I've officially been blogging for 20 months. Yes I'm going the month route. Kinda like a baby. In reality this space is like my baby. It demands attention. It needs to be fed, changed, and encouraged. It's not going to walk on its own. It a not going to talk on its own.

The reality of it is each and every blog needs a village (or community) to grow. Bloggers need to take the steps to interact with other bloggers and their readers. Research them. Find out what they want to see. Sounds a little daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing.

To bad there isn't a 'What to Expect when you're Growing a Blog' book out there. Because there is no official book that tells you exactly what to do, I am going to share the little changes I have been making lately to see big results.

Follow other bloggers

You may be thinking 'I already do that'. That's great but, what I've been focusing on is 3 specific bloggers. I've picked 3 bloggers who have different blogging styles and are still attracting readers who comment. This is great research. You can see what they are doing to keep readers coming back.

Update your photos

Over the weekend I crashed my friends wedding... sorta. I made the 6 hour trip with a mutual friend to help celebrate her wedding day. Even though I went to celebrate her and her husband I couldn't help but take notice to all of the little details. Details I am looking at now to plan my own wedding.


She got married in a church. A beautiful Greek Orthodox church. I have never been in such a beautiful place. The detail in the murals and the sparkle in the chandelier was like nothing I have experienced before. I started to compare it to my ceremony. I am getting married at a winery. I will be surrounded by beautiful scenery brought to me by nature. The detail I will see will come from the flowers and the trees. The sparkle will come from the sun shining down on me.

The ceremony was beautiful. I learned so much, as I have never attended a Greek ceremony before. I really loved the traditions and how it all flowed in a way that I never felt bored, or ready for it to be over. 45 minutes sounded like a long time, but it flew by so quickly. I now think about the ceremony I will have. I haven't even thought about who would officiate my special day. Me and R are both baptized Catholic but neither of us are apart of a church. Things to think about as we move forward.

After the bride and groom excused us from the church, we headed to the reception space. A party in a banquet room of a casino. An idea I would have never come up with as my own. It made perfect sense to me. The casino had a hotel, restaurant, and spa. Everything you could need was found in this space. My reception will be hosted at a winery. Dinner will be served in the in house restaurant and the party will take place surrounded by beautifully decorated wine barrels. I can offer my guests a night of dancing, socializing, and good local wine.

During dinner guests were encouraged to get up and make toasts to the bride and groom. I really loved this idea. It takes the pressure off of the maid of honor and best man. Anyone could make a speech and that to me makes more sense. Everyone has well wishes for you and your new life. Why not let them spoil you with them in front of your guests?

The whole day was perfect. I was really excited to be apart of their special day, and left with all sorts of new ideas for my own wedding. It reminds me how all weddings are beautiful not matter how they go down. We all have our own traditions and visions, to make our day, us. We want to show our friends and family a good time, but we also want it to symbolize us as a couple. I can't wait to continue to share this journey with all of you.

Where do/did you get inspiration for your wedding?

As you can see it is now the afternoon on the east coast and I am just not around to getting this blog posted. I am on the struggle bus today hardcore. Let's see how this currently list is gonna work.

Currently:

We have made it to Friday and I couldn't be more thrilled! This is kind of a Friday five post to a point. I am going to tell you about 5 things I am excited about currently. Make sense?

1. I FINALLY broke down and ordered a camera tripod. I have had my DSLR since Christmas and haven't fully utilized it. I am hoping by having the tripod will motivate me to pick it up more often. I am all for taking photos with my smartphone but sometimes I need the fancy pants camera to get the perfect shot. I just ordered it yesterday so it make take a few weeks before I get to use and it showcase my work here.

2. I haven't had a chance to talk about my mini vacation! Me and R went away for the weekend and visited a town in Pennsylvania called Easton. Doesn't sound that exciting right? Wrong. We went with little expectation other than to relax and get away. (I had a free hotel room at an Easton hotel that I won last year somehow..) Anywho... We had a BLAST. They had so much going on down in the area, which is right outside of Allentown and Bethlehem. We visited 2 festivals. An Octoberfest sponsored by Yunegling Brewery (One of my fave beers!) on Saturday where it rained a lot but I got to meet up with an old coworker and eat steudel. Score!

