Show Us Your Life - Bridesmaids Dress and Flowers

This week, on Kellys Korner - Show Us Your Life, it's show us your bridesmaids dresses and wedding flowers. As a newlywed, I'm very excited to be participating! Once again, I swiped these pictures off of Facebook because I don't have my pictures back yet. So, the picture quality isn't amazing, but at least you get a look!

I LOVED my bridesmaids dresses. They were cobalt blue. I think it's a color that looks great on everyone. I'm not going to lie, I wanted that dress for myself! Also, they don't scream bridesmaid dress, so the girls could wear them again if they had a slightly dressier than church occassion. : )

Aren't they beautiful girls? The two on the left end, Jessica and Ashley, are friends from college, I was in both of their weddings two years ago. #3, Katie, is Wesley's sister. I love her dearly! I always have a good time with her. #4, Emily, is my best friend from my childhood (and now!). We've had so many fun times together. And the two on the right end are my cousin, Molly (my texting buddy), and my sister and MOH (she was the BEST maid of honor), Caitlin, - who's getting married herself in just less than 5 months!!!!

The picture below. I love it. That's Wesley's sister, Katie, and my sister, Caitlin, helping me get to the church by carrying my dress. And my cousin, Molly, was carrying the flowers, I think. I love this shot, because that day, I needed their help getting to the sanctuary. But I also needed their help leading up to that day (and that of lots of others too)! It reminded me that I wouldn't be where I am today without the help of my family and friends!

And, finally, the sanctuary. I am more of a plant kind of girl. Not so much a flower kind of girl. So that is exactly what I wanted: plants. Ferns to be exact. This is a really rough picture (remember, these were swiped from FB - not professional ones) of what the sanctuary looked like. The ferns were huge!!! I loved them!

Our wedding was very special. Wesley and I got married at the church I grew up in and my parents still attend. My pastor there and my brother, Zach (who's called into ministry and was licensed just after our engagement), performed the ceremony.

The music was one of my favorite parts. Wesley's cousin, Brett, sang "Marry Me" by Ed Cash. Have you heard it? It's WONDERFUL! And a mutual friend of ours, Emily, sang "Come Thou Fount" (one of my most favorite hymns) while we took the Lord's Supper and lit the Unity Candle. We also had a family prayer where we knelt on the prayer bench and our parents surrounded us and my brother prayed safety and blessings over our marriage.

I will always remember July 11, 2009!

Honeymoon - Good Eats

This post is dedicated to one of my favorite activities. That's right, eating! We ate at some delicious restaurants in and around Myrtle Beach. Here are some of our favs.

Sticky Fingers: gooood bbq!

I had a rack of ribs with caroline sweet bbq sauce, pulled pork, slaw, and baked beans.

I did my best to make Daddy and Uncle Doug proud. I couldn't quiiiite finish.

Wesley had the tennessee whisky ribs, pulled pork, fries, and green beans.

And it was gooood!

This was before our fancy night of eating out...notice the haircut!?! : )

Have you ever been here? O.M.G. It is slap your momma good. Seriously. If Cindy were here, I may just slap her thinking about how good it was. ha-kidding, mom!

If you're not familiar with this restaurant, it is expensive. Very expensive. Very much worth it. But, we were in the triple digits folks. Look at this salad. I got suckered into it. I was thinking normal salad. This is a tomato and mozzarella salad. It was alright. Nothing as fancy as you may think: spinach, mozzarella chunks, juicy tomato, balsamic vinaigrette dress. But IT COST MORE THAN MY HAIRCUT I got earlier that day!!!!

This is a terrible picture, but we didn't want to look like we never "come to town!"

I got the petite filets topped with shrimp - o.m.g. Best steak EVER!

Wesley got the NY strip.

And what would a trip to the beach be without a little seafood? So, we made a trip to Prestons. Interesting story, just before we got there, a man and woman on a golf cart tried crossing a major intersection and actually got hit by a vehicle and thrown from the cart. And sadly, the pathetic human being who hit them left the scene. They took the injured man away by ambulance. I wonder how he is?

Honeymoon - Day 6

So - Day 6 consisted of traveling. We left SC early Saturday morning and headed to Atlanta.

The Braves were playing the Mets.

