True Life: I Married My Prom Date

If you want to feel old, simply decide to post about your prom.

When I first thought about digging into the archives, I had my doubts that I would be able to find any fun photos to share. Low and behold, look what was hiding in our guest room... 

It's a good thing today's post will only cover prom and none of the other events I shoved into this album senior year. And why do I leave this around for our guests to enjoy?!?

I graduated from a private school in Atlanta. While I was absolutely prepared for college academia, there were a MILLION stories I could tell that were truly puzzling about how the school handled certain situations. One of the stranger decisions that was made happened my senior year when it was decided that prom would be held at the school and not off campus. They also removed one of the greatest prom traditions, the crowning of a prom queen and king. Naturally I incorporated a crown into my attire. 

I remember my sister (who happened to be a freshman at a different school and was attending their prom) and I came home with the same dress from Cache. For whatever reason, my mom and I went back to the mall and returned my dress for another one. I can't remember why, but I think her dress (my initial choice) was much prettier than the one I ended up wearing, although it was still pretty. 

I started dating J in February that year and asked him to take me to prom. Since I have high standards for myself, I expected to be treated like a princess - meaning, he was financially responsible for buying dinner and the limo. Ya'll, my boyfriend of three months (who was in school at the time) worked in his grandmother's yard doing fun things like cutting down trees to escort me to my prom. His labor of love actually caused an allergic reaction and his throat started to close. Oddly enough, he hasn't had allergies since. 

Our group of friends rented a Navigator limo and headed downtown. We had the best group - it was my closest BFFs and our boyfriends or best guy friends who we hung out with. And yes, I am still friends with these two today. 

Reservations were made for the Sun Dial Restaurant atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza. It is an upscale, revolving restaurant 723 feet up high that gives you a 360-degree panorama of the skyline. For high schoolers, we went all out. I wasn't hungry for dinner so I literally only ordered a side of mashed potatoes. #cheapdate

Following dinner we headed to the school for prom where we had to line up for introductions. Our group become rather bored with the dance and stayed less than an hour before heading to our friend's house for the after party. J and I did get a chance to dance to K-Ci & JoJo's All My Life before leaving. Back at our friend's house, gowns were ditched for bathing suits and drinks were poured in the hot tub. 

We also counted who had the most bobby pins in their hair. 

In full honesty, prom was just whatever for me. I think if it had been held off school property it probably would have been a more enjoyable experience. 

The best thing about prom was the fact that I married my prom date. It's mindblowing to think that the boy who had to take a Benadryl just to take his girlfriend to her prom would end up marrying her. If you want to know more about J and I, check out A Very Valentine's Day Love Story.

It's also crazy how well my scanner worked for this post. This could be very dangerous.

Did anyone else marry their prom date? Have a weird school like mine? I can't be the only one who was just "whelmed" with all things prom related. 

*Linking up with Lindsay's Sweet World and Momfessionals

Weekending: A-Day Style

The weekend came and disappeared way too fast. Unlike the crazy weather last week, these past few days were nothing short of perfect with sunny skies and cool breezes.

I feel like I have alluded to my hectic last few weeks at work and Friday was more of the same. I stayed almost two hours late to tie up loose ends, catch up on email, prepare for the upcoming week, etc. My schedule for this week is spotty so in an effort to relieve any stress I may feel today, I kicked off my weekend at the office. I simply do not have enough hours in the day and sometimes enjoy how quiet it is when everyone is gone. For the record, I do not want more work hours in the day.

By the time I left to head home, Aunt Foo Foo was already in town! We made dinner and went to bed early in anticipation of A-Day.

What is A-Day you ask?

A-Day is the spring scrimmage game for Auburn. It's held in the stadium and is an event where you get a glimpse into what the upcoming season holds. My sister and I thought it was interesting that neither of us attended as students and it happened to work out that we could go to our first A-Day game together.

If you've never been to Auburn, it is a beautiful campus (I don't care who you cheer for, the university is gorgeous) with tons of unique boutiques and eateries around town. We made reservations at one of the restaurants my sister and I dined at last year and yall, if you are EVER near Auburn you must visit Acre.

The food is incredible and the experience is nothing but pleasant. Everything is local - they literally have gardens on site, plus the Southern cuisine is like no other. The decor is rustic, charming, and eloquent. It's a great place for your family gatherings, girls night out or date night. I'm obsessed and kind of thankful that it wasn't around when I was a student. I would have been broke(r).

I am still on a round of Whole 30 so I couldn't partake in the majority of the menu, but had the most amazing salmon salad. My sister ordered the goat cheese guacamole and claimed it was the best she's ever had (hope her husband isn't reading this)!

Following lunch we headed to the stadium for the game. Our seats fell in the shade shortly after kick off which was a nice change from our normal spot.

We stayed until halftime and decided to head back before E acted like a threenager (she was a diva that morning) and because we needed to pick up our new mattress.