On Sunday we headed to the Garlic Fest in center square Easton. It was AH-MAZ-ING! The weather cleared up and it was a beautiful fall day. Right off of the square is the Crayola Experience. We didn't go in but we had a blast photographing the outside! Giant crayons and markers everywhere! We also sampled a ton of great garlic dishes. We attended a dessert competition where everything had to incorporate garlic. We had cheesecake, rice crispy treats, ice cream, and brownies. The cheesecake was TO DIE FOR!

Such an amazing day! I would recommend Easton, PA for a quick getaway. So much to do. I hear there is a bacon fest in November...
3. We got the venue for the wedding booked this week. I had my first dress fitting, which was super exciting. Things are moving along nicely in that department. I feel like 2 large items have been checked off my list, which takes the stress down a few notches.

4. I am attending a Cider festival this weekend. Can't wait to see what that brings. I love the fall for this reason alone. So many great festivals! Lots of eating and drinking. What's not to love?

5. I am officially launching a new series next week! I talked about this months ago and it never got off the ground. The series is called "Short Stories" and it is all related to all us short girls out there. I am going to encourage you to send in stories of your own if you are 5'3 and under. I am so exited for this.

6. Last but not least.. my first ever giveaway on the blog ended yesterday. Thank you to everyone who entered and supported it. Look for the winner next week! Could it be you?

Have a great weekend folks!

Two months. It's been two months since R popped the question. Two months of being engaged. I have to admit. I have accomplished a lot more than I had anticipated. We officially booked our venue this week AND I bought my dress. That last detail there still doesn't seem real. I. Bought. My. Dress. I keep saying it but it's not sticking yet. 

Six days after getting engaged me and R attended a bridal expo. There were two bridal dress shops set up. One was David's Bridal and one was a local off the rack boutique called Dressellas. I scheduled a consultation with David's Bridal and chatted with the ladies at Dressellas. They both seemed like perfectly good places to start when it came to looking at dresses. A few weeks later I stopped in at Dressellas and also scheduled an appointment with them the same day as David's Bridal. I was pumped.


The date finally arrived and my parents came up for the day. We left my dad and R to their own devices and made the hour trip to David's Bridal. The appointment was at 1 so we decided to stop for lunch. The restaurant was literally right next door to David's Bridal, but the food never came and we had to take it to go. Not off to the best start.

We walked into David's Bridal and I was taken care of immediately. This was great however I was not feeling any of the dresses. Each dress felt like it was the same dress over and over again. I am really short so all the dresses were super long and there was nothing for me to stand on to see the full effect. After the third dress I pretty much lost interest in trying on anymore dresses. They must have put me in 10 dresses and I started feeling sad. None of these dresses were for me.

We came to the end of the dresses they had for me to try. Everyone looked pretty frustrated. Me, at all the dresses that didn't work out. Them, at all the time they just spend with me just for me to tell them I wasn't interested in any of them. I felt really awful when I left. None of the dresses felt special to me and the mood in the place had me wanting to run away and never look back. I am not sure exactly what the problem was, but I didn't feel like it was the place for me.

After all of the disappointment, we hid in my car and ate our lunch before proceeding the hour back home. We were now headed to Dressellas. We arrived about 10 minutes early and I was really considering cancelling. I was in no mood to try on any more dresses. We were greeted immediately and were told we could go and pick out any dresses I was interested in trying. This was shocking to me as I didn't get the option at David's Bridal.

I selected 5 dresses to start. The first 2 were not worthy of even leaving the dressing room but the third was getting me interested. I came out of the dressing room and was told I could go stand on the pedestal in front of the 3 way mirror. This was AWESOME. I was able to see the dress in its entirety. It flowed down to the floor and for the first time I was able to picture myself as a bride.

I put aside a dress and decided I should pick out something big and crazy as I said when picking through the racks. I emerged with a dress I would have NEVER thought would be something I'd like. I put the dress on, stepped on the pedestal and that was it. I had found "the one". It flowed down so beautifully and I felt comfortable and confident in it. This was the dress for me.

I had a wonderful experience. I was smiling. I felt beautiful. My mom shed some tears. The boutique was really the best option for me. I was not happy at David's Bridal. They didn't do anything wrong, but I just didn't feel connected at all. I can't even explain it. I tried to explain what I wanted but it didn't seem to work. I mean no disrespect to the chain, but it wasn't for me.

Where did you get your dress? What do you think? Chain or boutique?