I'm just gonna say it, my birthday weekend rocked!

I won't even try to give any excuses as to why I haven't blogged the last couple days. Life took over, and I just didn't care to try and stop it. No apologies here! BUT, I'm back and I can't even begin to explain how much LOVE I felt over the entire weekend with all the birthday wishes!! All the sweet comments from some of you, friends texts, calls, family lunches, and who could forget? The sweetest husband there ever was! Can't wait to tell you what he did for me. Keep reading to find out later!

Friday night, we rushed home from work to make it to a Red's game with some of the youth group from church...it was an absolute blast. While Caleb and I hung out with the kids most of the night, we snuck in a little time together and a few pictures!

Although the Reds lost, it was a great game to be at, and to top it all off! The hall-of-famers were there AND it was firework night! It was a win all around.

We got home after midnight, so we went to bed! When we woke up Saturday, my man wished me the happiest birthday ever and took me to lunch at my favorite place!

Then, then then thennnnn! He took me to Marshall's and told me to pick out my favorite thing. Well, that meant this beauty was coming home with me!!

THEN...I turned around and my man held up the cutest pair of linen pants, and a clearance pair of heels, in MY size! I have to say, I was impressed. He made me try them on, and I loved them so much I got them (so cheap!!) I'm pretty certain I'll be wearing these heels everywhere I go for a while!

I got picked up at 12:30 for the wedding I was shooting with Joe, and was gone all day. It was GORGEOUS, but I did miss my man! He told me he had been at his friends all night, so I didn't expect him to be awake when I got home, at 11pm. I walked in, and I saw a gorgeous satin robe hanging in the hallway, and I could smell something amazing. Caleb came out and handed me a card...that essentially told me I'm the hardest worker he knows, and that he wants me to relax. He opened the bathroom door and literally, I couldn't help but start to cry! Ha, it was like a movie in there.

He had candles EVERYWHERE, and roses....and a hot bath ready for me!!! I can't even tell you how much it meant to me. I had one stinking hour left in my birthday when I got home, and he wasn't about to waste it by letting me sleep! Remind me to keep him ;)

Sunday, my family made me a delicious lunch. I got yummy food, and an amazing present!!! One of the "Pioneer Lady" cookbooks!!! I'm so, so excited!

If this weekend is any indication of how amazing my 23rd full year will be, then I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for all the love, friends!!! Happy Wednesday!

SURPRISE ;)

Happy Friday, friends!

I would rather...
...be on a beach than in my cubicle...

oh hey, long hair!

...have my toes in the sand than in office appropriate shoes...

...decide on which floppy hat to wear, over which work pants to wear...

...stay up too late with our best friends, than go to bed early...

...enjoy beach side sunsets every night, than be stuck inside...

...read a book on the beach, than read finance articles...

...wear a bikini all day in another country, than be in Ohio...

...lay out on a sandy white beach, than be stuck in my office...

Are you sensing a theme here at all? Well, if so...you're onto something.

SURPRISE!

I've been doing all of those things that I said I'd "rather be doing", all week long :)

Caleb and I have been on vacation ALL WEEK now with our best friends (you know, Erin & Jared - also known as my sister/brother in law!?)... yes, you read that right. We're having the time of our lives, finally taking an out-of-country vacation together like we've talked about for years. Pretty sure my heart could explode from happiness. Seriously, spending a week with three people you love!? It really doesn't get better than that. I can't even wait to fill you in on everything we experienced.

Enjoy your weekend, friends :) we'll be back home tomorrow!

Caleb's (kind of) surprise!

Happy Halloween!!! It's so weird that I have no costume, and have no orange on today. My cute orange tank I had planned on wearing got thrown in the wrong pile and was all dirty and wrinkly (grouch), so I have on black and white... woops!

Anyway! As I said yesterday, I had another surprise waiting for Caleb once we arrived home. He just didn't know it yet.

Long story short... it didn't turn out how I planned. It was hard enough stalling all day to be sure we didn't get home any earlier than 5! .I may or may not have made Caleb stop at a Walmart cause I was "feeling sick"... anyyyyway!

This is where it gets tricky. Well, not really...when we got home, some of his friends were running late and weren't in our apartment yet. Well, a few seconds went by, and Caleb saw them outside. He was SO confused, so it was still fun to see his reaction to that...it just wasn't the "surprise" I'd originally hoped for. Either way, it was a blast and I knew we had a night full of fun with all his old college friends waiting for us upstairs. He was so thrilled and just spent a few minutes outside with me thanking me for everything I'd done so far. He just couldn't believe it!

So, upstairs we went.

Made by my Erin!

As cheesy as it sounds, after the cake was cut...we all went around and introduced ourselves and said a few fun memories about Caleb. It started some interesting conversation, that is for sure!

This is probably my favorite picture of the night. I can just tell how much fun Caleb was having. Surrounded by his old friends.

Boys will be boys.

HUGE congrats to Rich and Amber!! They just got engaged last week, and he has asked Caleb to be in the wedding next October! Ahh I love fall weddings.

