Meal Planning and other Randoms

It's been a week without blogging for me - I've realized two things.

1. I'm absolutely the WORST about uploading pictures from  my digital camera. I have so many great ones from last weekend (err, and the weekend before) but after a long day staring at my work monitor I just can't seem to jump on my home computer. Side note: I can't seem to get them to upload on my work computer - anyone have any ideas? It's a mac.

2. I officially can't blog without personal pictures. I have all these great things to say, but it just doesn't seem fun without a picture or two thrown in. Maybe I'll get the itch to upload them tonight.

On to Meal Planning...

Do any of you Ladies do this? Jason and I thought it would be a great way to organize our grocery list, stay on a Low-carb diet, and think about defrosting the meat ahead of time. The latter is that MAIN reason. We decided to start off with 4 - 5 meals a week, because we're hardly ever home every night in the week. 

I downloaded this adorable printable from this cute blog. 

 Pretty Organization makes everrrrrything better, right?

We went through all of my food pins, to find a few recipes that we can add to our collection of Low-Carb recipes. Here are our picks for next week.

via

via

via

As well as one of our favorite go to recipes:

via

Is it weird that I'm SO happy to get some routine in our lives? We have always had hectic schedules, and things are finally starting to settle down for us (except for the fact that I haven't been home before 9:30pm this week)

Share with me some of your meal planning tips, or if you have any low carb recipes. I needz those!

Speaking of delicious food, I'm off to a Finger Foods Lunch Potluck at work. We have a "Cool Kids" party planning commitee and decided to all bring in Pinterest inspired finger foods for each other. Look at these yummy Mini Shepard's Pies that I may (totally low carb, right?)

The Ultimate Wedding Week...The Rehearsal Dinner

I came across this fabulous Wedding link up, I figured today I would join in the fun!

Today, err yesterday, was all about the rehearsal dinner. I still have a BIT of time before mine, but what's the harm in blogging about what we're going to do. none? okay, then off we go!

The inspiration for my Rehearsal dinner is an 

Basically Jason lovvvvveeessss BBQ, the boy can not get enough. We figured a fun and relaxed way to incorporate it would be at our rehearsal dinner. I fell in love with this invitation, and things just kind of went from there.

Jason's Mama is planning the whole thing. We'll be holding it at my mom's neighboor event center. It's this gorgeous room that holds 120 people. Which is fantastic, because our rehearsal dinner attendance could be a small army. We have 70 people on the list so far, because we wanted to incorporate our extended family. Actually, I'm Italian - so it's mostly my extended family, but ours nonetheless...right? I don't know too much about all the details. But, I do know a few things...

The BBQ will be supplied by my favorite BBQ place in the world Winter Park, 4 Rivers. This place is simply amazing and I'm not lying when I say that the line outside for their lunch starts at 10:45am. 

There will be mason jars centerpieces with gorgeous centerpieces, as well as our very own mason jar glasses that my mom and MOH both purchased separately for me. They know us well.

His mom wants to decorate the tables with white tablecloths and burlap

And Lastly, my outfit of the rehearsal night will be this little number.

It's getting so so so close.

What I'm Loving Wednesdays!

Happy Wednesday, Lovelies! I'm linking up with Jamie this Wednesday, so here's what I'm loving

I'm loving that we are down to 100 days until our wedding. It's coming up SO quick. I'm making a push to get my to-do list completed by the end of April, so I can deal with anything unexpected in May. Tonight we're going to finally decide on a Tux for Jason and his groomsmen.

Here's a picture from the wedding he was in over the weekend.

I'm loving the Kreuig my mama bought me for my birthday, Fresh brewed coffee in the morning is definitely the best way to wake up. It makes iced coffee to (and iced tea) I'm need to try out those functions.  I can NOT drink hot coffee in the summer.

I'm loving the beautiful weather we've been having lately in Florida. It's on the brink of "too hot" but that's not really something to complain about. We're planning on hosting a pool party/bbq soon!

