let me introduce you...

let me introduce you to the most delicious cupcakes you'll ever eat in your life on this earth.

cupcrazed.

oh i've talked about them before?

it's because they are delicious. strawberry cuprazed cupcakes are my favorite, so yesterday when they had THREE different types of strawberry flavors available... NOT buying ALL of them wasn't even a choice.

also, since husband is not a huge cupcake fan [[scoff]] i was able to get him a little pre-birthday treat.

enjoy!

warning: you may drool all over your keyboard//smartphone

oh... and this picture of harlow?? just too cute NOT to post :)

if you are ever in fort mill, or the charlotte area, stop into cupcrazed! you will NOT be sorry. also, check them out on facebook && twitter!

don't tell me what to do.

don't tell me what to do.

this may be a personality flaw... had to have atleast one right?

KIDDING!! haha! i have many, one of the perks of being human :)

...but i really can't stand it when people tell me what to do, or how i should live my life. first of all... it's not your biz... and second... it just makes me want to do it more.

for example; when chris and i were engaged, i had numerous randoms or people who 'kind of knew me' tell me to WAIT! it went a little something like this...

randomperson: "how old are you"

me: "21"

randomperson: "WAAAAIT! you're so young. get financially settled. you have all the time in the world! blablablaaaaaaaa."

me: "how 'bout you don't tell me what to do & mind your own business! i'm in love with this man & WHAT in the world would i WAIT for?!" <----- this of course was the response i gave IN MY HEAD VOICE. truth be told, i just smiled & moved along with life.

or here is the latest...

if i even MENTION how cute a baby is. i don't even have to mention having one of my own, or starting a family, or anything about our personal plans. ALL i have to say is, "oh my gosh, so cute" and the remainder of the conversation or comments from someone near by goes like this:

me: "oh my gosh, look at that cute baby!"

randomperson: "how old are you?"

me: "23"

randomperson: "girrrrrl. WAIT. you've got plenty of time! you're so young. get settled. say goodbye to this or that. good luck(in the sarcastic tone). blablablaaaaaaaa"

me: "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DOOOOO!!!!!!" <---- again, this is in my inside voice. ha!

...but seriously, it's NOT anyone's business how you live your life. i can respect opinions of those who have been through the parts of life that i haven't yet, but i am also a strong believer in their not being ONE way to do things. to each his/her own.

after a conversation with my friend jessica (READ HER BLOG, she is an AMAZING woman of the Lord & i love her to the end of the earth and MORE) we were talking about life & how she's experienced some of the same comments & opinions, and we came to this conclusion.

YES. if chris and i would have WAITED to get married, maybe we could have been more financially stable, or known better what our lives were going to look like. YES. maybe we could have better planned for life things that were going to come up. maybe we could have bought a house instead of renting an apartment. etc.

is that was matters most??

not to me.

getting married when we did, & having those first year experiences, struggles, laughs, crazy moving around the country & everything else that came with that first year of marriage is something so special to my heart. something i cherish. something i would NEVER trade for more stability, or any of the other ideas that this world has for "the order of life" or "the way things SHOULD be" because honestly... stability, planning... it's all just an illusion of control. yes, we have free will, but bottom line: God is in control, and my heart find's peace in knowing that :)

...and as far as babies go. I AM ALLOWED TO OOOH & AAAH OVER A DELICIOUS LITTLE BABY! ---and whenever we end up having them? take it up with God, because that's His decision & His timing too. :)

so yea... apologies for the rant. it's just something that's been on my heart for a while now. maybe it will inspire some of you to do your own thing & rest in the knowledge that your life is in God's hands & you can politely shrug off the haters. and if not, hopefully you found this rant to atleast be somewhat comical :)

happy day! look at these CUTE babyrufflebottoms! HA. HA. ;)

**pinterest photos**

dear tori spelling.

dear tori,

you are just great. i LOVE your style & all of your creativity. you have a gorgeous family & are such an awesome mom. watching tori & dean makes my heart happy, & i really feel like y'all portray having a family to be a huge blessing & a fun journey... but you also keep it real & show the tough stuff too. fashion, party planning, interior design... i'm pretty sure that we would be friends. that's all. keep it up, & please send me a copy of your new party planning book, 'celebraTORI' for my birthday... may 7th. thanks!

love, hillary

**photos from pinterest**

penguins & heart songs.

i've never really told chris and i's entire love story on this blog, because when i started it, it was really just for friends & family and they already knew it! since then though, i've made new bloggy friends & have new followers that don't know our history. (i am thankful for y'all!) 8 years is a lot to share, so i'll give you the short version & get to my point about penguins & heart songs :)

chris & i met in high school. i was a sophomore & he was a junior. i was homeschooled for part of it because of my dancing & traveling back & forth to LA. so i didn't have a school to go to events like homecoming, prom, sadie's, etc. my dance friends were my best friends & so i went to their events! and that's where we met. i had seen pictures of chris, & met him in passing at recitals and thought he was THE hottest guy in the world, but never in a million years thought of dating him! 2 reasons being, i didn't know him or go to his school, and i was NOT the only girl that noticed his delicious green eyes, tan italian skin or 6 pack :)

i did however end up dating someone he was friends with (NO, I DID NOT HAVE ALTERIOR MOTIVES) anyway, i'll hurry this up.. at some point in the SHORT period of time i was dating his friend, he decided that HE wanted to date me. so he basically stole me away from his friend... it wasn't hard. everyone hated us. ha! oh, high school drama. i feel like this is a great time to point out that his friend does not have life long damage from this occurrence. they are still friends. he was in our wedding, and is also happily married to his beautiful wife now. so it's all good people.

cut to 3 years later. chris is in his second year of college, i am now graduated and in LA. but what's really important about this chapter? this is the year that we broke up. :( it's true. he dumped me. how rude. he wanted the freedom to be in college & not worry about me worrying about him & being on his back all the time about where he was & who he was with & what he was doing.

i was devestated.

it was not until a few months into this break up that i realized i had ALOT of growing up to do. we were broken up for 8 LONG months. we talked during & it was not a pleasant time for me at all. if you know me personally, you know this to be called "the dark time"

i'm not dramatic at all.

anyways, this is where i get to my point.

we got back together :)

he told me that he knew that i was his forever. he knew that i was his one & that there was no going back. but it's the way that he told me this that makes it SO sweet...

side story: i LOVE penguins. always have, always will. they are precious. & more than that, some of them mate for life. oh yea, and i love the movie happy feet & that they have heart songs. i like to believe they really do :)

so chris asked me to be his penguin.

i of course accepted, and from then on, we have given eachother "heart songs"

i first gave him "i'm yours" by jason mraz and he gave me "you're my everything" by michael buble. we still do this to this very day. and have accumulated a pretty impressive list of songs.

which is why i'm posting & telling you all this.

my most recent heart song to husband is "i won't give up" by jason mraz.

and if you follow me on twitter than you have already heard this, but it's a good thing you are dripping sweat in hot yoga, so that when they start playing this song & you start crying like a baby, no one can tell :) jason mraz... love songs.

i LOVE husband. i am so thankful that we are forever. we have been together ever since that day, and we have been in love since the beginning. he is my greatest blessing.

xoxo

it's here!

over the weekend...

husband had his last preseason game! what's that mean? the official season is starting! spring and summer nights with friends, watching games, and fun! i'm so ready. last year was SUCH an amazing experience in charlotte and it was our first year! meeting new people, getting integrated in the community. this year, we already know amazing people here &&&& there are new people coming in to get to know! it will be wonderful!

scenes from the weekend.