Professional Bridesmaid!

Well let me just start by saying....PHEW.
Alright good deep breath. I am EXHAUSTED. But it's a good tired. I have had probably the busiest summer of my life (and it's not over)-- but I've also got to spend more time at home with my family than I have in the last 3 years combined. So needless to say, the ole Mazda 3 got a workout! I knew it was going to be crazy when I was informed of four wedding dates of four of the most amazing people in my life...all within 4 weeks of each other! NUTS! So about April 24 started my summer of driving home every.single.weekend through June 20 (my one year anniversary) supporting four awesome girls-- Madison Robertson, my twin cousin:), Mallori Mapp, my bestie from home, Ashley Gadd, one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet from Chatt-town, and Emily Flowers, my brotha from anotha motha. We had showers and parties that included lots of gifts and lingerie and pots and pans and pottery-- but overall, I got to spend a lot of amazing time with some AMAZING girls (and boys!).

Well we started off having several showers. This was fun for me, because I opened up a little bit of my creative side when it came to gift-giving and "shower-throwing." My first weekend of showers were full of lingerie showers (I ended up having a lingerie shower for every single wedding in one weekend). So I decided to test my baking skills. I ended up making lingerie shaped cakes for two of the showers. Here's the one I sent for Ashley and Bart:

It was a ton of fun and I actually really surprised myself. I am NOT a cook-- so it was neat to play around with it. Well next we had home showers and church showers. I decided to test out some old rusty painting skills from back in the day. Ashley had loved a painting my best friend Mallori had done for me when I got married, so I decided to paint her a version of it:

Anyway....on May 15th, the weddings started-- Madison was first! She was an absolute STUNNING bride and everything turned out perfectly. It was a relatively cool day, we got done putting finishing touches on the reception area early so no one was rushed, and the ceremony was one of the sweetest I've seen. Not to mention, we BROKE IT DOWN at the reception. OOH love me some Cupid Shuffle and Cha-Cha Slide! :) I am so proud for both of them-- Jeremy you better take care of her! I know she LOVES being Mrs. Abbott! :) Here's a phone pic pre-makeup (for me!):

The next weekend was May 22 and I had two weddings on the same night. Ashley Gadd in Chattanooga and Mallori Mapp in Pontotoc. There was no way I would make them both, so it was a bittersweet day that I was having to miss out on Ashley and Bart. But their pictures are absolutely AMAZING and knowing the two of them....it was an extremely sweet sweet day. But I did get to make it to Mal's wedding. And let me just say it was gorgeous. Everything turned out perfectly, the Lord held off the rain, dried the ground, and made for a sweet night under the trees of her backyard. Mallori was gorgeous, Evan was handsome and the bridal party was super fun. The most eventful item that took place happened after the fact. At about midnight, Mal calls me and tells me she's left her purse in Pontotoc and it has all her information like credit cards, license, etc. in it that she needs for honeymoon. She and Evan were in Memphis at the Peabody. SOO-- me and Emily get in the car and drive up there to take it to her. When we get there-- the roads are blocked for a concert downtown and the cops aren't letting anyone in or out. SO we had no other choice but to just turn around and come back home. So after driving all the way there and back and getting in bed around 5:30AM....it was not successful! Needless to say it made a great story. Here's a snapshot from the wedding taken by her extremely talented and super sweet photographer, Alicia Hartfield and Moments Photography:

So the next weekend was Memorial Day and I actually stayed at home. Thank goodness. I can't actually remember what I did because I think I was a zombie-- but I do know I rested. Then following that was, last but definitely not least, the wedding of my cousin Caleb East and his beautiful bride Emily Flowers. Emily is a long time friend and has felt like family for a long long time. So this was definitely one of the sweetest days in our family. The rehearsal dinner was just amazing because I got to visit with several childhood friends that I knew through Caleb and Jordan-- some I hadn't seen in years. We had a BLAST talking and laughing about old times. Very fun and very laid back. Then of course wedding day was an ultimate celebration of what the Lord had brought together AND (almost) equally important...THE Mississippi State Bulldogs! MAROON! WHITE! :) The couple marched out to "Hail State" and we sent them on their way with a sea of cowbells clanging behind them. It. was. awesome. Here's a pic of me and my little barbie:

So that rounded up my weddings, but I still had one more trip. On June 19 I had my 5 year high school class reunion. It was so much fun getting to see everybody and visit like old times. We had a pretty good turn out and it was so interesting to see how everyone had changed. Here's a picture of our senior class officers (Madison, me, Miranda McLaughlin, Emily Robbins, and Mallori):

And my summer post could never be complete without pics of me and my little nugget! Wil Franklin was so much fun all summer and I cannot get over how much he's grown! I love him so so much and his WhitWhit is so proud of him! Here's a picture at Emily's wedding:

And my favorite picture of all summer....my cool dude lounging and watching his golf movie (you know how I do WhitWhit, just chillaxin wit my passey!):

Overall its been an amazing summer thus far with a lot of amazing memories. And I do want to say thank you so much to all these awesome girls for letting me share in these special times with them. You are the best friends I could ever imagine and I would not trade any of this for the world!

There is still a lot going on with work and family. I'm moving into management with Mary Kay so it takes up a lot of my time. School is a nightmare. And Duane and I just celebrated our ONE YEAR! (a longer post on how much I love my hubby later....I'm pretty sure yall get the picture!). It's crazy that it's been a year but it has honestly been the absolute best year of my life. Hands down. Well that about gets me caught up. More about hubby and work soon! Night night!