Bee boppin'.

Due to my recent travels around the Southeast, I haven't been a very committed Blogger. For this, I am sorry. I promise to give you the highlights of the last week and a half... the snapshots of my recent bee boppin' around.

I begin here with the 2 main events from my last week in Baton Rouge before I left to bee bop. First, these two tied the knot...

There was the rehearsal dinner...

Here I am telling Katie that God's gift to brides is no swollen eyes, even through lots of tears...

Sweet boys...

The after party ended with Brian playing and singing "I Can Be Your Hero." That's right, the boy sang Enrique. I have a recording, and will try to post it on Facebook. When Enrique comes out, you know it's been a successful night.

Then there was the wedding...

Quite the successful celebration...

My trip to BR ended with crawfish by the pool at Neal's. It was such a fun day and night.

Some things never change...

...and I'm so glad.

Rachel

86.

86 daaayyyyysssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss......

Until I get to marry this sweet thing...

Yayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom once wrote in a letter, "Isn't God precious? How much He loves me, and how perfectly." It's sad and hard planning a wedding without my mother. It just is. But the beautiful part is that I have felt the truth of God's perfect love more in the past 4 months than maybe ever in my life.

So here's a much needed recap of our engagement thus far...

First, there was The Proposal. And it was the most perfect thing in the world. I've always wanted to be totally and completely surprised, but I've always had this fear that it would be cheesy. And ever since my mom passed away, I have wanted my friends to be apart of my engagement night. On January 6th, I went to dinner with the only 2 of my friends in town for Winter Session. Brian was standing in the parking lot outside the Chi O house when I got home, where he got on one knee to propose. Surprise puts it mildly.

He also had 18 of my friends in town waiting to surprise me with champagne.

It was perfect.

Here were the sweet girls waiting on me...

Here is the joy they saw...

Mary Glenn and Marilyn couldn't be there, but squealing over the phone was so much fun.

Happiness.

Love.

Pure Joy.

Celebration.

Then, there was the search for the dress!!!! It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Ever.

Here we are on our way to Jackson where we found it!!!!

Save-The-Dates went out...

I went to register with Amy...

April 24th was my engagement party in Tupelo.

I walked into the party and I was so touched by all the sweet faces I saw. I was reminded of what a sweet community I am from. Tupelo was the greatest place in the world to grow up. When I'm there, I remember how loved and embraced and cared about I am.

The party was absolutely beautiful. The flowers, the Long's house, the weather- all so beautiful. There was a 90% chance of rain; I think my mother had something to do with the sunshine that came out instead. The toast that Dr. Fred gave was one of the most embarrassing, yet one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. The whole party was wonderful! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy having fun! Here are a few snapshots that people got from the party and the after party at Betsy's!

Pics with the Donalds...

Daddy.

Tupelo's Finest at the afterparty...

Wendy's run? Duh.

Meresy.

Love this face...

And this one...

We had the best time!

Today, Mrs. Diana and Randi came with me to my fitting in Jackson because my DRESS CAME IN!!!!!! It was so much fun putting on the actual dress I'm going to wear on August 14th. It was even prettier than I remembered. I love so much that Randi and Dee Dee got to be apart of today. It was so special having them there. The lady at The Bridal Path suggested I try on this beautiful bracelet with my dress. I didn't expect to like it at all, but it turns out that I LOVED it. It just made the whole outfit! Sweet Dee Dee bought and gave the bracelet to me. I will so love wearing her special gift on our special day and thinking of what a sweet presence she is in my life.

These highlights, plus a lotttt of time with The Wedding Bag, my cell phone, and my MyAgenda should give you a pretty good idea of the Engagement activities thus far! Get ready for exciting updates really soon... after all, we only have 86 days!!!!!!

Rachel

Breakthrough.

Let's face it. Graduating broke my heart. As Ainsley described so well, all of our excitement for the next stage of our lives was masked by a deep sadness for all we were leaving behind. And it broke my heart. I rode around Baton Rouge wondering when I would feel better. I cried at the drop of a hat. Brian has been working from 3 to 11 everyday, so I have had too much alone time for a broken-hearted girl. Last Monday night, I got lost trying to take Brian dinner. I called to tell him where I was and he asked, "How did you end up there?" And I promptly burst into tears and replied, "I'm a small-town girl riding around at night in a big city alone!! That's how!!" Honestly.

