Just a Day in the Life of a Mom with Twins

I asked my girls if they would be my bridesmaids shortly after I got engaged. Looking back on it now, after going through all my wedding planner training and helping out other brides during their special planning time I would have definitely done this differently for my girls. I would have given them a cute box with a bridemaid related book instead with some sparking juice and something cute that went along with our colors and wedding theme. But alas that did not happen. Of course I think of all the great ideas AFTER I get married....Oh well I can help out other brides in this area, right? So I asked all my girls, called them if I didn't see them face to face and asked if they would honor me by standing next to me as I say my vows. Everyone said yes! :)  At our rehearsal we gave our bridal party their thank you gifts. We both made bags of goodies for them. The great thing about working at a beauty company is that we get tons of stuff for free. I have bags and bags of it. So I bro...

Our Story - How We Met Late one night in 2010 I had heard enough about this Eric guy from one of my friends. "Who is this guy?" I finally asked and my friend gave me Eric's number. We exchanged texts for a few months until the end of July when I was working at the ULTA out in Orland Park, a few blocks down from where Eric worked at Advance Auto. We agreed to finally meet in person and while nothing earth shattering happened that day, I had a feeling this guy would be a part of my life, I just didn't know how big... Eric and I continued to hang out and get to know each other, but Eric had made it very clear, "I don't want a girlfriend. I'm not looking for a girlfriend. I just want to be friends." And that was fine with me! Imagine my surprise on November 6 when Eric said "I'd like to see where this goes, do you want to be my girlfriend?" While I never expected him to ask me that, I was glad he did because I had started to develo...

I just wanted to answer a few questions after our first year of marriage. Also, I want to get a new series going called Wedding Bliss Blogs - Basically talk about everything that had to do with our wedding, our engagement period, how to prepare for vendor meetings, DYIs, hacks, money saving tips, etc. So I'm really excited about that but let's get started with these questions. When do you feel like you were ready to get married? I was ready around the 2 year mark of our relationship. I knew this was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He was my best friend. He says he knew he wanted to marry me when I said we would do whatever it takes to get him through the $50k surgery he needed to have. It clicked for him in that moment that he just knew I was the one for him. Money wasn't an issue - I cared more about him and his health.  How long was your engagement? We were engaged for one year. We got engaged on May 2, 2014 and our wedding was May 15, 2015....

I thought it would be fun to share some of my fast hair growing tips. Keep in mind that this is just what works for me & my hair and other stylist may have better & different tips for your hair type. My hair also grows extremely fast naturally but I notice a difference when I apply these tips verses when I don't. Let's get started. Tip #1: Do not wash your hair every day.   When you are washing your hair make sure you are washing it twice. The first round of shampoo cleans the product build up on your hair the second washing gets the scalp cleaned. When your hair gets oily it's mainly on the scalp and if you're washing your hair only once with shampoo in the shower you're not getting that oil build up off of your scalp. So make sure you are washing your hair twice when you do wash it and you'll get a cleaner feel any way so you wont HAVE to wash it every day. There are a few products you can use to help you out in this area. You can get a cleansi...

If you're like me you're probably extremely busy with life. I wake up at 4:45am go to the gym. 7:30a - 5:30p Work. 6pm Dinner. Run Errands. Spend time with my hubby and before I know it it's time to get ready for bed.  I used to read my bible daily and now I'm sorry to say that has fallen to the way side. This year I made a new year resolution that I was going to start reading again. An easy way for me to start doing this is I bought a little devotional book called The Bible in 366 Days For Women.  It covers a variety of topics from peace and love to the awesomeness of God. Each day starts out with a small devotion at the top and then Bible verses to follow and support the text. Each daily reading is only a page so it doesn't take very long to read it.  I wouldn't suggest this be your only form of Bible reading but it definitely helped me get back on track. It my get tiresome to hear this but it's so true, be in God's word every day and pray! You...

One question I get often as a Wedding Planner is "What is in my Emergency Bridal Kit?" As a built in service for my brides I provide them an Emergency Bridal Kit on the day of their wedding. This kit includes personal care products, first aid, pain relievers, tools - anything you think you MIGHT need on the day of the wedding. These kits are custom made for each bride as no wedding is ever truly the same but most kits have a common core list of items. Because I have a wedding today I thought it would be a great idea to show you what's in Today's Bride's Emergency Kit.  Tools: Pliers Wire Cutters Measuring Tape Screw Drivers of various sizes (Flat Head & Phillips) Hammer  &/or Mallet It's amazing how many times you can say "I wish I had a screw driver or tape measure with me for this..." It's better to just be prepared because you never know what you'll be called to do or what will need some fixing. Personal...

Disclaimer - If you don't like ghost stories, unexplained stories, paranormal, haunted, spiritual etc. stories, I would go ahead and skip this post. Paranormal stories, story times, vlogs and cllabs are popping up like crazy on social media, especially on YouTube. Seems like the good ol' ghost stories are back. I would say I'm a typical person who enjoys a truly thrilling ghost story but then immediately regrets hearing them the minute the sun goes down. I grew up reading the Scary Stories to Tell in the dark series and watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark" on the TV just like a lot of kids who grew up in the 80s and 90s and to this day I still love talking about the unexplained. My husband on the other hand will not have anything to do with these types of stories and let's be honest he's probably the smartest person out there for not wanting to get involved. But needless to say because he doesn't want to hear my stories I've got to tell som...