the wedding: getting ready

 If you haven't read the wedding: the morning of, make sure you read it first!

the wedding: getting ready

After all of us girls relaxed, it was time to get this show on the road.

Warning:  LOTS of pictures ahead! 

Enter:  more Pepto-bismal and Imodium AD tablets.

My makeup girl, Courtney showed up to our hotel room and started in on trying to make me look presentable.  Bless her for covering up my dark circles and flushed cheeks; two things that seem to pop up when I am nervous.  She was also doing makeup for my four bridesmaids, which meant she had a lot to do, and not a lot of time!

 The rest of the girls dealt with my falling apart music situation (read: the guy in charge CANCELLED on my the morning of my wedding.  Nice.)  But, I picked my girls for a reason and they pulled together a playlist and saved the day. 

  

  

 We all fell in love with fake eyelashes.  Seriously...they made my eyes look HUGE.  

 My MOH had a slight problem with her dress, which made he purchase these chicken cutlets.  That is exactly what they looked like...ha!  However, she wasn't sure whether to get the small or medium... so she purchased both.  She passed them around so that each of us could see which one felt bigger.  Side note:  she ended up wearing the medium, and they did not fall out of bra during the ceremony.  For that, I am thankful. 

  

 After my eyelashes were safely secured ( I did NOT want to end up like Lucille Ball in Yours, Mine, and Ours...please tell me someone else cherishes that movie as much as I do! )

  

 I was starting to get really nervous...and had to keep reminding myself that IT WAS REALLY HAPPENING.  

 We all pulled out our tiaras from my bachelorette and proudly wore them, ensuring that we got as much value out of them as possible.  For some reason, I love these pictures.  I definitely felt like a princess.    

One of the consultants at the bridal shop quickly became a good friend and was sooo helpful during all of this.  She is the one who found me the PERFECT dress, fitted my handsome man in his tux, helped with deciding on colors, and was a great listening ear.  She SURPRISED me and came over during her lunch break to say hi... I had to keep myself from crying!  

She brought me over a little gift and card.  And that is when I cried.  Good thing my makeup girl was still there to fix up my eyes back up!

 She also brought over a beautiful bracelet for me to wear as my SOMETHING BORROWED.  She wore it on HER wedding day, and it just happened to match the earring that she helped me pick out.  It was SO beautiful and so special to wear it on my day!

After we had our faces on, we headed on down to get our hair done!  The same girl who usually does my hair was going to do my wedding hair, and for that I am so thankful.  I have WEIRD hair.  Fine, but thick.  Curly and frizzy in some places and straight in others.  We did a trial run a few weeks before and I was so excited to see it all together!  And yes, she has the most amazing tattoos.  Something I have *secretly* always wanted but could never ever put myself through.  So I just like to look.  

 While my Mama may not look too happy in this picture, it was taken RIGHT before a little bit of an emotional moment.  I think I got overwhelmed all of a sudden that it was REALLY happening...and happened to look at my Mom just as SHE was realizing.  Our eyes quickly welled up with tears...and so did Laurie's.  It was a very special moment for the three of us.. realizing that I was getting MARRIED in a few short hours!

 Sarah getting all curled up.  The great part about this salon is there are about 5 different people working so we could all get our hair done at the same time!

Sarah and I met in college as we lived on the same floor.  We quickly bonded over our love for baseball and discovered we grew up living about 10 minutes from each other, but had never met.   

 This is another one of my bridesmaid's Marissa, but we all know her at Missy.  We met our first day of junior high...and have been friends ever since.  Missy works for the Peace Corps, and used some of her vacation time to fly to Washington from the middle of the Jungle in South America to be in my wedding.  She flew in the day before and flew out the day after...but it was SO good to see her! 

 Sarah did a great job of documenting everything.  Or she was just super excited that she had gotten an iphone the day before.  One of the two.  

 SOOO much hairspray.   

