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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Oh, How Pinteresting!


My obsession with Pinterest has climbed to new heights recently. This Wednesday link up with The Vintage Apple is definitely one of my favs right now!  Basically it gives me an excuse to obsess even more! Come follow me and all my shenanigans!

Football is coming!
Source: Toni White Summers via pinterest.com
If it's leopard, I love it
Source: Tracy Hannaman via tracyhannaman.polyvore.com

Day after the Bachelorette Party
Source: Keela Phillips via bridalguide.com
Simply gorgeous!
Source: Harbour View via http://rodlamkeyphotography.com/blog/the-producers/

Sad but true!
Source: Sami Morrissey via http://gocryemokid.memebase.com
SuperTroopers anyone?
Source: Jennifer Tat via viciouslycyd.tumbler.com
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

{InstaLOVE} Weekend Recap

I've grown quite fond of doing these little Instagram Weekend Recaps. It's a really fun way to show off a little bit about my real life to you. I hope you like it too! (I think you do because I always get sweet comments!) If you are new to my blog then come find me on there, it's my favorite hang out these days, {@Nikkib918} I had a really great weekend - and judging by those of you that I also follow on Insta, you did too! Even though Skye had to work the whole time, I still managed to get A LOT done around the house. Funny how that always seems to happen when he's away! And I still found time to hang with him since he was on day shift, and get in a little lake time.

A little update on my doggy day care situation, we are getting rid of our little friend Ty tomorrow because his family will be back in town. I hate to say I'm thankful to see him go, but it's true! He has proceeded to try and hump Tilly every chance he gets and I will NOT be having that! Skye makes fun of me and says they can't help it, it's their natural instincts. However, this doggy mama is not watching her girl get nailed by the neighbor's dog. Sorry for the crudeness there. Not sure if all this action has triggered her hormones or what but last night I caught her humping him too. He has corrupted my sweet Tilly! Thankfully, they are both fixed so no worries about little pups running around. It was quite the interesting situation at my house this weekend!

The blur of action with 2 fighting vs. humping crazy ass dogs - Bye Bye tomorrow Ty!
My previously innocent one, who has now lost her virginity
 
Found this in BRIDES Magazine over the weekend, I think it's probably true!

My broski  - excuse the lake hair in all my lake pics please!

My getaway


My weekend reading material - finished all the mags, still working on the last couple chapters of the that book.
I feel like it's NEVER taken me this long to read a book before.

Something Sweet - McAlister's Tea - hits the spot every time!

How was YOUR weekend?? Did you have any hormonal dogs to manage?? haha I sure hope not! I have a wedding update coming for you this week - which makes me very excited to be making progress!

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Fur Baby Friday!

I've had a loooooonnnnnnnnnnnnng week at work so I thank the good Lord above for this 3 day weekend! Skye is working all weekend, but I'm hoping to get some lake time in Sunday & Monday. My family doesn't really have a Memorial Day tradition, we save our summer traditions for the 4th of July. Does your family have any special Memorial Day traditions?

And of course, let's not forget the reason for the holiday is NOT just to give us a day off work. It's to honor all those who have fallen in the name of freedom. Bless their souls!

I missed this link up last week so I'm going to offer you TWO pictures today of Sweet Tilly! {you're welcome!} If you follow me on Instagram (nikkib918) then this post is ruined for you...so sorry! I can't help but post them on there instantly. I'm officially obsessed with it! Come Link up with Mrs. Monologues and show us your fur prince or princess!

This week is the 2nd time this month that I've been a dogsitter. My neighbors left yesterday for vacation and I agreed to keep their male Yorkie. Unfortunately, we found out too quickly that he doesn't really like Tilly's (literally) in your face style. He growls at her a lot, but I think they will warm up to each other. If not, oh well it's just until next Wednesday!



My sweet crazy haired girl in all her glory

Tilly & Ty - she loves to stare at him, nose-to-nose. Girl has no concept of personal space!
Thank you ALL for your kind words of support and encouragement recently! I don't know what I'd do without it! Happy LONG weekend friends!
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

ITS OK Thursday

Its Ok Thursdays
This is my first time linking up with Amber & Neely for ITS OK Thursdays. I've seen lots of people link up with them and I needed a post for today so TA-DAH here ya go.

