Precious, Precious, Precious. Full-Force, Full-Force, Full-Force.

WEDDING! AHH!

Wow. I cannot believe that W-Day is really this close. Seems like yesterday I was blowing Barrett's phone up waiting (impatiently) for him to JUST DO IT! Now we are about two weeks away from the BIG BIG DAY! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of showers. His family, mine, couples, her family. Whew. Lots of presents for Nicole and Barrett, lots of present writing down and bow coordinating for me!

This week is another exciting one. Yesterday afternoon, I picked up some missing odds and ends for my biggest responsibility-THE BACHELORETTE PARTY! I had what I will call a day of debauchery, visiting several stores that I would normally not frequent... Today, I'm shopping with fellow bridesmaid Charli and preparing food and, um, other things, for the party Saturday. Tomorrow, I'll be heading out to West End to attend a dress fitting-YAY!

How cute will we be in these tanks?!
Then Saturday is MY big day! Since Nicole asked me to be the MOH, I have felt compelled to give her the most amazing and fun "last fling" she could ever imagine. I'm trying not to hype it up too much in my mind so it doesn't have such high expectations to live up to, but seriously. That's really hard not to do! Aside from it being Nicole's last night out as a free woman, it will also be the first time the Fab Five (Nicole, Julie, Jessie, Charli, and myself) have all been together in a REAAAAAALY long time. So how can that not be epic?!? I won't divulge the plans, just in case we get a little crazy HA, but I will tell you that we will be painting the town pink!

I've said it before and I will say it again, I am so honored to be a part of Nicole's special day and all the events leading up to it. She has gone out of her way to include me and to welcome me to any and all events, big or small. Her family has been so kind to me and accepting. I just can't tell you how important that is to me.

15 days and counting!!

Ok. I'm OVER That Thing...

Yeah. Title pretty much sums up my feelings on the 30 Days of Posting Business. It was fun at first and nice to have topics to write about. But as the days went by, the topics got more lame and more repetitive, and I just can't do it anymore. Not to mention, I'm sure you fine folks are DYING to know what's going on with me!! So I won't keep you in suspense any longer...

Let's see. I don't even remember when I posted on my own accord last. Seriously, I just had to look back to know. Since August 25, I have been running non-stop. I haven't had a free weekend, and won't until after Thanksgiving. I'll give you a week by week break down to the best of my memory.

Week of August 29- This week my mom and Jim, Aunt Deana, the Ballard's, and the Head's (Nicole's mom and dad) went to Cabo and left me here with approximately 8000 dogs and children. Not really, but close. I had Charlie, Piper, Scarlett, Lizzie, Kaiya, and Whitley and Treavor. FULL HOUSE to say the least. That week was mostly filled with dog poop and paper writing. Again, I NEVER want to be a single mom. It's so stressful! Nonetheless, we made it through the week. I was supposed to go to Knoxville that weekend for my annual Labor Day/Boomsday fun. Unfortunately, my trip was cancelled as Jason's grandmother passed away. He came home that Tuesday and she passed Thursday. I went with him for visitation and funeral and just tried to be there for him as best I could. It was a little on the awkward side because that's kind of a girlfriend move, ya know? And I'm not his girlfriend. But I wanted to be there if he wanted me to, so on we went. It was nice to spend time with that side of his family. I had never met most of them, but they were kind and warm to me even during their hard time. Oh yeah, and class started back. Ugh.

Week of September 5- Everyone finally came back. I want to say that I did something for Labor Day, but honestly, I just can't remember. I don't really remember much about this week in general. I had a 31 gifts party. Ordered some cool new stuff. My previously schedule Knoxville trip was moved to this weekend. I just went to hang out and luckily missed the horrific game and monsoon. Did some tailgating and bar hopping. Napped a lot. It was a good time.

Week of September 12- This week was an up and down one. I gained some housemates, so that's cool. Went to dinner with some great friends and had a fabulous time. Witnessed the most AMAZING FOOTBALL GAME OF MY LIFE!! For those of you that don't know, we beat White House, my nemesis of my LIFE! It was such a great feeling to even be there. So proud of Treavor and his team for fighting the good fight and leading us to a victory that not many Greenbrier teams have seen. Whitley and the dance team danced an awesome dance during pregame. I'm totally impressed with her skills! WHO KNEW?! Whitley's got some moves! Then after the game, Aunt Deana, Christy, Allie, and I ventured east yet again to Gatlinburg where the Mother/Daughter group from our family had already gotten the party started. Mother/Daughter is an annual trip my family's female take. There are just a few criterion for Mother/Daughter attendance: You must be 18. No Men, No Kids, and No Husbands. Other than that, anything goes! We had a great time in a beautiful cabin in the mountains and at Dixie Stampede! It's nice to get to catch up with everyone, especially my cousin Jana who is closest in age to me. Good times.

