I'm a nervous wreck right now.

Listen here you little homewrecker, Irene.... STAY OUT AT SEA. I refuse to let you interfere with my wedding!

Anyways, YES, I know things can change between now and Friday, which is why, I. AM. A. NERVOUS. WRECK. I refuse to watch the weather channel, twitter, facebook, or look at my phone as people text me about this. Which is why I have 4 windows open on my computer (weather.com, facebook, twitter, and email) Yeah, so sue me. Easier said than done.

My boss has already shut off the cable in my office to prevent me from watching the news.

Anyways, pray for my sanity these next 72 hours. I'm a little on edge right now.

Dear Wedding Week...

I have been waiting and dreaming for you my entire life. I've been planning for you since last April and counting down the days for a year and a half.
You've finally arrived and it's pretty bittersweet. Last night, as I cuddled up next to my soon to be husband, I smiled because you're finally here. All the planning and excitement has led up to this point. The majority of the planning is done, and now I get to sit back and watch it all play out. I get to see everything come together and lead up to the moment when I get to call Shane Hyatt my husband.
I know some things are going to go wrong. It's the inevitable. I mean there's a freaking hurricane brewing in the Atlantic and is scheduled to hit the Carolina's on our wedding day, for crying out loud. But I've done everything I can to plan for this day, and now it's time for me to enjoy it.

I'm so excited you're here, wedding week. It's going to be one hell of a time i'll never forget.

The boy I'm gonna marry...

Meet: Mr. Prince Charming

 I'm so ready to marry him next week!!!

What I'm LOVING Wednesday!

I'm starting a new Wednesday tradition by linking up with Jamie from This Kind of Love for my first ever,

Here are a few things that are making me smile this week...

It's my last full week before the BIG DAY! I'm only working 3 1/2 days next week, then i'm officially off for 11 days! I've been extremely busy preparing everything at work for when I'm gone, but every day is one day closer to a much needed vacation.

My amazing groom and maid of honor. If it weren't for these two, I wouldn't be near as together as I am. Any one who knows me, knows i'm a perfectionist and these two have helped keep me sane while I'm trying to make sure every little detail is perfect for the big day. The two of them have heard it all from me and know how important everything is to me. They have been so caring and understanding and I'm so thankful to have them. Even with the wedding right around the corner, i've faced some last minute challenges and they've been here to save the day... and my sanity.

I loveeee them!

New Day planner!

I promise this will be my last new one because I have absolutely fallen in LOVE with this website. The "life planners" that they offer are quite possibly the most amazing thing ever and they offer every thing you could ever need to stay organized. Their teacher planners are pretty sweet too! I just recommended one to my friend and old roomie, KJ! I'm pretty sure she fell in love as much as I did.

We have cable!

You don't realize how much you miss it until it's gone. I never thought I was one to watch a lot of tv, but in times where i'm SO busy, it's nice to have some light hearted TV shows playing in the background to help my mind ease. Oh, AND I did miss this show...

my new obsession!

I'm LOVING that Carolina Football is right around the corner!

Best part of the year, hands down, is football season. It automatically gives you something to do on the weekends and I'm ALL about the tailgating and my South Carolina Gamecocks. This year, we've got some very promising athletes and (as long as they stay out of trouble) this season should be pretty freaking exciting.

I'm pumped for this season!

Happy hump day everyone! 

Don't forget to enjoy the little things in life and have a great rest of the week!!!

IM AN AUNT!

Saturday morning I was awakened with some awesome news! My brother and sister in law's twin baby girls were born!!!!

At around 4:45 am, the docs decided that it was time for my sis-in-law, who has been in and out of the hospital on bedrest for a few weeks, to go ahead and give birth to the babies. She has been having some complications the past couple of weeks, and the doctors felt comfortable to go ahead and let those babies make their grand entrance in to this world.

So on August 13th, 2011, at 28 weeks, two princesses were born. Kadence Savannah Casey was born at 6:22 am and weighed 2.2 lbs. Avery McKenna Casey was born at 6:24 am and weighed 2.5 lbs.

Both girls are in NICU and probably will be for quite a few weeks, but they're doing great and everyone is very positive. And my sis-in-law is absolutely glowing. Of course, my bro is super happy too. It's so hard to believe he's a daddy. You could tell he was beaming with pride, and felt very lucky to have all his girls ok!

