Valentines Day came early

Finally a Saturday where we didn't have to travel or run errands all day!  Stu and I had planned to sleep in late and just hang out around the house today before cooking dinner and watching Back To The Future tonight. I have been mentioning I needed to new wallet and that there was a Michael Kors one that I wanted, so he said he would get it for me for Valentines day. I bought him the Back To The Future trilogy a few weeks ago and told him he was going to have to wait till Valentines day to get it. So looks like today was our Valentines day :) 

We left the house around lunch time and headed to McAlisters for some grub. The mall is right down from there, and I knew that Belks had the wallet that I wanted!!!

I couldn't wait to get home and clean out my purse and current wallet to restock everything in my new one :)

 I love my MK purse! I am the type of person that switches out purses with the season, so I'd like to think this one is my fall and winter purse. I got it at TJ Maxx for $120. 

I can't name one girl who doesn't loose things in their purse. It always seems that I can't find what I am looking for in there because it a black hole!

 I love my new wallet! I wanted one that opened all the way up like this :)

So as I emptied out my purse, I realized I carry a lot of lip color. I couldn't break myself from not putting them back in their little pocket though. 

I am a huge fan of Ulta makeup products! I use their shampoo too! I keep an extra mascara tube in my purse at all time. 

 These are two of the colors that I used to use often. I used to 216 more because it isn't as bright as the 201. These are both lipstick from Ulta for $8. 

 This is my favorite lip stain! This stuff is serious at doing it's job. I can wear it for hours at a time and the color doesn't come off with food or on cups. It's Make Up For Ever - Lip Stain- #15 Pink $24

 I just bought this lipstick for the wedding! Stu picked it out ... It's Make Up For Ever-Satin Soft Pink $20

Jan 21st, 2012

I can not wait to marry this goofy kid in 73 days! 

Exactly two years ago today, I was going out with some of my sorority sisters for a night in downtown Aiken! I had been watching movies all day with Bri and just hanging out around the house. We actually had been brushing up on our dance moves to Push It after watching a bridal movie where the girls danced to it. 
If you know Aiken, I am sure the first thing that comes to your mind isn't its crazy party atmosphere, because frankly... that doesn't exist! There were two main bars that we all hung out at, and a  month after Stuart and I met, one burnt down. Tipsy McStumbles was down the alley, and The Holly House sits right in center of downtown Aiken on Richland Avenue. They are just a short walk away from each other, so most people wandered between to the bars.

This was the exact night that Stuart and I met! I can not believe that it has only been two years since we met, fell in love, and now only two months till we are married! 

These are a few of our first pictures together and some of my favorites :)

This was our first picture taken together on my camera! We were out downtown after eating dinner for Barnes' Birthday! 

 This was 3 weeks after we had met! Just night at The Holly! 

 Stuart won me and my heart! This was us after a greek date auction that one of the fraternities hosted on the USCA campus! 

Bachelor Recap Night 3

So last night episode of the bachelor was interesting because I watched it a friend’s apartment with three girls! Megan is a fellow bachelor fan, so she knew most of what was going on, but LC and Andie giggled most of the time and made fun of the girls! This is what I got out of the show last night…

Cassandra got chosen to go on the first one on one date of the night. Juan Pablo took her on some kind of car that you can drive on water. It looked like they were having fun and seems like something that not many people have a chance to do. But Jesus is still cooler than you Juan Pablo.

After their water ride, they went to some house that I am not sure of because LC and Andie were busy planning their own Bachelor show of Greenville. I guess dinner went well because Cassandra started showing pictures of her 1 year old son to JP and then mentioned that she hadn’t been in love for 3 years. I know I am not great at math… but that doesn’t add up to a baby?!

When dinner was over I caught a little awkward dancing in the kitchen. We now know that Cassandra was not chosen to be a NBA dancer for her dancing skills… #SorryNotSorry. But yet again, Juan Pablo found her so attractive and gave her a rose!

