Presently, there are no Presents!

Only 2 more weeks until Christmas! Have you finished your shopping?

I have barely even begun. I have a few gifts for Mason and one for my mom and that. is. it. Pretty pathetic.

It's not only my aversion to crowded shopping malls that has made me fall behind this year, although God knows I can't stand a crowded mall! Actually it's not the number of people in the mall so much as the traffic and parking that turns me into a mega Scrooge.No, this year it's because I have NO IDEA what to get anyone. My mom was the most helpful of the bunch, giving me a wish list to go off of. But everyone else... no clue. Mason wants clothes. He always wants clothes. So boring.

So not only do I have to actually go out and purchase gifts. I'm having to wrack my brain to come up with gifts perfect for everyone on my shopping list. I have no creative juices this year - they have all been sucked up by visions of our wedding dancing in my head. I recently finished helping my friend Adrian design our Save the Dates and will be spending the weeks of my winter break addressing one billion envelopes! Makes my hand hurt just thinking about it. Needless to say I will not be sending out a Holiday Card this year. Sorry my friends. Instead, here is a photo of Mason and I trimming our tree this year.

Because who doesn't decorate their silver tinsel tree with pink roses while wearing a ball gown! ;)

I hope that you all are enjoying December and have all of your gift purchasing behind you! Feel free to leave any ideas you have of gifts to give this Christmas for a lazy bride on a budget. Merry Christmas!

Hello out there??

Hello blog friends!

Are you still out there? I'm sure many of you have abandoned ship since I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon. My most sincere apologies.

I don't have any hilarious stories for you tonight... or any big updates, but I did want to check in with you to let you know I'm still alive and think of you often!

This fall has been absolutely insane for me and the number one cause of this chaos was my decision to become our school's cheer sponsor.

Being the cheer sponsor entails having to stay with the girls for either a football or basketball game one night every week (usually getting me home around 9pm). Then there are practices - and boy do they love to practice. Constantly begging for more freaking practice. Geez! Don't they have laundry to do, dinner to make, Real Housewives to catch up on and bodies that need working out. No? Guess that's just me.

I'm debating calling it quits on coaching after just my first year because it takes so much out of me - mainly my free time. It's been a lot of fun at times, but mainly it's just another task on my to-do list each week. Only 4 more basketball games though and we're done, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How does Sue Sylvester do it??

In other news, we have now approached the 7 month mark until our wedding. To all of you out there, 7 months probably seems like an eternity being more than half a year away, but to the bride-to-be it's starting to become freak out time. I don't know what I'm stressing about. Many of the big decisions have already been made. It's just the little stuff that makes me lose sleep at night (as you maybe can tell since I'm writing this at 12:30 am).

I've also come to realize that no one thinks your wedding is as important as you and your fiance do (aside from your moms). Also,  the world will not stop for you as you plan your wedding. I guess I knew it wouldn't, but still a slightly disappointing realization. People will get engaged, get married, have babies and carry on and place their dates all over your calendar without a second thought about your most important day. I get it and am fine with it. It just leads to more stress and costliness when you have 5 more weddings (3 of them destination) and a baby shower or two to get through before your very own day.... and that's nothing... I feel like we've been to over 100 weddings in the past year.

Bottom line - I am just very ready for June 30th to be here. I know there is much to do and be excited about between now and then, but right now I just want it to come, to be enjoyed and to pass so that we can start our lives together officially, because in the end isn't that the main point?

Sorry for such a bleak, non-funny post. I'll cheer up and get back to my old self asap! :)

Addicted.

My name is Caroline.....and I am an addict.

My drug of choice...

Pinterest.

I am really obsessed ya'll. I mean I just can't stop pinning away all the decorations, outfits and recipes that I want to try out. This weekend things got really out of control.

Yesterday I made a wreath for fall for my mom:

and for myself:

Then for breakfast this morning I made Mason and I pumpkin pancakes and cinnamon syrup from scratch:

For lunch, jalepeno popper grilled cheese:

and since I was on such a roll, I just baked a batch of peanut butter/nutella swirl cookies for the hell of it:

This needs to stop. I can't even make the dinner that I had planned to make tonight because my sudden Betty Homemaker/Martha Stewart-ness has left me too exhausted.

But oh how much fun it would be to fill my days with crafting and cooking instead of working. Someday... Until then, I will be cracked out on Pinterest when I can. The weekends!

I'm Busy - Polishing off Another Bottle of Chard...

My life is consumed with school right now. Teaching. Cheerleading. Meetings. Lesson Plans. More meetings to meet about what was not finished from the previous meeting. Grading. Meeting about grading. Meetings with people who can't figure out the lesson plans even though they are s-p-e-l-l-e-d out and handed on a silver platter.

