Monday Morning Rambles…

Hola blogland! My little corner of the blog is feeling kinda neglected so, since I have random thoughts bouncing around in my head, I thought I’d type them out and share.

You’re welcome.

^^sarcasm^^

Moving on…

I’ve been having a hardcore love/hate relationship with Facebook lately. Between the politics and the stupid people in the comment section of pretty much any company post, it’s both infuriating and a total time suck. I removed the FB app from my phone, but that only lasted a few days. Then I started using safari to get to FB. :o/ To curb my FB addiction, I decided to finally try and tackle Snapchat. Trading one addiction for another? Maybe! Maybe I’m too old or something, but it’s super complicated for being a stupid simple app. Even though my 15yo doesn’t have an account on Snapchat yet, she knows how to work it because all her friends have it so she’s been teaching me the ins and outs. You all probably have this Snapchat thing figured out, but for anyone like me, who might not have teenagers to help them out, I’m going to write a “how to use snapchat” post. I’m still gathering knowledge/tips/tricks, but I hope to get it done soon.

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I’m getting back on the healthy train again (summer is almost here!!) and I made this super yummy refreshing green smoothie this morning. It’s clean tasting, not super sweet and has a nice tart-but-not-too-tart zing to it. My kids didn’t like the ginger addition, but if you aren’t opposed to ginger, it really does give it a nice little kick.

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I’m still on track with my reading goal this year. Yay! March was a little weird because I kind of got burnt out so I ended up reading some novella’s and a book of poems, but I’m ending the month with The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. Highlights of my Feb/Mar reading coming up in a blog post this week.

It occurred to me the other day that if you look at my Instagram, it would seem that I workout/run a lot. This could not be further from the truth and yet another example of our Instagram lives being a little more perfect than our real ones.

I have about a 30 min drive home after dropping the kids off at school and I love listening to a podcast on my way home, but I binge when I find one I like and now I’m searching for something new to listen to. I’m caught up on Serial Season 2…Hidden Brain has some interesting episodes, but I haven’t gotten sucked in completely so it’s hit or miss…I was listening to Happier with Gretchen Rubin a lot, but I needed a break from the self help. How to Be a Girl is really good, but there are only 10 episodes and she doesn’t have a regular schedule. Invisibilia was a great one that I listened to with the kids, but it’s on hiatus right now. Have you been listening to anything good lately? Please share!!

K. I’m done purging my morning thoughts. Thanks for listening! Now I’m off to get some housework done and do some prep to get back into the school zone after being on Spring Break for the past 10 days.

 

If.

If last week was my “get ‘r done” week, this week is the opposite…NOT gettin ‘r done.

I’ve gotten a few things accomplished…like starting to learn Ruby (yes, a kids book! I gotta start small), doing a little work on a part time gig and finally finishing To Kill a Mockingbird.

That’s the extent of my “work” this week though.

It started over the weekend. I got a little (okay, a lot) complacent and distracted and it grew from there.

The weather certainly isn’t helping my productivity. It’s overcast and cold and I just want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot coffee loaded with rich, thick buttery cream and sugar-y goodness.

This morning I desperately wanted to crawl back into my warm bed with the hubby instead of making sandwiches for lunches and driving the kids to school.

It’d been a few weeks since I treated the kids to hot chocolates before school so we made a detour on our way downtown to get something warm to drink. Well, the kids got something warm, I got my usual iced latte. I’m a creature of habit. I stick to my favorites and don’t like to venture out of my comfort zones.

I started out semi productive today, but then I started binge watching House of DVF on demand. Have you guys seen this? Did you know it existed? I’m not sure how I missed this show being on tv! I’ve started to realize lately that I really, really love Diane von Furstenburg’s designs so I was ALL OVER this reality show. Hence the getting sucked in part. The show was just okay. I was in it for the fashion really and to see DVF. 😉

This photo has nothing to do with me being a slacker, but I’m so in love with my pretty pink girl that arrived in the mail last week. I’ve been staring at her daily while she hung out on the mantel for awhile. She’s now residing on top of my dresser in the bedroom.

freckledlatte_shannonbotakisShannon Bonatakis print

Today is our Friday because the kids have a 4 day weekend and I’m not sure what we’re doing other than History Fair projects, but we MUST do something productive! And something fun!

