Monday's Letters

Dear Friday's Letters, 

Sorry for neglecting you.
Don't be mad. 

Dear Dallas,
It's not hard to find something fun to do throughout the week, but it's a major plus when it involves lots and lots of food.

Dear Whole Foods,
Your Iron Fork event was awesome, but unfortunately all the local restaurant samples weren't all thaaaat instagrammable (which is no bueno for a blogger who has a food & instagram addiction)
All the cheese and Empire Bakery bread made up for it though.

Dear two dudes in a laundry basket,
HAH.

Dear Walking Dead,

So maybe we jumped on the train a little late, but I'm afraid to say we're hooked.

Now we just need Season 3 and apparently it doesn't exist anywhere that our skinny wallets can handle.

Aka, I'm not buying it on iTunes. 

Dear Josh,

Thanks for my crash course in contrasting flavors last week.

Mango + cayenne and sea salt, 

You win.

Honorable mention: Watermelon + pepper, chocolate ice cream + sage and olive oil, and vanilla ice cream + chili powder and cinnamon. 

Dear Mother's Day,

I'm glad you exist.

Moms deserve a lot more than one day of recognition a year though.

I'm glad we were able to celebrate with this soon to be mama as well!

How was your weekend guys?

Speak Now Link-Up {and giveaway!}

I'm so excited to join in with Ellie Coburn and her wonderful mission, Speak Now.

She has gathered tons of awesome bloggers together to host a fun link-up and a surprise giveaway!

Check out the post below to hear more about her great cause and see how you can enter to win some incredible prizes!

Ellie Coburn // elliecoburn.com | Ashly Griffith // After nine to five |  Keri-Anne Pink // Gingerlilytea | Franchesca Cox // So this is love | Kristine Foley // The Foley Fam | Lena Baird // Lena B. Actually | Emily // Dashboard Diaries | Cristine // Life with a side of Coffee | Shane Prather // Whispering Sweet Nothings | Shantel Cannon // Our Funny Little Family | Heather // Finding Beauty in the Ordinary | Ady // When in Doubt, just add Glitter | Beth Lewis // Through the eyes of the Mrs. | Brooklyn // This Little Blonde | Cassie Yielding // Live. Laugh. Love | Tamika Rybinski // No Time for Tea | Torie Jochims // Lattes and Love | Laurel Martinez // Heart of Wanderer  | Laura Williams // Lulu's Little Wonderland | Kayli // Truly Lovely | Ali Mills // Our Happily Ever After |  Jean // What Jean Likes | Hannah Stocker // All of My days with you | Jen Hallquist // Living a Listful Life | Jill Wilhelm // I know the plans I have for you | 

  Happy May Speak Now friends, both new and old! 

Today is an exciting day for Speak Now

Today, some fabulous ladies have teamed up to link up and tell you that you're beautiful. 

Speak Now is all about beauty from the inside out.

We believe in your dreams + passions. We believe in you. 

Today we want you to look in the mirror and tell yourself that you're beautiful.

Identify what makes you feel beautiful. Make this feeling an obligation in your life.

Today we are here to remind you that you can do anything.

Today and everyday, you are lovely, you are perfect, you are bold, you are unique.

Today and every day- you are beautiful!

Speak Now is a women empowerment organization 

built around the philosophy that self-love, self-respect, + self-confidence will make you beautiful.

We empower. We create. We educate. We inspire.

Link your blog up to connect with other bloggers who believe in the empowerment of women and help us spread awareness about the importance of women empowerment!

Once you link up, no community experience would be complete without a little welcome gift!  We are giving away a $100 visa gift card and any piece of beautiful jewelry from the Speak Now shop!

So link up, enter our giveaway, take a look at some of our blogging friends, and share our mission with your friends, family, and fellow blogging community. 

We are an online community designed to believe in you.