It was around dinnertime when we pulled into the driveway, but we had enough time for E to attempt to dye Easter eggs.

Once again, my Instant Pot came in handy when it was time to prep the eggs.

It's been many, many years since I have participated in this tradition and some of our eggs came out a bit funky.

Sunday was equally busy as we headed to church and then stopped at the pediatric urgent care to have a strep test done. E was not herself this weekend and with her procedure scheduled for the end of the week, I wanted to confirm that she was okay/discuss options with the doctor if it was positive. For the first time in a long time, we received a negative result. Good news! I honestly question the validity of it though as she displayed (and still is) her symptoms before strep usually rears its ugly head. Since she has the T&A in a few days, the NP ordered a throat culture. Hopefully that will be clear and we can head into this final chapter of strep drama. Bravo would have had a winning series with us.

Our Sunday School class had a family picnic scheduled for that afternoon so we picked up Chipotle and headed to the park for some fellowship and food. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping, saying bye to Aunt Foo Foo, and laundry. The laundry never flipping ends.

One of the highlights from Saturday was receiving a few customized memes from my DJ. We took a couple of pictures in front of the house prior to our Auburn outing and I posted a couple on social media. A few hours later, I received these gems:

These seriously made my day. I laughed so hard when the texts came through.

I'm obsessed with our fur babies and now Miss Friski has made her meme debut.

This week will be a chaotic one for sure so my posts may be sporadic.

On a sunnier note, Easter has become one of my favorite holidays as an adult and with Holy Week upon us, I hope everyone has time to remember how much God loves you.  Trust me, it's something I will be clinging to as my imperfect, hot-mess self will be running around like a wild woman these next few days.

*Linking up with B Loved Boston, My Glittery Heart, and HoHo Runs

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Favorites On A Friday + Instagram Opportunity

Praise the Lord up above that it is FRIDAY!!!

I cannot be happier that this week is over. Between the crazy weather, obstacles at work, and too much on my to-do list that did not get crossed off, bring on the weekend. My attitude has not been the best for the last few days, but I still managed to pull a few of my favorites from this week.

Dining Room Table

Did you catch the weekending post from Monday? A fun trip downtown turned into an expensive endeavour that ended with some new additions to our home. The biggest (and long overdue) purchases included a rug and table for our dining room.

Although many things are still needed in this area, we were able to move our first piece of purchased married furniture into the kitchen and get rid of the cheap Ikea table that my sister bought when SHE was in college.

J and I both agree that the rearrangement is an improvement. Slowly but surely, our house looks more like functional adults live here instead of college students.

Weather Radio

This week was nothing short of exciting when I experienced a tornado warning while at work. Of course it would have happened on Monday - it was a rough day. We hardly received any damage, but severe weather was expected again on Wednesday. Since we live in Georgia, everyone freaked out and our city shut down...literally. Tuesday night was spent preparing our storm shelter.

And putting last minute items by the stairs in case we needed to move quickly.

However, one thing eased my mind that evening and that was this beauty:

I HIGHLY suggest everyone purchase a weather radio. You can set it to sound an alarm in the middle of the night to alert you for all types of severe weather (tornado, hurricane, floods, etc.) and it will run on batteries if the power goes out. It is much more reliable than the apps on my phone, although I use those as well.

I realize that this seems like a boring, adult purchase, but it is worth buying. If you are getting married soon, put this sucker on your registry.

Homework

During the anticipated tornadic weather, J stayed home with E while I went to work. Once they made their way downstairs, I received a phone call that there was an issue with E's homework.

The cats literally ate her homework.

It was hilarious and troubling at the same time. I know my husband kept praying, "please don't throw up on the new rug..." So far, so good.

Aunt Foo Foo

E and I are THRILLED that our favorite Foo Foo is coming to visit! Our weekend should include fun Easter activities, a trip to "The Loveliest Village On The Plains," and a viewing of Trolls.

J is so excited; he can't stand it.

New Domain

In very exciting news, I finally set up a big girl domain! Although it was not one of my blogging goals for 2017, it was a necessity in my mind. 

Isn't she lovely?!?

I am still using Blogger to host this personal space on the internet, but am excited that it appears to be working correctly.

Trying to improve this blog is a huge project (especially since technology is always changing), but this is one small improvement that I was able to do. If for some reason you notice that a page isn't working or you aren't receiving updates when I post, please let me know!

Instagram is another challenge for me, but I do want to share an opportunity with you. Are you frustrated with the Instagram algorithms? I've recently joined an Instagram pod to assist with engagement and we have a few spots open for other users. If this is something you are interested in, please contact me and let's discuss it further.

Thank you for checking in on this fantastic Friday. I hope everyone has a great week full of dreamy weather!

*Linking up for Friday Favorites with Momprofessionals, Smidge of This, Cup of Tea, and Meet @ the Barre