kentucky's got talent.

do you watch america's got talent? i don't think i ever have before tonight, but so glad i did.

this guy is from the county next to where mr. smith grew up and we went to high school together. never met him, but it's so nice to have someone with such talent who could wow so many.

they're honestly a bit rude a the beginning. a boiled a bit listening to everyone laugh at him.

then watch those jaws drop and people stare in awe. makes me kentucky proud.

wedding stamps. the thorn in every bride's side.

stamps are silly and shipping should be free. that's my theory. can we take that one to the top? probably not. and i'll probably never spend so much on stamps again for as long as i live... at least until my own daughter gets married, so i guess it's not that important.

i digress.

today i purchased wedding stamps. so $229 later, i've got this.
{and a story. of course, every bridal task comes with a story.}

240 of these.

200 for our reply cards.

40 for a jump start on thank you notes.

i didn't pick these. i got none of these at all.

when was the last time you saw people purchase rings like these?

get with it, USPS. and 200 of these.

i desperately wanted king & queen stamps for our invitations.

because there is a certain bit of cheese with these.

but, alas, kings & queens are only $.44.

so i shall be content to send a little cake with my invitations.

who doesn't love cake?

now for the story. it's rather un-interesting, but i will share nonetheless.

how is is possible for my stamps to cost as much as my invitations? yes. my invitations came out to about $1/each. postage for those: $.61 + $.44 for the reply = MORE than my invitations.

i feel a little cheated by uncle sam.

however, i am gratified with the $1 shipping charge. i give them $228, and they send me all those valuable little stickers for only $1. that's my version of sticking it to the man.

__________________________

and if you're wondering when i'm going to snap out of my little mood, i am wondering the same. maybe after my trip to arrington vineyards on friday with our friends and wedding party members mr. & mrs. k.

maybe if i purchase some of these cups from swoozie's. they are slightly tacky, yes. but oh so funny. at least they are to me. at this moment.

ramble, ramble, ramble. i think i'm done.

guestbook.

i found it.
i found it.
i found it.

i am doing the photo guest book idea. love it. every part of it.

love that these little cuties get to help out with its creation.


love the props we're going to use. already have oversized flowers and a feather boa. working on a large gilded frame - empty of course. a chalkboard. some funny glasses. a hat or 5. a mask, maybe mardi gras style - definitely one like those stolen by holly and "fred" in my fave movie.

like the top, maybe the bottom one too.
source

love that i'm going to get to see and remember every person who comes to the wedding. and their personalities.

and i love that i found the actual book for far less than i thought it would cost. i first looked for a leatherbound book, 12x12, with pretty paper inside. oops - those are $100+. notgonnahappen. so i kept my eyes peeled, and target to the rescue!!

an espresso linen-covered 12x12 scrapbook. add some refillable pages. whole shebang for about $30.

all the best pictures definitely come from my blackberry.
{please note the sarcasm.}

more on what goes inside to come...

honeymoon.

i just tweeted this:

@mrssmith909 and if you've wondered why i haven't blogged today, its because i'm clearly in a bratty mood. 140 characters is enough of my bad attitude. 12 minutes ago from TwitterGadget

but then i thought of something that would make me happy.

i'll be there in less than 3 months. maybe on one of those little sailboats. maybe in my new swimsuit from VS. that makes me a little happier.

more on that later. the honeymoon. and the swimsuit too.

{that picture is from somewhere via google images. don't know exactly.}

invitations. oh heavens.

the invitations are designed. partially printed. ready to stuff. we have our first look at how they're going to end up and i must say i couldn't be more happy.

i'm not going to show you though until our guests have them in home. sorry to ruin your day. i just think its only fair for them to see in person. and first.

but i'm going to hurry through them and get them mailed out on july 13 exactly so i can share with you. (july 12 is a sunday, so i can't send them on the actual 2 months before.)

that is all assuming i get them addressed in time. that's going to be the worst part. blah. i want to find the person who said it's proper to hand-write the addresses. then hunt them down and teach them a lesson in modernity and how to not cause stress to the OCD bride who cannot afford professional calligraphy for our nearly 200 invitations.

but despite that little rant, i'm happy! i love my invitations. and i love that i chose to save $$$ by diy-ing them. because they turned out pretty great for $1/each.