I know it’s not yet the weekend for most of you, but do you have anything good planned?

Monday Morning Randomness

Happy Monday party peeples!  How about some randomness to start the week?!

My morning started off bright and early.  The teenager needed to get to school early to re-take a test and while I’m glad they get the opportunity to try again when they get a crappy grade, geez oh man is it inconvenient.  We all had to get out of the house 30 min earlier!  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but this girl likes her sleep.  😛

I made the most of it though.  I drank my iced latte and had a nice little chat with the 6th grader while we waited for school to start, got two loads of laundry done and made myself a yummy hot breakfast all before 10am!  Woot!  I’ll take that for a Monday!

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Over the weekend we spent several hours working on a poster board for the 11yo’s health class. He did all the planning and artwork, I just helped with the execution.  He’s so proud of his work. He kept saying how awesome it was.  My kid is super humble obviously.  lol.

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Speaking of my youngest, it’s only 11 days until Halloween (holy crap, 11 days!!) and while his costume came in the mail on Thursday, he just tried it on last night and…it’s too small!  Wahhhhh!  Thankfully they had the larger size in stock so I ordered it and it should arrive on Friday.  I’m crossing my fingers that it fits okay.  The teen though…ugh…she wants to be Princess Leia.  I’m not sure if you’ve looked for that costume before, but the options SUCK so even though I haven’t sewn since HS, we’re going to try and make it.  *start stressing in 3..2..1* Wish us luck!

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On Friday I posted about my evening wedding attire shopping and promised the finished look. Even though we were rushed, I had the teen snapped a few shots.

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I went simple with my accessories.  Just a blinged out bracelet, drop earrings and an envelope clutch.  In a perfect world, I would have worn sleek pumps instead of the wedges, but I am not spending any more than necessary right now so I had to work with what I had in my closet already.  My black Louboutins were my first choice, but I thought the nude color looked better.

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And, because it’s Monday and you might need a little pick me up.  Check out Gwen Stefani’s new song!  She never disappoints!

Comin’ at ya…

with my weekend recap and some randomness…on a Tuesday.

Say whaaaa?!

I know, right.  Randomness should be my middle name.  😛

So, this past weekend I travelled to Atlanta with a pack of middle schoolers.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the greatest traveler.  Once I get to my destination I’m usually okay (sometimes even great!), but the preparation sends me into a tailspin of anxiety and stress.  I was super cranky on Thursday because 1. I didn’t want to go (bussing it for several hours when I can’t do anything but stare out the window + going to a theme park  isn’t my idea of a good weekend) and 2. I was anxious about the bus ride (please don’t let me get sick, please don’t let me get sick).  I hem-hawed until the very last minute, but ultimately, decided just to drive myself because my stomach was completely jacked before we even got on the bus.  We left out Friday morning, had a whirlwind of a weekend involving a concert at a church, vocal competition and TWO trips to Six Flags, then back home by Sunday night!  Shew!  Then I spent Monday catching up on my ZZZ’s and my daughter got sick.  Fun, right?!

Fotor0401203228[the obligatory selfie, rides that Caitlin went on and cherry blossoms!]

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I’ve had my eye on the Project Life products for several months now and I’m finally getting around to getting the supplies to get started.  I used to love scrapbooking, but it got to be more about the design of the pages and less about the photos.  Not to mention that it took too long to drag out all my materials and then put them away again.  There are definitely PL pages that are super scrapbook-y, but I don’t plan on doing more than sticking some photos in the page inserts along with a few cute pre-cut papers and a little journaling.