They lost that day. : (

This is probably my favorite new husband/wife picture of Wesley and me. : )

We searched high and low all week to come up with a Braves t-shirt for me to wear (finally finding one Friday night). We get to Atlanta, park, and walk to the stadium and realize Wesley has forgotten his McCann jersey in the car, but we didn't turn around because we were already veryyyy late (my fault - long story).

But, we enjoyed the time we were there. And I actually left my book in the car!

Honeymoon - Day 5

Day 5 of the honeymoon consisted of Wesley waking up at 7 a.m. to head out to the beach and make sure we got a good spot! We were both out there by 9 a.m. and it was sooo wonderful!

We saw many sights......

including Mr. Crab

And this LOVELY view....

We did some of this. Sudoku anyone?!

Notice the aWeSoMe clips to hold the towel on the chair. Thank you Wesley's mom! : )

And saw MORE of this!

But it really reminded me of this....

These are my cohort C buddies in about 25 years.

From L to R, that's Allison, Ashley, Brittany and her puppies, Jessica (she's hiding!), and me, with a cig in my mouth!

I love you girls and NEED another Teacha's 4 Eva trip, ASAP!

I feel that I need a disclaimer here.

My Cohort C buddies - there are five of us (and Michael, but 5 girls). We all went through our Elementary Education classes together and went to Bible study and church together. I love them dearly and miss them sooo much-none of us live in the same city anymore. But, we took this picture of these women when we took our trip to the beach before graduation.

Good times! : )

Back to the honeymoon......

I did a lot of this....

This is the plumber's wife and cute little daughter. She's a helper. She pulled the snacks out of the beach bag and accidently dumped them all out on the sand!

Under the umbrella.

Then the nice people beside us (not Mr. and Mrs. Plumber) took a real picture of us!

I had never been to the Atlantic before and it was CrAzY how distinct high tide and low tide are! The ocean was much further away when we first got out there!

That afternoon it began to rain, so we packed up and headed to the outlets.

Wesley found a piano shop and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off! : )

J/K - he really is good though. He was much more serious about his piano lessons than I was about mine. Or maybe he just had more talent. I wasn't blessed with that type of intelligence!

That night we headed to the House of Blues.

"Who's Bad" was there performing their Michael Jackson Tribute show and it was

A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!

I don't guess I've ever been in a BAR before this. I mean, I've been on Bourbon Street with the AUMB before, thanks Auburn University for picking up the tab on that one, and that scared the living daylights out of me. But, this was a BAR. We walked in, sporting our green wrist bands since we were over 21, and I asked Wesley if I looked as out of place as I felt! The shocking thing to me was that this was a FAMILY show. So there were tons of kids (sporting their red wrist bands). I would have NEVER taken my child there. There was so much alchy and lust going on in there....I think I may have gotten an STD if I sat wrong on a stool....haha, ok, it wasn't THAT bad, but it was intense!

Have you seen the movie Coyote Ugly? It came out when I was in high school, and for whatever reason, I LOVED (and still do) that movie. (I also went there in New Orleans, haha, thank you Auburn University for providing me with so many cultural opportunities upon your undefeated season and trip to the Sugar Bowl in 2004/5....that would also be when Wesley and I met, so that trip has fond memories...haha!). This is what the inside of House of Blues bar (not the restaraunt part) was like to me. The Coyote Ugly scene....minus the slutty cowgirl-esque women dancing on the bar.

Here we are, on our way back to the car, because there was no photography aloud and I certainly wasn't checking my camera at the door for $2.

But again, the show was GREAT! The guy slightly looked like MJ (if you were just taking a quick glance), and the voice was very similar too, but geez, the dance skills were lacking. I mean, I could do better! : )

Giveaway

From another blue eyed boy and brown eyed girl.

Check it out here.

Grill Master

My favorite wedding gift?  I have no idea!  I love them all!

Wesley's favorite wedding gift?  That's easy, THE GRILL! 

He's grilled 3/7 days that we've been back.  It's been soooo good!

Our first night of actual cooking we decided to make it special.  We broke out our china!  I like the fancy plates!  : )  We marinated the chicken in this.  Ken's Steakhouse Dressing, Sweet Vidalia Onion.  It's my FAV marinade I think.  Normally, I just dump an entire bottle into a baking dish and throw some chicken breasts in there too, cooking it at 350.  But, this time, we marinated for a few hours in half the bottle, grilled it, and then I poured some on top of my grilled chicken.  Wesley isn't a fan of excessive use of condiments, so he did not.  It was DELISH!  I also made homemade mashed potatoes and green beans.

