Florida Weekend - Part 3 - Finale

My friend Angela's wedding had been planned outside in the gardens at the Hyatt resort in Orlando, but with the monsoon weather that week, she decided to move the ceremony inside and it's a good thing because when we walked out of the ceremony and looked outside it was dark and pouring down rain! That is good luck though! The ceremony was beautiful! Then we went to the terrace (except inside because it was raining) for the hors d'oeuvre and cocktail hour. The hors d'oeuvres were amazing!! Every tray that would pass us would be better than the last! Oh my goodness! We were all expecting to have a while before the reception so we all kept grabbing one more and one more. We ended up stuffing ourselves on little wraps and such and margaritas and didn't leave room for dinner!!Here are some pics from the cocktail hour.

Jonathan and me trying to pose for a new pic of us...the problem was that I had wanted to take the pic outside with the pretty gardens behind us, but it was raining so we took the pic inside and couldn't get the lighting right! I'm not really happy with how dark and grainy all of the pics we took turned out, but what is one to do? My hubby still looks cute:) And just so you all remember...my darling hubby picked out my entire outfit (dress and shoes). I'm pretty sure he won't take credit for my earrings or giant pink ring! :)
Old college friends and roommates - yes we had an enormous apartment! Michelle, Sarah, me, Jess W., Jes M., and Jess D. Yes, I lived with 3 Jessicas all at once!!! :)A trumpet sounded the arrival of the bride and groom and let us know we were to go into the reception room. It was not a normal ballroom. It was in one of the restaurants of the resort. Three walls were all windows and about 3 stories high with a huge cascading waterfall on one wall (which they turned off due to the noise - but it was still just as pretty without the water). The room was exquisite! And decorated to the nines! Here is one of the 3 foot tall table centers!

We all found our appropriate tables and on came the food! I don't think I've ever had that kind of service at a wedding! The bride is the wedding coordinator for the Hyatt and I found out later that her new hubby is the manager of catering for the Hyatt. A match made in heaven! But they assured me that the service and food are always this good...it wasn't just special for them! :) I wish I would have gotten a picture of the table settings because they were so pretty! We started with a portabella appetizer which was sooo good (also forgot a pic)! Then we had this yummy salad with pears:Next up was our choice of 4 entrees...of course I picked the fillet Mignon! By this time, I was already stuffed and could barely eat my dinner which I was so bummed about because it was so delicious! Please notice the awesome plate! I've never seen anything like it! I took a different pic from the side so you could see the curves of the plate better, but you can't see the food quite as well:)
After dinner was Starbucks coffee and chocolate covered strawberries (with tuxes) and then later on that night we had yummy chocolate wedding cake with banana foster filling. (I usually don't like anything banana flavored even though I like bananas, but this was really good!) Here's the happy couple! Angela looked so beautiful!

Here is a picture of everyone at the wedding that went to Asbury College with us! Yes, my arm looks funny because I was not careful with the sunscreen! Oops! It was gone by the next morning though! It was just there long enough to look funny in pictures:)
All in all we had a wonderful time! I was able to see so many good friends and spend quality time with them! I'm glad you all made it to the bottom of this post! I know it's long! And just because you made it, I'm going to give you a present *wink wink*... a picture of the purse that Billie designed and threw together for me at the last minute so that I'd have an evening bag for the bachelorette party and the wedding! It has green leopard lining! I think it's just so cute! This will be a fun new addition to Abby and Billie Designs!

Florida Weekend Part 2

I know all of my many faithful readers were crushed this morning when I had not posted Part 2 of my weekend yet. I spent my evening last night trying to upload my pics to Facebook and tag everyone in them, but Facebook was acting up and it took me all night to actually get the pics uploaded (thanks to Jonathan for finally doing it for me) :). By the time I was done with FB, it was way too late to start a post!

Last week Florida was a monsoon! It rained every day of the week! (Which made me sad since I wanted to see the Florida sunshine!) When we woke up on Saturday it was cloudy and dark, so we decided to spend the day at the Outlets with one of my dearest, closest friends from college, Brittainy (who I haven't seen in 2 years!), her hubby, Lance and their precious 2 year old daughter. I was bummed that the Florida sunshine was missing, but we had such a blast! We all got some great deals and my friend's daughter was a trooper even though she missed her nap! (I'm really upset that I didn't take any pictures...I even had my camera with me!)

