7.12.14 {The Morning Of: Getting Ready}

I can remember dreaming about my wedding day ever since I was a little girl.  I had my best girls stay the night with me at the hotel.  We woke up bright and early and my Maid of Honor went to grab us Starbucks before prepping for the day.  When we woke up, it was slightly cloudy, but it was the type of clouds that you knew would shortly pass.  You could see the blue tucked right behind them.  I knew instantly that it was going to be a beautiful day.  After enjoying our Starbucks, I showered and washed my hair eager to get my hair and makeup started.

I had the hair stylist arrive around 8am to start doing the girls hair, and I had one my best friends do my hair and makeup. (After having so many makeup trials, I felt the most confident with her doing my hair and makeup.  Not only that , but I trusted her to take her time and to do the perfect job).

I was surprisingly extremely calm the morning of the wedding.  I felt relaxed and didn't have anything to really stress about.  I really took the time to take everything in and enjoy every moment.   The night before, I gave my girls their gifts, which included a personalized coral robe I purchased from Wedding Prep Gals to get ready in (each of them had their initials on the front) and I gifted them a bracelet to wear with their bridesmaids dresses which I ordered from Etsy. While sipping champagne the entire morning, we had so much fun laughing, dancing, and goofing off.  One of my bridesmaids started twerking, and I am so glad the photographer caught it on camera.  

My coordinator came in to tell the bridesmaids to get their dresses on so they could help me into my wedding dress shortly after.  I had my maid of honor deliver hubby-to-be's gifts from me which consisted of socks that read "In case you get cold feet, " a frame with a photo of us that said "To the Moon and Back, Always & Forever," which is what I say very often to him.  I also gifted him a personalized golf bag with his name with his favorite color: Red, and a pass to go golfing at a private course.
 

So I don't know much about baseball gloves, but his brother gifted him a really rad rare glove he was able to have made.. which was really neat.

 

I received a text that morning from hubby to be, with the sweetest words a girl can get.  About how excited he was to marry me, and see me walk down the aisle.  It was truly sweet.

While the girls enjoyed the big and beautiful bridal suites, the boys had a room on the complete opposite side of ours. Of course they had their personalized flasks which was one of the gifts B gave his groomsman, and the obvious adult beverages in red cups.  So classy.

Needless to say, he was very pleased with his gifts and he felt so bad for not getting me anything, which I really wasn't expecting anything.  He has given me more than I could have asked for.  That and, he's a guy and most guys don't really know to give a gift unless someone would have mentioned it. I also enjoy seeing the expressions on his face and giving him things that make him happy (which in return makes me happy).

It was finally that time.  The time to put on your wedding dress for the first time on your wedding day.  My dress probably took about thirty to forty minutes to get on.  Mostly because it was a corset back, so each and every tie had to be put through the loops a certain way.  That and stepping into the dress and snugging it up and around the hips.. that was a fun one.

All photos taken by Michael Jonathan Studios

 Stay Tuned! Next Wedding Post: The Dress & Details

 

eShakti Review: Be Bold

I was invited by eShakti to try one of their dresses. This excited me greatly because I have always wanted to order from eShakti but have heard mixed reviews about them - My best advice, try them! One only has to google "eShakti review" to see how many other bloggers have had widely different experiences with them!



I chose the Keyhole Front Cotton Knit Dress to review. This dress is only $59.95 and comes in this gorgeous jade green color. I've always been one to love anything colorful, and try to choose my outfits that have some color in them!  This dress was the perfect choice.
This dress is so comfortable and very well made.  It also has pockets!! (Which is probably my favorite part!)

 

Styled with: Michael Kors watch, chain link bracelet (similar), Forever 21 earrings.

This online store is unlike any other I've come across.   You can have the dress customized to fit you before you order it!  I was able to enter details such as my height, how short I prefer my dresses, if I wanted to add any sleeves, and what neckline I prefer.

It's so great to order something and know it's going to fit you. 


You choose your custom size, your height, and your dress length options:

Slips on over head; partial side zip closure.

Keyhole front cotton knit dress

Keyhole front cotton knit dress

You can find more ways to check out eShakti on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook:).

Weekend Recap

Hello lovelies!  Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  I am co-hosting with Bella from Dateless in Dallas for another Weekend Recap!  
Write about your weekend and grab my button below:
 

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I was able to accomplish alot around our new home this weekend, from purchasing new couch pillows to adding different curtains to our living room.  I cannot wait to share our progress so far!

Friday evening the hubby had to work late, so I went shopping with momma dearest to scope out the perfect pillows for our couch. I watched Tv the rest of the evening with my sweet puppy in my arms.  Sometimes I swear he thinks he is human.