IMG_2593[my first album!]

Now to order pictures so I can start filling the pages!

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I saw this Louis Vuitton bag on a blog post last week (then crazily enough, also in person on my trip to Atlanta), and it’s officially on my lust list!

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.09.58 PMLouis Vuitton Neverfull MM

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And, just because it’s late and I’m snacky, and despite the fact that I’m getting back on the healthy train and back in the gym VERY soon, I want this cake batter puppy chow something terrible right now!  YUMMMMM!

Monday Morning Ramblings

Seriously ya’ll, my weekend flew by.

I wanted to get my tree taken down, but here I am on Monday, with the tree still up!  It WILL get taken down this week danggit!

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I am trying to get more organized.  It’s one of my New Years goals (goals that I need to post so I can visualize and make them happen, but yeah, still need to get that written up).  I bought a cute new planner.  Nothing special, but it’s a place to write out my important dates so I can see them all laid out.  I have tried and tried to get with the digital planning, but I need to write it out, with a pen & paper and actually SEE it.  My husband does not understand because he’s such a digital planner type of guy, but it not only helps me remember things, but it motivates me to stay on track.

2014 planner

I also started Shaun T’s T25 workout by Beachbody last week.  **our living room has been converted to the exercise room so that’s why the table is moved in the photo above**  Today starts week 2!  My hubby is doing it with me so that is helping me stay accountable.  But last night I wrote out my workout calendar for the month and hung it by my desk.  I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me.  It’s just so cute and structured.  I love seeing it all written out and planned!

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Now if I could get on track with my eating and meal planning, I’d be golden!  That is on the agenda for this week.  Over the weekend, we had a birthday party, it was rainy and gloomy, my teen was doing a 31-page extra credit history packet (that I cursed her under my breath for because if her grade was better she wouldn’t have to spend hours trying to bring it up with EC!) and also working on a science fair board.  Ugh.  And now it’s Monday and my precious weekend is over.

*sigh*

Oh well….it does no good to complain about it now, does it?  Just gotta pull on the big girl panties and get on with the week!

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As a parting note, I read this quote today and I really (like super really) loved it.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. ~ Mark Twain

I’m not sure I would have fully grasped it before going to France last year, but as much as traveling gives me anxiety and as much as I love my comforts of home and long for them while I’m away, there was something really special about experiencing the way other people live.  I don’t want to stay in my one corner of the earth for my entire life.

Favorite Gifts 2013

christmas_listTory Burch fragrance :: Diana glass lens (dslr) :: mirrored polka dot jewelry box
jewelry tray :: Gorjana-Griffin ring :: quick charger
Polar Loop :: Kate Spade mug 

even more gifty goodness…

Photo Credit :: glitter bokeh background

Friday Randoms

Woot!  So happy for the weekend to be here!  Last weekend was filled with birthday parties to attend, pumpkin patches to visit and pumpkins to carve.

This weekend however, is…completely, utterly, blissfully, FREE!

On to some randoms for your weekend enjoyment…

  • I just started using WEN shampoo and so far, I like it!  I was hesitant because my hair is fine & gets oily very easily, but it feels clean after I wash it, it’s not weighed down and it doesn’t get oilier any faster than before.  Seems like most of the reviews of people who don’t like it are because of price or they’re not using it correctly.  The more product you use, the better and you have to put some muscle into scrubbing your head.

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  • We had these two recipes for dinner the other night and they were DELICIOUS!!  I hate trying new recipes because you never know when you are going to waste your time and effort to end up with a crappy end result, but luckily these two weren’t too much trouble and they were yummy.