{oh - and a big thanks to mr. smith for his help on the first round of 25. he was such a little angel today.}

the emotions of today.

mr. smith and i made a road trip today, and although i really appreciated the time we had together, i wish more than anything it had been under different circumstances.

a childhood friend of his passed away this week, and the memorial service was today in the town we are from. the boy lived in his neighborhood and was friends with both mr. smith and his sister for about 15 years now. this was a kid they rode bikes with, played hide-and-seek with, played basketball with. the kind of someone you remember your whole life with fond memories, even if they didn't remain the closest of friends. my FSIL spoke at the ceremony and told stories from their childhood. i feel like i'm rambling, but even though i had never met him, i feel as though the entire world lost a friend today and i'm so confused.

so i guess this is my attempt at a tribute to someone who's life forever impacted the lives of people who are important to me. a son and a brother. an athlete. a friend and a loved one. a man who's life ended all too soon.

cardbox.

throughout the planning process, i've been keeping my eye out for a clever little idea for a cardbox. i wasn't sure what i wanted exactly, and i was thinking something a little "different" would be fun. didn't know what that different would be though, until this week.

i saw this photo from a bride featured on southern weddings, who also has a personal blog. those are the ones i love the most - personal blogs from real brides and/or newlyweds sharing their personal inspiration. and this was a good one.

a trunk-style box. i've seen the birdcage, and although they're lovely, i still wanted to explore my options. this was my favorite option, especially given my resources...

source

now, i'm a lucky girl working at "home decor retailer" all. we have samples of products like these and real ones for sale in our stores all the time. took a little walk back through our product room, and found something lovely. it looks like floral-embossed leather, and i'm crazy about it.

we've even got the big girl size and the baby girl size, so i could potentially use the both if i have a need for them.

thank you, job. you have made this whole wedding a little bit easier at times. all i had to do for this is climb a ladder and design the card. piece. of. cake.

what are you using for a cardbox?

darlings, you're invited.

if you haven't noticed my obsession with tiffany & co., holly golightly, and breakfast at tiffany's, you're seriously lacking observation skills.

my FSIL was definitely not amiss in her knowledge of this. so when she volunteered to host my shower in our hometown, she planned a breakfast at tiffany's theme. fabulous, no? i'm in love.

so when i received this invitation, i shrieked with excitement. {ask mr. smith. he'll tell you its true.}


she and her mom MADE THESE. talk about diy fabulosity. those are real rhinestones on the chandeliers. omg. i can't say anything to express how truly amazed i am.

{that blurry-ness - that's all on me. i'm not skilled yet in the iphoto retouch arena.}

and if you saw the "feel free to wear your utterly fabulous 'holly golightly' attire" line, you better believe i'm ready.

pictures available mid-july. can you wait? because i'm not sure i can.

rooftop-jig-performing-classical-guitarist fiasco.

i had a wedding dream last night. not a good one. those are called day dreams and they happen when your eyes are open. the bad ones happen at night.

i spent from 7-11pm last night working on some wedding stuff. a hobby lobby run, my mom came into town, we got a few things figured out.

i've been getting alot accomplished lately, and i'm feeling pretty good about it all. latrice even sent me a message last night telling me i'm doing so well getting things done... that i'm "a planner's dream." (p.s. i loved that.)

but then i fell asleep and my wedding world fell apart a bit. i dreamt that it was my wedding day. everyone else late. the bridesmaids were cranky.

i forgot to tell the guitarist what music to play, so he didn't play anything. until we snapped our fingers (weird, i know) and he started playing a jig. on a guitar. confusing. and he was playing from the roof. my whole dream was nuts. i'm sure there was more madness, but i only remember bits and pieces.

