Honeymoonin' Iceland: Geysir

Some of the most gorgeous photos from our trip came from this stop at The Geysir. 

We timed it pretty much perfectly by arriving at sunset, thankfully, after surviving a near death miniature rental car icy hill spin out situation.

Was that a run-on sentence?

Eh.

It was a scary day that we don't like to talk about.

Basically, get a four wheel drive car if you plan to drive around Iceland in the winter.

. . . which kinda sounds understood when I hear it being said out loud.

Anyways, we learned our lesson and also got to experience God's handiwork in this sunset.

Our Wedding {The Bridesmaids}

Last summer I shared with y'all how I asked my bridesmaids to be a part of our special day, and in that card I provided a color palate (using paint chips) that they could choose their dress from.

The only restrictions I gave them was no sequins, no glitter, and don't buy a solid lace dress like mine.

They had free will to choose any style, price, or brand of dress that they wanted.

I was pretty stressed about if it would all come together, but I couldn't have been more pleased with the result.

I'm not certain of the brands of all of the dresses, but the ones I do know are:

Second on the left: Jessica Simpson

 Third on the left: RicketyRack.com

Fourth on the left: came from Altar'd State, not sure of the brand 

Fifth from the left: RicketyRack.com

Fifth from the right: RicketyRack.com

Fourth from the right: AnnTaylor.com

Third from the right: Donna Morgan

Second from the right: came from Vertigo, not sure of the brand

First on the right: J.Crew 

 . . . and of course you gotta do the laughing pic

The precious flower girl dresses came from Dillards.

I gave each of my bridesmaids a pashmina shawl as well as a pearl necklace from DogEared.com

A lot of people were shocked by me having 10 bridesmaids (I even kinda shocked myself at first) but I honestly couldn't have had it any other way.

All through high school and college, I always wondered if these girls could potentially be my bridesmaids one day, and I'm so thankful our friendships developed the way they did.

My relationship with each of those girls means so much to me, and I was thrilled to have them all there to be a part of our incredible day.

Weekend update

Josh and I had a few of our greatest friends come visit us this weekend to celebrate this fantastic MLK 3 day weekend.

We started off Friday night with a limo (got a great deal on LivingSocial) that took us to a real live Texas cowboy bar, full of lots of hardcore two-steppers.

We sported our boots and turned our already strong Louisiana country accents up another notch so that we'd fit right in.

Saturday morning we had good intentions of spending the afternoon at JumpStreet (a huge room full of wall to wall trampolines) but we failed to consider the fact that it might be slam packed full of children.

Seven mid twenties adults walking into a room of at least 100 kids basically screams "grab your children fast, before they do."

So we made the walk of shame back out to the parking lot.

Depressed.

Mikey and Charlie spent some quality time together, sunbathing and whatnot. 

. . . and then Josh abused Charlie with dry ice.

. . . many jam sessions took place

. . . and the girls got all dolled up with the intentions of having another great night out on the town, only to go eat and then return to the apartment for the night playing games.

Which was an absolute blast.

It wouldn't have been a weekend in Dallas without some incredible food.

We did Twisted Root for dinner and Whiskey cake for brunch.

The French Elvis:

French toast with caramelized bananas, peanut butter mousse, and bacon.

Seriously.

. . . and for our MLK celebratory dinner, we grilled steaks, spiked a watermelon, oh and grilled a cactus that Michael found on the walk home from dinner.

I'd say our weekend was quite a success.

Friday's Letters

Dear random Dallas two hour snowfall that was 100% unexpected:
Thanks, you little trickster you.
Now come back.

Dear low carb, wheat free diet attempt:
(Barf, right?)
Since Josh is a diabetic (type 1) and I am the woman of the household I feel like I have the responsibility of making sure what he eats doesn't hurt him.
This is so darn hard.

Dear eggplant and zucchini:
This week I cooked the heck out of you for the first time, and kinda liked it.
My tortured relationship with veggies is slowly blossoming.

Dear Pinterest:
Even though I hopped on your train a little late, you are really helping me out with the whole housewife thing.
I cooked 5 Pinterest recipes in the last 5 days!
World record?
Perhaps.
Most veggies eaten by this girl in one week?
Definitely.
Follow me on Pinterest!

World's best chicken: here
Noodles & Co mac and cheese: here
Outback comeback sauce: here
Baked eggplant fries with tahini, lemon, and honey dip: here
Zucchini pancakes with soy dipping sauce: here

Dear Josh:
Thanks Josh for making me be so brave and try new things!
I love having a boy roommate :)

Dear iTunes:

Why do you have to have songs available for purchase in other countries only?

You are gonna make me have to order Matt Corby's CD and get it shipped from Australia, you jerk.

I don't even remember how to work a CD.
Rude.

Speaking of the magical Matt Corby, watch this and drool and then die:

I didn't think it was possible for anyone to cover Jeff Buckley THAT good.

Dear greatest friends in the world that are coming to stay with us this weekend:
Let's get weird.