I know you all don't really care about what I bought, but I just have to tell you two amazing deals that I got! Nike was having a sidewalk sale, so I got some new running shorts for $8 and a tank top for $5 and one for $11! (That's amazing when the original prices were $28, $20, and $48!) Then we went to Lucky. I've never owned Lucky jeans before, but the boys wanted to go, so we wandered in there and started looking at the sale racks while they were trying jeans on. And yes, I found a pair of jeans for $29!!! Originally $98!!! And they are way cute! You just can't do better than that. If you all remember with my whole jeans fiasco from the night before, I was pumped to find some cute jeans for the rest of the weekend!

We had so much fun with Brittainy and Lance that we went back to their house, ordered pizza, and sent the guys to Blockbuster...again no pics!!! AHHH!

Sunday when we woke up the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds! YAY!!! After getting some breakfast we threw our suits on and went to bask by the beautiful pool! (I half-heartedly put sunscreen on, so in the pics from the wedding, you can see some funky splotchy marks down my arms and legs!) Brittainy and Lance were able to meet us after church and spent the afternoon with us. It was great 1) to hang out with them and see them; 2) Jonathan always gets bored laying by the pool, so he and Lance could go play chip and putt golf and use the resort amenities while us girls soaked in the sun! Here are some pics from the pool. This is what I call a vacation! Sunshine and water!

Brittainy and me lounging by the pool!

Jonathan enjoying the pool slide. There was a huge slide on the other side of the pool, but the water was frigid from all of the rain all week. This slide was in the heated pool area (which was still quite cool).

How beautiful is this background? I can't imagine working among such beauty! Can you tell which of us is the Florida girl? I think I need a little spray tan! :)

I'm really not trying to keep you all in suspense for the wedding pics, but I just have so much to say from the whole weekend that if I put all of the wedding pics with descriptions in this post, it will be so long that I don't think anyone would get through it. I will conclude this blogging series in Part 3 tomorrow! :)

Florida Weekend - Part 1

Last weekend was quite a whirlwind! As most of you know I've been talking about Angela's wedding weekend for some time. I was so excited to see all of my old college friends! We had such a great time! I just wish we could have stayed for a whole week! Because we had so much stuff going on I have tons of pictures, so I've decided to post a couple different posts this week to cover all of the pics from the weekend!

Friday morning Jonathan and I woke up at 2AM, got showers and were on the road at 3AM. Thankfully he's a wonderful husband and let me sleep in the car. Around 6AM I was kinda half asleep with my seat reclined and I heard this HUGE bang! It scared the crap out of me and I sat straight up. I thought we blew a tire! It scared Jonathan too! He said he didn't think it was a tire and to check the cooler. **Side note: for Christmas Jonathan's mom gave us a joint present of a car cooler that plugs into the lighter. We really don't travel much so we really weren't sure how much we would use it. We got it out for this trip and it could hold 4 bottles of water and 2 diet cokes.** So I put my hand down next to the cooler and its wet. I look a little closer and yes, diet coke is ALL over the backseat! So I get my travel pack of bounty paper towels out and am trying to reach all of the coke splatters all over my tan interior! Do you have a good mental picture yet? Luckily we have leather seats, but coke was on our bags too. I should have gotten a picture of the dumb cooler. For some reason it has a hot and a cold switch (why do you want your cooler hot anyway?). It's hard to explain but its one of those switches that when it's in the middle it's off then on top it says Heat and then on the bottom it says Cold. So we had the switch down (where it said cold) and at 3 AM we hadn't seen that it made a light next to the Heat button go on. So that's how we started our trip!


We checked into the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort 13 hours after we started our trip! It is an absolutely beautiful resort! They greeted us at our car and gave us complimentary champagne! That's the way to start a vacation! You know you'll be treated right! Jonathan and I made our way up to our room to freshen up before I needed to leave for the shower and the bachelorette party. I washed my face and put some new moisturizer on and felt like a whole new person...then I looked in the mirror and my face was covered with huge red blotches! I still don't know if it was the water, the towel or my new moisturizer because it hasn't happened since, but I'm sure you could believe that I started to get a little freaked out.


