Summer weddings and long weekends

This weekend concluded mine and Luke's summer of weddings! We attended our own (obviously!) on June 25, 2011. Then one month later, I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding. The following weekend, I drove to Dallas to see a college friend get married. And finally, this weekend Luke was a groomsman in one of his best friend's wedding. Three of these four weddings were those of "camp couples." Luke and I met at Camp Zephyr back in 2005, I worked there for 4 summers through college, and Luke is currently the camp's full-time staff supervisor. Sarah and Andrew met at camp in 2007 and both of them spent a few summers working there. And Tyler and Aubri practically grew up at camp. Tyler's father is the executive director of Zephyr and both Tyler and Aubri have worked at camp for many summers as kids. It's been such a blessing to watch of all these Zephyr alum grow up, chase new life paths, and fall more in love with the Lord and each other!

{Our wedding 6.25.11}

{Sarah and Andrew 7.30.11}

{Kara and Brett 8.7.11}

{Tyler and Aubri 9.2.11}

Whew! Yes, it was as tiring as it looks!! But we've had an amazing summer celebrating love and God's provision over all of these relationships. This was definitely a summer for the books!

**I must make a quick intervention here to say that while Luke and I were at T&A's wedding, the BAYLOR BEARS kicked some major TCWho's butt on Friday night!!!! I was so proud of my Bears! This game was an amazing way to start off the season and I'm so excited for future games. Rip 'em up, tear 'em up, SIC'EM BU!!!**

Luke and I have also been enjoying our long Labor Day weekend! Aubri and Tyler were married on Friday night, so on Saturday Luke and I drove up to San Antonio for the day. We love getting away every once in a while and SA is the closest "big city." We made a stop by Americus Diamonds to have my engagement ring and wedding bands soldered together, ate lunch at Panda Express, took Brooklyn to PETCO to find a new food/water dish, made a quick stop at The Container Store (LOVE!), and had coffee with some of our best friends, Justin, Michelle, and Gabi Graves. It was a quick trip, but totally worth it!

{Family road trip to San Antonio!}

{Starbucks with Gabbers}

{Brook with her first "puppaccino" from Starbucks!}

{The 3-drawer cart trellis that I bought at The Container Store! Luke put it together for me this evening. Can't wait to organize SOMETHING}

The rest of our weekend has included church and rest. Luke and I are really enjoying attending Yorktown Baptist Church here in Corpus. Worship was amazing today (as always!) and the youth minister, Joel, gave the message this morning. He spoke truth in a very unapologetic way and was so relatable (is this a word?). I would definitely love to hear him speak again! After church, I got to pick up my copy of the book for this fall's women's Bible study. We get started on Sept. 20th and I can't wait to dig into the Word with the ladies of YBC!

I hope you all have had a fabulous long weekend and enjoy your Labor Day tomorrow!!

More hair cutting, retail therapy, and a date night

On Tuesday, Brooklyn got her hair cut. On Friday it was my turn! Pretty soon I after we got engaged (Nov. '09), I asked Luke how he wanted me to wear my hair for the wedding (June '11). I know that this sounds a little early to be asking such a question, but I wanted to know how he pictured my hair looking on our big day so that I would be cautious when getting it cut. And my question was right on target; he wanted long, blonde curls for the wedding. So over the last 19 months, I've done nothing but trim my golden locks less than an inch every so often. I've always loved long hair, so I didn't mind growing it out. But at about three months pre-wedding, I started getting restless. I wanted to cut it so bad, but I resisted. Penelope, my hair stylist in Corpus who I love, has been listening to me talk about cutting my hair for a while now and when I called her a few days back to schedule THE appointment, she squealed with joy! 

 {Pre-haircut}

{Post-haircut}

I don't know if you can tell, but Penny cut off right at 5 inches. Love it!! It also looks shorter when its dry. One of my favorite feelings is the way healthy hair feels after a significant amount is cut off. I even splurged and bought a new hair product that is supposed to help protect my hair from the heat of a blow-dryer and flatiron, while keeping it healthy and shiny. We'll see about all of this, but it sure makes my hair smell good!

Now, on to retail therapy. Also on Friday (and prior to the hair cut), I was in my office for almost 8 hours straight working on a large presentation that consumed most of my day. So after work, I headed straight to Ann Taylor LOFT. This is my favorite way to de-stress! If you're a young woman business professional, you know that LOFT is a valuable resource for stylish work clothes at a reasonable price. LOFT is also known for it's really great sales, especially if you're patient and appreciate a good bargain. I've read multiple blog posts written by friends lately that talk about their success with shopping at LOFT, so I'm jumping on the band wagon and will now share with you my shopping success.

Although I didn't find anything for $3.88 (my favorite sale price at LOFT!), there was a "40% off already marked down items" promo going on and I definitely took advantage. With both business clothes and honeymoon attire on the mind, these items are what I specifically searched for and found!

{I bought two of these rolled-sleeve tops, one in navy and one in lime (minus the flower). I love finding tops that fit my body type and this is one of those}

 {I bought two pair of shorts, in mustard and brown. I'm ready to wear these on the honeymoon!}

{I love this sweater! However, the one I bought is melon and white striped}

{And I can't go to LOFT without buying something for work, so these cropped pants are what I went with. I like this tailored look and their length is good for the summer}

So, if you add up what all of these items cost at full price, that number would be $257. But if you then add them up according to their sale prices (all were on sale) and then take off an extra 40%, you get $110.91, which is what I paid. This is 67% off the original price!! I just can't resist smart retail therapy. :)

On Saturday night, Luke and I went to dinner at a restaurant in Portland. It was fun to drive over the Harbor Bridge to dinner for a change. I had a gift certificate to the restaurant we went to, Pepitos Cantina & Grill. It's a fun little Mexican restaurant with awesome margaritas! Luke loved his guacamole enchiladas and kept saying, "We're definitely coming back here again." I guess this little adventure was a success! On our way home from dinner, we stopped at Starbucks to get frappuccinos for dessert and then we bought and watched I Am Number Four on On Demand. 

{We our fraps!}

I've really enjoyed our relaxing weekend in Corpus! What did you do this weekend? Anything fun? If so, I'd love to hear about it!