Getting Down to Business

I was talking with my best friend about blogging recently.  About why I wanted to do it, what I loved about other blogs I read, what my focus would be ... and the real part I struggled with would what would be my focus (let's be honest, that is probably my struggle everyday!).

So then the amazing blogger Jenni over at Story of my Life put out a challenge, blog everyday for all of May!  Now at first this seemed like a huge undertaking, and I am sure it will be, but home girl went above and beyond and put topics for each day of the challenge.

That I can do!  I am the first to admit I am a terrible "writer", as in there are run on sentences, grammatical errors galore, and my spelling is atrocious, but I sure to love to write my mind.  TO really put pen to paper and just put my thoughts out there! 

My goal in this challenge is that I find my true voice for this little blog here and find a good jumping point to venture from!

So with high hopes that this will give my little blogger heart the push it needs to find myself in the little spot on the web, I invite you all to join too!



she even made a little button for it too!



High Fives!

And we are already back at Friday... {and I am not complaining!!}

In honor of the exciting day of the week, I am linking up with Lauren @ Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday!  Join along and share what you are loving this week.

{one}

I was on my computer at 11:55 pm on Tuesday night putting in a big order at the LOFT!  I can't wait to share my new goodies... whenever they get here (the wait is the worst part of online shopping)!

{two}

maxi - simply style boutique

Our sneak peek of Spring on Wednesday.  But apparently we only got a peek.  Fingers crossed that the weather man is right and we are in for some not freezing weather this weekend!

{three}

chain and braclet - simply style boutique

Loving the arm party. 

{four}

This little man melts my heart!  And I have to admit that my nephews can work my iPhone better than I can.



my brother-in-law hates the duck face... so this is for him! :)



{five}

fingers crossed we can pick out our house plan this weekend with the builder!!  EEKK  this is such a fun, exciting, gut-wrenching, and anxious process... Oh the joys of being an adult!

Happy Friday!!

Enjoying this beautiful day

This day was definitely to gorgeous not to get outside and soak up the sun in this amazing watercolor maxi! 

{maxi - Simply Style Boutique}

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!

The weekend I met the dancing Hough

link-up!

and we are back at Monday...

 

I hope you guys all had a great weekend!  I definitely did, it was jammed packed and went way too fast.

 

Friday was a busy work night, I got home late and put together what I needed for Saturday and headed straight to bed.

 

Saturday was the big day!!  Simply Style Boutique (the shop I own with my sister) had our first booth at the STYLElicious Show for Women, hosted by the local paper!  It was a huge success for us.  We got to meet a ton of amazing ladies (and Derek Hough... no big deal!) 

 

 



my fabulous sister in our striped sweater!



Derek Hough was there for a Q and A session and to sign autographs with his loyal fans.  Let me just say that the demographic of the Hough fans was not what I was expecting.  There were grannies galore!!  They are some big DWTS fanatics! haha



my OOTD and the Hough!

 

We had a great spot right in front of the Hough's signing booth and beside the stage to watch the fashion shows!

 

{and I also want to thank my wonderful friends for the supportive texts I got throughout the day, I truly have some amazing people in my life!)

 

After we packed up and left we headed to my sisters house to reorganize and celebrate!!  I could not be happier that our first event was a success!

 

Sunday, after searching through countless online catalogs of bridesmaids dresses, I went to church.  Definitely a much needed little recharge!

 

Then it was back to the house to meet up with Brandon, look through countless catalogs of house plans, and then head over to met with the Deacon who will be marrying us.  He is the father of two of my best friends and I am so honored he will be marrying us.  We sat with him and went over our 'inventory' for marriage preparation.  It felt like a big compatibility quiz but is supposed to be more of a discussion starter for the big issues you deal with in marriage.

 

We finished off the evening with dinner with my parents and numerous loads of laundry (talk about getting crazy!) and then I crashed into bed!

 

Definitely wasn't ready for it to be Monday again, but with how yuck the weather is today, being stuck inside by my little personal heater to keep my toes warm isn't all too terrible!

 

Link-up with Sami and let us know how your weekend was!

Easter recap... {yea, I am a little behind}

So let’s recap a little from the past few weeks happenings, starting with Easter..

In the morning I met with an old high school friend who was home visiting her parent’s for the holiday weekend.  She went away to college in New York City and we hadn’t been able to meet up when she was in town for years.  It was such a great time to catch up over breakfast, and so bitter sweet to think of all the great memories from growing up together.

Brandon had to work on Easter Sunday, so I decided to earn some brownie points and bring him and the guys cupcakes.  Since all the family was coming over later that day I talked with my sister, picked my seven year-old nephew up and took him along for the trip.  Let me just say that Brandon may have won the title of favorite Uncle (a title that has always been held but my little brother, Ben) when Gabriel got to the fire station!  Brandon could not have been sweeter letting Gabriel try on the helmets, look inside the ambulance and sit in the front seat of the fire engine!  The greatest quote of the day was when Gabriel and I got in the car to head to dinner and I asked if he thought it was cool, his reply was “That wasn’t cool Aunt Emily… it was AWESOME!”

love this picture

And from there we, headed to my parent’s house for Easter dinner with all the family.  

