Happy Friday!

Can anyone guess what is better than a 3-day weekend and a 4-day work week? You guessed it . . . another 3-day weekend and 4-day work week!

I am off from my full-time job on Monday because I am shooting my very first wedding that day. Did I mention it is on the beach? I am so excited! I leave town on Sunday to head to Myrtle Beach where the wedding is taking place, with my sister and all my camera equipment in tow. I recruited my sister to come and help me incase I need something out of my camera bag and can't find it, or for anything else that might arise . . . you never know what to expect when shooting your first wedding. Oh, and to keep me company in the hotel room on Sunday night! Hopefully, everything will go great and I will book some more weddings this year. Cross your fingers!

In other news, I logged onto The Knot today and the wedding countdown said 127 days! HOLY COW – that means I'll be an old married woman in less than 130 days? I hear those days are just going to fly by us, and before we know it, we'll be in Jamaica getting married! So exciting, but also complete and utter craziness!

Now is when all the fun is just beginning and all the wedding functions are being planned. I'll be having my first bridal shower in just nine days, and my bachelorette party is now on the calendar. Our wedding favors were ordered and approved on Wednesday and will be on our doorstep before we know it. Everything is coming along!

Our travel agent (a/k/a a gift from God) who lives in Savannah, Georgia will be in town tonight and invited J and I to dinner with her and her husband. I am so excited to meet her! When I say she is a gift from God, I am not kidding. I never knew how helpful travel agents really were until she came along. We never could have even tried to pull off the whole destination wedding idea without her help. I seriously love her!

Here's a sneak peek at our wedding favors . . . any guesses on what they are? Those of you who know, don't give it away!

Hope everyone has a great, fun weekend!

Memorial Day weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend was busy, but tons of fun. We went up to the lake on Saturday and attended several cookouts throughout the weekend with our friends.

Monday, we had a Memorial Day cookout/pool party at our house and had lots of friends over. It was a great weekend! Enjoy the pictures . . . all the adorable children belong to our friends.

Our very own adorable children!



Grady Bug being a camera ham, as always!



Count Dracula


The birthday girl!


Matthew


Andy making a splash!


Some of our friends - including The Runeys! in town from California - Poobah, open your eyes!


Coop - stylin' in his sunglasses!


Coop - swimming for his first time, and doing a great job at it!


Lukey






Grady - having fun swimming with Mommy!



Coop and Daddy


Chase - having fun shooting everyone with the water gun!





Ellie - taking a break on the steps

Your thoughts?

What are your thoughts on Monday's season premier of Jon & Kate Plus 8?

The episode left me feeling so sad for the kids. They say they want to make it work for the kids, but yet in every shot it's either Kate and the kids or Jon and the kids – never both. You could feel Kate's anger towards Jon throughout the episode, understandably so. In my opinion, the episode was just plain sad and awkward.

Fame and money are nasty things. Even I am aware how much both of these things have changed the show; they are taking more elaborate trips instead of just the daily going ons of family life, everything seems to be given to them for free, Kate is becoming more beautiful and trim with every episode, more orange tan, (going on more shopping sprees as well), and they just recently bought a huge mansion of a house settled on many acres of land, which completely changed the feeling of the show for me.

Kate kind of annoyed on Monday's show. She was constantly complaining about the paparazzi, yet she would not have most of what she has now if it were not for the show. They are no longer just a regular family – they are celebrities. That is what happens when your family is in the spotlight for five years. She would not have her nice, slim body and her sporty, modern hairstyle if it were not for this show. She would not have her books or half of the stuff that is given to them if it were not for this show . . . so why is she complaining? She should have expected that fame and money comes with paparazzi. Deal with it.

Did anyone notice how Kate acted during the birthday party? I didn't see her talk to or mingle with the other kids' parents one time. I have a feeling she may be a big biotch in real life. What do y'all think?

As for Jon, he has totally changed. He was always the fun one who made everyone laugh. Not anymore. Maybe it's because he was totally busted and feels like a fool? It seems to me like he just wants to be done with the show now.

I have a feeling they're going to get divorced and the show is going to end. Does anyone else have that same feeling? This season should be interesting . . . My heart breaks for their precious little kids.

All I want to do . . . is love you

As y'all already know, last Thursday we went to the Sugarland concert with some of our friends. As always, Sugarland rocked it out and we had a blast! I just love them, don't you!? Here are some pictures from the night!

Happy Memorial Day!

Hope everyone had as fun of a Memorial Day as we did! Thank you to those who serve or have served this great country!

Sorry . . .

I have been MIA this week. Things have been busy! All I can say is I am more than ready for a three-day weekend!

