Holidays here we come!!!

Welp, it is officially my favorite time of the year. Its time to start decorating for Christmas and Holiday parties and shopping and friends and family! Its a wonderful season and I'm so excited to spend this first Christmas Season with my HUSBAND! Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree. I think this definitely deserves a before and after picture.

So before:





And after:

Then we discovered that our mantel was literally falling off the wall. Turns out it wasn't really a mantel but actually a really large shelf that the previous owner thought looked like a mantle. So looks like we are getting a new mantel for Christmas...not exactly what we had planned.

In a couple of weeks my mom and I will be hosting our annual Ladies Holiday Brunch. I'm so excited about it. It is just so much fun to have all the girls together and eat yummy food and do our little ornament exchange. It just makes my heart happy.

More on the holidays later I'm sure!

Time for Hil

Ok friends, I've decided that its time for me to do some things for me. Not only working out and cooking which I absolutely love, but I do very little to decompress and focus on me. So today was my first endeavor. I got a manicure:

No, these are not my nails and no I didn't get acrylics put on, but I did get them taken care of today. I think the all time best part of a manicure is the massage on your hands. There isn't much that beats it. AND the place I went to today, the guy rubbed my shoulders. This was the ultimate! I have had so much tension in my shoulders the past few weeks....it almost hurt but it was the good hurt.

anyway....I'm trying to think of other not to expensive ideas to focus on myself. I think my next thing will be to do some good quality girl time. Haven't had much of that lately. Everyones lives are just so crazy busy including my own and I'm missing my lovely ladies! Not to mention, one of the best girls I know just recently got engaged and I couldn't be happier for her and Chris...

Please dont mind my double chin in that picture. haha!

I'm having my annual ladies holiday brunch in a couple of weeks and I think that will be a great excuse to not only cook but also spend time good time with my best girls and my mom. This is definitely one of my favorite times of year. I cannot wait to decorate our HOUSE for the first time for the holidays. I have already gotten some great stuff and the ideas just keep coming to me. I'll post some pictures of the finished product when I get it all the way done!

Until next time my loves!

Let the diet begin!

Ok friends, which I think I have a whopping two on here....the diet starts today. Hopefully this little blog will help me stay accountable. I'm blaming unemployment and new job on the weight gain but now I'm taking control.

My goal is to lose 20 lbs. I'm ready... I've restarted my lose it app on my phone and will be diligent about keeping it updated. I'm going to aim at working out 3 times a week at first. So, MWF are the days. Not sure what time of exercise I'm going to do but it will be something only if it's walking around the pond by my office on my lunch break. No excuses.

On a much lighter note: here are the pictures I promised I'd post from the wedding.

PS...not sure why the top line is underlined but I can't get it to go away.

I'm a MARRIED WOMAN

Well..... I knew this would happen. I had all intentions of posting the day before the wedding and I completely forgot. Hopefully I can be forgiven. Needless to say the wedding came and went and it was beautiful. My bridesmaids were perfection and absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I'm going to hold off on posting pictures from the wedding until I get the professional ones. With that being said, here are some pictures from the bachelorette party. My lovely ladies hosted a lingerie shower also and I am going to spare you the pictures from that. I assume no one else wants to see my "underthings". Here are some of my favorite pictures from the bach party....I absolutely love those girls....I can't thank them enough.

Just for the record these posted in reverse order somehow. The picture at the very bottom is from the beginning on the night and the picture at the top I dont even remember taking.

haha! Married like is absolutely wonderful. I can't believe that I am such a lucky woman to have married this amazing man. Danny is the man I always dreamed of when I was a little girl. He loves me so much and knowing that is the best feeling in the world. I couldn't be more blessed. When I get the wedding pictures I'll post again more about the actual day. From this point on this blog will be about life and my wonderful life with my amazing friends and family and HUSBAND!

25 Days

Today I find myself really missing Bud and wishing he was here to witness of this excitement that is going on. He would have truly loved to have been a part of my wedding and I know he would have adored Danny. If for no other reason than Danny loves me. It is really hard to think about him not being there on that day. I have a great step-dad and dad that will be there, but I just feel like Bud should have been there. There will be a special section of our program for those that can't be with us on the day, but I wish there was something else different I could do for him.

suggestions are welcome!

Other than that....life is good. Unemployment is definitely helping with the wedding stress. I have plenty of time to talk to all the vendors and get all the details finalized. Its also really nice to spend some quality time with the fiance. We are making a day trip to San Marcus tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about it. We are going to buy some things for the house and hopefully a few things just for us also! :)

Thats all I have for now.