Then Tuesday afternoon came, and I had The Breakthrough. I went to Jamie's to spend the afternoon, and seeing her instantly made me feel a little better. I was reminded of the sweet people who will make up my new life here in the BR. She gave me a Diet Coke and I almost started to cry. It was like this magic Diet Coke. We went outside and sat and talked all afternoon, and I broke through. I was finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was just so familiar in such a good way- sitting and talking with a friend over Diet Coke.

AAAAnnnnndddddd guess who left Jamie's and navigated all the way to the sushi place without getting lost or crying?? ME! I made it all the way to Brian at work with hot sushi because I didn't waste anytime having to turn around! We sat outside and enjoyed our sushi and I was a new person.

On Wednesday, Brian and I went to Jamie's to sit by the pool. Guess what she had waiting?

Yep... a case of Diet Cokes, my favorite candy, bridal magazines, and a precious letter about her excitement that I'm moving to Baton Rouge. So even after B went off to work, the sun shown bright as two brides-to-be laid by the pool, ate Sour Patch watermelons, read bridal mags, and sipped on DC's.

Friends came over that night, and Jamie made spaghetti. We ate and watched Modern Family and just had so much fun. Then only Jamie, Whitney, and I remained. We talked and talked and then went out for yogurt. It was perfect. Even without Brian around, I have friends here... and the really good and sweet kind that make me feel so loved.

I still miss my sweet girls deeply, but how I am loving our funny and frequent texts that update each other on the ins and outs of our daily lives! Here's to keeping glued to one another via technology and to midnight drives across the country because someone needs someone. We'll do what we have to do to stay close. We just will. Amy was alone and sad on her birthday, so Anna jumped in the car and drove to surprise her. It's stuff like that... driving to surprise a sad one, talking through my pitifulness over a cold Diet Coke... that let me know we're going to be okay. And we're going to be close.

I had The Breakthrough.

And I will figure out how to navigate my way around this city.

Even though I will always be a Mississippi girl, and you will always be able to tell.

Rachel

Ames.

Today is Amy's birthday. I have lived with Amy for 3 years now, and yesterday we moved out of each other's room for good. I don't think I have fully grasped what that means yet...

We've shared an apartment, a house, a room, movies, clothes, shoes, scripture verses, laughter, tears, and the pain of losing a parent. We've shared our hearts. I don't know what my life was like before her.

Amy is strong. She is strong for herself and she is strong for her friends. When I need to be weak, I know Amy will be strong for me.

Amy is so bright and has incredible things coming her way as all her hard work is finally paying off. Amy has made exceptional grades throughout college and got into top masters programs. She is headed off to Denton, Texas to get her masters in behavior analysis so that she can love on and change the lives of children with autism. I am so proud of her and cannot wait to visit her new life in Texas.

Amy and I are alike in all the ways that matter. We love deep spiritual conversations while we lie in bed at night, and God has loved me and taught me so much through her. We also love lots of the same shallow things that make living together so much fun. We love (at the moment) falling asleep watching movies, MBT's, any kind of gummy candy, hairspray, wedges, making our beds, black tights, going to bed early, skinny jeans, online shopping.... We have our differences- Amy stays up to watch the movie while I fall asleep, Amy's hot at night when I'm at the right temperature, Amy remembers to do her homework while I often forget, Amy holds fast to lip gloss the way I hold to eye liner, Amy perpetually sleeps through her alarm while her alarm always wake me up, Amy would rather watch Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead orTroop Beverly Hills over any other movie in the entire world, and I haven't watched either since the 90's. Living together has been a blast.

Here are glimpses of our life together...

This is our dresser. I believe our entire world could be summed up in our dresser.

Here's my side and hers...

Here's a close-up of the verse on our mirror from James that got us through the uncertainty of senior year...

Here are our thesis announcements from the Daily Mississippian...

Here is our all time favorite movie to watch while we go to sleep. We know every word.

Here is what our beds looked like...

And our table...

Happy Birthday Ames! I love you a lot. I will miss your sneaks on my floor.

Rachel