Back in Starkvegas...

Lee and I are in Starkville this weekend. He had a House Corp. meeting at the Kappa Sig house, so we decided to come up for the basketball game today. Then, at the last minute, Commissioner Hall invited us to stay in his condo in Browning Creek for the weekend. Of course, we took him up on that. And it couldn't have come at a better time. Things have been just nuts. So I turned my big project in Thursday night, and we left on Friday. The condo is soooo nice. We want to live there! We ate with Benjamin, Lee's brother, last night and went back and watched tv. I'm sitting in the new bookstore on campus right now while Lee's in his meeting. It is amazing! The whole campus looks really good. We hated all the construction while we were here, but it was worth it. It looks like a pretty college campus now...very inviting. (I hope it will invite Lia!) We are still going to the basketball game this afternoon. Who knows what we'll do tonite?! Probably go to bed early! These pictures are of the Halls' condo. It's so cute. They were created with the feel of the Neshoba County Fair. The one we're staying in is the yellow one.

Our Finished Masterpiece!

I picked up the pottery we painted at Fat Cats last week, but I didn't want to put it on the blog before Alyssa could see it. She's seen it, so....here it is! It turned out so cute but completely different than I thought it would look. I expected it to be real soft, pastel colors. Instead it's bright and deep. The greatest thing is that Alyssa got some Homer Laughlin Fiestaware in Shamrock green, and it matches exactly! It's going to look great. The only problem is that the first person who drops a piece of that stuff may lose his or her life!!

And the Wedding...

Was pink. Everything. Was. Pink. It was almost hilarious. The invitations, the bridesmaids' dresses, Alyssa's dress had a pink bow, as did the programs, the flowers were pink, the cake, the tablecloths, we even had pink lemonade! Guests could make a bag of pink candies on their way out the door! Obviously, that is Alyssa's favorite color, so when they asked her what color she wanted something to be, she always said, "Pink!" I must say I was a little nervous, but it turned out to be beautiful. We had a really fun time, and everything turned out perfect. My mom and Lanette and I did walk into the church Saturday morning to see the flowers all out of order...and the florist was gone! We were a little panicked. They were all there, but it looked like a jungle! Never fear, Shanna to the rescue. The florist came back and fixed everything, and it was great. The ceremony was really sweet. A guy who used to be in Sam's youth group but is older now created a video for them that was just like the beginning of The Wedding Story. It was so cute. The photographer, Kathy Stephens, was wonderful. She was so sweet but really knew how to take charge. I'm anxious to see what the pictures look like.
The reception was fabulous. I was most impressed with the cakes by The Cake Diva (she's a Coast implant!!! Yippee!). Alyssa knew exactly what she wanted, but we were all surprised by how perfect they were. Sam and Alyssa stayed for a few hours and then left. They had the cutest car and the sweetest little driver. It's an older couple who owns this car, and they love doing weddings. They had a basket full of drinks and snacks for Sam and Alyssa. They were just so sweet! They took Alyssa and Sam to the Fairview Inn where they stayed in the Hayloft Honeymoon Suite (how funny!). It was really nice. The nicest thing was that they were at their hotel by 5pm and didn't have to be ready until 9am the next morning. I mean, Lee and I got to New Orleans after midnite and were sooo exhausted!
Meanwhile, we went back to the hotel with all the food left over. We took it all downstairs and called everyone who was there for the wedding and had them come down and eat. It was really fun to just hang out with everyone (mostly family and close friends) and laugh. After a while, we started inviting anyone walking through the lobby to come eat. It was hilarious. We did get rid of most of the food, though! Lee and I stayed at the hotel that night with my family.
Sunday morning, Lee and I picked Alyssa and Sam up and took them to the airport to catch their flight to Mexico. They are in Playa del Carmen at this great resort. They have a Casita, and it sounds really nice. There's a lazy river that goes around the resort, and they get to take two steps out of their room and get in the lazy river and ride it around until they want to get out! How neat! We are so, so jealous and can't wait to pick them up on Saturday to hear all their stories. Sam makes fun of me all the time because I have a blog, but Alyssa called yesterday to tell me about their snorkeling experience and said that Sam keeps saying, "Oh yeah. This picture is definitely going on the blog." So I'll be posting some pictures of that, too!

