July 9, 2013

Soak It Up {My 4th of July Weekend}


Just when you think your 4th of July weekend will consist of none other than a few relaxing days on the glorious Frio River with just you, your husband and your dog...

(Oh. And a drink in your hand...)

2 of your absolute favorite bloggers turned BFFs get on a plane and fly their happy butts to Texas...

1 of your (other) incredible blogger love muffins (you should ALL know who I'm talking about by now;) ) also loads up with her hubby and makes a little road trip to the Texas Hill Country...

And your real life best friend and her fiance pop up outta no-freakin-where to join "said few relaxing  days on the glorious Frio River"...

...WITHOUT YOU EVER KNOWING ABOUT IT.


If you follow me on the ol' Insta or read Friday's post...you are all well aware of the events that took place this past week/weekend.

But for those of you who don't, and for myself who needs to relive all these moments all over again...I gots some 'splainin' to do so lemme take it from the top.

Here we go:

Tuesday night: Here I am having dinner, enjoying a few drinks at the new World of Beers with good friends, sporting my new Marley Lilly monogram tank (which, by the way, I'm mildly obsessed with)...minding my own business. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

BAM. Katie appears. As in...Keep Calm & Carry On Katie from Ohio


Wednesday afternoon: Road trip to the Frio River, pit stop in San Antonio to take Katie by the Alamo and to enjoy a few drinks on The Riverwalk and...

BAM. Ashley appears. As in...my real life ((but blogless)) BFF...Ashley!


Wednesday night: Dinner on The Riverwalk. Drinks are a flowin' and...

DOUBLE BAM: Shay (as in SO SHAY), DDHP (as in, well THE DDHP) and Erica , who is absolutely terrified of flying, and her main squeeze, Kurt, show up...once again...out of frickin' nowhere. (Video footage here!)


Wait.
What in the WHAT?

If you think my mind was blown...you're wrong.
Times that by eleventy billion and yes. You're exactly right. Well...you're close.
If you think I proceeded to question them all at least 100 times about "which blogger was showing up next?"...you're also right.


While I would LOVE to sit here and overwhelm you with an abundance of obnoxious photos of the absolute incredible time we all had together, I'm not. 

There was just something about the entire weekend that left me feeling so completely happy. So content. And so full of joy that taking a million and one photos of every move we made, every piece of fried food we shoved in our pieholes, every inappropriate conversations we held, every strand of hair I teased on Katie's head, every angle of Erica shakin' her little Boston hiney, every time Shay would make the most hysterical facial expressions, or every time Ashley would force me to drink more of her mango vodka...they just weren't at the top of my to-do list this weekend.

Instead I decided to live in and love and soak up every single moment. So soak it up I did.

Ok fine. I did manage to snag quite a few iPhone photos...

Oh-and we also may or may not have successfully pulled off the Harlem Shake in Wal-Mart.


But really...I'd be lying out of my teeth if I said this past weekend, other than my wedding weekend (of course) was the most epic...EP-IC...weekend of my life.

How these girls and my husband kept such a HUGE secret from little ol' nosey me is really beyond me. I'm still baffled. And beyond shocked. But feeling ever so lucky. Lucky to have met such incredible souls from this little blogging world of ours. Lucky to have made real life friends and relationships from fabulous women behind a little ol' computer monitor. Lucky to have a loving and supporting husband who was behind this entire thing...

...and to think they flew and drove in from all parts of the country to see such a priceless expression on my face STILL has me pinching myself.






So cheers.
...to moments.
...to surprises.
...to memories.
...to a very happy heart.
...and to some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for!





42 comments:

  1. This is the sweetest thing ever!!! Such an amazing surprise. Loved reading about it, so I'm sure the real-life part was a million times more amazing! :)

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  2. I am literally obsessed with this! How amazing. :)

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  3. LOVE this post. You all are so cute!!!

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  4. Steph this made me tear up SO much!!! I constantly said to Kurt how lucky we all are to know each other and have each other in our lives no matter the distance!! THis was seriously such an amazing weekend I keep replaying it OVER AND OVER in my head!!!

    and you are SO RIGHT...no pictures during a vacation just proves it was waaaaay too frickin awesome to even think about taking pics!! (except for some of the ones I took via camera which were mainly of the gorgeous scenery and when I decided to make Kurt cameraman hahahah!)

    UGH love you and the girls so so much and am getting teary just typing this out. I feel so blessed to know such amazing people and to be able to do all of this with you! Who would have THOUGHT the day you opened up blogger--it would turn to THIS!!

    GAH i want to go back to the river right now!!!!

    LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
    xoxox

    PS...wide set.....

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  5. I have love love LOVED reading about this surprise on all your blogs! What an awesome weekend!!