JP chose 10 girls for the group date and took them to a professional soccer field. After teaching them how to play soccer, he split them up on to two teams for a game. Of course all girls wore glittery gold sports bras and knee high socks, but the real competition was to see who could roll their shorts the shortest! Sharleen got hit in the head and knocked down quite a few times during the game, so I assume that’s what knocked her crazy later… 

After the game, all the girls magically got showered and dressed up nice for some extra time with JP. Nikki got the first one on one time with him during the group date and seemed to rub off really well because she got the rose of the night. Next Andi and JP went off in to the concession are and made out for little before heading back to the group. Juan Pablo grabbed a blanket and invited Sharleen to go to the center of the field to spend some time. For someone who said on the first night that she wasn't interested in him, I guess things are changing. She forcefully shoved her tongue in his mouth while the other girls watched from above. It was so awful, it was hard to watch. 

 Chelsi was next up for the one one one date with Juan Pablo. Her date card said "Do you trust me?" and she seemed to get all excited about that. I am of course she trust her boyfriend that is also dating 13 other girls... 
They danced in the car on their way to get some lunch and then he took her to a bridge to bungee jump. After crying for what seemed like 20 mins, she finally decided to jump on the bridge with him. JP then told her thank you (for trusting him, or jumping off with him?) and they started to make out upside down...  So spiderman of them! 

They then had a nice fancy dinner all set up for them. Chelsi was dressed in her favorite Forever 21 dress and even said that it doesn't feel real to be going on dates like this. Well you are correct Chelsi because ABC doesn't pay for dinner when the show is over! They talked over dinner, blah blah blah, he said she had "a matherly instinct", and then he gave her a rose. 

 The next morning JP came over the mansion to make breakfast for the girls, and have a day around the house with all of them. Kelly was the first to find him downstairs cooking, but she didn't even make an effort to go give him a hug!!! She came down to take Molly out and then ran back up stairs "to put her face on". 
After breakfast they all got ready for the pool. Kat got extra ready by pushing her boobs up a little bigger in her bikini though. Clearly Juan Pablo noticed because she spent 30 mins sitting with her crotch on his shoulders. 
Most of the girls are really getting jealous now and realizing that other girls are getting more time with JP than they are. 
Sharleen had to take her turn to go over and try to steal a kiss from Juan Pablo again. They went and sat on a bench on the other side of the pool and were holding each other. He was making kissy faces at her and they kissed a little bit, but he turned her down quickly by putting his hand in front of her face. She said he was being a tease, but maybe it's just the fact that she is a horrible kisser! I am shocked to say that Sharleen is turning out to be the one that girls don't like in the house because she of her slutty tendencies.  Funny because no one saw her as competition for a mile away! 

With three girls already having roses from dates, he gave ten more roses away and sent home Lucy and Christy. 

I was not a fan of Lucy until this episode... I picked on her the past two shows because she was just crazy, but this time, she really just seemed like a nice girl. She didn't start any drama, or talk bad about anyone during her three show debut. And she had one of the nicest leaving speeches that anyone has ever said leaving the show. "I hope that everyone here finds what they are looking for because they all deserve it." - Lucy  During the show Megan also informed us that on Lucy's profile on the Bachelor.com, it revealed that the funnest thing that she has ever done was organize an naked dance party of 50 people on a beach in Mexico... 

Bachelor Recap Night #2

Tonight was the first two one on one dates with Juan Pablo and the first group dates. Not all girls get chosen to go on dates, so unfortunately Amy, Sharleen and Danielle didn't get a date at all.



Clare was chosen for the first one on one and her date card said "let's chill". JP picked her up and blind folded her to take her to his winter wonderland date. They went sledding, had a snow ball fight, and JP went ice skating while Clare really struggled at it. I am not sure that she had a great talk with him (mostly because my grandma called and I was talking to her) because all she seemed to do with giggle the entire time. Well I guess that worked out for her because she got the first rose of the night!

