Pre-I do: Wedding Recap

THE START OF THE BEST DAY EVER!! I get giddy just thinking back to our wedding day. The day started off bright and early heading to our wedding venue. The downstairs area had a bridal suite that we got ready in. We had coffee and biscuits in the morning and then made the switch to sandwiches and mimosas a little later in the day. I always knew that mimosas and good food would be a must on my wedding morning ;) All of the bridesmaids and I took turns having our hair fixed and doing our makeup. It was relaxing and so fun to soak in those last few moments with my best friends. It didn't take much to make me tear up that day but thankfully every tear was followed by a laugh. I think I perfected the "cry laugh" (:

I love these girls!! 

Justin surprised me with this gorgeous pendant that is a family heirloom. He had the sweetest hand written note to go along with it. Oh, how the tears flowed. That man of mine, so sweet! 

I did not do a first look with Justin so I thought doing one with my dad would be fun. I'm so glad I did. The pictures are priceless! Smiles, then tears... that was the theme that day!

One thing I knew I wanted to do was pray with the whole bridal party before the ceremony. Justin and I stood on either side of the door so to not see each other and everyone held hands. This was SUCH a special moment that I will forever cherish! 

 self explanatory ;) Last minute sip to calm the nerves! 

In case you want to catch the other wedding recaps you can here:

Bridal Portraits

Bridesmaid Brunch

Rehearsal Dinner

Meet and Greet

It's been awhile since I've done an introduction of myself and since I am getting back into blogging more regularly I figure now is the perfect time to do an intro of the girl behind the blog. I always love catching a glimpse into others lives! So here we go..

The Basics
Hi, I'm Amanda. :) I am 25 and newly married to the best man ever. We have a one year old chocolate lab named Henson who we treat like our child. I am a first grade teacher and LOVE my job. I now live in coastal North Carolina and absolutely love being just 5 minutes from the beach!!  I grew up near Greensboro and then attended East Carolina University. I stayed in Greenville for another two years after college, teaching and loved every minute of living there. I moved to be closer to Justin and have never looked back! 

The fun details:

- My favorite nights are nights spent at home with Justin eating grilled cheese and watching TV

- I have a newfound love of shiraz and am not above the two buck chuck Trader Joe's kind

- I could sit on the beach for days but I could also stay inside and binge watch Greys Anatomy for days 

- Mornings are my favorite.

- Speaking of mornings, Breakfast.. I don't skip it. Eggs, toast and coffee.. every morning like clock work 

- Justin proposed to me in the middle of a hurricane. No joke! Read here

- I love cooking and I even don't mind cleaning most of the time

- I have an amazing group of friends that sadly all live in other towns. That means lots of weekend trips to see each other! 

- Henson is our world, he is completely spoiled but we would have it no other way

The Weekend of Rain

Oh the rain, this weekend it has rained nonstop. I'll start by saying I am lifting up the parts of South Carolina that were hit the hardest in prayer. There are roads and bridges that have collapsed, dams that have broken, peoples homes are being flooded and evacuated. It is truly just devastating. The reporters say this is once in 1,000 year kind of rain. -kinda scary! Our house is right on the NC, SC border line. We have been hit hard but thankfully nothing like Columbia or Charleston. School dismissed early on Friday and is completely closed today which means we have been house bound all weekend. A weekend of nothing rarely happens for us so it was kind of nice to have no where to go! (except one emergency grocery store run) 

By Sunday of being stuck in the house Justin and I started to go a little stir crazy. The kind that even Netflix couldn't cure. Henson decided to brace the rain and flooding with his doggy life jacket and doggles. We like to think he wants to go save some other pups out there!

This creek is in our back yard. It is normally ONLY two feet wide and you have to go down a large hill to get to it. Most of the time it is so dried up there isn't even any water in it. By Sunday there was no longer a drop down to get to the creek and the water rose all the way up to our backyard. I noticed this morning that is has started to spill over and flood part of our yard. 

I had plenty of free time in the kitchen so I made homemade bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches on an english muffin (which may be my new favorite breakfast) and taco soup with cornbread. So easy and delicious. I'll share the recipe this week.

The weekend of rain left our household eating lots of food, catching up on Netflix, possibly YouTube-ing the latest dance moves (nae nae, quan, oh my), and deep cleaning baseboards. Seriously, too much time on our hands!! Stay safe and dry!