Wedding recap!

Blogging last week: huge fail. Strep throat struck early in the week and I was down for the count until midday yesterday when I finally started to feel human again. It hit and it hit hard, or as Kid President says, "It hurt, man!" That little guy is my favorite. Of course I got strep the week I was finally scheduled a solid (30) amount of hours. This week I'm back to my usual 18ish, which is fine cuz I need some more recovery time.
Anyway, onto the wedding recap I promised a while ago along with my commentary of the weekend. This may get a little rambly, so bear with me.

I know I already shared this, but we look good so it seemed appropriate.

Let's start from the beginning. You will notice there is an extra groomsman, This was because one of the bridesmaids (groom's brother's (best man) girlfriend) ruined Jess' bachelorette party the weekend before by telling the best man who was hosting the joint bachelorette/bachelor cook-out, that she was being left out by the girls. Mature, right? Anyway, the best man started calling me and one of the other bridesmaids out, called us some not-so-appropriate names and told us to leave, so we did to try and avoid ruining the guys' night. Jess left with us because she knew we'd done nothing wrong and the other girl was just being a b.
Basically, all the bridesmaids but the girl I mentioned have known each other since middle school. We have been best friends for 10+ years, and we were spending some time looking through old pictures and reminiscing and she was being a big baby.
So she ruined the night and was promptly kicked out of the wedding, making the bridal party count uneven and things a little awkward between the best man and everyone else. For the record, Jess had been regretting asking this girl to be in the wedding for a while, this was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
Fast forward to wedding weekend...

These two are two of my favorite people in the world. He is Cam's cousin, she has been one of my best friends for 10 years. Them getting together? Perfect (also totally thanks to yours truly). They're super laid back, which was pretty much the reason their wedding was so informal. It fit them to a tee.
The planning and organization was also super laid back, causing some issues. Their reception site was difficult to deal with, we didn't have nearly enough set up the night before causing some scrambling the day of. I said to one of the other bridesmaids who is also in my wedding that mine is already more set up than theirs was and mine is 8+ months away, which is true and not meant to be offensive in any way, it's just how I am.
Oh and did I mention these two lovely people are going on our honeymoon with us? Some people would think we're crazy for wanting friends with us on our honeymoon, but I am fairly terrified of open water and since we're going on a cruise, I think having my best friend and husband at my side, will help me be a little more calm. Plus we'll have people to spend the days with doing all sorts of cool stuff!

You may recognize that pup. No, he is not my little Trigger, but Trigger's brother. He was an adorable ring bearer who walked not-so-patiently on a very tight choker chain down the aisle with Jess' little brother, the actual ring bearer. He really just wanted to jump on his mama. The ceremony itself went smoothly. The weather was colder than we expected, but it was short and sweet and went off without a hitch other than the forgotten programs we'd spent a week hand-cutting and putting together (I may be a little bitter).
Said programs also had all the reception information, which made things awkward when the guests were leaving the ceremony site and had no idea where to go. Oops.

My cowboy is the only one leaning sideways. Why he did that is beyond me.

These guys worked their behinds off roasting, slicing and saucing a whole 200 lb. hog Friday. At the reception we had their delicious handmade pulled pork sandwiches and pasta salad and cheesy potatoes that us girls worked on the days before.
The reception went well other than low attendance, which clearly had the couple down. Total bummer. Less than half of what they were expecting actually showed. Way too much food, way too many empty tables.
But, we had a fantastic time dancing and hanging out with those closet to the couple. By 10 p.m. we were all dog tired and most everyone but family had left so we tore down, packed up and headed out.

Overall, it was a beautiful wedding and a perfect start to what is going to be an awesome marriage. It only makes me that much more anxious for mine, which is 271 days away, but who is counting?
Since I only work a few days this week, I'm doing some serious wedding planning since I'm in that mood. Setting up our hair/makeup appointments, booking the florist, booking flights and doing lots of the little stuff.
Weddings are exhausting, beautiful, crazy events. There is a perfectly good reason brides turn into bridezillas. I'm just thrilled I have so much time to plan so I don't go too crazy.

Weddings, weddings, weddings

There is something so moving about weddings. All weekend I spent my time with my favorite people preparing for one of my best friends' weddings. You may remember her when I blogged about her rodeo engagement a mere five months ago. The wedding came together despite plenty of hitches and we had an amazing night.

