We're similar, yo

First of all, thank you to every single one of you on your comments from yesterday's post. You all really know how to make a girl feel loved! Dane and I read every single one, because we are THAT couple. But really, it means more to us than you could possibly know. Thank you from the bottom of my broken heart. I couldn't possibly dream of kicking off this holiday weekend on a sad note, so that's why I brought Hallie over today. She's the cat's pajamas and I think you'll like her, too :)
TAKE IT AWAY GIRLFRANNNN!

Heyyyyyy Gridiron Lipstick readers, My name is Hallie and I blog over at my little spot I like to call Life:Oceanside.

I would assume you are reading this because you are a avid G. Lipstick junkie like myself! I just absolutely adore Ms. Kait, and I am so honored to be one of her sponsors this month!

The way I really connect with other bloggers is when I can relate to them, and from the moment I started reading Gridiron Lipstick I knew exactly why I love reading it, Kait and I are total twinsies!

We are two, overly obsessive (do you blame us?) dog mommas to these two lovely ladies!

Ms. Kait is in the midst of planning her beautiful dream wedding to the man of her dreams, while I just recently married mine!  

Anyone else excited to see how gorgeous of a bride she is going to be!?

and we both live crazy busy lives doing all the things we love, soo of course we take some time for ourselves here and there to enjoy a little coffee, and pose for gorgeous selfies.

Thank you Kait for allowing me to introduce myself, and thanks to all her readers for allowing me to take over your favorite reading space! Come on over and say Hi, and let me know you are vising from GL! 

A heavy heart

After yesterday's blog post, I realized I had been so caught up in my life that I completely fanned the shot on my blog. I was so excited and so eager to share our photos with you all after so many had said they wanted to see them after a post a few weeks ago that I logged on this morning and my heart hung low in my chest once again. I had forgotten about that scheduled post.

On Monday, I talked about how my weekend was full of pits and peaks. I only talked about the peaks, because I think part of me wanted to change the pits so badly that I figured if I didn't write about them--they weren't true. If I didn't ink them on the internet--it didn't happen. But it did. And I think I'm finally ready to talk about it.

Dane and I cancelled our wedding.

Before you start getting upset (believe me, I am, too!), it's not because we are no longer together. For reasons beyond our control, Dane will not be in the U.S. on our chosen wedding day. For his safety (and yours, too!), I'm not going to go into great detail on this, but I use the word cancelled because we don't have a new date and we don't know when we will.

Now, this is not a pity party post. It's not a "woe is me" post, either. It's a "this blog serves as an online journal and sometime down the road I'm going to want to remember all these raw feelings" post. And so here it is. My upset, angry, frustrated and heartbroken journal entry.

I've been talking to a lot of people in the past couple days (in between meeting with 2.456 million wedding vendors) and I've gotten a lot of perspective. Perspective I never wanted to get, but perspective nonetheless, and within my heavy heart resides a sector of gratitude for all of the love I've been getting. Beside that sector is the love and respect I have for Dane, the most amazing man, who I am truly blessed to have in my life.

The most important part in all of this for me has been recognizing that in the midst of what we both can only sum up as a wedding nightmare, I realized that there's no other person I'd rather go through any of it with and I still want to spend forever and day with Dane--regardless of whether we have a piece of paper that says so or not.

It's good we like adventures, because there's always a silver lining in a dark storm cloud, and we are so desperate to find it these days. I am so happy I get to spend this Memorial Day weekend with my better half in Hawaii; there's no place I'd rather be.

Wedding Wednesday

I can't believe there's less than a year until the wedding--it's both overwhelming and freeing. Less than a year to save, but also..WOW, I STILL HAVE A YEAR! I know, I know, it's going to fly by. For now, I'm savoring this fun little time period where we're engaged. And last week when I posted that engagement photo teaser, I was blown away by all your sweet comments! Most of you said you wanted more! I did blog about them once before here, but what the people want, the people get! Plus, I shamelessly really enjoy reliving this day--we had so much fun! And now that we have our full CD of photos, the wedding website will be making it's debut any time now ;)

 

All photos thanks to Capture Photography

Let them eat cake!

Raise your hand if you don't like cake. Now use that same raised hand and point to the door. Bye!

Just kidding, but really, who doesn't like cake? Maybe it's just me and my major sweet tooth, but cake is something I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. I feel very similarly about all types of sweets, if we're being honest.

I know what you're all thinking, "how much cake is she really eating if she's gluten intolerant?"

The answer is usually not a lot, which is heartbreaking to say the very least.

You can imagine my extreme excitement when I found Conscious Cakes, an Etsy shop that sells vegan, gluten-free cakes that are..wait for it...still delicious in every way. 

I'm such a sucker for cute packaging. I have to admit, I was a little afraid my cakes would arrive smashed to bits, because I knew they would be in tiny mason jars. Not to worry, they were 100% protected and still looked cute to boot!

I know, you're just as shocked as I was. BUT REALLY. I'm picky when it comes to cake and I thoroughly enjoyed these. It's hard to find gluten-free baked goods that still taste like the favorites I used to know and love (and eat regularly). These babies are still moist and chock full of flavor. Win Win! The icing comes on the side, so you're able to use it when you're eating it and it's not already on there sucking out of the cake's moisture.

Of the above flavors, Red Velvet was my absolute favorite. That is probably the type of cake I miss the most  and I'm nothing short of over-the-moon to find something that replicates the taste without making me sick.

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I've seen a lot of bloggers posting about living gluten-free recently (which I kind of love--more people to relate to!), but I know there are still plenty who live gluten-free because they have to! Because Conscious Cakes is incredibly aware of the demand for delicious vegan and gluten-free baked goods, they are offering readers a 15% discount with the code KAIT15. 

