Pics from my bachelorette weekend!

I finally got access to a few pics from my MOH's camera!

getting ready for our first night out!

all my fun gifts and toys!!!

group shot (minus bridesmaid, Bekah)

Love my girls

our cab driver for the evening

another group shot!

having a litttlleeeee fun :)

precious towel my bridesmaids got me!

Needless to say, I have some pretty awesome friends! They gave me a weekend i'll never forget!

Furniture shopping, packing, and a party!

This past weekend was a busy one, but I definitely ended it right last night. Around 7pm, S and I settled in to watch a movie and relax, and Zzzz.... yeah, I slept 13 hours straight. And I feel AMAZING today!!!

Friday night, S and I started off our weekend by heading to FINALLY see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Yes, the girl who has never missed a premiere of a movie or book, waited a week to go see the final movie. Blame it on wedding stuff, but either way, the movie was so good. We'll leave out the part where I shed a tear at the end as I saw my childhood memories finally coming to an end. Did I just say that?

Saturday, my dear old Dad arrived in Columbia bright and early for a full day of furniture shopping. In the midst of shopping for living room furniture, my mom called me with exciting news that they had come across an amazing deal on a bedroom suit for our master bedroom. Within an hour of looking at couches with my Dad, I had seen pics of some awesome bedroom furniture and made a deal for that.
Living room furniture shopping took a little longer. Thankfully I had my dad who has worked in the furniture industry for over 30 years. When it comes to the makes and models of couches, Dad knows how to score a deal and get great quality.

yes, that would be dad turning over furniture in the store to check out the upholstering. classic.

After a long day of furniture shopping, (and an arm load of paperwork on different deals to analyze before making my final decision), I took my dad to see our future home. Here are a few pics I snapped. I am so excited to be moving in a week!

Future home of the future Hyatts :)

Yes, this would be a view of our backyard!

Sunday was a pretty fun day! S and I drove to Charleston for a surprise engagement party for my BFF/bridesmaid, Lyndsey and her fiance Yale. They are such a precious couple, and we had a blast. Yale's family was visiting from Michigan for the week and her family was down as well. We had a great time and I can't wait to help her celebrate and plan her special time. Weddings are just SO much fun!

Lyndsey & Yale!

Us with the newly engaged couple!

All in all, i'd say it was a great weekend! :) Happy Monday!

I'm like, suchhh an adult.

So besides this whole getting married thing in 5 weeks, S and I are moving in to our new place in 2 weeks! We are SO excited, but we have A LOT to do these next couple of weeks.

Word to the wise: don't come to our apartment right now. It's beyond craziness. I've been trying to do a little packing each night, but in my A.D.D ways, I keep jumping projects and it's one.big.mess.

But... on to the exciting news. We got a pretty saweeeet wedding present this week. My precious grandma called and told us she wanted to buy us living room furniture! I'm beyond excited and that is what I will be doing this weekend. My dad is driving down and we will be out and about working some deals for our new living room!

It's so crazy that i'm making my first big purchase as an adult. AND with my soon to be hubby. Me likey. Another thing I'm looking forward to? Releasing my inner Martha Stewart at our new place! Don't worry, I'll be blogging about my future projects.

Also, in the midst of packing up a few things last night, I found this in my closet.

We made these at the arena the first summer I was there during our internal marketing meetings. It was supposed to be an "inspiration board" that we made out of things we found in a magazine to remind us of our goals and dreams.

I loved finding this poster. A lot has happened and changed in my life since i've made that poster but regardless of the expected and unexpected, I should never lose sight of my dreams. I've crossed a few off of this list, and hope to keep doing so. Maybe it's time for a new poster as I start this next chapter in my life?

Anyways, too much adult talk for one day. Despite all the things I have to do this weekend, I'm also looking forward to Harry Potter tonight. :)

I would do this.

Not that i'm bitter or anything. but it would just so happen that I'm getting married when gas prices are at an all time high.

And silly me, I have NOTHING locally. Literally, not only are all my vendors in Florence, but my photographer is in another part of the state, and my dress, well, it's in North Carolina.

