wedding stationery & a beautiful video

I know what you are thinking. But y'all.

She is so breathtaking.

And this is so beautiful and romantic and this just makes me even more excited to marry M.

Speaking of marrying M.

I haven't posted anything about our wedding plans because well, we haven't decided on a date yet because we are the ones footing the bill for the entire wedding and we don't want to set a date and then not have enough money to follow through with it all.

Let's just say, we are covering our bases.

But...we have started throwing out ideas about what we want, don't want, etc.

I thought I had everything planned out before M purposed, but when it actually happened, I wanted only half of what I originally wanted. So...back to the drawing board I went. And then WE went.


I sent in for some samples of save the date cards/magnets and some invitations and that's when M got really involved and finally gave me his voice. I am so over the moon about him wanting to really be a part of the whole wedding process. A lot of brides will say, "this is my day so I'm gonna do whatever I want" but in reality, it's BOTH the bride and groom's day and I'm happy to be on this journey together.

Here are some of the save the date/invitations that M and I like:

There are soooooo many options out there and these are just the ones that we received in the mail in sample form. And I know that we have a weird combo of whimsical, rustic and vintage, but we still have time.

I will probably find something I love even more than these. After all, I am always looking. 

Which ones do you like?

she tied it up

If there is one thing you should know about me, it's that I absolutely LOVE Kelly Clarkson. Her music pulled me together through such a rough patch in my teenage angst years and even got me through my break-up with my high school boyfriend.

I feel like Kelly and I would be best friends if she knew I even existed. I have only seen her in concert twice, from a distance, but she has the most energetic, bubbly, kind hearted and funny personality. Her heart is so huge and I love how humble she is. I think we are truly the same person. I know, I'm crazy.

Y'all just have no idea how much her and her music has changed me, influenced me and moved me.

So, in case you haven't heard....

SHE TIED IT UP...

and look how STUNNING she looks!!!

She totally deserves true happiness, as we all do. And as odd as it sounds, I am so over the moon for her!

So, Kelly, even though you don't know I exist, I am truly happy for you and I will never stop being your biggest supporter and fan!!!

what the what & some hashtags

So clearly I didn't meet my "i'm-gonna-blog-the-whole-month-of-October" goal, but there are things.

Things like a trip to the ER, not for me, but for M. He is okay.

Insomnia.

Dishes. Lots of dirty dishes.

Weird work hours.

Netflix. It steals my life. Is this what happens when you deprive yourself of cable?

Etc. Etc.

Also, let's take a minute to talk about my observations from the last couple of days.

(And I wish I had sly picture taking skills to go along so that you get the full effect, but I haven't perfected that...yet.)

- A lady at Kroger in the bakery section shoving a donut in her mouth while looking for another one. #shesnotgonnapayforthat

- A lady walking down the street in the ghetto with five kids in 45 degree weather, two of them not wearing shirts or shoes, two more of them wearing Eskimo jackets with shorts and flip flops and the other one, well, he was dressed appropriately and the one thing they all had in common: they were each walking a pit bull. #putsomeclothesonyourkids

(I love pit bulls. That wasn't the problem I had with this scenario.)

- A man using a squeegee on his windows this morning. In the rain. I haven't quite figured out if he is a genius or just ridiculous. #whatsthesqueegeerage

- A full grown women yelling "it's their freedom of speech" when hearing about the 12 and 14 year old girls who bullied a girl so bad that she ended up killing herself. #areyoufreakingkiddingme #atnopointisbullyingokay

- Co-workers blaring not so enjoyable music too early in the morning. #ishouldntbeabletohearit

- A girl doing a sobriety test. On a main road. In front of a busy fast food restaurant. Before 6:30pm. #shefailed #stayofftheroad #dontdrinkanddrive

I'm not judging any of these people (except the lady who is apparently all FOR bullying and the girl who was drunk driving), but I just can't wrap my head around the actions of some people or why people do the things they do. Whatever happened to intelligence, common sense and respect?

Thank you sweet baby Jesus that it's almost Friday.

Can I get a hallelujah and an amen?

giveaway winner & random thoughts

Thanks to those that have entered the TruMoo giveaway. Thanks to random.org, we have a winner of the five coupons.

