It's wedding season!

Dt and I attended two weddings in 6 days. It was a whirlwind but so much fun! The first wedding was for my "big sister" from my sorority and it was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Celia looked gorgeous!!!

One of the most beautiful people I know and an amazing bride!

This wedding was so fun because it was a mini AXO reunion. We stayed with best friend Steph (my AXO "little") and got to see so many of my sorority sisters who I haven't seen in forever including my "grandbig" Kyle whom I adore!!! 

Kyle, Steph, Amanda, Me, and Valerie.

Then there was obviously a photo booth which the AXOs may or may not have taken over. I had so much fun seeing these ladies and it was a beautiful wedding!

Then, 6 days later we attended Mary Katherine and Bluejay's wedding. Kat is one of my friends from grad school so it was a mini grad school reunion. My cohort spent 6 hours (at least) a day, every day, for 2 years straight so we became very close. Then we graduated and we have rarely all gotten together since so it was fun to have everyone in the same place again.

Tracey, Jennie, Summer, Kat, Natalie, Megan, Me, and Andrew

Kat was also a beautiful bride (I have gorgeous friends, what can I say?) and we all had a BIG time getting down on the dance floor. 

And not only did Kat plan a beautiful, fun wedding, her sister (and matron of honor) gave birth to her first child (Kat's nephew) the night before the wedding. Kat handled it like a pro and the wedding went off flawlessly. 

We had an amazing time at both weddings and Dt said he finally enjoyed going to weddings which was a break through. So thanks girls for helping Dt see the fun side of weddings. Congrats to both of y'all!

I've actually won some giveaways!!!

In addition to writing my blog when I remember, I also read a lot of them. I've actually been reading blogs way longer than I've been writing them. One perk about reading blogs is sometimes the fab bloggers doing amazing giveaways. Why you may ask? Because they're awesome and love their followers (as do I :)) So, every once in a while I enter the giveaways usually assuming I'll never win because these girls have tons of followers (did I mention they're awesome?) But guess what? I won! And not only did I win once, I actually won twice! What? What are the odds? Whatever they are, I beat them and I won! So what did I get? Oh, let me show you...

So the first one I won, was from Miss Kori at Blonde Episodes. I won a credit to Blondies Shop to buy some notecards, I'm so excited!!! These are the ones I'm looking at. 

Cute right? I'm so excited to buy some new notecards and there are a lot to choose from so y'all check out Kori and BlondieShop!!!

Then, I won again. (You can hate me, it's ok.)

This time I won these fun new makeup brushes from amazing Ashley over at The Simple Things. 

Ashley's blog is one of the first I actually started reading and girl cracks me up!!! She has the cutest daughter and finds herself in crazy situations like when she met Gary from Teen Mom. Ashley is also one my few official bloggers (hey girl hey!) So this week I opened my mailbox and found not only these great brushes but some lip balm and a sweet note too! I've heard so many good things about baby lips and have just never gotten around to buying myself some so now I don't have to. Yessss. 

So cute! Ashley, thank you so much! I'm in dire need of some fabby new makeup brushes and these are great! 

Y'all make sure you head over and check out both of these girls, they are very entertaining!

Graduations

Hey y'all! I've been MIA but I have plenty of good reasons. This spring has been super crazy! Between wedding, graduations, mother's day and all of the other celebrations, Dt and I have not had a free weekend yet! Luckily for you, this memorial day will be nice and slow which will allow me to catch up in good ole bloggy world! 

First up, both of my siblings graduated this month. What? When did those adorable babies grow up and get old enough to graduate?!?! If I no longer have any siblings in high school, does that make me old? Nahhh, forever young!!!

We went to Amy's graduation on cinco de Mayo and celebrated with some margs in true Mama G fashion. We also took a handful of photos.

Amelia and me

The graduate and fam

The "cool" siblings 

Good looking fam, Christmas picture Mom?

Since Amy is a photo whore and I'm the complete opposite, I would like to thank her for these pics. And since Tuck graduated 3 days ago, I took zero pics, and Amy has all of the ones that were taken, these pics will have to suffice.

Tuck's graduation pic, adorable!

This last photo is actually us on Mother's Day but I wore the dress to Tuck's graduation as well (no one would have noticed, it was a-ok!)

Amy has finished college and is looking for a big girl job and Tuck is on his way to the wildest four years of his life in college. Pretty crazy these kids are all grown up but I'm so proud of them and love them with all of my heart!!!

Anyone you love graduating soon?

