out of office

happy thursday! i am in tampa wedding planning and celebrating my birthday early with my family and friends. be back on monday :)

have a great weekend!

wedding wednesday

 
hey, why not? i am getting married in 7 months, so it only seemed appropriate :)

so i will be getting married in the beautiful tampa, florida at the tampa yacht & country club. we've decided to have a tent so a little part of the reception can be outside (i've always been an outside-kind-of-gal). naturally, i've been pinning up a storm looking for tent decor inspiration. here are some of my faves...

 like that this tent is clear. i've never seen that before

 beautiful draping and i die for those chandeliers

love the "antlers" in this pic...very texas

 pretty lanterns

not sure what to call those lights but they are cool

my actual reception site! LOVE this look maybe with some unique chandeliers or lanterns hanging inside the tent

does this even need a caption? love

glamour baby. all via pinterest

Which are your faves?

cancer cannot steal beauty

good morning and happy tuesday to everyone! i decided to do something a little bit different for today's post. one of my readers approached me about writing a guest post, and after talking to her, i happily agreed. meet jackie clark from mesothelioma cancer alliance. she has a passion for all things fashion and believes that all women need to feel beautiful, no matter what circumstances they may be facing. today, she is here to let you know that despite a cancer diagnosis, women can still feel beautiful in their own skin. it's not easy to talk about serious things like cancer on the blogosphere, so she certainly deserves a round of applause for taking that jump and inspiring us all.

Cancer Cannot Steal Beauty

by Jackie Clark

A cancer diagnosis and the illness itself is a strain on a woman's health, confidence and strength. A woman who has been diagnosed with cancer wants to feel beautiful despite her disease. She wants to find the strength to fight and look the part. For example, a woman diagnosed with mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure is not defined by her diagnosis. Throughout treatment, she needs to treat herself and fashion can help her do that. No matter her prognosis, she deserves to spend her time loving herself. She can look, feel and be beautiful. Cancer does not negate womanliness.

It is normal, expected and forgivable to feel run down, hurt, angry, sad and sick while dealing with a cancer prognosis. That does not mean a woman has to live her life consumed by these effects of cancer. She can wear clothing that makes her feel as comfortable, confident and beautiful as possible. The comfort part of this is huge when dealing with cancer and treatment. Luckily, non-restrictive, comfortable clothing can be fashionable. A woman with cancer can wear flowing, light garments that accentuate her femininity, minimize pain and bring out her natural beauty. Warm, inviting and even bright colors are okay. She is not in mourning. She is living!

Confidence in fashion despite cancer can come from the right choices in clothing, perfume, makeup and accessories. The right, healthy makeup can refresh skin and brighten the face. Yes, a woman with cancer is likely tired. She can still be elegant. A woman with cancer spends much more time in clinical settings than a woman who does not have cancer. She can wipe that chemical smell out by wearing a delicate, beautiful perfume. She should go ahead and splurge on something that she really loves. She deserves the pleasure of smelling something beautiful throughout her day. As for accessories, headscarves can boost confidence in women losing their hair through cancer treatment. Cloth jewelry can give her the confidence of a healthy woman without risking pain.

Cancer does not take away a woman's beauty. A woman with cancer can envelop herself in soft, beautiful materials and look like a movie star. She can carry herself with pride. She can wear colors and scents that make her comfortable and happy. She cannot be stripped of her femininity, no matter the type of cancer that burdens her. 

a great message from a great person. hope you enjoyed it ladies! have a wonderful day. 

weekend recap

i had an absolutely amazing weekend! my mom and sister-in-law came in town on saturday to go wedding dress shopping, and...

WE FOUND ONE!

i still can't believe it. it's such a good feeling to cross that one off my list because the damn thing won't get here for 5 months! crazy that it takes that long to order. good thing we got it done. i don't know that i'd have a wedding dress if not!

aside from that big news, the rest of the weekend was quite relaxing. trey and i got delicious takeout on friday and watched warrior. great movie by the way. a "feel good" flick i'd highly recommend. saturday was spent shopping and wedding planning, saturday night included lots of champagne and wine and, on sunday, i went to yoga and pilates, caught up on some reading, ran some errands and went to bible study. i love productive sundays...sadly, i don't have them very often because i'm typically hungover. oh, what a life.

hope everyone had a spectacular weekend!

tgif baby

catching up on some fill-in-the-blanks that i missed over the holidays today :) enjoy!

1.   one of my favorite things to do when i have free time is  watch a movie or read a great book.

2.   when I have free time i tend to  be more lazy than i should. i have all of these amazing diy projects i'd love to do, but whenever i have a free day to myself, all i want to do is be lazy and lay around. mostly because i don't get to do that very often. my lifestyle is go go go...especially now that i'm planning a wedding.

3.  if i had an entire day completely to myself i would   wake up and go for a run, take bailey to oddfellow's to sit outside and drink coffee and enjoy breakfast, walk around the cute shops in oak cliff, grab lunch to go at eatzi's and take it to the park so bailey can run around, go home to lounge for a couple hours, go to a wine bar and then somewhere fun for dinner and finally end the night with a great flick.