The Wedding Day

Rehearsal and Dinner at the Capital Club

The rehearsal went off without any problems, thanks to Shanna. Things were quick and easy, and we had a fun time anticipating the next day. Then Sam's family hosted a beautiful dinner at the Capital Club downtown. It was so pretty and so nice. The food was really good, and we were all able to stand up and say a few words about or to Alyssa and Sam. Once again, Lee made everyone cry with his toast. He always does such a good job, while I ramble about absolutely nothing until I feel like it's time to sit down. After the dinner, Lee went home, and I went back to the hotel with my mom and dad and Alyssa and Lia to spend the night with the girls for the last time. I don't know why we always say "for the last time." We said it before my wedding, too, and we still stay together all the time. Tradition, I guess. But it was fun regardless. See the album below if you want to see all the pictures.

Rehearsal and the Capital Club

The Fun Brunch

After a really busy week, we took a break on Friday and went to Fat Cat Ceramics on Old Fannin to paint some pottery with all the girls and laugh and have some fun. We also gave Alyssa some fun gifts to take with her to Mexico. My aunt got all of this together, and we had some great food from Three Sisters and a Mixer. Alyssa picked out the colors she liked and some pieces to paint. We each picked out piece and got to work. Her mother-in-law made the cute plate with the bride and bridesmaids on it that we all signed before we left. It was really fun and was a great time for Alyssa to relax and enjoy the day.

If you want to see all the photos, click the album below. Warning: there are a lot!

Fat Cats Brunch

The First Bit of Drama...

Well, needless to say, as is with any wedding, we had a few rounds of drama the week of. Here was the first major catastrophe. The seamstress ruined my dress!! Alyssa and I were in A Southern Affair (who was the wedding coordinator) right after she got engaged. There was a lady there who told us she did alterations and that she also had some veils and jewelry and gave us her card. Well, we called her to do Alyssa's alterations. We took the dress over there around Christmas and left it. We took mine about two weeks before the wedding. When I went back to pick it up on Monday, it looked better than this. But when I went back to get it on Tuesday, it looked this bad. Looking back, it is funny, but at the time, we panicked. I mean, it was 4 days before the wedding! She kept begging us to leave it and let her fix it, and we were really nice about it at first saying that I just didn't have time to drive all the way to Clinton again. But when she kept insisting and then tried to cut something off the dress, I got a little stubborn. Basically, what we finally found out was that she had ruined the dress and knew that no one else could fix it. We freaked! But the wonderful wedding coordinator, Shanna Lumpkin with A Southern Affair, came to the rescue. She called Bill Levkoff, and they had one dress in the right color pink with a different color sash in a size smaller than what I had originally ordered. So we told them to send it on! Once it got here, I took it to Al in Madison, and he fixed the sash. And it actually fit better than the old one! My best friend Lanette picked the dress up Saturday morning and brought it straight to the church! Thank goodness for Shanna. She was absolutely fabulous and sooooo calm. Needless to say, she is not using that alterations lady anymore.

Life is back to normal...hopefully

I know that it has been a really long time since I posted last, but I have a real excuse this time. I had my huge licensure exam last weekend (the 13th) for graduate school. I was home for maybe 5 minutes when we swung into full gear with my sister's wedding, which was this past weekend. But now it's over, too! And it was fabulous. Just a really stressful two weeks. I wanted everyone to know that I'm ok and will be posting a little at a time. It really was a wonderful and fun week leading up to the wedding, and we have some wonderful pictures. Stay posted...for a little at a time. I'll try to fill you in on as much wedding drama and funny stories as possible. Alyssa and Sam are now in Mexico and are having a great time. We're so jealous!!

Men being Boys...

Every year after Christmas, Lee and my dad go on a hunting trip to Lake Forest in Louisville, Mississippi. A bunch of men go, and they hunt and have bible study for four days. My dad has been going for years and had Lee hooked after we got married. There's a big group of guys from the Coast who all go up, so they have such a good time. Last year, my dad took Eldon, my cousin, up to Lake Forest in January to hunt for a weekend, and Eldon killed his first deer. So, of course, this year, Eldon had to go for the big hunt with all the guys. And he killed another deer!! He was so excited, but I think all the other guys are just as excited as Eldon is. They have fallen in love with him...like everyone else does! There's an album below for those of you who want to see ALL of the pictures from the weekend. But I thought these of Eldon with his deer and with my dad were too cute to pass up.

Lake Forest