Show Us Your Life!

Today's "Show Us Your Life" over at Kelly's Korner is on the wedding ceremony, wedding party, and flowers! Lucky me, I had a gorgeous bridal party...and Will's guys weren't so bad either :)

Will and I both had 1 MOH/Best Man and 7 bridemaids/groomsmen. The girls wore green Ann Taylor dresses and whatever shoes they wanted. I got them pearl earrings and bracelets to wear and they did their own hair and makeup however they wanted - I wanted them to be comfy and feel pretty! My flower girl's sash was also from Ann Taylor so the colors would match :) The guys just wore simple black tuxes.

Our flower girl was my sweet little cousin, Jenny and our ringer bearer was my other cousin, Jack. Aren't they the cutest??! I chose Jenny because A) she's adorable and B) I was the flower girl in her mom's wedding. But I happen to have a million other little girls in my family all flower girl age that I love equally, so I also had 6 "flower princesses" and they wore cute little matching dresses and passed out programs before the ceremony.

Flowers - The bridesmaids carried bouquets of cymbidium orchids and the guys wore white orchids on their lapels. My bouquet was an all white mixture of roses, orchids....some other white flowers....I don't really know what else was in it but it was pretty!

The ceremony flowers were minimal - we had some green hydrangeas hanging from the chairs down the aisle and TONS of white rose petals surrounding the gazebo thing we got married under. We also had strands of crystals hanging from the back of the gazebo/pergola/whatever it was.

The Ceremony was very protestant - aka short and sweet! The minister was my old youth pastor who drove in from east Texas, that meant a lot to me. We had a string trio playing, no readers or singers, and we were in and out and married in 20 min! All my catholic friends were shocked! But it was very beautiful and we were surrounded by 250 friends and family and I wouldn't have changed a thing. 

Mr. & Mrs!

P.S. Click on any image to make it bigger.

P.P.S. I'll do my reception flowers next time. Too many pictures to post!

P.P.P.S. I'm posting this from our new house! We spent our first night here last night!

xo, Lynds

Great Day. So Tired.

7:30am - Rise and Shine!

8:30am - Breakfast of Champions a la La Madeline.

9:30am - Final house walkthrough with the builder - looks great!

11am - Meeting with the Title Company. My hand cramped up from so many sigs.

12pm - lunch/shopping at the big blue building in the sky (aka Ikea).

1pm - Got the call, funding went through, we are homeowners! Do the happy dance!

2pm - Back to Rockwall, load up the burb as best we can and head to the new house! First on the list - unload clothes, lay out rugs, hang curtains, put together some furniture if time permits. I also successfully set off the alarm...go me.

2:30pm - wait out torrrential downpoar....or just decide to get wet and keep going!

fasssst forward.....working, working, working....

7:30pm - In laws come over the help. The guys get the curtains finished. Me and Sherrie get one dresser built. Until we realize the top is backwards. Oops.

10pm - In laws leave. Will helps me finish the dresser. We decide to tackle the easy nightstands.

11pm - The nightstands win. One down, one to finish tomorrow.

11:30pm - Dinner.

12:30 blog. and bed.

Actual moving day tomorrow. Good thing we have professionals coming!

Sneak Peek of my new favorite accessory....curtains!

Girlfriends and Timelines

Two of my best girlfriends (who happen to be sisters) came into town for a Dallas visit! Will and I were able to drive in on Friday night and go out to dinner with them and some of my other favorite people at Mi Cocina. Then we may have gone out to a karaoke bar afterwards for some singing and dancing but maybe not :)

I love my girls!



Nat, Anne Elise, Natalie, Rosalind, and moi outside Nat and Nat's house. Lisie and Ros are the out of towners.



All of us plus Catherine at Mi Cocina!




Me and Will at MiCo. He wasn't the only guy, a few of our friends from Baylor came. I somehow didn't end up getting any pics of the boys though...

The new plan for our week/house/life....

