Ladies Who Lake

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome to the Week of Crazy here in my life.  1 demo lesson down, 1 to go, and 1 more interview this week.  I'm crazy excited and hopeful that one of these will work out!  Fingers crossed!

This past weekend was a total blast!  Every month my SPED friends and I try to get together for a girls weekend.  We've been super lucky for the past 3 months in getting together and keeping our graduation promise of seeing each other once a month forEHHHHVEERRRR.  Fingers crossed for the future!  I think we can continue to this tradition if we all really try.  We're all committed to being friends and therefore we'll work out booties off to stay close.

In May we rocked A.C. and June we partied at Sam and Jimmy's wedding and in July we loved the lake!  Jaclyn invited us to her lake house and we all jumped at the chance!

Friday Jess and I drove up to meet our friends.  *We call Jess our adopted SPED because she's a math teacher*  Jaclyn greeted us with fruit and veggie platters, cupcakes, chips and salsa, and GLITTER COCKTAILS!  You know you're in Jersey when your hostess meets you with GLITTER COCKTAILS!

Our precious hostess with the mosses!  She made all of this food for us!

Glitter Cocktails?! So Jersey!

Girlies Grubbing

Lemonade from Mason jars!

After grubbing came prepping for our night out at the Lake!

The SPEDS!  

All of us!

The blondes!

We had such a fabulous time dancing and singing to the 80s Rock cover band!  I also may or may not have played Jaclyn and my song I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston and the entire place may or may not have danced and song along like our very own Lake House High School Musical!  It was fantastic!  After our fun night out we went back to the Lake House and tried to watch movies.  After the DVD failwhale (no sound) we watched My Best Friend's Wedding and agreed (for the 1000000th time) that the ending is all wrong!  Love ya Cam but Michael+Jules 4EVA

Movie Time

Chillaxing and movie watching

The next day we all went out on Jaclyn's boat.  Her dad was our fabulous captain and informed us of all the cool ins and outs of the lake.  It was great!  I love hearing about where things used to be, who used to live there, who used to play at the local lounges and clubs (Hello Mr. Frank Sinatra), and all the cool history that only locals know.

Jaclyn!!

Like  A BOSSLADY! 

Jaclyn cleaning the boat like a princess

Jessica was the Queen of the World

Sunglass Models

Julie and me 

Back of the boat...JK we're just pale and keeping ourselves sunburn free

Boatin'

SPEDS on a BOAT!

Our boat ride tour ended with lunch on the lake.  Her dad docked the boat right near the restaurant!  How cool is that?!  Lunch was amazing and so beautiful!  

A million thanks to Jaclyn and her family for hosting us!  We had a blast!  Good friends+Lake fun=a fabulous weekend in my book!

**I think it should be noted that there was a giant boa constrictor on the loose at the lake this weekend and we all survived!  I was also voted least outdoorsy...if anyone had any doubts**

Dear Jaclyn's Boat,

Thank you for driving us all around the Lake, we had the best time!
Thank you for being the best vehicle to transport 6 best friends.
Thank you for the laughs you brought to our stressed out selves.
A huge gracias to the awning on the back of the boat to shield us pale people from the sun.
Merci for the gorgeous suntan I now have because the sunlight glistened off the lake like diamonds.
I love the way you made us laugh at the cute little duck that kept ducking into the water.
Precious!
I love that 6 busy girls were able to take time out of our schedules to play and laugh and relax.
You made this very stressed out Type-A looney tune remember that it doesn't matter what state your career is in--as long as you have friends that love you and make you smile that you are doing just fine.
I love that for a brief moment in time we were all able to relish in being intelligent, accomplished, and happy ladies.
It was a blissful weekend and we owe it all to you.
Even though I am not of the outdoorsy breed, I enjoyed sitting in the summer breeze.

xoxo,

Erin

Sam & Jimmy's Weddingstravaganza

Happy Wednesday!

This is a total #laterblog.  Maybe this will be a Happy One Month Anniversary Post?  Okay, let's go with that!

So one month ago :) six SPEDS ventured to North Jersey (an adventure in and of itself) to witness the marriage of one of our besties!  Sam and Jimmy were married in the most beautiful wedding!  Have you ever been to a wedding that was just the epitome of romantic, sweet, lovely, beautiful, and super fun?  Well that was this wedding!  ***Funny story*** The first time I every had a long conversation with Sam (frosh year at TCNJ) she invited me to her wedding!  Now 5 years later, I am at her wedding!   Caaraaayyyzzeeeee!



This was all of our first friend's wedding.  It's weird and cool that we're that old now to have friends that can get married!  EEK can't wait for this decade of my life!  I love love love weddings <3

The 6 of us got 2 rooms at a hotel that was about 10 minutes away from the church and venue.
We ended up (serindipitously, of course) having rooms across from each other!

This is all my crap...this wasn't even my bed

We had a toast to the newlyweds and assembled their present.  Sam and Jimmy if you're reading this and haven't opened our present yet...Close Yo Eyes!

Cheers to the newlyweds!

We made a scrapbook called A Year In Dates!

The beautiful couple!  Aren't they just gorgeous?  We always said that if
Sam wasn't so nice we would hate her because she's so gorgeous and perfect!  

A little note from us :)

This is their engagement picture!

Jaclyn brought the scrapbook and stickers (she's crafty like that) and we each were responsible for getting gift cards and planning a date for them.  I had February and January.  I did a January soup date at Panera and a Victoria's Secret gc for February.  Some other dates included an NYC wintertime themed date for December, a TGIF gc for September, a beach picnic for July, and a pumpkin picking date for October.  It was so much fun putting the gift together!  Also, when they take the gc out of the page, they are supposed to replace it with a picture of them on their date.  Super cute and I highly suggest copying us for a fun friends' gift!

