{serious talk}

Listen here mom. Let's have a serious discussion for a minute. You WILL give me another piece of that turkey bacon, or else....

{confession}

I have a confession to make. I have an obsession with tattoos. 

I have three.

Husband has four.

I think they are sexy. 

Especially if they are hidden.

You cannot see mine unless I have on sandals 

The most meaningful one we have, is our wedding date. 

VI.XVII.MMXI

Now I'm done. No more for me

I am constantly pinning tattoos on pintrest, so I figured I'd share my favorites.

{all you need is love}

This year I am O B S E S S S E D with Valentines day for some reason. I am not normally like this. Typically, I don't even want to celebrate Valentine's day, refuse gifts or a nice dinner. This year, I am going all out on decorating for V-day. I texted one of my friends at the beginning of January and said, "Is it too early to decorate for Valentines Day?" She responds, "Umm, you do that?" Haha. I'm a little bit obsessive when it comes to holidays!

Is it crazy to plan a valentines party at my house? I think not! Especially if I use some inspo. from LoveSparklePretty

v-day chalkboard. a must have for ever holiday/reason to celebrate! 

deco mesh vday wreath i made last year

{happy new year 2013}

Living in a small town means no where to go on New Years Eve except to celebrate in the comfort of your own home. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love a low key affair, which was also cheaper and much more safe! We rung in the new year with our dear friends, Ashlin and Josh! 

On the menu was too many appetizers for a group of four, chili, and cornbread. 

After dinner we played three rounds of Catch Phrase. We played husband and wife team, girls against boys, and then we switched couples. Have you ever played this game? So much fun! 

I taught everyone one of my New Years traditions--banging pots and pans. Ok, am I the only one who celebrated like this as a child? Maybe it's because I'm from Kentucky? Who knows, but regardless of what they tell you, everyone loved it!

After watching the ball drop, we walked down to another friend's house to watch fireworks and play with sparklers!

These pups were the life of the party!

We had an absolute blast ringing in 2013!! 

{sharpe family christmas card}

This afternoon I got the boys and myself dressed up to take our Christmas card pictures. I knew this was going to be impossible difficult with a 7 month old puppy but I had no idea how difficult. 

You see, we do not have a tri pod, therefore, we had to set my camera on a chair and position it just right. Then, I set the self timer and took off running to my destination. 

Here are a few of our "duds"// outtakes! 

at this point, dale was ready to kill Polo

This picture cracks me up! Dale was fed up at this point...I had my camera on the deck trying to find a better view..and polo took off and knocked the chair across the yard!!! I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard!! 

**43 pictures later...we finally found the winner picture!!**

{our love story pt. 1}

Dale and I have a unique love story. See, we went to school together since 7th grade but we did not start dating until senior year of high school. Dale and I were always really good friends. In fact, when he moved to Louisville in the middle of 7th grade I saw him in the office on his first day and ran back to tell my friends that there was a “hot” new guy in our school. Dale and I exchanged phone numbers that day {yeah, I didn’t mess around} and chatted on the phone for hours on end. 

We stayed friends throughout middle and high school when one day senior year something just clicked. I had a crush on Dale. I made sure he knew about it too. One of my best friends was dating a guy at the time who was on the baseball team with Dale. They were suppossed to have practice every day after school. Well, this particular day it rained ALL day long and practice got canceled. My friends boyfriend {who knew I had a crush on Dale} said, "since we don’t have practice why don’t we all go to Panera and get dinner?" Brilliant! After panera, I was smiten, head over heels. Dale called me as soon as I got home and invited me to his baseball game the next night. From then on, we spent countless nights going to games and then out to dinner after the game. After dinner we would sit in his car and talk for hours and hours until it was time to go home. 

The Panera Crew 

Senior prom was coming up so I talked to his sister Kailey and made sure Dale knew I wanted to go with him.  Dale had gotten word that another guy was going to ask me to prom, so during 7th period he texted me “what class are you in?” Little did he know, I did not have text messaging on my phone {my dad was so old school-no voicemail or text}. Therefore, I didn’t respond to the text. He asked all of my friends until he found out I was in psychology class. Knocked on the door in the middle of class and said “hey, can I talk to Brooke?” My face turned BLOOD red as I walked out the door. He proceeded to ask me to prom and we had the time of our lives. We rode to prom in one our friend’s Dad’s RVs and danced the night away! 

Graduaton came and on June 1st , 2007 Dale officially asked me to be his girlfriend! Of course, I said yes. One problem, college was just around the corner and we were going to be 2 hours and 30 min away from each other.

...to be continued...part 2 coming soon! 

{a day to remember}

{June.17.2011}

The absolute best day of my life. Hands down.

I will give you a quick run through of what our wonderful day consisted of.