So long gone are the evenings of sitting in front of the tv in my pajamas relaxing w/ the future hubby and a glass of wine. Nope, it just so happens that I also started a new job and have no vacation time, so I keep having to make little trips in the weeee hours of the night.

Tonight, my friends, is no exception. I'll be treckin' on up to NC to go for my 2nd dress fitting.

I probably should have thought this through, what with gas being over $3 a gallon.

Anyways, not that i'm complaining, just letting you know that if I am eating ramen and my car breaks down, it's just cause I'm wedding planning, no biggie. :)

But I am super excited to put my dress on again tonight. Gahhhhhh, it's love. <3

Yep, we're doing this.

This is how our conversation went after S dropped off our invitations at the post office this morning.

hahahaha

Bachey Weekend

My liver is shot, I have mysterious bruises, I gained about 6 lbs, and I still have glitter in my hair....Yes, I just returned from my bachelorette weekend in Myrtle Beach!

I had such a blast with great friends and lots of booze. Something I realized this weekend was that I have some pretty different friends, but I see a little of myself in each of them and I am so thankful to have them in my lives. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera out this weekend, one of my bridemaids was documenting the outings on her camera, so pictures will come later. But I got some pretty awesome gifts from the girls and got to do a lot of catching up and reminiscing. The girls planned everything from where we were staying, to surprising me with lingerie and fun things to wear while we were out. We had some fun games and challenges that we played while out in the bars, and we were the center of attention most places we went.
It is definitely a weekend that will go down in the books, from what I can remember of it, anyways!!! :0) 

S seemed to have an awesome weekend too. He came home burnt, hungover, and with an airbrushed tattoo (hah!) :) I was SO happy to see him and we did a lot of sleeping and cuddling last night. (i'm still not fully recovered!)

I have so much to do this week, it's insane. We're six weeks out from the wedding... invitations are going out this week, and I will be running lots of wedding errands, as well as starting to pack up our apartment to get ready to move to our new place in about 2 weeks! Oh yeah, and did I mention that I ate and drank ALL weekend, so i'll be kicking my ass in the gym since this Thursday is my second dress fitting.

So if i'm M.I.A or a little anti-social, it's cause it's crunch time and this girl has got to get down to businessss.

Have a great week friends!

A panic attack and xanax later, i'm okay.

So I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't talk about how stressed i've been lately. Only my extremely close friends, family, and of course, poor S, know when i'm freaking out about something, but to the rest of the world, I like to appear that I have it all under control. I gotta maintain my Martha Stewart rep, durrr.

But i'm here to tell you that I yesterday was notttttt a good day. Everything from work drama, to bridal party drama, to a major boo boo in my invitations that has set me back a few days in my to-do list, piled up and really took a tole on my stress levels. I won't go into detail of all these occurances, and no one thing was a completely day-ruining, devastating thing, it was just a bad day.

I'm sure this won't be the last of my bad days, but I'm trying not to lose sight of the fact that this wedding planning has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life, and despite my perfectionist ways, things are going to go wrong. But I have to see the light at the end of the tunnel, (or aisle, in my case). Just picturing the moment when I begin to walk down the aisle to my future husband and man of my dreams makes everything else seem to be okay. Well that and xanax of course. (kidding, sort of?.) hah.

Have a great day! And here's to hoping my today is better than yesterday! :)

Did you know?

I'm left handed.

I am marrying my high school sweetheart.

I would eat cheese for every meal, every day, if I could.

I was homecoming queen at my high school.

I've never gotten a speeding ticket.

I can juggle and ride a unicycle... at the same time

I love to cook and vaccuum

I have never missed a Harry Potter book or movie premiere.

I am mildly obsessed with Law & Order SVU


My stepmom used to be a professional race car driver.

I'm OCD


I love anything southern, including monograms, big hair, and sweet tea.

I'm a social media fanatic. I really don't care if people know what i'm doing every minute of every day, i'm pretty interesting (hah!)

I've broken a girl's nose before.

I'm a perfectionist and will stress over every detail.

My favorite colors are pink and green.

I secretly love politics, but I don't like to talk about it.