Kat got the next one on one date card. JP remembered that on the first night she told him that she was a dancer, so he found a date that was perfect for her. They flew to Salt Lake City, Utah and started a huge rave style race. They were decked out in neon clothes and glow sticks leading everyone in the race. There was techno music playing and Kat fit right in with the crowd and showed off her dance moves. They looked like they were having a blast together and make such a cute couple!

The group date card came in and 13 girls were chosen to "say cheese". Juan Pablo took them to a photo shoot with a good cause behind it. They each got to choose a dog, and depending on the dog they chose, the got their wardrobe. Kelly ended up having a get painted up like her dog, and Chelsi was in a huge afro to match hers.

Andi and Elise were going to have to wear a cardboard sign as their outfit, but Elise traded with Lucy, so she wore a fire hydrant instead. Lucy was more than happy to be naked, so she felt the need to take her dog on a walk outside for everyone to see her free spirit self.

Cassandra really stepped out tonight and made a name for herself! She had a great photo shoot on the group date, and then came out to JP during the date part and said she has a two year old son. I feel bad for her because she had a meltdown before the rose ceremony. JP told her that he sees her and Renee differently than the other girls since they do have kids at home and he wouldn't keep her away if he didn't like her.

Renee and JP seem to be hitting off really well! They had a very sexy photo and were dressed up like old Hollywood starts. She even had the guts to say she thought he would kiss her during the photoshoot, so obviously she was wanting one!

During the actual date part of the night, things got a little crazy! Nikki confronted Victoria about getting a little to drunky drunk on the date. Well I'm going to blame this one on Nikki because everyone knows you can't tell a girl she is drunk! She will automatically say she's not... or in Victoria's case, say "I'm just fun sober." Sure you are girlfran... She then went on to tell the camera one on one "I'm gonna straddle him everyday. Because that's what life is about." I guess she just had that whole idea in her head because of her photo shoot today!

 

Victoria continued to drink and got pretty messy. Renee finds her in the bathroom crying and sobbing that she hasn't had her one on one time with JP yet and at this point, she is just done with this whole thing and ready to go home! Lucy took it upon herself to be a tattle tail and go tell JP that Victoria was loosing it, so he went to the bathroom to see her drunk ass for himself.
She wouldn't come out, so he went on with his night and went and spoke to the other girls about the rose. I was excited that he gave the rose to Kelly! He said goodnight to the girls and ask them to take care of Victoria for the rest of the night.
To my surprise, Victoria was taken to a hotel to sleep off her crazy that night. Juan Pablo went and greeted her and talked to her about everything the next morning. She didn't seem very remorseful, but she apologized and said she still wanted to be here. He clearly wasn't feeling it, and went ahead and sent her home.


On a side note, I am so happy that Kelly got the rose on the group date. She is definitely one of my top five favorites! She and Molly (her puppy) seem like the perfect package!! Maybe not for JP, but I'm sure I could hook her up with one of Stu's friends and it'd be great! She is from Atlanta, so hey... that's not a long shot!

With Clare, Kat and Kelly already having roses, Juan Pablo started the rose ceremony out by calling Cassandra first! Nikki and Andi to follow, Elise, Sharleen, then Renee, Danielle (whoever she is??), Lucy, Alli, Chelsi, Lauren, and the last rose went to Christy. So that means goodbye to
Amy L. & Chantel.

If you follow the bachelor like I do, join our Juan and Dine bracket on The Bachelor Bracket . Com!

Reason #123 I should be a private investigator

You say Potato, I say Patato. You say Stalking, I say investigating...

LC has always joked to people that if I was ever to open my own Private Investigation Firm, that she was be my number one investor because it was be a for sure win! I have always been pretty sneaky about finding things out, or great at looking secret info up online, but I really had no idea of my capabilities until last night.

