Blake is fully moved in! He's ecstatic about the move (much to his mother's dismay, I'm sure), and I'm pretty sure he's dreading the day that I'll move in... I think he's going to enjoy his last month of bachelorhood! We've already butted heads about house things - not so much decor, but the way things works (coat racks are not for all of your cardigans! You don't use our brand new Anthropolgie tea towel to wipe your hands on!). I'm sure we'll be just fine, though. ;)

 This is... pretty much all we have in our apartment at the moment. Blake has never lived on his own before, so all he had to move was a couch, his bed, and the kitchen table. All the other stuff is at my apartment, where it will stay until I move (I don't know, something about living in a nearly unfurnished apartment bothers me!). So hopefully come October, I will have more interesting photos to share!

Blake and I made dinner (tortellini soup!) the other night with all of our brand new kitchen things... I think making a meal there made it feel much more like a home. Is that odd?
As things progress with the house, I will share here! (You know me, I love sharing photos of my living space....) I'm just super excited about all these huge changes that are happening! Things are getting very real, very fast!

A couple of side notes:
*Breigh is in the hospital again, she was admitted on Tuesday night. As far as I know, it is connected with her kidney disease; her magnesium and potassium levels were really low, causing her to keep throwing up her meds. Update: She's been released! She was released... and immediately went to the salon to get her hair dyed. #priorities
*I mentioned this on Instagram a couple of times, but my bff Cassie is finally starting to live her dream! She moved to LA at the end of May and has been working and auditioning since then. Well... On Saturday, she found out that she had gotten a part on the show Revenge for 2 episodes! It was just for a "featured extra" type of role, but it's a start, am I right?! They filmed the 2 episodes all day on Monday, and while filming she learned that she had gotten another small part on an episode of Workaholics! She filmed that yesterday. I'm waiting to hear more about those experiences! We talked to her mom at my shower on Sunday and she kept saying, "well, it's long hours for very little pay.." which is so true (and the life of that industry; I couldn't do it!), but it's a start, and we are so excited for her!
*I feel like I had another thing to mention, but apparently I don't. Have a good weekend!

On differences.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it. 
- Aristotle

On the first day of my English class (during my senior year), my teacher told us this quote, and how she hoped it would be a quote that we could live by, and prove true.
I had nearly forgotten about it until the first day of school this year, when she posted the quote on Facebook (I just love Facebook, you know!). And then... I started thinking about it.

I applied it to political things. I applied it to personal beliefs. I applied it to religious beliefs.
And it was then, with the religious beliefs, that it hit me pretty hard.

What if all Christians were able to entertain ideas that are different than their own beliefs, without accepting it?
How differently would we be perceived as a whole, to non-believers... to the rest of the world?
We would automatically become more loving, more forgiving, more accepting of those that think differently, and believe other things.

I have a hard time with people that refuse to even listen to "the other side" of things.
Like Obama - you either love or hate him, right? And the war? If you don't support the war, you don't support our troops. (Who's idea was that, anyway? What a silly notion.) And I see this stuff mostly on Facebook and other social media. People fight online about the silliest things, refuse to see the other side of it, slam someone for believing differently. And then say that "God will deal with you," or my favorite, "Obama will have to answer to God someday. Let's impeach!"
The people who even refuse to entertain the idea that there is something different out there, but they refuse the idea entirely - they are almost always the first to say, "but hey, I'll pray for you."
What kind of message is that sending to non-believers? What are we saying to them - "Everything you believe is wrong and you are definitely going to Hell, but hey brother, I'm gonna pray for you."

We need to stand up for our beliefs, yes, but we need to be educated in this; we need to be the first to say, "I respect your beliefs, I respect your decisions, and I'm going to listen to your opinion." Because that is their right, just as it is our right to believe what we believe.

I am doing my best to live by this quote. To continue in my beliefs, and hold onto them, all while learning everything I can about other ideas and other beliefs. How can I believe what I do, when I know nothing about what else is out there? How can I stand up for my faith, for my politics, for my morals, when I know nothing about "the other side?"

/word vomit.

Thank you for listening, today. As always. <3

Grateful

 This past Sunday was my first wedding shower! It was held at a new tea room just outside of Springfield, near my hometown. My closest family and friends from my hometown were invited, and it was a small, yet fun little party! Morgan (Blake's cousin/my bridesmaid) and Breigh (maid of honor) teamed up for this one, and it was so perfect! To make it all the more perfect, Claire decided last minute that she would make the 4 hour drive to arrive just in time! She ended up staying the night with me, so we could keep our tradition of breakfast at Gailey's before she heads home. I sure do love time spent with these gals. (Only one missing out of the bridal party here is Colby - poor guy had to work.)
No one really thought to grab a "real camera," so all of these are iphone shots that I nabbed from Claire and Blake's mom, Tammie.

