Wichita Bridal Fair

Do you remember THIS POST about a week ago? Well Wichita's summer bridal fair took place this weekend and I worked both Saturday/Sunday helping my friend Ashley promote her business, Events by Ashley. It was a great show, we got quite a bit of traffic, and hopefully she will get some business from the event. Since I work at the Hyatt Regency it was nice to see several of the vendors that I also work with on a daily basis and catch up with them. I am obsessed with weddings, so now that I no longer have an excuse to attend these events (no longer a bride to be), I love the fact that I have a reason to wonder the aisles and check out the latest ideas.

The theme of the booth was D.I.Y Wedding (do it yourself). With pinterest, etsy, etc. this latest trend is sweeping across the state. The rustic/vintage theme is huge, and girls are loving the mismatched idea of decor and do it yourself projects. Here are a few pics of our booth.

Add a more personalized back drop like this possibly behind your cake table, gift table, or candy table with your color scheme.

Rustic/Chic Wedding

Ashley offers several rental items- anything from wood chargers, coasters, stumps, mason jars, etc.

Handmade bouts and wrist corsages made out of fabric and tulle.

Instead of using "real" flowers why not think out of the box and use vintage lamps as a center focal point? What a cool and unique idea!

These fabric flowers can be found on www.etsy.com/shop/amyleighdesign, they can be made in various colors/sizes.

Fabric bouquets, a new unique alternative. This would eliminate the expense of trying to preserve your real flower bouquet from your wedding, or like I did, just throw it away. What a great way to reminisce from your wedding, and something that will never go bad.

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Another great find in Wichita, that we were thrilled to be right beside at the bridal fair, Ruffles & Rust, a vintage rental company. This place is awesome and unique, owner Ashley Owen, has a small storefront in Wichita's new Cottage Collective where several of her items can be found. She has an amazing collection of unique finds, reasonable prices, and a willingness to make your event perfect and unique! I had to get a few pics of her booth as well:)

Much Love~
Amber

Weekend Get-A-Way

Patty boy and I went to Bull Sholls Lake in Arkansas over the weekend (don't worry I had never heard of it either). One of Pat's good friend's Sean, has a lake house down there, so we packed up, headed to Tulsa to get Sean, grab the boat, and off we went. We met a friend of Sean's, RJ and his fiance Miranda as well as his cousin Meredith and a few of her friends. What a fun group of peeps! I didn't want the peace and quiet, relaxation, sun, and laughter to end.

The weekend was spent boating, tubing, wake boarding (I didn't partake in this, tubing was quite enough for me), oh yea and more boating, some great drinks and food, and my favorite game catch phrase. (note to self) Remember to buy this game for our home.

Pat and I have now decided we need a boat, yes that is right. We need a boat.

That's all folks, I'm off to bed, this day was exhausting.. 

Much Love~
Amber

Motivate Me Monday

Sigh...is it really Monday already?! I even had a 3-day weekend and the time still went by too fast. I had an amazing lake trip with patty boy and friends, stay tuned for pics. As much as I dreaded getting up at 4:45 this morning, I'm glad that I did it...this is what's motivating me on this Monday.

Turbokick this am was great, I needed that cardio after a weekend that was spent acting like I was in college again..

Check out these super cute cell phone cases...I'm torn on colors, which is your fav??? AND what is even better is they come personalized with your name on the back, adorable. How can I ever decide?!

Buddy boy, oh how I missed him and so could have pictured this cute little big guy riding around with us in the boat all day, he sure had fun with auntie paige all weekend though.

35 days. THIRTY FIVE days. Until we leave for the Domincan Republic and I'm off for not one day, but NINE DAYS.....ahhhhhhhh this is what is really motivating me!

PS- Did you watch the finale of the Bachelorette last night?? Even though I was exhausted I stayed up and watched my DVR until after 11...balling my eyes out, I sure hope they make it, I'm such a sap for love.


Here's to another extremely busy week..

Much Love~
Amber

Anniversary SALE!

Tomorrow marks a great day! Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale. Yes it is absolute awesomeness. I interned for Nordstrom one summer when I lived in Dallas, and since then, I've become obsessed with this sale. Fall items are deeply discounted for a short period of time, then they will go back to regular price (if the items don't sell out first, which often happens). Even though it is a 100+ degrees out, I can't turn down the opportunity for such great fall finds!

What are your favorite picks??

I'll be listing my wants, wishes, and must haves next week!

 

Much Love~

Amber

One of these days....

I want one of these...

....But that is not today or tomorrow.. but someday...

I can't wait to start a family with patty boy, whether it be with one of our own or adopting (which I've always wanted to do), time will tell. Until that time comes though we'll just enjoy our lives together.


