...HAVING A GUEST BLOGGER! :)

My cousin Kelli and I have always talked about her being a guest blogger on my blog but have never actually gotten around to doing it. Well, when we went dress shopping for bridesmaids dresses and joked about the experience for days, I thought, "THIS would be the perfect opportunity!" I ended up asking Kelli if she was interested still and wanted to decribe the experience (she was), and that eventually led to my first ever guest post that you're about to read! Here you go--hope you all enjoy the change-up and hearing the story from another perspective!!

When my cousin, Audrie, asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, I immediately said yes. I was beyond excited for many reasons. Audrie, my sister Kari, and I have become extremely close over the past couple of years, and my relationship with those two is something that I cherish. We text in a group chat all day everyday! I was honored to be chosen as a bridesmaid when thinking about all the other girls in her life that she could have asked. I was also excited because I have never been a bridesmaid before! I couldn’t wait to go bridesmaid and wedding dress shopping and help in the process in any way possible.

That being said, Audrie scheduled bridesmaids dress shopping on a Saturday in April. We decided to do this so early because Kari was about 15 weeks pregnant; we didn’t want her to get any bigger and not get the proper measurements (the baby is due two months before the wedding). Audrie and two of her other bridesmaids, Cassie and Rachel, made the trek to Des Moines on this Saturday and met Kari and I at stop numero uno: David’s Bridal.

This being the first “real” wedding experience for all of us as a group, we were excited to say the least. We began by looking through the racks of dresses, quickly eliminating things on various dresses we didn’t like. Immediately we knew we wanted a short dress and didn’t want the dress to be bubbled at the end. We also found fabrics and colors we vetoed as well. Eventually we had a few dresses picked out that we all thought were worthy to try on. A woman took our measurements and off we went!

The experience was definitely a little different than anticipated. The store was PACKED and the woman who helped us was lackluster to say the least. We had two little dressing rooms and Audrie stood outside while we tried everything on. The first dress was gorgeous; a winner in all of our books. The rest of the dresses were nice as well, but none compared to the first dress. Not wanting to buy the very first dress we liked, we thanked the woman and set off to our next shopping appointment at Stacey’s.

Once at Stacey’s, the five of us dove right into the racks of dresses. At David’s Bridal, we had our measurements taken and tried on dresses that fit us, but Stacey’s only had sample sizes for us to try on. We had at least 25-30 dresses that looked good on the hanger, and I was the lucky one who got to try them all on! We thought it would be easier to just have one of us be the “model” and the rest can vote on it. I didn’t mind at all… the dresses were gorgeous!


We are all shopping pros and could tell immediately the dresses that weren’t worthy of a NYE wedding after I tried them on. We narrowed down the selection to about 5 dresses and then tried them on again. One was even a long, black, strapless number that was beautiful, and it almost got rejected but the woman helping us informed us it came in a shorter version! The store didn’t have one to try on, so we pinned the long one to get a feel of the look. This dress, along with the first dress from David’s, were our top two.

No, this is not the dress (or color) we chose!! Sorry :)

We decided to take some time and think things through before deciding on THE dress. We definitely had a successful day! After leaving Stacey’s, we stopped at a boutique for little girls, a shop aimed at Cassie and Kari’s heart (Cassie’s little girl is one and Kari didn’t know it yet, but she was pregnant with a girl!). Finally, it was time to call it a day. Kari and I said our goodbyes while the other girls headed back home.

After a few days contemplation, we decided to go with the first dress we tried on. It was the only dress everyone got a chance to try on (in their size) and everyone agreed that it looked great on! I can’t wait for 12-31-12 so that I can wear it and celebrate the marriage of my wonderful cousin to a great guy.

--Kelli


PS--I'm not posting pictures of the actual dresses we got; you will all have to wait until the wedding day to see them!! :)

**to see my other wedding-related things, click here

ALL ABOUT BRAIDS.

I am SO in love with braids this summer!! They seem to give off such a "carefree" and "young" vibe, yet look stylish and/or beachy all at the same time.

Braids can be worn with messy hair and give off the beachy/summery look, worn with straight hair to add a little spice, or even worn with formal hair (weddings!) and look timeless. No matter how you wear them, I think they are absolutely adorable and fit anyone's style.

ps--I am especially loving them with all the nautical/sailor themed clothing that seems to be out right now; what a cute combo!

Here are a few styles I found online and absolutely love...

And finally, me this past week with two different types of braids...

Are you all into braids this summer as much as I am?? I haven't quite mastered doing them to perfection yet, (actually, I'm not very good at them at all) but I sure do try!!

**Wordless Wednesday**

QUICKLY RECAPPING THE WEEEKEND!

After spending the day at the golf course Saturday

Dinner Date ~ Golf ~ More Golf ~ Drinks ~ Country Club Dinner ~ Laying Out ~ Swimming

T.GIF

When Cassie says she's not coming home for the weekend, I'm like...