this could be because i got over-confident in myself last night. or it could be because we watched an episode of csi miami about a wedding murder that freaked me out a bit.

not sure. regardless, i'm going to keep trucking. keep getting my wedding stuff done. not pay attention to my weirdo dream.

but maybe tonight i'll work with mr. smith to pick out the rest of our ceremony songs. that might fix at least part of our rooftop-jig-performing-classical-guitarist fiasco.

getting practical.

i've been reading alot of the a practical wedding blog. she is such a clever woman. she has her head on straight, but at the same time she's not afraid to indulge in the bliss of her wedding and planning and love. i think it's just that she chooses where to indulge and doesn't fret about what some say she should indulge in. i've taken a rather strong liking to her here in my last few months of planning. she's been incredibly... grounding.

one of those things she is inadvertently helping me with is figuring out what is and isn't important to me. focus on those things that are. forget about those that aren't.

one that i've since decided is not important: a seating chart. we're going to have alot of people there. alot of family. alot of friends. alot of interspersing of people who don't often interact. we're also going to have alot of age difference, difference of backgrounds, difference of interest in music and partying. but what i've decided lately is: they all love us. they're not going to care who's at the table next to them because all they're pretty little eyes are going to be looking at is the love in the eyes of the new smiths. {oh how wonderful that will be, when we're the smiths.}

so in my once non-practical effort to save everyone from having the wrong seat, i made these boards. and i like them. i even researched a few until i found the ones i liked best, then i made them with my fabulous FSIL.

and now, i'm changing the purpose. and i'm re-aligning with what is important, something i've been talking about a little more lately: our love. our love story. our history. how we got to where we are. so i'm taking these lovely boards made with the loving hands of mrs. cope and making it into just that: story boards. our story.

mr. smith and i had a fun little sunday going through all our old albums and our more recent and completely non-organized photos. we picked our favorites, and we've made copies.

i went to the store that is rapidly becoming my second home, joann of course, and have stocked up on the 6 for $.96 paper. in tiffany blue, espresso, and ivory.


got my handy scrapbooking tools and some glue sticks. let's get to work. delilah even helped me with the gluesticks. oh wait - she just chewed the tops...

crazy eyes. and needs a haircut. both my fault. oops.

a couple hours of sitting in the office floor and lots of soreness later, i've got myself quite a stack. lovin' it.


someday i'll pin them to our boards with pearl-tip push pins. i'm not going to actually do that yet though until much much closer to the big day. it's easier to store things separately.

but don't worry, i'll show you what happens. :)

virtual office.

i am lucky. i'm marrying the man of my dreams. and among alot of other wonderful things...

i found the most amazing wedding planner.

i have told you many a tale about the fabulosity that is latrice cushenberry.

but on the 3-month-before-the-wedding mark, she sent me this. a virtual office. a place to store messages, files, tasks, the list goes on - all that we can share. so we're completely on the same page. we can share to-do lists. put hers or my name on the task, mark it complete. i can do it from the office, from my house, and i can do it from my blackberry. (probably better from an iphone, but i'm not going to #squarespace it up on here... too annoying.)

take a look.

maybe it doesn't look glam. but it functions glam.
and that's what counts.

and if you're still on the planner search, you will not find someone more organized or on top of things or more in-the-know than bridal opulence. scouts honor.

____
edit: a very good question from pink prada led to this edit, as i think it would be helpful to all. the virtual office is hosted by google. i think it's a google "site." i'm not good with technology, so that's the best i can do as far as explanations go. hope it helps!

we got napkins.

the cocktail napkin. a wedding staple. right? so for such a commodity, colors should be unlimited.

but they aren't.

i am obsessed with the custom monogram my dearest emilie friday is in the process of creating for us, and i want it on our napkins. so i'm using napkinprinting.com to make my napkin dreams come true. {a referral from my fab wedding planner latrice.}


my new friend scott at napkinprinting.com is very nice. he sent me color samples within days. add to that their charge for customization = minimal. we've got the perfect vendor.

problem: i have tiffany blue OCD.

mr. smith says we have too much brown so we've nixed that one. now we're down to 2 shades of blue that aren't quite right. aqua? or baby blue?


what's a girl to do?