Bailey's ready

I'm loving that in 2 days I'll be seeing these two Country boys live!

and, I'm loving these outfit inspirations for Friday. I'll be wearing my boots, for sure!

UGH, I need to go shopping!

and lastly, I'm loving my little family of Jason and Bailey. I missed Bailey mucho over the weekend while we were in Jupiter. I'm so glad to be cuddled up with him and Jason at night

Hope y'all have a great Wednesday! :)

Todo Listers Dream!

I am a lister, as in - I make a "todo" list for everything. Whether it is packing for vacation, grocery shopping, work, wedding, cleaning. You name it, I've written it down and crossed it off (hopefully). There is something so powerful about a completed list, words cannot express my joy

(I wish I could take a picture of the current todo list at my work, but this iPhone 3 won't cooperate with apps, so let's pretend that's mine)

I'm also a fan of the excel spreadsheets, I love a good pink highlighted cell. Here is (some of) my current Wedding todo list sheet.

not tooo shabby.

However, today I may of discovered the holy-grail of todo list organizers. 

Meet the Wunderlist

I just moved my written and excel lists into this fabulous app and I'm now able to have my lists wherever I go. PLUS, I can share my lists with my colleagues and my wedding list with my mom. Hooray for planning help!

I'm beyond obsessed with this little app, probably a little too much. Tonight I'll be uploading the wedding pictures to show you how cute our friend's wedding is. And, if you were wondering (I know you are) that is currently on my wunderlist.

It's OK Thursday

I need a little positivity in my life these past few days, so I've linked up with Neely and Amber this week for

Here we goooo

It's OK...

- That I feel like my life has been non-stop chaos. I guess that comes with wedding planning, full-time work and whatnot. I could really use an Adult Spring Break, yaknowwhati'msayingggg.

- that my beautiful phone was stolen by an taxi cab driver. Okay, I left it in the car, for 5 minutes when I ran inside my house to grab payments...but he STOLE it when he started lying to me and then turned it on at a taxi stand outside the airport 2 days later. Why is it okay? Because my co-workers are the bomb.com and gave me a iphone 3g that we previously used for testing our Mobile App. It's basically a never before used 4 year old phone. It's definitely an adjustment from my 4s, but it's a phone. And at the end of the day it's a materialistic thing....it could of been MUCH worse.

(p.s. you suck taxi cab driver)

- that this week has been cray, because tomorrow is a short day for me at work. We're heading out early to drive down to Jupiter, FL for one of Jason's good friend's wedding. It's a 100% Irish wedding on St. Patrick's Day. Basically it's going to be FUN!

Say HI to Josh and Katie!

- that I have a HUGE urge to do some retail therapy. There are so many cute things hitting the stores for spring. I cancelled my debit card after my phone was stolen (he swiped my card and I didn't want him stealing that too). Once I get it back, I have some online shopping to take care!

-That I'm starting to have a dislike for Tumbler blogs, or maybe I'm just stupid. Here me out though, I see TONS of adorable stuff on pinterest. Clothes, bathing suits, purses, etc. I pin them and get so excited about going to look at HOW much it costs and HOW fast I can get my hands on it....only to find out it's linked back to a Tumbler blog and I can even purchase it. Seriously, I get crushed as though my whole world has been taken away. 

It happened with this ADORABLE bathing suit, that Steph posted:

It just linked back to this (adordable) Tumbler blog. Now, again...this just may be user error on my part. Does anyone know how to link back to the original site from a tumbler blog? I need to find this suit!

Are y'all getting excited for the weekend? I can't wait to be relaxing on the beach, attend an amazing wedding, and feel like I'm on vacation!

Another year older

Yesterday was my birthday and I was beyond spoiled by my friends, family and Jason. I couldn't be more thankful for the people I share my life with, they are amazing. The best part? Is that the celebrating hasn't ended... In true "me" fashion, I still have a birthday PARTAY planned for Saturday night at a Country Bar. It's the one time of the year I can drag our friends out to my kind of place. You're welcome, guys!

