Southern Komfort Blog: August 2014

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Let's Have a Little Fun, Shall We?

Recently, I was contacted by the company Loverly to put together ideas for that big day based on the venue. Everything that was chosen, from the dress to the accessories, were all based around the idea of a "rustic, southern" theme. Even though I already have my dress and all the goodies to go along with it for the real big day, I thought what a better way to play dress-up without spending lots of dollas!

Ladies, please feast your eyes on all the goodies...

First the dress - I wanted to go with a vintage, relaxed feel because in my mind, my wedding locale would be in a field on a beautiful, crisp Fall afternoon. Secondly, I love lace. Anything lacey and I'm done for. I'm sure you can imagine what my real dress will be made of...

Secondly the headpiece - I'm not a huge veil kind of gal. Especially if I'm going for the relaxed feel, then I definitely want to keep the entire ensemble simple and classic. Easy enough right?

And finally, the boots. Of course, the country girl has got to have her boots to complete the outfit. It's almost against my religion to not have them!

What kind of style would ya'll go for?

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pardon the Interruption...

Hey friends! Today is usually the day for our 3 Southern Girls Throwback Thursday Link-Up, but today we're going to deviate away from that link-up to just focus on the here and now. Our sweet friend, Cat, is having some family emergencies so we're busy praying and thinking of her right now.

What's been going on in ya'lls lives?? I feel like I've been running 90 miles a minute between work, wedding planning, sending out those invitations (eeeek!), helping Hunter get settled into a routine with his first week of school, trying to figure out when the heck we're going to ~~chop Jep's balls off~~
neuter him..... I'm telling ya, I'm a mess.

So to keep it simple today, and to probably alarm ya'll, I'm going to just share what all has been going on with me and my crazy self:

Wedding invitations went out in a huge bulk on Tuesday! I have a few more that are being put together and sent out.
Hunter has had an awesome first week of classes! He likes his professors and they seem like a good fit for Hunter's schedule. Plus, major kudos points to his professors for being understanding of the wedding and the time Hunter will be taking off to travel.
Okay, ya'll don't laugh. But the weather here (in the mornings at least) has been glorious!! The last few days have been in the high 60's, low 70's, and I'm just swooning. Bring out da pumpkins!!
Speaking of pumpkins, I have to stay out of Hobby Lobby. They have some of the cutest Fall decorations and I want dem all. All of dem!!
I need to take more pictures. This blog post is "nekked" (naked for all you folks that don't speak southern twang...)
I got hit on by the Dunkin Donuts fella this morning. Thanks bub for calling me darling and trying to stare down my dress in the drive-thru line. Trust me, I got mosquito bites for a chest so ya ain't gettin' none. (read: major creeper)
Have ya'll had the Oreo donut from Dunkin Donuts?! Hello sugar high!
Ya'll, we've got a long weekend coming up and I could literally pee my pants from excitement. Huntman (Hunter - it's his nickname) and I will be spending some time cleaning out the good ole huntin' blinds.
I think my southern accent is coming out through my writing.....
I'm not really sure what's been going on, but the clock is seriously spinning at wicked speed lightning in the mornings. I'm serious, I've been getting up earlier to try and keep up with the clock and I'm still struggling to get into work on time. #wth

That's all I'm going to bombard ya'll with for now. Trust me, there's more jumbledness where that all came from. Ya'll are the bestest for hanging with me!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Embracing Life

Can we just talk about this for a sec?

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this pic in the wee hours of this morning. My sweet sister-in-law-to-be sent me an excited text announcing the passing of her driver's license test and she is officially driving herself to school for the first time ever this morning.

A part of my soul died.

Totes kidding, but seriously. I had a minor panic attack because I thought, "Oh God, I'm getting old!!" My sister will be turning 16 in just a few short, short, short weeks. I still look at these girls like they're babies. I even look at my 23 year old brother and (almost) 21 year old brother like they're still 7 and 5 years old.

Where was I going with this?? Oh yes, embracing life.

With all of these changes coming up together pretty soon, such as two of our girls will become drivers, my youngest brother will become legal to drink, and I will be getting married, it just made me stop and think, "Dang, life sure is moving!" They say that change is hard for us humans. We don't tend to accept change well sometimes, and can even try to buck that change.

I decided I'm going to be the weirdo and embrace it. I'm so beyond excited to see these changes happening! I love that my sisters (yes, Hunter's sister is basically mine) are learning how to become responsible citizens of society. I love that my brother can finally feel like he's part of the group of responsible (I would hope) men and women that can have a drink or 2. And I just absolutely love that my new "life" is starting with a man I love more than words can say in just a few very short weeks.