....this is leading me to consume lots of wine. Carefree days of summer are gone.

My house is in shambles. Birthday cards sent are belated. My summer tan - gone. Laundry - well... I don't even want to talk about it. Such is the life of a teacher.

Mason's brother sent me this before school started.

Truer words were never written. ;)

Cheers to getting back into the routine of school! Painful though it may be.

Golden Anniversary

I don't mean to be a total cheese ball, but I will... so humor me.

Mason and I just thought about today's date - August 30th....

We have been together now for 50 months!

Happy "Golden" Anniversary to us!

Annnddddd exactly 10 more months until our wedding! Yay!

Just thought I'd share! :)

All About August

Hello...

.....so August kind of just came... and went!

I was a busy gal this month. First, I started off by being a bridesmaid in my friend Jill's wedding!

After we married her off, I went back to school for teacher work week. Which happened to be the same week as my b-day week. Woohoo! Look who's 27! Holla!

Now it's back to school. Last week was the first week back with the kiddos and I'm happy to report that my little 6th graders are tiny, cute and smart. No bad apples in the bunch (yet.) :)

Other than that I am just trying to survive this heat wave! Dreaming of fall weather, tailgating, the holidays, jeans, boots and cute sweaters!

This summer was great, but it's time to move on. Happy Back to School... Bring it September!

Shark Week

Back from Jamaica...

.....just in time for Shark Week!

Shark Week is pretty cool I guess, if you like watching the same documentary over and over and over.

I found a way to make Shark Week waayyyyy more entertaining though!

Found that little bad boy on Pinterest. Have you all checked that out yet? I am obsessed! Like for real. But more on that later...

Tata for now.

Da da da da dadadadadadadadadadda AHHHHH! Uh-oh drink 3! :)

Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Rhyme...

Get on up! It's bobsled Jamaica time!!!

Heading to Montego Bay tomorrow morning to celebrate our friend's Lezlie and Michael as they get married in paradise!

I've been waiting for this all summer!!! Cant wait to share my rastafarian adventure with you all! Yeah, mon! ;)

Bumpy Ride

Back from Vegas. Feeling like a swollen zombie this morning. Thank God I do not have to work this month, because that is how long it's going to take me to recover...

Only kidding of course. I'll be back to chardonnay by the end of the day. ;)

I'll give you all my Vegas trip highlights when I can pry my swollen eyes open a little more. Here was the biggest highlight of them all though...

Surviving the flight home.

Seriously, this flight was so bad I literally thought that it was going down and that we were all going to die. I promise I am not exaggerating. I thought this was the end of the road for me.

After we took off, the pilot came on and announced that the flight was going to be a little bumpy due to some weather in the Las Vegas area. O. M. G. It was more than just a little weather and this was not your average turbulence. The plane was violently thrashing from left to right, the whole plane was shaking and we kept doing free falls (the kind that make your stomach go weak... also not comfortable to experience after a weekend in Vegas mind you). It was so bad at one point that people were screaming and I think I experienced a mild heart attack. I looked down and could see my heart thumping out of my chest and my hands shaking uncontrollably.

A side note: I am 100% not scared to fly. I love flying. I even applied to be a flight attendant at one point in my life.

This flight changed everything for me though. I might need tranquilizers the next time I get on a plane. Too make things even worse...I had to stop in Albuquerque and change planes. So after a flight from absolute hell I had to get right back on another one. I felt like kissing the ground in Dallas once I finally made it home.

More fun Vegas memories to come... ;)

My Wedding Dress/New York Trip!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! Mason and I went to Houston to hang out with his family and also see some of our friends... all in all a fun and restful weekend!

No need to unpack though because tomorrow I'm heading here...

with these fun ladies...

to celebrate our friend Jill's Bachelorette Party!

But I couldn't start another vacay without telling you about my last one!

Last week, I went to New York with these ladies...

(my mom, my sister, me, Mason's mom, Mason's grandmother) *and my godmother, but she wandered off during this pic.

Our Mission: Find my Wedding Dress!

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and after everyone checked into their hotel. I took a cab to my bestie Lauren's apartment in the Upper East Side. I wish I would have taken some pictures. Here apt is absolutely darling and when I arrived I was treated to some champagne and delish snackies!

That evening we went to a private dinner party at the apartment of wedding dress designer, Amsale. Very fab! She was so nice and I got to meet all of Lauren's work friends and the "stars" of Amsale Girls! It's funny to meet people after you have seen them on tv. Anyway, we watched the new Amsale Girls episode with everyone and had such a great time that we just couldn't let the night end so we continued the party at Posh - a gay bar in the Hell's Kitchen area! Side note: New York had just legalized gay marriage two days before so this place was totally ooc, but fun! We danced the night away.