Some exciting news . . .

You already know that Tuesday I ordered my dress! Check that off my wedding to-do-list!

This week, I bought Kenny Chesney tickets. He's making his way back to Charleston in September. If I did my math correctly, I think this will be the 6th Kenny Chesney concert I've been to. One of which my awesome aunt and uncle had backstage passes to and we all got to meet ole' short Kenny himself. I think after this one it might be time to retire . . . but he puts on such a good show . . . so it's justifiable, right?

**Please pardon my appearance - this was from a long time ago, maybe even middle school or high school? Yes, my bangs were short. YIKES! DON'T JUDGE! Thank God those days are over!**

Last night, me and J and a group of our good friends went to the Sugarland concert at the Family Circle Cup Stadium. Of course, it decided to rain for a few minutes after we got comfortable (it was an outside venue), but it didn't stop us or the concert. It was a night of fun, for sure! Pictures to be uploaded soon . . .

Tomorrow, we're doing the annual Swamp Fox Poker Run with my family that we do every Memorial Day weekend and I also have a photo shoot tomorrow morning and a photo shoot Sunday morning.

Monday, we're having a pool party/cookout at our house and having some friends over since our friends, The Runeys, are in town from California. We haven't seen them in a year or so, since they moved out there, so it will be awesome to see them!

Another busy weekend for us, as usual! Lots of pictures to come. I hope you have a great, long Memorial Day weekend.

The wedding dress saga ends!

Hallelujah! Today is such an exciting day – definitely one for the books! I just ordered THE dress, MY dress. I love it! It's beautiful!

I went to try some more on today during my lunch break. I put it on and that was it. I wanted to wear it back to work and stay in it for the rest of the day. It was my perfect size. I don't understand why I couldn't just take it off the rack. HA! It is totally different than anything I had imagined in my head. Funny how that happens! It's gorgeous though – even moreso than what I had imagined. I feel completely comfortable in it. And best of all – I look and feel skinnier in it! What's not to love?!

If everything goes as planned, it should be here by the last week in August. I will need it to be hemmed and we fly out of Charleston to Jamaica on September 30. Pray that the dress comes in on time! That part kind of stresses me out, but I'm trying not to think about it right now.

Yay for a day of being successful at something wedding related!

Now, I'm curious . . . how did you know that your dress was the one? How many did you try on before finding the one?

Last night's performance

While driving home from Rotary Wheels, J decides he is hungry. It's kind of late and a lot of places are closed. Of course, McDonald's is open. Isn't it always? We pull up to the drive thru and this is what happens . . . (I apologize in advance if I offend anyone with the BEEEEEPs.)

Worker: Welcome to McDonald's. Hold please.
J: Okay.

After waiting about five minutes and no cars in front of us . . .

Me: I think he forgot about us. Remind him we're here. Just say "okay, I'm ready" and see what happens.
J: Okay, I'm ready.
Worker: One minute.

Another five minutes later and no cars in front of us . . .

Worker: Okay, what would you like?
J: I'll take a medium fry.
Worker: One minute.
J: I've been waiting here for 10 {BEEEEEP} {BEEEEEP} minutes already. This is {BEEEEEP} ridiculous. You dumb {BEEEEEP}. What are you, retarded?
Me: {in shock – J never gets mad, usually it is me acting a fool!}
J: {continuing his rant}
Me: Oh. My. Gosh! J, drive off, RIGHT NOW! Stop yelling and drive! {pinching his arm}
J: {drives slowly up to the window and gawks at the worker}
Me: What are you doing!? We're leaving . . . NOW! Drive!
J: {slowly circles the building before leaving the parking lot}

Our conversation on the way home . . .

Me: WHOA – what brought that on?
J: I'm sick of dumb workers. This always happens at McDonald's.
Me: Have you ever done that before?
J: Yes
Me: What? Really? How long ago? Since we've been dating?
J: It's been a few years – before we were dating.
Me: Do you feel better? Did you get your anger out?
J: No. I'm still hungry!

Is that not the most hilarious thing ever? I laughed for a good few minutes just replaying it in my head when I got home. The funniest part is, if you know us in real life, then you know that I'm the angry one who will go off in a split second and J, on the other hand, is the one who is always so well-mannered and calm.

And he calls me angry!

Hope you got a good laugh! Happy Friday!

Da Baby Boom!

It appears there is something in the water . . . again! I don't know if you noticed, but the majority of our close friends gave birth in the months March – May last year, hence all the first birthdays we've had the past month or so.

