Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

On Monday evening all of my Bridesmaids came to town and we went Bridesmaids dress shopping! We decided to go to David's Bridal since they had a big selection and since I bought my dress there each of the girls get $20 off their dress.

My bridesmaids live all over the place, with two about 4 hours away in different directions, one two hours away, and the other two living close. I wasn't expecting the girls to buy the dresses, just agree on a style so that then they can go into their local stores at a time closer to the wedding and have it in the system exactly what they need.

When we got there I told them to all just pick ones that they liked that were long and chiffon. They didn't have anything in my color so they just tried on ones in different colors and held up the color swatch next to them to see how it would look. Here are some of the ones they tried on.

I am lucky to have such wonderful bridesmaids and they knew that I wanted them all of in the same dress and they were happy to agree. They looked great in all of them but there was one that I liked more than the rest. They said it was comfortable and I think it makes all of them look awesome. Overall, it was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be and then we went out for a delicious dinner afterwards.

I'm going to keep their dress a secret for now, not it's one of these four.  Which dress do you think they chose?














Check out my other Wedding Wednesday posts:

I'm Engaged!

The Proposal

Venue Dilemma

The End of the Venue Search

Wedding Expo

Bridesmaids

Dress Shopping

Engagement Photos

Pin-Spiration

Pre-Wedding Events

Recent Purchases
Honeymoon Plans
The Registry

A look back at 2014.

It was so much fun looking back at the past year and all of the fun things that happened. It really was such a fun year. A lot of things in life stayed the same, friendships, my job, where I lived, but I also feel like I grew up a lot this year and obviously the biggest event of my life so far...I got engaged! Here's a look back at 2014.

January
I think this was the most uneventful month of the year. We were still getting settled in our apartment and I was really successful at my new years resolution of working out and eating healthy...at least that's what my photostream shows me.

February

We celebrated my birthday with a small gathering and C bought me an ice cream cake. :) 

March

My cousin got married and he was the first of the cousins to get married so I flew out to New Jersey for the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and so much fun to see all of my family who I only see once a year at the most. 

April

We went to Vegas for my best friend's bachelorette party. It was my first trip to Vegas and it was a lot of fun. I definitely want to go back because I felt like there was so much more I wanted to do. 

May

Mobile Food Rodeo! We went to a festival with over 50 different food trucks and ate our way through the day. It was also a reunion of my college roommates and our first time seeing being together in almost two years since one moved away to Hawaii! 

Two of my students were invited to participate in the White House Science fair. I got to chaperone them and show them my favorite places in the city. This was a moment where I really felt like an adult; flying two students across the country is a little scary for a first year teacher but it was an awesome experience. 

June

I finished up my first year of teaching and got to see my little brother graduate from college! 

July

We went on a vacation to Hawaii with my mom, her boyfriend, my brother, and my fiance. We went snorkeling, to a luau, hiking, and enjoyed watching the sunset every night.  It was 10 days in paradise.

I was hoping for a proposal in Hawaii and it didn't happen. It didn't take long though, two weeks after we got home, he was down on one knee. 

August

My best friend got married and I was her maid of honor! She looked absolutely gorgeous and it was such a fun day! 

Brought C to his first Major League Baseball game with a group of friends for Coug day at the Mariner's. 

September

We took our engagement pictures this month and wedding planning was in full swing. I also started my second year of teaching! 

October

I took 18 students to the National FFA Convention (along with another teacher and chaperones) and the team that I coach won Nationals! This was a life goal, and I accomplished it in my first year, with my first team. It was amazing. 

November

We had a great Thanksgiving with C's family and then headed over to our small college town for Apple Cup! We enjoyed the football game and tailgating all weekend with some of our best friends. 

 December

 I tried really had to start some Christmas traditions this month. We decorated our apartment together, went to see Scrooge, and enjoyed Christmas with my family. It was a great Christmas season. 

2015 is the year that I turning 25, finishing my second year of teaching, earning my Masters degree, and getting married. It's going to be a big year and I am so excited for all of it.

Weekend && Christmas Recap

I'm sitting here in my living room looking at a mess of gifts that we brought home yesterday and it's impossible not to smile and also feel completely overwhelmed. My mom goes crazy with gift giving, I think it's her love language, and I love her for it because it's mine too. Here's a glimpse into what our holiday looked like.

Christmas Eve
We went over to my aunt's for a small dinner with just my immediate family, aunt, and grandad. We had some delicious pork and hung out for a little bit. After that we went to church which is always my favorite part of the night. Almost all of our small group was there, plus some of my moms friends and a few people I knew from work. It is so nice to feel so familiar and at home at church, which I really do. We had a wonderful candle light service and it was so special. I felt so connected to Jesus at that moment which is exactly what I wanted.

After church C and I went back to my moms and watched Elf with my mom, her boyfriend, and my little brother. It was so nice to just be at home, relaxing, and watching movies. We stayed at my moms that night so that we were ready for Christmas morning!