(Breigh and I were really emotional. Like, all day.)

(A few of the Tucker ladies; Blake's grandma, Morgan, and his mom.)

(A few of the ladies in my family! My mom, her mom, and her sisters. Oh, and Savannah, my sweet cousin!)

Blake and I received so many generous and thoughtful gifts over the weekend. I am a little awkward when it comes to being the attention of a bunch of people, and that is only multiplied when I am opening gifts in front of people (oh the awkward!).
But I am so grateful for all the people in my life that have loved and supported me - Blake and I are lucky to have such giving, loving people to call friends (and family).
With all the fun stuff we received, Blake and I made dinner at his apartment - we even used our brand new dishes (and oh my goodness, they are beautiful!). We are so thankful!

And thank you to you guys, who are so sweet to me. I appreciate the love you've shown me (and Blake) since our engagement. We are thankful for each and every comment, tweet, and email.

38 days to go!
-Haley

A Newlywed Home Pt. II

You know how when you get so excited about something and it's like, "oh my gosh, this is really happening!" Then you realize that it actually won't happen for at least another month or two? Well, that roller coaster of emotions happened to me yesterday morning, and really - I'm still on that roller coaster.

Yesterday, Blake and I picked up the keys to our very first apartment together.
It was overwhelming, exciting, scary and overall, wonderful.
My dad pulled up right as we were finishing up all the paperwork, so we, of course, gave him the first tour of our new place. Unlocking the apartment doors for the first time brought such a rush of excitement and happiness that I can't even explain! Soon after, my dad left, and Blake had to leave so he could get to work, so I was left by myself. I kind of just stood there looking around, marveling at the pretty floors, the (nonworking) fireplace that I am so eager to decorate. (I then, of course, set out to take photos of everything. Because, I mean, my mom's gotta see it asap, am I right?!)

I went off to work at Red Velvet and was sitting there just thinking: Oh, hey. I'm not going to actually live there until October 5th. It kind of bummed me out, to be honest. I was so hyped up over getting the keys and the process of getting Blake moved in that I almost forgot that I wasn't moving in just yet. October seems so far away when I start *really* thinking about it! (But really, it's not. I mean, the wedding is 42 days away!)
BUT, I'm still excited - I know I'll be over there all the time, and Blake's going to let me decorate it even though I'm not living there quite yet (he's pretty sweet to me!).
So. Here it is! These are just a few quick snapshots I took!

 *My awesome boss got this as a housewarming gift for Blake. I think it's quite appropriate for Blake's personality. 

If we're being quite honest - I'm really picky when it comes to apartments. When I first moved out (with Anna!), our apartment was in a scary part of town. It was a small, but cozy apartment and if it hadn't been for crazy downstairs neighbors, we probably would've lived there for a while! When we moved to the Boonville, we became extremely spoiled with the amazing loft-style apartment (hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and piping, ginormous closets...sigh).
So, luckily, we were able to snag this apartment from the same management company. It came as a complete surprise to us that they were ripping out the carpet in the living room and kitchen because when we first toured it, it was all carpet  (and gross carpet, at that). So the hardwood floors were an unexpected, but wonderful addition to the space. I'm really excited to make this place *ours.* I have a feeling we'll be here a while. :)

(Also, there's a really great mirror on the closet door and I suspect that a lot of selfies will happen here. So.... sorry in advance. Ps. Can we talk about how long my hair is getting?! I think this is the longest it's ever been! pps. Short dress alert. #sorryboutit )

xo Haley

On an unrelated note: Congrats to my friends Krysta and Taylor on their engagement! I've never really known them as individuals, but as a couple. And let me tell you - never have I seen a more Christ-ordained couple than this one. What a blessing these two will be as a married couple. So happy for you guys! 

Our Wedding Invitations

So, today... I'm sharing the process of making our invitations! (Since, I think, most guests have received their's by now!)

We did this all from scratch, completely DIY. I had been browsing invitation websites for forever (seriously, nearly 14 months) looking for the perfect design, and after finding this one, I REALLY loved it, but kept looking around. From the get-go, my dad's bff had offered up his graphic design services as a gift to us, so I gave him a few samples of what I liked, and after months and month (and months) of me changing my mind, we finally decided on going off of the original design that caught my eye! I'm really amazed that he recreated it so well for us!

(As soon as the wedding is over, I'll post a full photo of the invite, but until then, here's a few snapshots)

After Jeff designed them, he emailed me a file of it, I put it on a flash drive and took it to Staples to be printed. I was a little nervous to print them through Staples, but it was MEGA cheap, so I went for it.

We printed 100 invitations (2 could print per page), at $1 per print. After being printed, he cut them down to size, for $2 per cut (since they can cut 100 pages at a time, he only had to make 5 cuts). The total cost came out to be $65, which, seriously - that is cheap when it comes to invitations!
When I got to my mom's house to start making all of the other elements, we then realized the guy didn't actually cut them down to the 5x7 size that we needed to fit the envelope, so.. my mom had to go through and cut them down again.