{yes, i realize this is not a real problem and i have mental problems. i just can't help my love for that patented shade of blue.}

amazing grand canyon wedding.

i'm not sure if this is cheating (or maybe another term) but i just saw an incredible wedding via a friend on facebook. i have borrowed some of the photos - they aren't the best ones available, but i think since i don't know the couple {only a friend in attendance}, i should choose the ones most anonymous. agree? hope so.

this amazing couple apparently wanted to get married at the grand canyon. and by that i actually mean in the grand canyon. literally. they and 15-ish of their closest friends and family took helicopter rides to this very scenic spot to make their vows. i'm quite sure i've ever seen something quite as breathtaking as this.

the bride and groom's grand entrance.

how sweet? very sweet.

have you seen anything more scenic than this for a wedding?

i think not.

the bride and groom and entire guest list. how special!

{notice the man on the left is holding a puppy. my heart just melted.}

happy anniversary!

i wanted to say happy anniversary today to 2 of our wedding party members, who just happen to be married, and who just happen to be celebrating 2 years of marriage today.

thank you both for all your love and support during our engagement and for being an example of happiness in marriage to us!

10 great dates.

mr. smith has a pretty cool grandmother. in fact, she's quite fabulous. she remembered our 3-month pre-wedding anniversary (yes, this is what i call it), and got us a gift.

she found some great books that she heard were great for pre-marriage, and had them sent to our house in time for our june 12 big day.

one of those books is this one.

buy it here

the book is nothing more than a series of structured suggested conversations, but it's fantastic. since we were 12-ish weeks out from the wedding, we have made monday nights our "10 great date" nights.

over the weekend, we read our assigned chapters and work through the exercises individually. then on monday night - we leave the house, away from the distractions, and go somewhere to talk through that week's topic. the first week was about priorities in a relationship and dreams for our future, both individually and together. we've been together for 6 years, but alot of times when we talk we veer off the subject and miss the details of things. this book gives us structure, things to cover, makes sure we don't miss anything.

i'm not going to tell you all our details. 1) you'd be bored. 2) well, mostly just #1.

but the coolest thing:
we both, individually, said that the #1 most important thing in our relationship is companionship and friendship. it's so nice that we are on the same page - mutually moving toward strengthening the same aspect of our relationship day-by-day.

(and if you're thinking "my FH won't read this..." not to worry, the chapters are short. :) that and, my manly mr. smith really likes the book.}

soulmates.

as seen today on $10,000 wedding:

#654: do you believe in soulmates.

my 14 year old cousin asked me that over the weekend.i told her that i didn't believe in soulmates...and gave her some long winded answer about how every relationship you're in becomes a part of you and develops who you are and prepares you for the relationship that you end up wanting to be in forever.

*********************************

"i still believe in soulmates."

_____________________

and although i agree in part with TTO, i'm with the 14-year-old.

i think we grow and we change throughout our lives, both before and after we meet our forever mates, but i also know that we control the level to which life experiences change us. and because of my faith, i know that there is a man that was created just for me, and that those experiences in our early lives only prepared us for the time we would meet each other.

and now that we have met, the vows we are about to take tell us that we are to pay attention to the changes in each other's lives and to make those changes together so we never grow apart from that one who was designed to be our soulmate.

because these 2 right here... they're soulmates.

send-off decisions.

please tell me you agree that this is lovely. the feathers look just like petals to me - so sweet. so pretty. so ethereal. i fell in love with this send-off idea also because feathers are cheap.

source: once wed

but sad little me found out they aren't allowed at our venue. in fact, only 3 things are: petals, bubbles, and water-soluble confetti.