Much Love~
Amber

Daddio's New Ride

Wowserz- what a weekend this was. I feel like I got off work Friday, blinked, and am back to work already! The weekend was spent with family, family, and oh yea more family which was nice.

So I think my Dad wants to be 25 again, ha. Well he had a camero back in highschool, the car him and my Mom had their first date in, and if he could do anything, he wished he never would have sold it. For the last I can't remember how many years, he's been talking and talking about how he wants to get another 67' camero, the exact same as the one he had back in highschool. His dream has finally became a reality.

It's great to see your parents be able to do what they really love, after all of the time and money they have given to us girls over the years and now being able to see them "have fun" and do things for themselves makes me so happy. My parents have worked so hard for what they have and if anyone deserves this enough, it is my Dad. I see many more car shows for patty boy and I in the near future:) My Dad's neighbor Jeremy (they have become the best of buds) also entered his camero (the orange one below), he has won "best camero in show" the last two years, pretty cool.

Much Love~
Amber

Friday Favs

1. Deborah Lippmann nail polish from Nordstrom in Mermaid's Dream, a little pricey but this stuff looks AMAZING on! I'm drooling over this color..

2.Newton Running shoes, I must somehow figure out how I can afford a pair of these. I tried a pair on and instantly fell

in love. Must have.

3. & 5. I've been on the hunt for the perfect lace ensemble, but have found two great finds both a skirt and shorts! Both from Nordstrom in BP. Love the skirt in cream, but am undecided on the shorts- coral or cream??

4. Found these cute bracelets online at The Blue Door Boutique, how fun are they?!

Happy Friday- bring on the weekend!

Much Love~
Amber

Big News

So you remember this post?? I was debating on which item to buy. Well the purchase has been made, Patty boy came home with this today. I feel like a new person and so much more connected to the world, seriously. The things this phone can do, amazieness. Yep this bad boy is mine, now I just need to learn how to use it:) Oh and of course find a super cute case for it duh!

Much Love~

Amber

Check it out!

A great friend of mine recently started up her own event planning company, Events by Ashley.

She was so kind to help with my wedding, as well as my sister Cortney's wedding just a few weeks ago. Ashley Moore has a heart of gold and a true passion for serving others and ensuring seemless events for her clients. I hope she will continue to succeed.  I believe if you are passionate, determined, and have faith in what you do, you can make anything successful.

 Seeing her make her dream become a reality has been so inspirational to me!

As I mentioned I love to plan events and have been helping her part time when I can. I truly love the feeling of seeing an event come together from start to finish, and receiving that sense of accomplishment and gratitude. Check out my post over here on Ashley's blog about some great gift ideas and give a-ways she is offering. I blogged a while back about these fabulous bracelets found at Pink Saloon, in which I have become quite obsessed with:)

Also be sure to check out this Forever Friday post on her blog as well. Patty boy wrote about our

 "love story" from his point of view, pretty cute if you ask me!

Much Love~
Amber

Always running late...



Totally me, on several different occasions



I'm one of those people who hate to be late...however, I consistently run into the problem of running late myself, no matter the situation. Whether it be Church, work, dinner, parties, it just never fails.

A few months ago I made a decision to change my workouts to am instead of pm, mainly for the fact that I wanted more free time at night. (I must say, I'm totally loving my change, well, I'm loving it after I get out of bed in the mornings). But this has caused me to be in even more of a rush getting out the door to be at work at 8am. For me to get to work by 8am I need to leave the house NO LATER than 7:40...

Let me give you a play by play of this morning....woke up at 4:50am headed to Rae's to do insanity, got home by 6:30am, showered, got ready, made the bed, fed buddy, made Patty boy and I breakfast (he wasn't home from the gym before I left), made my lunch, made coffee, and I was running out the door completely drenched in sweat at 7:45am (already needing another shower)...because yes you guessed it, I was running late once again and in a scramble to get to work on time.

So my solution to all of this...I wish my boss would let us come into work at 8:30am instead... boy that extra 30 min. would just do me wonders.

Happy Tuesday!

Much Love~
Amber

Weekend Wraps

1. Our dog is too funny, we got home from breakfast and found him stuck under the table. 2. Perfect day at the pool, 3rd book of Hunger Games, my hubs, lots of tanning oil, and lots and lots of sunshine. 3. Buddy boy finally got a bath, he was completely covered in mud, so muddy that Pat had to carry him from outside directly to the bathtub, I wouldn't let him touch the ground. 4. Super pumped with my great find- Gianni Bini Dress that I have been wanting all summer, found it on sale from $108 to $37, woohoo! 5. Great bike ride Saturday afternoon. 6. This is Pat after the bike ride, it was only 105 outside and the boy acted like he was going to die. 7. Finally got to meet baby Kaylee, she is absolutely precious!
8. Sangria = Delish.