Sunglasses: zeroUV $9.95

Saturday my mom and I woke up early to head to the swap meet.  I have been on the hunt for the perfect  faux tree arrangement for a corner in hubby and I's home.  They had so many great options, I will have to go back and grab a few items!  I ended up buying the pups some stairs to climb onto our bed.  I swear they are so spoiled.  We went to lunchy of course because everything we ever do revolves around food in some way or another
 Later on we shopped for new drapery and rods to hold them up. 
Sneak peak of our living room:



Sunday I went to lunch with a few girlfriends to catch up.  I hadn't seen either of them since our wedding.  I was able to meet Kells baby for the first time.  She is the cutest thing ever!  She kept us quite entertained at lunch.  I of course ordered a Bloody Mary and complimented it with a Wok Dish.  So delish!  It was so great to catch up with them and it seriously needs to happen more often.  After lunch I went home to see the hubby!  He is now working such odd hours and we have hardly been able to spend any time together lately.     So of course I had to take advantage of seeing him!

 

Our Honeymoon {Part 3}

As we are still anxiously waiting for our touched up professional wedding photos, here is part 3 of our honeymoon recap! 

If you missed Part 1 of our Honeymoon Recap, you can catch up here. 
If you missed Part 2 of our Honeymoon Recap, you can catch up here. 

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On the second day of our cruise, we arrived in St. Marteen.  The island is divided between the French and the Dutch and has 37 beaches.  We started out our morning walking around near the port.  Most of the streets were very poor, but the beach was gorgeous.  

We walked around and looked at the shops for a few hours and decided we wanted to head to another beach.  It was between the largest beach called Orient (also contains a nude beach area) and a beach called Maho.  We decided on Maho beach, because it is famous for airplanes landing literally at the end of the landing strip right by the beach.

 We originally watched the planes from the little beach nearby, and one came by and blew people away!  It was neat to watch, but I bet that sand hurt!  We chose to walk over and watch a few planes from underneath!  It was such a  site to see and I would love to go back!
Here's me waiting for the planes:

It was such a beautiful day, and such a wonderful experience.  We took it easy and went to a "honeymooners event" on the cruise which basically introduces us to other honeymooners.  I'm usually not big on that type of thing, but I figured why not try it out!  

We ended up back at the club that night and partied the night away yet again!
Stay tuned for part 4 coming soon!

 

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Hope you had a fantastic Labor Day Weekend! I am co-hosting with Bella from Dateless in Dallas for our weekly weekend recap!  I feel so refreshed this Tuesday morning.  I wish we had three day weekends all the time.  


Friday evening the hubby had to work, so I worked on some projects around the house and kept it low key and relaxed with my pups on the couch with some TV.

Saturday we decided to go to the street fair which is an event they have every Labor Day weekend where they have the best food and beers from around the world.  Each street has its own countries and features their food and drinks.  We tried so many different amazing food.  From lobster skewers to beef teriyaki skewers to the best burrito I have ever had. I failed for not photographing anything!  We closed the street fair down and went to the local bar.  Afterwards we met up with a few friends at another bar where I taught her the wobble and walked to her house and found the largest mailbox I have ever seen.  This photo does not do it justice, but look at how small the mail looks in there:

Sunday I was seriously struggling.  I hadn't drank that much since our honeymoon last month.  I had Chipotle which for some reason I crave hungover, and wasted the day on the couch napping with my pups.  The hubby went back to the street fair because he was craving that amazing burrito from the night prior.  When he got home we were able to get some errands ran and took it easy.  His boss let us borrow his Porsche Panamera GTS, so we took a little stroll in it.  I'm not big on cars, but I wouldn't mind having that. 

Received a friends wedding invite in the mail for this upcoming February!  Always exciting!

Monday we were able to get a lot done around the casa.  From cleaning to organizing to getting stuff out from boxes. The whole shebang.  We grabbed a late lunch at Ruby's because I had a mad craving for a burger.  I felt like the elderly eating at that time, but hey.. gotta do whatcha gotta do.  I never drink soda but I was wanting the vanilla coke they make.  
Simply amazing.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day Weekend!  Today is the official day that Starbucks is selling their infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte.  I thought it was necessary to make an entire post about it.  It really is one of my FAVORITE Starbucks drinks, and I'd drink it if they had it year round.  

Here's a few fun facts about the Pumpkin Spice Latte aka PSL: 

1.   Starbucks Has Sold 200 Million Pumpkin Spice Latte Drinks in the Past Decade 

2.  There have been over 29,000 tweets that have featured the hash tag: #pumpkinspice since August of 2012 

 3. Since its launch in 2003, Pumpkin Spice Latte has become Starbucks most successful and popular seasonal beverage.

 

What is your favorite Starbucks drink? 

Hashtag #designPSL on instagram and share your PSL or favorite Starbucks drink.