February's Birchbox

*sorry my birchbox posts are out of order, I'm an idiot and uploaded a more recent one before the posts I had previously written. But I wrote them and I'm posting them anyway. 

Oh birchbox, you failed me in February.

This month's box consisted of Benta Berry G-1 moisturizing face cream, eye rock designer liner, colorscience pro pressed mineral foundation, and La Fresh eco beauty waterproof makeup remover. Hmpf. First of all, I'm pretty picky about my face wash/moisturizing products since I've started seeing my dermatologist on a regular basis, so the remover and face cream are not really attractive to me. Once again, I'm sure I'll use them at some point but they aren't at the top of my list. The eye rock liner is kinda cool, they're essentially stick-on eye liners. I'm not very extreme when it comes to eye makeup but maybe these will be fun to rock on a night out with the girls. And lastly, the foundation might be good, but it's a one time use thing so I'll prob get around to using it but it doesn't seem very practical at the moment. So, that wraps up February which was kinda a bust... but don't worry, March hit it out of the park! Stay tuned.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mommies out there!

 As a daughter, I don't think I will ever be able to express how much love or appreciation I have for my mom but I try to tell her as often as I can. Today we took Mom to lunch at DiPrato's here in Columbia and it was delicious. We're buying her some new screen doors for the house which she has been asking for forever. Overall, it's turning out to be a great day and I hope all of you are loving on your mom (or getting loved on by your children) today because they definitely deserve it! Have a great Sunday y'all!

Mommy,

I love you with all of my heart and I would never be where I am today without you. You mean the world to me and I'll always be your baby. Love you!

Class of 2012!!!

Today, this little bundle of incoordination will be graduating from college!!!

We are heading to Charlotte to see this beautiful woman walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Then we're going to have a cinco de mayo fiesta at her chic apartment. Daddy's making enchiladas, Mama's bringing the margs, and I'm bringing the dip! It should be a fun day and all about Amelia! 

Since my little sister is one of my few official followers (I love each and every one of my followers ;)) I'm dedicating today to Amy. 

My dear sister, Amelia,

I'm so proud of the beautiful young woman you've become. Even though we didn't always get along growing up, you were always right by my side. All of my memories growing up have you in them and I can't wait to see what memories we make in the future. I'm so blessed to have a sister like you. You're smart, kind, funny, and a great friend. I can only imagine the great things you will do in this world and I'll be here to support you every step of the way. I love you with all of my heart!

Now, in honor of Miss Amelia Bedelia, here are some rather embarrassing, rather adorable pictures of us growing up. 

And despite our awkward moments as babies, you've grown into a beautiful woman

Beautiful even with the "whore bangs"

Congratulations Amy, we're all so proud of you!!!

Scentsy!

Watch out, we're about to get girly!

Do y'all know what scentsy is? It's essentially a flameless candle. It's a lightbulb that melts scented wax. Simple. Effective. Genius!

And I want one!

You see, I am not allowed to burn candles in my office. What? Adolescents with behavioral problems shouldn't be around open flame? Who knew! One thing I do know is that those behaviorally challenged adolescents smell! Have you ever sat in a small, enclosed room with a 13 year old boy for an hour? Whew. It is fragrant! So obvi, my solution has to be a scentsy!

I think I'm going to go for the full size which is about $30. I like these ones!

What do you think? I think this will keep my room smelling good as well as give off some soothing ambiance. Well, that's my excuse for wasting thirty bucks. 

Any scents you recommend? There are only a billion! Let me know if it's worth it and what you think I should get!!!

Side note, I've spent my last two weekends in wedding town which has been fabulous. Since you all know I'm a horrendous photographer, I'm waiting for some good wedding pics to pop up on fbook and I can share with you my good times! Sit tight. 

Another birchbox

*sorry my birchbox posts are out of order, I'm an idiot and uploaded a more recent one before the posts I had previously written. But I wrote them and I'm posting them anyway. 

Are you ready for review number 2? I hope you read that in your head and were delightfully surprised when it rhymed! Hey, it's the little things. Now, where were we?

Ah, January's birchbox!

This one had a few more things I enjoyed but still none that I would purchase the full-size of. 

This is the Jouer Body Butter which I absolutely love! It's smells fabulous and and is so moisturizing. This was the first product I thought about actually purchasing until I went to buy it and found out that it was $32 for a 3 oz bottle. Once again, $32 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but for lotion? I don't think so. Not with my lack of high paying job. I'll enjoy my sample, sparingly, for now and then in the future maybe reconsider.

This is Juicy Couture's Viva La Juicy perfume. I'm sure I know girls who wear this but I wasn't familiar with it. I liked the smell of it and will wear it in the future but haven't yet. Smells good though!

Next up, we have a Larabar. I know lots of girls who eat these and I thought it was pretty good but I usually go for a luna bar if I'm going to have a snack bar in the middle of the day. I find the luna has more nutrients and less wasted calories. Overall, it tasted good though. 

This is stila's Smudge Stick Waterproof eyeliner in peacock. I don't usually use colored eyeliner but I have used this once. On St. Patrick's Day! It went well with the look I was going for and Amelia told me it looked good, but I don't know how to incorporate it into everyday makeup. Maybe just stick to using it for nights? How do you use colored eyeliner? 

So this box was a close winner, and I was delightfully surprised at what was in it but I still haven't bought anything yet... 

I have a problem...

A puppy problem! Which if you think about it, is actually a pretty adorable problem to have. Except the problem is that I don't actually have a puppy. Hmpf. This is a BIG hole in my life. I think about getting a dog daily. I  may or may not have an entire pinterest board dedicated to reasons I need a puppy which I tend to forward to Dt on a regular basis. What? You don't do this? You and your bf are missing out! Some of my favorites include

all pics via Pinterest

The thing is, I'm a firm believer in being 100% ready before adopting a dog. It is one of my biggest pet peeves (no pun intended, haha!) when people get pets without thinking it through. A dog is a commitment for the rest of that dog's lifetime. They are not just for entertainment, distractions, or to love until they pee on your carpet. Dog owners need to practice unconditional love, have extreme amounts of patience when training them (and they ALL need to be trained), and have the time to dedicate to walking, playing, and taking care of them as long as they need it. While I have a serious yearning for a dog, I want to be sure I have the time and financial means to support a dog. 

One of the blogs I read, All in my Twenties, recently talked about how some people get rid of their dogs when they have babies. I'm not talking about people who need to keep their baby safe because the dog is aggressive, but the people who feel like now that they have a real baby they can get rid of their dog-baby. This is absolutely unacceptable and a dog is not a part-time, temporary thing. Kristen's blog post definitely hit home for me because I know how common it is for people to not treat their pets like they should and I think it is disgusting.

To me, a dog is a part of the family. I believe dogs have feelings and it breaks their heart to be away from their owners. I also believe putting a dog in cage for 7 hours a day, taking it three feet outside your door to pee then bringing it back in for the rest of the night is the worst thing a person can do. That's animal cruelty!!! Yes, if a dog was dropped on my doorstep I know I would be the best pet owner I could be but when I decide to bring a dog into my life, it will be because I think we will be able to make each others lives better in every way. 

People who can't follow these commandments don't deserve a dog! 

So Dt and I will get a dog eventually (probably sooner rather than later) but I know we need to be fully prepared and until then, I will just yearn for puppy breath, puppy butts, and puppy snuggles. *Stepping down from my soap box.

If you are still reading, I would like to get to the reason I'm writing this post about puppies. It is because this week I read a book that spoke to my heart in ways a non dog-lover could never understand. 

via

Usually, I'm not big on book reviews. I read a lot of books so I just put them on my book list up there on the "50 in 2012" tab where you can see them. But this one I had to share. This is a memoir about Trixie Koontz, the famous author Dean Koontz's golden retriever. The book follows Trixie's life and chronicles all of the amazing things dogs are capable of. The best thing about this book is that it reminded me of my Halley-dog who we lost a little over two years ago. Halley shared many of the unique traits that Trixie had and reading all the funny stories made me miss her in the best way possible. We lost Halley in a similar way to how Dean and his wife lost Trixie (it's a memoir, I didn't spoil anything!) It also reminded me that certain people are just dog-people. We understand that dogs have personalities, thoughts, feelings, and a sense of humor. My family has always been dog-people and I can't wait until I have my own dog but this book is an amazing story about an amazing dog and I recommend it to anyone who is a dog-person. Loved it!

And for your enjoyment, an awkward Christmas picture of my siblings and our Halley as a puppy. Can you believe my mom sent this to all of our family and friends? Kill me!

RIP Halley-girl, we love you!

Do you have any puppy/dog pictures/stories you would like to share with me? I can live vicariously through you until I get one of my own!

Should the name of this post been "I'm a crazy dog person?" Because I 100% am and I fully accept it. I also don't mean to offend anyone who is not a dog person, as long as they don't get a dog. If you aren't a dog person, who got a dog anyway, then I fully mean to offend you. Sorry I'm not sorry.