Toast to July

I was about to hit publish on the bachelorette recap when I realized today is the last day of July... So that will go into the waiting hole with the three other drafts I have in there... I'm real with it over here...and today we will toast to July! 
If you are new to these parts then the toast to July is the time to acknowledge the small things that happened during the most recent 31 days. Things that maybe didn't need a full blog, but deserve to be archived forever on the world wide webs. 
Here's to... Drammamine. It got me through my 6 airplane flights throughout July and I am forever grateful. I went through two bottles and I didn't throw up once. Victory.
Here's to... not having to see any duck faces from my lovely students all July. Except for this duck face. But this duck face is adorable.

Here's to... that one time in the Dominican Republic when there was a rainbow in a perfect circle around the sun. It was beautiful. 
Here's to... getting to go to the original Kendra Scott store in Austin and finding navy stones! They are my new game day earrings and I have a feeling they are going to be good luck. 

Here's to... the three books I haven't read for school yet. But to be fair, I never did summer reading... so why start now?
Here's to... this. Because this happened. and I feel like I can die happy. 

Here's to... finally finishing a Pinterest project. Now I just need Duck Dude to hang it, so I can take pictures and finally blog about it! 
And because of that... here's to... changing my kitchen table from the pinterest project to a wedding table... because kitchen tables are overrated. 
August.. I cannot believe you are here. But I am ready to tackle you. 

Back to the Beach

Apparently when you're a world traveler and you're out of the country on your birthday and you haven't seen your dad since he bought that big white dress (thanks dad!), he doesn't like it very much. Fair, dad, fair. So, I put my packing on hold and headed out to hang out with my daddy-o for a little bit! See! 

Speaking of world traveler... I was back on a jet plane yesterday!! That's right, I pre-wrote this post. Wowzers. This weekend, I am at the beach! Mostly because I am not tan enough.... I kid, I kid. It is a very much better reason than that! It is a reason that made me do all of my laundry from Punta Cana in ONE day. That never happens. It's Bridesmaid Julie's... remember her??... It's her bachelorette party!!!! If you don't believe check out this invitation... one of the most awesome bachelorette invitations I've ever gotten!!

Told you. One of my biggest dilemmas while I was packing was which beach towel to bring with me. The super cute chevron monogrammed one...... or the Spiderman one. Yes.. of course.. I went with Spidey. Nothing says party like a Spiderman towel. 
I'm off to spin a web of fun......... see what I did there?

Cow Poop Volleyball

I'm not sure I thought I would ever have poop in a blog title... but here we are! For the last 6 weeks I have abandoned my sushi Tuesday nights. There are only a few things that can make me do that. Volleyball is one of those things. I have been playing in a volleyball league..... that is in a bull riding arena.... aka a lovely mixture of cow poop and dirt. We play at one of the biggest dance halls in Texas. Billy Bobs Ft Worth. Typically when we are there for a country concert it is wall to wall people. Duck Dude has to spin me around on the dance floor just so we don't run into anyone. It typically looks something like this. 

There's pool tables, a bbq restaurant, dance floor, lots of bars, and ...... an arena. That usually looks like this.

See the arena?? and the cow?? And with the cow comes what? Yup, cow poop. If someone was squeezing me that hard I would probably poop too. Too much information? Sorry.... but think about it.

I have loved these Tuesday nights. It is so fun being in a place that is typically so crowded and feeling like you own the place. The first night we showed up in flip flops.... they classify it as "sand volleyball"... we quickly learned this is a "wear tennis shoes and no diving" league. We also signed up as a team of 7 girls and it turns out it's a coed league. 

We didn't let it deter us, and even made it as the websites top news story as being an all girl team making waves through the league with our enthusiasm and spunk! As a group put together by one person, I have made new friends and had so much fun! I am sad it is already over. 

Sure Shank Redemption.... I love y'all. You are the best cow poop volleyball team I have ever played on.

Invitations

Bridesmaids dress recap: I still have no idea, but I found a dress I like that was not originally listed on my post! Funny how those things work, huh? I'll update y'all when I make a final decision.

I realize that a blog about wedding invitations might seem a little premature. But one day I was browsing the website www.weddingpaperdivas.com and they had a special going on. I could order 8 free samples for free! I didn't have to pay for shipping or anything. Pretty smart if you ask me, because I totally look at them online, but still wonder what they look like in person. So I found 8 that I thought I liked and ordered them for a total of 0 dollars. They were waiting in my front office when I returned home from Punta Cana. I took them to Duck Dude's house and opened them with him. Here are our favorites and not so favorites! :)
Not so Favorites
1. I like the monogram, but other than that it's just too boring. I think I like a color background and while this is a cream, it just doesn't do it for me.

2. I like the script edge, but in person the brown looks a little too harsh... like "YOU WILL BE AT OUR WEDDING".... rather than "I'd like to invite you to our wedding".

3. I love the left side of this one, but why is the text so small on the right side? I do not care for all that blank space in the middle.. If I'm spending money on invitations, I don't care for a whole lot of blank space. 

Favorites

1. I love this one because it's a flat card, but it doesn't look like it. I'm not a super floral-y person, but burlap flowers I can do. I really like how it mixes the burlap flowers with a fancy calligraphy text of what would be our names. I love juxtapositions and this one is pretty good. 

2. This one is Duck Dude's favorite. He likes it because it's simple and sleek. I like it because I think the colors are spot on and I wouldn't change a thing. 