True Random Number GeneratorResult:2Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Congratulations to candykitn. Please email me at jessica.brunk at gmail dot com with your address so that I can get the coupons out to you. And, because there were only four people who left comments, each one of you will be receiving a coupon so please email me to receive your coupon.
In other news, I've found Long Island Medium on Netflix. Enough said. And I want to meet with Theresa. 
I read somewhere the scrunchies may be coming back. Please don't, just don't. And if they do, I guess I'll be the one out of style and I'm okay with that. 
I recently just made flyers for the fall retreats for the church camps that I staff and it was apparent that I shouldn't have been doing work things with camp things (especially late at night) because I jacked up the year and dates on the flyers. Great thing about it, it was a quick fix, but geesh.
I've never had a professional massage or a manicure or a pedicure. And I want one. And I need one even more than I want one. 
I've eaten enough pizza for an army. I'm over it. 
I need to start running again. And I need to stick with it this time around. 
I'm on level 410 of Candy Crush, which means I have a serious problem. 

last chance giveaway & an extra day

This post is coming to you a bit later than I would have liked but I wanted to give a head's up to let y'all know today is the last day to grab the TruMoo Coupons. All you have to do is leave a comment. Easy, peasy! 

This week was a long week for me at work and even in my personal life. Just. So. Much. Going. On.

So, with that said, I am going to enjoy an extremely relaxing weekend by myself since M is out of town and because Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed in the New World.

The only place that I am landing this weekend, is the bed. 

I'll post the giveaway winner tomorrow.

Even if y'all can't enjoy your weekend in bed, at least enjoy it doing whatever it is that you people do. 

eleven hours and three lunches

Let's just say I haven't been sleeping very well lately, but last night, last night I slept eleven hours and I could have totally slept at least 8 more, but I woke up more refreshed this morning than I have in the last two weeks.

This morning I grabbed some leftover pizza out of the refrigerator for my lunch, put it in my lunchbag and out the door I went.

At lunchtime, I go to get my pizza out and find not one, not two but THREE lunches. I had Subway, vegetable fried rice and pizza in there (amongst the fruit snacks and granola bars).

Seriously.

I need an intervention. And perhaps a local overeaters anonymous group.

(Which I totally looked up and they were having their next meeting at a restaurant. Seriously.)

At least I can oversleep in my bed and I can't wait to do just that on Monday.

pumpkin flavored feast

I was at the grocery store the other day and I was baffled by all the pumpkin flavored things. Finally grocery stores are jumping on the pumpkin flavor band wagon and bringing all the goods to a store near you.

Pumpkin is one of my favorite fall flavors so if I could have an all pumpkin flavored feast, here is what I would want to eat and drink all day long.

Breakfast:

with...

 and a...

 with...

or

Mid-Morning Snack:

Lunch:

with...

and a handful of: 

and a...

Afternoon Snack:

 Dinner:

with a bowl of...

and another pint, er, bowl of:

and if I drank alcohol, I would probably be drinking this:

After dinner snack:

I haven't tried any of these products but I sure would love too.

Can you ever have enough pumpkin??

What pumpkin flavored foods would you want to try?

my weekend

This was one of the few weekends that I could actually be home all weekend. And as much stuff as I needed to get done in the apartment, I did nothing. Sometimes I just need (read: want) to relax on the weekends I am home.

And I did just that.

(Especially since I was sick all week and I haven't been sleeping very well and my workload has been quite excessive for one person to handle.)

M went to bed at 9:27pm on Friday night leaving me to hang out by myself so I turned on Netflix and enjoyed catching up on Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker. I couldn't believe it was 5:07am when I looked at the clock. Holy smokes, I have a problem.

I caught a few hours of sleep in between the coughing and hung out with M Saturday morning just lounging around.

I played Candy Crush for an embarassing amount of time and I think level 402 will be the end of me and my relationship with CeeCee.

M and I watched I (almost) Got Away With It. This show really shows how ignorant law enforcement agencies can be for letting the criminal almost get away with it, but as the title says, the criminal is just as ignorant as the law enforcement agencies because in fact, they did not get away with it. Whatever, that is.