Mon/Tues....nada.
Wed - closing at 11am!! Hopefully finishing all that by 1 or so and spending the rest of the day moving in small things like clothes, rugs, hanging curtains, etc. We're also hoping to get our fridge delivered and installed!
Thurs - Moving Day!!! We have movers coming so hopefully it will get done quickly! Then maybe cable and internet can get hooked up, that would be wonderful. Thursday is also my MIL's bday!
Friday - Will leaves for Houston...he is going down for his best friends Bachelor party. I am NOT spending the first weekend in our house alone so my brother is going to come spend the weekend helping me unpack and celebrating....
Sat. - my 23rd birthday! Yes Will is going to be out of town (boo) and my parents are out of town too (double boo) so me and Nate are going to hang out and go out to dinner with my some of my fave girlfriends (see above)
Sunday- Will comes home, parents come home, bday par-tay at my house! Or bday/unpacking par-tay, ha.

So that's that. It will be an interesting week!

Show Us Your Wedding Dress!

I mentioned a while ago I wanted to do a wedding post since I finally had possesion of all my wedding photos - then I saw over at Kelly's Korner she was going to be doing a series of posts on weddings....one with the dress, one with the ceremony, the reception, etc. so I'd thought I'd wait and join in on that! Today's post is "Show Us Your Wedding Dress!"

Or in my case, dresses.

I loooooove my wedding dress. Yes, present tense because I would still wear it everyday if I could. My mom and I only went to two stores and I knew it was the one the moment I saw it. It's very simple, all of the detail is in the fabric, no beading or crystals or anything. I loved the sweetheart neckline (it actually made me look like I have a little somethin-somethin!) and the mermaid cut with a dropped waist made me look longer (so keep that in mind if you're a shorty like me, future brides!)

After we had already found and purchased the perfect dress, my mom and I were messing around and I wanted to try on her dress just for fun. It fit me perfectly! I knew it had to be a sign so we spent the next month figuring out when I was going to wear it - it went back and forth between wearing it for the ceremony or surprising my dad and coming out in it for the father/daughter dance. In the end we settled for the ceremony bc the dance thing was too tricky and since the ceremony is the "traditional" part of the wedding, it seemed the most fitting. I feel so lucky that I was able to wear my mom's wedding gown - she didn't have it preserved and it was still in practically perfect condition! The lace had faded a bit, but it gave it a slightly antiqued look rather than an icky yellow. I was also lucky it wasn't too "eighties" with the big shoulders or anything - it was very simple with some beading, lots of gorgeous lace, and small pleats down the front. The only thing we did was remove the sleeves (it did have full length sleeves!) and some tulle underneath. I also wore her veil after we toned it down by removing three layers of tulle. What's with the eighties and tulle??! :)

These are my two bridal potraits. The picture on the left was my big bridal on canvas that was at the entrance of the cocktail room, and the picture on the right was framed and hung from a large mirror in the reception hall. (click to make bigger)

My mom and I in the same dress 28 years apart! We had these pictures framed and placed on the fireplace mantle in the cocktail room.

And finally some candids just for fun :)

Ok, I'm done. I promise.

Until next week :)

xo, Lyndsey

School Daze

I've been getting into school mode and it has been really fun and exciting but equally terrifying and stressful! According to everyone else, that means I'm ready, ha. Yesterday I went up to the school to meet my team, and seriously, they are the best teammates I could have ever hoped for! They both have tons of experience and are sooo sweet and helpful. They really made me feel welcome and helped calm (most of) my frazzled nerves. They also loaded me up with tons of posters, manipulatives, and supplies, and helped me come up with a list of things of more things I will need to get.