While my face was still blotchy I decided I couldn't wait for it to go away so I better go ahead and get dressed. I started unpacking my outfit and I couldn't find my jeans! I started digging a little more fervently and still no jeans! I traveled in sweat pants and had some khaki walking shorts in my suitcase and that's all! Neither of which went with my "going out" shirts! OH NO!!! So I called up Angela and she rescued me thankfully with a whole bag of her jeans/pants for me to try! I had to show up to the shower with a black and white dressy shirt and khaki shorts! But I was able to change into jeans before the bachelorette party! I guess jeans are usually a given since I'm wearing them so I didn't think about packing them! You know that will be my first thing to check for in future vacations! Perfect jeans are hard to find it's not like you can just run out to the mall to grab a pair!


Here are some pics of the bachelorette party with me wearing Ang's jeans! Thanks girl!! There was a big group of us even though these pics have the same 5 of us in them! :)

Jess W, Michelle, Ang, me, Jess D. Ang was thrilled with her blinking tiara!
Me, Jess D, Jess W, Michelle

Ang and me

Ang knows a lot of people in the wedding business and got the hookup with this SUV limo for the night for FREE!!!

Some of our girlfriend couldn't make it in town in time for the party. We missed you guys! Sorry that this post is forever long! I have tons of more pictures...see you all tomorrow for Part 2! :)

Shopping last weekend

I have about a billion errands to run tonight (ok, well maybe 5) before I go to meet some girlfriends at Saul Good for dinner tonight! I've never eaten there so I'm excited...I hope it's good! My boss let me leave early from work today to get everything done and since I didn't have enough time to run AND shower before errands and dinner, so I figured that the best use of my time would be to post a blog instead of exercising:) and watch some DVRs so my DVR doesn't get too full while we are out of town this weekend.

We leave during the night tomorrow night for my friend's wedding in Orlando! Friday night is the bachelorette party and we'll be out on the town in Orlando! Well, it's been many a year since I've "gone out" so I had absolutely nothing to wear! I've already talked about how hard it was to find a dress for the wedding, so I knew wearing a dress on Friday night was out of the question...so next up was to find a cute dressy top.

I always shop at The Loft and The Limited and I dress pretty conservatively. I knew Loft wouldn't have any of the types of shirts I was looking for and we were visiting my parents in Toledo and they don't have a Limited! Seriously! No Limited! I would have some serious issues without shopping there on a regular basis:) Anyway, my mom and I went to the mall in search of the perfect outfit. I stopped at Express and wasn't about to drop $50 on a shirt that I will not get much wear out of. As we were walking down aisle in the mall I saw Charlotte Russe. I haven't shopped there since college in my "going out" days. I figured I might as well look at what they had. I felt SO old walking into the store...I was also a whole size larger since it's made for "kids". HA! And if you can get over that cheap clothes feel and the disorganized racks there are some fun cheep clothes! So, of course I knew all of my many readers (ha) would want to check out my finds! They don't look quite as cute on hangers but these pics will have to do. I haven't decided exactly which shirt I'm going to wear yet. But I think I'll wear my dressy jeans and some HOT black Jessica Simpson pumps with whichever one I choose.

This shirt was seriously $4.99!!! Seriously!! I thought it was too cute! I can wear it out at night or have it be a cute tank for summer with some walking shorts!

This shirt was $17.99. I don't think I'll wear it to the party but it will be a really cute tank for summer!

This shirt didn't photograph well but it's fun and has a couple layers of meshy stuff. It was only $19.99.

Since you can't see the last pic, this is the detailing on the tank.
I also found some fun jewelry to go with both my outfit for Friday night and my dress I'm wearing to the wedding (which is black, white, and pink). These earrings were from Charlotte Russe 2 for $8!! They are enormous but way fun!
My mom introduced me to a an accessories store at her mall called For Love 21. I guess its a division of Forever 21. Anyway...I found some fun stuff here too! This bracelet was $5.80!

These next two rings were $4.80! How can you do better than that on costume jewelry! I'm excited to wear them both!
I'll post pics after our weekend of FUN!!! I'm so excited to see all of my old college friends! See you all next week! :)

I'm still here:)

It has been over a week since I posted last! That is a first since I started blogging in January! I have been so busy that when I get home at night I don't even reach for the computer because I'm too exhausted! I was even a week behind in reading blogs! I feel so out of it! My DVR is 80% full too...so I haven't been watching TV either!