Monday and Tuesday were filled doing touristy things such as: a walk through Central Park,

shopping,

a trip to the Metropolitan Museum to check out the Alexander McQueen exhibit (which was absolutely amazing btw),

eating (we found a cute little French restaurant called "Maison" for lunch :) ,

a trip to the New York Public Library, etc.

Tuesday evening was when the real fun went down! Wedding dress shopping time!! My entourage and I went to Amsale to try on wedding dresses with the help of my bridal consultant and MOH Lauren! She had dresses flagged and waiting for me to try on upon my arrival and had even gathered some of the new dresses fresh off the runway that are not even in stores yet. Such service! ;)

The first dress I tried on though was THE ONE! I had had my eye on it for a while now and it was just as beautiful on as it was in the picture! I wish I could show it off, but you'll have to wait a whole year to see it! So glad to scratch that wedding task off the list! Starting to feel more and more like a bride each day. Afterwards, we had a celebratory dinner at Ruby Foo's, an asian restaurant in the Broadway district. So yum and fun!

Anyway, we had an amazing time in New York and I was so glad to share the experience with the women in my life who mean the most!

Now on to the next adventure with some equally fab friends! Vegas here we come! :)

4 years...

I just got back last night from a wonderful trip to New York and can't wait to tell you all about my fabulous adventure. I will definitely fill you in with all the details. Today, however, I am busy celebrating my FOUR year anniversary with Mason! These years have been the best years of my life with Mase by my side! Words just can't express...

Even more incredible is that our wedding is now exactly ONE year away! Everything is starting to come together and I can not wait to be married to my love. We have had such a great time being engaged these last 4 months and I look forward to the day that we are husband and wife. I love you Mason! Happy 4 years and many, many more!

Summer Hiatus

You know what sucks? When you are just starting to enjoy your summer break and are getting used to sleeping in and then your school throws in a full week of training in the middle of June, just for fun. My school won some grant or something, so my principal decided we would use it by becoming an AVID campus and getting certified over the summer. I know, I know... it's a great thing for the school and I do get paid extra for going, so I will stop complaining I guess, blah.

I had a pretty nice little weekend. Friday, I had an all day pool party with some of the girls and I got absolutely burnt to a crisp, oops! Apparently sunscreen needs to be applied before the sun

melts your skin off... Then we reconvened for a girl's dinner. We went to Fireside Pies and halfway through enjoying my salad I realize that there is a dead fly on my plate. Tasty! So we

made out with some free apps, drinks, shots and I got a gift card for next time. Sometimes it pays to share your meal with a dead insect! ;)

Afterwards, we went to the grand opening of a new club in Dallas called Glass. It was a pretty good time, except that their A/C wasn't really doing the job for a hot summer's night of dancing, so we didn't stay too long!

Saturday, I had a full day of wedding dress appointments. My aunt came in town and she and my mom and I hit up a few boutiques. I found one dress that was pretty, but I'm holding out to see if I find my dream dress in New York next week. I feel certain that I will.

The rest of the weekend was just chill time, mentally preparing myself for training. I hope it is quick and painless. After that though my summer really kicks into high gear! New York, Houston, Vegas and Jamaica all within one month! Holy Smokes! Doesn't my principal know that he is interfering with my packing planning?! Rude! OK, folks have a happy Monday!

Amsale Girls

Last night was the series premiere of Amsale Girls on the WE network!

Why was I so excited about another reality show about a bridal salon selling wedding gowns? I mean hasn't that already been done....and then done again some more. Well the reason I tuned in is because my best friend/college roomie/sorority sister (and my soon to be Maid of Honor) is one of the show's stars! Lauren is a bridal consultant at Amsale in New York. The show focuses on the bridal consultants who work at the store and follow them as they sell upscale gowns while working to meet sales goals and also goes a little into their personal lives as well. (Lauren is on far right in picture below).

Adding to my excitement, I am going up to New York in 2 weeks to maybe, possibly pick out my wedding dress from her store! So exciting! So if you're looking for another bridal show to tune into on a Sunday night def make sure to catch this one! It is a lot better than Say Yes to the Dress or any of the other shows! I may be just a tad bit biased though!

Congrats Lauren! Soo proud of you!

Falsies

You never leave home without them.

Why should your car?

*This is an actual car that I spotted at the Uptown Walmart Grocery Store.

Dallas, keeping it classy.

Happy Hump Day!

Cheerleaders and other headaches...

Ah, the first day of summer. Well, not quite. I did have to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning to go take the ESL certification exam. Did my school require this of me? No. The State of Texas? No. Do I just like racking up certifications for fun? No. Alas, my stupid teacher certification program is making me. Why? Because they are jerks. And the real kicker... if I don't pass it by August they are going to charge me $300 a month until I do pass it. Sooo ready to be done with this program. It's been one requirement after another that they keep tossing my way.