Hunter and I were talking last night about this new chapter in our lives coming up and all that it means to us. Now understand me when I say this - Hunter and I are in this for the long haul. No divorcing because I don't like him anymore, or I irritate the stew out of him. Read my ~~lips~~ words - WE'RE IN THIS FOR LIFE.

With this new chapter in our lives, I'm going to be embracing

becoming not just a wife, but a partner for life
the mother to his children, some day
his biggest fan and supporter in all his dreams and goals
the rock and foundation for him to lean on when he is weak

I cannot wait to embrace this life!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Grateful Heart Monday

Ya'll, it was such a hot weekend this past weekend. Don't get me wrong... I love my Florida and I love my summers. But dadgum. When it's too hot to even be outside in your own pool because the pool water registers 92 degrees, then it's just too dang hot!

This past weekend was such a good weekend! It was a pampering kind of weekend for Hunter and I. We enjoyed the weekend on our time and with great folks. So of course it makes coming back to work on a Monday so much easier!

I'm so grateful for birthdays! We celebrated Hunter's sister's sweet 16th birthday yesterday with some pool time and wings, of course.
Ya'll, I'm so thankful for friends. And girlfriends for that matter! Saturday, Jessie and I went and had our ~~hooves~~ toes done, ~~gulped~~ sipped on some peach sangrias, and got in some necessary shopping time. It was fabulous!
I'm also so so so so so so sooooo grateful that mine and Hunter's wedding is exactly 2 months away!!!! Today marks 2 months until our big day. I have no shame, I totes squealed like a stoked pig in the car this morning on the way to work. I cannot wait to be his wife!!

I hope all you lovelies have a wonderful Monday! And to all the folks going back to school this week, including my beloved better half, I hope ya'll have a great first day/week of school!

Fun fact: I'm featured over at the lovely Shane's blog, Whispering Sweet Nothings. Go check it out!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

3 Southern Girls: Blog Changes + New Beginnings

Happy happy happy Thursday ladies and gents!! Thursday's are so splendid because it means we're just that much closer to awesome sauce Friday's! Holla....

Welcome back, or if this is your first time joining in, welcome all around to 3 Southern Girls' Throwback Thursday Link-up. I'm not going to bore you with the deets right now (that's down below - be sure to link-up ya'll!) but I am going to jump into my #tbt bit for today.

This here bloggy is a dear love of mine. I can come here to share my thoughts and experiences with some unlikely friends that I never thought I would have the pleasure of meeting. Also, it has been a great way for my family and friends to be able to keep up with me and the happenings in my life. I'm a busy gal ya'll!

Over the past several days, I have felt like coming here was work now. Don't get me wrong, I know sometimes you have to work at something you enjoy. But it got to the point where I realized that I was now coming here to post something because I knew people were expecting it. Family, friends, blog friends were expecting to see a Southern Komfort Blog post on their Bloglovin feed each morning.

And that became such a daunting task to fulfill.

Thus, I decided to go back to my roots. Go back to why I started blogging. Like I said earlier, this blog is a place to come and share my life. With that being said, SoKo will still be around and I will still be checking in and posting things to this corner of the interwebs. Just not every single day of the week (with the exceptions of weekends - I stopped doing that a long time ago). I want to be able to enjoy coming here with all sorts of great things to tell you guys! I didn't want this blog to become mundane.

So, hang with me if ya'll still want to. Or don't. Either way, this blog was designed for me to share the beauty in this world with all you lovelies, so you can take it or leave it.

As far as the "New Beginnings" part of the title goes, I met the sweetest gal last night at dinner! A good friend of mine and Hunter's has been dating this gem of girl for awhile now. They did the long distance thing and she was finally able to move down here in July and start their lives here together as a couple. She is such a sweetheart, so bright in every way, and ya'll, she speaks sarcasm!! When Hunter and I left dinner last night, the first thing I said was, "I absolutely love her!!"

Jessie, if you're reading this, it was truly a pleasure meeting you and I can't wait to see where this friendship thang goes. Welcome to the south sister! And always remember, bless someone's heart.

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Welcome back Y'all to another week with the 3 Southern Gals.

This Throwback Thursday Link Party has been such a blast.

We have met some amazing bloggers and read some incredible post.

As always thank you for sharing and linking up with us!!

So what is so great about this link party? Anyone can link up!! You can share a post you wrote today that shares old pictures and/or stories... But if you already have something else scheduled for today, or maybe you just found this link-up, no worries....link up an old blog post. We just ask if you link up a previous blog posting, that it be older than a week old. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask one of us.

