The Years Before Mr. & Mrs. { Our Own Apartment }

Back at it with another post about Timmy and I before Mr. & Mrs. Today actually marks 6 years of Timmy and I being together! #datinganniversary

So when I graduated in May of 2013 we knew we only had about 2 months left of living with my roommates and we had to figure out what we were going to do. Ultimately Timmy and I decided to move in together and we signed a lease on our very first apartment together. 

The years before Mr. & Mrs. { The Apartment Years }

After spending almost a week in Florida and missing this new guy in my life, I was ready to get home. I remember on the drive home from Florida we were texting how many hours it would be until we saw each other, lame and silly I know. But as soon as I got into town we hung out. 

The Years before Mr. & Mrs. { The Introductions }

Timmy and I dated for 3 years before he  popped the question on our 3rd anniversary in Florida. When we got engaged, that is really when the blogging began...well consistently. So you all don't really know much about Timmy and I's relationship before I got the ring. Sure, I have shared some snippets like some of my favorite memories, or past  Valentine's Days but you don't know about the little things that made us, us. So with our 6 year dating anniversary coming up at the end of July, I thought I would share with you all a little of our relationship before the ring!

6th Valentines

{ Married Life } January 2017 Dates

DIY Valentines Day Gifts

Making my Valentine's Gifts have always been something I enjoy doing rather than going out an buying something. I also think Timmy enjoys it a little more! A few years back I made him a label to go around the 6 pack of beer I gave him - he loved it!! So this year I think I am going to make him something else - here are some of the ideas I have seen on Pinterest that I really like!

coupon book // liquor in a heart // love book // today i have loved you for

{ Married Life } January 2016 Dates

Valentine's Day is this weekend, so I thought it would be fitting to recap our January Dates! Timothy and I are very social people. We are hardly ever not with some of our friends on the weekends, so making sure we have time for some one on one time is very important to us. We love spending nights with our friends making memories we will never forget but since we are a newly married couple we also make time to set aside for just us two. With 2016 just beginning we wanted to make sure to not get too busy and make it a priority to also spend some time alone.

July Dates Recap

Timothy and I try to spend as much time together as possible...however sometimes it can be difficult for us to find some alone time with all the stuff we have going on! But when we do we always have a good time. 

North Hills Beach Music

During the summer one of the little outside malls has live beach music bands come and play on Thursday nights from about 6-9. It is always crowded, but always a good time! Timmy and I went a few times last year with some friends but we decided one time this year we wanted to make a date night out of it with dinner, drinks and some good music. Unfortunately the night we went it ended up raining but it worked out fine because we grabbed dinner and some drinks at Fox & The Hound and by the time we were done the rain had stopped and we got to enjoy some good beach music!

Hiking

As most of you all know Timothy and I will be hiking 20+ miles in October. So we need to train. One weekend while we were at the Lake we decided to get in a little hike at the state park. Little did we know it would take us 3 miles to get to a trail and by then it was about time to turn around. But, it was nice getting up early and just getting out there with him and being able to talk and spend some quality alone time.

Don't miss a thing ~ Follow along!

{ bloglovin } { instagram }  { facebook } { twitter } { pinterest }

My Favorite Memories with My Mom

If you are new to this space, let me fill you in. My mom passed away on April 12, 2014. It has been a little over a year and I still miss her like crazy. I am still trying to adjust and am still working out my grief. But today is Mother's Day and I want to dedicate this post to the woman who made me who I am today; the woman who taught me to be the strong person I am today and the woman who loved me unconditionally despite all my flaws. I can only hope to be the woman and mother you were when I am older. Today I wanted to take a look back on some of my favorite memories with my mom, some will have pictures and some will just be memories in my head.

