My goodness, SO much has happened since we last met my dear readers! Firstly, please allow me to apologize for our long separation. This last week has been both amazing and chaotic, so much so that it has been difficult to find even one spare moment to catch up with you! Because of this (and to save you from a 20-paragraph-post, ha!) I'll be recapping the last week and a half in a couple posts over the course of today and tomorrow. And then (get excited!), we'll be moving to daily posts! The past couple days alone have been extra-busy, so I can only imagine what the next week will look like as we approach wedding day! Thus, I think those daily posts will be fun updates for both you and I! Well, on that note, let us begin!
After finding out that I'll be an auntie to another baby boy last Tuesday (which I'm still grinning about, by the way!), the rest of my week was brimming with final exam studying, studying, studying! I did, however, manage to take a couple study breaks to sneak in a few wedding tasks ;-) First, Darling Fiance's mom & family friends sent us some fantastic childhood pictures of my handsome groom over the years! We sat down together to flip through them and laughed, grinned, and giggled until both of our cheeks ached! It was so neat to see Darling Fiance' in all the special stages of life--baby, toddler, teen, and now, man. It even made me think, is this what our little ones may look like someday?! I sure hope so! Those cute dimples, rosy cheeks, and gorgeous blonde locks just melt my heart! As a special sneak peek, I'll share a couple below, but to see the rest (as well as my baby pictures!) you'll have to come to the wedding!
After oohing & aahing over Darling Fiance's childhood photos, I arranged them into a powerpoint to share with our loved ones at the reception, and took the rest of the evening off to enjoy some quality time with my future husband (just so you know, that gives me chills to write!). We enjoyed a wonderful stir-fry dinner and even shopped a bit for our honeymoon attire. I really can't believe that we'll be basking in the sun alone on a gorgeous sandy island for an entire week! I am literally LONGING for that special vacation! Thank goodness it'll be here before we know it!
The next evening, after much debate, I decided to try a personal airbrush tan. Now, I've had my fair share of automatic booth spray tans, which, unfortunately, I've never really been happy about. I've even tried some top-shelf self-tanner, which was definitely an improvement over the booth, but still frustrating to apply and not perfectly natural-looking either. After being thoroughly impressed with a couple of my classmates seemingly over-night beach glows, I decided to explore the personal airbrush tan. This requires a good exfoliation prior to tanning followed by a visit to the salon, where one undresses to their level of comfort. The tan-applier then enters the room and proceeds to personally airbrush a deep, dark glow onto the exposed areas. This process takes a mere 15 minutes and then you are left to dry off and dress. I am proud to say that I don't believe I've ever received so many compliments on my skin (or been so tan!) in my life. For the first time, I actually felt like the tan was very natural looking, and instead of an orangey-hue I came out with a golden brown glow. I decided at that moment that this would be my pre-wedding tanning ritual. In all honesty, both Darling Fiance' & I spent many an afternoon at the pool attempting to achieve a natural golden tan, which did work to some extent, but about two weeks before the wedding I realized that there was simply no way that this fair-skinned bride would be dark enough without an intervention. As I absolutely will not ever enter another tanning bed in my life (medical school and a skin-cancer scare will do that to you!), my options were to remain fair or try the airbrush tan, and I'm glad that I'm choosing the latter. Not that I'm not proud of my natural skin color (I am, for sure!), but let's be honest, everyone looks better with a bit of color!
Friday morning I completed my final exam (which went very well, thankfully!) and then unfortunately received some awful news. My Grandfather (Daddy's Father) had been rushed in the middle of the night to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Fortunately, the surgery went well and Papaw was already feeling better by the time Darling Fiance' & I made it to the hospital. We spent the rest of the day with my family trying to nurse Papaw back to health. I even made two chocolate cakes (one for Papaw and one for Sabrina, just because I thought she'd love it!) and I like to think that all that chocolate helped hasten his recovery ;-). After a long day at the hospital and at Grandma & Papaw's, Darling Fiance' & I volunteered to return to my parents' house to watch Papdad while they spent the night with Papaw. Unfortunately, that night proved to be a difficult one, to say the least. Papdad fell twice in the middle of the night, and he was so weak that I had to recruit Darling Fiance' to help me lift him. The next morning, he could barely walk and again had to be lifted and carried everywhere he went. At this point I was extremely concerned. Papdad has definitely been declining more rapidly lately, but this was just plain troubling. I called Mom & Sweet Sister and they both agreed that he probably had another UTI. Darling Fiance' & I pushed the fluids all day and tried to let him rest as much as possible. Thankfully, by Sunday he was doing some better, and we believe we narrowly missed another hospital stay!
After my parents returned from Papaw's, my mom & I spent some time picking out my baby pictures for the wedding slideshow. It's amazing how many pictures one family can accumulate over the years! We sure had a great time and I can't wait to show you guys the full presentation on wedding day! Stay tuned, I'll show a couple sneak peaks tomorrow, but remember, there are so many more that you'll be able to enjoy come July 14th!
Finally, on Monday morning, I had my wedding hair trial. This went much, much better than I could have ever dreamed! I explained to my stylist Chris, who will also be doing the bridesmaids' and mothers' styles on wedding day, what I had envisioned, and he literally took off with it! By the time he had finished, I was able to imagine the full wedding day look for the first time! Let's just say that my hair will be very romantic and elegant, thanks to Chris' expertise! After the trial run, I threw up my hair (so as not to ruin the surprise for Darling Fiance') and finally counted all the RSVP cards. It looks like we'll be expecting 175 adults and...get ready...about 30 children! Thankfully, I had already planned for all those little ones, and their special tables will be amazing! They'll be filled with fun activities, stickers, crayons, and even crowns that they can decorate to their hearts' content! Not to mention a full spread of trinkets and sweet goodies! My wish is that when all is said and done, every guest, young and old, will have fun at our wedding!
Til Next Time...
Hugs & Kisses,
A Southern Sweetheart
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