Just Call Me Practical Patsy

In just 30 short days, I'll be turning 30. Holy Crap! 

I am not scared to turn 30, but just the thought of being 30 and saying goodbye to my 20's is a little bittersweet. Can I get a 29+1 candle for my birthday cake?? Haha!! As I have mentioned before, I prefer to drop "gift idea bombs" instead of hints. Meaning I'll send you the direct link with that I want, easy right? So yesterday I sent some links to my parents - Steven has been told the one thing that I want - and when I got finished sending the email, I knew I was old. Why might you ask? I asked for incredibly practical things.

30th! by laura-beth-palmer featuring The North Face

A raincoat. Pajamas. Lake/beach sandals. Studs. A watch. Maybe a diamond earring upgrade? Nothing about any of these items scream "memorable 30th bday gift", but its the practical things that I would never really "splurge" on for myself are what I'll wear out.

My current rain coat, its a North Face that my parents gave me for Christmas my freshmen year of college. It needs to be retired because the lining is flaking off. If it wasn't, I would still be wearing it because it has held up so well!!! A testament to North Face if you ask me. My watch, was given to me on my 21st birthday. I wear it almost every day, and just last month was the first time I have had to have any repairs done to it, one of the pins came out. For Christmas when I was 15, my parents gave me a pair of diamond studs. They're small, but for a 15 year old, you don't give her BIG diamonds. Other than my pearls and my mothers black onyx ring, this is the only fine jewelry I have NOT managed to loose. Without revealing "too much" let me just say that I am minimalist in the PJ department when I go to bed. My mom always asks me, what are you going to do if there is a fire? Which is why I sleep with a robe at the foot of the bed.....catch my drift y'all? So with that said, nice PJs are just something I would never buy myself, but they're a good thing to have for when we have house guests or are lounging at the lake. 

Truth be told, I really don't need any of this. I have been blessed beyond compare and are incredibly lucky. But a new fancy blue polka dotted rain coat never hurt anyone :)

Does anyone else ask for practical gifts? What has been the best practical gift you ever received? Am I really getting old? What kind of eye wrinkle cream do you use? Hahaha!

Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Shoot

Hey folks, welcome to another installment of Wedding Wednesday! So much has happened in regards to our big day! I will be honest and tell y'all that last week, I had a breakdown at my desk and cried due to wedding stresses. My mom and I were not seeing eye to eye on some decisions that I had made...

At the end of the day, my mom is best friend. I call her at LEAST three times a day! I would probably call my best friend Ashley that much, however since she is a teacher, she can't answer the phone on a whim. When the one person who you trust more than anyone else in this world is questioning your decisions you feel like you're going to break and then you begin to second guess yourself. Needless to say, in between that and some raging PMS, I was just a bundle of happy last week. The Mister got several text messages saying "if you find me in the bed with a bottle of wine and a straw when you get home from...dont be surprised".

Ohhhhhh the joys of wedding planning. I 100% get why people elope! BUT I know that if we had chosen to have a parents only ceremony in Aspen or Jackson Hole, we would've regretted it. And so we will be having a joyous occasion come November! Which is nine months away - holy sh*t!

This past Saturday my cousin Hannah shot our engagement photos! If you live around the Atlanta area and need great photos....I highly recommend that you reach out to her and "like" her Facebook page, White Oak Photography. We knew that we wanted to embrace getting engaged during the wintertime, so we did an outdoor session and it was great! I had custom mugs made from Simply Made Greetings, we used a burgundy blanket from our living room and it was just overcast enough for the lighting to be perfect! I threw together this inspiration board for us to work on outfits from...

Winter Engagement by laura-beth-palmer featuring a moustache mug

We actually ended up going with outfits very similar to this board! I changed my top midway through, but that was all. Here is a little sneak peak that Hannah sent to me the next day...

If all of the photos are this good (which I'm sure they will be!) we're going to have a hard, hard time selecting a save the date! It was a lot of fun being in front of the camera and I am sure that Hannah is going to have a blooper reel a mile long! We tried to re-create similar shots from my Pinterest board, however I don't know if we will look as professional as those people do haha. 

To celebrate the shoot being over - his words not mine! - we bought ingredients to make margs, called in Mexican to go and sat on our sofa for the rest of the night. Exciting life we lead, I tell you!

And I'm out :)