I've always wanted to be an event planner. I work in sales for a TV station.

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.


Well now you know a few random/odd/slightly embarrassing things about me!




Happy Hump Day Bloggies!

The day planner

Bloggies, it's time I tell you about my secret obsession, one that has plagued me since the beginning of my school years....

Finding the right day planner!

Hah, it's true though. S swears I have as many day planners as days in the year, (I really don't)
BUT with each new season, generally comes a new day planner. I just can't help it, i'm always on the hunt for the one that can help me be as organized as possible. I have a calendar on my phone, work, and laptop (that I also use) but there is just something about writing things down that makes me feel accomplished. Yes, I am the "make to-do lists daily" person, and have been known to write things on my to-do list that have already been done just so I can cross them off. (DON'T JUDGE).
I may be a little OCD (Olivia Casey Disorder?) and very type A, but when you've stayed as busy your entire life as I have, you need all that you can to keep you straight.

In fact, it's one of the reasons I got my job that I currently have. In my interview, my boss was reading my resume and was very complimentary on all the tasks that I have taken on in my college years. She asked me how I kept it all together, ^ hence when I confessed the above. She seemed to be impressed? :)



So, without further wait, meet the latest friend. The one to the left was my older day planner, which has lasted me since January, if you can believe it, and the hot pink pretty one is my newest. It was almost love at first sight, it even comes with a space for making to-do lists. :)

 

 

My obsession

Target school/office supplies does not help my obsession. In fact, both of the ones from above have come from Target.

If any of you are organization crazies like me, i'd love to hear where you get your "organization" tools!

Wedding talk

Anyone who has ever planned a wedding or is planning a wedding and isn't a millionaire, which I suspect most of my followers and anyone reading this isn't, understands that budget plays a KEY role in determining a lot of factors for your big day. I have always been *ahem* good with money. I may or may not be a shopaholic, but I know my boundaries and when I have money to spend and when I don't.

When starting out on this little venture last April, my parents sat me down and had the wedding budget talk with me. Daddy graciously handed me a check, along with his dignity (totally kidding) and I went along my way. He told me that was now my money and I could spend as much or as little as I wanted of it.

The first thing I did was a lot of research for my budget. Websites like theknot.com were AMAZING. You describe the type of wedding you would like (traditional, non, indoor, outdoor, etc) and the number of people you want to invite and it helps you go from there. The website will help you break down your budget into different categories and offer percentages of your budget that should be spent on each of these categories.

My amazing MOH, PK, also bought me this precious binder that has been my right hand in this whole process. It also offered advice on planning for your budget and helped me to divide out my different vendors and keep them all organized in this binder.

the infamous binder that came with a handy tote  (and PK's pup, Char Char, creeping on the side)

Between all these helpful tools, I have compiled an excel file, percentages and all, to keep an eye on my budget. Let me be the first to tell you that you will look at this budget religiously while planning your wedding, because no matter how much you read up on sticking to your budget, you will always face the inevitable, unexpected costs. (like taxes, holy moly)
All the little things that you wouldn't think affect your budget, well my friend, they add up. That $40 you just spent on your marriage license or the $70 you spent on cocktail napkins will start to really change your numbers.

That's why you gotta give yourself some wiggle room. Take these websites, books, advice, and make them work for you. Analyze how your budget would fit exactly into how they recommend then tweak it the way you want to. Use them as your guidelines to build on.

The very first budget outline I made, I highlighted into different categories: places I would need more money and places I would probably save money. Things like transportation, photography, and cake had very low recommended percentages, but in reality, those tend to be high end costs, so I categorized them as areas I would need more money. Trust me when I say, I have spent a great deal of time analyzing my budget and adding/subtracting where needed.

But as I round this last leg to the finish line, I am proud to say that it is looking like I will come in substantially under budget and the only area where I really splurged was my dress. (and I don't regret that for a minute, someone is going to have to pry me out of that beauty!!!!)

As I reach the age of wedding mania and many of my friends are taking this next big step, I will be interested to see how they all handle wedding planning and the insane amounts of spending they will do to prepare for this big day. Every wedding is different and don't lose sight of what you want your big day to be like. If you want that fairytale wedding, with enough hard work, research, and planning, you'll find a way to have it.

