Best Friends Beach Weekend & a Cute DIY

I am onnnnnly about 2 months late

on wishing all of you best friends out there a HAPPY NATIONAL BEST FRIEND DAY!

Didn't know that day existed?

Public Service Announcement:

June 8th is National Best Friends Day

No sooner than we found out did we book our little BFF weekend

at Mom & Dad's beach condo in Treasure Island.

I'm sure the poor people of that little town didn't know 

it was National Best Friend day either.. 

until we showed up with our big mouthes, matching monogrammed koozies

and set up my Canon to snap a gazillion pics of us sitting on a beach.

Friday night we had tickets to see Band Perry where

we screamed sang at the top of our lungs and danced around with Bud Light tall boys.

You're welcome, everyone sitting behind us.

The typical boot shot:

Then we started our Saturday off with a couple of these babies on the beach:

And made sure that we flagged down a random to photograph us:

And then these little gems, compliments of Etsy:

Pictured above is us at our best attempt of being a good sport.

I mean what's a girl to do when you're just sitting at a restaurant,

minding your own business with your oysters and your

key lime martini and BAM! a balloon-making clown walks up and

INSISTS on making you a flashing balloon hat. Sure why not. 

So here's the DIY!

Not that my 7th-grade-history-teachin' best friend doesn't get ENOUGH 

gifts from her students, student's parents, other random faculty members, etc.. 

I saw this little pin on the ol Pinterest and decided it was a necessity for our beach weekend. 

What you ladies are lookin' at above is one little ball of Summer excitement:
a monogrammed Chevron koozie
some SPF
Skittles, duh
a brand spankin' new Cosmo
and a cute little beach towel
all wrapped up and ready for zee beach! :)

Not to go all sappy blogger on you but I don't think I could
do a best friend post without bragging about how amazing MY best friend is.
You know how some people say getting married before 25 is like
leaving the party before 10PM?
If you have never heard that analogy before, just disregard and continue reading...
I think there is SOME truth in that statement but not necessarily
in terms of marriage but in terms of who you are as a person.
As a 24-year-old woman (yes, I will continue to refer to myself
as that for another 3 1/2 weeks until I am officially 25) I can agree
that everyone goes through changes. Someone who you
thought you may have known may have grown up to be someone different.
Point being:
I don't have pictures pinned on my refrigerator of
Aly and I in diapers as babies and she wasn't necessarily
glued to my side throughout high school but she is my best friend and
there is no doubt in my mind that 15 years from now when we're both
married with kids, we will still be drinking wine and laughing like sixteen year olds,
face timing to see what the other thinks of an outfit, SHUSHed at bars because
we are just way too loud together and that, my friends, is a fabulous friendship. :)

In 4 short months we will be residents again of the SAME DAMN TOWN
and in March she will stand by my side as my maid of honor as I marry Bryan.
Although she is still blog-less, I feel like she makes appearances around these parts
quite often so I thought she deserved a formal introduction. :)

..and with that being said I will leave you with this DARLINNGGG
little Pinterest find..

Love you Al!

Engagement Partayyy!

Linkin up with Miss Sami for the weekend update!

And OH! what a weekend update I have for you!

This past weekend was our engagement party hosted by both of our parents and,

let's be serious, my best friend, who did NOT disappoint on any of the

decor and the dessert table. 

1. Beers with my soon-to-be Mr!

2. Mom, future mom and aunt in law

3. Classy and classier

4. Corn hole- because it's not a Southern backyard

party without it!

5. Candiiiiid

6. Orlando friendss! :) 

1. Helloooo cupcakes! Red velvet, chocolate peanut butter & York peppermint

2. Kels & I

3. Some of my most favorite gals (enter smoochy emoji face!)

4. Boots, boots, boots!

5. annddddd the fabulous cake from my sweet best friend

6. The most GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers

from one of my bridesmaids who couldn't make it

With the exception of waking up Sunday morning to

my parents' backyard looking like a frat house, all went well! 

Good food, GREAT company, a beautiful evening and one amazing man

that I cannot wait to marry... 

ok, and one ambersand sign that I almost had to fight someone

for in HobLob because it was the last one. 

Oops!
#aggressivebride

On another note, my parents are super old school and insist
that engagement parties don't exist- right up there
with couples showers and gender reveal parties apparently.
IN FACT when I mentioned something about engagement
pictures my Dad said, "Engagement pictures?! Can't we just
put it in the paper?"
What? Dad, no.
So my maid of honor/best friend/dessert table hijacker, Alyson,
shows up with a snapshot of her mom's announcement in the paper
from the 70s. Not helping.

I, personally, think engagement parties are fabulous
and I don't think Bry or I will be making a trip to the liquor store for a few months..
I rest my case.

DIY Wedding Planning Binder

I am a party plannin' fool. 

If you don't know this by now, well, you should.

Seriously, where have you been?

I LOVE getting organized, laying out all of the details

and having a vision come together.

Needless to say, with a wedding coming up in our near future

(please hold on date and venue mmmkthankssss!)

this will be the biggest event/party/fiesta/shindig that we will EVER have.

So let's get organized shall we? 

What you will need: 

- a man that is willing to spend the rest of 

his life with your crazy ass

- 2" binder

- dividers

- wedding magazines! LOTS of wedding magazines

- free printables

- stick on letters (preferably glitter, hellooooo..)

Start by deciding how you want to label your dividers. 

I labelled mine:

-Guests (lists, accommodations, RSVPs, etc)

-Attire (gown, bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, etc)

-Ceremony (decor, officiant, programs, etc)

-Reception (venue, food, entertainment, etc)

-Miscellaneous (everything else!) 

Then, just go crazy! The sky is the limit.

That sounded so stupid...

but seriously a properly made wedding binder will alleviate SO much stress. 

I kid you not, ladies.

A great group of ready-to-celebrate girls doesn't hurt either.

No, I will not become an obnoxious wedding blogger.

Yes, I will have other wedding-RELATED posts

and yes they may happen this week.

Sorry I'm not sorry.

Cheeeers!