It's already past my bedtime, but I figured that I should share this pic of a purse we made last week. J and I went to Toledo to visit my parents this past weekend (and to drop of Dakota at the papa and grammy resort...i think he's already spoiled one day into it...and I already miss him!) We finally finished the last purse from the orders from the auction in April! So I was able to hand deliver the last purse...well kinda...too bad she was out of town so my mom will have to hand deliver it:)

This week is jam packed full of stuff to do before we leave for Orlando on Thursday for our weekend trip so I hope I'll have time to post about our fun weekend with my parents and my many shopping deals (with pics)!

Another week...

This week has flown by! I think I was busy every night. I am still catching up on my reality TV DVRs from earlier in the week when I was too busy to watch them! I can't remember back to Monday night, but Tuesday night we played on our competitive volleyball team...and won:) Wednesday night Billie and I met after work/running and went to Calistoga for dinner (yum) and then to get some specific fabrics/ribbons and were out late trying to find the perfect stuff. Thursday night Billie and Derek came over for dinner and had a fun surprise and then a late night of sewing. Friday night was raining and J and I decided to forgo our normal grocery shopping date night and stay in. As Sue would say, I had my cranky pants on last night...maybe too many days of rain and no sun! So I sat on the couch to unwind and catch up on a weeks worth of blog reading. Then I strolled over to Sue's blog and saw this sweet post and award she gave me:Thanks Sue! I appreciate you! I needed a little pick me up.

Here's the most recent bag we made. One of our girlfriends gave it as a graduation present to another friend who had told us earlier that she really wanted orange trim so this is some cute orange fabric we found online!

Still running...

I feel like it's been forever since I have posted! I've just been so busy!! Or maybe I just feel busy:) Anyway...for anyone wondering, I ran mon, tues, wed, thurs, sat. I gave myself one cheat meal on Saturday night. Lets just say I cheated a lot!! Oops...Applebees buffalo wings and pasta...a few too many points! :) Oh well...a girls gotta have a break once a week! After that meal on Sat, I got back into the swing of things on Sunday. So far this week I ran yesterday and today and then went to play volleyball tonight (which we won 3-0!). Oh and by the way, I'm pretty excited because today I recorded a personal best for the mile (8'18")! What up!!

Billie and I worked on a new purse style last weekend. One customer liked the Olivia bag:
But wanted a bigger opening:

What do you think? I hope the customer likes it! I sent it off today! :)

I'm watching my DVR of AI right now as I type and I need to get this off my chest...I really really don't like Adam. He screams the whole time makes yucky faces and has nasty make-up and hair AND he thinks he's all that. I'm all about Kris and Danny. I would like to listen to either of them on the radio!

Pink Shoes!

Last weekend Jonathan picked out a really cute dress for me for the wedding we're going to in 3 weeks! It's black with white diamond shaped polka dots. Around the empire waste there is a fuchsia pink 2 inch ribbon. So when we were leaving Macy's I told Jonathan that I want to get a pair of fuchsia pink shoes to go with it. I managed to walk past the shoe department on our way out to look at the sale rack. Well of course there were no pink shoes on the sale rack so I went to my next favorite rack....the Jessica Simpson Shoes!!! And yes, there was a pair of fuchsia high heels with open toes! Jonathan was the one to spot them and they were oh so cute. I didn't try them on though because they weren't on sale. But all week they have been on my mind. Do you think I have a problem?? :)

Jonathan found a 25% off Macy's coupon online that he emailed me during the week, so that gave me the notion that he was going to let me get the shoes. I was so excited!! I made plans to go to the mall this weekend so I could try them on and **hopefully** buy them. Then I walked in from work tonight and yes, sitting on my kitchen table was this:

All displayed too! I was mid-sentence and yes, I think I yelled a bit when I saw them. I love me some Jessica's and seriously the higher the heel the better my butt looks, so bring them on!!! So excited!!

Yes, I put them on with my khakis and polo from my Friday work attire and strutted my stuff around the house. Unfortunately one of the shoes is really stretched out! I hate fat footed people! :) ha! So I called Macy's back to have them hold another in my size and this was their last pair in fuchsia. (I've already checked and this style is available everywhere but not in this color on any site...Google can't even find them!!!) So I call the Macy's in my parents city and they told me that they've never seen these shoes in fuchsia! So they are extra special shoes and I will just be getting some insoles to go in one of the shoes and then they will be perfect!

Do I have a wonderful husband or what?? He told me later that he had planned it all week and had checked my other Jessica's for the correct size and called ahead and had them hold my size! How cute is he? Sorry girls...He's all mine!!!