3. I love this one because the gold is super shiny and really catches your attention immediately. The outer edge is definitely gray.. it came out more black in the picture. I think it's super pretty and has a fancy touch without being overly fancy.

As always, opinions are welcome! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Honey Roasted Peach

I love peaches. They're almost a nostalgia thing for me. We built our house that I grew up in and we planted 2 peach trees in the backyard. When they first started producing peaches, my sisters and I were so excited. My grandmother would make homemade peach cobbler. My favorite breakfast was peaches and sugar, while my grandfather, D-daddy, would always have his with milk. I love peaches.
I was browsing Pinterest the other day and found a peach recipe. The only problem was it called for a heavy cream sauce to go on top. I decided I could manipulate it enough to where it's still a healthy dessert! I made it and.... you probably guessed it... Duck Dude declared it his favorite thing I have ever made. It's good y'all.
You need 4 ingredients and that's it!

And as my very wise mother once told me, "Don't let your nuts burn." I used the same pan because I had some room. You could just as easily slip another cookie sheet in with almonds. 

You can see I made 2 whole peaches for Duck Dude and myself. I can definitely say one half would have been enough for me. I even entertained the idea of putting ice cream with it... and I don't even like ice cream... and then it wouldn't be quite as healthy... but it would make a pretty presentation! 

Enjoy!

Punta Cana 2014

I am not even sure how you recap 7 glorious days in paradise, so I am going to start with this.
What an incredible job my wonderful bridesmaids did last week!!! I was so honored and humbled while reading their posts! I think I cried and laughed out loud in every single one of them. There is so much history with each of them and I think they each captured it perfectly! I was expecting just a little writing, but the pictures, their stories, and their creativeness blew me away! Sidenote: it was really more of a bridesmaid test, good thing they all passed with flying colors juuuust kidding. Bravo girls!! 
Ok. Punta Cana. Easiest way to do this? A list, le duh. Of my favorites. 
1. My favorite meal.  Fried cauliflower, fried bananas, and mango. Huh? That's not a meal? Welllll, I made it one this night.  I ate mango as my dessert for every meal. Don't let that fool you, that was the healthiest thing I ate all week. 

  2. My favorite lunch spot.  You get all the hamburgers/hot dogs/french fries from the little hut, then eat lunch on the beach. With that view. It does not even compare to the teacher's lounge.

3. My favorite shark.... and sting ray.

They are my favorites because I got the best pictures of them. What did I do on my birthday? I swam with sharks and sting rays. The thought process kind of went like this! Sweet, there's a shark. (Then the sharks would swim right below you) Ohhhh crap, that's a shark. 

4. My favorite door in the whole resort.

Oh yeah, I had my 26th birthday while we there and after we got back from swimming with sharks I was greeted with this lovely door and a room fullll of balloons. It was pretty cool. 

5. My favorite tree.

One day we went out exploring and this tree had names all carved in it. So we, obviously, had to add our couple nicknames. Lick and Trollie are forever in Punta Cana and I love it a whole lot. 

6. My favorite beach. 

There were always so many things to watch. Parasailing, catamarans, fishing boats coming in and out.  The weather was ideal and the beach breeze was perfection.

7. My favorite fiancé.

I've got that left hand on his chest pose down to a science. It doesn't hurt that my good side is my left side! To which he always asks, "do you want your good side?" 

8. My favorite vacation.

There is nothing I would change, except to go back and do it all over again. On repeat. 

Adios amigos. 

Red Head Sister, Hannah!

It's Friday!! Thank goodness! I hope y'all have enjoyed hearing from all the bridesmaids! I'm the red head sister and the final guest blogger for the week! Mollie will be back next week with lots of stories to share, I'm sure!! 

I received this in the mail a few weeks ago…

Matron of Honor? Am I old enough to be one of those? That was honestly my first thought before thinking, ‘I cannot wait to support my sister through this process and stand by her on one of the most important days of her life.’ For those of you who don’t know, my sisters and I are extremely close! Yes, of course we had our share of arguments growing up, but we were always taught to forgive and make up. We encourage each other, support each other, make each other laugh, and cherish the time we get to spend together. I have had the hardest time coming up with a topic to talk about today, so you’re going to get a little bit of everything! I also love pictures, so you’ll get a lot of those too! J

My sisters and I have a way of supporting each other while slightly making fun of each other, in a loving way, of course.

We stick together in difficult situations.

We have each other’s backs.

We love to be goofy together.

We have matching tattoos.

And most importantly, we share a love for Baylor.

But enough about us sisters, how about a little bit about why I’m excited to finally have a brother on my side of the family!! J I am blessed that my sisters love Ben, my husband, like a brother and welcomed him into the family so well. I couldn't wait for my opportunity to do the same for their future spouses. Now that the time is here, here are some reasons why I’m excited to welcome Duck Dude into our family!!

1) Ben will have another guy around when we all get together! There will be another guy for us to love on! 

2) There will be another new cousin at family gatherings to take all the hazing. 

    

 3) We love to go camping and luckily Duck Dude does as well! One more person to go camping with!! It may take him a few trips to get used to our style of camping though!  

4) Ben and I will no longer be the only couple in the family for Caroline to mess with! :)  

5) I gain a brother who I get to support on one of the biggest days of his life and for the rest of his life! I am so glad you're going to be a part of our family, Duck Dude! We could not imagine anyone more perfect for Mollie than you! We love you!! 

231 DAYS!!!!!!!!!  Red Head Sister, over and out!