Dear weekend, Thank you for being here, this means just one more week until vacation. Dear Andrew, Have I mentioned how much I love you, yes? Well allow me to some more :) Dear Pups, I know you girls love cuddling with me on the couch at night, well most of the time, if you could just calm down it would be much easier okay? Dear Khloe, I know you love it when I come home or enter a room, but can we please cut out the excited peeing? It's becoming an issue and mama doesn't like picking you up if you're going to tinkle on her. Dear Mexico, I know everyone is probably getting sick of me talking about you but I can't help it, I just can not wait. Dear Andrew, {yes again} Can we do something just us this weekend? The last few have been full of nothing but "go go go" so say Saturday Date Night?! Dear Blog World, I am so happy to be able to share my crazy stories & life with everyone, I've also really enjoyed making a few connections with lovely ladies that I wouldn't have otherwise... It's truly been such a great experience and I can't wait to see what the future holds here. Dear Book, I'm really enjoying writing you & I am just so antsy to get you all finished up and published... Hopefully it can happen sooner rather than later, I can't wait to share you with the world {Shaking nervously a little bit}! Dear Olympic Gymnasts, I can't believe your time is over for four more years, it has been such a great week of being able to turn on my TV every night and watching... and yes, I have shed some tears for the winning & losing side of everything. It saddens me that it's all over.

Well that about does it for today... Be sure to check out my post HERE from yesterday & help my friend out :)

Have a wonderful weekend!!

P.S. I'm guest blogging today over at another Melissa's blog, Revision Makes Perfect... Go check itout! :)

& While you're at it... Go check out Kelly's Giveaway going on over at Messy Dirty Hair {Seriously, it's amazing... Starbucks, Ad spaces, Nail polish & much more!}

"After seeing how much I loved the mountains on a trip to visit my cousin in Denver, Joel started making his plan. The first obstacle was to convince me to spend money on another trip to Colorado! He kept saying that he wanted to get me out of state to relax in the short break I had before the summer term of grad school started back up. I kept hesitating, but he persisted, so in late May we drove 12 hours to Denver. The next day we took a beautiful drive through the mountains and valleys and ended the day making the exhilarating and terrifying drive up Pike's Peak. When we finally got to the top, he was acting strange. He led me to an area of the summit away from the crowd and I thought that this had to be it. It wasn't! He led me all around the summit to these little secluded places without saying much of anything because he was having altitude sickness and felt like passing out! He actually had to hold onto me at one point, he was feeling so dizzy! Finally it was getting to be time to start the drive down. I wondered why he hadn't asked in what I considered to be the perfect spot but figured he must have other plans...until he told me that before we left he wanted to make my Pike's Peak experience even more special. He told me what I meant to him, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him at 14,115 feet! I said "YES!" and fell down to my knees to kiss him. As we walked back to the car (and with a huge smile plastered on my face) a man who witnessed our engagement asked if we wanted a picture. We said sure and exchanged emails so he could send us the shot. We were in for a surprise when he emailed us the next morning and we saw that he had photographed us the entire time! This priceless picture topped off what was, in my mind, the most “breathtaking” proposal ever!"

Isn't that absolutely amazing? I mean, not only was this such a great way to propose but to top it off with the kindness of a complete stranger to capture the moment for them! Of course after all of this everyone showered these two with "congratulations" galore but then the fun & realization of what a wedding entailed began. As you all may {or may not} know, weddings are expensive {Average in our area is roughly $25,000 when all is said and done}. For just about anyone this is an absolute outrageous amount, however for grad-students who are also dealing with student loans and rent payments this number is even that much more daunting.

This is where you as my lovely and amazing readers come in... Lauren then informed all of her family and friends that she had entered her and Joel's story into a little contest to help offset the cost of the wedding, because every little bit helps!!!

GRAND PRIZE

2ND PLACE

3RD PLACE

As this contest nears the end, and only the top five contenders are considered, Lauren & Joel are in sixth place. I am asking of you to, pretty please with a cherry on top, help them out and take a moment to vote for their story! It will be appreciated more than you know :)

HERE'S HOW TO VOTE...

*Having personally voted & liked Pear Tree Greetings on Facebook, I can say that they just about never post anything so your feed will not be bombarded with updates or anything... Once the contest is over you can then go back and un-like if you feel it necessary*

Mixing patterns and fabrics is something that can look absolutely amazing if it is done correctly, however with such a thin line {in my opinion} it is just as easy to go the other way. The biggest piece of advice I would give, make sure you choose wisely, pick an anchor piece and go from there. Stay within a color family as well, mixing too colors along with patterns can be way too confusing and not at all appealing to the eye.

I hope that with the outfits I have presented it can help you feel more confident in choosing to tackle this fashion trend! 

Which is your favorite?

*PINK*

My fun new PINK nail polish... I absolutely love it! :)

*BUN*

Okay, so I usually hate pictures of myself... of just myself... however this is one of my faves... this is how it is when I lay out at the pool... so relaxing & of course, the BUN

 *SUMMER*

SUMMERtime... I couldn't pick just one. My girls love spending time at the pool just hanging out with their mama and aunties!!

 *WORKOUT*

WORKOUT gear... before the shoes of course lol. I didn't realize just how much I looked like a watermelon in these colors {or is it just me?! lol}

 *GLITTER*

By far my favorite item I have bought in a long time! My shirt with all the GLITTER, I feel so pretty in it! :)

What You Will Need:

 What to Do:

5. Add the noodles in with the tomatoes, broccoli & cheese {Mix well}

7. Refrigerate {since this recipe takes such little time to prepare, refrigerating isn't absolutely necessary but it will taste a bit better once it has a little chill to it... I would say about 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the batch you make}

If you get the urge to try this recipe out, please let me know how it goes :)