Back in full force!

Sometimes you have to sit back and face harsh realities. In my case, this week I had to realize that I failed with a capital F at making posts! Let me just tell ya, I cannot even remember the last time that I was this tired/busy/exhausted.  I am not old by any means (twenty three and loving life!), however I find myself not even being able to remember what I did a week ago! PLEASE tell me other twenty-something gals have this same issue…otherwise I’m feeling pretty lame right now.  As always, let’s start with a little recap (of what I do remember from last week), shall we?

Last week was a pretty hectic one. Let me start off with my poor attempt at an explanation. I started working the 6am-3pm shift at work, so all last week (and still this week…) I have been trying to adjust my eating, sleeping, and breathing schedules! I am still not quite used to the change. Let’s just say that coffee and I will be hand in hand for quite a while. Seriously, y’all, I feel as if I’m running off of coffee and fumes.

On Wednesday of last week, we had the bridal shower! Ladies, when you think of your picture perfect bridal shower, you are picturing the shower my mom’s wonderful friends threw for me. My wedding is going to be a fall wedding, so I am incorporating a lot of burlap, lace, mason jars, twigs, etc. into my wedding theme, so the wonderful hostesses of the bridal shower did the same! They incorporated all of my favorite things into the shower, I was absolutely thrilled! We had some delicious bellini’s while we mingled, and then we snacked on delicious fruit and vegetables, absolutely ah-ma-zing Indonesian pork tenderloin (If you’re lucky, I might post the recipe …It’s pretty much heaven in pork form), and cupcakes! We opened gifts, took pictures, and just enjoyed the company of everyone around us. I cannot even express how blessed Charles and I have already been by our friends.

Me, my mom, and my sister at the shower!

The wonderful hostesses!!

Y'all know I couldn't resist my Arkansas Razorback loofah!

Enjoying the shower!<3

 

The next few days were spent celebrating the birthday of Charles’ brother Chris! We headed to the lake Friday after my 3pm meeting. Two of our friends went with us, as well as a few of Chris’ friends. We got down to the lake, and of course we got on the water immediately! There is nothing like a sunset boat ride and a nice drink after a long week at work. Nothing compares! Saturday, we all got up and on the water at an early hour, and stayed on the water until sunset. It was a much needed day of fun in the sun! After that, we all cooked dinner and stayed up chatting for a bit, then we all felt the exhaustion set in and called it a night early. We got back in town Sunday at around 2pm, and Charles and I made our typical Sunday-after-the-lake first stop: Pho Hoang! They have the most DELICIOUS Vietnamese fried rice ever. It’s the perfect lunch for coming home from a trip.

Sunset rides! xoxo

I’m not sure about your state, but mine participates in the tax free weekend shopping event. Stores get to participate in making things tax free, and it’s the perfect time to get out and get some back to school clothes shopping, supply shopping, etc. done while you don’t have to pay sales tax! For me, it was just an excuse to shop. I ventured out to the mall Sunday afternoon, and BOY was it a mad house. I did manage to get my Make Up Forever HD foundation from Sephora TAX FREE, which is a score, as well as a few new shirts and ties for Charles to wear to his bachelor party this coming weekend! I truly HAD to get my Make Up Forever HD foundation, because as much as I love my CC creams, and believe me, I do, I need something more full coverage for photos, and to cover up a few “stress blemishes” I seem to be getting more of as the wedding gets closer. While I was at the mall, I passed Things Remembered, and I saw a sign that said that if you were a bride to be (like me!) then you got a free keychain in the shape of a heart and you got it engraved with your new name on it! I got mine engraved to say my name and my wedding date. It is adorable; I just love being a bride to be! I then sat around writing thank you notes for the shower gifts, and sipped on a glass of wine while Charles watched the Cowboys game (can I get a HOORAY FOR FOOTBALL SEASON?!)

