New Beginnings!

I HAVE A NEW JOB!

I don't want to get too specific on a public blog about this, but I will say,

I AM SO EXCITED!

For several reasons.

Also, I just wrapped up my first semester of Elementary Education methods, and my junior year of college.  For the semester, I earned a 4.0 in my major, and a 3.8 overall *got a "B" Geology lab...)! I was really hoping for a 4.0 and it's a little disappointing to be off by one letter grade in one class, but seeing I was working at least 25 hours while taking on 19 hours (6 classes) of school each week, I'm satisfied with a 3.8.

Anyway...

Wedding planning is going a little slow... I am still working at my old job while training for my new one, so once I go down to one job and before I start summer school, we will probably get a lot more done.

We did do something I've been utterly dreading... the guest list.  At least a preliminary.

Our engagements photographer (Carolynn Seibert) posted some of our photos on Facebook and on her blog, so I should have the disc of all of them soon!  Then I can look into Save-the-Dates and getting some prints.  We can't wait!  But it's a little early to send Save-the-Dates, and we have to finalize the guest list first. Barf.

Well, that's all for now I guess.

Till next time...

xoxo,
E

Wedding planning excitement

Well, hello!

Between school and work, as always, I don't have much time for other things. I know for some people wedding planning is stressful, and maybe I'll get to that point farther down the road {fingers crossed I don't}, but right now it's an outlet for me.  I love thinking of ideas and planning! Maybe I should go into the business...

I haven't gotten very far with most of it, but we didn't even hit the one-year-away mark until yesterday and I have gotten some of the major things done, so I feel okay about it. However, the past two months and one day since Clay proposed have gone by incredibly fast.

Our venue and date have been picked! We will be getting married on April 12, 2014 at my PaPa Eddie's farm.

I've started our wedding website. But I need to work on it a little more with Clay before I release it :)

We've gotten to celebrate our engagement with some friends, and soon we will be able to do so with our very close families.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked out and purchased my wedding dress.  All I'm gonna say is, it's perfect for me.

I was very fortunate to win an engagement shoot giveaway from Carolynn Seibert! Pictures are SO expensive.  This is such a blessing for us! We will be having the shoot next weekend. And, luckily, I love Carolynn's work and plan to have her shoot my bridals and our wedding as well.

I was also fortunate to win a $75 gift certificate to a wedding accessory webstore.  They happen to have a garter set that matches my dress pretty perfectly. Another great blessing!  The less money I have to spend, the better.

I think I have finally decided on my bridal party, and I can't wait to ask these lovely ladies to stand by me on our wedding day! Clay has chosen his groomsmen as well. All the guys and two girls don't know yet :) The decision was NOT easy.

Until next time,
E

You probably know this by now...

BUT I'M ENGAGED!

While celebrating our birthdays with our parents in Las Vegas, my wonderful boyfriend fiancé proposed!

When: Mardi Gras day [February 12]

Where: at the Venetian

How: I was super excited to go on a romantic gondola ride at the Venetian, an Italy themed hotel/casino, being Sicilian and all.  Amidst the romantic songs being sung by the boat driver, and kissing under bridges for good luck, Clay popped the question! Our parents were standing on one of the bridges over the canal and got to see it all.  It was really nice to share that moment with the people who really made it possible.

We are so so very excited!!! 

[click pictures to make them larger]

      

Popping the question

Right after

While in Vegas, we stayed at the New York New York hotel and casino.  It was really nice! We got a free upgrade since it was my birthday.  It was set up like the streets of New York.  It also had a pretty fun roller coaster, too!  We walked around through a lot of the casinos, and although some were super fancy, I think New York New York was definitely one of my favorites.

 New York New York

Our room- about half of it

We went to several amazing places, but one cool thing we did was go to the pawn shop that is featured on Pawn Stars.  You have to wait in line to get in because it is so small and so many people want to go, but we didn't have to wait long.

