John Blue Cotton Festival

I'm a little late on this, but a few weekends ago, we wanted to get out and go to a fall festival so I found one about 45 minutes away called the "John Blue Cotton Festival." It sounds cute and country, right? It was perfect! 

John Blue was a gentleman who patented some tools and machines to use to harvest cotton. He also built his family a mansion and carved a lot of the detailed woodwork on the home.

There were farmers and craftsmen at the festival cooking over fire and building wooden artwork for everyone to watch as they worked. They also had examples of the tools and machinery used to harvest cotton.

Woodwork. They love the Gators even up here in NC!

Cool car they had at the farm:

They had some alpacas and a mule too!

Of course he wanted to play with the little dude haha!

And for the best part...

I grew up eating muscadine grapes at my granny and grandpa's house and they have them everywhere here in NC. So when I saw this booth selling Muscadine Cider Slushies, I HAD to get one! Jimbo actually spotted it for me and knew I'd love it! Good eye, babe!! It was so good too :)

Wedding Advice

I always get asked for wedding advice or info from friends that are starting to plan their wedding. So I thought I'd put together an easy list of things that I am so happy and thankful I did and things that I regret. I loved every second of our wedding, but like anything in life, there are always things you wish you would have done differently. So here's the master list...

So thankful I:

• Didn't spend too much money! We made a budget for ourselves and I was determined to come under it as much as possible. We paid for the wedding ourselves so we cut corners often. We didn't go without things, we just made things ourselves, used things creatively, etc. I have to give credit to my mom!! She did buy some stuff for us either as shower gifts or just randomly that we used for the big day. So we didn't buy everything ourselves. Thanks, Mom! We just have so many other things we want to be able to have throughout our lives (like our home!) and we couldn't see ourselves spending a ton of money on just one day. We found a happy-medium...do what makes you happy and makes your day special, but don't over do it.
• Made a schedule for the DJ to follow. I included everything from the time of cocktails/hors d'oeuvres to the entrance of the bridal party (with names to be announced and songs to be played), times for events (cake cutting, first dance, etc with songs to be played). It helped tremendously!!! I think everyone that plans a wedding probably does this, but in case you didn't know, a schedule is awesome. The day will be a blur and before you know it, 4 hours has passed. So with a DJ announcing it's time for the first dance, it makes it easier for you to tear yourself away from whatever you're doing at the moment that the announcement is made.
• Gave ourselves a day in between the wedding and leaving for the honeymoon. We got married on a Saturday and booked our flights for Monday morning. This gave us time to see all of our family one more day before everyone left town. It also gives you a day to rest because you will be exhausted! 
• Bought flat(ish) shoes to go with my wedding dress. I didn't want to take my shoes off half way through dinner so I wanted comfortable shoes that were still cute so I went on a major shoe hunt! I had a hard time finding the perfect pair and I think that I finally found them only days before the wedding. But I kept my shoes on the whole night and they looked cute too!
• Splurged a little on the photographer. The most important thing to us was to have a wonderful photographer so that we would have wonderful pictures, since that is about all you have left after it's all over.

I wish I:

• Broke my shoes in before the day before the wedding. I thought I was being smart by breaking them in, but I should have done it a little earlier. They were comfy, but still gave me blisters because I wore them everywhere the day before. So it pained me to put those things back on the next day!! Only for a few minutes after putting them on, then I was okay :) 
• Would have asked the photographers to come a little earlier. They came one hour before the ceremony started, but looking back on it I wish it was two hours before. They were able to capture a lot of us girls getting ready, but not the dudes or the parents :( It's really okay because other people got some shots of all of them getting ready. Give yourself time before the ceremony to capture those moments of nerves, excitement and reality sinking in :)
• Had gotten acrylic nails at some point in my life. I got them done a couple of days before the wedding, but it was still the hardest thing to get used to for me! I couldn't zip my jeans, it was weird washing my hair, shaving my legs, etc. hahahaha I know I'm a rookie, but I could not stand how it felt. I probably should have gotten them weeks before and then I would have been a pro. Oh well, it worked out just fine!
• The most important thing is this: Don't try to do everything alone!!! I hate asking for help and I know that is a flaw of mine. It wasn't that I didn't want help, but I just didn't know what to ask for help with. I'm so crazy! I was even steaming my own wedding dress minutes before I needed to put it on. Accept help when it's offered!! You will thank yourself later :)

I think that is all I have for now and I hope this is helpful for at least one person! Please let me know if you need any advice in the future!! 

Busy Bee

I haven't posted anything in what seems like forever! I knew I'd start neglecting this little blog, haha!

Since I started working last month, I have been working full-time hours and taking classes in between. And of course studying at home. I am a little crazy and always go over and beyond when I study because I like to feel prepared. I am getting used to a new patient population and also a new hospital with new charting and medication systems. It's all kind of overwhelming, but it will all come with time. I am already taking a few patients on my own so I will be completely on my own (and off of orientation) soon. I love that I am feeling like a nurse again!! I get such joy from helping my patients feel better, even if it is just tracking down a turkey sandwich just for them :) The patients always seem to know just the right thing to say. Whenever I feel slightly lost or frantic, they say something so nice and it makes it all worth it. I had the cutest little old lady and her even cuter little old husband tell me that I was the sweetest nurse the other day. It was wonderful to hear :)

Funny part about this hospital is that each profession is assigned certain color scrubs to wear and nursing just happens to be royal blue and white. Yes, the same stinkin' blue I had to wear for nursing school. They called us the smurfs when we would go to the hospital for clinicals. When I graduated, I donated all of my scrubs and said "I will never wear blue again." Oops, never say never. So, here I am wearing blue everyday:

Anyway, I am so thankful for a job and so far I love it! Except for the nasty cold I have been given from my lovely co-workers, haha! Everyone is sick!! 

P.S. I'm also loving this fall weather! It feels amazing outside! Y'all are more than welcome to come visit!!