Yay for engagement pictures, well my first set of them hopefully. (Hint hint, wink wink Celia!) I found my photographer ages ago and after we finally passed the one year countdown I figured it was okay to start hitting the wedding stuff pretty hard. Photography is one of my favorite aspects of weddings and I couldn’t wait to get started. This would also be the first real wedding thing that Ace and I would be doing together. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve kept him in the loop with everything but this would be the first real announcement, other than my ring, that would say “Hey we are getting married”!
Since both Ace and I have crazy busy work schedules so it was hard to come up with a date where we both could make the trip to Charleston where our photographer is based. But we found a date that worked for everyone and I primped the whole week before. Had my hair cut, eyebrows done, did my nails, iron my clothes twice, etc. Then on the day of the pictures is poured rain. Obviously we had to reschedule which was a bummer. I was disappointed but as Outkast would sing “You can plan a pretty picnic but you can’t predict the weather.”
We tried again and found a day that worked for everyone. Of course, to make it interesting, during the two weeks between the originally scheduled date and the second both the fiancé and I got horribly sunburned and then peeled all over, I randomly got a cold/started suffering from allergies which left me with a beautiful red nose and I got the biggest pimple on my chin that I’ve had in a long while. All great attributes that you want to show off while trying to tell the world that you are in love. Thankfully the peeling was at a minimum by the weekend and the red nose and pimple had reduced immensely.
To pamper myself after the two weeks of vain worrying I scheduled to have my makeup done at the MAC counter before we made the trip to Charleston. I was so excited since I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m a makeup novice. So I sat down and explain that I was taking engagement photos and that I wanted a nice, clean, natural look so I wouldn’t be blotchy or over done in the pictures. Well let’s just say the appointment went downhill from there. The girl brought over a ton of makeup and started talking about how she was going to give me a Lady Gaga look including a nude/white lip and purple eye shadow. I’m sorry, what?!?!?! If you haven’t met me you should know that I am NOTHING like Lady Gaga and definitely don’t want to look like her in my engagement pictures that will be going out to all our friends and family. After an hour of her doing and re-doing stuff to my face I decided this was a waste of time and it needed to end. I mumbled that it was fine and paid for the require $50 worth of product, I bought a makeup brush, and left. My foundation was uneven, I had some weird pinky/brownish eye shadow, and almost no mascara on. The only thing I liked was the lipstick, which I picked out as something I already owned!!!!!!! We made a quick stop back at the house, which we weren’t planning to do, so that I could reassess, remove, and redo my makeup. Oh well, at least I know that I’ll look like myself in the pictures.
Moving on! We got down to Charleston without any problems. Yay! We planned to meet our photographer on the battery along the water so decided to park and then find a hotel or restaurant restroom to make a quick wardrobe change. Well there are no hotels/restaurants around that area, it’s all residential. So we improvised. I moved the front passenger seat all the way up and then sat on the backseat floorboards so I could slip my dress over my head without anyone seeing. Ace stood guard outside the window just in case someone walked by at that moment. No judging, I thought it was pretty clever. After we changed we met up with the photog and we had an amazing tour around a little part of Charleston while he found cool, unique places for pictures. I don’t think Ace and I have kissed, cuddled, or held hands that much in a long time. (Or at least not in public.) We got a bunch of shout outs from people passing by who said we looked great so keep your fingers crossed that the strangers are right. We also almost got in a car accident on the way to Folly Beach because some dude decided to drive in the middle of the rode in a homemade motorize scooter that went about 15 miles a hours. He clearly didn’t understand that we were trying to catch the setting sun. ;) Overall it was a really fun experience and we can’t wait to see all the shots he got. He said it would be a week or two before he could have them to us but he sent me a teaser yesterday and I’m already crazy about it.
Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank. I recently found Frank and I LOVE her books and thankfully she has a ton. They are all South Carolina based from what I can see and I love hearing the characters interact with familiar things like USC, The State Newspaper, and all the awesome restaurants in Charleston. Full of Grace is about a couple in love and how they deal with the bumps in the road that life creates.
The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs decides to tests out a number of life experiments by actually living them out himself and recording what he learn and society’s reactions. He outsources literally everything in his life; including his career, picking out his wife’s birthday present and even reading his children’s bedtime stories. The book also includes experiments like: posing nude for a national magazine, pretending to be a famous person, and living by the same rules as George Washington. The book isn’t as captivating as Jacobs’ other book A Year of Living Biblically.
Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews. I have been saving this book for a beach trip because I love this author so much. Most of her books are based in Savannah (yes I clearly like southern chit lit writers) and the main character is always a sassy, strong female type which I always enjoy. Eloise Foley is an antique picker and the story followers her after she recovers from a nasty divorce. There is a little mystery, a little romance, and a whole lot of southern sass
Last, I have a truly random thought for you. My new favorite food obsession is lime tortilla chips. I went to Qdoba the other day, which is very rare since Ace is a true Chipotle fan to the core, but I noticed their chips have lime salt on them and they were amazing. (Side note: I love lime! I want a lime tree in my yard once I have a yard to plant it in.) So while I was buying everything in the store at Target I picked up some Hint of Lime Tostitos and they are so good. 
To close out the randomness I’ll let you know that I’m about to start reading Water for Elephants and I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve had it on my list for ages and now that the movie is out I want to read the book before I see the movie.
Last, Ace and I went to the beach for a couple days over Easter weekend which was fun since we haven’t been in forever. The down side is even though we were only out on the beach for about an hour and a half and it was cloudy, and even sprinkled rain, we both got ridiculously sunburned. And I’m not talking about a little pink that changes to a glowing tan after a day. I’m talking fire engine red and prevents us from sleeping comfortably and makes us think twice about moving at all. Getting dressed for work this morning was an interesting challenge to say the least. (No picture because let's face it no one wants to see this.)
I’ll keep you updated on all the other improvements we have in the works once they are finished, or at least started. ;) 
