I said yes...

To the dress. Finally! :) 

After months of shopping and trying on upwards of 50 dresses in 4 different cities and 444 pictures (no exaggeration) in my wedding dress album that aren't the one, I finally said 'yes' to the dress!

My advice:

1. Research. Research dresses. Research places to shop. Take your research with you. I did a lot of research, but I have a habit of being like, "oh, that's pretty-let's pin it." and it doesn't help me at all! Haha if you're good at decision making, then dress research is helpful. ;)  To find places to shop-my research simply consisted of googling wedding boutiques in Austin, TX. Tons of options. :)

2. Set your budget before you go anywhere. I did not and fell in almost love with a $3300 dress (the first one I tried on)-no thank you.

3. Don't let someone talk you into or out of something. I'm speaking of salespeople. Some people have this problem with extra opinionated friends/family. I can't even begin to tell you (so I'll show you further down) some of things people tried to talk me into. 😳

4. It's okay to change your mind. As long as you do so within 6-8 months before your wedding. Some designers take longer than others, but you don't want to end up in a situation where you have to rush order your dress.

5. Take someone with you. Most places I only had one or two people with me, which I found to be great! It's easier to figure out what you want with fewer opinions in the moment. That's not to say every dress contender that I tried on wasn't then sent to at least 10 people. Once I finally more or less decided on the dress, that's when I texted all of my bridesmaids, moh ;), and mom to see if they could come in and say 'yes' with me! 

6. Last one, take lots of pictures. You'll probably change your mind on what you want/what you like-at least that's what I did! :) 

Thank you Julie, Lindsay, Sarah, Kara, Becca, Brookie, Hopi and Mom for being my shopping buddies over the past few months!! 😚 I'm so blessed to have each of you in my life! 

Thank you to all of my bridesmaids for responding to all of my group texts about dresses. Thank Jesus that's over huh? 😉

Last, but not least, thank you, thank you, thank you to my sweet momma, moh-Hopi and 5 of my sweet bridesmaids, Heather, Lindsay, Julie, Becca and Shanna who were able to be with me today as I finally said, "yes!!" to the dress.  Y'all sure know how to make this girl feel so special. Love y'all so much!

Now to the good stuff. 

Location: Blush Bridal 

This dress had my heart for months. My brain would not let me do it. :)

I would then send them to my sister and she would make picstitches so I could compare them! lol :) These were my top two for the longest time!

Location: Belle Saison

 

Lindsay and me!

Location: Unbridaled 

Sarah and me! 

Location: Signature Bridal 

Becca and me! :)

Location: Alfred Angelo 

Location: Serendipity Bridal 

Brookie and me!

At this point in shopping, I decided I wanted to change everything. :) Lindsay and Kara joined me for Round 2. 

Location: Belle Saison 

Location: Alexia Gavela Bridal

My new friend Kara! She's been quite the helper on this wedding dress adventure! 

Then, on Wednesday, I scheduled three appointments. Cloud 9, Second Summer Bride and Signature Bridal for the third time! 

Location: Cloud 9

Location: Second Summer Bride

Location: Signature Bridal

Finally, to where I said yes! First we had lunch at Panera. :)

Then, we headed to Georgetown! I had narrowed it down to my top 2! This was #2. :)

Would it be weird to frame this picture? Lol :) so happy my momma and Hopi came to help me move-it resulted in fitting in this dress adventure. :) couldn't/wouldn't have done it without them.

I can't imagine my life without my Hopi. 

So precious! :)

My sweet Shanna had this made for me a while back, but I changed my wedding date on her so she had to order the seven, but it worked out perfect because she got to give it me today!!! I love it!! Thank you Shanna Banana! 

Now, here I am in my dress.

;) 

Thanks for sticking with me! :) I can't wait to wear my pretty dress down the aisle to my Russell. :)

-Amanda

Save The Dates

As all of you know, I can complicate the simplest decision. If you've ever been with me when the time came to buy shampoo or body wash or cereal for that matter, you know this is the God's honest truth.

I finally made it back from my Texas travels and decided to get busy on wedding things! By get busy on wedding things, I mean make Save the Dates! To my credit, I have gone back through emails I sent when I was super wedding motivated a few months ago to see what I had discussed with caterers, wedding coordinators and cake designers! :) Also, according to my knot.com app, I am behind on 17 things, no one is surprised by this. Most of these things are "look up" and "save photos" of various wedding things also in my defense. ;)

On to Save the Dates, here's my advice.

