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!!!

Updates

I've been pretty absent from the blogging world these past couple of months, and although I still don't have that many followers, i'd like to look back one day on this busy time and remember what all was going on.
A few things happening right now:

• We're officially a little over 2 months away from the wedding and I couldn't be more excited! Wedding planning has surprisingly been an ease to me and i've enjoyed planning it. With that being said, I have encountered a few "bumps" along the way. I've learned the harsh reality that i'm not going to make everyone happy, but one of my best friends reminded me the other day that this is my day and not to lose sight of the fact that i'm marrying the man of my dreams. All these minor annoyances won't matter in the end. Lesson here is that i've got to stop letting the little things get to me.
• I've made a "what's left to do" list for the wedding, and ummm yeah it's pretty intense. Needless to say, I have NO summer and the rest of my Saturdays (11 until the big day!!) will be filled with tying up last minute details and making about a 1000 trips to Florence (where our wedding is going to be held)
• I'm LOVING my new job. It's pretty different than what i'd thought I would be doing with my career, but I have absolutely no complaints. I'm communicating a lot with the people I work with as well as our corporate offices and i'm learning a lot about the world of advertising in the TV business. I really love the people I work with and they keep me busy, which I like because it passes the time at work quickly.
• S and I have decided to make Columbia our home for right now. We both have jobs we love so we're content with staying here for the time being. That doesn't mean that we may necessarily settle down here, but we're both SO happy and we're excited to stay close to friends and family right now. We're currently looking for a house to rent in Columbia. Our lease at our apartment is up the week or our wedding, so we'd like to be moved into a new place prior to that. We've got some appointments with property managers to check out some places this week *fingers crossed!!!*
• Lately, I feel like i'm not the only one with some life changing things going on! A few of my close friends (including one of my bridesmaids) as well as S's sister just got engaged and i'm sooo happy for all of them! Even though i'm sad to see my own wedding planning coming to an end, I know i'm reaching "that age" where all my friends will be experiencing this exciting time, and i'm here and ready to offer my help on anything they may need. Wedding planning really is so exciting to me!
• My bff, MH just moved to NYC. We all knew this day was coming, she's such a born-to-be, city sleek, fashionista and even though I already miss her, I can only imagine how much she's loving NYC right now. Plans for a trip to visit her in the fall are currently in the works!!!
• My brother and his wife are busy preparing themselves for the arrival of their TWIN girls!!!! The sis in law is due early fall and she's already been shopping away for all the cute little dresses and things she'll need for the girls. I can't wait to spoil them myself.

Such an exciting (and BUSY) couple of months ahead!