Life Lately... Weekend and Where Have You Been?

There is sooo much going on right now, so I decided to not try and schedule posts or write them last week. Instead, I took a break. Honestly? Being semi-unplugged has been awesome. I don't feel pressure to take photos or dress up, you know just in case I take a photo. 

Right now, there is a shit ton of stuff going on at work, so including me teaching night classes, taking night classes, and chugging along towards my clinical license. Essentially, my evenings are filled. We also got a super cute whiteboard and put it up, so G knows what's going on. 

G's dad is out of the hospital and doing well! Yay! Hopefully, his incision doesn't get infected again and he gets no more blood clots. We went to dinner with them last week, which was really nice. 

It seems like yesterday that I wrote about one of my bff's having the first baby in our group of friends... Well, his first birthday party was on Sunday! WTF?! It's been a year already?! Yup. Little Lion Man is one year old. He as dainty though and didn't put his face in the cake. Me? I put a cupcake all up in my face. Happy birthday, Baby L! 

Gabriel and I have decided to enjoy each other more. So, instead of focusing on going out, which then messes with my budget, which in turn makes me feel stressed out- we have instead focused on Friday nights being our low key, cheap date night with each other, Saturday buying good food from the store and eating in, and Sunday doing whatever. Essentially, we have slooooowed down. People have come over on Saturdays and it's been so fun to just unwind and relax, with no pressure. Also bonus- we have had great food on the cheap (or cheaper)!

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From Ms. to Mrs. {{First Dance and Party!}}

You guys have gotten a good look at all the small details of the wedding, so here is the great big fun one- the PARTY! Immediately after our ceremony, we had our first dance. Gabriel picked out the song and you guys will never, ever guess what song was our first dance song.... Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Yup. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake was our first dance song. We also didn't do a traditional first dance, were we had a solo dance for the entire song. 

Instead, we danced for little bit, then we had couples come out by how long they had been married. Gabriel's parents were out there (40+), my parents (30+), and more of Gabriel's family for almost the entire song!

My parents are trying to get some of their friends to come up and dance too. 

After asking couples to come dance, we opened up the floor to everyone for the end of the song. 

I had to take a photo with my sorority sisters who were there! I love how a few of them went into the sorority girl pose immediately! You just can't shake it. 

My besties from college! If only Jess lived closer now. 

My besties from college, Jen and Lucy! 

The candy bar was a huge success! 

I love this photo! It is such a cool shot of Gabriel and his family. 

Slide to the left! Left foot left stomp! 

 You'll notice you don't see Gabriel or myself in most of the dancing photos-- he was only 60 days out from his patellar reconstruction surgery so he could barely walk and I don't dance well, I just shake my booty!

Not to say I didn't shake my booty! Cuz I totes did! 

My Mom and her cousin-in-law. They were getting down on the dance floor. 

Turns out the way to get a bunch of white folks out on the dance floor is to turn on the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle. Then, errbody gets on the dance floor. 

Including the babies! Miss A was getting down with it! 

You know the most fun out of the entire night? Moving around the tables catching up with people. 

There were also lots... and lots... of photos taken. 

We didn't do a cake cutting, even though we did have a cake. Truthfully, we totally forgot about it and everyone was having fun. Everyone was getting down on those cupcakes though.  So, we took home the cake and ate a piece. It was delish! We also didn't do a big go away, since most of the guests went across the street to Dave's Stagecoach Inn to keep the party going. We got a ride back to the hotel and passed out! 

Weekend Recap and a Giveaway!

This weekend was a little all over the place. Friday, I forgot my lunch so I ate a 100 calorie bag of popcorn at work then went home and thought I was going to die of starvation waiting on G to get his ass home. HE GOT HOME LATE! Who does that on a Friday? Particularly a Friday where I have told you I forgot my lunch.

G's dad, Big Poppa, had surgery at the start of December, got an infection in the surgery site this week, and was admitted to the hospital this weekend. So, Saturday was spent going to the hospital and G panicking a little bit. But, BP should be fine. They are keeping him a few days and pumping him full of antibiotics and feel good shizz.

Sunday, we spent the day not doing too much. Gabriel went and visited his dad, I did some meal prep for the week. My uncle brought over some food and we did a small family meal. That's the best kind of Sunday in my opinion- relaxing and spending time with the family. That's the perfect way to end of the weekend.

On a totally unrelated note, the Track the Tank saga is finally complete! Tia and Candra set up an awesome sisterhood of the traveling tank top giveaway. You can read my original post about it here. Well, now that it is finished you can win the tank top and have all that feel good motivation with you for every workout! The giveaway ends on Wednesday, with the winner being announced Friday. Good luck!