Donna was another one of my bridesmaids.  She was also my 3rd and 4th grade teacher, mentor teacher during my student teaching, and now...I teach right next door to her.  She has been such an inspiration to me, and a wonderful example of a loving wife and amazing teacher.  I am so glad she got to stand next to me on my big day!

 Ahhh the first looks.  

 My veil was realllllly long... and I LOVED it.  I had to wrap it around my body in order to get out of the salon.

Next step.... TO THE CHURCH!  

high five for friday..

This has been quite the interesting week!  I am SO glad its Friday so my Man can be home with me for TWO WHOLE DAYS!

1. No school Monday, work on Tuesday, and then SNOW DAYS the rest of the week! 

2. Because I was stuck at home and going crazy feeling some cabin fever, I spent my time doing things such as

painting my nails in this beautiful new color... I love it!  It's called Master Plan. 

3.  I made these delicious cheddar garlic biscuits, that tasted exactly like Red Lobster... we had them with soup and they were perfect for a cold, snowy night!  Plus they were super easy!

4. I started working on my Valentine's guest post over at Wide Open Spaces!  So excited to share a little bit of my love story!

5. Today my dear and beautiful friend/high school youth group student/sister at heart Gwen came to rescue me from being home ALL WEEK BY MYSELF.  Ryan worked late hours and left early, so I only saw him for approximately 1.5 hours each day. So today Gwen braved the snow/slush that was out there and hung out with me, took me to fro-yo, and took me to Lowe's to buy a snow shovel.  Isn't she beautiful?  I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life!

Happy Weekend!  

the wedding: the morning of

Since I took an unplanned blogging break for a few months after my wedding, I thought it would be fun to do a recap of one of the greatest days of my life.

Here is the wedding: the morning of

My maid of honor and I had stayed the night in a hotel the night before for my sanity.  I did not want to wake up with my mother, father, and brothers all staring at me and stressing me out.

So hotel room it was.  

I woke up about an hour before my alarm, but thankful that I had gotten a good eight hours of sleep the night before.  

Whenever I am processing ANY emotions (excitement, feeling nervous, stress), my stomach makes sure to let me know.  So first thing in the morning, my stomach was in knots. 

My bridesmaids starting showing up, reading to help me walk through the day

We enjoyed relaxing and listening to music. 

 We all wore our tiaras from the bachelorette party......... haha. 

My mama came bringing muffins, croissants, and mimosas.  

 I had to pluck my Mama's eyebrows...it was much needed.  

 We made sure I had all my necessary accessories... including my BLUE shoes, which I LOVED.  

Went over the schedule.... a few times.  

Caught up on the current fashions, and just... relaxed.  It felt like the calm before the storm.  These are a few hours with my girls that I totally cherish.  

My sister-in-law made me an anxiety bag.  She is a therapist, and apparently this is something she does with kids, but she made one for me. :)

Inside my pink and black bag was was pretty paper.  When I felt anxious about something, I could write it down and put it in the bad.  Then, I could only worry about things for 5 minutes...then I had to zip my bag back up and I was not allowed to worry.  It was great.  I also kept my pepto-bismal tablets and Imodium pills in it.  I figure they all went together. 

I counted and checked and double checked to make sure we had all of the rings... which included my engagement ring, my TWO wedding bands that went on each side, and then my handsome man's ring.   

I loved, loved, loved these earring... and apparently J-Lo did too. 

After a few relaxing hours, it was time to get this show on the road.... more to come next! 

midweek confessions 2...

Monday we didn't have school because of MLK day.  The only reason I got dressed was because my little brother was going to come over.  And as soon as he left?  Back in my sweats again.

Tuesday night, my hubby worked late... which meant I was on my own for dinner.  But I REALLY wanted pancakes... so I called up my friend Gwen, and we feasted on amazing, wonderful, delicious homemade pancakes while having some much needed girl talk. 

Sometimes, I make a recipe on Monday... and then I give it to Ryan for lunch every. single. day. for the rest of the week.  I on the other hand, have to make something different each lunch or else I won't eat it.  He is so patient, and totally doesn't mind have something 5 days in a row.  