Get it while the getting is good--which means HURRY UP! Or Get 'em while they're hot, which would be entirely more appropriate for fresh cake. Which flavor would be your favorite?

A roller coaster

A roller coaster. That's the only way in which this weekend can be summed up. I had so much going on, pits and peaks galore, friends. Let's focus on the peaks shall we? Because if we're going to focus on the pits, it looks something like this and that looks a lot like depression.

Friday was a beautiful day and when sunshine meets a Labrador, it's only necessary you wear sunglasses and open your new BarkBox outside. Dogs have a simple way of just making your day a smidge more happy. God bless Maddie, she's pulled me through a lot. #lablove

Sunday I had the amazing opportunity to join two very good friends and mentors of mine as they launched their very first book. It's called "Women in High Gear" and it is hands down one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. It's available on Amazon here. If you've ever dared to dream--this book is for you. If you've ever questioned your own motivation and/or career path--this book is for you. I can't say enough good things about Anne and Amy--their drive has encouraged me to do big things in my life and, if nothing else, believe in myself above everything else.

Kicking into high gear is the new "leaning in"--just sayin'!

Are you ready to kick yourself and your career into high gear?

On another exciting note, Diana, the beautiful soul behind Livy Love Designs is having a huge sale! I blogged about her prints before here, so now is the perfect opportunity to stock up on all your favorites! Enjoy 50% off when you use the code SUMMER50 today through May 27th. I mean seriously, how can you say no to this?! You can't is the answer.

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For the record, I know I'm not a big deal on my blog, but I do love you all dearly and I cannot even begin to thank all the amazing women who I've grown to love and appreciate as close friends. I appreciate your support more than you can ever know.

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." 
Audrey Hepburn

Feeling friendly? Join me on my new Facebook page.

WHAT DEFINES YOU?

I don't post about religion on here. Mostly because I don't feel like I should have to. I go to church, you might not--it doesn't define who you are or who you aren't. It's a choice and one that every person can make for themselves. I am who I am and you are who you are. It's that simple.

That being said, I got a message in church this week that spoke to me in a way that sort of makes your heart and soul go "WOW! THANKS FOR THAT! Was that you talking directly to me?!"

I also think that it's a message that can be applied directly to all of our lives, something that makes us stop and think. Also, it has nothing to do with church, Jesus, or the Bible. So, if you're getting ready to click the 'X', I swear, you can keep reading!

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Who Tells You Who You Are?

You know, like, who has the right to tell you who or what you are? At first when you hear this, you think oh, don't be silly, of course, it's I who says who or what I am.

But do you, really?

Why is it that we wear certain clothes and wonder if they look okay? Would we do this if we didn't allow public perception to bother us? Probably not. But we're humans, we do. We need affirmation sometimes.

Why is it that we are bothered when someone says something negative about us? Is it because we know it to be true? Or that we care what other people think? Probably because we care what other people think.

I know, I know, enough with the philosophical questions. But seriously stopping to think about these opened my eyes. In this society, such an emphasis is placed upon what other people may or may not think. From subtle things like "Oh, I'm not going to have XYZ food at my party, because so-and-so will think it's weird." to larger, more pronounced things like "I want to stay home and raise my kids instead of working a job even though I have a degree, because it's what's best for my family right now."

The bottom line is that people are judgmental by nature and pleasing every single person is never going to happen.  Why should we follow constraints put on ourselves by someone other than us? It's not fair. We should all feel confident and comfortable enough in our own decisions to stand by them wholeheartedly and not cower in the face of society.

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But what happens when the "face of society" is a friend? A relative? Someone close to you making you feel like your decisions are not worthy? You stand up to them. Explain your reasoning and let it go, because those people have no rhyme or reasoning behind their statements than their own insecurities and personal battles.

I know this is sometimes easier said than done, but I think a good reminder from time to time is all it takes.

Are you rough and dirty?

Your skin, that is...

If your interest is at all piqued, read on.

I don't know about you, but no matter what the season is, I suffer from dry skin all over. My face, my hands, my legs...ALL DRY! I love The Body Shop's Shea Sugar Body Scrub, but money isn't growing on trees at my house right now. Something about them not being in season...

The other issue with body scrubs from the store is that they are sometimes filled with things like gluten--which is not for me. More on that here.

I kept seeing all these DIY body scrubs all over Pinterest and all of them called for olive oil. Every. Single. One. And maybe it's just me, but good olive oil is meant for cooking, not for body lubing.

So onward I went.

Last weekend my mom and I were hanging out and she was telling me about this recipe she saw that called for coconut oil, lime zest, and sugar. I kind of felt like I had won the sugar scrub lottery. So, I did what any rational person would do, which is drive to Christmas Tree Shops and buy as many mason jars as I could for cute packaging. Because seriously...

EVERYONE KNOWS A GOOD PINTEREST CRAFT IS ALL ABOUT THE PRESENTATION.

Am I right, or am I right?

Original Pin:

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My creation:

Are you dying to make your own yet?

You will need:

Zest from 1 lime (which also requires owning a lime zester)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar (I used organic cane sugar, because I like the bigger granules for more exfoliating)
Optional: lime or coconut flavoring oils (this was not optional for me--it was mandatory. I want to smell good, too!)

Pour it all into a bowl, mix well, and distribute evenly into jars. Find your fanciest Sharpie, write out the labels, and voila! Not only will your friends be impressed, their bodies will be as smooth as butter. Body butter. Ba-dum-bum.

Linking up with Steph and Katie for Saw it! Pinned It! Did It!