High 5 for Friday!

Seems like the only time I am able to blog is Fridays! But that's alright. ( :

I've had a pretty good week. I've been extremely tired since my child has not been sleeping well (except for that blessed Wednesday night, when she slept all night long in her crib!!), and I've been staying up way too late. I am determined to start going to bed earlier, though! 12:30-1am is way too late for this workin mama.

 So, without further ado, here's my 5 highlights of the week!

1. Sunday night we went to the local Olive Garden for my niece's 18th birthday party. It was my first time at that location (they just opened last summer) and I was really looking forward to it. Turned out, I wasn't all that impressed with the food. Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat, so I was pretty bummed this one didn't live up to my expectations. But the fun time with my family more than made up for the food! We had a great time. I don't get to hang out with my sister and her kids that often, so it was nice to get that opportunity. And of course, C kept us all entertained!

2. Last Saturday, I rode my horse Wiley. I'm trying to ride every weekend now. I just feel so much better when I get to ride. Wiley did pretty well. I didn't have high hopes since the last time I rode him he laid down....yes, he literally laid down on the ground while I was on him! Luckily I was able to get off before he crushed my leg, but woah. Kinda scary. Crazy pony. Anyway, Saturday he was good. We had some discussions when I asked for the canter, but I was prepared for that since we haven't cantered in a really long time. Like over 2 years. (Long story.) In the end, I won (of course) and he gave me a nice little canter, both directions.

 

3. Last night, C and I went to a Thirty-One party at my friend's house. We had so much fun! Thirty-One is kinda a big deal here in the south - not sure if that's the case all over the country. They have all kinds of cute bags, totes, purses, baskets, etc. in really pretty prints, plus everything is monogrammable! Monogramming is another big deal here in the south. We like our initials on everything. I haven't really jumped on that bandwagon so much, though I do appreciate a nice monogram. I have a Thirty-One skirt purse and one of the skirts has my initials on it. (By the way, the skirt purse is the absolute BEST purse I have ever had - seriously! Its the perfect size, very comfortable on my shoulder, and I love that I can change the look in about 15 seconds, without having to move all my junk.) Last night, I ordered another skirt for my purse, a cute scarf to use as decoration on my purse (I know, I know, its another southern thing), and a camera strap in a really fun print. I also qualified for one of their new products at 1/2 off, so I got a hang-up family organizer. I can't wait to it to come in and I can put it to use! 

4. The Premonition series by Amy Bartol. Love love love!! I'm a huge bookworm, even more so since I got my Kindle. I can't remember how I stumbled across this gem of a series, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I think the series is geared toward a younger than me audience, but I don't care. I am also obsessed with the Twilight series, so there ya go. ( :  (Oh, and I loved the Hunger Games series, as well, though not as much.) The Premonition series starts off with Evie, a college freshman looking to make a new start. In time she discovers she's half angel, and other angels - both fallen and divine - are out to get her. Of course, she gets a love interest (two actually - an angel and a human) and makes some great friends. They all go through some intense events together, which I won't talk about because it'll ruin the book for you! I was hooked from the first page of book 1. I just finished book 2 this week (which is why I have been staying up way too late - its hard to put down!!), and I purchased book 3 yesterday. Though I need to read my book for the women's church group first (more on that at another time). For some reason, the books are super cheap on Amazon - like $3.99 or so each. I can totally see this series becoming a movie series, and if that happens I will be all over it, haha.

this was from 2008 - I used this pic as my entry for the RTF competition

5. Finally, an important part of this week for me was the Rock the Frock competition. Just Becca Photography hosts this competition every year. Its for any woman who can still fit into her wedding dress (whether she's still married or not). Its basically a chance for you to wear your wedding dress again! Since I am still in love with my wedding dress, I am all for anything that lets me put it on again. The contestants campaign for votes (which is done online and is free), and the three women with the most votes become the finalists. Those three get a free photo session in their wedding dress. You can do anything you want in your session. Some girls have done a trash the dress session before, some stick with more traditional stuff, really whatever you can dream up Becca can make happen. My dream was to get a picture of me galloping in a field on my horse. I did use Sunshine in my bridal portraits, and I did sit on her, but we were all so worried that I'd ruin my dress that I couldn't relax and get exactly what I wanted (though I was very pleased with my pictures, and still love them). Anyway, after the three photo sessions, a panel of judges will select the winner, who gets to appear on the cover of Down Home Magazine, which is a local magazine. There's a story on each of the finalists inside the magazine, but the main focus is on the overall winner. The winner also receives other smaller prizes.

I entered Rock the Frock last year and did pretty well. I don't know what place I ended up in, but until the last day I was staying in the top 5. My cousin ended up winning last year and her pictures were absolutely breathtaking. This year I decided to try again. Next year I might not fit into my dress, who knows! Well, the contest started at 6pm last Friday and ended at midnight Monday. I campaigned hard! I was so overwhelmed by the amount of support I had. People for campaigning for me and every day someone had a facebook status about me. It was so heartwarming. I stayed consistently in the top 5 every day (Becca did updates twice a day). Unfortunately, I didn't win. I finished FOURTH! So close! I couldn't even be upset though, because of all the nice things people were saying about me. I updated my facebook status to show my appreciation for everyone's support, and people were commenting on how I was the winner in their eyes and all this nice stuff. Almost brought tears to my eyes, and I am not a crier!

What was really amazing happened the next day. Becca e-mailed me and said that someone contacted her and said that I really deserved to win the competition, so they were paying for me to have my own Rock the Frock session! I was shocked and so grateful. It was my best friend and her husband, who live in England right now (he's in the air force). I couldn't believe someone would want to do that for me. I'm still kinda in shock about it. So, sometime soon I'll have a photo session in my wedding dress! I'll get my dream of having my picture taken in my dress on my horse. I am SO excited!!


So that's my exciting week in a nutshell. I am linking up with Lauren at from my grey desk blog. Welcome to any new readers that come over from Lauren's! ( :