To explain the next photo, I have to preface with the fact that my mother does a lot of volunteer work with the Spouse’s Club at the Naval Hospital and one of their activities is to host a Easter Egg Hunt every year.  One year, they decided to purchase a bunny suit, and since they had no one where to store it at the hospital, it lives in my parents attic.  So every year on Easter, one of my brothers dresses in the bunny suit to deliver the Easter baskets from my parents to my nephews.



doesn't everyone have a 6 foot bunny in their living room

Now Gabriel has always been a fan.  He is seven, and while he now realizes that it is just one of his uncles in the suit, he still believes there is an Easter Bunny (but he is far too busy Easter day to be able to make appearances at everyone’s house… duh!) Jack, the two year-old,  however… Terrified!!  Cries uncontrollably when the 6 foot 4 ‘rabbit’, as he calls him, walks into the room.  He would only sit for a picture on someone else’s lap, not next to the bunny.

dress and accessories - Simply Style Boutique

Dad put the suit on for a picture with all the kids! {we asked if this could be used for the family Chrismas card... mom veto'd that idea}



The rest of the evening was spent enjoying food and drinks with everyone!  A busy, but perfect day!

Smile!

So driving into work yesterday, a good mood just hit me!  I don’t know where it came from (and it certainly was not from having a good morning…  I woke up late and had to rock the “soaking wet top-knot” look) but it was there.

The whole ride into work just seemed to be pleasant.  Maybe it is the amazing weather outside, or the exciting weekend coming up, but everything just seems to be positive!  And I feel like I am ready to take on the world. 

And I am happy to report, that the feeling was there when I woke up this morning!!  I am nervous that over thinking this good mood is going to jinx it… so let’s just enjoy this lovely Thursday!!!

Does the spring time put a little extra pep in your step?

Remember the Good in the World

As I sat down yesterday after lunch to write today’s post, my heart was full of emotions with the 16^th being the 6 year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech; an event that happened my junior year of school at the University.  That full heart sank as I pulled up my Internet (which homepage is a news channel) and saw the “Breaking News” of the horrific scene in Boston.

We can sit around all day and count the tragedies that happen around this world of ours, but I think the only we should be doing is applauding the overwhelming support of the people doing all they can to help.

Mr. Rogers said it best – “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping.’”

Such a true statement.  And now, more than ever, we need to focus on the good left in the world.

Let me end with some photos of this little place about a mile down form where Brandon and I are building our new house.  I love passing this building and we even had some pictures during our engagment photo shoot taken out front!

Weekend Recap Link-Up

 … and we are back at Monday.  But a little Weekend Recap with Sami’s Shenanigan’s always makes this morning a little bit better.

So Friday was an uneventful weekend, Brandon and I were both exhausted, so we lunged on the couch, looked over a few house plans and then called it a night!

Saturday morning, Brandon went to work and I headed to my sister’s house to begin our mixed day of work and wedding planning.  We hit the stores first to find my bridesmaid dresses. (I know I am behind on this to-do on the wedding list, but I just hadn’t seemed to find, or describe, what I was looking for.)  I think we found the one, my sister looked amazing in the dress, the color was perfect for what I was looking for and the price was reasonable.  We bought my sister’s dress, after verifying the return policy, and are going to get a few more pictures of it and send it to the other bridesmaid’s to get their thoughts!  So after our shopping success we celebrated with a glass of wine over lunch!

Then it was back to my sister’s house to work on set up for an upcoming expo we are representing the Boutique at!  This will be the first public event for Simply Style Boutique and we are eager to see how it goes! 



Fun evening of clothes tagging...

Late Saturday night Brandon and I finally completed our pre-marital personal surveys.  It is a requirement for us to be married in the Catholic church and as daunting as the 164 pesonal questions were, it definitely had has talking, and laughing, over them and our answers when we were done!  (Has anyone else had to do pre-marital quizes prior to their session with the priest or minisiter?)

Sunday, which turned out to be an amazingly perfect weather day, Brandon and I drove down to Northwest River Park for our friend’s daughter’s 2^nd birthday party.  We were outside at the park for hours and it was such a great time. 

this was the view on the drive to the park

Carlee loves Mr. Brandon

this is her "excited" face!



just hanging with her new best friend...

{I am starting to use Brandon to take my outfit pictures, but apparently the two us need some work on our photography/modeling skills!  But I have to say I love that he tries}
(top and necklace - www.simplystyleboutique.com, pants - New York and Co.)



To end our weekend, we headed to the Verizon store to pick up Brandon’s new toy, the Samsung Galaxy tablet.  It will definitly take some time to learn all the fetuares, but after playing with it for a few minutes, I am kinding of hoping we head back to the store soon and pick me up one too!

(though I am still back and forth between wanting to get a tablet  vs. an iPad, which ones do you guys use?)

 It was definitely a great weekend and it makes it hard to be back at Monday again, but this gives us a whole week to prep for the Boutique’s big show!   

High Five for Friday!

Oh Friday, how I have missed you!  Let’s recap the best parts of this week with Lauren’s High-Five for Friday link-up!

{one}

First, we must high-five Spring for finally arriving, fashionably late, but it is here!  Wednesday and Thursday’s weather was glorious!!  Perfect for lunch breaks outside!!



enjoying my lunch outside... I can't wait for my poor pale skin to have a little color!



(today we are having a crummy down pour outside, but at least the pollen will be washed off the car!... think positive)

{two}

Getting to spend my lunch break’s this week  with Brandon’s new little niece, Tenleigh!  She arrived just last week with a full head of dark hair and perfect little chubby cheeks!  Lunch dates with my soon-to-be sister-in-law and the little misses are definitely going to fill up my calendar! 



Baby Tenleigh at two days old when Brandon and I went to visit her at the hospital



{three}

A busy, but definitely productive week!  I have been organizing (and reorganizing) my to do list and can happily say that most of that list has been tackled!

{four}

Cirque Du Soleil with my parents and little brother last night.  The shows seem to always have an intricate (read = creepy)  storyline, but the acrobatic talent of the cast is amazingly impressive!

{five}

And the cup of coffee that I am chugging after last night’s show!  The alarm clock and I were not friends this morning… the snooze button however; there is a special place in heaven for inventions like that!