The test was muy dificil. Yes, dear reader, although I was blessed with some awesome spanglish skills, this test was no bueno - full of tricky situational questions and grammar rules... blah! Hopefully I passed. We'll see in about 3-5 days. After studying for this test though, I decided I have no desire whatsoever to enter grad school. My schooling days are over folks.

Oh and the testing site I went to was like checking into prison. I couldn't bring in anything, I had to be searched with a metal wand and then when I took my David Yurman bracelets off and set them on my desk because they kept clanking into the table, my proctor told me I wasn't allowed to take them off. Like I'm sure I had secret ESL test tips etched into the grooves of my bracelet. Psh.

So that was my morning in a nutshell. Let me tell you about yesterday...

Yesterday was a half-day at school for teachers to finish things up, turn in keys, textbooks, etc. I had my cheer girls come by to pick up their uniforms and practice outfits. Before they came, I asked last year's sponsor if she gave the girls her cell phone or anything for them to be able to contact her with questions, problems, etc. She said that she did. So against my better judgement, I gave 14 twelve year olds my cell phone # with strict instructions not to abuse it. So I'm sitting at home around 1:30pm trying to enjoy the start to my summer when ring, ring, ring...

Me: Hello?

Cheerleader #1: Ms. C?

Me: Yes

Cheerleader #1: I think I have the wrong uniform top, I think Cheerleader #2 has mine and I have hers.

Me: Ok, well why don't you just bring your top to camp in July and we will switch them out then. Will that work?

Cheerleader #1: Yes.

Me: Ok, great...bye

20 minutes later....ring, ring, ring...

Me: Hello?

Cheerleader #2: Ms. C?

Me: Yes

Cheerleader #2: I think Cheerleader #1 has my uniform top.

Me: Yes, I have already heard about it. Do you see C#1 very often?

Cheerleader #2: No

Me: Ok well you have two options. Either you two wait until July to switch tops or coordinate getting together and switching before then. Will that work?

Cheerleader #2: Ok

Me: Great, bye.

45 minutes later....ring, ring, ring...

Me: HELLO.

Cheerleader #1's dad: My daughter, Cheerleader #1, did not get the correct uniform. We think Cheerleader #2 has her top.

Me: Yes sir, I have already talked to both girls and they can either wait to switch out at camp or meet up and do it before then.

Cheerleader #1's dad: That is not acceptable. I will not tolerate my daughter's uniform at someone else's house.

Me: Um, ok, well I'll be happy to give you cheerleader #2's phone number so that you can make plans to swap tops.

Cheerleader #1's dad: Ok fine.

Me: Her number is ###-###-####.

Cheerleader #1's dad: We also think Cheerleader #3 might have another piece of my daughter's uniform.

Me: Ok, here is her phone number. ###-###-####.

Cheerleader #1's dad: Ok, thank you. We'll be in contact.

So apparently my new job for the summer is Cheerleader Crisis Hotline.

FML. WWSSD? What would Sue Sylvester do?

Happy first day of summer! ;)

Last Day

Tomorrow is the last day of my first year of teaching.

Overall it was a great year.

I had a great team of teachers to work with.

I befriended many of my colleagues throughout the year.

My students TAKS test scores were pretty good.

I was asked to be the 7th grade cheer sponsor.

I was asked to be the new team leader of my team.

I just got an email today from our Asst. Principal asking if I would be apart of a committee next year to come up with ways of improving student discipline (chosen as one of only 6 teachers at my school).

I had some annoying students that I did not enjoy having in class.

But I had even more students that I did love having.

And best of all... I was rehired for next year! :)

So in a nutshell... I am very happy with my new chosen profession.

It was very much worth all of the early mornings,

the late night planning,

the whining kids

and the ton of paperwork.

The part I love the most is when my kids become big 7th graders next year, but still stop by my room in the morning for a hug or give me a smile and a wave in the hallway. :)

My first year was a great year.

Hoping for many more!

Engagement Pictures

Over the weekend we got to celebrate our friend Adrian's 29th Birthday! We are so lucky to have met Adrian and her brand new hubs Sterling a few years ago, as they have become some of our closest Dallas friends!

We are equally lucky that Adrian is a talented photographer who so graciously offered to shoot our engagement photos for us yesterday evening. Here is a sneak peak of some of the amazing pictures she was able to capture!

I'm dying to see the rest, but wanted to go ahead and share her terrific work so far! :) Love you Adrian! Huge thanks from Mason and me!!!

www.tomatojuicephoto.com