When she says she IS, I'm like...

When she mentions bloody marys, I'm like...

And then when all my friends decide to go out, we're like...

And later that Friday night, I'm like...

Saturday morning, I'm like...

And then someone asks if I want to go out again Saturday, and I'm like...

 

**for other T.GIF's, click here

**Wordless Wednesday**

**please look at last week's "Wordless Wednesday" for reference

...A WINE CONNOISSEUR. (not really)

First, today just so happens to be one of my bff's birthday...so a special "happy birthday!!" goes to Cass today!! I hope she had a ton of fun celebrating this weekend (what this blog post is all about), and more importantly, I hope she is spoiled rotten today--she deserves it!!

 Happy Birthday Cassie Gene!!

With that being said...
Cassie's birthday this year happened to fall on a Tuesday and not a weekend..boo for that! With her not living here and being able to be home-home on her special day, we decided to celebrate a little bit early this year and have it this past Saturday instead.

So, early last week we gathered up a few of the girls and began making plans for her special day. When we finally came up with something, we decided we should have a girls day and go on a wine tasting tour during the afternoon, and then to dinner that evening. This would make it fun for all of us to do together, something we hadn't done, and something out of the norm--perfect!

We prepared ourselves all week for the big day by stressing about what we would wear and how many bottles of wine we thought we were going to buy :). Finally the day came and we were ready to channel our inner wine diva.

Ryan worked on the pool all morning/early afternoon and PB and I got ready while waiting on Rach to come meet us. Finally Rach got to town and and we all waited on the birthday girl and her grandma--who would be the one driving us! (We were responsible young old adults in that we planned ahead and had decided NONE of us would drive anywhere that night!) They showed up and off we were--to the winery!

When we first got there, we were a little surprised to learn that the tour we had wanted to take, was leaving in just 10 short minutes! We had originally planned to wine taste for awhile, then enjoy the tour, then drink some more wine outside, but as it turned out--not everything goes as planned! We immediately started scurrying around trying to figure out what wines to take with us (it is a long tour) and what else we needed. We got everything bought and headed onto the Grape Mobile (I actually don't remember the name of the trolley type thing!)

There were several other people on the tour with us; actually, it was packed; but we had a great time.

As we sipped on our wine, the "tour guide" drove us through the vineyard and stopped (a lot) and rambled off random facts and information about the vineyard and the wine making process...

          ~it takes 3 years for grapevines to produce grapes that can actually be harvested

          ~the "combining" machine (not sure what this was actually called) simply just shakes the vines to get the grapes off in harvest season

          ~there is an irrigation system in place but it hasn't been used yet--it was set up because of the drought in the 70's

          ~they are trying a new process of graphing grapes to shorten the 3 years/usable time span

          ~the posts the vines are on were pounded, not dug, into the ground, and the area around the vineyard felt earthquake like movement until they were all done

After we got back to the winery, we all headed to the bathroom to get the sticky mess of wine and humidity off our hands and then headed to the wine tasting area. We were given sheets that looked like place mats and pens and some information on dry/sweet, light/full, dessert, etc. types of wine. We then had to highlight the wines we wanted to try and so began the process.

We all basically picked different wines, (not knowingly) so it worked out really well. We all tried several types and flavors on our own and shared one another's, usually agreeing on which ones we liked and which we didn't. Overall, I think we were all in agreeance that we liked the sweet wines and the ones that tasted more "champagney" versus the dry/light ones. Also, we were NOT fans of the dessert wines--we tried several of them and they were all TERRIBLE!! I don't know if it was their alcohol content, which was 17%, or what, but they were not good--we couldn't even stomach the samples and ended up dumping them out.

After the wine tasting, we walked around the winery and looked at various things and ended up falling in love with their dipping oils. They make different dipping oils (for bread or whatever) there and one was an Italian flavor that we all loved. After walking around and snacking on the bread and oil (and probably clogging an artery) we decided to have one more glass while sitting at a table chatting. We finished that and decided we should move on to our next stop--we had been there a LONG time at this point!

We hung around outside awhile while waiting on our ride and then headed to the Country Club. Here we decided to eat inside in the bar area as opposed to outdoors, and we all enjoyed a delish dinner--Cassie and I ordered fish while the other girls ordered Club sandwiches of somesort. Of course, we also indulged in some adult beverages. :)

After finishing dinner, we were pleased to hear there would be a band playing outside on the patio shortly! It was the PERFECT weather outside by evening and we grabbed a seat on the deck, high up, where we could watch everyone and the band from the perfect seats. We all sat around the table, soaking up the perfect summer/Saturday night. We drank, chatted, and laughed for hours!