Cat @ Yes DEER : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook

Kelly @ Southern Komfort : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram

Tela @ Sweet Southern T : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook

Before you link up please read and make sure you are following the party guidelines :)

The Rules are Simple:

1. Make sure you are following ALL 3 of the Southern Gals Blogs.

Cat // Kelly // Tela

2. Link up your throwback blog post. This includes a post where you share old pictures and/or stories. OR you may also share a blog post that was posted prior to last week.

In other words please do not link up to your blogs home page, a post you wrote this week that does not include something from the past.

3. Please no giveaways, shops, or other linkups.

(as these would also not fall into the throwback category)

4. Share our party button and/or link back to our party.

<div align="center">
 <a href="http://www.yes-deer.com/search/label/throwback%20thursday" title="3 Southern Gals TBT"><img src="http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/cklshine/TBTButton_zps213737fc.jpg" alt="3 Southern Gals TBT" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

5. Don't just link and run...check our some other TBT post.

6. HAVE FUN!!!

****NOTICE****

We want this to be a fun link up, so link up your post!! Lets reminisce together. All we ask if that if you link up, PLEASE follow ALL the rules. We really do not want to delete links. Honestly this is the last thing we want to do, but these link parities take a lot of our time an effort. In return we just need for you to be respectful to our party and to others. In the past linkups we have had a few each week that have not followed all the rules. Going forward we will have to delete any link that does not follow the party rules.

NOW LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bridesmaids' dresses

This past Saturday, was an adventure for the memory books. Bridesmaid dress shopping. Seeing that it was for 2 16 year old girls, it actually wasn't bad at all! Both girls had their dresses picked out by the 2nd store that we went into, and we were done by about lunchtime.

Want to know something even crazier?? They match.

You're probably looking at me like I've lost my ever-lovin' mind but hear me out. My sister and Hunter's sister are my only bridesmaids. No friends. The good Lord knows I couldn't handle the drama that comes with that... And yes, there is always drama with that one friend.

Anyways, when I first recruited the girls I told them, "I don't care if your dresses look the same. I don't care on the length or the style. It just has to be navy. That's it." So the fact that they both fell in love with the same dress, just blew mine, my mom's, and Hunter's mom's minds. Ha!

First, let's look at the contenders - and I do apologize for the mismatched picture lighting...

Didn't those lovely dresses put up a good fight? Now, drum roll please.......

I give to you........

The bridesmaid dresses.........

Aren't they gorgeous?! The girls absolutely love them and cannot wait for them to come in. It's all so amazing how real this is becoming. I'm beyond excited to be marrying my absolute bestest friend ever! I honestly never thought I would feel a love this deep and true for someone. Ahhh I'll stop, I'll stop with the mushy stuff. Let's just feast our eyes on these wonderful dresses!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Wedding Do's

With my wedding dress being almost completely done with its alterations (I pick it up this Saturday!!), I've been researching different hairstyles. Let me give you a little bit of a mental picture of my dress:

Long sleeve lace sleeves
Lace bust/chest area
Fabric flows down with lace trim work at the bottom of the dress
Lonnnggggg train

My wedding dress was my mother's wedding dress, with some minor alterations done to it. So think vintage, southern wedding dress style. I want to channel a classic look, with a modern twist to it. Of course, Pinterest has been my go-to for ideas to share with my hairstylist (read: cousin).

I initially started off with the half-up/half-down look:

source

But after putting my dress back on with most of the alterations done, my mind changed instantly. Here's what I'm planning on now...

source

The above 2 photos I'm absolutely swooning over so I'm excited to see what my cousin will be doing on my hair. And just because I'm so giddy about it... we're just 2 months and 6 days from the BIG DAY!!!

Monday, August 18, 2014

#Grateful Heart + True Colors

My oh my it was quite the busy weekend for us! Between dress shopping, spending time with friends, and engagement pictures... I'm beat! But it was a fabulous weekend nonetheless.

I'll have a recap later on in the week about the whole dress shopping experience for my bridesmaids (read: sister and future SIL) along with the glamorous pictures that are great for ~~blackmail~~ sharing the experience with ya'll.

Today though, I want to focus on the aspect of "true colors."

source

Now don't wince and automatically assume I'm bringing something negative to the table. True colors can be beautiful or ugly; pretty or dark; nice or mean. True colors can be the simple surprise of a good deed that somebody does for you, when you least expect it. True colors can be the hurtful words imposed on you and your beliefs, when you least expect it.