Lately, everywhere I turn, someone I know is announcing that they are expecting. As exciting as I am for them, I cannot help by wonder . . . what exactly were people celebrating 12 weeks or so ago . . . Valentine's Day? An anniversary? A birthday? I think the total people I know who are expecting right now is up to a grand total of 13 – the majority of them due around the same time – in November and December of this year! Congratulations to all of our expectant friends – what a blessing!

Now onto a totally different topic . . . TWITTER!

WTF is all the hype over Twitter about? I just don't get it. I don't understand the thrill in being able to get updates on what someone is doing every second of the day. Isn't that what Facebook is for? If I can keep up with my friends' statuses on Facebook wouldn't Twitter be irrelevant? Unless, of course, I wanted to see what Oprah or Ashton Kutcher or John Mayer is doing . . . I just don't understand. I gave in to the peer pressure what MySpace was booming . . . and I gave in to Facebook too, but I just don't think I can become a Tweeter. Did I use that correctly? Probably not . . . oh well! Please, someone, fill me in!

I'm so excited

and I just can't hide it! You know the song . . . and you know you want to sing along!

In just a few short looong weeks, two of my great friends will be giving me my very first bridal shower. Can I just say how excited I am?

I don't know if I'm more excited about being showered with love, gifts, and advice from all my married friends or because of who is giving it! If you know them, then you know it's going to be awesome!

So until then, I'll just wait for the weekends to pass by very slowly and try to keep myself busy. Ahhhhhhhhhh . . . I can't wait!

Prom Night!

This past weekend was a weekend full of proms in the Lowcountry. Saturday was my sister's and cousins' prom. Before dinner, we met them at The Battery and I shot some prom pictures of them.

After pictures, we all went to Mercato for a fun pre-prom dinner. My food was delicious, as always. I love that restaurant! Any excuse to go – prom or not – I'm there!

My beautiful sis!

The whole group

The pretty ladies! - left to right - my cousin, Shelby; my cousin, Samantha; my sister, Kayla; their friend, Candis

Love this picture!

Kayla and her boyfriend, Eric

Samantha and her boyfriend, Daryl

Shelby and her boyfriend, Dalton

Candis and her boyfriend, Brandon

The handsome guys - left to right - Daryl, Brandon, Eric, Dalton

More to come when I'm done editing them!

I splurged . . .

This weekend was SO nice! We had way more free time than we usually do on the weekends and were able to get a lot done around the house – things that have been needing to be done but we just never have time to do them.

I'll share some pictures with you from our weekend activities later, but for now I wanted to share with you my newest purchase. I splurged a little . . . and bought a laptop last week with some of my photography money! It's something I desperately needed for photography. Up until now, I've been using J's laptop and been clogging it up with photos from my shoots, so it is nice to have my own computer to do everything on.

Mistake #1 – I bought it from Best Buy. I should've just ordered it online. I do not like Best Buy! I initially bought a Toshiba from Best Buy to which I returned the very next day because it kept freezing on me. Freezing, meaning the mouse wouldn't even move upon start up. Please keep in mind that I had not put anything on this computer yet. When I took it back, I asked if I could just get my money back and they said they would, but they would keep a percentage for a re-packaging/re-stocking fee. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I got a "return" for a computer – meaning one that was definitely returned by someone else because it was doing the same thing to them and they just repackaged it and put it back on the shelf. Still pisses me off!

Anyway, so after looking for a little while, I found my current laptop – a Dell – that has everything I wanted. I had some issues with it the night I brought it home but they're resolved now and it's great and I love my Dell . . . although I'm still kicking myself in the ass for buying from Best Buy.

Meet my newest little friend . . .

Have you had any bad experiences with Best Buy regarding a computer or any other electronic?

Happy Mother's Day!

J and I are going to "prom dinner" tomorrow night. What is "prom dinner" you might ask? It's dinner before prom . . . DUH! My sister and cousins are going to prom tomorrow night and J and I were invited to go to dinner Downtown with them and their dates. Does that mean we're still cool? I THINK SO! HA!

My question is . . . don't y'all think I should dress the part to match my sister and cousins? I mean, we don't want everyone at the restaurant thinking me and J are their parents/chaperones, now do we?

Seriously though, I tried to talk J into wearing a suit and I would find a prom dress and we would totally dress the part and embarrass everyone in our party. I love the idea, but I haven't been able to sell him on it! Oh well . . .

Since we have another busy weekend and I don't know that I will be on the computer much, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day early. Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers in Blog World, as well as to all of the soon-to-be mothers. I would also like to wish my Mom, my Mamaw, and J's Mom a Happy Mother's Day. My Mom was a very young single parent growing up and she and my Mamaw had to work very hard to raise my sister and me and still always made the best of things. They definitely helped make me who I am today. They taught me how to work hard and to always follow my dreams.

