Riddle

What do you get when you cross a destination wedding 

planner following a team fighting to make the playoffs?

A neglected blog.

I love ya -- Thanks for being patient with me. 

In only a few short 40 days I'll be Mrs. Dickson. 

Change of Heart

I am beyond excited to write this post, maybe you should sit down. 


268 Days ago I was asked the most important question of my life to this date. A yes/no question answered with zero hesitation, YES! Then some time went by, a few hours, and we began to hear questions like this.


"Have you picked a date yet?"
"Where are you going to get married?" 
"What colors are you doing?" 
"When are you going to look for a dress?"


I don't know. I don't know. Never thought about it. I don't know were my answers. And I still didn't know a month later, or two, or even just three months ago.  I told you before I was born missing the bride gene. I've been impatiently waiting for it to develop. 


Do you know how hard it is to plan a wedding when the bride and groom are from two different states? How about when the bride and groom don't live in the same cities even? What about when your fiancee's dream comes true and he gets the promotion of a lifetime at a job that has more uncertainties than imagined? Why is it that you lose a loved one and extremely important family member during this process? How about thinking of leaving a job that you feel is a huge part of your life? Throw in moving states away and don't forget all the pre-wedding festivities thrown in your honor. (Forever grateful! My shower was a blast and a special post is to follow soon)


Are you stressed yet? Breathe. Deep breaths. Its. going. to. be. FINE! 


These are the elements we have been planning (minimal amount) through.  Each one of them such important things in our life all happening when planning one HUGE important and special day. 


So what's a bride to do.


Take it to the courthouse right?

Nah, however you'd be surprised lately how many times we said, "We should have just done it then" but I really didn't mean it.

Change the date and push the wedding back a few months?

Not for me! I've been planning on November 5th from the beginning and that isn't changing.

Here is an idea.

HELLO SMOKY MOUNTAINS!!!

Yes ladies and gentleman we moved our entire wedding, seven weeks from the big day, to the smokey mountains of Tennessee. Change of heart is all I can say. Through all the ups and downs this is where we want the continuation of our relationship and celebration of becoming husband and wife to take place. 

I am not stressed. I am not nervous. I am beyond excited and my groom is beyond relieved. He has been SUCH a huge champ waiting for me to make up my mind and he now knows and can feel how excited I am. 

You're freaking out aren't you? Don't be. Our families are on board and not one of my friends was surprised by this impromptu decision, not sure what this says about me and my indecisiveness. They too can tell how happy I am. Our life is always going to be full of changes and unexpected moves or circumstances. This is just a good little preview of whats to come. 

A special thanks to our family and friends for being so supportive and cooperative through this crazy planning process. I promise you it is going to be an amazing day!

I now have a full healthy large bride gene. 

Mini Post: Miss You

I miss you all. I really do. Please please stick around - you are never EVER going to believe what I'm up to. But like all things this write up takes time.

Also I'll be sharing those letters I am writing to my little charges. My days as their nanny can be counted on my fingers. Add Klenex to the grocery list cause you may shed some tears.

Happy Friday FRIENDS!!!

Warned

You were warned this would happen, that I would be writing less. Unfortunately that time has come. Please be patient with me. I'll be back soon...promise. 

Lately I...

Saved a hummingbird.

Was the audience at this performance of Walking on Sunshine.

Started working on my garter.

Cried a lot.


Watched my love's heart break. It was awful.


Took kids to the park twice.

Attempted to pick out flowers for wedding.


Ate Fruit Loops at a hotel. Its always special for some reason. 

Discovered new favorite base coat. - Essie All in One Base Coat


Drove this monster truck (for the second time ever!!) from AL to MO. 

Started using conditioner. - Redken All Soft

Fell even more in love - the iPad serenade. 

There! Now we are up to date and can pick up where we left off which means its almost time for my shower!! One week from today! Aren't these invites precious?  My mom and sister are AMAZING. I loooooove them. 

Shellac Review

Hey hey! Can you guess what I'm going to tell you about today? I'm gonna share with you how I got Shellac'd and try to break it down so YOU can decided if you want to get Shellac'd also.


I won't get all technical on you cause that's no fun. It was like a regular manicure except you have to let you hands set under a light so the polish can cure. They use a base coat, two coats of color, and a top coat. Basic right? Once the top coat cures under the light you are out the door, of course after you pay, but there is zero dry time. It lasts for up to two weeks. I personally made it 13 days before I had to say adios. To remove, you have to soak your nails in pure acetone for ten minutes and it should come of in one piece. 


