The One.

Today Beau & I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary!

It's crazy to know that I met this frat boy when I was 19 who was dating some Zeta (who is now one of my very best friends) and here I am, 5 years later, getting ready to marry the man and I could not be ANY happier!

We go pretty far back and have hit our bumps in the road but hey, no one's perfect and we're definitely no exception to the rule. Though we may not be perfect, we're perfect for each other and when it comes down to it I wouldn't want it any other way!

He puts up with me and has made me grow as a person in ways I never thought possible. Beau has been my rock during the lowest, toughest times in my life and I am forever grateful for that. He is so patient and loving and is the sweetest man in the whole world, besides my daddy, of course. He comes from a great family and is a momma's boy to no end. He's handsome and charming and has this incredible way of sweeping me off my feet and giving me butterflies in my tummy every time I see him. Beau has made me a better person which, to me, is what makes us perfect for one another.

He's the yen to my yang.
...the vodka to my martini.
...the peanut butter to my jelly.

He's stuck with me when I'm happy and when I'm sad.
...when I was fat and now that I'm, well, not so fat.
...when I'm blonde and when I was brunette.

He is simply amazing and I am so fortunate God has put him in my life, for now and forever.

So join me as I take a glance at the last 5 years I've had the privilege of spending with the man of my dreams...enjoy!

(In absolutely NO order whatsoever...)

Engagement Pics July 2010 : Hottest Day EVER.

Caesar's Palace-March 2010St. Thomas-May 2009

Scissor Biscuits CoEd Softball TeamPuerto Rico-Nov. 2008

Frio River Road Trip-2007?

Our first New Year's Eve together

My 21st Birthday Party...we look like babiiiees!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

Halloween '08

My graduation party-Dec 2008

Kevin Fowler Concert-2009

Frio River-July 4, 2009

Isle of Capri for our 2 year anniversary (Sept 2007)-he's gonna kill me for this one-sorry babe!

Ranch House construction-2008?

Proposal day! February 13, 2010

Disney World 2007-Yes I had dark brown hair. Didn't last long.

Disney World 2006 - Animal Kingdom

Disney World 2006-A Bug's Life!

Beau's 21st Birthday!

Sigma Nu Little Sister Initiation Dinner

Sigma Nu 50th Anniversary

Sigma Nu-Delta Zeta Mixer

Sigma Chi Prom

Rodeo 2007-ew.

April 2005-or whenever "kissy faces" were in...

Halloween 2007

Delta Zeta Formal 2005

UH Football 2005

Vegas 2010!

Happy 5 year anniversary Beau! Thank you for being you and for loving me for me. I love you more than words can say and I look forward to many, many, many more fabulous years together! <3 I cannot WAIT to be Mrs. Beau Howard! :)

One Man's Trash...

...is another man's treasure-really!

I had a garage sale weekend-and I will NEVER do it again!

Although we made quite a bit of cash and literally gave away a lot of good stuff for almost nothing, it was a hassle to say the very least! Not to mention it ended up sprinkling both days so we had to close up shop early (you can imagine how "heartbroken" I was about that...)

These people were buying any and everything. One man bought, I kid you not, a roll of gold ribbon, a 1990's baseball hat, a basket and a telephone with no cord. weird. Beau & I kept asking each other "What are they going to do with all this crap once they get it home?"

It's amazing the small things that people enjoy...like a food processor with no lid. No-really.

Dragging everything in and out of the garage got old by day one....so by the second day of our sale, I was over it to say the least. We were wheelin' and dealin' to get that crap out of our sight so we didn't have to pack it up. Ever. Again. (Example: We sold a couch, chair, ottoman, coffee table, 2 end tables and 2 matching lamps for $75-total) And not just that, there's really no rhyme or reason in the organization of a garage sale. There's just shit everywhere and it's utter chaos.

But I am glad I experienced my first garage sale. ((I now know what both our moms meant when they sighed at the idea.)) But like I said, we got a pretty good chunk of cash to be used towards to wedding and at the end of the day, that's a-okay with me!

Happy Sunday! :)

p.s.-sorry for the lack of photos. I had dirty hair, no makeup, and Beau's baseball hat on all weekend. Not a sight to see. Be thankful.

Wedding Wednesday-Beware: Lots of pics!