ITS OK...
That I can't decide on a wedding venue to save my life! (I want to have 10 weddings so I can do one at each venue!)

To agree to dogsit AGAIN and then regret it almost instantly

To be behind on reading/commenting on blogs...I feel like my reader constantly expands and I can't keep up - how do you deal with that??

To want to be a stay-at-home doggy mama

To be a Pinterest addict

To be the only person in the blogging world to have not ready 50 Shades of Grey YET, I have it just haven't had time to read it yet

To eat an egg mcmuffin for breakfast, even though I really need to be watching what I eat

To unable anonymous comments on your blog

To be sad that Duck Dynasty is over for this season

To want to have an adult beverage every night

To be proud of Skye's career, yet loathe his rotating schedule at the same time

To want to invite my blog friends to my wedding :)



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Monday, May 21, 2012

{InstaLOVE} Weekend Recap

Oh hello my friends! I feel like it's been so long - oh wait it HAS been so long! My lake getaway was simply amazing! I couldn't imagine a better 4 day weekend than the one that I just experienced. Nothing beats spending time with some of my favorite people in my favorite place in the entire world, Norris Lake! I can't wait to catch up on all my reading and see what happened with you this weekend.

I have a couple things to update you on, then we can get straight to the pictures!
  • I am the lucky winner of an awesome Moroccan Hair Oil product giveaway from Kelly over at Messy.Dirty.Hair!! So exciting! If you don't know Kelly, then hop on over and pay her a visit. She has another fab NEON giveaway going on as we speak!
  • I received my first semi-mean spirited Anonymous comment on my Mama Drama post today. At first I was shocked a) at how long it was and b) the detail this person went into. However, if you're going to go through such trouble then why hide behind an Anonymous tag? if that's the way you feel then own it! Thanks for reading though! :)
  • If you live in or near Clearwater, FL then you need to get in touch with me! I will be there mid August for a conference for work so I would LOVE to meet up if there's any bloggers in the neighborhood!
  • All 5 of my bridesmaids will be in town the week of Memorial Day so I'm hoping we can all get together to go try on bridesmaids dresses! The wedding planning has not really changed any since I last updated you. I still haven't chosen the venue yet, hopefully soon though.
  • I STILL have not started reading the 50 Shades of Grey book, I have been so busy!
Without further adieu - here's my lovely long weekend in pictures...
Throwback Picture of Skye and I - circa 2006

Me and my baby brother, who is obviously not a baby

Excuse the lake hair, but the light was gorgeous!

ahhhhhh my heaven

No filter needed


The perfect end to a truly perfect weekend

Obsess much? A summer necessity for sure!
Make it a great week!
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Oh, How Pinteresting!

TODAY IS MY FRIDAY! Holy hell that makes me excited! Work has been busy, and I need a suntan! Mother nature played an ugly trick on me last weekend and I wasn't able to sunbathe. If you need me Thursday-Sunday, well too bad because I will be lounging on my beautiful Norris Lake! :)

I'm linking up again today with The Vintage Apple for Oh, How Pinteresting! It was fun last week! I always talk about how I was slow to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. Nowadays, this girl is pinning like a mo-fo! haha I treasure my Pinterest time! Find me on there and follow my shenanigans!

My theme today is animals & fitness - and strangely they are tied together -

Source: Danni Gonyo via http://perfectbucketlist.tumblr.com/page/115

Source: tracetupps via google.ca
Source: Caitie Morrissey uploaded by user
Source: Pamela RVT via Instagram
Source: Morgan Lee Madore via tumblr.com
Source: Alondra Miller via piccsy.com

Source: Vanessa Purdue uploaded by user.
Me thinks Tilly needs this furball haircut!