The next night we had steaks, crash hot potatoes, and roasted asparagus.  These are some of my favorite side dishes.  They're so easy to make and so very good!

Tonight's menus consisted of hamburgers and french fries.  Wesley INSISTED that I take pictures of him grilling because he's got to show my dad! : )

On the grill....

Doesn't my little backyard area look cute?

We've got a cute little plant that not only is alive, but flourishing, bamboo, two sets of wind chimes, and of course, the grill!

Hard at work!

My contribution to dinner:  homemade french fries.  I actually peeled the potatoes, cut them up, and fried them myself.

What's your favorite grilling meal?

Honeymoon - Day 4

Our place for the week was technically in North Myrtle Beach.

And, who knew, but it's actually the home of Vanna White! I do love me some Wheel of Fortune. Wesley's really good at it, too. I've signed him up for it several times, but we haven't ever heard anything about it!

Thursday of the honeymoon we woke up and headed to Bob's Water Sports to go.....

PARASAILING!

Ok, just PRETEND this is us. In order to get to the boat, you rode a banana boat first. So, you couldn't bring your camera unless it was waterproof and I wasn't going to risk it. Not even with a ziploc bag. Just my luck, I'd drop it in the Atlantic.

Wesley had been parasailing before, but I had not. I was very nervous, not only because we were sooo high up there, but the waves were really rough that day and the winds were about 18 mph (they have to stop at 20mph). I'm so glad we did it though.

I wish I knew how many feet up we actually were. I was fine looking out at the beach and the coast line. It was a beautiful sight. I was fine looking out at the horizon. But as soon as I looked down. Holy moly. I had a DEATH GRIP on those cords. All I could think of was that movie The Guardian, with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. Have you seen it? I HIGHLY recommend it - amazing! : )

And here's the survivors picture! We enjoyed it but were both glad to be back on land. Wesley was starting to get a little queasy with all of those waves tossing us back and forth.

That night, we went to the movie theaters to see Ice Age 3D!

And what's a trip to the theaters if you don't stop for a doughnut afterwards?! mmm!

Honeymoon - Day 3

Day 3

It began at midnight with the showing of Harry Potter. Because we stayed out so late, we didn't get out of bed until after lunch. Then, we went out and about on the town and I GOT A HAIRCUT!!!! It was sooo nice, I'd been dying for one. I got about three inches cut off and it feels sooo much better. Picture to come, I can't seem to find it. After that we got ice cream and then back to the room to get ready for our fancy night out. We headed to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner (I plan on doing one post on all the places we ate

out). It is very expensive, but honestly, it was THE BEST steak I've ever had in my life. After that, we headed to the Carolina Opry to see their show, Good Vibrations.

Good Vibrations is a show featuring a mix of 60s, 70s, and 80s music. It was FANTASTIC!

Our tickets! : )

The Beatles kicked off the show!

Aquarius

Footloose!

No idea...

Elvis. He looked NOTHING like him. But, the voice was pretty much dead on.

The king himself.

Next, the Blues Brothers came out.

The real ones. It was really neat, while the performers were onstage, the screens showed footage, pictures and actual video, of performances.

Crap, I can't remember. There were so many of them.

Dang, I told myself I would remember these...

Tina Turner, I think...

Yeh, I think that's right...

TT again.

SNL

Some skit. Must have been before my time. I had no clue what was going on. But all of the "old" people were howling.

These guys performed some. Tap dancers that were discovered on America's Got Talent. And, let me tell you, they were UH-MAZING!!! Of course, they've got nothing on me and Caitlin.

hmmm....IDK

Next came Cheech and Chong in Gun Smoke.

And Michael Phelps got out of the car too! BAHAHAHA! : )

Then, Led Zeppelin performed.

I guess this was him...

The Village People were awesome!

A little Y.M.C.A. anyone?!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

And, finally, Kiss ended the show. All I could think of at this point was Adam Lambert and the season finale of American Idol.

We had a great time. Wesley and I both agreed that our dads would have loved the show. Maybe we can go back sometime with them.