Their invitation was the first page

July

August

Previously, we Jaclyn had the fabulous idea to have all of us wear pink dresses!  Well, I don't need a reason to rock a frock in pink so we all went with it.  It turned out to be a great idea!  Have you ever been to a wedding where you can't find your friends/family on the dance floor because everyone is rocking out and tearing up the dance floor?  We could identify each other with ease!  Score!  We definitely said we would keep that in the Wedding Knowledge File!  Well, everyone at Sam and Jimmy's wedding was dancing and the pink color made it easy to find each other!

We love our pink!  We ditched the shoes about.2 seconds after this picture was taken

If you invite us to your wedding...this is what you will get!

Molly our fearless driver warrior!

The beautiful Jess taking selfies with all of our cameras/iPads

The church was beautiful and the priest did a fantastic job making the sermon personal and funny.  I think the priest makes the wedding, so this was great!  When Sam entered the church "The Silly Squad of Pink" as Jess dubbed us, all turned to look at Jimmy.  Do you remember Jane's line in 27 Dresses?  "When everyone else looks at the bride, I like to look at the groom."  Well, being the rom-com fans that we are, we all followed her lead.  Jimmy looked so happy when Sam was walking down the aisle!

After the wedding we went through the reception line and chatted with both families about what a beautiful wedding it was!

Then, we headed over to the reception's happy hour...

How pretty was the building?!

...and took some pix...naturally

Jaclyn and her sweet shades

Julie...how much do I love her shoes?  SO much!

Jess glamming it up!

Beth rocking the floral

Molly on the lawn...sometimes we break the rules ;)

Me and my new Lilly

We were treated with the most delicious food!  First, there were dalish cheesey pretzel twisty bready goodness that I'm pretty sure were created in Heaven.  Next, there were peanuts!  Peanuts!  I ate my body weight in peanuts ;)

Also, we drank homemade raspberry lemonade cocktails and peach Long Island iced teas.  Fab!

They also had buffalo chicken pizzas, corn fritters (to die for), spare rib sliders, Greek salad spoons.  Ok, these were amazeballs and a genius idea!  Every spoon (which were so beautiful--Hello Crate & Barrel)  had a tiny Greek salad in it!  I have had quite the hankering for Greek salad since the wedding.  Tomorrow's lunch date with Jess will quench that Greek salad thirst--Herro der Panera :)  Isn't that a cool idea?  It was great!  At the happy hour, Sam's dad came in to talk to us and told us that he expected us to dance the whole time.  We told him he needn't worry...we can start and finish a party!  We also had our first OMG SAM'S MARRIED moment!  A waitress asked Sam a question and she said, "Let me go ask my husband."  Her HUSBAND?!  It was the coolest and weirdest thing to hear!

He liked it so he put a ring on it!  

After happy hour, we went into the main hall.  Sam and Jimmy had a choreographed dance!  It was fantastic!  We know why Sam missed all those Girls' Nites ;)  They definitely did an awesome job!  There were dips, lifts, kisses, and sashays!

source

After their amazing dance came the toasts!  Sam's dad's toast was hilarious!  Jimmy's dad's toast was very sweet.  Congrats Sam and Jimmy for passing the quizzes Mr. R through in there :)  

Cute newlyweds!

Next, we all ate our dinner.  It was bueno.  We also chowed down on the bread basket.  What can we say?  We love our carbs :)  We sat at the college friends table.  We met some of Jimmy's friends.  All of the table numbers had pictures of Sam and Jimmy at that age.  We were at Table 12, we had Sam and Jimmy pix from age 12.  So cute!  

These were chocolates!  AHHHMAAYYYZZING!  

I may or may not have eaten them all before dinner

You know what comes after dinner?  DANCING!  Well, we tore it up!  There was fantastic music!  The DJ really does make or break a wedding and this DJ was awesome!  We danced to 90s hits (hello Spice Girls and BSB) and current top hits (TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!)  There was also some Latin music which we salsad/cha-cha-d/and mamboed our little pink clad hearts out!  Zumba is definitely paying for itself ;)  

Molly, Jaclyn, Julie, Mrs. B, Beth, Jess, me, and the beautiful bride!

SPEDS+Jess, the honorary SPED

Because sometimes it's prom

The happy couple and all of us

My favorite part of any day is dessert.  They had a dessert station.  SCORE!  They had create your own brownie sundaes, mini tiramisu, lemon tarts, and strawberry short cakes.  I had brownies (yes plural) and lemon tarts (again, plural).  

My happy place

After the dessert station food in face as fast as possible  ended, we all went outside for a sparkler sendoff.  My sparkler was a fail whale so I waved a wooden skewer at them.  I hear those are good luck hahaha.  Then Sam and Jimmy left for their honeymoon.  It was a beautiful wedding and we had a blast!  

Enjoy married life!

We drove back to our hotel to watch Bridesmaids and finish off the wine.  We then all fell asleep and woke up the next am to go to Panera.  The Panera was 4.5 miles away...it took us 45 minutes to get there!  Between GPS fails and Rt. 17 (my hatred for Rt. 17 can be felt all the way in Australia) we finally met up for what was now lunch.  Panera never disappoints :)  Next we all hugged and said goodbye.  Jaclyn invited us all to her Lake House (can't wait til next week when I get to see my precious loves again)!!!  Jess and I headed back to South Jersey...and only got lost once ;)

Schweaty pic after hours of moving and grooving!

Happy One Month Anniversary Sam & Jimmy!!  We love you two and wish you the happiest life full of love and laughter!  

xoxo,

E