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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mama Drama

I will be the first to admit that I have some real mommy issues. My mom and I are not very close, and we have very different personalities. Growing up, especially during my teenage years, my mom and I could never get along.
Let me start from the beginning –
My mom and dad got divorced when I was around 9 years old. My dad’s police schedule was blamed to be a factor, but I’m sure there were plenty of other things that came into play. After the divorce, my dad moved to Knoxville to be closer to his job and we stayed in our hometown – just about 20 minutes north in a small town. My daddy was always so wonderful about making every effort to be involved in our lives. If he was off on the weekends, we were at his house. If he worked during the weekends, we would stay with him some during the week when he was off and he would drive us back and forth to school. My parents never did a custody battle or child support, they just worked it out between themselves. They managed to get along during this time much better than they did when they were married. I missed my dad a lot when he moved away and I guess I blamed my mom in some ways for the split.
My mom went a little wild after the divorce. She had two young kids, I was 9 and my brother was 4, and she’d been with my dad since she was 20 years old. Sometimes on the nights she had us we ended up with a babysitter so she could go out with friends. I vividly remember crying and begging her not to go out and to stay with us. (Of course I was 9 so I’m sure I was overly dramatic.) She went through a string of about 3 deadbeat boyfriends over 3 years. I hated them all with a passion and I would literally count down the days until I could go to my dad’s house again. Even at 9, I just didn’t feel like my mom was being a very good mom to us. It hurt me and I’m sure it’s the reason I have grown to be such an independent person. I just felt like I couldn’t count on her sometimes so I had to do things myself. Now, I’m not talking about providing for us or anything like that. We always had a roof over our heads, plenty of food and clothes and we never went without or wanted for anything. I guess I just had an emotional void during this time. My dad never pursued a serious relationship with any women during our childhood. I’m sure he dated, but we only met 1 of his girlfriends from the time I was 9 until last year when he married the evil stepmother. When I was in middle school my mom settled down a little and got remarried to my step-dad. He is a really great guy and would do anything for my brother and me. They have 2 kids together now who are my devilish cute little step brothers.
Our relationship got so bad that at one point when I was 17 I moved in with my dad and lived with him solely, barely seeing my mom, until I was about 20. Since that time things have been very hot and cold with my mom and I. She has found herself in the middle of some illegal bad situations, which I will not disclose here on the blog. She has jealous fits about how close I am to my dad instead of her. She has been to rehab a couple different times and most of the time falls back into old habits. It’s a very strange situation for me. To have a father – who of course in my eyes does no wrong, and to have a mother who seems to make all the wrong choices. My struggle right now is largely because my mom is doing well. I know that sounds ass backwards but when someone has wronged me I’m the world’s worst grudge holder. I try not to be, but really I can’t help it. I just keep waiting for something to trigger her into depression or push her into a bad place. Basically, I keep her at arm’s length. To be brutally honest with you I’ve never actually longed for a mother-daughter relationship with her. I think that is because I am super close to my aunt (mom’s sister) and of course I always have my dad. My mom has almost been like the black stain on our family tree, due to her appearance at times & behavior problems so I often feel embarrassed by her.
While I am going through to plan the wedding of my dreams, I struggle with how to involve my mother. My original plan was always to go away to get married somewhere tropical – in part to avoid her showing up and causing a scene. Now that we are looking at keeping our wedding local, I am terrified of how this will play out. I’m just trying to be honest about it. I feel bad admitting these ugly words on the internet about MY OWN MOTHER, but years of her ways has caused me to not trust her in some ways. I know it's ugly, but that's how the truth goes sometimes. We all have those "black sheep" in our family, right??
 
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Monday, May 14, 2012

{InstaLOVE} Weekend Recap

I'm going to admit without hesitation that I've been a bad little blogger. I haven't read/commented on blogs since last Wednesday. I know...I'm waaaaaaaaay behind! But in my defense, I've had a lot going on in my little life! I've found new shows to fall in love with, which naturally dominates my time. Four Weddings (TLC, I think?) and Duck Dynasty (A&E). I'm ALL about those shows right now! Four Weddings is obviously for wedding planning research, duh! And Duck Dynasty is just hilarious - I adore it! While on the topic of TV shows, I heard today that GCB is cancelled. I really liked that one so I'm sad to see it go. However, this does give me room to record something else on Sunday nights! (And I need that like I need a hole in my head!)

Things I'm looking forward to about this week:
1. I have 2 good posts planned for you, they are not fluffy posts and hopefully you will learn something about the inner me. I know that's why you're all here, right??
2. It's National Police Week - you know I'm a cop's (soon-to-be)wifey now so I have better appreciation for these things! One of the above posts is about just this!
3. 3 DAY WORK WEEK! The weather around here on the weekends has not been working in my favor for lake time, so Skye and I are taking a long weekend to escape to the lake. And we are doing family pictures with my dad and step-mom Saturday, so we'll see how that goes!