Also a MAJOR thank youuu to my soulmate, without her I could not have done ANY of this. I gave her my key, the supplies and a "good luck!" and she set EVERYTHING up the day of. She also made an incredible cheeseball (rolled in Caleb's favorite, Doritos!) and a delicious pasta salad that I may or may not have inhaled. Okay, I did.

Sibling looove :)

The wives! These are some seriously great ladies I'm so happy to know!

After nearly 5 hours of hanging out, our friends started to head home. Oh, did i mention MOST  of them drove over an hour and a half to help celebrate? We have some great people in our lives, I'll tell ya.

Shortly after most everyone had left, I gave Caleb his actual present -- an orange and grey Under Armour hoodie. He hasn't really taken it off since... :) I think he likes it?

To say Caleb's birthday weekend was a blast would be an understatement. I'm so happy he had a great weekend!! He's the best husband ever and so good to me on a daily basis, that I wanted to be sure he had a weekend worth remembering!

Hope it was great Caleb, you're amazing!

PS - although its Halloween, we are not passing out candy. First, we live in an apartment complex (do people even do that?!). Second, we are hitting up the gym after work, and spending the evening at my grandparents (bro/sis in law to join us!) and hopefullllyy by the end of the night? We'll be celebrating a Bengals W! 

Louisville happened!

So, as most of you know by now, Caleb's 25th birthday was this past Saturday. I can't let a birthday this big go to waste! So, I took off Friday and had a whole weekend of surprises planned for him.

I booked us a hotel in Louisville and we hit the road around 2 after exploring more of our own city a bit.

After a few CD's later, and even some talk radio...we arrived.

We had quite a bit of time before dinner, so we hit the shopping malls. Not before taking some fun selfies first.

After a fun few hours of shopping, we headed back to get ready for 4th Street Live! Our hotel was within walking distance, but man was it chilly!

Luckily, Caleb put his shoes on after this shot ;) 

It was a blast, there was a couple live bands out and our dinner was amazing. I highly recommend it!

Saturday morning was time for the Louisville Slugger Museum. Caleb was like a small kid in a candy store. It was awesome to watch him. Not only does he love baseball, but dude loves history, too.

Part of the museum is getting to hold ACTUAL game used bats by some of baseballs greatest.

Who did it best? I think I stole it from the birthday boy, sorry babe!

It was seriously creeping getting up close with these wax models.

We had a blast taking the tour, too. & you know we had to get a photo inside the "dugout"!

This city was beautiful. It is so alive and the architecture was just amazing.

After the museum we grabbed lunch at a cool pub, and headed home. Little did Caleb know I had another surprise waiting for him there!

I'll show you the rest of his awesome birthday weekend tomorrow.
Happy Wednesday, folks!

Linking up with the super sweet Shanna!

Its the afterpaaarty {part 1}

First of all, I want to apologize. I know I said this post was going to be like a million pictures, etc... but, listen guys. Life kind of got in the way last night. So instead, I decided to enjoy some much needed time with friends. Besides, this post would've been WAY too long, so I'll be splitting it up into next week. Yayyy.

Anyway! Lets get started, shall we?

Our reception was located right outside of the church in a huge white tent with lights hung and a dance floor in the middle. It was perfect, aside from the few lights you'll see that didn't light up...but like I said, that was our biggest problem all day. So I'd say it was a success!

These are just a few reception details. We kept it very simple!

We had muslin bags full of our favorite candies as favors!

Giant metal tubs (my fav!) to hold drinks!

Hand made centerpieces!

We kicked off the night with our fun walk in song... and the couples began getting introduced!

"aaaand for the first tiiiime; Mr and Mrs. Maaaaaggnnessssss"

So, we sit down. We're only sitting for a few seconds, when Jared looks over and tells Caleb he should go on the dance floor to thank everyone for coming. I look at Jared like he has 7 heads, "Uhh, did you do that at your wedding?!", he looks confused...but is trying his hardest to distract me. Caleb "gives in", gets up...and goes out on the floor. All the while I'm asking Jared "Why did you make him do that?", etc etc etc.

Here comes surprise #3.

He certainly did thank everyone for coming, but that wasn't all.

He turns to me, and says "You know, you do some crazy things for love..."

Suddenly one of our close friends, Josh is near him...and has set up two stools, brought over some microphone stands and two guitars. Whaaat is going on?!

Then it clicks. He was going to sing to me.

Thanks to Erin for catching this awesome reaction of mine

Pretty sure I said "shut UP!", or something along those lines, and then instantly burst into tears. :)
Have I mentioned I have one amazing husband?

 "you knew alll along didn't you, Jared!!?"

Obsessed with this shot.

Thanks for this shot, Erin!

The song he sang me? One of our favorites. One Republic's "Something I Need". Ugh, if you need me... I'll be in a puddle on the floor.

Then our guests got into it and we clapped along with the beat, it was overwhelming, really.

I was in shock, seriously. I remember saying to myself this is seriously happening?!!? It was just amazing. I absolutely couldn't believe that he just did that in front of everyone, and that he did it for me. I have one heck of a man.

Come back next week for the rest! Can't wait to show you guys all the fun that took place!

Happy FRIDAY!