First, a few things about planning:

When we first got engaged we discussed what would be the most perfect wedding for the both of us. We knew we wanted to have one part of our wedding outside. We at first thought it would be the reception but then changed our minds to the ceremony since it would most likely be super hot in June. decided on our perfect venue, The Frazier History Museum. Our wedding would be on the rooftop over looking downtown! Perfect! However, there was always one thing looming in the back of our minds. Weather. We literally started praying about the weather since the day we decided on the venue. As time got closer, I checked the weather like a crazy person. First rain, then sun, then storms, then partly cloudy, then rain. Who knew what the weather would be like. If bad weather did come about, we had a back up plan- move everything inside and have the ceremony inside {we did NOT want to do this}.

{screen shot of the supposed "good weather" a few days before}

Fast forward to June 17th...

I was the first to wake up {go figure} and I woke up with the most amazing feeling. This was the day I was going to marry the man of my dreams! It was finally here!

We took showers and a few of us headed to the get our hair done. At this point, it was a beautiful sunny summer day. Not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright.

We got our hair done {loved it} and came back to the house. Hairspray was going every where, false eye lashes were being glued on, and powder was flying. I couldn't help but think to myself on the happiest day of my life, I have the most amazing, supportive friends a girl could ask for. My wonderful bridesmaids came to Louisville from all over. Man I'm blessed with some awesome friends!

My make up lady came over.

Side note: I have to say, I was quite nervous to have my make up done. She came over for a trial run a few weeks before and I really didn't love it. I second guessed having my make up done for the next few weeks up until our wedding. We went to see her again a few days before {this time I had done my own make up and she saw what I liked.) She picked out some great colors and gave me another "mini-make over". I felt a sense of peace about it and decided to let her do my make up for the wedding.

I ended up loving my make up and she did a fabulous job.

After the make up and hair were done, I got to open my gift from Dale. He got me these beautiful wooden paintings that said, "Love is all you need" and "All you need is love" in colors to match our bedroom. He wrote me the sweetest note and I got teary-eyed but didn't let myself cry since I JUST had my makeup done!

We all jumped in the limo to ride downtown to the Frazier History Museum. We rocked out on our way down town. When we got there, we went straight up to the bridal suite. {At this point, it was still beautiful and sunny outside}.

We went upstairs, poured some mimosas, listened to music, and chilled. I think we actually got there too early but who cares, we had fun!

We didn't want to do a first look but we knew we wanted to hold hands around the corner and say "Hey" before our ceremony. I stood there waiting on Dale to come grab my hand. As soon as I heard his voice I literally LOST IT. All of my friends can attest to this. I couldn't even talk. I didn't want to cry and ruin my make up but I just couldn't help it! It was such a beautiful moment to be able just to hold hands for the last time as an engaged couple. The next time we'd hold hands we would be MARRIED!

Time kept ticking and the clouds started rolling in. CRAP! Was it seriously about to storm 1 hour before our ceremony? We talked back and fourth with people about the weather. Our wedding coordinator came in and said, "we can still move it inside if you want to." Nope. We were going with it. Clouds kept coming, the wind picked up and I just knew it was going to pour, but I had to stay positive. About 20min before the ceremony and all of the people were there, our pastor, Bob Russell, said, we're going with it I'll make it quick. And that's truly what he did. Our wedding ceremony was 12 minutes flat. Really. Someone timed it!

{freaking out on the phone about weather}

I will never ever forget those amazing 12 minutes. I didn't have butterflies all day until I was about to walk down the aisle. I am about to become a wife to the most amazing man in the world! Would Dale like my dress? Would he like my make up? Would he like my hair up? Of course he would! Seeing him for the first time that day was so magical!

{Funniest Moment of the Wedding}: It was so incredibly windy during the ceremony that my vail was blowing every which way. I had to reach up and grab on to it and tuck it under my arm. Well, it came out from under my arm and blew directly over Bob Russell's head. Covered him. We all just stood there and died of laughter.

After our ceremony we took a few pictures while guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d' oeuvres. After pictures, we headed down to our reception. After we were introduced, we enjoyed our first dance and amazing food. We were quickly whisked away by Lang when the weather cleared up to go back outside for some more photos. When we came back in, we enjoyed a night of drinks and dancing!

Dale and I still talk about how much fun our wedding was! If we could go back to that day and do it all again, we'd do it in a heart beat!

I am so blessed to have found my partner in life at such a young age! Just makes for many more years of married bliss and time for making memories together!

{Extra Fun Photos}

I HIGHLY recommend literally every single vendor. The location was fabulous with easy people to work with. Lang's pictures not only rock but he is so much fun to work with. Our flowers were so beautiful and fresh. They were exactly what I dreamed of. Our cake tasted and looked ammaazzzinnggg (although she is located in Memphis, Tn)--she's the best! The food...omg...even though we didn't really get a chance to chow down, every one raved about the food. Our DJ was an amazing person. Made our wedding so much fun! Every one stayed until the very last minute!

{Location}: Frazier History Museum

{Photographer}: Lang Thomas Photography

{Flowers}: Lloyd's Florist

{Cake}: Kipp Holmes- Kipp Cakes

{Food}: Cravings

{Booze}: Masterson's

{Invitations} DIY

{Fan Programs}: Impressions Louisville

{Honeymoon}: Sandals Resort in Antigua