Takin' it back old school with this picture . . . Look how damn skinny I was! Makes me not want to eat for a few weeks!


J's Mom raised the most amazing man whom I get to share my life with each and every day. He has a great sense of humor, the most sensitive heart, and he truly adores his Mom! I am so lucky to have a mother-in-law like her.


I hope everyone has a fun and relaxing Mother's Day weekend!

For those of you who asked . . .

Here are my pictures from the concert last Thursday . . .

My sister - happy as can be - with her ticket, her shirt, and her coke!

My cousin and her boyfriend waiting for the concert to begin

Me and my sister waiting for Taylor Swift to take the stage

Kellie Pickler

Kellie says hello!

Taylor Swift opening up with "You Belong With Me"

in her band attire

Getting the show started!

her band

singing "That's The Way I Loved You"

"You're Not Sorry"

Kallie with Taylor Swift behind her - YIPPEE!

The grand finale!

Kallie with the trucks behind her

What a fun night!

So sorry I've been so slack lately. We've been b-u-s-y! Let's see . . . where did I leave off? Oh yeah . . . the Taylor Swift concert. As I said in my last post, it was an awesome concert. So glad we went! Here are some pictures from the concert . . . my little sister was beside herself that she actually got to go, even if the seats weren't the best seats in the house!

Please ignore my GREASY, GREASY skin!!

Us with my cousin and her boyfriend



Here's a video I took at the concert of Kellie Pickler opening for Taylor Swift . . . I love this song!



We left town on Friday after work to go to North Carolina for our Goddaughter's first birthday party. We had a fun-filled weekend with The Sanders, as always. We made it there late on Friday so we didn't do much of anything that night. We were exhausted from a day full of working and traveling. We just hung out and enjoyed each other's company and played the Wii, which was hilarious! I wish I would've recorded J and Amanda doing the hula-hoop on the Wii Fit. I was laughing so hard I was crying . . . it was that funny – seriously!

Saturday morning, the guys woke up and went fishing before the party started and Amanda and I just hung out at the house with the kiddos. A bunch of their friends came over to celebrate Kaelyn's birthday and the party was lots of fun. The weather was perfect, the company was wonderful, and it was a great day!

After the party, I had an appointment to shoot some photos of their friend's baby so we had fun doing that and once I was done with the photos, Amanda, David, Valerie, Annie and I headed to the fair that was in town. David was soooo excited for the fair! We stayed until closing time and he was so upset when we had to leave. We had such a fun day!

Sunday, Amanda and I went to the PX and to lunch before me and J headed back home. The guys stayed at the house and played . . . you guessed it – Xbox! They are such children!

Thank you to The Sanders for being such great hosts, as always, and having us in your home and allowing us to mess up your routine for the weekend. We had a blast and wish you lived closer so we could do it all the time!

Fearless

What is Fearless? To me, Fearless is having people tell you that you will never be able to do something, but doing it anyway . . . or when you have a lot of fears and things you are afraid of, but you jumping anyway.

The long-awaited Taylor Swift concert was last night and it was nothing short of amazing!

Gloriana was the first opening act to take the stage and we made it just in time to hear them sing the last song. They were okay, but I'm just not a Gloriana fan. Maybe once they release a few more songs . . .

After Gloriana, Kellie Pickler came out and got the party started with her new hit "The Best Days of Your Life" which I happen to LOVE! She looked so pretty and just seems so cute and sweet. She did a great job getting the crowd on their feet and getting everyone excited to see Taylor.

Next, Taylor made her grand entrance! She came out complete with a stage full of dancers dressed as cheerleaders and she was dressed as a band "geek" to her song "You Belong With Me." (No offense to those of you who were in the band!)

For her first headlining tour, she rocked it out! I admit that I love me some Taylor Swift, but I've never really thought of her as an "entertainer." I always thought she would just be one who stood around a played the guitar at a concert. BOY WAS I WRONG! The girl can no doubt sing . . . and DANCE! My little sister and I both LOVED the concert. I don't know who had more fun! Taylor literally sang every. single. song. that you could imagine. I know I'm going to sound dorky when I say this, but she and her songs are so inspirational to me! I could listen to her two CDs every day and not get sick of them. Who am I kidding? I already do!

I'm so glad they released some more tickets and that I ended up buying some. We had decent seats, although a little higher than I normally get, but I was just glad to have gotten tickets to the sold-out show! No complaints here!

I took a few pictures that I'll post soon. Right now, though, I need to get packing for our trip to NC this weekend for our Goddaughter's first birthday party! Hope everyone has a fun weekend!