We ran to the Krog for milk, eggs, bread and butter. We are living on the wild side here, folks.

We may or may not have picked up some fresh donuts at our local donut hole, Jim's Donuts. And they may or may not have been pumpkin, peanut butter & jelly, tigertail and a good old fashioned glazed pretzel donut. Just sayin'.

M and I lounged around, ate dinner. Watched more Netflix, I passed level 402 and 403. Then, we went to bed.

(Until I woke up in the middle of the night and coughed every minute for an hour and a half.)

It rained a majority of the day on Sunday so we did more relaxing, more Netflix watching, errand running and candy crushing.

M did the dishes, I made chicken fried rice for dinner and we watched Lovely Bones.

I beat levels 404 thru 408. (Yes, I know that I have a problem.)

I read some blogs and hit the pillow!

Even though I did nothing spectacular, it was just what I needed to get a better.

What did you do this weekend??

tru moo: more than just the white stuff & a giveaway!

Tru Moo offers more than just white milk. In addition to their chocolate milk, they have a limited edition lowfat vanilla milk (in orange) just in time for Halloween!!

(And they have a fun spell bounding sweepstakes for you!)

Register now to win the Goosebumps Haunted Hollywood Vacation

Click the link above to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Hollywood for a terrifying behind-the-scenes tour of the FOX Studios. In addition, you will also visit old town Pasadena for a frightening special effects experience. 

You can enter codes found on caps of specially marked Halloween Edition TruMoo and your family could be taking a private tour full of Hollywood magic! 

(When you register, you will receive a printable coupon for any Goosebumps DVD.)

(And while you are there. Don't forget to sign up for savings.)

Don't have a code to enter? No problem. I'm giving one of you FIVE (5) 75 cents off coupons. All you need to do is leave me a comment and go "like" TruMoo on Facebook.

I will pick a winner by 11:59pm.on October 11. Sorry, USA residents only.



*As a BzzAgent, I was given the opportunity to try this product. All opinions are my own. 

it's raining, it's pouring

Right now, it's really rainy and stormy here and there is nothing more that I love to do on a rainy day in fall, than to snuggle up in a warm blanket with a good book or Netflix. The thing that I like least about the rain is being in it (unless I am being a kid jumping in the puddles), which got me thinking...I don't have a whole lot of rain gear. But if I did, this is what I would have.

For a more casual jacket, I would pick this North Face rain jacket. Love that blue!

For a longer rain jacket for work days, I would chose this Betsey Johnson piece. Personally, I think that pink lemonade color is great for all seasons. 

I love these Joules rain boots. I especially love navy and pink together and look how well they go together with that Betsey Johnson jacket. 

I have really muscular calves so these mid-calf Joules rain boots would be perfect if I couldn't fit a taller pair.

And if I wanted to go even shorter for those light rainy/snowy days, these short, solid color Joules rain boots are perfect!

 

I'm really bad about keeping and using umbrellas but this would be fun to Totes (see what I did there?) around and also stands as good reminder that rain makes the beautiful flowers grow. 

What are your favorite rain gear items?

if it weren't for mexico, i would be in the hospital

I have chronic asthma which means I will inevitably get bronchitis, especially when the seasons change.

Rewind to early December 2012.

M and I boarded a plane so we could board a ship to Cozumel, Ochos Rios and Grand Cayman. If you don't know anything about Mexico, let it be known that you can walk into any pharmacy and practically get whatever you need/want without a prescription. What I wanted (and needed) was an inhaler and some prednisone.

Let's rewind again. Two days before we boarded the plane that took us to the ship, I was visiting the ER because I knew my lungs weren't doing well and quite frankly, I wasn't about to give up my eight days of fun in the sun. And you better believe that I wasn't going to get stuck in some foreign country with an illness at a foreign hospital where they might speak a foreign language. No, thank you.

Fast forward to port one, day two: Cozumel, Mexico. The boat pulls into Puerto Maya, we disembark and bounce through the dufry to find a taxi that will take us to Chankanaab National Park so we can lay on the beach and ride some dolphins.