Three isn't a HUGE selection of colors because its still a new technique. Give it a few years and I'm sure there will be hundreds.

Here are some photos from the beginning, day  11, and day 13.

Day 1

Day 13 - No chipping

My personal review of a Shellac manicure:


Color: Its going to last for almost two weeks so pick something you know will go with whatever upcoming event you may have. If you like to change often this may not be a good thing for you. I LOVE to change often but I enjoyed not worrying about chippy polish.


Wear: AMAZING! I think my favorite thing about it is that I tend to do some heavy cleaning and the polish didn't chip with my hands being in water and chemicals. (Yeah, I don't wear gloves) 


Price: I paid $25 dollars. I think the range is anywhere from 20 - 40 depending on location. It is worth it if you are either like me and have somewhat small case of OCD with your nails or you are only getting a Shellac for special occasions. I do love it but I don't want to spend this much getting my nails done every two weeks.


Removal: If you do it right its easy. I learned the hard way and didn't use PURE acetone. That was my mistake and hopefully next time I will have an easy removal.


Do I recommend this product? YES! I do. Its great and wears for a long time. Longer than regular polish. It also is harm free to your nails and helps them grow if you are wanting to add length. It shows in the photos how much my nails grew out while Shellac'd.

Final Notes: Do your research. Not all manicurist have years of experience with this new product. It takes time to learn how to properly apply each coat. If done incorrectly, bubbles or wrinkling may occur.


Happy Shellac'n

Give It Away

Hey everybody, I made gumbo!!! Okay NOT really but that is a movie quote I hear repeated all the time. Anyone guess it and I'll give you....... a nice big ol' shout out on the blog.


In all seriousness, I'm sorry I haven't been around but I know you understand. You can see that I'm not to down in the dumps and that time really does help the healing process. Also Brandon and I have had one another to help get through this rough time and I can say we've already grown closer because of the loss. 


Just wanted to give you a heads up that I'm giving away TWO free triple felt rosette clips over there at Home Is With You... 


They look like this: Ohhhh. Ahhhhh. 

They can be clipped to a metal or elastic headband or directly in your hair and they work for ALL ages.


I have a jillion colors available and if you win her giveaway I let you customize your own colors. Also at some point (no time frame set) I will have them available via Etsy. For now if you just can't stand not having one, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I will contact you. 


What colors would you pick if you won?

A Different Call Up

Call ups. Some people get them some people don't. It is the time of year when the rosters expand and  many minor league players look forward to this time of year to see if they've earned the call.
  
Like life, we ultimately are waiting for the call. The call from God that says come home to heaven and be with me. He expands his roster, but not just one season of the year. He is always taking his children home.  


I know today was a huge day for Brandon. It was his first big league start. He was successful, he had fun, he loved being out there. While I enjoyed watching him live out his dream I sat in the stands. One moment I was jumping up and down. The next, tears streamed down my face. I know what you're thinking.  
There's no crying in baseball. 


There is crying in life and because someone near and dear to mine and Brandons heart got his call up Friday. His name is Joe, but most knew and called him Papa. I don't even know where to begin describing this man. I know he was Brandon's biggest fan. All he ever wanted was to see him in the big leagues. He tells a story and he can tell it twice and three times and even again and it gets funnier each time. He wants nothing for himself, except maybe some sweets. When I was living there with them I would always find him in the treat cabinet and then I would find him feeding the dog half of his treat. I didn't have the heart to tell him not to feed the dog because I know how much he enjoyed this. He looked out for everyone. Made sure we all had what we needed. He was a jokester. He had an extremely large heart, even his doctors said so. For as many things that were wrong with it, he seemed like he had the perfect heart. My favorite phrase he said was, 'righchere' and when I wasn't sure what to talk with him about, which was a rare problem, I asked him about racing. He would talk your ear off if you let him. If you show up to their house at two in the morning don't think you can come in and slip in bed. No sir. You're gonna sit up and talk for an hour or so and he would even get in the kitchen and start whippin up some breakfast. 


For only knowing him for less than two years I feel like I have known him forever. I can't imagine what our life is going to be like without him. It hurts. I know he is in a better place but the days without him are going to be quite different than we are used to. Papa will now be at each and every game of Brandon's cheering him on. 


We love and miss you Papa.