Christmas
We always have a huge traditional breakfast at my Grandad's house where it is the boys job to cook for the girls. We were over at 8am for C to do his job, and we ate at exactly 8:30. It's one of those things that has never changed in my life and I love it. We eat a ton of food because then we don't eat again until dinner.

We opened presents from my Grandad and Aunt at his house and that lasted a couple of hours. There is a lot of laughing and chatting in between and we open one at a time so that we can all watch each other.

We headed back to my moms house (they live a block away) and waited for my Grandad and Aunt to join us for present opening round 2. Like I mentioned, my mom goes a little crazy. We started opening presents at 12:45 ish, had to break for an AMAZING dinner around 3, and then got back to it and didn't finished until after 5. Talk about a marathon.

This is everything that I received an C has a pile equally as large. I am most excited for my nativity and am considering putting it up for a couple of days just so I can look at how beautiful it is.  I also got a ton of work shirts which I am excited for becuase I have been so tired of my clothes. My mom got me a few things for the wedding, those cocktail napkins, an engraved cake set, and the silver present is our card box. My mom's boyfriend got us a luggage set which didn't make the picture, which we can use for our honeymoon.

We almost couldn't fit it all in C's car it was that much. Their generosity was overwhelming. It was such a fun and perfect day with my family. My job today is to find homes for all of these wonderful gifts and then head back to my Grandad's for our final Christmas meal, Boxing Day dinner.

Saturday
We had one of those days where you literally don't leave the house. We had a lot of cleaning to do and organizing so we put away all of the gifts and cleaned our apartment. Then C and I spent a lot of time relaxing on the couch and enjoying the time off.

Sunday
The day started with church and grocery shopping, then we went and signed up for the gym! I've been needing to and I am really excited to get back in shape. I have 7 months until wedding day so it's time to get serious. I'm going to zumba this morning. :)

We watched the Seahawks game at my mom's with my brother and then had a lazy night at home. It was a perfect, relaxing weekend!

Linking up with the ladies below. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends! 

I hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating with your friends and family. I am spending the day at my mom's since my fiance has to work and then we will all go to church together this evening. Tomorrow we will spend the entire day with my family. I am so thankful for this time with my family, but more thankful for what Christmas truly means. I'm so thankful for Jesus, that He came to save me, save all of us. I can't think of any gift better than that. 

Wishing you and your families all the best. 

Weekending: WINTER BREAK!

We made it! Congratulations to all of my fellow teachers, two weeks of freedom! 

Friday Night

We met up with some friends and tried this new BBQ place in our town, Dickey's. It is a casual restaurant and was really good. I had chicken with mac & cheese and waffle fries...talk about carbs. They also had free ice cream. It definitely isn't a healthy restaurant but it is delicious! 

We came home and put on our PJs and watched tv. It was so nice to relax knowing that I have two weeks of relaxation ahead of me. 

Saturday 

We went shopping on Saturday morning and I think I can officially say that I am done! I love shopping so knowing me I will still shop a little bit more but I'm trying to make the money I have last until the end of the month so we'll see if I can restrain myself. I really love giving gifts (it's totally my love language) so it's hard not to buy things. 

Saturday night we went to a play at a local church, Scrooge. It was SO GOOD. I have seen it before when I was younger but I haven't been in probably 8 years or so. There was plenty that I didn't remember and my fiance loved it. I told him we are starting a tradition of going to a Christmas play each year so this was the first one. 

Sunday

Church is so magical in December. There were a ton of people there and I love the songs that we sing. It was a great service. Afterwards we went to my mom's to hang out for a little bit and then came home to finish wrapping all of our presents. We will be taking them all to my moms for Chirstmas but we have them under our tree at our apartment right now and I love looking at them all.

In the afternoon we went to our family friends house to have Chirstmas wiht them. They have 12 kids, yes, 12 of them, but they are the most well behaved sweetest kids I've ever been around. My mom started buying them gifts three christmases ago and it has gotten bigger every year. Seeing their joy when they open presents is the best. We also had a huge meal and sang lots of Christmas carols. It was such a magical time. 

The best part about today is that there is no dreading of school tomorrow! I love my job, but Mondays are always hard, so I'm excited that tomorrow is filled with hanging out with my best friend doing some wedding planning. :) 

Linking up with Meghan!! 

Wedding Wednesday: The Registry

We started making our registry a few weeks ago before we sent out our save the dates and it was really hard! We have been living together for about a year so we have everything that we need to be able to fill an apartment. I decided to use our registry to focus on finding nicer items and hopefully stocking up for a house that we will be buying within a couple years. We decided to register at Macy's and Target because they fit two different budgets but both have tons of things we love.

Here are some of the things I'm excited about having on my registry:

KitchenAid 

My mom has one and I can't wait to have one of my own! 

Spice Rack 

I am really bad at using spices and making my cooking exciting so maybe having a nice spice rack on my counter will help. 