• petals are expensive, but beautiful.


• i'm not so much a fan of the bubbles {for my wedding}.


• water-soluble confetti? hmm... let's see.

i'm looking for your thoughts here. should i bite the bullet and go with the ever-romantic petals?

source

source

or should i go with the budget-friendly eco-fetti?

source

tell me what you think, my friends.

my little ring bowl in action

mr. smith is so proud. i took off my ring to wash my hands. this little thing is so handy.

etsy's brain.

etsy's got me pegged. my "handpicked items" are without fail a shade of blue time after time. technology's ability to suggestively sell is quite frightening at times, but also quite helpful. how else would i have known i could have blue paper antlers in my very own home?

moon river.

love this song?

so do i.

and i wanted to share.

she's simply too charming for words.

holly golightly's sleep mask.

why has no one successfully replicated this yet? it's iconic. it would fly off shelves if only someone could do it right. i can't sew or i would do it myself.

fred flare has one, but - take it from me who watches this movie religiously - the color is off and the lashes are just not right.

even on my beloved etsy, no luck. there's a crocheted attempt, but not the real deal.

sorry for the rant. i just had to get it off my chest. now i'm done.

oh how i've missed you.

there's been so much going on this week wedding-wise, but i didn't want to interrupt the love story with my sporadic posts, so i've been saving it all up. twitter has been a fabulous outlet for that release, but there's so much i'm excited to tell you about!

i've been buying alot of stuff lately. meaning: a box is coming in the mail every single day. out. of. control. but in a good way.

today's receipt: what i think i'm going to wear for my day-before-the-wedding and rehearsal. i saw it at forever 21 last week and LOVED it. they only had one left, and it wasn't my size. so i ordered online. i have to show it to my sister though for her approval. she's my fashion icon.

what do you think?

chiffon lace tiered dress

i also got my popcorn bar bags ordered, and they're already here. i scoured the internet for options, and although i really wanted to go local with nashville wraps, nothing could beat what i found at paper mart. (although nashville wraps has simply unbelievable customer service.) anyway, i bought these, without the window. they are waxy, so the oil of the popcorn won't show through. and the tin ties at the tops of the bag will be easy for guest to close and take with them. problem solved.

white tin tie bags

i've been talking with my lovely emilie friday daily trying to get the details finalized on my wedding monogram and other designs for the invitations and other paper goods. i ended up with a laundry list of items, but she's so fantastic. quite possibly my most clever purchase from her etsy store is a rubber stamp - perfect for return addresses and response cards. it will look like this, except with our names and address. oh how fabulous.

calligraphy stamp

i also found the cutest shoes that are custom made by etsy seller ivory and moss and will be perfect for my flower girls. not to mention, they're only $29. custom-made, perfect shoes, $29. its hard to believe that is possible, but it is. so we'll have these, but just for my girls. espresso for the shoe, tiffany blue for the flower and the tie. i'm absolutely smitten.

gwyneth little ballerina booties

oh... and mr. smith and i went RING SHOPPING!!! we picked out our wedding bands. WOOHOO!! i'm so excited. his is similar to this one, and mine is perfect for me, but i have no pictures. somehow the one on my camera got deleted. tragedy, i tell you. but its diamonds, set just like the ones in my ring, curved to fit the engagement ring. lovely.

while there, my jeweler told me to stop wearing my rings while putting on lotion (i don't do this) and when i wash my hands (i do this). so mr. smith is convinced that we need ring bowls in every room in the house - whether there is soap and water or not. (i exaggerate.) but i am going to slowly add the the collection. here is what i found on etsy this week - store: vessels and wares. love the blue, love the squirrel.

item no longer for sale.

my bridal betty clutch came in last week. she's every bit as perfect as i expected. yes she is.