2013-11-01_0003*photos via their original recipe source below*
Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken (left)
Quinoa Fried Rice (right)

  • Remember when I went and got my little eye exam and was told I have a slight astigmatism?  Well, I found this cool place, called Warby Parker and they have super affordable eyewear.  I decided to go ahead and buy a pair to see if they really helped at all with my vision.  I don’t feel like my vision is bad (obviously since I’m technically 20/20), but there are a few select instances where I feel like it could be better.  The verdict…my astigmatism is so slight that I couldn’t really tell a big difference and wearing them in normal situations gives me a bit of a headache.  I don’t regret my purchase though!  The shopping experience was super easy & smooth and when you buy a pair of glasses from Warby Parker, they send a pair to someone in need.  A win-win!  Plus, they’re pretty cute and I’ll have them if I need them.

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  • If you’re a perpetual procrastinator like me, you might want to check out this article.  Btw, I decided if I had a pet monkey that insisted on sticking around, he needed a name.  I call him George.
  • I hadn’t really noticed the duffel coat trend until I saw it on Capitol Hill Style and now I am in love with this type of coat!  Not that I need another coat.  Living in FL, my pea coat from 13 yrs ago still works just fine and I bought a longer coat early this year in preparation for my trip to France.  Even still though, a girl can dream, right?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIsG4DCpt0&w=560&h=315]

 

Linking up with Style Elixir

It’s my first time…

It all started with a decision to be in a zombie flash mob…

then, came the overwhelming obsession with everything zombie!

By the time I decided to participate, I only had about 10 days to learn the 8 min long routine.  After getting more than half of it down pretty well, I was able to start wrapping my head around how I was going to dress.  I mean, we’re going to be performing  in front of a large group.  I gotta be zombie’d up!

8070021914_4684579284how awesome are these undead nails?!

I was racking my brain on costumes and finally just decided on something that’s already in my closet.  I hate to buy something only to ruin it by ripping it and splattering it with blood.

Next, I started combing Pinterest looking for make-up ideas.  I want something simple, but effective.  I’m thinking more like Warm Bodies dead, not super gruesome-eyeball missing-dead.

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Then while I was at rehearsal over the weekend some of the ladies were talking about last year’s zombie flash mob and what they wore and someone mentioned colored contacts.  I immediately thought, “YES!  I need spooky contacts!”  That would totally stand out and make me look a little more freaky without having crazy make-up.

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**Let’s just ignore the tiny fact that I’ve never worn contacts in my LIFE and I had less than week to get them ordered, delivered and learn how to put them in!  That’s not really important, right?  Nope, I didn’t think so either.

I was immediately on the hunt…researching where to buy them…what color I wanted…how to put them in…

until I got the smackdown…

In wanting to make sure that I get legit contacts that won’t scratch my cornea or ruin my eyesight or anything crazy like that (important stuff, yo), I found out that apparently it’s illegal to sell contacts without having a “prescription”, even for zero correction lenses.  Booo!  Not cool.  I’ve never been to an eye doctor.  Like ever!  I know, I’m 35 and I should have had an eye exam, but yeah, just haven’t made the time.  My vision has always been fine (even though my husband has been insisting for months that I needed to have it checked).  Sure I can’t read as well as I used to and the headlights at night on a dark road are kinda blurry, but I thought I was pretty normal for 35.  Nevertheless, I had planned on eventually getting an eye exam, but this whole “getting cool contacts for a costume” thing, was getting out of hand.  I mean, firstly, they are not cheap at around $30 for 1 lens.  Then add on super fast shipping, and NOW, an eye exam!  Oh, and apparently getting fitted for contacts is a whole separate fee from just getting an eye exam.  Ay yi yi!

I find out all the eye exam stuff first thing yesterday morning.  I debate it at first, but my amazing hubby who supports me in my crazy obsessions tells me just to do it because I need an exam anyway.  Next thing you know, I’m headed to the eye doctor!

Looking through the glasses at eye chartsource

My stomach is doing somersaults and my pits and palms are dripping with sweat.  I have no idea what they’re going to do, if it’s gonna hurt, or if I’m going to go through all this and end up not being able to get my cool contacts for whatever reason.  Then comes the paranoia….What if I actually need a prescription for glasses/contacts?  What if they tell me something horrible?