For the extra little elements that went inside the envelope, we included a card that had all the RSVP/wedding website information, a card that had all the information guests need to know about dinner (we are having dinner prior to the ceremony!), a little slip of paper with a hashtag for our wedding (totally jumped on that bandwagon), and a heart cut from different patterned papers (my mom's idea!). It was all tied up with grey and white twine, too!
I "designed" all of the extra info papers myself (I use the term design loosely, just FYI!), and we printed them on kraft paper from Hobby Lobby (so stinking easy!).

I got together with one of my bridesmaids (thank you, Morgan!!), to put these together, and it took maybe 2 hours tops to put them together and stick them in the envelopes. It was easy as pie!
Also! Instead of using the ugly "love/wedding" stamps USPS has to offer, we used these pretty floral ones. They matched perfectly!

*image via @alissaclaire

In the end, they turned out exactly as I had hoped they would. I'm very proud of them!
If you are planning a wedding and are at all hesitant to do DIY invites, I say go for it! Seriously, it was so easy, and nearly stress free. That, and we spent a fraction of the cost that we would have paid ordering through an actual invitation company. Win-win, am I right?

Thanks for looking!
Haley

#areadyheart

So I just got back from seeing Taylor Swift (okay, okay - she's totally my guilty pleasure and I refuse to be ashamed!), and I originally planned on sharing a few photos and videos from the concert, but this "bible study" was laid on my heart like you wouldn't believe, so I decided to share this, instead. (I probably will still post about T. Swift anyway, though. I just can't resist!) 

A couple of days ago, I pinned a photo that had a bunch of verses listed that apply to preparing yourself for marriage, under the title "A Ready Heart." I did the whole "pin now, read later" thing, and forgot about it for a while. Today, while browsing Pinterest, I decided to finally read what it was all about.

A couple of ladies have blogged about it, and I'm more convinced than ever that this is the perfect time to start a new Bible study. (And I'm no good at Bible studies, so we'll see how this goes.)

Side note: I have been reading the book "A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study" and I LOVE it. It definitely hit me with some major conviction, though. I'm one of those people who reads a book that's about God and about the Bible - and I call it a Bible study, but... I don't actually ever crack open a Bible. So when I read in the book that you can't call that a Bible study, and a true study includes picking a passage in the Bible and really studying it, I knew I had this whole Bible study thing all wrong. 

So when I found this specific study, which gives you a direct passage to study throughout the week, I knew this was the perfect way to start out a new way of reading my Bible (not to mention I bought a new Bible and it is so neat). 

There are 12 verses to study, and since there's only 8 weeks until the wedding, I doubled up on passages for all of August. I think that the actual format of this is to do one passage per day, for 12 days. But I'm going to make this a weekly thing, and spend more time on each passage and really study it and commit it to memory.
I'd like to do it for the 12 days leading to the wedding.. but I'm stressed as it is about this wedding, who knows what I'll be like the 2 weeks before! I know I need to make time for reading my Bible, and that's really what it comes down to (trying not to make excuses!), but I thought this would be a better way to ease into the daily Bible reading flow. :)

I'm so excited to share this study with you all, and if you want to join (single, engaged, married!), please do! I'll be sharing weekly on Instagram, so be sure to follow along, and even share your study, too! I'm starting today with Genesis 2:5-25, wish me luck!

xo Haley

No Matter How Small

If you read here regularly (heck, even occasionally), you know that I see a lot of things on Facebook, often which I'll get super passionate about. Usually, this only occurs with political posts (I know I shouldn't click on those links!). But today, while doing my daily scroll through my Facebook timeline, I noticed a little link to a new local t-shirt company with a very unique platform, here in Springfield, MO.

A child's death is a tough thing to hear about, no matter what stage of life they are at. Many families aren't expecting these things to happen, and with the outrageous funeral costs these days, it's hard for anyone to manage the burden that these costs put on someone. 

This is where No Matter How Small comes in. They use all proceeds from their shop to put towards the cost of funerals and burials for families that have suffered from miscarriages, still births and infant deaths. 

So often we don't hear about the deaths of unborn babies after the 20 week mark. While it is fairly common to experience a miscarriage (holy wow statistic: anywhere from 10-25% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage), it's rare to hear the stories of families that have lost their babies, yet still had to go through the labor and birthing process. While it doesn't lessen the emotional pain, No Matter How Small does help. I am SO glad that there is now a cause that can help financially support families through this difficult time. 

At this time, they only offer one style of t-shirt, available in adult, youth and child sizes - but I am hoping that as the company grows, they offer more styles!

Be sure to check out their shop, and definitely give their About Page a read. 

xo Haley