Back to Life, Back to Reality

Back in town and wearing a frown. Well, not really, but kinda sorta. I happy to be home after ten fabulous days of travel, my bed felt so nice last night. Yet, my heart is sad because I miss my sisters and my lil niece something fierce after a week of glorious togetherness. Recap will be up later this week, so here are a few teasers of my trip to Arizona and Las Vegas.  

 Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes yesterday. You sure know how to make a girl feel loved and cherished. I am beyond thankful for my 35th trip around the sun and look forward to everything this year has to offer. This right here is LOVE, HOPE, JOY, HAPPINESS and this right here is 35! Hope you have a fabulous Monday and wonderful week.

Weekly Wins: The One With A Baby And The Besties

Hey party people! How are you? Super excited for Friday, right? I am beyonnnnnnnnnnd excited for today, but first my post! Short and sweet post for y'all today, but my two wins are the bees knees.

First, SAY HELLO TO MY GORGEOUSLY BEAUTIFUL LITTLE NIECE!!!!!!

I MEAN, is she the cutest? Yes, yes she is the most adorable lil girl ever. And I am the most excited auntie in the world. This beautiful angel joined us on Tuesday and SPORTYSPICE was the biggest rockstar through everything [no meds, what!]. Mama B was out there too, so she felt all the love through the whole process. I was able to say hi the evening of her birth and then was able to FaceTime a few times this week. Gah, I'm so excited! SO EXCITED and in love.

My heart has GROWN TWO SIZE!

Continuing the best week ever, my BOFF is in town {!!!} and we are heading further south to meet up with darling Jess of the Newly. This is a blate weekend two years in the making and I can't wait to hug these girls so tight. They are part of my circle of trust and have supported me through so many ups and downs the past few years. We are gonna chill out, enjoy delicious food and have a pampering time together. I AM SOOOOO THRILLED!!!

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Wishing you and yours the BEST WEEKEND EVER!

Happy Birthday Sportyspice

Happy, happy, happy birthday to my middle sister Sportyspice. Earlier in the weekend we thought today might be a double birthday, however it's looking like today will be JUST your day. I'm so excited for your journey as a MAMA and so thankful to be your older sister. Wishing you the best, most wonderfully joyous day. All my love and kisses!

Weekend Update {Devastated, Delivered, Divine}

All in one weekend, y'all. All in one weekend.

Remember Friday? My excitement, joy and anticipation? The plan was an evening flight home on Friday to get into DC the day before my sister's baby shower. Everything was planned, I packed the night before, weather here was good, Le Husband dropped me off, I got my free checked bag for presents, snacks in my carryon, Les Mills videos cued up to practice on flight and I was ready to GO!

Then my world crashed in a nanosecond when the words delayed changed to C A N C E L E D!

Apparently small flights lost priority with the weather and only big planes were allowed to land at DCA. There was a different carrier flying to IAD leaving just then and I rushed over to see if they would let me buy a ticket [was prepared to pay through the nose] but I was outside the 30 minute window and they couldn't let me on the flight.  I cried, y'all, in the airport. Big tears, blubbing on the phone to my as I told them I was stuck in Knoxville for the night. Small airpots are awesome when things work, but when delays or cancelations happen options are very limited or zero as was my case.

Le Husband had to pick me up, drive me back home and listen to me cry. A hug from him didn't fix it but it made it better. We ate dinner together, got to watch a show and I was able to get a bit more sleep than expected. My ticket was booked for Saturday morning and I was set to make it to the house before the shower.

Long story short, the preggo picked me up and I made it to the house at 1:45pm before the 2:00pm start time. Make up was done, I had a quick change and then boom, party time. Babyspice, Mama B and Daddy did an amazing job getting everything put together without my extra set of hands and I was able to swoop in and just worry about the homemade hot cocoa for the cocoa bar. It was a brunch theme with chicken and waffles, bacon, punch, hot cocoa bar, chicken salad pitas, yogurt parfait bar, cucumber sandwiches, dips with crackers and cookies for party favors. EVERYTHING was incredible, so thankful I was able to make it there for the party.

I did a poor job of blog picture taking because, yeah, a day late and everything was a whirlwind. I also was able to spend time with friends and catch up with friends I hadn't seen in so long, which took  precedent. Below are a few I snapped, if you follow me on Instagram you received more a peek with my stories.

Once everyone left the family headed to my favorite place, POLLO RICO, for dinner then on to Babyspice's new apartment to eat. She moved earlier in the month and it was so nice to see her in her new space all set up for Christmas. When dinner was over we headed home for some clean up, snacks and then sister hang out until we couldn't stay awake.

Sunday was church, hanging with some darling girls, then family Christmas. Mama B pulled everything together with stockings and we all exchanged family gifts around the tree. It was a different Christmas this year. No husbands, less surprise because we bought what we needed, donations made for trips and all opened on the 17th instead of Christmas day. Yet, it was still magical and still lovely in it's own merry way.

Too soon it was time to pack up and head for the airport. Haven't left without tears yet, but maybe that will change soon. Crazy pants to think the next time I see Sportyspice lil 'Salsa Bean' will be here! It makes me want to cry I'm gonna miss so much, but excited to meet my niece. Thanks for all the well wishes Friday night, y'all were so sweet. Hoping you have wonderful week before Christmas < 3! Sending you cheer, sleep, joy and happiness!