'Lots going on! Planning is getting down to all the little fun things: showers, hostess gifts, bridesmaid gifts, outfits, etc...and I've taken pictures to document it all! ((now I know how mothers feel as their kids grow up...taking pictures of every small detail is important!))

Here's what I'm up to, lately:

• Handmade Thank You cards...call me crazy but I'm doing it. I'm all about adding a personal touch to things. The generic Thank You cards I have found everywhere else are just boring and totally not "me"...so my creative mind got to thinking and came up with these! What do you think?!

Ingredients:

• 
  
  
  

The finished product(s)!

Cute huh? Well...I thought so anyways...

• Our first shower invitations went out last week! Beau's aunt did such a great job on them and they fit our personalities SO well! ((oh the perks of family owning an advertising/marketing company!)) *Addresses and names have been hidden to protect their identities. ;)
• Hostess gifts for couple's shower #1! ((Hope none of them are reading this! If you are...don't look down!)) Monogrammed doormats. I <3 these and they make such great gifts!! Hopefully they enjoy them too!
  

• Bride swimsuit to be worn @ the bachelorette party and honeymoon. I bought the rhinestone applique a while back to heat press onto a little white jacket to wear the day of the wedding but I found a white swimsuit for extremely cheap at Tar-zjeh and couldn't pass it up! ((ps...Beau's mom has a heat press machine so you can imagine all the bling I'll be wearing on my bachelorette party, the wedding day and the honeymoon!))

• Wedding garage sale this weekend. Worst. Idea. Ever. but hopefully we earn a little extra cash to pay for little things we "want" but aren't necessarily a "necessity"...*do I hear string quartet?!* My job was to make the signs and price all the crap. My signs aren't this cute but they do have stickers on them and big bubbly writing (If it were up to me, I would have totally put rhinestones and zebra print on my signs but it's not very reasonable)...Beau's job is to hang them around town. Wish us luck and remind me to never do a garage sale again.
  
• I'm still waiting for the phone call from the store where I bought my dress telling me those 4 sweet little words-"Your dress is in!" I ordered it early May and was told it would take 4-6 months. Guess what?! It's been a little over 4 months and I'm impatient!
  

• Still trying to decide which shoes to wear under my dress but I really won't know for sure until it comes in. I'd love to wear my cowgirl boots but I'm not sure if my dress is big enough at the bottom to hide them as I walk down the aisle. They're black embossed leather and beautiful. Beau wants to get my new initials and wedding date embroidered along the top in hot pink..so cute-I know! Now for the reception, the boots are definitely on! But if the dress doesn't hide the boots for the ceremony, here are some options I've considered...
  

I think that concludes everything that's going on at the moment. Sorry for/hope you enjoyed the excessive amount of pictures! :) Little details like these excite me!

Time to stop and smell the roses...

I've been running myself down to nothing these days. Well, actually, I've always been that way. I never slow down. I go-go-go all day long, eat, sleep and then repeat it all over again the next day. I've got a job to do, a fiance to love, a wedding to plan, a family to spend time with, a chihuahua to spoil, friends to enjoy, a body to keep in shape and an awful shopping addiction. I'm only 24 but clearly my body can't tolerate this like it used to. I don't feel like I live all that stressful of a life but apparently, I do.

Since last December, I have had Bell's Palsy (paralyzing of one or both sides of your face due to inflammation of the 7th cranial nerve...caused by massive amounts of stress) , awful anxiety attacks due to extremely fatigued adrenal glands and low cortisol levels-once again, caused by stress (hormone talk-sorry. It's my job!) and today I was tested for strep throat and guess what? Yep. It was positive. Awesome.

Seriously? I have never had strep OR tonsillitis a day in my life.

I take every vitamin under the sun...I'm a vitamin consultant...remember?

I am the preventative queen and I despise being sick and I hate taking meds-who doesn't?! The slightest feeling of a cold, sore throat or runny nose I down 12k mg of vitamin C, 10k iu vitamin D, high doses of probiotics, 100 mg of Zinc, and drink colloidal silver for days. This time-it didn't do the trick. Well it set in last night and turned rampant this morning so I guess I really didn't have time.

Fortunately, I work for holistic doctors and a company that only believes in prevention and natural cures so they sent me home immediately-which is apparently what I needed. I've been home all afternoon sleeping and watching 27 Dresses on repeat. (Ok-I'm lazy and don't want to change out the dvd.) Mom is downstairs cooking up a storm to make sure her homemade chicken noodle soup is just right. (Damn, she's good!)