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From Ms. to Mrs. {{Family Moments}}

One of my favorite moments from our wedding day is taking photos with our families. We did this prior to the ceremony itself, to make sure that they got taken. These are pictures that I will treasure forever.

My dad, Big T 

My mom, D

My family, minus my older brother 

G and his momma, P 

G's family, including his littler sister 

G and his dad, Big Poppa

My biggest fear was that our family photos would look like those awkward family photos you see on Buzzfeed. Thankfully, the came out beautifully. 

Budget Beauty {{Hair}} Favorite Blogs

Since I don't have a lot of freedom with what I wear to work, I love to do new things with my hair. I like to try curls, braids, ponytails, buns, you name it I will try and do it with my hair. Admittedly, I don't think of most of the styles on my own. For that, I like to troll pinterest and other blogs. Here are a few of my favorite blogs for hair ideas. Go check them out!

Missy Sue  creates easy to follow written and video tutorials, which is something I love. I like to be able to watch and read the directions for more complex or harder hairstyles.

Missy Sue  

Alexsis Mae is a blog that I found via pinterest. Some of her tutorials aren't ones that I would wear, but all of them are easy to follow. I love that she does celebrity and current trend inspired hairstyles.

Alexsis Mae

The Freckled Fox is a lifestyle blog that has tons of beautiful pictures of Emily's life, with a focus on hair and fashion. Her tutorials range from ultra-classy formal occasions to every day hair. She also has the prettiest photos on Instagram!

The Freckled Fox

Twist Me Pretty has some of the most diverse hairstyles, that are easy to follow. The best part about Abby's tutorials is that she explains things for every level, from beginner to advanced.

Twist Me Pretty

There are a few other blogs that I like to look at, but I don't go to them as much because the styles are ones that I already do and know how to do. I just like to creep on their blogs.

What blogs to do you go to for hair tips and tricks?

Life Lately

Life the past few weeks consisted of not feeling well, the holidays, and cleaning/organizing my house. Since I work for a school, I get the same holiday break as teachers. I have to admit, it's pretty glorious. I made myself a to-do list of what I wanted to complete over break and did most of it. I call that a win.

I also spent the week of Christmas not feeling well and so did the Hubs. We ended up rescheduling Christmas Eve at his parents and he didn't come to Christmas at my parents. It all ended up working out, but it sucks to have time off and then get sick.

We didn't party it up for NYE, we went to dinner with my grandma and aunt and came home early. Womp, womp. We just don't want to go out and spend a ton of money or take a cab home on such a busy night. And there is no way that we would drive home on such a busy night. Maybe next year we will have people over, but right now we are being homebodies.

Overall, I've spent the past few weeks just relaxing and renewing myself, so that I can go into the new year with a positive mindset. I have to remind myself that I don't need to be perfect for everyone. To help myself not feel stressed, we got our communication board hung and I got my planner ordered. I find comfort in having a paper planner.  I need to take the time to enjoy what I have going on and do things to the best of my abilities.

From Ms. to Mrs. {{the Ceremony}}

For our wedding, we had the ceremony and reception all in one room. All of the guests came into the ballroom and at 7:30pm the ceremony started. 

The ceremony itself was less than 10 minutes long and was in front of a backdrop that my parents made. It was perfect, very laid-back, relaxed and totally us. We didn't have a wedding party, ring bearers or flower girls. It was us, the officiant and all of our loved ones. For there being 100 plus people, it felt extremely intimate this way.

Gabriel walked in with Rebecca, our officiant. At the suggestion of our DJ, Derek, the song playing as we walked in was "Secrets" by One Republic. Ya'll if you haven't listened to this song, go do it now. Perfect song. Perfect. 

My dad and I stayed in the room off the entryway until the song played a symbol crash, about 40 seconds in. Then, the doors to the ballroom opened and we walked in. I have to admit, I did the ugly cry the moment I saw Gabriel. I just couldn't help myself. Then the music faded down. 

My dad gave me away, then walked to the back of the room with my super sparkly bouquet. When it was time to say our I do's, Gabriel said "A thousand times I do." Ya'll I broke down and did the ugly cry again. It was too much for me. Gabriel is not the most emotive person and for him to bare himself like that in front of all our loved ones did me in. 

Our first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. 

We spent a lot of the night laughing and having fun, starting with the ceremony itself. 

For our introduction, we had "Beautiful Day" by U2 playing. It was the perfect start to our reception. It was amazing to have all of our family and friends present to celebrate with us. 

From there, we went and signed all the necessary paperwork, with our father's acting as our witnesses. Rebecca, our officiant, made everything so much fun, was so easy to work with, and made sure that we LOVED every second of our ceremony.