Walks on Thanksgiving Afternoon

This is one of my favorite pictures. I think this is the ONLY picture we have of all of our fur babies and us together. Sadly, right after Mom passed away we had to put Madeline (the Cocker Spaniel Mom is holding) to sleep. Every year our family would go to Williamsburg, VA for Thanksgiving. Don't ask me why, we go but I did a post here about all of our past Thanksgivings. We stick to the same schedule every year and after our huge lunch on Thanksgiving Day we take the dogs and walk around Downtown Colonial Williamsburg. Even though we go every year and see the same sights I love doing it and especially with my family. 

Breast Cancer Walks

My mom was a survivor of breast cancer. So we made it a point to go every year and walk for the people who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. My mom put together the team called "50 Shade of Pink" (she was obsessed with 50 Shade of Grey) and we have continued the tradition ever after her passing. This was one of her favorite events, she loved getting the free stuff (even if it was junk) and loved seeing all her friends and family come together. 

College Graduation

To say my mom was my number one fan would be an under statement. She was constantly encouraging me to succeed in everything I did. When I got accepted into Meredith College I came home to a huge sign on the outside of the house that said "Congrats Ashy Baby" and I still have it to this day. My mom spent so much time preparing me for my graduation by making my Graduation hat, putting together a huge luncheon with my friends and family and making sure I had the most special day ever. 

The Birthday Hat

Man, do we all have a love/hate relationship with that hat. We hate it when it is our birthday but we love it when it is someone else's! My mom made it her mission to make sure everyone wore that hat on their birthday. So I will continue the tradition. I will be sneaking it on our cruise in June and making my grandparents wear it on their birthday since we will be on the cruise during that time!

The Sanitary Fish Market

This is a restaurant located in Morehead, NC. My mom grew up going to this restaurant at the beach, as did my sister and I. We love this place. I think my mom particularly loved it because it brought her back to her youth...the owner was one of her first boyfriends. Below is a picture from when my sister was just a little baby and I was probably about 8 and we are sitting out in front of the Sanitary waiting to eat.

Coral Bay Club

Coral Bay Club was the beach club we are members at in Atlantic Beach. This was one of my mom's favorite places to go. I am not sure why because our Condo right down the road had a pool and a beach and the Coral Bay Club did too. Maybe she just enjoyed getting away from my grandparents a little and putting any food we wanted on their bill.

Don't miss a thing ~ Follow along!

{ bloglovin } { instagram }  { facebook } { twitter } { pinterest }

Stock the Bar Party Details

Earlier this week I shared that Timmy and I had a couples Stock the Bar Engagement Party with all of our friends! It was the most perfect night and I am so thankful for everyone who came! The reason we decided to have a Stock the Bar party was because we like to party. Haha, no that wasn't the reason but we do like to party, but we decided to have one because of where we live. We have a "bar" down by our pond and that is where we have our parties and we wanted to stock the bar...so we thought we could do an Engagement Stock the Bar party. Some people do Stock the Bar parties to stock the bar for their actual wedding...that was not the case here. We were stocking the bar for our personal use.

There was a bartender, there was a magician and there was a band. So let's take a look at the whole night!

INVITATIONS

So I got really lucky with these and didn't have to pay for anything but the postage for these! My uncle's company was able to print the invitations for me and they turned out just the way I wanted them! We went with the Jack Daniels style invites! We thought that would be a fun way to show our guests it was going to be a good time!

Along with the invitations I also sent a Drink Recipe Card I made. I found the design on etsy but didn't want to pay for them when I could make some almost exactly the same. I created the design and then printed them off on card stock paper and cut them to the size I wanted. I sent them to everyone...but let's be honest I only got like 6 of them back. But I did set them out for people to fill out at the party.

DECORATIONS

A few months back I posted a tutorial for a tissue paper garland, I had planned on using the one I made awhile back but I just loved it and didn't want it to get ruined, So I made another one for the party!

I also got some pretty cool decorations from etsy!

Stock the Bar Banner

Wedding Date Banner

Instagram banner (tutorial soon)

These were the flowers we used- I loved the Spring time colors!