When I get called back to the room, I am babbling like an idiot to anyone who will listen.  Telling them my life story.   That’s what I do when I’m nervous, ramble and fill in the quietness.  Saying things like,

“this is my first time”

“I’m just trying to get cool contacts for Halloween”

“my husband has been harassing me for months to get my eyes checked. I think they’re fine!  But, I guess everyone says that, huh?”

The doc finally comes in after what seems like an eternity of me staring at the posters on the wall and looking at the scary eye contraptions.

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I breeze through my letters tests.  Sweet, this is going well!  My palms are still sweaty, but I’m less anxious now.  Then the doctor tells me she’s going to put some drops in my eye to numb my eyeball.  What the what?!  “Numb my eyeball?!”  I’m looking at her like she’s about to pour acid in my eye and she’s explaining that it’s just drops and it won’t be bad.  Lady, I’m not worried about the drops, I’m worried about why my eyeball needs to be NUMB!  What the heck is she gonna do to me?  Turns out I was freaking out for no reason (as usual).  Whatever she did, didn’t hurt at all and since I wanted to be fitted for contacts she said she wasn’t going to dilate my pupils this time.  Woot!

Diagnosis: 20/20 vision with a very slight astigmatism in my right eye

20-20-vision-dogsource

Now it was time for my contacts fitting!  They sit with you, tell you how to put them in, how to take care of them, yada, yada, yada.  Then, they want you to put them in while they stare at you.  Awesome.  As if I wasn’t nervous enough about sticking something on my eyeball, but now someone is gonna be watching my every move.

Wellllll, not to brag or anything, but apparently…I’m a natural!  Oh yeah.  Nailed it!!  Got them puppies in on my first try.  Took one out (so she could make sure I did it right) and then put it back in.  Booyah!

photo 2 copyI was looking through the glasses while waiting for paperwork to get finished. Can you tell I have blue contacts on in this photo?

I came home and immediately ordered my zombie contacts.  Hopefully they ship today so I don’t have to stress about it, but I paid for 2-day shipping so even if they don’t ship until Wednesday, I should be golden!

Five on Friday…

Woot! It’s Friday y’all! Here are some fun/cool/interesting things from this week…

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  • I think we’re all pretty aware that Breast Cancer Awareness is this month, but I bet you didn’t know that it’s also Squirrel Awareness month.  Yep, you read that right.  There is a squirrel awareness month!  Oy vey.

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  • I am seriously loving this “autumn” hair that Vanessa Hudgens is sporting.  I wonder how hard it is to replicate.

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  • Check out this super cool online storytelling community where you can create, read and share visual stories.  It’s great for kids of all ages (K-12), adults and artists.  I can’t wait to tell my teenager about it!

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  • Never look bad in a photo again!  Click here to see Cara’s advice on how to rock the camera.  She always seems to look great in photos so she must be doing something right!

cara 2image via maskcara.com

*insert witty title* :: ramblings

Can I tell y’all how happy I was to not have any kind of party or activity that needed my attention this week?!  I know it’s hump day and we’re already halfway to next weekend, but I had a pretty good weekend and first half of the week so imma gonna blab about that today.  :oP

The wedding festivities were fabulous, but I’ll get to that in a second.

My Monday wasn’t half bad considering it was a Monday.  I was exhausted from the weekend, but I was able to get some laundry done and focus on chores around the house, paid a few bills and most importantly…worked out!! I restarted C25K. I’ve been so bad lately about making time to do anything active. I give in to being a lazy bum waaaay too easily. Good news though…I had a lot too much sugar over the weekend which made me feel blah and reminded me of why I limit my sugar!  I really don’t limit it a ton, I just limit my candy, sweets & treats. I’ve noticed when I overdose on candy & sweets or even lattes, I start breaking out on my face.  I must say though, that in itself is a pretty good motivator to stay out of the sweets! I still have plenty of sugar daily via my Starbucks latte’s & my own homemade coffee, but my face let’s me know when I’m overdoing it.