Week of September 20- Wait, that's now! I'm in full-force wedding mode these days. I've spent most of my time getting ready for Nicole's shower on Sunday. I'm so excited that it's getting closer! The wedding is less than a month away now, and my weekends are devoted to wedding events. This and next weekend is various showers, then BACHELORETTE PARTY!, then luncheon and finally WEDDING TIME! Can not believe it's already time. Wow. Can't believe it.

Well, I guess that's pretty much caught up. So glad to be back to my own style!

Day 1. Your Best Friend

This should come as no surprise since I've written about her many times before. And it's kind of funny that this post is coming at this time of year. Five years ago, Nicole and I moved into Sevier Hall on Austin Peay's campus knowing of each other, but certainly not knowing each other or being friends. But what I like to think of as fate stepped in and here we are today.

Nicole is one of the most loyal friends I've ever had. She has been there for me during some of the most horrible times in my life. But we have also had more fun than anyone I can think of. She and I have just enough in common to be able to appreciate each other and do things together, but we are enough different to compliment each other's best qualities.

I'm so proud of Nicole's career. She is teaching for her second year at GES and doing an excellent job. She is planning what will be a BEAUTIFUL wedding that I am so excited to be a part of. And somebody, she will have me a precious little baby to spoil and send back home--hopefully not for a while though!

Thanks to my boo, my poopie, and my best friend, Nicole. You're the best!

High/Low

HIGH

This Friday, Nicole and I went to have dinner and catch up with some old friends from college round one, Jenna and Amy. I think that they are pretty much the equivalent of Nicole and I as far as their friendship goes, and I just love them both to death. These two girls welcomed us to Austin Peay and into our sorority more than any others did. They took us in, gave us an excellent example of how to act and who to be around, and became great friends! I don't see them very often since I left school, but when I do, its always a good time and seems like no time has passed since our last hang out. Both Jenna and Amy are in Nicole's wedding and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with them! Love you girls!

LOW

Anyone that knows me, knows I have a love affair with sleep. I love to sleep and can do so at pretty much anytime. This love though, gets in the way of life a lot. Like Friday when I slept through two classes or yesterday when I slept from 9 am until 4 pm. Bum much? I really gotta get control of this, cause seriously? it's not a good habit.

Not a lot happened this week, so I don't have anything to report on. Maybe next week?!

High/Low/High 1.0

So I know I said I was gonna do the high/low thing in an earlier post, but after I thought about it today, I decided on high-low-high cause you should always end on a positive note, right? So here is high/low/high: the first edition!

High

The first high of the week has been the time I've got to spend with Nicole this week and really the past few weeks. We used to have a really tight knit group of girls that worked together, ran around together, and pretty much spent an obnoxious amount of time together. It was fantastic. But as time goes on, babies and boyfriends (now husbands and fiancées!) and new jobs have broken us apart and we really don't see each other much at all. Nicole and I have become so close in the past five years that its hard to think that we've ONLY BEEN FRIENDS FIVE YEARS! She has been such a great friend,

supporting me when I needed it most and giving me a swift kick when I needed that too. She and I live on different schedules though. She teaches elementary school and I attend college. She has a fantastic man that she's about to marry and we all know I'm single and mingling. We find a way to make it work, but the past few weeks, we've seen each other more than we have all year. And have I mentioned? I LOVE IT! I've enjoyed wedding planning and eating and just spending time together. I'm so happy to be apart of her life and now Maid of Honor in her wedding!!

Low

This week has been pretty great, so it's hard to find a low, honestly. But the one I can come up with is not doing as well as I had hoped on some tests. For those of you that don't know, my first round at college was not one to be proud of. I was young and dumb and made lots of mistakes. But now, I'm focused on what I want to do with myself and have really been trying harder to excel in my classes. I studied more than I think I ever have for any test for these two and just made mediocre grades on them. Really irritates me! Hopefully, the next tests will be better though :(

High

I got to hang out with my sweet baby nephew last night and kept him today while his mom went shopping and dad worked. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with him, especially if its a time that helps his momma out. I surprise myself with my motherly instincts with him. I have wiped

more undesirables from his body without a thought than I ever even dreamed of doing. There's no better feeling than when he says Aunt Kayla or when he gets excited cause I come to visit. So basically, I just love the kid. So thankful for a baby to love and spoil and play with-and then to send home!