WANTED: Substitute fiancé

SO. Apparently having a fiance (I am really trying to incorporate that word into my vocabulary more) is completely worthless.

We obviously aren't on the same page when it comes to boy bands.

Y'all. In 21 days the BFF and I will be in NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I probably need to get a grip because every time I envision myself walking through the streets of New York City it looks like this:

Clearly the biggest problem here is that I'm not blonde. 

That's pretty much the only excitement going on today. But before I head off to my 9:30 bedtime, I have to share with you the pinterest finds that made me laugh my face off today.

Andddd one more just for my good friend Miley Cyrus :)

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Wedding Dresses, Half Marathons, and MORE Miley Cyrus

In case you can't tell, life has been kindove a whirlwind since the whole "HOLY CRAP WE ARE ENGAGED" thing. It's only been 11 days since the proposal (seriously?!) and already I'm counting down the days until we are Mr & Mrs. I don't know how you engaged people ever get anything done because my brain is swimming with wedding related thoughts all day long. Yep. I am that girl. I can't tell you the last time I googled something non-wedding related. Except for this morning when I googled "Miley Cyrus VMAs."

Now y'all know how I feel about Miley. First off, I truly don't understand what is up with her tongue. WHY. Just WHY? PUT THAT THING AWAY. I am not even comfortable posting a picture of her performance because Y'ALL - I have never been so dumbfounded in my life. And I am a person who embraces all things awkward. But really. I just. Really. There are no words.

Anyways. Let me catch you up on wedding related things.

• We have a date! April 25, 2014 (AKA the perfect day)
• We have a venue! The night we got engaged I just started googling venues in the area, found one I liked, ran it by Taylor, went and toured it out two days later, liked it, and booked it! Turns out I am a very speedy and decisive bride.
• I bought a dress! Here's the story on that...

My best friend and Maid of Honor (Allison) is moving to Oregon in January, and she will be there for a year. With my schedule, her schedule, my mom's schedule, and the fact that we are only having an 8 month engagement, it was decided that the best time for wedding dress shopping was ASAP. Meaning Saturday. So that morning I woke up to this :)

 

So me, my mom, Taylor's mom, and Allison all headed over to the first appointment. 

I tried on less than 10 dresses at a local small business and decided on a GORGEOUS dress that fits me like a glove. I kid you not, it's like it was made for me. I got a spectacular deal, paid cash on the spot for it and walked out the door wedding dress in hand!

  

Ahhh!!!!

People always talk about how stressful and crazy wedding planning is, but let me tell you from my eleven days of expertise, it is SO easy! Kidding. I'm sure it will get harder. But for now it is crazy fun. After finding the PERFECT dress we went to a fun girl's breakfast, talked wedding stuff, and then went our separate ways. I went back home to Taylor and proceeded to squeal with excitement for the ENTIRE rest of the day. I feel like I have a huge giant secret and it just might kill me, and somehow I'm supposed to make it all the way to April 25 without showing every living person pictures of my dress. I'm not so sure I will make it. 

That afternoon we headed out to Dallas to meet up with my friend and former college roomie, Alli. We headed to Time Ten Cellars (favorite!) for wine tasting and chocolate and then over to Gin Mill for a follow up beer. 

 

That wasn't quite enough calories for us, so we headed over to Chuy's for dinner where Allison made her second appearance of the day.

The rest of the night was spent dancing, singing, and staying up wayyy too late. 

The next morning I was up bright and early at 5:45 for The Hottest Half Marathon.

My trusty BFF/paparazzi was there to document the absolute hell that was this race, so I'm going to wait until for those pictures before I do the official race recap, but let me just say - OW.

If you are wondering who the creepy guy with the mustache is - that's Tyler, my racing buddy who ran the Cowtown Half with me in February. 

    After the race, a serious shower, and nap, I headed to meet my family for a goodbye dinner for my little brother who is leaving for college TOMORROW. Holy crap where did the time go?!?!!? Since I ran 13.1 miles that morning and burned what I'm guessing was 42 million calories I had THIS for dinner. And licked my plate clean.

After dinner, laughing, and lots of pics, I got home to see this, which of course made me cry.

Love that little boy/GIANT grown man SO much!

Life is such a crazy whirlwind of fun these days! Happy Monday!

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

The Best Run Ever (Proposal Story Part 2)

(You can find Part 1 here!)

After all the smiles and the smoochin', Taylor's roommates headed to Chuy's and said they'd get a table while we walked back through the proposal setup for more pictures. There was a mini-race going on on the trails, and since I was robbed of a training run, I pretended to be a part of the race. Don't worry, I only ran like ten feet.

I'm not sure whose idea the photo reenactments were, but totally ridiculous is just our style, so it worked :)

Yes, that is a stick.

Aaaannnd then we pretended the ring box was a rubiks cube. It's called improvising, people.

Slowest run of all time, but I guess I'll let it slide.

This might look sweet, but I'm pretty sure the words coming out of my mouth were "FAJITAS FAJITAS I'M STARVING I'M STARVING!"

As we walked up the sidewalk to Chuy's, I looked through the door window and did a double take when I saw one of my best friends and college roommate, Alli. As soon as I saw her, Taylor opened the door to not just Alli, but about 30 more of our closest friends and family!

Aaand then I proceeded to cry like a baby.

Seriously I don't think I've ever been so happy in my entire life.

LOVE her.

The first person I saw after Alli was my Mimi AKA my favorite person in the entire world. My mom worked her butt off for me and my brother when we were little, so we spent almost every single day with Mimi. I'm pretty sure I crumbled in her arms. Such a special moment. 

 

And all my sweet friends!!

And my adorable roomie :)

And our giant table of people! It has been SO hot since August began, and in a serious act of God, I'm pretty sure the high temp the day Taylor proposed was only around 90 degrees. We had dinner on the patio and it couldn't have been more perfect.

And cookie cake :)

And more best friend love :)

Sweetest friends of all time.

And a Jordan shot. (Jordan has been Taylor's roommate for almost as long as we've been dating. They are a handful when they are together and sometimes it feels like I am the mom and they are the crazy kids you just want to smack. But I secretly love him to death!) This is super typical.

And Quaid, Taylor's other roommate (are you confused yet?) told me I had to do a Super Bowl ring pic. Yeah, I'm hardcore.

My fiance (WEIRD!) with some of the girls!

Moms pic!

 

Dad and brother! Y'all. My brother is HUGE. I don't when he turned into a grown up with FACIAL HAIR (seriously?!) but I officially feel OLD. 

  

I absolutely couldn't be any happier. I am so freakin' excited for this next stage in our life, and I can't imagine diving head first into it with anybody but this guy.

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat