Most Popular Posts of 2016

2016: what a year! I know the world is ready to see it go, but I really liked 2016 for the most part! Christopher and I really had a lot of great things happen to us and our families this year, and it was such a year of growth. For us, 2016 was a great foundation for good things to come in 2017. I love that feeling of something huge coming up over the horizon.

Here's a quick look back on my 2016, through the lens of my most popular blog posts! Thanks as always to my faithful friends, followers, and readers, you really helped this blog make some huge strides this year! I set a lot of personal goals for myself and Starting Out Southern this year, and without you, they wouldn't have been reached. I'd love to hear some feedback in the comments about what you'd like to to see more of in 2017 or any questions you have about me/the blog/the life!

January: Being a Bride | Megan     My first "Being a Bride" post featured Megan, one of my Phi Mu sisters. The popularity of her post in January immediately helped me land more posts on the topic, and solidified the wedding theme for this year on the blog.
February: Being a Bride | Emily     Emily's post was another popular "Being a Bride" feature. I think it speaks to the fact that people come to blogs to get to know other people! It's a social setting, so don't hesitate to comment, email, reach out on social media, etc. If you'd like to be the next bride, click the connect tab at the top of the page to email me today!
March: Invited to Party     By March, the wedding festivities were in full swing. This post featured the best friend designed invitations to one of my showers and my bachelorette weekend. I have been blown away all year at the popularity of this post. It's literally been pinned over 100 times--that's amazingly high for a personal pin from my blog!
April: Prom 2k16     I'm not surprised this was the most popular post in April; with a prom dress like that, of course it would be!
May: Bridal Portraits     My first true peak into our wonderful wedding was my bridal portraits post. Shared just after our honeymoon recap, this popular post in May set the tone for the chronicling of our wedding weekend as a faithful summer post.
June: Wedding Video     I'm so glad our wedding video was so well received because I LOVED it. I sometimes go back and watch it randomly just to get some lovey-dovey feels for the day.
July: Our First Look     We did a non-traditional first look at our wedding, which I think aided in the high readership of this post. It was a truly unique moment! If you missed out, here's your chance to find out what it was all about!
August: Black Transitional Dress     This was one of my first true styled outfit posts. How scary! As much of myself as I put out there on the Internet, doing a self-styled post was truly nerve wracking. But the positive response encouraged a few more throughout the year, and I look forward to including more looks in 2017's post line-up.
September: Christmas List     I would have been sad if this one hadn't been a hit, as one of my top five posts of all time is a Christmas list! I guess I know how to pick good gifts!
October: Hurricane Matthew     A "real-life" blog post, Hurricane Matthew was a hot topic for a few weeks. I'm thankful we didn't sustain any structural damage to our home, and that all of our friends and family were safe through the storm.
November: Being a Bride | Lauren     One of my favorite "Being a Bride" posts was my sweet friend Lauren's. Isn't she stunning?!
December: Trimming the Tree with Walker Boutique     This post is one that I'm probably the most proud of from 2016. It had been my goal this year to develop relationships with some of my favorite businesses and to work with them to bring their awesomeness to the blog. I'm so grateful Walker Boutique was excited to work with me too, and I can't wait to do more posts like this in the future.

And again, thank you to my full time life photographers {the hubs and the bff}, the consistent Facebook promoters {you know who you are!}, and those newbies who have just started stopping by. I appreciate every page click, Facebook like, or post share--they really do make a difference in helping this grow!

Ornament Review Round Two

In my dining room, I have a gold tree that I spray painted last year {you can read more about that experience, and the why, here} and decorate with white, gold, and silver ornaments. Also kind of known as my "marriage" tree, I have a lot of "M" ornaments, our engagement ornaments, and now first Christmas ornaments on display!

These gold mirrored personalized pet ornaments from Moon & Lola are my absolute favorite new additions. I gave them as gifts to a bunch of people for Christmas last year, and am doing it again this year! Almost everyone has a pet that they love, and you can pick from a variety of dog breeds, gold or silver, and script or block font to make it perfect for each person on your gift list. 

I spotted this Mud Pie "First Christmas" ornament at Walker Boutique a few months ago and had to buy it! Besides coordinating perfectly with my tree, it also coordinates with a lot of the look from our wedding and serves as a great token from the year. This is the perfect gift for the newlyweds on your list!

My mom gave me this ornament as a birthday gift because as she said, it's the most perfect shoe for me! 

One of my sweet Phi Mu friends spotted two boxes of Shiny Brites in a store last Christmas that were all silver and gold and graciously thought of me! I'm so glad to have such a classic addition to my themed tree. 

Weekend Recap: Hurricane Matthew

It's always a bummer when a weekend doesn't really feel like a weekend at all. I'm kind of obsessed with the weather, so when the possibility of a major hurricane hitting the Savannah area developed last weekend, I of course began tracking that thing by checking my weather apps multiple times a day and constantly refreshing my Twitter feed for any related news. Last Wednesday it was pretty much confirmed: the Georgia coast would be seeing extremely rough weather sometime over the weekend.

Most of the town closed down Friday in preparation, which was great for me. I slept in, cleaned house, and sat on the couch most of the day watching the 24/7 live stream of Savannah news as the storm rolled in. As the winds and rains began to pick up after dark, I started getting a little more nervous. Christopher wouldn't be off work until 10 p.m., and then he had over an hour commute home. Thankfully he pulled up right after midnight, and right after the first storm band was beginning to really come in strong.