Speaking of shopping...I did my first classroom shopping today! I'm going to have a reading corner in my room and wanted to get some books for a small classroom library. We have to supply them ourselves so I headed over to Half Price Books and got 17 books for $25! And they are good books too, ha! One of my teammates gave me the names of a few popular series and I loaded up on tons of Junie B. Jones, Horrible Harry, etc books - I felt so professional! When I got home my awesome MIL (who is also a teacher) suprised me with two huge gift bags full of desk supplies and "treasure chest" supplies for my room! Will and I went a bought a plastic bin from Wal-Mart and some paint pens, and I'm going to draw a treasure chest on it and some jewels.

So far, I am loving being a teacher! I may not love it in a few weeks - my schedule is going to be crazy. There are multiple days where I will have staff development from 8-3 and then Alt. Cert. class from 5-8. Yikes! It will be worth it though!

Ummm, we will not be closing on our house tomorrow. And needless to say, I'm less than thilled about it. The loan people wont get their youknowwhat together, and now it's pushed back until *hopefully* Friday. Sigh...someday we'll move in!

Yesterday I spent the day at my grandparent's house. I'm working on a project for the house and needed some sewing assistance (I am ashamed to say I have no sewing abilities) so my grandmother came to the rescue. We are about two-thirds finished and it is looking great! Thanks Mamaw! I will post pics of my project inside our new house next week.

I cannot believe we're in the final stretch of home building - we had a walk through with our builder on Wednesday, made a few changes, and are going back for a final walk through next Wed/Thursday. Our close date was supposed to be Wednesday the 22nd, however, Will got a call today from our mortgage guy saying USDA is super backlogged and it might be Friday before they get our paperwork signed off. RAWR. This stinks for many reasons including A - I want to be in my house, B - moving during the week instead of the weekend is cheaper (Uhaul prices), C- my parents are going out of town on Saturday and wont be able to help, and D- I want to be in my house! Will is trying to negotiate so we'll see what happens.

Anyways....I'm really excited about tomorrow! We are going to pick up a rug for our living room and make a trip to Ikea for curtain rods and other goodies. I found a 9 x 12 sisal rug for our living room from Restoration Hardware on Craigslist. They are only asking $125 and it retails for $900! Score! I looove Craigslist, can you tell?

Tonight Will and I are not doing anything but lounging. We went to see Harry Potter last night and loved it. I thought it was so cute and funny. Not normally how I would describe an HP movie, and there were some scary/sad moments, but I think as they get older they're becoming more sarcastic/witty. But the two and a half hour movie combined with a loud thunderstorm that kept Rowdy up all night (poor thing is terrified of storms) which in turn kept us up all night has made for a pretty tired family. We are beat. We bought Knowing to watch, but that's about it for tonight.

Oh, and here are some pictures of the wood floor finally - it makes the house feel much more homey!

Happy Weekend!

Slight Change of Plans.

I got a phone call this morning from a teacher at my new school with a big friendly, "Welcome to our SECOND grade team!"

Wait, what??!

I was pretty positive I interviewed for a first grade position??? Turns out I did, but the first grade teacher that left was the lead teacher so they moved the lead teacher from second grade down to first, and different second grade teacher became lead teacher, and now I'm taking her spot as a regular second grade teacher. Catch that? It took me a minute and a few phone calls to confirm before it sank in, and now I am totally giddy about second grade!! Second grade was always my first choice even though I know I would have loved my first graders, but I really can't believe my luck!

I'm going back up to the school next Monday to meet my teammates, but I had to go up this afternoon for a t-shirt fitting and I got a sneak peek of my classroom! Some of the other teacher's things are still on the walls, but I got an idea of the layout so I can start planning! We get to theme out our room however we want and I saw a jungle room, a camo/hunting room, an ocean/beach room....what should I do??? Right now the only thing that comes to mind are owls (a Chi-O symbol that I love to decorate with) which would work if I came up with a good acronym or something...I'll keep brainstorming.

Here's what I'm working with...

A shot of the room when you first walk in - the door is in the corner at an angle.

Wall 1, part 1. The big cabinet stays, the desks and tables stay. Everything else goes!