MEET KADENCE (left) & AVERY (right)

 They're SO tiny, but pretty freaking cute, if I do say so!!! Can't wait to get to hold these precious babies!!

I can see our floor... and randomness

We have almost completely FINISHED unpacking and I can finally see our floor! It feels good to have everything put away and to just enjoy getting used to living in our new home. With that being said, it is hard with my OCD ways because the place isn't exactly how I want it to be, but we're going to wait until after the wedding to see what all we have before I go on a decorating frenzy!

Here are a few pics of what i'm loving about our new place already!

Our housewarming present from my Dad, Pat, and Grandma!

Our little nook in the kitchen that holds a lot of entertaining pieces we got at our showers! :)

This is how she stands the whole time I'm cooking dinner...waiting on her daddy to get home!

What we've been doing this week 

I've absolutely LOVED cooking in my new kitchen. I've made homemade meals every night this week and it has been so much fun using our new appliances and cookware we've gotten... and I know Shane has enjoyed coming home to a cooked meal every day.

Also, because Shane and I don't have cable yet, we've been frequenting Redbox this week since I must watch tv to unwind before going to bed. If I lay down without the tv on, my mind starts wandering to the millions of things I need/want to do and before I know it, i'm up hammering nails in the wall to hang pictures. (that may have happened this week.)

Anyways, so we've rented a few movies to get us through until cable comes. I've yet to make it through a movie without falling asleep, but that's besides the point.

Last night, our movie of choice was this:

BY THE WAY. I wish my freaking roommate, who has seen this movie (that's you KJ) would have warned me she puts a kitty in the dryer. I was completely over the movie at this point... call me crazy, but I decided that this movie probably wasn't the best thing for me to be watching before I tried to get some soundless sleep. 

Next time, i'll stick to some happy-go-lucky movie before bed.

In happier news....

I'm super excited that tonight, I get to go see Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and The Band Perry in Charlotte with some pretty awesome people! It should be a fun time and a great way to kick off what I plan to be, a very relaxing weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I have some ME time planned. Yesterday, my Dad told me to "stop stressing about the final little details for the wedding and focus on being pretty and ready"
Thanks Dad, I'm taking your advice and going to the spa this Saturday for some major pampering, followed by some time out by our new pool. I've lost my tan completely and I have TWO WEEKS to get it back!


I warned you this was a random post.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite posters, and something that definitely describes how I am feeling (found on Pinterest, obviously!)

Happy Friday Eve friends!

All I needed was some new tires...

Last week started out as any other week would. I had a massive to do list to accomplish for the week, but I was prepared. Some of the things on my to-do list included: finish packing up our apartment, make a trip to Florence to meet with our DJ, tie up some loose ends for wedding planning and get new tires. My goal was to have all of this done before our big MOVING day on Friday.

Well, things didn't exactly go that way. Upon taking my car to get new tires, I discovered some major underlying problems with my car. Problems that needed to be addressed for the safety of my car and would equal to around $2,000+. Now my car's almost 9 years old and it has been a good one for me, but like any car with a lot of miles and a few years under it's belt, it was starting to show some age.

So after lots of consideration and a second opinion, I opted to trade my car in while I could get some bang for my buck. I spent a lot of last week factoring a car payment in to mine and Shane's budget and 3 days of stressing and a few headaches later...I made a decision to buy a car!


As if that wasn't exciting enough, I had a few other crazy things to deal with, including:

-I lost my phone. YEAH. When Shane and I were in Florence meeting our DJ, I somehow left it in the Target bathroom and between the 5 minutes it took me to realize I had left it, someone had jacked it out of the bathroom. HAVE FUN WEDDING PLANNING YOU STUPID THIEF. Yeah, I'm a little bitter about it....I had a lot of important wedding information saved in there.
-Shane and I made a decision on the living room furniture that we wanted to buy and made that purchase. We found a GREAT deal and couldn't be happier with our decision.
-My step-dad had to be taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion. They were worried they were going to have to admit him, but after a few hours of rest and lots of fluids, he was able to go home. WHEW. it's too damn hot outside
-Our old apartment is completely empty and our new place is full of boxes. My parents brought down all the gifts we received from my showers on Sunday (they were storing them for us), so now we have even more boxes to go through! The good news is, we have a lot of awesome new stuff that we've gotten as wedding presents and they're going to go great in our new home.
-I took my mom shopping for a new dress for the wedding. After having a dress that she previously purchased, we decided it wasn't "quite right," so we went shopping again. We were both nervous with it being SO close to the wedding that we wouldn't be able to find something, but the very first dress she tried on was a winner and she's going to look beautiful.