33 Days

So I am no good at updating this thing! So much has happened since the last post and I dont even feel like it was that long ago.

welp, to sum it up, I'm no longer employed and currently looking for a job. I was laid off about a week and a half ago. It is a blessing and a curse. I miss all of my friends at the office, but this is also allowing for plenty of time to get some other things done for the wedding.

For example, today Danny and I did wedding bands. I got all kinds of giddy when I saw that ring on his finger. It made me so happy. What else is left. I have emailed our lady for the programs and I'm still working on the "To our friends and family" section. I'm open to suggestions if you have any.

All the girls have their dresses and the parties have now started. 2 showers down! These things are so much fun. It is so exciting to be able to spend this absolutely amazing time in my life with so many people I love and care about. I've also had my best girls with me along the way. These girls are absolutely perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better group and they continue to make my life better and easier on a regular basis. This weekend is the bridesmaids luncheon. I get to give the ladies their gifts and just spend some quality time together. We are going to Rise in Dallas which is an absolutely AMAZING restaurant. the dessert was like strawberry air! heaven right here on earth.

I am doing my very best to take all of these moments in and enjoy every last bit of it. I'm enjoying everything that is happening but I want to make sure that I remember all that I can. I know that the wedding day will be a blur but I'm hoping if I make an effort to soak it up that I'll remember it. I'm most excited about our final dance of the evening. I think it is going to be absolutely romantic. Everyone will be out there waiting for us to make our exit and we will have a last dance in the empty room. Doesn't that just sound amazing? I love the idea.

Ok....until next time and hopefully it is before the wedding. haha!

81 days and counting

So, As you can see it has been quite a while since I last posted....I don't think I have any followers so I don't really feel the need to apologize for that.

Here is a list of events to the few things that have happened in the life of Hilary in the past month I guess...

I'm brilliant and forgot to sign the tax refund so we are STILL waiting on the lovely IRS to send us our big check so we can purchase our glorious honeymoon. This brings to me yet another fun little detail....I think we may be switching the venue for the honeymoon...After comparing prices between St Lucia and the Dominican Republic there is an obvious choice. Given that the two locations are relatively the same and we can still get all inclusive both places...I dont see the point is spending 2K extra dollars....do you? Especially after I get to the next update.

I have officially totaled my lovely Jetta. The car I fought so hard to get and truly was my "dream car" if I had one. I was sitting at a red light with the rest of Thursday morning traffic, light turned green, everyone started moving and then the guy in front of the guy in front of me stopped for no good reason.....take a look at the damage to Greta the Jetta:



Lets just say a totaled car was not in the family plan. After much stress and tears and saying goodbye to that car I loved so much....I have replaced her with this, meet Maxine,


She is truly a lovely car and I'm loving getting used to driving her. On the same day that I bid farewell to Greta, My amazing fiance spent 4.5 hours wheeling and dealing with the great folks at a Nissan dealership in order for me to have something to drive that we could actually afford. The affordability part was key.

also on this wonderful, my mom and best friend Tiffany went with me to the final fitting of the dress. I feel more beautiful everytime I get to put that glorious thing on. I absolutely love it. Tiffany is going to have a great time bustling that bad boy. Lots of ribbons.

We also purchased the flower girl dress that I think is probably one of the cutest things Ive ever seen....


If you don't love it you can keep your comments to yourself!

speaking of this friend Tiffany I have. I don't think I have given her enough credit lately. I have been a stressed out mess of a person and she is just so even keeled and there to keep me sane! She was having a horrible week last week and so many things on her plate and she still came to my dress fitting because she wanted to be there for me. I am so lucky so have such a wonderful friend that I know I couldn't live without. She also gets to go with me for my bridal portraits next weekend which will be SO much fun!


On a more serious note:

My poor fiance. This man has seen me be a total wreck. I've cried more in the past 2 weeks than I think I ever have in front of him. I get beyond frustrated and seem to take it all out on him like its his fault. That couldn't be more untrue. This is truly the most amazing man I have ever met in my entire life. He loves me unconditionally as do I love him. He wants to make me laugh and fix it when I'm upset. He is perfection. I can't explain enough how amazing he truly is and I am the luckiest girl in the world to be able to marry him in such a short amount of time now.

My first shower is coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited for this part of it all. I'll definitely let you know how that all goes considering is my dad's side of the family and I'm not sure about all of them.

81 days and counting..... :)