I found this picture on Pinterest months ago and pinned it because I loved the brides hair, expression and basically overall look. The closer and closer we get toward our wedding, I decided to look back on some of my pinterest boards for some ideas. I found this picture again and it caught my eye. I loved the necklace and had to have it. When I get my mind on something, it's hard to get it out unless it happens. Well I searched all over the internet  last night looking for this necklace or something that looked very very similar...
After 3 hours of failing to find anything like it on pinterest, amazon, etsy and google images, I tried my search method. I watch a show on MTV called Cat Fish, and the guys take a picture that someone uses as their profile picture on facebook and do a google image search with it, and it brings up other sites where the picture is used. So I tried my luck... maybe I could just find out if something has tagged it somewhere else and talked about the necklace.
To my luck, the bride's photographer's blog was one of the searches that came up below! I clicked on the blog site and was able to see many more pictures from this brides wedding. At the bottom of her pictures there was a list stating where his dress was from, shoes and indeed, that stunning necklace. I then started searching online for the exact necklace now that I knew the name and designer, only to find that it was from 2012 and was no longer in stock in any of the stores.
I had checked everywhere that I could think possible... so why not with the bride her self! I went back on the photographer's blog site and looked at her pictures to see if I could find this bride and grooms last name so that I could try to contact them over facebook. And yours truly found it :)
Yes, I agree with you, this is pretty crazy! All over a simple necklace... but hey,  A girls' gotta do what a girls' gotta do!

Bachelor Recap Night 1

If you didn't see the premiere episodes Sunday and Monday night of Juan Pablo's season of The Bachelor, you missed out!! As always, I was glued to my tv with twitter ready to go! I tweet using #TheBachelor during the entire season with other Bachelor fans and friends of mine. I also follow some of the old bachelor and bachelorettes off the show and love to read the stuff that they tweet during shows :)

 

The first night is always one of my favorites because the bachelor gets to meet 25 hopeful women who all want his attention. Well Juan Pablo had 27 to fight for him. He only gets to keep 15 of them at the end of the night though. All of the girls want to get out of the car and make a perfect first impression on him, but sometimes they just are a little odd. Lauren P rode in on a piano and stopped in front of JP and played for him. It sounded nice, until she got really nervous and messed up. Lucy got out of the car bare footed and dancing around like a fairy. She said she is a free spirit so she doesn't like to wear shoes. Nikki, the nurse, had a stethoscope for him to listen to her heart, while another girl brought his daughter a handmade little bracelet. Most of the girls were ok, but of course there were some that I have deemed my favorites for the season!

 Renee is a single mom who surprising in my mind, didn't get the first impression rose. I think that she could really go far this season if she doesn't pull the crazy card. She has an 8 year old son that JP seemed to like since he has a 5 year old daughter. There was a spark of connection, but not enough to where it seemed anymore than other women in the house.

 

Free Spirit Lucy, go home now and save us all. Not only did she not have shoes on, but her feet looked dirty when she threw them over JP's lap. Gross Lucy!! Free spirit is one thing, but you are competing with girls who actually take care of themselves; I wonder if she shaves her legs! I don't know what he saw in her, but I am sure I was not the only one that dropped my jaw when he called her name for a rose.

 

I love Andi! There was an instant connection between her and JP whens he got out of the car. When she got her chance to have a little one on one talk to him, she seemed to really impress him too by telling him that she was an attorney and a prosecutor at that! She is a very cute girl and seems like one that will stay out of drama. I hope she makes it to top 3 if not leaving the season on his arm :)

 

 Kookie Kylie! This poor girl made a fool of herself during he rose ceremony when JP called Kat's name and Kylie stepped up for a rose. Can you say AWKWARD!! And he didn't pick her for his 15 either :/ She looks great in outfit above, but maybe it was the pink pageant dress she decided to wear that didn't get her a rose. Oh well, there's always  next time my ginger friend!