I can't wait for mine. :)

Let's catch up.

Man, I'm such a bad blogger. I have so many things to share and keep forgetting to post.

So let's catch up. This past weekend was 4th of July weekend and boy was I happy to see a 3 day weekend. I did a lot of lounging by the pool (all three days!!!) a little packing, and lots of wedding planning. (what else???).

Friday, we did have a little fun. Heavy drinking may or may not have been involved.

Lemon drops to start the night

After dinner and drinks, we went blacklight bowling, and I kicked some tail 2 out of 3 games.
It was a lot of fun and defff will do it again.

My friend's B & KJ ready to have some fun. Well maybe just B :)

So speaking of drinking and having some fun, My bachelorette weekend is NEXT weekend. Which means LOTS of heavy drinking will be involved. I should probably work on my tolerance a little or you will be seeing (or maybe you wont) some embarrassing pics of this girl. Who am I kidding? I know I'll make a fool of myself, but I'm beyond excited to spend the weekend with my 7 closest girlfriends. Bring it on Myrtle Beach, these girls are about to get wild!!!


So want to see a sneak peek into the lovely life of yours truly? Well here you have it.

yes, that would be one computer devoted to wedding planning and one devoted to work :).

Work and wedding planning are consuming my life right now, and this has turned into a daily routine. Balancing loads of work at my job while trying to sneak in a little wedding planning here and there. Don't get me wrong, i'm really going to miss wedding planning, i've had a BLAST this past year and a half, it's just getting down to the nitty gritty now.....
Sometimes I wonder what I'll do once August 27th is over and all I have on my plate is a job?? (babies? TOTALLY KIDDING....not for a long time!!!!)

Anyways, better get back to work. I'm leaving work early to make a quick trip to Florence for the night!

Can I brag a little?!

It's no secret i'm a huge Carolina Gamecocks fan, I have been all my life. My dad began taking me to games before I was old enough to yell "GO COCKS" and the tradition continued until I began my college years at Carolina, where my passion for Carolina became even more prominent.

I will always pull for my Gamecocks in every sport, but some, I enjoy more than others. Baseball has never been a sport that I have thoroughly enjoyed. (I know, GASP, i'm not American...blah blah blah) but the fact is, I just get bored. S even played/coached baseball and it took all my love for him to stay through an entire game.

Well my friends, I have been changed. It all began last year when our baseball team was doing extremely well and the hype for these games was like non other i've ever seen. I went to quite a few games last year and actually enjoyed it. I kept up with Carolina and watched them all the way into the postseason. That, is where it got downright exciting. I was so excited by those games and how well our gamecocks had done. We made it all the way to the College World Series, and WON! Yes, I will never forget the night we won, because it is quite possibly one of my favorite memories from being in college. I went to a bar in the Vista with my friend B and we met up with some of my other friends. The excitement in that bar made the game and winning SO MUCH FUN... I don't really remember too much after we won because it was all followed by lots of screaming, heavy drinking, and dancing on tables. It was pretty much the wildest i've ever seen a bar in my entire life. The pride that I felt for my school and my favorite team that night was such a great feeling.


 This year, Carolina baseball was no different. It was just as exciting all season (even though i didn't make it to any games, S kept up with it religiously and kept me filled in.) For any of you who live in this state or have a TV for that matter probably know where this story is going, but guess what, REPEAT..... WE WON the College World Series AGAIN. We broke some crazy amounts of records and our boys just made winning look downright EASY.

This is where the bragging comes in. Anyone who has ever or does play a team sport should watch a Carolina baseball game. It is beyond humbling to watch these boys play together. None of them took the credit for their outstanding performance alone. And believe me when I say, you can just see the passion in their eyes when they play. These boys love the game of baseball and never gave up. Some of the games were freaking nailbiters (and if you're a Carolina fan, you're used to that!) but this team battled and faught their way through it winning every. single. game. they played in Omaha.

Yeah, I deserve to brag on this team!

National Champions

Super Proud!!!