This was the first weekend in quite a while that the hubs and I had nothing planned, it was such a nice change of pace, sometimes weekends like this turn out to be the best weekends.

We started on Thursday by meeting baby Kaylee Marie, our friend's Nick and Ashley Topping's daughter. She was born June 21st, and I've been dying to meet her!! She is truly absolutely perfect, and we couldn't be happier for them! If only they lived closer!

Friday night I had a girls night with my mother in law Cindy and my Mom, as well as a few other girls, we had dinner, drinks, and saw Magic Mike, and I sure was not disappointed:) We had such a great time!

On Saturday the hubs and I slept in, and then headed to the pool. I think this is actually the first time I've been to a pool all summer, slightly pathetic. I then convinced him to go on a bike ride with me, in the scorching heat..it couldn't be too bad right?! Well we both survived, but I would not recommend doing this in the middle of the day with a 100+ temperatures. We did a few things around the house, then showered, got ready and headed to church. I left in tears, the message was that powerful. I felt like God wanted Pat and I to be there, it was amazing, and God is good! We then headed to El Dorado to celebrate Jordon's 18th birthday (Pat's -Dad's girlfriend- Valerie's- son). After that we felt like we needed to go sit on a patio somewhere and have a few drinks, so we went to Abuelos, and then it started pouring, so we ended up back inside. Either way Sangria is amazing and a perfect end to an awesome day.

Sunday we slept in again, awww amazing. I have been wanting to try Louie's coffee dive in Goddard, so we drove out there and was so disappointed to find it was closed, so after driving around Wichita trying to agree on a breakfast restaurant we ended up at The Beacon downtown, my first experience there. The food was great, but I'm a germ freak, and I'm pretty sure our waitress was on drugs, so I don't think I'll be back ha. Pat decided he needed some more v-necks...seriously?! Can the boy venture out to anything besides v-necks??? So we did some shopping, I would say it was successful. We also stopped in at the new Fresh Market- amazing, I could spend hours in there. However, next time I'll be sure to not bring patty boy there with me...because everything I wanted to get, he had reasons on why we did not need it. We did walk away with  few good purchases though, I love finding unique, healthy, and every once in awhile a few not so healthy foods:)

I don't think I have a free weekend now until the 3rd week in August, holy cow. Here we go- back to go- go- go, but that just means we are getting closer to August 29th= VACATION.


Much Love~
Amber

Progress is being made...

Pat and I bought our house last April 2011, I moved in after our wedding September 2011, since then we have done quite a bit to our house as I've mentioned. I do have to say I'm pretty proud of how our flower beds have turned out. I look at them and think..wow, we still have so much to do. But then I look at the BEFORE pics, and am pleasantly surprised and think to myself, ok Amber this is a HUGE improvement. How do people live like ths seriously?!?

BEFORE

AFTER



BEFORE

AFTER

I'm slowly learning that things take time.

Much Love~

Amber

Cirque Du Baby Shower

I LOVE to plan parties. Weddings, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Babyshowers, etc. I know this has been awhile back now, but wanted to blog about a babyshower I planned for a great friend of mine last summer. Tessa did not know what she was having, so she wanted the shower to be a gender neutral shower that would work for either. The theme of the shower was Cirque du Baby which I absolutely loved. We chose to use the colors of red, yellow, and turquoise and I think it turned out great! The shower was a couple's shower and took place outside at a family friend's house. It was definitely hot out, but that didn't stop the fun.

Tessa and Garrett had a great turn out and got lots of great gifts for baby Banks.

Since the babyshower had a "circus theme" I filled large jars with circus peanuts, cracker jacks, and animal crackers for guests of the party to snack on throughout the night. The red shutters held "baby wish" cards for each guest to fill out as they arrived to the party and hang to display. The popcorn container had a piece of styrofoam which I covered with popcorn and then stuck in the swirled lollipops and wooden b-a-b-y letters.

This was the drink station- I made a large container of lemonade with striped yellow straws I ordered from etsy.com. The straws each had flags that varied from "Baby Konen" and "Cirque Du Baby". Then of course underneath the table were more refreshements in coolers.

Tables were scattered around the pool for guests to sit at. The above centerpieces were placed on each table. The center piece I made from old paint cans, which I bought a roll of tickets and hot glued the tickets around the can, topping with a colorful piece of ribbon. I then filled the paint cans with dirt and placed assorted flowers in each.

The two end centerpieces were popcorn containers that I had found and filled with styrofoam and then topped with popcorn. I ordered paper pinwheels from another etsy shop and stuck three in each container.

Tessa's friend Alli brought the cupcakes. The animals and clowns went perfect with the circus theme!

The Happy parents, Tessa & Garrett!

Much Love~
Amber