i had a bridal shower on sunday. my mom took all the pictures though on her camera, so i hope to share them soon. saw some family and friends - that was nice. and they were kind enough to shower us with some lovely gifts. will share the love soon, i promise. :)

you know, this is just the tip of the iceberg on what i've completed this week. i'm feeling so accomplished. and i'm sorry to disappoint the lovely miss SE and the others who've been hatin' on my cliffhangers, but i'm doing it to you again. because i think this post is just long enough.

oh, and last but most certainly not least - thank you all for your comment love and your interest in our love story. it was fun to share that with you - our closest friends only recently found out many of those things. keep the comments coming - i love it.

our love story, part 5.

i had to finish out the week, but really, the rest of our story hasn't been written.

part 5 is still in the works, but we know what we want for part 5. marriage and happiness and love.

we want to be silly and enjoy the limited days that we are fiance and fiance. we want to indulge in the love and attention our friends and family are so kind to give us because they know the journey we are embarking on is fun and exciting but also a little hard.

on our wedding day, we want to embrace what LA screen writer liz garcia said so beautifully in a recent blog:

You know that daily responsibilities and time and practicality – yes – they have decided together to give you a break on this night and step aside for what is larger: matters of the heart. Against all practical reason, you and your mate have made love the first priority. And it feels so sweet. No matter what, it will feel so sweet.

then, after that, we want to live happily ever after as mr. and mrs. smith. enjoying every moment of happiness and growing from every moment of sadness.

we want to travel to germany and ireland and italy and australia.
he wants to kayak in the mornings at the nearby lake.
i want to someday own my own business.
we want babies. pretty little blonde, blue eyed babies.
and then we want to adopt. from another country where the children have such great needs.

we want to watch them grow up and have their own love stories to write.

and we want to grow old together. happy and in love and holding hands at the dinner table when we're 80.

that's our part 5... it's going to be amazing.

our love story, part 4.

i'm a big wine-drinker. i hope that comes across right. what i mean is wine is basically the only alcohol i drink. so naturally i would want to visit arrington vineyards. i'd never been though in the entire first year it was open. so we finally decided we would go. so friday, got off work at 5, drove home, got prettied up real fast, then off to arrington we go.

driving. me = so clueless. mr. smith = so nervous.

we had packed a picnic and brought along our wine glasses, so we went in their shop and picked out a bottle of wine - then returned to a great picnic table for our date. it was so pretty and, because i was being the hopeful brat i told you i had been yesterday... i kept thinking, "ok, maybe now, maybe here. this would be fun."

i can't get enough of the love in this picture.

but for as long as i can remember i had been telling mr. smith i didn't want anyone else around when we got engaged. i wanted to feel free to act silly, to knock him off his one knee and sit beside him on the floor to celebrate, to squeal, to jump, to do whatever my little heart desired when he asked me. and he remembered that.

so we had fun, drank wine, talked on the swing, ate sandwiches mr. smith had made himself (he even cut off my crust), did the tasting, bought some chocolate, and we left. i had so much fun, i chatted and chatted and was so happy to be with him that i wasn't disappointed at all that i wasn't engaged yet.

when we got in the driveway, there was a cat. and in my tipsy happy state, i declared that we needed to adopt him. mr. smith said, "no, oscar hates cats. stay in the car." well, i just thought he was running the cat off. then he texts me "you can come in now."

and this is what i found.

our home. exactly where i wanted to be.

except when i saw it there was a special man at the end of the hall with some special words to tell me. those words will always be in my head, almost every one of them. but i know his story ended with "will you spend forever with me?" not "marry me." forever with me... because its not just the one day, and its not just this lifetime. and i would like to say that i said "yes."

but i squealed and nodded and couldn't get any words out other than "can i have my ring?" lots of awkward squeals and gestures - and those were my words. mr. smith loves to tease me about that. but i quickly recovered with 'yes'-es and 'of course'-s and 'omg i will's.

so we sat together and just enjoyed it. smiled and laughed and cried and hugged and enjoyed the bliss of the moment. i smile and tear up remembering it. so perfect for me. for us.

