Goodnight Moon...err, sun?

I'm off to bed. My bff Kate is getting married tomorrow, I have to be up at 4am.

;-)

Love & Peace (at 8:19pm)

That's what she said.

"Life's a garden, Dig it." - Joe Dirt

Don't worry, our gardens will all be in full bloom before we know it. Until then, remember to bring your umbrella :-)

Love & Peace.

Reasons I love rain.

1. We all know, "April showers bring May flowers."

2. It makes the trees like SO much more green than they usually do!

3. It sounds so lovely when it's falling.

4. It's a great excuse for me to cuddle up with my Coach.
5. Water is a GREAT thing! We can drink, and bathe with it and cook with it and most of all it has a wonderful purpose in the Christian faith. We use this rain water to cleanse our souls.

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." -Matthew 28:19

I hope you all had a really good Easter and that the word of the Lord is still in your heart today and everyday!

Love & Peace!

Oh my poor belly!

In the last 2 months I have lost 13 pounds. I'm thrilled with that progress but as always, I wish it were more. I'm hoping to lose another 15 by the end of June when I plan on buying my wedding gown. I have been working hard so I think it's definitely do-able!

However this weekend I ate...

Hope you all had a Hoppy Easter...and enjoy your week of waddling around. Ugh.

Love & Peace.

Forgive me :-(

I have missed a number of "that's what she said" Wednesdays.
I have not blogged about my Saturday job. Or our Easter plans.

But speaking of plans, I will share that wedding planning is harddddd. There is so much to think about, yikes!

I am happy to say that I'm going to try on dresses next Saturday at this nice place in Glasgow...being from a place like Tampa made me think, "designer dresses in Glasgow???" (Snobby, I know, I'm sorry) But I have been assured repeatedly that this is the place to start. They are friendly but high end and I'm bringing a really great person along for the trip.

The deal behind my wedding gown is that my Mom has so graciously offered to buy it for me. And my Mom has GREAT taste, she has also chosen every formal, pageant gown and homecoming dress I've ever worn. She knows my body, and my heart. She is the perfect person to buy my wedding gown. I'm going home in June for 4 days and I have to buy it then because I need to have a fitting in October when I'm home for fall break and then have my final fitting in December because I won't be home again until just before our wedding in June. I know it sounds a little extreme to start looking for a gown 14 months out but considering all of the moving parts, I just have to.

Now, in order to get prepared for our June 2011 wedding gown trip I am going to go and look and try on once or twice before I get home so that I can have an idea of what I like. So I'm bringing my friend Bobbi along. She just got married in October so the process is still fresh in her mind and her love of designer wedding gowns is plentiful. She is honest and because I haven't known her for a million years (like some of the bridesmaids) I know she won't feel any obligation to be sweet just for the sake of being sweet. I know she will help me find a good fit, style and designer for me so that when I go home my Mom & sister and I can focus on the details and the "feelings" you have when you're looking for your dress.

I'll be in touch and I'll be sure to let you know how things go next weekend.
Hoppy Easter! We're off to Louisville tonight to be with Ben's family.

Love & PEACE!

My bucket list

A few years ago, with college graduation somewhere off in the distance, I began compiling a list of all the things I simply HAD to do before I died. I have been making very little progress on it recently so my goal this Summer is to get back on track :-) 1. Ride in a hot air balloon. 2. Zip line in Costa Rica. 3. Visit Paris 4. See the Grand Canyon as an adult ( I went once as a child) 5. Stand in or see the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. 6. See a Rockies game at Coors Field. 7. Have a Beer at Wrigley Field during a Cubs game (I haven't been in the 3 years that I've been of age) 8. See the Yellowstone National Park geysers. 9. Eat Raman Noodles (COMPLETE!) 10. Get a (VERY SMALL) tattoo. 11. Get married (ALMOST!) 12. Go Skiing 13. Visit Muir Woods in California and have a Grilled Cheese sandwich at the gift shop (I hear they are AMAZING) 14. Run in a Mini Marathon 15. Grow my own tomatoes. (Well I tried...I'll try again this summer- but still COMPLETE!) 16. Buy a pink computer. (Complete!) 17. Camp without a tent...or camper...or cabin! 18. Read 100 books (of choice- schools books don't count) 19. Meet a US President. 20. Stand on a Volcano! Do you have a bucket list? If you do- get crackin', life is short! And if you don't- Make one, it's worth it! Love & Peace!

**Fabulous Friday**

Oh, How I love Friday's!

It's rainy here in Kentucky or at least the rain is on it's way, and State Testing begins on Monday so today really needs to be about everyone staying happy and relaxed in Kentucky classrooms...really classrooms all over the country.

So here is a little something to lighten up your day!

Kate Spade flats :-)

Paula Deen's Strawberry Cake...yummmmm!

&

SUPER cute (or as I like to say, "Supa-cute") Monogram apparel from ESTY.com! Go to the site, play around it's so worth your time!

Have a wonderful Friday! Love & Peace!

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get marrrrriiiiiieeeedddd!

SERIOUSLY!!!! We're ENGAGED!!!

What a wonderful week it was! We spent most of our first weekend with my family and then through the week we went to the beach, saw a movie, had meals in all of our favorite places and went to Busch Gardens! It was perfect.

On Thursday Ben and I had plans for Dinner at a place called The Tampa Club.

This is the view from the men's bar during the day. As you can imagine it's EVEN BETTER at night.

My Dad has been a member there for many years and had always taken our family there for special occations. My 16th birthday, my prom, my sister's birthday and any celebritory occation were held at The Tampa Club. The place is PHENOMENAL! The food, the VIEW, the service. It's just to die for! And most of all it is home to many wonderful memories from my life at home....Now it is home to one more :-)

This is the hallway in the Tampa Club that leads to the room where we got ENGAGED!

I won't share ALL of the details because I kind of like having SOME things just between us but I will tell you that we ate dinner at sunsent in the private dining room. It was so romantic and relaxed. A single white rose head was in a beautiful little bowl and they played music. Right after dinner and right before dessert Ben started to share with me how much he loved me and before I knew it he was down on one knee holding the most beautiful and SPARKLY ring I had ever seen. Natrually, I said YES!

We spent the next couple of hours talking over dessert and we even danced a while under the big chandalier all by ourselves. It was everything I ever dreamed of and more.

Hope you enjoyed a few pictures of the place and I'll be back in blogging form tomorrow!

This is the "Grand Staircase" you see when you first get to the top of the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa. It takes you to the dining rooms.

Love & Peace from this newly engaged soon to be MRS!

That's what she said...

"Find out WHO you are, and do it ON PURPOSE."

-Dolly Parton

Love and Peace from BEAUTIFUL Tampa!

So far so good!

1 hour after arriving in Tampa :-)