See the common theme there? When you least expect it?

I'm always so grateful when a person's true colors come out, whether they're good or bad. I love discovering somebody's ulterior motives because that always speaks volumes to me. Even if it's something that hurts me, in the end, I'll know what they were thinking. Or feeling. Or their ulterior motives.

My bit of advice for all you lovelies out there because I've had my fair share of true colors revealed to me throughout my life, especially in the last 2 years:

Embrace it.

That was so hard for me to figure out at first. But as I began to realize, it's important for me to embrace their true colors because that's part of who they are. Whether I agree with it, is up to me. But I can embrace and be respectful of one's true colors.

So today, join me in being grateful for everybody's true colors. You may be amazed at what you'll discover!

source

Friday, August 15, 2014

Full of Friday Lovin'

Happy Friday my lovely country bumpkins! Oh wait, ya'll aren't all country bumpkins like me??

Well dern.

Anywho, it's a beautiful Friday as always. I've got BIG plans this weekend:

Tomorrow morning me, my mom, my sister, Hunter's mom, and Hunter's sister are all going out to shop for dresses for the girls. They're my only 2 bridesmaids (don't want none of that girl drama yo) so I'm excited to be doing this with them. My mom, Hunter's mom, and I may or may not have alcohol involved... Don't judge us. You would too if you were taking 2 16 year olds dress shopping.....
Also tomorrow, after all the bridesmaid dress shopping excitement, all us gals will head over to the alterations shop for me to try on my dress!!! I will be taking pictures but I probably won't share on here. Tisk tisk, can't have the groom trying to sneak peeks at it! I may put one on here. As a teaser. Maybe.
Hopefully Saturday (didn't I say I got big plans!) Hunter and I can get our engagement pictures done. A sweet sweet friend of ours is doing them for us and I cannot wait to have them done! I will surely share them on this here bloggy as soon as I can.
Sunday, Hunter and I (along with a few others) will be going to a community church here in Tallahassee to support our good friend during his sermon. Hallaluyerrrr praise Jesus!
I think that's it.

I wasn't lying was I?! I'm uber excited to get this weekend started.

Now onto the goodies - below are some of my favorite posts of this week. Please go show these awesome sauce ladies some lovin'!

Sovereign by Casey at The Aslans Auspicious Adventure
The Miami Rooster by Sara Beth at Park {Ventures}
St. Louis Recap (Arcade Games, Crime Labs, & the Frozen soundtrack) by Emily at Ember Grey
Celebrating the Little Things by Kelli at A Deeper Joy
You Are Not Alone by Kerri at hey Kerri blog

A little bit of bonus on this Friday: Hunter comes home today!!

Hope ya'll have a fantabulous weekend! Feel free to follow me on Instagram to keep up with our dress shopping doings tomorrow. Again, don't judge if you see a small wine bottle in my hands.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

3 Southern Girls Throwback Thursday: All about Spenser Lynn...

Today is quite the special day. Today is this lovely gal's birthday!

Spenser is one of my only friends that I can truly call a sister. See we go way back...

Spenser used to date one of my brothers. Long story short, my brother's an idiot and let the best thing that's ever happened to him go. But hey, that's water over/under the bridge and we all still love Spenser. Let's see... How about I make a list of all of the wonderful things I love about Spenser in honor of her birthday:

Her hair - It's always perfect!
Her smile - It's a sure-fire smile that will make you smile.
Her athleticism - Girl got skeeeelllssss!

Fun fact: Spenser was an FSU bat girl (Google it) for 3 years I believe. Correct if I'm wrong Spinn.
Fun fact: She's currently the varsity volleyball coach at her alma mater high school.

Her love for her family - It runs so deep!
Her heart - Spinn (this is her nickname) has one of the biggest hearts I've ever come across. Her passion for people, kids in particular, is contagious. Her heart for God is unwavering.

Spenser, you have been nothing but a joy in my life. You'll always be a "sister" to me (and Erin). Thank you for all the shenanigans, beach trips, sushi dates, moving parties, laughs, and so many memories. Thank you for letting me marry one of your bestest guy friends and supporting us from the get go - even though it was a little weird at first for you, ha!

I love you Spenser Lynn and I hope you have a fabulous birthday!

That stud muffin above is Hunter's best friend and groomsman, and Spenser's boyfriend

3 Southern Girls Throwback Thursday Link-Up: The Deets

Welcome back Y'all to another week with the 3 Southern Gals.

This Throwback Thursday Link Party has been such a blast.

We have met some amazing bloggers and read some incredible post.