Originally Jason had a Basketball game scheduled for Thursday night, so he planned for us to go to dinner on Wednesday. Of course, just like during our engagement, I had to be a brat and ruin the original plans. He had planned all week to take me to this Steakhouse, and I gripped about it because I wanted to go somewhere more romantic and Steakhouse's are HIS thing (feel free to call me a bitch) 

I came home from work to find this on my Kitchen Table

Now these are some of my favorite things in the world. For starters, WINE! Flowers, Chocolate covered Strawberries AND a Red Velvet Cupcake! So sweet.  In the bag, was this beautiful watch

in LOVE.

Jason and I then got ready and headed to dinner. He drove to the steakhouse and as we waiting at the light in front of it, I said something that looking back I REALLLY regret

"So, on you're birthday can I take you to a place that I want to go?" 

His response:

"Sure, Like where babe? Luma"

He then drove past the Steakhouse and headed to Park Avenue where Luma is located. I felt so bad! I wish I could now say, We ate at Luma and it was amazing.

I can't.

Luma is completely beautiful inside. But as soon as we sat down and read the menu, I realized that I'm not this fancy. I'm not this kind of girl. I didn't know anything on the menu. And, I'm way to picky of an eater to be able to just pick at $30 Chicken entree with things that I can't even sound out. 

I wanted to be at the Steakhouse, and I made a big deal about it. I'm an Idiot! Jason just laughed it off, and we grabbed a glass of wine at Luma. Then we walked down the avenue to another restaurant, 310, and had a delicious meal. Followed by Chocolate covered Oreos and Cake Pops from my favorite chocolate shop.

It was delicious!

And, boy does he love me. Bless his heart.

The next morning I came to work, Chickfila in hand, to a festive birthday desk decorated by the sweet Stephanie!

Complete with a little birthday Crown, how cute!

For lunch my wonderful coworkers took me to a bar by our office that serves pretty much the best meal ever.

This plate of goodness is call the Big Kids Meal.  It's a Jumbo hotdog, chicken tender, Mac and Cheese, Fries and a Jello shot! And, let me telll you - It was ahhhh-mazing!

I ended my night with my family. This is probably one of the best birthdays I've had, I really felt so loved every minute of these past few days!

We're heading out to the fair tonight, hope y'all have a great weekend.

Little Loving on this beautiful Wednesday

Today is a beautiful day in Florida, and I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm linking up with Jamie for a little Wednesday LOVE fest.

After my Monograms & Mimosa's bridal shower, I've been seriously LUSTING over new monograms goodness. I LOVE Marley Lilly - so here is a little Marley Lilly edition of What I'm loving today!

I'm loving these everyday essentials from Marley Lilly.

1. This crossover bag is just adorable! It is so classic and can go with any outfit- day or night. Which I love. In Florida, we're all about the "casual" lifestyle. This can take my normal everyday wear of jeans and flipflops a bit more upscale.

2. I don't know if you ladies read Miss Pink LouLou, but she blogged about Marley Lilly's INGENIUS cell phone case that is also a card holder. HELLO? How do they come up with this stuff. Most of the time I just grab my phone, ID and Card when I'm running errands but inevitably leave them my card and ID in the back pocket of my jeans. Let me tell you, it's rather embarrassing to be without card and ID when trying to purchase your wine. 

3. I'm lovvvvving this weekender bag, It's beyond perfect for short trips to the beach!

4. My Kitchen NEEDS this cutting board, how cute is this? Maybe I'll become a little bit more domesticated with my monogrammed cutting board. 

5. Ladies, I have been LUSTING over this necklace for about a year now. I'm secretly hoping that Jason will catch my hints and get it for me for a little Wedding Present. Fingers Crossed!

I'm loving that Florida weather is getting beautiful, and we are in the process of cleaning up our back yard for Pool Parties! PLUS, we'll be heading to JAMAICA for our Honeymoon in July. Marley Lilly has the cutest Beach/Pool item. 

I'm loving this beauties:

1. Monogrammed Wayfarers - SHUT UP! These are so perfect for everyday styles and beach days. I've got to keep my blue eyes shaded.