You can go in for free, or pay to get a "VIP backstage tour where you might get to see one of the stars," so we opted for the free thing.  Apparently you only get to see the stars if they happened to be filming or just finished filming. 

Lucky for us, they had recently wrapped up filming, and we got to see Chumlee! We got there a little too late for the actual meet and greet, where you had to buy something to do it, but after he stood behind the counter and if you felt like trampling over the psychopaths, you could talk to him or whatever.

 

At the end of the trip, Clay and I had an amazing dinner at this super fancy restaurant at the Eiffel Tower.  We got to sit window-side and watch the Bellagio fountain show from our table.  Unfortunately, the pictures are on Clay's phone, so I don't have any to share right now! But it was absolutely fantastic.

Like I said, we went to so many awesome places, too many to share! But for fun, here's a final picture from the Riviera:

xoxo,

E

Organization

Hi!

This semester is a big one.  I started my blocks, which are basically methods courses that call for a ton of observations, reflections, projects, and LOOSE PAPERS!  I am taking 19 hours- but that really calculates to 23 hours of class time each week- we get only 19 hours of credit.  Not only that, but we have observations to do, and not every class gives us class time to do that so we have to do them on our own time.  AND on top of that, I work near 30 hours a week.  Thankfully, I have friends in almost every class, and that will spare my sanity.

I usually like to start out a semester pretty organized (even though it doesn't usually last a whole semester...), but this semester I made everything very organized, labeled, and planned. Hopefully enough to where I have no choice but keep up with it.

One main thing I did was binder organization.  I usually just use spiral notebooks and maybe a folder for classes, but because of the tons of papers that almost all of my classes have thrown at me, a binder is in order for them all.  I wrote on the front and spine of each one with big gold letters so that I knew exactly what it was for and couldn't miss it. Most of them are pretty bright colors, too.  Then I added little circles to each spine (as you'll notice in the picture).  Each colored circle represents a different day.  Monday = gold, Tuesday = green, etc.  I keep all my binders on a bookshelf, and in the morning I just look for the color of the day and grab those binders. Then, at night or the next morning, I put them back and grab the ones for the next day.  I even have a little cheat sheet sitting next to them because I can't always remember which color belongs to which day.

My new fave color combo - pink & gold!

Binders for half of my classes

Cheat Sheet

Inside the binders there are tons of tabs.  For a few of my classes, we have big packets we have to keep with us.  I couldn't handle all that bunched together, so I sectioned off the packets by tabs.  I have a separate section for my class notes and reading assignment notes, too.  

Other than those tabs, my weekly planner is my best friend.  I usually have a monthly planner that I fill in, and I never cared for the weekly section, but I took a chance on this super cute one from MayBooks that is helping me keep everything in order!

During the first week of classes, we get a syllabus for each class.  They usually have a little calendar or something for the semester outlining what will be covered and due each class.  When I just used a monthly planner, I would put major projects or tests in there because that's all I could fit, and then I would just check my syllabi constantly.  With my weekly planner, I was able to put every little assignment in there.  I was able to elaborate a little more and write what my homework is for each class (I did this before, but it wasn't in the same spot as my calendar so I would lose track of things) for the ENTIRE semester! I have a lot of reading to do, so I have a list week-by-week of what I need to read.  There's room to add any homework that we haven't been assigned yet, too.  IT'S FABULOUS.

MayBooks Weekly Planner

 

                   

From the most recent weeks...

To the last week of the semester!

Side-note: MayBooks is fantastic.  They have all kinds of little books from weekly planners to meal planners, to baby bump diaries.  They just came out with a stationary line, too.  And you can monogram it all (my most recent obsession)!

It took a lot of time, but it was worth every. single. second.  I STRONGLY suggest a good organization system for anything you may be dealing with.  It will make a world of difference in the long run!

xoxo,

E

A Belated Happy Holidays!

This Christmas was absolutely WONDERFUL!  Clay and I spent so much time running back in forth for 4 days straight, but I was grateful for every second of it.  It was all with our families.  I am so happy that I got to spend the holidays with the ones we love!  It is so hard to fit EVERYONE in at Christmas, but we made it work this year.