and his creativity didn't end there. he thought it all the way through. he had set up the back deck with our table, a bottle of champagne i'd gotten in sonoma i was saving for "the special occasion," candles, the works - all so we could continue the celebration while calling our family and friends.

note 2 things: the uk bucket and delilah.
very important parts of our lives. couldn't leave them out of the celebration, now could we? :)

look at how happy he looks. the love.

i must tell you this part too: mr. smith thought it all up on his own, but he left it to my sister to implement the plan. he knew how special that would be to me for her to be a part of it, and she pulled it off without a hitch. i have to say, though, it was due in part to mr. smith's detailed instructions. :)

and there was a diagram on the back. :)
see where my sister made notes?
love them both. so much.

to be continued...

our love story, part 3.

i had already enrolled in college a little over 2 hours away from our home town. we had only been dating about 4 months when it was time for me to leave.

so we decided it would be best for us to give it a try. we loved each other and wanted to see if we could make it work. at just 17 years old, we were smart enough to know our chances maybe weren't so good, but we agreed to try.

mr. smith finished high school, i had my freshman year of college.

his senior year our high school went to state basketball tournament.

he played football, i worked at the gap and was in sga. we saw each other most weekends.

what a freakin' cutie?!

mr. smith graduated high school, went to community college. i was happy where i was. missed him, definitely. but i was happy. we were happy.

i didn't mention this, but we're crazy. for each other. ;)

then we weren't happy. we were tired of being apart.

so mr. smith moved here. he enrolled at mtsu and now we were in the same state, could meet in the middle for dinner, could live normal lives together.

i graduated college. got a job, got a house, he got me a puppy. everything was starting to feel like grown up life.

hey there delilah.

except one thing: mr. smith was still just my boyfriend. we knew we weren't going to get married before we were both done with school, but nonetheless, i wanted to truly be the future mrs. smith.

so like all girls who have been with the loves of their lives for such a long time, i started dropping hints. i admit. i did it. not proud, but i did.

time passed, trips passed, special nights passed. no proposal, no ring, no "yes you are the future mrs. smith."

i was trying my hardest to be patient. i really was. but i wasn't very good at it.

and then there was a special night.

to be continued...

our love story, part 2.

i left you with the trip to spring break.

now we're there. destin florida. 5 girls, 3 boys, my mom and dad. the girls in one condo, boys in the other.

mr. smith and i talked a little throughout the week. not much because we're actually both a little bit introverted. we made jokes with the group and both of us have since confessed to making comments to others in the group about how cute we each thought the other was. {oh, high school.}

neither of us had prom dates.

so my best friend began a plot to get us together. and my sister and her best friend had developed a separate plot to get us together. the boys were clueless of these plots (as was i) and had even discussed among themselves that maybe mr. smith should ask me to prom. {again, oh, high school.}

last night in destin.

i like my alone time - always have - so i was sitting on the balcony alone. mr. smith came out to sit with me. now i know how much courage that must have taken on his part, but at the time it just seemed i was making a new friend. we talked about everything and nothing. then about 20 minutes in...

"so, um, do you have a date to the prom?" - mr. smith

"no, but i have a dress." (obviously me)

"um, ok, well, do you think we should go together?" - mr. smith

"sure! that sounds fun. let's make sure we keep talking and stuff so we know each other better when we go to prom. don't want it to be awkward or anything." (this is true. how weird am i?)

so then we started seeing each other. almost every day. we were inseparable. best friends immediately. watched movies at my parents house. i still remember the shirt he wore the night he picked me up to go to church. white collared with navy blue stripes. 2 weeks later, it was official: we were boyfriend and girlfriend. {and again, oh, high school.}

not much longer, we were at prom! having a fantastic time, dancing, posing for pictures, happy happy happy.

i've been an awesome bout pinner my whole life.

then comes graduation.

i graduated high school in a purple robe.

and then i'm off to college in nashville.

move-in day at belmont. mr. smith looks so sad.

to be continued...