1. Research-I looked at Etsy, Wedding Paper Divas , Shutterfly and Mixbook for my options. I narrowed it down to Wedding Paper Divas (WPD) (http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/) and Mixbook (http://www.mixbook.com/), both of which have SO SO many amazing options.

2. Set a price and stick to it-I said that I wouldn't pay more than $1 for each Save the Date from the beginning. My Save the Dates were 75 cents each.

3. Google coupons/discounts-I wanted to make sure I was getting the best value. I usually don't this, but I've started being a way more conscientious of money lately, and man, am I glad I did! I found 30 % ($81) off for the one I made on Mixbook and 20% off ($31) the one I made on WPD. After many texts of screenshot Save the Dates with a few of my bridesmaids/maid of honor, I. HAVE. DECIDED. Miracle I know. Let's be honest, they decided and I agreed! I decided to go with a post card from WPD. :) I still love the ones I made on Mixbook; sometimes you just have to choose.


Here are my favorites!

Choosing which pictures to use was much harder than choosing the style of the Save the Date I wanted. :) We are so blessed to have so many options! Thank you Jenni @ jennirobertsphotography.com for all of the lovely engagement pictures to choose from!

Next week, I will block hotel rooms, do tastings for cake and catering, and say yes to a dress. I'll see yall then! ***I put this here to hold myself accountable ;)***

-Amanda

"Good friends are...

hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget."

This quote sums up the friendships I've made at Forest North. I can't even put into words how amazingly blessed I've been the last two years and will continue to be by the amazing people at FNE. This week has brought with it tears of joy and sadness, lots of laughter and happiness, and great memories that I will always cherish! 

First, I'll share memories from this week! 

Here's my last load of classroom things. It's funny because it literally took me three hours to do what should've taken like 45 minutes! Naturally, I had to talk to Amy for a bit, couldn't find the people I needed when I tried to find them and had to hug and cry with everyone I saw. Then, when I thought I was almost done, MaryLou reminded me about my student pass that I forgot to bring in the building-anyone in a portable knows the struggle of having to go back outside once you're inside the building! We joked that it was a sign that I shouldn't leave! 

So grateful for this lady! :)

I am beyond blessed to have been in RRISD for my first two years. It is an amazing district and I have learned so so much and have had access to so many opportunities and resources. I will take with me all of that knowledge into my next adventure. 

Thank you FNE for everything, from the bottom of my heart. I feel like a lot of teachers start out at places that aren't doing what's best practice and I've had the opportunity to see what real teaching and learning should look like. Thank you for being my example and adding to my philosophy of teaching. I'm going to miss you all so much! 

I got this sweet goodbye gift from Monti who will be in my life forever!

Here's my sweet goodbye gift from social committee/FNE! 

These sweet notes will always be special to me!

I'm going to end this post with a quote that on the back of my sweet gift from Monti. It's so fitting. 

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

 -A.A. Milne

Thanks for checking it out! 

-Amanda :) 

Contracts, Contracts, Contracts

Those of you who know me really well know that I can make and unmake decisions every other day if someone doesn't stop me!

Russell and I have officially committed to a venue and an apartment-contracts signed!! I've also signed my contract with Lake Travis ISD. It's been quite the last few weeks! Two of the three contracts were done all in one day!! 

1. Venue

The bridal suite! 😍

The reception space 

Groom'a Suite 

I cannot wait to take pictures on the bell tower!

2. Apartment

Like any decision I make, lots of thought gets put into it! :) We looked at nine or ten apartments over the last two months! This week, I was like we need to decide now. So, we did! We'll be living at 

We are beyond excited! On an even more positive note it's at the Shops at the Galleria!! That could be really dangerous.

3. Lake Travis ISD

I had an appointment with HR this week to sign my contract and do benefits! It was quite surreal. :) Naturally, I asked Theresa to snap a few pics! 

 

As everyone knows, I am extra blue (emotional), I've had multiple moments of, "This apartment is where my RSVPs will come to," and "My last name will change while I live here!!! OMG!" and "This will be the school I'm at will I marry my best 

friend." Insane. 

I am blessed beyond measure. 

-Amanda :)