4.  i would prefer to spend my free time (alone or with others...)  both. i love doing things with friends and family, but i prefer to run errands alone and sometimes need time to decompress...even if it's just for an hour.

5.  most of my free time happens  on the weekend...if i have nothing to do, which is rare.

6. the best thing about free time is   that you don't have any obligations

7.  the next time i have free time, i should probably go through my diy pinterest board and make some of those fun projects i've pinned but instead i'll probably watch tv...or get some wedding planning in :)

winter white

for obvious reasons, i have been obsessing over white lately, so i decided to play around with polyvore today to take my mind off stress and wedding planning. i'm into this winter white trend...thoughts?

Winter White by jtuttle42 featuring cocktail rings

friday the 13th...eeeek!

this was my first full week of work since before christmas, and, lemme tell ya, it was a doozie. i was so confused all week on which day it was. bahhhhh. at least it's friday now ;)

1.   the last thing i ate was  a clif crunch granola bar...peanut butter and chocolate - pretty delicious!

2.   the last song i listened to was  "domino" by jessie j

3.  using the letters in my name, i can spell  [jenna] nen, nan, jan, jen, ann, jane...sooo not much! haha

4.  if i had to dress in one color for the rest of my life, i would pick   that's a toughie... i'll say coral because it makes me happy and reminds me of the beach

5.  if you were to look in my bag right now, you'd find  too much random crap...lip gloss, two burt's bees lip balms, gum, receipts, my wallet, my keys, a pair of ray bans in a case, a gold necklace, some dayquil, a kleenex travel pack, sally hansen nail strips in "queen of the jungle," a pen and 2 splenda packets.

6.  when i finish filling in the blanks i'm going to  go grab some lunch. i'm starvin' marvin!

7.  my all time favorite song to dance to is any of the popular songs from the 80s and early 90s..."baby got back" is a good one!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I am headed to the Dallas Mavs game tonight and am hoping for a little Khloe Kardash sighting!

the proposal

hola amigas! i'm sure i've lost lots and lots of followers after being m.i.a. for so long but i am trying to balance the beginning stages of planning a wedding as well as my 9-5 job! it is craziness, but luckily, we have finished all of the important stuff that hits you right away! 

first things first, christmas was absolutely great. i spent some much needed quality time with family, got to feel baby t's kicks, caught up on my zzzzz's, got to wear shorts and tank tops for a week (holla!) and received some fabulous christmas presents from the fam santa. i was in dallas for one day before heading to telluride for new years, and, as you can imagine, i had an incredibly amazing new year's trip to telluride. we went with some friends and, even before the proposal, had the best time. i cannot wait to go back. i think it's safe to say it's my favorite ski town for lots of reasons :)

the proposal

i had no idea it was coming...i know everyone says that, but really...i was oblivious. so, we would sort of split up to ski in the mornings (girls together to do easier runs and boys get the tough stuff out of the way). we'd meet for lunch and then couple off, it was a nice little routine we got into :) on saturday (new year's eve), trey and i went out on our own to do some skiing together. we did a couple runs then took a loooooongass lift all the way to the top of the mountain. it was freezing, by the way, and yes, i was complaining about my fingers being numb haha. anywhoo, when we were about to hop off the lift, he said he was going to grab the lift guard to take a photo of us by the gorgeous view (photo in post below) and to go over by the fence and wait. so i did. when he skied up, he started taking his skis off, and i asked him why we were taking our skis off to take a pic? he told me to just do it. so i stopped asking questions and did it haha. when i finished taking my skis off, he was on one knee and said "you are my best friend and i can't imagine my life without you. will you marry me?" apparently i said "are you serious?!?" 4-5 times and he said "does that mean yes!?" i said YES YES YES and we hugged and he put the [most breathtaking ring ever] on my finger. he had also brought a bottle of champagne (veuve - my favorite!) with him to pop open and cheers to right after. after that, we skied down to an apres-ski bar and met all of our group for drinks. it was absolutely perfect! i wish i could relive it all over again. as you can see in the photo i posted last week, we were all smiles.

since then, it's honestly been a whirlwind! we celebrated with our dallas friends last week (the night after we got home from colorado) and have promised each other to continue to celebrate up until we get married :) i haven't been able to stop smiling and get shocked every time i look down at my left ring finger. i am so excited for 2012 and to be his wife! great things to look forward to this year.

hope everyone else is having a wonderful week. i promise to be more consistent on here from now on. sorry for the 3 week hiatus, but i'm baaaaaaaaack.

p.s. my pinterest obsession is now an addiction. help.

exciting news

apologies for my absence the last two weeks, but i have some REALLY big news...

i am ENGAGED!!!!! i had the best weekend of my life...here's a pic of us right after trey popped the q!

i am to the moon and have been smiling since saturday ;) more details to come tomorrow