Instagram sign was my favorite! I made it and got the picture frames from the Dollar store! #TheChaseIsOver112115

This was the table where I had everything set out for people to sign and look at books. I had set out corks for people to sign and leave a little message for the future Mr. & Mrs. I left out madlibs for people to fill out, the drink recipe cards were on this table as well. The book on the left was a book I made for others to get to know the bridal party. Each page highlights one of the bridesmaids or groomsmen, tells a little about them, how they met me or Timmy and their favorite memory with one of us. The book on the right is a book that my best friends Paige, Rachel and Chelsea made Timmy and I when we got engaged...it is basically all about us!

One of my favorite signs of the night "Time to drink Champagne and dance on the table"

The mad libs.

Market Lights. These were my absolute favorite! I love the look of market lights and I am so glad we were able to get some to set up! They just made the look come together! Here you can see the band, Big Daddy Love, playing!

FOOD

Preparing food for a party is hard! Especially when you hit up Pinterest and you want to make everything you see on there!

The menu included:
Wings
Oysters
Buffalo Chicken Dip Tortilla Roll Ups (recipe coming)
Fruit Kabobs (recipe coming)
Turkey and Cheese Roll Ups
Pimento Cheese and Crackers
Pigs in a Blanket
Cookies
Chips and Salsa

This was only half the food, the other food was down in the fridge at the gutter.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Tortilla Roll Ups - these were my favorite!

Fruit Kabobs

FAVORS

For our favors I wanted to do something cheap but something everyone would enjoy. So in came Pinterest and I found a blog with cheap wedding favors! I really liked the idea of doing S'mores but while I was looking I also found these adorable watercolor tags I knew I wanted to use in some way shape or form. So I decided I would tie them around the S'mores bags!

These are the templates of the watercolor tags and I wrote each one individually.

FRIENDS

Timmy and I showing off our "Bride to Be" and "Groom to Be" koozies

Can't go a night without an onyx pic!

My wonderful MOH

Roomies from college :) (also not sure why the light reflection ended up on my face)

ENTERTAINMENT

This party was epic in my mind. We had a magician and a band. The magician was no freaking joke! He was absolutely amazing!

Joel Givens

Let me just say if you live in the Raleigh area hire him for your next party! I have never seen a magician that has actually blown my mind! I was mind blown on 3 tricks he personally did to me!

Dollar Bill Trick

Timmy's best man Cody was sitting next to me and Joel asked him to give him a dollar out of his pocket. He asked me to sign the back of it with my first and middle initial and my last name. But I messed up and wrote my first name out and just did middle initial and wrote out my last name on the back of the dollar bill. First he moved the seal all the way to the other side of the dollar. It is still like that. Then he change the ensurer name to my whole name. AND my signature was still on the back of the dollar! That is crazy!

Name on Arm Trick

He told me to think of someone, could be anyone, and write their first and last name on the card he gave me. I wrote my mom's first name and her maiden name (I was trying to throw him off if maybe he had already knew her name). Then I folded the card up and he told me to put it in my left hand. He told me to grab his arm with my right hand and say her name over and over. When he did he started rubbing his forearm really hard and a L showed up and a D showed up. Next he said as soon as I touch your temple say the name in your head. And he said "Lauren Dilthey" and that was her name. OMG how insane.

Card Signature Trick

The last trick was an Engagement/Wedding trick he did with Timmy and I. He each told us to pick 2 cards and had us sign both of them. He put them randomly in the deck and did some tricks with them. After he did some tricks with the two cards he told Timmy to put his card face down in his hand and my card face up on his card and put my hand on top of the cards. He did some magic and when we opened our hands the cards were no longer two cards but one card - his signature on one and mine on the other! 

Big Daddy Love

We also had a band! They were amazing! They travel around NC so if you are ever near a venue they are playing at you should definitely check them out!

This was only some of the alcohol that we got!

Timmy and I had an amazing night with our closest friends and can't thank them enough for coming out and celebrating our Engagement with us!

Don't miss a thing ~ Follow along!

{ bloglovin } { instagram }  { facebook } { twitter } { pinterest }

(This month's advertisement)