LSU Christmas Tree

We Wish You an LSU Christmas and a Tiger New Year!

                                         
(When I mention a day, Saturday, Sunday, etc... I mean the weekend before Christmas!)

On Saturday, I was able to get off work a little early and meet up with Ms. Peggy, Niki, and Steve-O (Clay's mom, sister, and super adorable nephew) for a nice walk and lunch in downtown Baton Rouge.  Then, we met up with all of our respective men.  They had gotten a shave and lunch on the Boulevard (their tradition).  We all got together and rode over to Clay's Aunt Lori's for a fun gift exchange with his dad's side of the family, then we all had a big dinner at Portabello's.  It was really nice!

Steve-O

The next day, Clay and I made our way to his Uncle Tony's in Bogalusa for Christmas with his mom's side of the family.  It was out in the country- one of my favorite places.  We were able to bring Elwood and let him play!  They had a fenced off area that had tons of land and a few deer on it.  Quite a few times, the female deer would come out of the woods and up to the gate.  Apparently it's mating season and she's the only female.  I would leave as much as possible, too!  Mr. Tony took us for a ride on his trailer to a little house on his property called the "Hog Barn."  It is a little house that some people that watched the property used to live in.  About 4 years ago, they just up and left all their belongings.  Now, the family has dubbed the little house "the store," because the kids like to go look and see what they can find.  Clay, some of the kids, and his aunts and I looked through it and they had some pretty neat things!  Clay loves stein/beer mugs, and he found a few- 3 Christmas Budweiser ceramic mugs and one cool glass one.  We did a gift exchange and ate an awesome meal, then headed back home.

Monday, Christmas Eve, was a little more relaxed.  Clay and I woke up and opened our presents to each other as if it were Christmas morning (bringing all of our stuff to Slidell to open the next day was just too much).  Elwood got some gifts, too!  We had a little running around to do, but it was all near-by.  We were finally able to bring Elwood to the dog park for some much-needed play time! That night, we had a small dinner at home, then went to our favorite restaurant - The Melting Pot - for some cheese and chocolate fondue. YUM!  After dinner, we headed home to Slidell to spend Christmas day at home.

Elwood's giant cane bone

Our tree

On Christmas day, we first opened presents at Ms. Peggy and Mr. Greg's, then had breakfast.  It was Steve-O's first Christmas! He just sat back and took it all in.  We all got some fantastic things, too!  After that, we headed to my parents' and opened presents with them and my grandparents.  Then, finally, we headed to the last stop- Uncle Scott and Aunt Lori's! Another great meal and some fun games.  One game consisted of us taking turns trying to open boxes inside more wrapped boxes with oven mits on our hands.  Clay got to the grand prize- a roll of toilet tissue.  Then we did Dirty Santa- I left with some Victoria's Secret perfumes and Clay left with a waffle maker.

We headed back to Slidell, hung out a while, then made our way back to Baton Rouge to get back in the grind the next day. It was a really nice Christmas with all of our family, and we racked up on some awesome gifts, too!

Here's what I got from the immediate fam:
From Clay:
Kuerig
K-Cups
"My K-Cup"
K-Cup Holder
Mignon Faget Sand dollar earrings (to match my necklace!)
Rose-Gold Fossil watch
Awesome socks (with dinosaurs and space!)
Brave (movie)
Pixar Shorts 2 (movies)
Godiva Chocolate

Presents from Clay

From Mom & Dad:
Kindle Fire HD (huge surprise! perfect timing since my previous e-reader broke just days before)
Leopard scarf
LSU purple fleece pullover
Purple & gold chevron make-up bag

From both mine and Clay's parents:
A trip to VEGAS over Mardi Gras break for our birthdays (my 21st!)!!!

From Ms. Peggy & Mr. Greg:
Flowerbomb Perfume
Lily Pulitzer dress
Lily Pulitzer skirt
Black Dog jacket
Monogram purse from Grateful Bags
Lip gloss
Michael Kohrs phone wallet
Tickets to see "O" in Vegas
Tickets for all of us (Clay, his parents, my parents, and myself) for Tony & Tina's Wedding in Vegas

It was a very Merry Christmas, indeed! I hope that you can say the same.

For New Year's Eve, we went (again) to The Melting Pot with our friends Casey and Chad. After that, we got our dogs and went to the levee to shoot fireworks. It was nice!

xoxo,
E

Giveaways Galore

Hey!

Lately, while I have downtime at work or at night, I have been following different blogs and Facebook pages that do neat giveaways. I just wanted to share those with you because they're pretty neat sometimes :)

They are really easy to enter, and I've actually won THREE times now.  All I had to do was like something on Facebook, tweet something on Twitter, or pin something on Pinterest. It's super easy! Although, I'm considering getting a separate Twitter because I don't want to bug followers with giveaway tweets they don't care about...

Anyway, these are the things I've won:

Back in November, I had re-tweeted something about a giveaway from Nylabone- a dog toy company that makes some of the only toys Elwood can't destroy. I was chosen at random as the winner and they sent me $200 worth of toys and treats!

Last month, I won a dress from Twelve Saturdays. All I did was repin a dress they were giving away one time (that they had originally pinned), and I was randomly selected as the winner of it.  It's gold, too, so it's perfect for gamedays! I actually wore it to the season opener.  Twelve Saturdays specializes in cute gameday wear (dresses, skirts, etc.). I just ordered another dress from her- check them out! ;)

Dress I won!

Dress I bought!

Last week, I entered a giveaway held by The Gameday Girls.  They are a Facebook page/shop I follow that sells cute gameday necklaces, bracelets, koozies, etc. 

They had a giveaway on their blog run by a widget called "Rafflecopter."  This widget has a list of different ways you can enter the giveaway, and each thing you do is worth one or more entries.  For example, if you tweet something you get an entry. If you follow them on Facebook you get an entry.  If you follow their blog you can two entries... and so on and so forth.

I was lucky enough to once again be randomly selected as the winner! I won custom pearl studs that will have a purple paw print and purple and gold polka dots, a "pearl and ribbon necklace" that will have purple ribbon and a gold flower, and a koozie.

    

I got the pink koozie

Example of earrings I'll have

 

Example of necklace I'll have

I also follow a blog/Twitter account --The College Prepster-- that has a different giveaway starting every Saturday and ending the following Friday.  I haven't been fortunate enough to win anything from her yet, but I hope to because she always has awesome stuff.

Another blog with giveaways is Chicago Prepster.  I just started following her so I'm not sure exactly how often the giveaways are, but the two I've seen so far are pretty cool. She also has a Facebook page.

Mary Beth Goodwin Design is a Facebook page/blog/Etsy shop that has cute graphics.  You can buy them in her Etsy shop, but she also has a few Freebies right now.  To get the freebies, follow this link and the directions given.

Also, she told me an has announced that anyone in the areas affected by Hurricane Isaac can get a FREE monogram poster made with the letters and color of your choice. Just message her on Facebook STARTING TOMORROW and tell her that you heard about it and would love one! She will make you one and e-mail it to you.  She said that you don't have to like her om Facebook or anything, so don't do that if you don't want.

There are also some other giveaways I enter that I just see at random on Facebook... but I can't even remember which ones they are haha.

xoxo,

E

Florida Vacation - May 2012

I know I promised this entry a couple of weeks ago, but there were some hold ups. But, alas, here it is! )More pictures will soon be on Facebook, too.)

At the end of May, Clay and I took a road trip through Florida. We went to three main places: Siesta Key, Key West, and Orlando. ALL of them were wonderful!

We had never heard of Siesta Key before, but Clay was doing some research when we were planning our trip and came across it in an article as the U.S.'s #1 beach.  He had read that once you go to the beach there, you don't want to go to any other beach. Turns out, it's totally true.