Crock Pot 

I have one right now but it doesn't have a timer and this will make me feel like I can leave it on when I'm not home. 

Duvet Cover (blue)

We are going to have a blue and white themed bedroom. I think it will be super relaxing and calm. 

Ombre Shower Curtain

Our other bathroom is ocean themed so I picked out a new shower curtain as well as matching rugs. 

What were your favorite things that you registered for? Anything you think I might have forgotten about? 

Linking up! 

Halfway there!

One of the things that I am most proud of this fall is how much work I have completed on my Masters degree.

I've always known that I would earn my masters, as a teacher it's practically a requirement. I looked into several online programs and chose Western Governors University because it made the most sense to me. I could work at my own pace, do as many classes as I wanted in a term, and it was a very reasonable price.

I started in July and I am already over 50% of the way towards my masters. I've decided to take December off to enjoy Christmas and all of the fun surrounding it but I'm so motivated to get right back on track in January.

My degree is in Curriculum and Instruction and it's totally opened my eyes about what I am doing in the classroom. I truly feel like I'm thinking more about what I'm doing and how it is impacting my students. I want to always be doing things that will help them to be their best so it's great to be working towards a degree that I can apple in my classroom every day.

My goal is to be finished before June 30th so that I don't have to do another term (and pay another term's tuition). It is a lofty goal and it will take me really focusing but I keep reminding myself that once I'm done, I'm done forever...and that is pretty awesome.

I keep telling myself it will be pretty crazy to have so much free time next year, what will I do after this summer when I don't have grad school or a wedding to plan? I guess I'll need a new hobby!

If anyone out there is looking for a Masters degree, or even an undergraduate degree, I can't recommend WGU enough.

*I'm not paid or given anything to write this, I just wanted to share my experience and how happy I am with my program 

Weekending: Is it break yet?

I was waiting for badly for this weekend. I'm not sure if it is just the time of year or if this year is exceptionally exhausting but I find myself every week just barely holding on until the weekend. I'm so glad that this is the last week of school until winter break and I'm really hoping I can recharge that week.

Friday Night
We had our staff holiday party Friday night and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go because C was out of town for the weekend. Another teacher who is single told me that she was having some girls over for some wine before the party so I joined them and we all went together to the party. It was nice having people to walk in with and hang out with, a little bit of a safety net. This is my second year at the school and I've made connections with some people but was afraid it might be awkward and it totally wasn't. We had a blast singing and dancing, I can't wait until next year and for C to be able to come with!

Saturday
It was baking day at my mom's house on Saturday. We invited some of our family friends over (a mom and her 4 teenage daughters) and we baked for almost 5 hours. We ended up with all of our favorite cookies and I will be happy to have a treat in my lunch each day this week!

In the afternoon I went shopping for some gifts for kids I took from the Giving Tree at school. I am working on trusting God in all areas, including my finances. I spent more money than I should have, but as I was leaving the mall I was thanking God for providing for me so well that I can now provide for other people. It is an amazing feeling.


I came home and put on the fire && tv and started wrapping all of the presents I bought. My brother came to drop something off and we sat and chatted for a while. It's so great to catch up with family. I did some cleaning and got all of my school stuff ready for Monday so that I could just relax Sunday night.

Sunday
I love that we are singing Christmas carols in church. It's just another thing I love about this time of the year.

My grandad and I had our annual Christmas shopping date Sunday afternoon. I always take him out and help him pick our presents for people. It is such a special time, I'm so thankful for him.

Linking up with Meghan!

Trivia Crack

Has anyone else heard of this game?

Being a high school teacher usually I become aware of new things slightly before the rest of the people my age. (remember flappy bird? my kids were all over that before anyone else on social media). It's basically trivia pursuit put into an app and designed with fun graphics.

You answer questions in different categories, try to get points and beat your friends. You can play against people on your facebook or random strangers.

I've found that it makes me feel both really intelligent and really stupid at the same time, but I love when it asks me questions about things I love...like Harry Potter.

If you need something to occupy you this weekend go check it out. :) 

five on friday: christmas decor

Now that December is here I feel like I can share my Christmas decor. Here are my five of my favorite Christmas things in our apartment:

Advent Calendars

I love counting down each day and enjoying a little hershey's kiss! 

The Mantle

I spent a lot of time looking for everything and getting it arranged just how I wanted it. We are still missing stockings because the last set I bought my fiance didn't like but I plan on getting some this weekend to make it look more complete.

Our baby tree

I didn't want a huge tree since we live in an apartment and this little guy was on sale a Michaels and I couldn't pass it up. I even put the presents we are bringing to my parents under it so that it looks better. 

Santa's Sleigh

This was an item in our silent auction fundraiser I hosted for school and my mom bought it for me. I think the reindeer are just too cute and I also like the holiday flowers in the sleight.

Angels

My mom gifted me the Willow Tree angel last year and I bought the other angel this year. I think it might be the start of a Christmas collection. 

Linking up with Friday Favorites & Five on Friday!

Happy Weekend!