Speaking of coffee, I ordered a new flavored coffee to make at home with a supah cool mason jar tumbler.  I’m excited about it. It arrived today so I’ll be sampling it soon! I’ll post my thoughts on it after I’ve tried it out. I’m a little picky with my drinks so I’m hoping that I like it.

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Monday ended with my hubs telling me that when he got up at 3am to order his new iPhone 5s, he also ordered ME one!!  I didn’t know whether to be annoyed that he spent too much money or elated to be getting a present. I currently have an iPhone 5 so it’s not like I neeeeded an upgrade, but….it was very sweet of him to think of me and the deed is done annnnnd it arrived yesterday so I’m not annoyed anymore, just EXCITED!

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*Friendly reminder* Make sure to take off the protective film before trying to set up your fingerprint scanner. Why on earth would I think you need this tidbit of information you ask?  Well, it’s a funny story.  I was trying to scan my fingerprint and I kept lifting my thumb and putting it down over and over again, but nothing was happening.  I pushed a few buttons thinking it was the iPhone’s fault, then tried to scan one more time…again, nothing!  I started to get annoyed and then…realized that I never took the film cover off! Doh! Yes, folks, that really happened. I’m a dork and I’m not afraid to admit it.

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Tuesday started with a doctors appointment for my teenager, but then we got coffee (she got a hot chocolate), I dropped her at school and I headed to the mall!  I was on a mission. I really, really, like obsessively really, wanted some booties for Fall. I didn’t plan on spending hours at the mall, but you know how it is. I started at Dillards, found some Gianni Bini ones I really liked, but they didn’t have my size/color combo so I kept looking.  Went to Aldo, then Belk, stopped at Loft in between and found a good deal on some awesome burgundy slacks, then headed back to Dillards so they could call another one in town to see if they had my size.  The guy helping me said the computer was saying there was one in stock, but the salesperson on the phone was saying she couldn’t find it.  By this time it’s lunchtime and I’m starving, but I really wanted some booties so I headed to the other Dillards hoping that by me being there in person, the salesperson would magically find them!

It worked!  When I got over there she said she found them after she got off the phone and she’d held them for me!

Taaaadaaaaa!  Here they are!

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They have cool buckles and they’re a dark olive/brown color and I lurve them!  I came home and tested them out with several jeans to make sure they were as versatile as I thought they would be. Now if mother nature would just get with the program and give us some cooler weather, I’d be in hog heaven. Well, I guess we’re technically having cooler weather, but 80’s isn’t necessarily the cooler I was hoping for!

Okay, back to the wedding….it was a whirlwind of a weekend and apparently when I’m busy, I don’t think about taking photos of my outfits! Actually I did take one, but it’s kinda awful so instead of posting it, I’m going to recreate my rehearsal outfit as well as the wedding one because…well, they were too good to ignore IMO.

I didn’t take photos of my clothes, but I did however take photos of the candy table that my sister and I put together.  I know it’s not the most spectacular candy table you’ve ever seen, but we were pretty proud of our first attempt.

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My mom ordered the flowers for the centerpiece which turned out to be awesome and make the table even better.

I really tried to sit back and let the paid photographer do his job so I didn’t take a ton of pics and most of the photos I took have faces in them that I can’t really share, but here’s one of my SIL’s gorgeous bouquet.

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And one of the cake which has the cake topper that we used for our wedding cake 15 yrs ago.  Say it with me now…”awwwwww”

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Mmkay, I think that’s all I have to verbally (is it still verbal if I typed it? oh-see-well-see, it is now!) spew to you on this glorious hump day.  Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow or Friday with my wedding outfits! I’m sure you’ll be waiting with bated breath or not, but maybe you’ll stop back by and check them out. Or, better yet, follow me on bloglovin’ or wordpress so you don’t miss the post! 🙂