Monday was a LONG day. After work, I went to my mom’s house to work on addressing the wedding invitations, and about half way through, I got a phone call from Charles (who was studying for his final at the school library) saying that I needed to pick him up because he was really sick. I rushed there to pick him up, and we had to get him to the ER immediately. We were there for several hours. We finally got to take him home (the patient is doing okay, thank the Lord) and I had to get us something to eat (we were absolutely starving) and get to bed because it was extraordinarily late. I had to wake up at 5am for work yesterday, and I was absolutely dragging all day because of no sleep the night before. Upon reflection, I have NO idea how I made it through without falling asleep at least once!!

Tonight, we have another shower courtesy of the wonderful people at Charles’ mom’s work! I am thrilled. PLUS, it’s HAIR DAY, and ladies, we all know how exciting hair days are! It’s going to be another long day here in the daily life of Michele, but it’s worth it! We have a lot of exciting things coming up before the wedding (which, by the way, y’all is only 45 days away!!)

I’m feeling generous and thought I might go ahead and give you the recipe for the Indonesian Pork Tenderloin, and trust me; I know you’ll be thankful:

1lb. pork tenderloin
2T soy sauce
2T peanut butter
1t. dried crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c pineapple preserves (Ok, so I couldn’t find any! I substituted ¼ cup of orange marmalade, and it turned out wonderful!)

Mix Soy sauce, peanut butter, pepper, and garlic together and spread over pork. (Typically I would recommend wrapping this up and letting it sit in the fridge and marinade for a few hours, but if you’re short on time, skip this step!)
Roast at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and coat with preserves (or marmalade). Bake another 10 minutes. Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, PLEASE let me know how you liked it, because honestly, it’s divine. I’ll be back here in a few days to tell you all about our cocktail shower and our bachelor / bachelorette parties! I will also be sharing a few of the goodies I made up for the bachelor and bachelorette =)

 

I'm excited to blog with you soon! Until then,

 

Michele

As of late

When it’s winter and spring, I can hardly stand to wait for the summer. During the winter I just sit back and daydream about summer, thinking “The summer needs to hurry up and get here, it will be nothing but barbeques, lake time, tan skin, late nights, float trips, etc,” but when summer rolls around, it seems to be more like bed by 8:30pm, a different wedding every weekend, a baby shower every Sunday, and complete and utter exhaustion.

Nonetheless, I still get thrilled when my computer screen reads 4pm on a Friday. This weekend, it’s time for some lake fun! We have dedicated this weekend as “family weekend” at Lake Ouachita. My cousin and his new girlfriend are joining us, and will be coming in from Shreveport, LA to meet us for a weekend of fun in the sun. Also, since my sister and my mom are in Florida (white the rest of us non-teachers slave away at work this summer), my dad is coming to the lake with us for the first time. I don’t think people get how pleasant Lake Ouachita is until they actually get to experience it in all of its glory (trust me, it NEVER disappoints!)  Here below is a picture of Ouachita, so you can see why I love it so much:

Myself and our Min Pin, Cholla (such a lake dog!)

 

Since I’ve self-diagnosed myself with mild OCD and over-planning disorder (ok..so that probably isn’t a real thing, but if it was, I would have it HANDS DOWN), I like to do as much food prep as I can before we get to the lake (because honestly, who wants to spend their time at the lake chopping veggies and cleaning the kitchen, especially after a long, exhausting day in the sun?) In preparation for this weekend, I chopped up a red and a green bell pepper, as well as a white onion. We like to use these on pizzas (Friday night is typically pizza night at the lake, we like easy dishes because we are all tired from working all day) as well as some people (ahem..me) like them in their eggs or hash browns  for breakfast. I also like to make sausage balls ahead of time because they are easily freezable and easily cooked for simple breakfasts, and who doesn’t love a good sausage ball?

When thinking of snacking for a lake weekend, we usually go with a roasted red pepper hummus (the Marketfresh one from Wal-Mart is our favorite) and bagel crisps. We can’t get enough of that combination! I also really like to snack on fresh cherries! So delish on a summer day. Now I’m sitting at work, still have 3 hours to go before I get to go to the lake, and my mouth is watering. Maybe blogging about food on a slow day at work isn’t the best idea.

