She's SO Married!!

Taylor Tate is MARRIED!!!!

I was truly honored to be a guest at her special day. And what a BEAUTIFUL day it was!!! The church where her ceremony was PACKED full of people who love and support Taylor and Corey. Their ceremony was very sweet. One thing about their ceremony that was very unique was their assembly of their Unity Cross. Now usually I am not a big fan of the Unity candle, sand, picture frame thing, but this was something I had never seen before and I thought it was AMAZING. I liked it because the cross symbolizes many things that are important to them: their faith, their families coming together, the base of their relationship, etc and it is something that will remain beautiful for many years to come and will be a wonderful accent in their home. The Unity Cross was just another perfect moment in their ceremony. This was my first Air Force wedding and I thought it was adorable how they wouldn't let Taylor and Corey through until they kissed. 

The reception was equally as gorgeous as the ceremony. The venue was incredible! There are few other words to describe it besides perfect and beautiful, so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. We danced the night away, in true AOII fashion, and the evening ended with a fantastic fireworks show. 

Her GORGEOUS cake! 

Corey's cake

first dance!

Pics don't do her dress justice. Look at that lace!!

We love you Taylor!!

PS Guess who caught the bouquet! Me!!

This wedding was SO Taylor. It was classic and elegant but sweet and relaxed at the same time. It was very Oklahoma Princess. Just like Taylor. Everything had a touch of their Air Force future with the subtle red, white, and blue flowers. Taylor and Corey were beaming with joy the entire night. It was definitely a night filled with love, happiness, laughter, fun, and everything else you could ever hope for at a wedding. I am BEYOND happy for Taylor and Corey and am honored that I got to share their day with them. 

Sew Now What

Growing up my grandmother would always be sewing something. Every time we went to her house she would always have a new project and would be cross stitching away. We have tons of pillow cases with things that she embroidered onto them. I love them. Not only are they beautiful, but they remind me so much of her. I always wanted to learn how to do it, but never quite had the patience for it as a kid so I just admired her from afar. When I look at the things she made for us, I can see how much she loved doing it.

Now I know why!

I decided that I would no longer wish that I could do it and decided to try it out for myself. My mom knows how to cross stitch as well but with 3 kids, 2 dogs, a job, a house, and a husband who has time for that? (SIDE NOTE: thanks for everything, Mom!) But this week we had some free time and one rainy day I decided that it was high time I learned how to do this.

I LOVE IT!!!

Seriously it's so much fun. It's very relaxing and it keeps me busy which I like. It's weirdly soothing just going through everything and finding the right colors (or not HA). It's definitely just a good way to unwind from the day. I can see why my grandmother liked it so much. I think she would be very happy that I've taken this up. Although I know she wouldn't be so happy that I've substituted some colors here and there, She was very particular about that. But I think she would be proud of me for trying. I wish that I could show her what I've done, but I know she's been watching me the whole time.

I love that I can share this with my mom and grandmother now. I love being able to do something that is productive but pretty at the same time. I love my new hobby and can't wait to get started on my next project!

Getting Started!

Keep going!

TA DA!!! The finished product!

Until Next Time!

So... It's Been a While...

So it's been a while... Okay, okay it's been forever. I'm sorry! I don't know what happened. I guess I thought that once I got out of school and back home I would have more time to keep up with this. Well that sure was wrong.

So here's a little update!

After finals were over was my best history major friend, Taylor's birthday. It was the big 21 so of course we had to go out on Dickson St. and have a good time. I know Taylor really loves dinosaurs so I got her a Siposaurus dinosaur cup, which she LOVED, and a very pretty wine glass. We went out to Dickson the night before her birthday so we could get her first legal shot right at midnight. Meanwhile Dickson was PACKED. I guess everyone was still letting off steam from the semester. Regardless, it was a great night and a really fun way to spend my last night in Fayetteville. Happy Birthday Taylor!

A couple days after I got back to Shreveport, I was on the road again! My mom and I went to this little, well huge, ranch outside of Cat Spring, Texas for a mini relaxing vacation before I started my internship. My sister met us out there for the first couple of days. Michelle and I went horse back riding throughout the property and it was wonderful. It had been a while since I went riding so I was very happy to be back doing it again. The next day we went into Brenham, Texas to tour the Blue Bell ice cream factory. My mom and I love a good factory and it was very interesting to see the process and learn the history of Blue Bell. We went to a winery and a lavender farm outside of Brenham which were both beautiful. We ended up getting lost on our way back from the winery which worked to our advantage because we found the Antique Rose Emporium which was SO PRETTY. There were gazillions of different types of flowers and herbs and the grounds that they were on were gorgeous. On our way home, we stopped at the George H. W. Bush Memorial Library and Museum. I had been there before while my brother was in college at Texas A&M, but they had added an exhibit about the human genome project which Bush helped start that they didn't have the first time I was there so that was definitely worth the stop. Our mini vacation was great fun and very informative!

First delivery truck for Blue Bell

Antique Rose Emporium

Lavender Farm

Loved this arch at the emporium! It's made of pots!

About a week after we got back from Texas, I started my new internship! I'm the summer intern at the State Exhibit Museum of Louisiana here in Shreveport and I LOVE it! It is really cool and I've learned so much in just the week I've been there. At the risk of this post getting any longer, I'll give more details of my job on a later date. But I am enjoying myself at my new job, most definitely. 

Until next time! Hopefully sooner rather than later!