their decor. They do NOT mess around!

yes, that is a "rat" cheeseball... ha!

Chili dip with olive "spiders"

They also had lots of other decor I didn't think to snap.. chicken wire ghosts surrounded the house, decorated themed tables.. even a zombie head cut out photo op! So, we had a blast. What are you guys doing for Halloween?

Sorry for the short post, a very INTENSE Bengals vs. Steelers game is on.. and we are currently winning!!

OOHHHH TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry guys, that just happened. Gotta run! HAPPY SUNDAY!

Missing vacation

Its Saturday morning, and naturally I can't sleep in like I could when I was 7 (I miss that). So, I pick up my phone... cause thats gonna help... ha! and I'm looking back on my million pictures that I took on my vacation with my family, you know.. the one where I become a soon-to-be wife? You can read all about that over here. I remembered, hmm.. I never posted any of my fun pictures from vacation.. and I KNOW you're all just dying cause I've kept you waiting so long..... ;) 

the first day of our engagement!

scored this little Gap dress for $4 on clearance.

my tall younger brother, Brandon.

my uncle, cousin, Caleb and brother.

hahaha, excuse the butt.

my little cousin (and also our flower girl) Maddie.

basically my favorite place on that island.

That picture above, was taken on our 3-year dating anniversary, which happened to land on the last night of my families stay in Hilton Head. It was perfect. We took the car, and just did whatever the heck we wanted too, which included vintage baseball card hunting, driving parts of the island I've never seen (even though I've been there about 15 times), making a midnight Applebee's stop, and making late night waffles. Nothing fancy.. but you know what? It was one of the most fun nights there all week. Loved it :)

Ah, vacation. I miss it like crazy. My family has gone to Hilton Head almost every year since before I could walk... I have a soft space in my heart for that crazy cute island. Can't wait to go back again one day. But it might have to wait an extra year this time... since you know, SOMEBODY will be going on an out-of-country honeymoon.

Speaking of honeymoons, I was talking to Ashley (check out her ADORABLE blog) via email the other day about her awesome honeymoon and she gave me a good recommendation. We are trying to explore TONS of options and weigh them later.. anyone have any suggestions? Let me know. Happy weekend, everyone!!