That was our first stop. We got there right before sunset, so we walked over to the beach after checking in and it was BEAUTIFUL. The sand was powder. The sunset was gorgeous. The crowd was perfect.

Our room was pretty awesome, too. It was a decent price, just a very short walk to the beach, and very clean.  It reminded me of my grandparents' beach house they had in Destin. It had its own little mini kitchen and dining area, and it was just so cute. Pictures don't do it justice, but it gives you the idea!

              

We spent a couple of days there. It's a little town, so we walked everywhere. It wasn't cluttered with tourist beach shops or anything either, so that was neat. They have some good food there, too. I would definitely go back.

On one of our beach days, we rented a kayak and went along the coast for a total of about 2 miles.  We saw some of the really nice houses we couldn't see from the road.  Before we went out on the kayak, we saw a ton of dolphins that weren't too far out, but they had already gone when we headed over there.

Our next destination was Key West, but on the way there we rode through the Everglades. We stopped at Shark's Point (I think that was the name) and did a 15 mile bike ride. There were gators everywhere. Literally. On the side of the road, crossing the road, in the creeks... there was no barrier between us.  There was some pretty cool wildlife other than the gators too. The 15 mile bike ride thing definitely proved I'm way too out of shape to just randomly jump on a bike and ride forever.

       

After that, we made our way to Key West. We crossed all the many bridges between the islands at night.  They have deer crossing signs everywhere, even on the bridges, which took me by surprise. We actually almost hit one on the way out of Key West. Anyway, we stayed in a hotel called Pegasus on Duval Street. Duval Street is like the Bourbon Street of Key West, but it's way cleaner, nicer, and calmed down.

It was really nice staying in the middle of everything. We brought our bikes so we biked pretty much everywhere we could, unless we walked. We were really looking forward to trying this place called Peanut Butter 'n What?, but they had closed down... they make everything you can think of with peanut butter. We were pretty bummed about that. They had other places with pretty good food, though!

I hadn't really been on a rocky beach, so I was surprised when we went to the beach that it was as rocky/shelly as it was.  The beaches there are considered parks, so you have to pay to get into some of them.  Where we went was pretty nice, though.  We found a little cove made from a palm tree, so we just relaxed under there and enjoyed the day.

Public Beach

Park Beach

We went to the Southernmost Point... which really isn't the Southernmost point of the US, BTW. We didn't take a picture with the big buoy because there were a million obnoxious people in line to do it and we figured it wasn't worth it, so I just took a picture of it by itself.

On one of our days in Key West, we took a boat trip to the Dry Tortuga Islands. It has an old fort- Fort Jefferson- on it. It was overpriced and I'm not sure it was worth the money, but we had a nice time on the beach there. I think it would be more worth going if you actually chose the option to camp out there.

                                


At the fort, we walked around and saw a nurse shark, barracuda, and cool colored fish.

After Key West, our final destination was Orlando as we made our way back home.  We had gone to Disney in February and bought a 4-day park hopper. Well, we only used three days because Clay's Aunt Teresa who works there went with us one day so we just got in free. That remaining day didn't expire until September, so we took advantage of it. It was also Star Wars weekend, and Clay LOVES Star Wars.

It was a lot of fun. We chose to just stay in Hollywood Studios since that's where SW Weekend was taking place and we spent the least time there in February. They had a huge tent set up with special Star Wars merch, so we stocked up on t-shirts and stuff. They had amazing artists there doing awesome paintings. They had everything Star Wars you can imagine. We even got our first ornament- an R2-D2 head with Mickey ears.

I LOVE Disney and can't wait to go back! The annual Food & Wine Fest is in October, so we're going to go catch that for a day. Seriously, we're addicted to Disney World.

Anyway, we had a really nice time everywhere we went, and it was a nice way to start off the summer.
Stay tuned for an update about our new home! I promise it won't be too long from now!

xoxo,
E