Needless to say, last week was a roller coaster. A LOT happened and after it is all said and done, I made it through! And somehow ended up in a new place, with a new car, and a new phone. Hah, I didn't plan it that way, but here's to hoping this week is a little calmer. I'll be slowly unpacking and making our new place into our home *sigh* and Shane is working in Aiken on business this week.

Oh, and the wedding is now 19 days away. :)


A few pics from the weekend...

my NEW CAR!! A 2011 Nissan Altima

Our planner I created that includes our monthly finances!

our living room, including our NEW couch!

our bedroom

 More pics to come as I keep unpacking! Have a great week bloggies!

Marriage counseling

Since Shane and I became engaged last year, our pastor asked us to schedule a few visits to get to know him better prior to the wedding (he had never met Shane before) and to discuss our plans for our marriage. I was a little nervous about this, because, let's face it, it's marriage counseling.

But, to my surprise, it was very pain free, and actually extremely helpful. We talked a lot about what we expected for life after marriage and "our plans" versus "God's plans" and how we will handle the unexpecteds in life.

Our pastor also asked us to talk about the things about each other that bothered us. Shallowly thinking, I said, oh, Shane smacks his gum, or doesn't fold laundry like I like it, but then Shane pointed out that I worry too much and he hates to see me get so stressed about things I can't control. This caught me a little off guard, but it's so true. I worry about everything (blame it on being the child of a high anxiety mother and a worry wart dad)

Our pastor elaborated a lot on this as well as discussing how there are going to be a lot of things out of our control. He gave me a few bible verses to read and reminded me of the serenity prayer.  

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can,  And wisdom to know the difference.


Hearing his advice and seeing how badly Shane wants me to be happy and carefree, I knew this was something I need to work on.

I have had some pretty stressful things happening this week with my family, moving to a new house, and trying to finish up preparing for wedding planning. This week has been an emotional roller coaster and i've really gotten worked up about a lot of things that are beyond my control. At the end of the day, i've got to realize that I can write schedules, to do lists, and plan my life until my head is sore, but something, (and sometimes it will seem like everything) is going to go wrong. Easier said than done, but hey, I'm learning.

In the midst of all this, i've realized one thing, I prayed a long time ago for God to give me patience, and he did. Just not in the way I thought he would. He gave me Shane, who has enough patience for both of us.

Oh heyyyy August!

YAY.... it's our wedding month!

August is usually quite possibly the worst month of the year for me. Not because anything bad happens, it's just NOTHING that exciting happens....it's just a lot of waiting around. I'm usually busy getting ready to go back to school, anticipating a busy fall, my birthday, Carolina football, and kind of dreading the fact that my summer is coming to an end.

NOT THIS YEAR.

My whole life is changing. I'm moving in to my very own place with my soon to be hubby!

OH, and did I mention i'm getting married?!?!?!?!?! probably a feww times right?



ALSO....

My sis in law is in the hospital. She went in to pre-term labor, but she's only about 26 weeks along so we're really hoping the doctors can stop her from giving birth for a few weeks. I went down to visit her Saturday, and we had a mini-shower in the hospital. She will be there until the babies come, but we're just hoping she can relax and those girls will have some time to grow. I'm praying hard for her and my little nieces....I am so excited to meet them!!!

Check out her AWESOME diaper cake that her friend made. (to-do list...master making one of these before my friends start having babies....)

Nicole's diaper cake! How freaking cute?!?!

 

Oh...and this little bad boy came in this weekend. For anyone worried out there, I did, in fact, graduate! woo hoo! :)

must find frame, stat!

So bring it on August! You are going to be an exciting month!!!