We're a pretty good looking wedding party, am I right? I'm on the far left, my fiance is the second guy from the right.
The thing about weddings is the leave me with what I like to call a wedding hangover, but it's not an actual hangover. I woke up Sunday morning on this high left over from the wedding. I was still just as excited and just as giddy as I was all of Saturday. It was awesome.
The other thing about weddings is they leave me sick with envy. I want my wedding to be here like now. My friend who got married tweeted Sunday about how much she was loving relaxing all day with her husband and it seriously made me mad. Petty I know, but still.
I plan on recapping the wedding when I can get my hands on some more pictures, but until then I'm going to try to relax during my off time because I'm scheduled for 30 hours at work this week!

Funny thing

I was scrolling through my blog feed yesterday and forgot to post. Oops. I am so used to just reading/commenting on others' blogs while I was on my little hiatus that I was out of my read-then-post routine!

Today: I finished my last project meaning I am DONE with this semester. It was a rough one and I'm honestly just happy I survived. I already feel 1000 times better now that it is done.

Last weekend: I spent some time at my favorite place on earth, Lake Erie. Sharing a few pictures then getting out and enjoying this totally out of the ordinary 80 degree weather in Ohio on the first of May!

This little bird was on top of the pavilion across the street eye-level with my balcony so of course he was the victim of my impromptu photo shoot!

Ruffling his feather. I could have died when he did this. It was probably the cutest thing in the world.

Story behind this boat: it passed in front of our condo going the other direction and I could not get my camera to focus! I was so sad when it was out of sight and I missed getting a shot of it. And then about two hours later it came by again! 

I found some of the biggest, brightest colored and perfectly rolled sea glass I've ever found in my life this weekend. And as you kinda see, Trig in the background enjoyed the beach just as much as his mama this weekend.

Enjoy the wonderful weather!

Getting back into the swing of things

I know yesterday I said I was going to tell you all about the highs and lows and going ons while I was gone, but I think I was a little over ambitious. I found these questions floating around the blogsphere and decided they were a good ice breaker to warm me up to blogging again!
Plus, I'm up at the lake trying to forget about everything in life relaxing and frankly I don't want to put any thought into a post right now.

1. If you could do one thing differently in your life, what would it be?

I think about this on a frequent basis, currently in regards to school. Lately I've been questioning everything about my career choice, and if I could do it again I would either A. pick a totally different career or B. take some time off after high school to get myself together and make a career choice prior to spending four years in college learning about a job I don't have the passion for.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Le sigh. Married, obviously. Hopefully owning a home. I have no idea what kinda work I want to be doing.

3. Do you honestly want kids?

These are some hard hitting questions. So much for not putting thought into this post, right?! I'm on the fence kids, honestly. And thankfully so is my fiance.

4. What has been the best moment of your life so far?

It would be between the day I gave my life to Jesus or the day Cameron asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.

5. What is your life theme song?

This song. It gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it.

6. What is one thing you have yet to accomplish that you want to do before you die?

I have a bucket list, but when I honestly think about death all I can think of is making sure my family is taken care of. So I guess appreciating and spending time with my family and I mean really appreciating them would be number one.

7. If you could choose one thing to be known for, what would it be?

For being happy being me and being content with where I am/what I have in life.

8. If you could do anything you wanted right in this very moment (no consequences, no fear, etc), what would it be?

Change my major.

9. What has been the most challenging moment in your life?

Reading this poem at my best friend's funeral five years ago.

10. Summarize yourself in one word.

Currently: adrift. I desperately need to be rescued!

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!

You're welcome for that old school jam to rock to while reading this!

I'm back, ladies and gentlemen! Today is the last day of classes, I only have one final next week and I am so ready to get back to blogging.

The end of the semester was trying (I'm still trying to get rid of all the stress-induced hives covering me. Sorry for the TMI), but I got through it.

I always told myself I'd never be one of those bloggers that took time off. I thought it was so dramatic when they would type up a big long message about how much they'd miss it like they were in mourning or something. I always thought that there was never a need to take time off because let's face it, blogging isn't really a priority, it's just a hobby.

Turns out blogging was more than a hobby for me and it was time for me to sacrifice a few things in order to get through the semester with my sanity intact, which I did...barely.

I've been keeping up on my reading, but I can't wait to start actually writing again. I really need to vent about the past few weeks and tell you all about the great things that have been happening, because despite all the bad stuff, there's been plenty of good and I need to take time to reflect on all that.

I missed everyone and all the support from good old blog land, and by the way I really appreciate you all not forgetting about me while I'm gone!!