4th

What do you do when your husband's off in Kentucky for the week and your in-laws are at the mountains and your family of origin is too many states away and you're left to fend for yourself for America's birthday? You go visit your best friend & brother-in-law in Charleston, SC!

I realize this photo drop is sans-fireworks...we saw fireworks in the car on our way home to take a shower to light our own. After our showers we were too tired and comfortable in our pjs, so we went to bed. #youknowyoureoldwhen

Mr. & Mrs. Lee!

Sneak peek: guess what came in the mail today!!!!

Rehearsal Dinner at Fraser family farm

Photographer: Brian Tropiano Wedding Photography
Dress: Bridal Images
Bridesmaid dresses: They picked out their own
Groom/Groomsmen: Jos. A. Banks
Caterer: Reeves Outdoor Catering
Cake & Desserts: Signe's Heaven Bound Bakery
Ceremony & Reception site: Gordon/Lee home

Livin' for the weekend(s)

The past two weekends have been crazy busy but even crazier in levels of fun! Two weekends ago I had the privilege to spend the weekend in Charleston, SC helping my best friend/MOH in her farmer duties at the Marion Square Farmers Market! Cait got 'bit' by the farming bug a couple of years ago and has since re-located from our shared state of Maryland to South Carolina to work at Ambrose Family Farm! This friend of mine, in living out her mantra of doing anything and everything (especially at a moment's notice) managed to injure herself. That didn't stop this wonderwoman, however, as she insisted on being present at the farmers market. I did only what any sane person would do -- pretended to be a farmer for a day to help a friend out.

(Not only is Cait an awesome farmer, she is also a talented artist. Some of her photos have/are being displayed and sold (like at the indie-pendent in Atlanta!), or you can access her work on her blog, where she posts wonderful photos and even more wonderful thoughts! Check her out, she's one talented chickadee!)

This past weekend, I traveled 'home' to Bluffton, SC to attend our cousin's wedding (Congratulations Clermont & Al!!). The hubs has just started a new adventure in life and is off at school, learning a lot and meeting new friends; he left me to attend the wedding on our behalf & to spend Father's Day with his family. Loved every minute of it...even the time I learned how to play bocce ball and failed miserably. What I loved most about the wedding? The presence of a majestic kilt worn by the father-of-the-bride and a peppering of seersucker, bowties, and pastel-colored dress pants. Reminded me of the photos I see on Back Down South's blog & twitter! #SouthernSwag #inlovewiththesouth

This is my I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing pose

On Sunday, my father-in-law wanted to take us out on the boat. So went out on the river and went exploring. Love my family, love spending time with them, and love living and sharing life! I am one lucky lady :)

Sometimes it's so easy to forget how great simple things in life are; weddings, seeing friends, meeting new family members, laughing over silly things, exploring, watching dogs play fetch in the water...I'm so blessed to be able to be reminded of all His great provisions on a daily basis! May there be many more weekends like these to come!

Girls just wanna have fun

Guess what happened this weekend?

We ate brunch, we got our nails did, we bought cupcakes, we checked-in to our awesome suite, we ate dinner, we got surprised by the torrential rain, we got stranded at a CVS in the ghetto, we stood in line in the rain to see Ben Rector & Needtobreathe, we ate cupcakes, we went to the rooftop bar, we took pictures at the White House at 2 in the morning, we ate cupcakes, we ordered pizza, we slept, we woke up, we ate more cupcakes, we ate brunch, we played silly games, I had a mouthful of gum in my mouth, and we collected some pretty cute shoes to donate to a bunch of really deserving girls. Seriously, what could be better?!

Demolished cupcakes

Yeah, I'm pretty blessed.

P.S. Did you find the little link-love gem? Go back and look, there's a great little diddy hidden in there somewhere. First one to comment gets a little present. No seriously. Be the first to find it and I'll send you something fabulous in the mail.