I've had a lot of thinking to do within these four walls and it's time for me to stop and smell the roses.
It's time to run less and rest more. Time to spend time with those who mean the most to me and less time doing unimportant things. Time to stop stressing and sweating over the small stuff. Time to relax and enjoy every day I have on the face of this earth.

So starting tonight-that's what's happening...

Mom's got a big ol' pot of chicken noodle soup made and is waiting to watch "The Back Up Plan" with me. I've got a cocktail of vitamins, supplements and antibiotics with Tini by my side. Not sure if I'm going to work tomorrow as I will still be contagious and I hate when people come to work sick. Not to mention, the boss lady is 8 1/2 months pregnant and the last thing I want to do is get her sick.

So I'm off to be a big. fat. baby...

...because I can.

Sacks In The City

My fantasy football team.

Beau got me hooked on fantasy football this year in hopes I would "learn more about the sport" Psshh...more like something to entice me enough to want to watch football with him every Sunday. ((He's smart!!)) He even came up with my creative team name, Sacks In The City! I've always liked football but never had the slightest idea as to what was going on. I mean, I know what a touchdown is and will watch it in hopes that they'll show the cheerleaders and I can judge them but that's the most of it. ((Wow, ok that was rude but I can be that honest...this is my blog after all, right?!)) Anyways-I have a feeling this whole fantasy football thing has created a monster out of me! I'm a pretty competitive person, no matter what. Friendly/competitive, though. To say the least, there is no other option but to win the entire thing...not for the money but for the bragging rights. Not to mention, Beau downloaded the app on my phone so I can keep track of my team all season long...yesss!

Here's a look at how my first week of fantasy football has gone...
That's right...I'm in 2nd so far, trailing behind our friend and fantasy football veteran, James! Couldn't ask for much more at this point!! My team is pretty darn good and I had a very strategic way of picking my players...whoever had to coolest last name or simply a name I have heard of at one point or another was my player of choice...

• Examples: Chad Ochocinco, Drew Brees and T.J. Houshmandzadeh-to name a few.

Pretty strategic...I know. But hey, apparently it's working in my favor as you can see! Perhaps I can use this fantasy football thing as an excuse to buy new outfits to support each of my players...hmmm... ;)

Any of you girls playing on a FF team?

Shopping for "we" not "me"

I'm sitting here on a Saturday night watching football with the Beau and blogging (PS-He says "hi!"). Why? Because my good friend, Vodka, and I had a little too much fun at last night's UH vs. UTEP game and I have been suffering the consequences all. day. long. All I know is I bartered with a man for a balloon, sung "Stuck Like Glue" the entire way home, including a drunk dial/singing episode to my BFF, Julie's, voicemail, and lastly, convinced Beau's mom to make us grilled cheeses at 2am. The rest is history, literally. I took zero pictures-which is probably beneficial on my part.

Any who-I had a hair appointment earlier today and did a little shopping afterward. ((Oh the benefit of having your hair salon in the mall!)) While I was shopping, I realized something. I used to make a beeline to the shoes, purses, dresses, jewelry, etc...until now. Now I shop in ALL departments, and usually the shoes and the purses are my last stop. These days I shop for "we" not "me". Rather than hitting up the jewelry department of Dillard's first...I go straight to the Home department looking at towels, bedspreads, dishes, etc. (OLD-I know!) I then proceed to the men's department to shop for the Beau. You see, he doesn't shop. He has not bought himself new clothes in YEARS! He still wears the same polo that was on his driver's license photo he got at age 16, if that explains anything. Sad, I know. So I look for cargo shorts, jeans, polos, button ups, swimsuits and even shoes for the kid. Somebody's gotta do it! He's spoiled rotten and I don't think that will be changing any time soon. I've even gone so far as to trying to pick out a case for his new iPhone because he didn't have one for the longest time and well, I kinda shattered his first iPhone 4. ((oopsy!))

It's funny how these things just kind of evolve without you really knowing it. Beau doesn't EVER spend money on himself so it's nice to shop for him because Lord knows, he's not going to do it! Shopping for me (and ANY sane woman at that fact) is exhilarating so to have all the reason in the world to shop for another person makes it that much better! It's like dressing your kids...whatever you buy they are going to wear and Beau is the exact same way! :) I could probably convince him that overalls were back in style and he would go for it! ((Love ya babe!))