Wall 1, part 2 - more cabinets and a sink!

Wall 2 - projector and teacher's desk. I was told only about half the classrooms have activeboards so far, so I was very excited to see one in my room! I will probably keep the desk in the same spot, except angle it for a better view of the entire room. It's really the only option.

Wall 3- white board and reading area.

Wall 4 - lockers! Have you ever seen lockers inside the classroom before? Must be a new thing....

That's my room! Any ideas for themes/color schemes/etc. - bring it on! I am literally starting from scratch!

Tomorrow is our walk through so hopefully I will have pics of the house pretty much completely finished! I went in today and the cardboard was up off the floors, but still no appliances. They have until 2pm tomorrow...

xo, Lynds

Etsy + Home + Redesign

I made my first Etsy purchase today and I'm very excited about it! Way back when I hinted that I might open my own Etsy shop but as it sometimes does - life got in the way - and it never happened. Eh, maybe someday. Anyways, I snagged this little guy from Coastline for our new coffee table...

(It will of course have an "L" on it)

Our new coffee table was actually a steal of its own. We have been eyeing this coffee table from World Market for a while and were just about to purchase it when I found it on Craigslist for half the price! Turns out the seller lives in our town and when Will contacted him, it was a guy he goes hunting with! He said he had a lot of offers, but since he knows Will, he said we could have it! Score! Don't you think that runner will look great on it? Me too!

Things are going well on the home front...we went by yesterday and we have wood flooring and carpet! Pretty much all that is left is installing the appliances and doing some paint touch ups. This Sunday my dad is doing an inspection on it - my dad owns a home inspection company so we get the "family discount", next Wednesday is the final walk through with our builder, and the next Wednesday we close! We probably wont formally move in until the weekend because Will has work, but I'm sure I will volunteer my mom to help me move some boxes early :) Here's some pics of the floor although the wood is completely covered...you get the idea...

beneath all that cardboard is a very pretty wood floor!

A couple shots of our bedroom with the new carpet! I would have preferred wood floors in here but that topic of conversation usually goes something like this...

Me: "Babe, I wish we had put wood floors in our bedroom."
Will: "Why? I don't like to wake up and put my feet down on cold, hard floor. I like carpet."

Me: "That's what a rug is for, silly!"

Will: "Then what's the point of putting down wood if you're going to cover it up with a rug?!"

Me: "Because it's pretty!"

Will: Rolls eyes and the conversation is over.

Guys just don't understand the importance of aesthetics!

Will and I have three other rooms besides our own in the house and we've been discussing what we're going to use them for. One is specifically designed for an office space - it has double doors and no closet - but we didn't really think we needed an office because we have a built in nook by the kitchen. We decided it would be a combo "man cave/craft room." Well, about the time we move in Will is going to start working a couple days a week from home (woohoo!) and he really is going to need his own office space now. So we've been rearranging and redesigning the layout of the rooms. Now the "man cave/craft room" is going to become a "man cave/Will's office." We already have one of the other two rooms as a fully furnished guest bedroom, and the other is a big blank nothing. I figured it would be a storage room until we bought another bedroom set, but now I have bigger ideas. Why should Will get his own room and not me?? Yet we really need a second guest bedroom in case we have multiple people over....so I have come up with the perfect solution! A fabulous room with my desk and craft area plus this daybed from West Elm (that I want SOOOO bad) for guests to sleep in. It can also double as a lounge area for me when I need "me" time. Yes, it is the perfect bedroom! The bed is pricey, but I did see one for uber-cheap on Craigslist the other day (I'm still kicking myself for not buying it) so I've been compulsively checking to see if another one surfaces. This way, neither of us have to compromise on paint color and wall decor. His can be as manly as he wants and mine can be equally girly! I figure this can only last until we have children so we might as well live it up now.

I think I got a little carried away on that description....sorry all....

Gotta run, Will's due home any minute (I love Fridays!)

xo , Lynds