(M in the taxi)

Not knowing that boat time, my watch time and Mexico time were all different, we arrived pretty early so we had the taxi driver take us into town to explore the city a little. The city was so dirty, there are no rules about driving and I don't think the city was all that safe since our driver was constantly watching over us like he was our personal body guard. M wanted to check out the farmacias (spanish for pharmacies, y'all), to see if the rumors were true. And so we did.

We finally found one that was open and me being the asthmatic that I am, I was like a kid in a candy store. Had I known that I just needed to tell them that I wanted "prednisona" and to show them my inhaler, I would have allotted a lot more money towards medication to go home with me, but then there's customs. Oh, customs. And because I'm a scaredy cat, I only got a bottle of 100 tabletas of prednisona and two inhalers (which were in Spanish, therefore it could have said crack and I still would have used it.) Not that any of y'all care about how much I paid for my drugs, but I felt like I was stealing it, really. Here in America, you can't get this kind of loot for five hundred twenty-four...pesos (that's about forty American dollars). By the way, ONE inhaler here in 'Merica costs me approximately $62.71. You're welcome.

That brings us to present time. This whole week I have been feeling lousy. I even stayed home from work for two days and that's not typical of me. And then...then, I got hit even harder and here I am with the same junk I get in my lungs every seasonal change and I can just pop some prednisona and take a breathing treatment.

(Those Mexican inhalers are long gone and used, BTdub.)

(And that's how Mexico has saved me a trip to the hospital.)

sniff. sneeze. blow. repeat

Let me just tell you about my day.

I drove to work under the influence of Benadryl. If that's what driving drunk is like, I never want to do that again.

Sneeze. Blow nose. Sniff. Sneeze. And repeat. One million times.

And then M and I went to our relationship/pre-marital class where I sneezed, snotted, blew my nose, and sneezed another hundred times.

Allergies are the worst. I just hope that I don't have to go through this tomorrow. And if I do, then I know I'm getting my seasonal bronchitis and will be even more worse than the allergies. Wah!

I just want my bed.

So there I go.

I hope your day was much more healthier than mine.

beats

Music is a huge part of my life. It feeds me. I listen to everything (even rap), although I don't really enjoy it.

(I guess that's what happens when you work in the 'hood.)

Sometimes, it's about the beat, sometimes it's about the lyrics and then there are times when it's about both.

Check out the tunes I am diggin' right now.

Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus - I'm not really a fan of Miley (especially after her VMA performance) and this video is kind of like watching soft porn, but I really like this song. "Don't ever say I just walked away. I will always want you."

Bruno Mars' "Gorilla" - I understand this song is about sex and downright naughty and raunchy. BUT, that voice. And "bang, bang Gorilla". Wowza.

Roar by Katy Perry - I don't think I've heard a song by Katy that I hated. When I first heard this song it reminded me of one of my dear friends, Megan. At the time this song came out, she just found out that she had a brain tumor and I imagined her singing this, "I got the eye of the tiger, the fire, dancing through the fire 'cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar, louder, louder than a lion 'cause I am a champion, and you're going to hear me roar!" She did roar and took that surgery like a champion and is doing excellent!

Lorde's "Royals" - I love the beat so, so much. And her voice. Plus, I love her locks. And she's 17. Whaaat?!!?

Overcomer by Mandisa - I find myself listening to more and more Christian music and I love this song. It's so uplifting and gives me hope that we are all overcomers and can get through anything. And she is so, so pretty! How can you not love a song that tells you that you are an overcomer?!!? "You're an overcomer, stay in the fight 'til the final round, you're not going under 'cause God is holding you right now and you might be down for a moment feeling like it's hopeless that's when He reminds you that you're an overcomer."

Sail by AWOLNATION - I've never heard of this band prior to this song. I still know nothing about them, but I can feel the emotion in this song. I've never been in that deep dark place of where the emotion is coming from, but I know people who have been and are currently in that state of emotion. I would imagine that it's overwhelming and scary and all  you want to do is sail away. My hope is that this song gives people hope. SAIL!

I'm listening to everything from pop to hip hop to christian to alternative.

I'l leave you with this gem.

What are you listening too?

in honor of the fall season