It's officially here....I'm getting MARRIED this weekend!  Oh my goodness!!

Want to know what else is crazy!?  The mess in my house. There are gifts wrapped and spread all over the dining room table, boxes packed and piled in the living room, decorations staged in the kitchen ready to go the reception venue, and gifts we've received filling up the tiny extra bedroom.  You know what all this mess means though?!! That I am READY for this weekend!  The gifts are all wrapped and ready to go, some boxes and packed and ready to move to Chicago, Thank you notes are written and ready to be mailed.  I can't believe it!  We are finally at a place where everything is really happening.

 PS. we got boxes from the liquor store so we are going to look like a bunch of alcoholics moving into our condo. Yay first impressions!

 Boxes ready to be packed with dishes.

This is the truth about wedding week.  It is crazy and messy and overwhelming.  But the mess has to happen! Luke's family gets in Wednesday (hopefully, pray for the snow to melt and for safe travels for them!!!) and Luke gets in Wednesday night.  Once everybody is here, guess what? It's going to be even crazier! But I can't wait because in the middle of all the mess I get to put on my wedding dress and walk down the aisle to the man of my dreams.  Think that's corny?  It is, but it's also true.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I spent mine with the most amazing 11 year old date and junior bridesmaid a girl could ask for. We went to a fancy brunch then shoe and panty shopping. What could be better?!?

                

We bought a Condo

Woah.

I am still completely speechless at how life has started to fall into place [and fly by!] the last couple of weeks.  We only have 19 days until we are married, my house sold one day after being on the market, and we bought a condo in Chicago two weeks ago.

After we went together to look at close to 10 condos and Luke looked at probably 15 others we were very discouraged about finding a place to move right after the wedding. We found one house we really liked but before we put an offer on it the seller took it off the market.  We then found another but were outbid.  I really wanted to not have to move my house up there and live in limbo until we found somewhere permanent. I feel like everything has been in limbo since Luke moved up there anyway! I don't actually even remember how we found this condo which makes me even more sure that God put it in front of us. Once we found it online Luke went and looked at it  and loved it.  We put an offer in on it the next day (the weekend we were both on our bachelor/bachelorette parties so that added a bit of complexity to it!).  We countered back and forth a couple times and ended up settling on a great number.  We are so very excited about it- and I can't wait to decorate it and host parties!

We close on March 5th so pray everything goes well!

 This is the outside of the building.  Our unit is on the first floor, right side :)

Best Dessert Wine ever

No, I'm not kidding.  Yes, you should try it!

The other night my parents had a dinner guest over who is from South Africa and he brought the most wonderful wine as a hostess gift and gave us a wine tasting session!  It was so much fun and didn't hurt that he really knew what he was talking about and was able to explain the different tastes! We tasted a couple whites from different regions, noting the differences from each.  A couple reds blended with different grapes and then finished with this dessert wine.  No joke, the best wine ever ever ever.  It's a souternes from Chateau Doisy- Vedrines and literally tastes like golden honey and heaven. I know that sounds super dramatic but I swear it's true.  We had it after dinner and it was smooth, silky and delicious.  It is definitely sweet but not fake or overpoweringly sweet. 

Weekend Recap: Bachelorette weekend in Savannah

Last weekend 8 of my best girlfriends and I went to Savannah to celebrate the end of one chapter of my life and the beginning of a new one! It was such a wonderful weekend and I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends surrounding me during this time. It is so cool how excited they are for Luke and me!

We arrived Friday night after an 8 hour drive (with 5 girls in one car we had to stop A LOT!) We said hi to everyone and caught up/ introduced people who hadn't met before then rallied to go out and have a couple drinks.  Savannah is such a cool town and so full of history!  We had a late greasy dinner and went back to the hotel to crash.

The next morning we went to brunch at B. Matthew's.  It was quite yummy and oh so very southern!  There were fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, cheese grits, and biscuits and gravy at the table. Oh, how I miss the deep south!

We walked around town and shopped a bit then stopped to have this picture taken of the whole group then went back to the hotel for more bachelorette activities! The goofy teenager that took this picture took a selfie of himself in between taking a picture of us.  haha!

On Saturday night we went out to dinner then to Savannah Smiles- a dueling piano bar.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  There were probably 4 other bachelorette parties there and [most] everyone we walked by said congratulations, asked when the date was, and told stories about their wedding.  We sang and we danced and had an absolute blast.  We ended the night at a place called saddlebags (they have a mechanical bull) and danced the rest of the night away.

I won't show you the after picture but we definitely had such an awesome weekend.  I can't wait for everyone to come together in 25 days for the wedding!!!!