Eventually we decided we should call my wonderful fiance (who agreed to come get us) and head back towards home--it had been a long day! Once in the car though, the girls decided we should go out when we got back home...why call it a night so soon?! So that is exactly what we did. We had Ryan drop us off uptown once we got back and picked up where we left off at the Country Club. This part of the evening was short lived for this girl (I went home early), but the other girls stayed out the rest of the night.

I got back home that night (thanks to everyone who drove us everywhere!) and was giggling telling Ryan all of the funny stories and laughs we shared--mainly about our choice of cabbie!

I had a WONDERFUL afternoon/evening with some pretty special people in my life, and more importantly than that, I hope Cass enjoyed her special day with all of us!! It sure was fun!!

And, as always, the funny story of the day...
Cassie was chatting up a storm with our cabbie (we made her sit up front, hahah) and somehow it got brought up that he had been happily married 38 years. "That's pretty good," I thought, so I instictively asked him what the secret was. I was expecting something sweet, maybe a "never fall out of love at the same time," or a "we spend every Saturday evening going on a date," but instead he said...

"She's put up with a lot of bullshit."

We all laughed and thought it was so funny and so brutally honest at the same time! Who woulda known I'd get marriage's greatest piece of advice from a cabbie?! :)

T.GIF.

When the Dr. calls to remind me it's almost time for my yearly Pap, I'm like...

The entire night before my appointment, I'm like...

When I check in and sit down, then the 70-year-old lady next to me starts telling me what she's there for, I'm like...

When the nurse calls my name, I'm like...

When I walk into the wrong room, I'm like...

When the Dr. comes in and does his job, I'm like...

When he tells me I don't have to come back until next year, I'm like...

And then I walk out into the sunshine and to my car, and I'm like...

**to see other T.GIF's, click here.

**Wordless Wednesday**

...STILL ALIVE.

Yes, it is true..I (we) survived the weekend. For those of you who I didn't talk to, Ryan and I had a marriage retreat through the church this weekend and seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth for awhile! But we're alive and here to tell the story! :)

Part of the preparation for marriage through the Catholic church is marriage counseling with the priest after taking a marriage prep test. The other part is marriage counseling either through another (married) couple whom you have to meet with for several hours and several times, or a weekend retreat that is Friday-Sunday. Ryan and I chose the later, to put it as simply as possible, because our (Ryan's) spare time is precious and we didn't know if we could meet with a married couple for the time required! With that being said, we found ourselves in church Friday-Sunday this weekend.

The "retreat" consisted of 4 other couples and ourselves. Luckily for us, I knew who the other 4 couples would be going into this (even though I didn't KNOW a few of them) and were lucky enough to have a wonderful group there that was willing to share, discuss, and laugh with us! That certainly makes all the difference in something like this!

Throughout the weekend we listened a lot, talked some, discussed some, prayed some, and filled out a lot of worksheets.We had several couples come in and talk to us, tell us about their lives and give us advice, and most importantly, guide us through the important questions to be asked before a marriage.We discussed everything from who will be in charge of sweeping the entry way to how many kids we want to have and how much time we will spend with extended family; we covered it all. We also attended mass Saturday night and had a special blessing during it.

Definitely my favorite part of all of this, as I mentioned before, was our group and the conversations we had. It was so nice to hear the stories and opinions of other couples and how they do things and how they feel about certain things. Obviously some of our answers differed, but I certainly did learn from them and appreciated everything they were willing to share.

By the time Sunday (the final day) rolled around, I was absolutely exhausted, and I hadn't even done anything physical! I had learned a lot and definitely gained some insight, but I was ready to get out of there and soak up the rest of the day and what was left of the weekend! We finished our session and headed to a graduation party just 2 hours after the retreat ending, and after that, we headed straight to the Country Club! Ryan got out on the course with a friend and I sat on the deck with my bestie and chatted with her for a few hours! It doesn't get much better than that! :)

So THAT was our weekend...I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got to enjoy the beautiful weather!! Have a great rest of the week!

...MAKING HAM ROLLUPS.

I think these are the perfect little snack to take to a party or even just to keep in your fridge for quick eats. They are SO easy to make and delish!! And, if you take your time making them (which I obviously don't) they dress up a plate nicely!

Ham Rollups

Ingredients:
1 package of lunch meat ham (any brand)
1 package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Package of tortillas
Fresh green onions
garlic powder


1. Start by laying out the tortillas and coating with a thin layer of cream cheese. (It is best to let the cream cheese sit out awhile, so it's easier to spread)

2. Sprinkle garlic powder on the cream cheese

3. Rinse and cut up green onion tips and sprinkle on top of the tortilla to taste. (Ryan doesn't like green onions so I don't use many)

4. Layer the ham on the tortilla. You can use as much or as little as you like!

5. Roll up the tortilla tightly and begin cutting 1inch slices off

6. Place them on a plate (or football dish as I have) and voila! Perfect snack!

**I used two large tortillas, about 1/4 the cream cheese, and 10 slices of ham and this is how much it made, just to put it in perspective.