I usually follow recipes to a T, but last night I needed to make our weekly dinner, and found a great recipe for Mexican Lasagna.  However, I was missing a few ingredients, and didn't want to take the time to measure anything... so I just used what I had and called it good.  And the best part?  It turned out GREAT.

We were supposed to get a BIG dumping of snow today, but last night we had exactly 0 inches.  So at 4:45 when my husband's alarm went off, I was SO awake and literally JUMPED out of bed to see if there was snow.  Yes, I was excited as a little kid that there was 6 WHOLE INCHES, and it was still coming down.  Poor hubby wanted to sleep longer, but I was so excited I had a snow day, I just wanted to talk to him.  Poor guy.  

Today, I did absolutly nothing productive during my snow day.  I was SO bored that I decided to delete some old files and transfer them to a thumb drive.  And that was about it.  

And now?  I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow too!   

the best ham I have ever had...

I saw a this recipe on Pinterest  for a crockpot ham...and decided to give it a shot.  

I've never made a ham on my own and wasn't sure how it would turn out but decided to give it a shot!

Growing up, we would go over to my Nana's house about once a month, and we always had the EXACT same thing.  Ham, 'ice cream' mashed potatoes, and green beans.  

The ham was cooked ALL day, and was so incredibly salty you needed a few gallons glasses of water to make you feel better.

So, when the hubs and I went grocery shopping, we looked for a spiral cut ham.  At Costco it was close to $40 dollars for one!  Probably because it could feed an army was close to 20 pounds.  In other words, not for us.  When we went to Safeway, we hunted through the Manager's Special of hams, and found the cheapest one.  A 10 pound ham, normally $36 dollars, on sale for $12!  

In addition you need:

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (rubbed all over)
• 2 cups of pineapple juice ( I used 2 cans of pineapple chunks and it was DELICIOUS)
• 1/2 cups of syrup (I used just regular syrup, it said to use maple, but that was all we had!)

On Saturday I popped it in the crockpot, flat side down, and rubbed it all over with the brown sugar.  We poured the pineapple juice and and syrup on top.  Then, since the lid wouldn't fit, I just covered it with four layers of foil and called it good!

Set the crock pot on low, and leave it for 4-5 hours!  After about 4 hours, pour some of the juice back up on top.  

Seriously, this was the BEST ham I have EVER had.  It was wonderful.  

I think this could become a monthly recipe... especially since it will last us about a week! 

    

high five for friday...

Ahhh what a week.

Starting from January 2, my school district only has FOUR full weeks left.  On every other week, we either  have a holiday, day off, or a furlough half day.  

This week was a FULL week.  Plus, we had a Friday the 13th.  And my student teacher.  Made for one tired teacher come Friday afternoon.

This week, I am loving

1. LOVE these burlap canvas squares... I am making these as I type! 

2. We have had some *cold* days here recently...but have been having the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets!  The forecast is calling for some snow...as long as it is gone by Tuesday when I have to drive to school!

3. Teacher Taco Night!  Love getting together with my friends and our husbands, lots of kids running around and plenty to eat and drink!

4. Heard this song again for the first time in a while... been on repeat on my computer, in my head, and in my heart. 

5. Thankful for what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for... and that we have Monday off!  Pretty neat...my students wrote this week about THEIR dreams, and their work is being featured at a MLK day event on Monday! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Looking forward to three days off...and maybe we will even see some snow this weekend!

red velvet...

Tonight we had prayer night with our high school students and I always make treats... so I made some yummy cupcakes!  I decided to do a trial run for tomorrow, so I made Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!  

They are soooo tasty!

Tomorrow we have Teacher Taco Night...And I am bringing dessert... Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake!  It used the same cake to make the cupcakes and used the frosting too.  The cake was so easy...all in one bowl.  LOVE those types of cakes!  

I found the recipe here on Recipe Girl... and it looks soooo tasty! 

Can't wait to try it tomorrow!