Bstud

When I moved back home in 2010, the first thing I was excited about was school picking up friendships that had been "left" years before. And not only could I 'pick' them back up, but we all had a shared desire to spend once a week together, pouring over the Bible and going through guided studies together to strengthen our walk. (Shout out to Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer & Beth Moore; we loved your Faithful, Abundant, True workbook!)

Meals, birthdays, FCA banquet, basketball tournaments

We prayed for our future husbands together, we did weekly challenges to
push us (my personal faves: week without listening to the radio in the car and praying instead, photo every day of something we're thankful for). When we weren't snacking having bible study, we frequently got together on the weekends and spent time with each other. We celebrated birthdays, grabbed breakfast lunch dinner food, cheered each other on, and supported each other outside of our weekly meetings.

As my weeks wind down here, I am increasingly sad that I will be leaving these lovely girls behind. They have been there for me during the good times, the tough times, the confusing times, the challenging times. They have supported me by praying for me, encouraging me, supporting me. I am forever changed (for the better) by their friendships and look forward to continue our friendships even when I'm in another state! Maybe we could skype-group-date once a week? Too much to ask?

(What about you? Who are the important women in your life that have spurred you on?)

(Savannah) Weekend Update

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a quick trip to Savannah back home for a weekend of celebrations.

The first thing we did when I landed was head straight to look at wedding rings (long distance relationship + 1 more trip to Savannah before I get married + 96 days till our wedding day = priorities). I have never looked at so many rings (that all look the same??) in my life. Fun thing about ring shopping: you get to try on rings that you definitely cannot afford (what up ring-more-than-my-bank-account). Bad thing about ring shopping: pretending like I knew the difference between tungsten carbide, cobalt, triton...let's just say asked too often what the "upkeep" was for a ring like "that".

She's a brick...house

We rushed to a 3 o'clock appointment with this lovely named Jan who showed us a house for rent. An hour later, we left with a packet of papers, a little less money in our pocket...and a 3 bedroom/2 bath + fenced in yard to call our home for the next year! The Lord really blessed us immensely in this housing find; everything we wanted and prayed for was provided...and more. How does this keep happening to us??

Dinnertime rolled around and it was time to celebrate the fiance's 25th birthday! Complete with an old-man-Mr.-Rogers cardigan. While at dinner, our waiter noticed that we were having a lot of fun goofing off and enjoying each other's company. Not only did he tell us he thought our love was real, he also gave us 3 beignets on the house! I guess good things do come in small (styrofoam) packages...

The next day we woke up early and headed to Back In The Day Bakery for their to die for Saturday-morning-only cinnamon rolls (also amazing: their bacon + onion jam panini). This place is so good that Paula Deen's tour bus comes through Thursday-Saturday morning to tourist-ify the shop and consume all the southern goodness that is bursting out these doors. There was enough sugar in our breakfast to get us geared to go back to the mall to look at the rings we narrowed down. It only took us an hour to find and pick out our rings! I guess I actually do have to marry him now...

The Millers got married!

In the late afternoon, we headed to Isle of Hope UMC to see Matt & Lindsay get murried! Then we headed to the reception and had a grand ol' time celebrating and dancing the night away. Congratulations to the newly weds, hope you're enjoying the honeymoon!

As if the weekend wasn't packed with enough excitement, I awoke in a fright on Sunday morning to the most terrifying burst of thunder I have ever heard in my 24 years of life. Then I realized I was hours away from leaving the one I loved yet again, to return to the frozen tundra that is Maryland and our long-distance relationship.

Good news? I'm 1 (uno, ONE!) round-trip visit way from moving to Savannah for good, and I'm 96 days from saying "I do" to the most handsome man in all the land. Ahhhhhh!!!!

Truckeroo

Last week, the fiance and I met up with good friends M&K for a food truck festival.

Clockwise L-R: empanada, bulgogi tacos, wonky dog, spicy-guac grilled cheese

As you can see, we ate ourselves silly.

Our friends M&K

We are so blessed to have M&K in our lives, and we are sad that they're moving to California. But we're excited for them and this great ministry opportunity! Next time we see these folks will be at our wedding!