Not only have I been really bad about catching up on my blogs lately, I've also been horrible at taking pictures! Oopsie! Here's a quick glimpse at my weekend in pictures.
I want this hat for the lake! I need a big floppy one!

one of my best friends (& bridesmaids), met her boyfriend for the first time Friday night
Sorry my boobs look like they are busting out, I can assure you they were not like that all night. Must be my arms crossed that way.

Used with the above dress, lifesaver!

Mother's Day - My favorite picture of my mama and I (I think this was about 8 years ago), and a the gorgeous purple hanging basket I got her for mama's day.
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Friday, May 11, 2012

5 Question Friday & Fur Baby Friday!

We've had quite the interesting fur baby situation in my household this week! We've had a little house guest. I agreed to dog sit for my aunt while she was at the beach. Her dog, Baby, is the world's calmest dog. Well most calm dog ever meets Tilly aka ms. hyperpants and that's an odd combination! Here is a picture of these two on Day 1: calm as cucumbers. (And yes, I know Tilly needs a haircut BADLY). Unfortunately, I've had a crazy busy week between work and the gym so I didn't get a chance snap more pictures of these two. But let's just say that I think Tilly enjoys ruling our roost. She is the ultimate Alpha female.

Skye and I have been seriously talking about getting another dog. After this week's experience having 2 inside dogs to manage and wrangle, I hereby redact my want for a second inside dog. Plus, Tilly is a complete psycho and she's enough dog for me to handle at this point.




1. What advice would you give a couple getting married?
Never give up. Some people in your life are worth fighting for - hopefully your soon to be husband is one of those people. If they are worth fighting for then you can never give up. I think a big problem with divorce is that people just don't want to put forth the effort to communicate and work on their problems. They give up. NEVER GIVE UP!
Since I'm a girl who will be getting married soon - I can't wait to read everyone else's advice!
2. If you could tell your 16 year old self ONE thing, what would it be?
Don't be in such a rush to grow up. I know all the adults tell you that when you're young and you automatically roll your eyes. When I was 16 I was an over achiever and a little boy crazy - I just wanted to move on to college like yesterday. I had the time of my life in high school, but I wish I would have known to savor it more. It's a special time in a girl's life!
3. What do you do to keep cool in the summer? (AC, windows, fans, swimming, etc.)
Well I live with a boy so you know how they are about keeping that AC cranked up. I'm kind of a nazi about it though and I am strict on keeping it set on 70, and then using our fans to compensate.
4. What did you (or your wife) crave most while pregnant?
Never been pregnant so I honestly can't say. My mom said that she craved pickles and chili with me. I love pickles and I used to just sit down and eat them by the jar when I was little. Chili I'm not a fan of.
5. Who is your favorite TV mom? Why?Ah I'm drawing a blank! I am drawn to a TV mom much like June Cleaver. I know that's not very realistic these days, but my mom is the complete opposite of June Cleaver. (I actually have a posted planned soon to tell you about my mom so stay tuned for that!) As a kid, my mom was different than the other moms, so I always just longed for someone who was sickeningly normal, like June.
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Happy Weekend friends! I am going to spend my weekend on the lake and I am so very excited about that! This girl needs a tan in the worst way.

To all you mamas out there, Have a Happy & Blessed Mother's Day!

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Healthy>Skinny

I am insanely swamped at work this week - which is a good thing, but it's left me with no time to through together a post for today.

Luckily, my good friend Brie over at Recipe for a Beautiful Life has an AWESOME post that each and every single one of you ladies needs to read. You might remember this sweet girl because she was my very first guest blogger, in my Who Do ya Love Wednesday series. And you liked her so much that you made it one of my Top 5 most read posts of all time! So since you liked her style so much then, I really encourage you to go over and read her post today Healthy>Skinny.

I know, as women, we all have struggled with body image issues at some point in our lives. We all know the feeling of getting down on ourselves. Hell, I talked about it here just this week! I read Brie's post and I felt empowered so I wanted to pass that awesome feeling along to you! Now you can't say I never did anything for you!

Make it a great (rest of the) day!

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