As always thank you for sharing and linking up with us!!

Cat @ Yes DEER : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook

Kelly @ Southern Komfort : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram

Tela @ Sweet Southern T : Bloglovin / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook

Before you link up please read and make sure you are following the party guidelines :)

The Rules are Simple:

1. Make sure you are following ALL 3 of the Southern Gals Blogs.

Cat // Kelly // Tela

2. Link up your throwback blog post. This includes a post where you share old pictures and/or stories. OR you may also share a blog post that was posted prior to last week.

In other words please do not link up to your blogs home page, a post you wrote this week that does not include something from the past.

3. Please no giveaways, shops, or other linkups.

(as these would also not fall into the throwback category)

4. Share our party button and/or link back to our party.

<div align="center"> <a href="http://www.yes-deer.com/search/label/throwback%20thursday" title="3 Southern Gals TBT"><img src="http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/cklshine/TBTButton_zps213737fc.jpg" alt="3 Southern Gals TBT" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

5. Don't just link and run...check our some other TBT post.

6. HAVE FUN!!!

NOW LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Yo yo yo... It's Hump Day! + Wednesday Wishes

I absolutely love Wednesdays because they remind me that Friday and the weekend are just a skip away! I'm pretty much giving up on the fact that time will ever slow down. In fact, I've been told by a very reliable source (read: dad) that time actually speeds up as you get older.

Bless me.

Nonetheless, I'm so happy today is Wednesday! For this week, Wednesday means that it's that much closer that Hunter comes home from ~~counting turtles~~ his work trip. Just talking to him early this morning and hearing how bad he misses me just makes my heart ache for Friday to be here so that I can wrap my arms around him again.

It's weird because I absolutely don't mind being a hunter's widow. Let me clarify that for all you non-hunter folks...

hunter's widow (noun): a person that has been left on the homestead while the significant other has gone hunting; a person that is able to clean the house more efficiently while significant other hunts prey.

Becoming a hunter's widow typically takes place during deer season in the fall and can last several weeks. I will say this, very rarely am I ever left home because, duh, this girl hunts too. Either way, I'm ready to have Hunter home!

I do hope though that while he is away, that he is enjoying himself and learning so much about his job. I also hope that he is taking advantage of this time away to ready himself for the future. I just hope that my best friend is having the time of his life!

Look at that cute lil beard growing there!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Kate's Lattice & Ivy - Oh how I love thee!

A good friend of mine contacted me last week to fill me in on her exciting business endeavour and I just had to check it out!

Uh, swoon much??

Kate's newest adventure is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen! Lattice & Ivy thrives on creativity, professionalism, and creating independence among women. Don't believe me?

This is straight from the company website and I just love that they are encouraging of women's desires to be business-minded.

I literally had to pull myself away from the website in order to write this post - which, by the way, I'm doing out of complete and total love for Kate and these adorable products. I did not receive any compensation by doing this post. I just love my friend and support her 110% in all her endeavours!

Let me just share with ya'll some of the things I'm currently swooning over:

This cutting board is to die for!

What about this Lucite tray - uh hello party guests!

I need dis....

What I need is another birthday. Ha! But seriously, there are so many adorable things on the website. Hop on over, shop, and give my Kate some love. You won't be disappointed. Now I just need to go find Hunter's wallet to start my shopping spree....

Monday, August 11, 2014

#Grateful Heart Monday + Oddities

Good morning world! Thank you Lord for another day in this life. We all have so so so much to be grateful for - don't we?

I'm grateful for job opportunities - Hunter has been afforded the opportunity to travel to Mississippi to ~~count turtles~~ relocate gopher tortoises.
I'm so thankful for my wonderful friendships!
Know what else I'm thankful for? Coffee. And big coffee at that. Thank you McDonald's for gifting me with a super-sized coffee this morning because you didn't have what I wanted. Note: I'll be going to the bathroom for days.
I'm grateful for my families - both mine and Hunter's!
I'm grateful for beards. Yes, beards. Hunter is growing out a beard now and I'm excited to see how it looks. His reason? He wants people to feel more comfortable around him while he's out ministering. It always throws people off (and makes me laugh) when they realize the big dude with a Duck Dynasty beard or tattoos or Jesus-looking hair is actually a pastor/youth leader/Christian/Jesus freak. You don't believe me - find somebody you know with a beard and asked them if they have been "facially profiled." You'd be amazed!

Happy Monday ya'll!

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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Monday, August 25, 2014

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Monday, August 18, 2014

Friday, August 15, 2014

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Monday, August 11, 2014