Mama B was so happy ALL DAY!

Wedding Wednesday: Sneak Peek!

Morning and HAPPY WEDDING WEDNESDAY!!!! Sportyspice married the MAN of her dreams on August 20th and it was the most incredible day celebrating their love. I was so honored to stand up as a matron of honor to bear witness to this wonderful love. 

It was a CRAZYPANTS week leading up to the festivities, though. We had blackouts [twice], people who never RSVPed texting and asking questions about the wedding, a planner who didn't QUITE get it and a few other minor odds and ends which had to be taken care of late into the night. I'd do it ALL again in a heartbeat, to ensure Sportyspice enjoyed her best day ever. I hope you enjoy a few of these sneak peeks!

I mean, could she be any more gorgeous?!?! I don't think so. It truly was the bestest wedding and I'm so thankful everything went swimmingly for our beautiful bride. Send her some happy vibes if you could, she's going to be living the single life for a bit while her Airforce husband is away at school.

Also, could you send me some healthy vibes? After hitting it hard for 21 days straight my body is rebeling and I'm fighting off a nasty fever and sore throat. There is no sick time in retail/fitness, so I'm trucking on as best I can. I miss y'all and will have a 'what's been going on' post tomorrow!

SportySpice Gets Married TOMORROW!

Another Friday, another post it seems. Not sure why this is my posting schedule, but I'm just gonna go with it. Sooooo, it's wedding week. I mean, it's the FRIDAY of wedding week. Sportyspice gets married T O M O R R O W! Wow, I mean, wow!

This week has been insane. Both in good ways and in meh ways, but isn't that the way of wedding week? I drove up to NOVA on Tuesday so I've been helping as much as I can to get everything set up. I managed to sneak away one night to have dinner with one of my besties and it was so much fun catching up. I have to admit, I feel like an outsider now with the traffic and everything going on where I used to live. Tennessee is so much more chill than northern Virginia and it's crazy three months later and I'm already OVER the traffic ;)!

While home I've managed to do some organizing of our things at my parent's house and put together another couple throw way and give away bags. Living in someone else's house really opens your eyes to what you need to get along. I can't remember the last time I went shopping for non workout or wedding related things. 

Speaking of wedding, the past two days have been a whirl wind. Not only have we been hitting it hard and taking care of business, we've also been dealing with two blackouts in two days! YES, two in two. Wednesday night we had a pretty severe thunderstorm, which is normal during the summer, but about 45 minutes in our lights just died and poof, blackness everywhere. Despite a few eeeeks, the Brady bunch was undeterred and we continued to pack welcome bags and finish up place cards in the dark. I even managed to get in a squat workout, too!

There was also a shenanigans leader who brought out the uhnce dance party in the kitchen and continued to make us laugh while we finished our assignments. The giggles helped keep the bride calm because, yeah, a black out three days before the wedding isn't necessary what you want.

You know what you also don't want? A RANDOM black out Thursday night of wedding week when you're hosting a family get dinner for everyone in town. We didn't want it, but we rolled with it for sure. This time the outage was due to a car hitting a telephone pole, causing a fire and a line to be cut. Clearly that person was having a worse day than we were but it was one of those 'REALLY' moments. 

Again, undeterred Mama B jumped in the car and drove to our church to finishing cooking the meal and we all sat down in the evening light to enjoy a meal. Thankfully the power came on before we are finished and I was ecstatic because I thought it meant lava cake for dessert. Sadly everyone was too distracted to make it so that will just have to wait until Sunday, drat. 

Today we will be getting our nails done, finishing up last minute things, rehearsing, eating dinner, meeting family for cocktails, putting the last touches on speeches and then tucking Sportyspice in for her last night as just a Brady. I'll be honest, it's a bit surreal to think in less than 48 hours she'll be married. I'm so thrilled for her and her fiancé and am hoping Saturday is their best day ever. If you have a moment, please send them alllll the good vibes and prayers. Follow me on Instagram here for fun pictures and snaps this weekend. I promise to show you all the good stuff ;)!

Bridal Showers are my Favorite

Especially when they honor one of my favorites. As many of y'all read, I was home last weekend in VA for Sportyspice's bridal shower. Being away was a bit of as stressor, but the famjam was able to manage and bust tail to get things organized for her special day. I did all of the favors down in Tennessee and worked with the lovely Karli for our design decorations. We tried to touch every room with a lil bit of bridal love and I was very happy with the overall effect. It wasn't all smooth sailing but everything came together and the bride LOVED everything which was the most important thing.

She wanted a brunch so we had pancake mini stacks, bacon hearts,  mimosa bar, fruit skewers, ham biscuits, Silverado copycat salad, coffee bar and the piece de resistance, cereal cupcakes. Sportyspice is a cereal fanatic so I knew I wanted to honor her love of cereal at her shower. Enter, delicious cupcakes themed after her favorite cereals. They were a hit and the one [okay, two] I tasted were delectable. So adorable and so fabulous for our wonderful bride.

Below are some pictures to sum up the afternoon. There was a fun appearance of my besties lil man and he really stole the show with everyone, especially my parents [yes, I got the hints haha].

Even though I'm a state away, it was so nice to be home for  a bit and celebrate my sissy. Next up is her bachey party and then the WEDDING! EEEEK, so exciting and so much fun. I hope everyone has a FABULOUS weekend!