Really, I’m alive and almost 99% well. One more day of antibiotics. This really kicked me on my butt!

So, I dragged myself (though it wasn’t that hard since it was a beautiful day) out with Brandon & our friends to the lake this past weekend, sniffles and all, and came home with a great tan! Summer is officially in full swing in my book!

We head camping this weekend woo-hoo! Can’t wait to leave civilization behind!

Oh and can you believe it?!?! Only 4 months till our wedding! Yikes! So much to do, so little time…but I’m loving it all. Fun things planned for the big day…oh and I’m getting so excited for the Bachelorette weekend in Vegas next month! My girls have planned the best trip ever – so excited to be with all of them in one place – we will be up to no good… ;)

I leave you with a couple of fun wedding ideas in the works…

Pink lanterns for the tent dance floor….

Yummy drinks in these cool jugs I picked up at Target…

Cool idea for a seating chart…

Three days now…that I have been home sick…(and still working nonetheless)…with a sinus infection and bronchitis. Fun, no? I think they gave me some wimpy antibiotics because they just don’t seem to be working…ugh…and Brandon is now home and he has some of the symptoms but not quite so bad as me…we kept each other up last night coughing and getting water and cough drops for each other. See why it’s like we’re married already?! LOL.

Looking SO forward to next weekend – we are going to stay at a cabin about 1.5 hours from Nashville that is right on the Buffalo River. Everywhere is just about sold out and then this one popped up on Craigslist. It looks quite charming and downright rustic in the photos so I have a feeling we’ll be in for an adventure on this one!

Oh and in other news…I love special (wedding) deliveries (especially when I’m sick)! My two friends Nichole and Katie (from our high school days) sent us our second gift from our wedding registry (yay this registry business is exciting stuff!!)…

They are too sweet! Their message was wishing us lots of baking of cookies and babies together. ;)
First there was the fire engine red hand mixer…and a box of 100 cookie cutters (Brandon can’t wait for me to make sugar cookies with these!)
 

And I must also rave about our first gift from our registry was from Lauren & Mike we received a month or so ago…soooo excited for these monogramed knife serving set – we’re going to use them to cut the cake at the wedding…and the cute salt and pepper shakers from our dishes set.

Even in the cloud of kleenex and haze of cough drop fumes, I am a happy girl. :)

Whatever will be, will be, will be.

I have concluded that I have a self-induced stress pheomena…I fill my life with so much activity and then one thing goes off balance, and everything is off. And then I get stressed. And I’ve pretty much brought it on all by myself.  Such is the Libra that I am (scales symbolism and all)…

I saw this today on Ali Edwards’ blog and I really liked it. Maybe you will too?

From the newest issue of Body & Soul magazine…

Each month the last page includes Ten Thoughts on Whole Living.

1. Your home is more than the sum of its walls. Make it a sacred space.
2. Creativity is a lifestyle, not simply an activity. Let is expand you.
3. True forgiveness springs from love, not regret.
4. Learn something new. Emphasize the trying, not the succeeding.
5. Spend some time in the dirt. You’ll be amazed at what nature can inspire.
6. You don’t have to have a perfect body to feel great in it.
7. Define yourself by who you are, not the roles you play.
8. Find rejuvination in five minutes of silence.
9. Contribute to abundance. If you no longer need something, pass it on.
10. Find direction in your life by looking where you want to go, not where you don’t.

Tonight, after busting my butt at the gym (and of course at work), I’m going to buy myself some flowers ’cause they make me happy. What will you do for yourself today?

It sucks.

I think this is our first set of friends, we have known together, that have broken up. And it hurts. How is it that I feel I got dumped too?

They were one of our first couple friends we met here. We watched their house get built across the street from us…we talked about how our kids would grow up together here…

And over the past year have shared so many memories and good times. And yes, sometimes you see things that maybe aren’t right, but who’s relationship is 100% perfect?

And now they are going their separate ways..and I’m left processing it all…analyzing all the what-ifs, what we could’ve done to help…and just kind of being sad about the end of it all…and all of the memories that we’d expected to make together…That’s probably the selfish one of all, all the what-could’ve-been’s that I’m sad about. I’m even a little bit angry…upset that they didn’t try harder to make it work…or attempt to fix what wasn’t working…

I guess all of this is a reminder that relationships are fragile, and to nurture them everyday.

So…my neighbor, Stephanie goes out of town for a few days and her husband, is a stay at home dad for a few days…and he emails me yesterday with an idea. He wants to do a photo shoot of the kids and wants it all printed and hung on the wall before she gets home…and in time for Mother’s Day. The sweetest thing ever, huh? He had all the ideas in his head…the kids would wear white..summertime clothing..barefoot…grass…a creek maybe…

Is this cute or what?

And the two cuties, well, they weren’t very hard to work with. :) I loved editing these tonight…feels like SUMMER! ;)

And this one is my *personal* favorite!….

It’s pictures like these when I think "dang, it sure is cool living here in TN…look at that green grass…and flowers…and wood fence that is at a horse farm in my neighborhood…." ;)

It’s 12:17am…this was a one-day turnaround job…TGIF!!! :D