Crazy Amy was a bit psycho during the first night! Not only did she keep saying that Juan Pablo was the man of her dreams and that she could see their future together, but she brought her massage table and gave him a massage! She had some of her "special" oils and rubbed them on his suit. Um what?! She got him to take of his jacket while she rubbed his back, but he still had a shirt on. She kept saying that she felt like they could be a great couple together and they had a lot in common, but failed to mention what it was?! Sorry Amy, but I guess JP didn't feel the same about you. He sent her home, and she cried  the cameras at the end.

 

 Kelly brought her dog Molly. She seems to be a very cute and nice girl, but she wasn't over friendly or mean so she will have to do something special next week to get noticed more!

 Sharleen. I don't even know why she came on the show. Not only is lacking personality, but she also couldn't be less interested in Juan Pablo! She is from Canada but has been living in Germany for 3 years. She had a modest dress on that caught Juan Pablo's attention for the right reasons. He sat down with her outside one on one and she talked about trying not to eat meat in Germany, "I order pea soup, but when I get it, there's a wiener on top." Well something about that sentence obviously impressed him, because he got up and went and got the first impression rose for her. ... Only during that 30 second walk to get the rose, She had a chance to think to herself that she wasn't very attracted to JP. He came back and presented the rose and said there was something special about her, blah blah blah, and her response was "sure."

 

Maggie, Bless her heart, is from North Augusta! She seems to be a sweet southern girl, but her accent is too country for me, an apparently Juan Pablo too because he sent her home packing. Maybe next time South Carolina!

 

The Bachelor will be on every Monday night at 8 on ABC!

Stay tuned to my blog on Tuesdays for my updates if you missed out!

Orange Bowl Winners

I so wish that I could have spent a few days in Miami last week. Stuart looked up some plane tickets and tickets to the game but they were just crazy expensive prices that we couldn't pay! Clemson played Ohio State in the Orange Bowl on Friday and luckily won the title!

My parents came up for the day on Saturday, so my mom and I could go to a bridal show in Greenville, and then we could all go to Clemson to see the wedding venue. We got up to Sleepy Hollow at 1 and looked around for about 30 minutes before heading to Tillman Hall to take some pictures. I wanted to get a picture with the Thomas Green statue because people usually put oranges all over him when Clemson makes it to the Orange Bowl. Luckily I came prepared and brought my own on Saturday though!

We left there and went to Esso for lunch. My dad hasn't been to The Esso Club in years, so it was fun for him to go with us. As we were leaving Esso, passing the stadium, we noticed a ton of people gathered around the gates. Stuart automatically knew what was going on! The players were supposed to get back around 3 from Florida and everyone was there to greet them. I, of course, wanted to join the crowd, so we pulled up with all the other crazy fans that would stand in the cold and wait for our tigers to arrive.
I was so excited to join the crowd! unfortunately, Dabo, Sammy Watkins & Tajh Boyd stayed back in Florida. I did get a chance to take pictures with some pretty cool guys though!

 I always heard Stu yell "Go Hot Rod" all season and now got to meet him :)

Chandler Catanzaro was the kick this year!

I snapped this picture while one of the guys was walking in front of me!

New Years Eve

 I am not someone who particularly likes to celebrate New Years Eve at a big event. I would much rather be hanging out at home with friends, drinking our own cheap alcohol and possibly be in pjs. Watching the ball drop, shooting off some fireworks, and then going to bed. Nothing fancy. Just fun.

 

This year we ended up going to the Southern Skyline party at the Hyatt in downtown Greenville. It was a huge event and the first ever party for this company. Our radio station, MY 1025, was one of the host for the event, and helped advertise for the party a few weeks ahead of time. When we run commercials for events, it usually means there are tickets involved for employees :) I ended up scoring Stu and I tickets to the even and Taylor & Amber were also able to go with us! We were not short of friends at the event. There was over 1,000 people there to celebrate kick off 2014 with us!