In other news, I got the pictures back from the Couple’s Shower. The theme for this shower, as previously mentioned in another post, was Casino Night (chosen by a highly excited Charles.) The wedding party did a SPECTACULAR job on this shower, y’all. I really do have THE best friends and family. I won’t torture you with a ton of pictures, but here are a few just so you can see a hint of what the shower was like:

The hostesses created these CUTE card decks as favors with our names on the back.

"A" cookies for my new last name (Alley)

I made this by getting an old picture frame, glittering the sides with spray adhesive and glitter, and using chalkboard paint on the glass! Totally DIY!
 

Close up of the cards

Some of the food, all with Cards that had the item description on them!

Lovin on my wabes

The wonderful Hostesses and nyself!



Well, all, I better get back to work! Maybe if I do, the afternoon will go by faster and it will be lake time (wink wink!) Hope to see you all back here real soon for a weekend re-cap!

Until next time, xoxo
Michele

 

 

Something old, Something New

It seems that I have started all of my posts saying “WOW, what a long time it has been since I have last posted,” but it’s incredibly accurate. It has been too long since I have updated on my life, whereabouts, and the good old South. I had a wordpress site, where I used to post everything to, however I can never get wordpress to function properly, so I am switching over to blogspot! My other blog, The Babbling Bride, is up here as well. I have been updating that one with my perspective on the whole engagement on my blog in a bad way! If you want to follow Katie, she can be found here: http://gloriouslyreallifexo.blogspot.com/. I’m not going to delay your suspense any longer, so here is what I have been up to lately!

I’M ENGAGED! Charles proposed in November (shortly after my last blog post). I am beyond thrilled to be Mrs. Charles Alley in just 71 short days! As you can probably imagine, I have been absolutely worn out planning for the wedding. I found the perfect dress, picked out flowers and decorations, gotten our engagement photos taken (check out the website of our awesome photographers here: www.beatyphotography.com), sent out save the dates, picked out the cake, and so on and so forth.

My wedding party threw Charles and I a Couples Shower (casino night themed) at the glass pavilion here in Fort Smith. It was absolutely everything we could have imagined, complete with cards, dice, food, friends, and family (and even a little old school Frank Sinatra playing in the background!) It seems to me as if Couples Showers are becoming increasingly popular with engaged couples. This way the groom gets to participate and it is more of a celebration than just a shower. It was great to see some out of town family and friends we hadn’t seen in a while and might not get a chance to visit with much at the wedding. At the end of this month I will be having what I like to refer to as the “formal” bridal shower (and I can’t wait!) This is the shower my mom’s friends are throwing for me, girls only! Then in one month, the bachelorette party in Tulsa! This entire process has been amazing. I am sad to see it ending, but I am excited to finally get to the end result: being married to my “wabers.”

Other than wedding related activities, I have been spending my time cleaning, a never ending process; trying new recipes, which is one of my favorite things to do, so if you have any good recipes, please share; spending time with girlfriends (I have the best group of gals that gets together for girls nights where we drink wine, eat fondue, and have great conversations); and going to the lake! Going to beautiful Lake Ouachita is the perfect cure for every day stresses. Since there is no beach close by, the lake is our weekend escape. We spend the mornings sipping on coffee and reading on the patio, the days on the lake boating and baking in the sun, and our evenings resting and cooking a nice dinner, maybe watching a movie or roasting s ’mores (if we are feeling the need to indulge in a sweet treat!)

Even though I have been increasingly busy lately (the wedding planning takes more of my time than I realized it would), I have been struggling to find positive things to do to pass time by before bed. If you don’t take time in your day to spend by yourself where you are not working, cleaning, cooking, etc. then I highly recommend finding 30 minutes a day to take a breather and indulge in something good for the soul. For me, I (attempt to) spend 30 minutes a day find a positive, encouraging story or a devotional. I cannot wait until I am married and can start my new devotional, The Power of a Positive Wife. Reading a devotional or a positive story each day is a good way to restore your faith in humanity or just escape to a place of no stress or anxiety. I’m always on the hunt for a good-for-the-soul read, so if you can think of any good ones, let me know! I’m almost positive my next read will be Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, however it is always good to have backups for us fast readers!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the proposal and our engagement photos (be sure to check out www.beatyphotography.com.)

Until next time! xoxo

Michele