Today, we want you to join our movement. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY 

&  win a $100 visa gift card and a custom jewelry piece from our jewelry store

MANDATORY TO ENTER:

****MUST FOLLOW SPEAK NOW ON EITHER FACEBOOK, TWITTER, OR INSTAGRAM TO ENTER*****

*****MUST LINK UP BLOG BELOW TO ENTER*****

 ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:  +1 for each // Follow Speak Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - COMMENT FOR EACH + 1 for each // Follow via GFC, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for any of our co-hosts - COMMENT FOR EACH + 1 // Share Speak Now's I AM BEAUTIFUL May link up with your FB or twitter friends - COMMENT FOR EACH +1 // Spreading the word via status/tweet/instagram post- COMMENT FOR EACH COMMENTS ARE OFF ON ALL WEBSITES CO-HOSTING THE EVENT SO YOU CAN HEAD ON OVER TO SPEAK NOW'S WEBSITE AND COMMENT TO ENTER!  { WWW.WESPEAKNOW.ORG }

A very special thanks to  Aunie of Aunie Sauce, Casey Wiegand,  Keri-Anne Pink, and Salena Lee  for sponsoring our link up!

Tunesday: Vampire Weekend "Diane Young"

This song + their new album streaming free on iTunes = I'm one happy camper

Can't get enough of these boys.

Now they just need to come back to Dallas.
Fingers crossed.

May the fourth be with you

Last Saturday Josh and I celebrated our engagement anniversary.

It wasn't a hard date to forget.

It was National Star Wars Day.

May the Fourth {be with you}

Neither of us are huge Star Wars fans, but we gladly took any excuse to celebrate. 

We spent Saturday night eating dinner at Fireside Pies, the same place we ate at the night we got engaged.

Sunday we went to our first Texas Rangers game together.

It turned out to be a perfect day to enjoy a baseball game.

Weather in the 70s, hotdogs, and a win!

I've been blessed to enjoy nearly six months of married life with this kiddo, can't wait to see what the future has in store for us! 

Friday's Letters

Dear Emporium Pies,

Why did it take me so long to finally make it down to Bishop Arts District to try you out?

Purely magical.

. . . and the details! 

The wooden pie boxes and the perfect blue string and the stamped napkins!

Still in awe.

Need more pie.

Dear Josh,

Coming home yet again to a completely clean house and dinner ready within seconds of walking in the door makes me wanna punch you in the face with a big 'ol kiss.

I'm THE luckiest girl in the world to have been able to marry you.

Dear best road trip dog ever,

You crack me up.

There's no way sleeping with your nose squished between the seat and the console is comfortable, weirdo.

Dear Lumineers,

I'm kinda proud of you for taking a stand against cell phones at concerts.

That sounded a little dramatic.

Lately, at many of their shows the lead singer has been kindly asking kiddos to put down their cell phones and be "present in the moment."

While I am very guilty of trying to capture an excessive amount of videos and pictures at concerts, I also feel that it keeps you from fully taking in the moment.

. . . and how often do you really look back at those pictures/videos?

 I think it is a bold and wise move on their part.

Dear Sprinkles,
Yikes.
Sorta kinda pumped all this magic is coming to Dallas in June!

Dear crawfish date night,

You were just what the doctor ordered after the world's longest, most grueling work day.

Crawfish season needs to be year round.

P.S.

Can you believe we found crawfish for $5/lb in Texas?

Still shocked.

Dear USPS,

You are pretty much THE worst.

I ordered my first scrub cap ever a month ago (which I thought was a huge step to adulthood in the surgical world), and you mysteriously lost it in the mail between the post office and my apartment.

Insert huge shout out to KimKaps.com for sending me a new one (for free!) 

Dear Ellie,

Happy 19th birthday to my beautiful, smart, entertaining sister.

It's hard to believe your first year at Tulane is almost over.

You are one of the bravest people I know, just don't be too brave this weekend in New Orleans :)

I love you!

Dear little 'ol fam,

I love you and our late night photo sessions.

Happy weekend guys!