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  6. Aww I love this Stephanie!!! I don't even know you all (although I sure which I did) and it totally made me tear up. A weekend of no photos, or very few just proves you wanted to enjoy each and every moment, be in the moment with all those fabulous girls and the men. You truly are blessed with girls like this :)

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  7. This is SO sweet!! Glad yall had fun!! :)

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  8. my heart is so full after reading this incredibly sweet post! how special to spend a weekend like this with such wonderful girls! this blog world is somethin' else, eh?

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  9. So sweet! I have no doubt you girls had theeeee best time ever! So jealous all you lovely ladies were hanging out!

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  10. BEST weekend ever - even for us other bloggers reading all your updates!! So happy for you all and just loved all the pics...
    And that Harlem Shake - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :)
    I just cannot stop laughing! x

    9So wish I had been that final blogger to arrive!)

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  11. EPIC is totally the word! I'm so glad you had an amazing few days of fun and surprises!!! You totally deserve it sweet girl!

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  12. This still makes my heart so happy that they surprised you and you really had no idea! You're so blessed with wonderful friends!! Glad y'all had an amazing time and have great memories you'll treasure for-freaking-ever! :)

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  13. This is the best thing ever! And this was always my hope when I finally started blogging and I love reading these stories :)

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  14. The only word to describe your weekend was definitely EPIC! Even to the rest of us watching from the sidelines! It looked amazing and I can't believe they surprised you and I love the friendship you have made with other bloggers! Love it, love it, love it!!! So happy for you!

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  15. Aw this was so so sweet Steph! Seeing all of this play out on Instagram made me so happy for y'all! Such a sweet friendship you all have!!

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  16. This is so amazing! So glad you girls had a great time!!

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  17. awww why aren't we all still there?! <3 <3 I'm still wondering why on earth you got all the surprises?! ;) kidding.


    HELP ME, I'M BLIND.
    HELP ME, I'M POOR.
    HELP ME, I'M .......

    EPIC IS RIGHT!

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  18. Hands down one of the best weekends of my life. You girls seriously are my heart! Surprising you was the hardest, most fun thing in the world!!!! :) I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND ALWAYYYYYYYYYYYS!

    (*Insert "WAHHHH" face here*)

    Help me, I miss y'all. ;)

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  19. This is why I love the blogging world so much!
    Looks like I need to check out the Frio River - its being added to my bucket list. Texas is one of my favourite places on earth :)

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  20. SO FREAKIN AWESOME! YOU'RE BLESSED GIRL!

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  21. This is amazing and I loved following along all of your adventures via Instagram!

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  22. You guys were all so cute! Love the videos showing the surprise! Glad you all had a great time!

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  23. So incredibly sweet... you are one blessed gal!

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  24. This is so precious. Seriously jealous of this. I was so green with envy over here watching all the pics on IG and the surprise video. Love it! I'll send you my address and you girls can surprise me : )

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  25. what a priceless weekend and some of the sweetest girlfriends ever!! #jealous

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  26. So sweet, what amazing friends and your dog could not be any cuter! :)

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  27. So sweet! You sure do have some amazing friends that love you very much! Love keeping up with all the surprises! :)

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  28. ah-mazing weekend girly...and I think that harlem shake video is the only way to make a trip to wally world worth it.

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  29. love, love, love this! and you :) And that drink needs to be in my hand, yesterday.

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  30. YAY! :) I'm so glad the surprise went well, and that you all had so much fun!!!

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  31. Can I just say Jealous Jealous Jealous oh did i say Jealous already? Glad you had an amazing time with everyone sweet girl :) & I have no clue what the Almo is but if I can get that yummy drink there I am all in :)

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  32. love this - there is nothing more special than sincere, FUN girlfriends! :)

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  33. This made me tear up a little at the end!! That was really sweet!

    I would be lying if I told you I was SUPAAAAA jealous the WHOLE weekend.
    You girls looked like you had so much fun! NEXT TIME! I am SO there!

    You are SO beautiful, ps. You are a fabulous writer... you're hilarious and gorgeous. Hello Total Package :)

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  34. This made me tear up a little at the end!! That was really sweet!

    I would be lying if I told you I was SUPAAAAA jealous the WHOLE weekend.
    You girls looked like you had so much fun! NEXT TIME! I am SO there!

    You are SO beautiful, ps. You are a fabulous writer... you're hilarious and gorgeous. Hello Total Package :)

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    Replies
    1. Well shucks I would of had you fly in too if I would of even thought about it. Next year you can surprise steph! Steph don't read this. lol

      Good luck with the bachelor!

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  35. Still can't believe they all surprised you!! So so sweet!

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  36. L-O-V-E everything about this! :) Next time Im coming with Katie!!!!

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  37. I loved the videos! So glad you and your girls had such a great weekend.

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  38. What an amazing weekend!!!!

    I love the matching "keep calm" t-shirts. Where did y'all get them??

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  39. LOVE your monogram tank- think I'm going to have to pick one up :)

    houseofpaynestyle.blogspot.com

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  40. all of you are looking happy. I think you are enjoying your time very much.http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiY41ijpzuI

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