2. I have been seeing these floppy hats everywhere, I would love to have one while I sip skinny margs. by the pool.

3. Another Genius item from Marley, chase lounge covers. So cute!

4. I'm mildly obsessed with these 6 pack coolers! Perfect to just bring a few down to the beach and lounge.

5. This bathing suit is perhaps the most perfect bathing suit for my honeymoon! Dontcha think?

6. Another perfect cooler for the beach or tailgate. I need a cooler that I can roll!

7 & 8. These would just be perfect to have around the house. Jason and I love to have company over so a beverage tub is a fun little touch when entertaining. We actually collect koozies, and a lot of times our friends run off with them. Having a Monogrammed koozie may just be the PERFECT way to ensure I'll get it back!

I think I'm going to head over there and purchase some items I added to my cart this morning! Kind of like a little birthday present to myself! Let me know what you're favorite items are... I think I found Jason's

Fun-Filled Weekend!

Hey Ladies! It's another Monday. Am I the only one who thought this weekend flew by? At least this week will be a busy one - It's my birthday week. 

Woo.

Back to this past weekend, It was a great one. Except for the fact that Jason injured himself at his basketball game on Thursday and was a gimp this whole weekend. He torn his left calf muscle, which from what I researched is a pain in the arse. Poor Guy. He has the worst luck with leg injuries.

He fought through the pain and we had such an enjoyable weekend

1. On Friday, we had a wine and cheese party at work. It was a going away/birthday celebration and it was FUN. This is one of the thousands of reasons why I love my workplace.

2. Friday Evening, Jason and I headed up to a local Irish bar. One of our friend's dad is in a Southern Rock/Oldies band that plays up their quite frequently. Since Jason was down for the count, I was dancing up a storm with the "boys". He was doing a little chair dancing too. We had a BLAST.

3. We drove by my mom's neighborhood and realized they were having their annual Chili Cookoff. I never remember about it until the last minute. I begged Jason to forget our errands and eat some chili. It work! There were around 100 tents set up with chili, beer (and wine) and live music. It was also a mini-high school reunion for us. 

4. This was my favorite chili - it was fried chili with a sour cream drizzle. Dear Jesus! If the line wasn't so long (see pic. 3) and their tent wasn't an FSU tent then I would of gone for seconds (and thirds). 

5.  After the Chili Cookoff we ran home to shower and get ready for his mom's birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory. This is my yummy Sangria!

6. Jason and I are creature of Habits. We ordered the same appetizer, the same entrees, and same desserts as the last time we went. If it ain't broke,..! This is him with his favorite cheesecake, Banana Cream. I stuck with my old faithful, Red Velvet Cheesecake!

7. Just a picture of us at Dinner...HEYYY!

8. All of the weekend's festivities wore us out, and Bailey was more than happy with snuggling up on Sunday and having a Lazy Day. We didn't want to disappoint him, so we did just that! 

Well, It's almost 5 o'clock and I'm ready to go home to spend countless hours on Pinterest and Etsy perusing for wedding stuff!

Monograms and Mimosas - Bridal Shower

After I landed from LA, I headed home to throw on a pound or two of makeup and head to my Bridal shower. Even in my zombie state, I had the BEST time ever!

My Bridesmaid, and Oldest friend,  flew in from San Francisco and was able to put together an absolutely beautiful party. She is a Martha Stewart in training. She did a fabulous job!

The table was a gorgeous arraignment of Mason Jars, Burlap, chalkboard signs and light foods! 

I love the favors she got. They were chocolate pops with my Monogram on them. HOW CUTE! Another favorite thing was the chalkboard in those pictures, she wrote out the Lyrics to a Kenny Chesney song

All of the girls bought me a gift with my new monogram on it, I loved the whole idea! And, surprisingly no one bought me the same thing! I'm so excited to put to use all of my freshly monogrammed gifts.

Here are a few pictures with the ladies

I'm so sad that my bridal shower is already over, but that just means we are getting closer to the WEDDING!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!