We went to bed while many of my friends didn't sleep all night long. I woke up a few times to the 50 mph+ wind gusts rattling the windows. Once, I woke to the sound of cracking limbs, but that was all I heard so I went back to sleep. Imagine my surprise when I woke Saturday morning to find that we actually still had power and a major downed tree in the back yard! It appears to have been struck by lightning and split down the middle as it fell, taking about six smaller trees down with it, crushing the fence along the property line. We are so thankful that it didn't fall the other way, as it surely would have landed on the house, and probably in our bedroom!

Our backyard

Visitors will have a hard time getting in today!

There are still trees down all over town this morning, including one blocking the main entrance to our office building. We were blessed to have had power all weekend, while still so many are without, including my family in South Carolina. Sunday was full of yard clean up and trying to get the house back to normal after such an intense weather weekend. Needless to say, I'm a little exhausted today, but nothing like the amazing men and women working to restore utilities to our region! One of the Georgia Power men yesterday stopped to ask why we had power when the rest of the streets surrounding us didn't {I don't know! But glad we do!} and mentioned that he still didn't have lights on at his own home.

Riding out the storm with our scaredy-dog 

My favorite house in Statesboro...seemed to only sustain fence damage! 

I'll be interested to see how Christopher's apartment on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah fared, but there is still no way on to the island at this point. Thanks to all who checked in on us throughout the whole ordeal. We are definitely counting our blessings!

Power truck from Tyler, Texas 

Marrying McAfee | Let's Party!

Oh the wedding reception...one of the most fun parts of the day. After dinner, the music cranked up, and everyone hit the dance floor. We had a friend from college {DJ Hurricane Herman, what what!} DJ our reception, which allowed for a lot of personal touches and requests. He definitely played to the crowd and got a lot of people moving, which was important to us. 

We took one break from the party to do the traditional bouquet toss, or throw in our case, and the garter toss. I surprised my maid of honor Kirstie by throwing the bouquet directly at her as a surprise. It was so funny. And Christopher surprised me by having hands full of ice when he went to retrieve the garter! I was so hot that I didn't even feel it for a few seconds...it just felt wonderful and cool on my legs, but it got icy, fast. 

Both my maid and matron of honor gave heartfelt and memorable speeches. Christopher's best man Elijah was deployed on our wedding day, but he had two great men step in to fill that place. A few weeks before the wedding, I had messaged Elijah to kind of put the idea out there of a surprise speech if it was at all possible. He was able to record his thoughts and our DJ played it for everyone to hear, much to Christopher's surprise. I'm so glad we were able to do that, and include Elijah in our special day from afar.

My Phi Mu sisters also did the traditional wedding cheer, and I was so proud of myself for remembering to bring my candle from the candle-light ceremony announcing our engagement in the Phi Mu house three years prior, almost to the day! I'm so thankful we were able to get a picture with our fabulous photographer, a Phi Mu herself.

 

Throughout the reception, I could tell that our friends were getting feisty and were creating quite the getaway car. We were scheduled to leave through a tunnel of sparklers at 10:30 p.m., but about 10:15 p.m., I hit my limit. I was exhausted, hot, and just ready to be alone with my husband! So I headed back to the getting ready space, and literally laid on the couch for five minutes while the sparklers were handed out to the remaining guests. When Christopher finally made it back to the room, he asked, "How's my little introvert doing?" He knows me so well, and knew my "socializing limit" had been met!

We spent a few more minutes by ourselves with our photographer and videographer soaking in the last seconds of the day before heading out through the front door through a beautiful tunnel of sparkles. After pulling Saran wrap {and condoms...boys...!} off the car, pushing out dozens of balloons out of the seats, and stuffing my giant dress into the car, we were off! We rode back to our house to change and grab our luggage before heading to Savannah for the night. I think we both couldn't stop smiling all the way home, and kept saying how it was truly the best wedding ever.

Thank you for following along while I chronicled these memories! But no worries, the wedding features will continue, as I have the honor of featuring a few friends and blogging buddies and their wedding days. If you're interested in your wedding being featured, shoot me an email at piperellice at gmail dot com.

Also a huge thank you to all of our family and friends, near and far, who made this day the best day of our lives. We love you all!

summer in Lilly

Pink Pom Poms | Pineapple Top | Pineapple Tote | Navy One Shoulder | Gold Stripe Shorts | Navy Shift

First off, I will have that pink pom tank dress. It is absolutely precious. Secondly, did Lilly know I was already looking for game day clothes for this fall? So much gold and navy!

I love the gold foil pineapple t-shirt, but I also love all the other designs available as well: flamingos and multi-color pineapples included! Keeping with the pineapple trend is the cutest {and reversible!} gold pineapple tote. I'd love to carry this bag throughout the summer and into football season to coordinate with my navy and white Georgia Southern game outfits.

Speaking of game day outfits, I'm think that the navy ruffle one shoulder top paired with the gold and white stripe shorts will be perfect for a hot September Saturday! And the navy and gold shift works for games and the office in the summer, too!

What are your favorite summer pieces?

Manda is getting married!

This blonde bombshell is getting married tomorrow!!

Both Amanda and her hubs-to-be Jared were two of my very first friends in college at Georgia Southern. We've spent a lot of time together throughout the years, and I am so excited to be a part of their very big day. Amanda and her family have spent the last few months putting tons of personal details into the wedding which will be held on her family's property. Her amazingly talented older sister even designed and created the invitation suite, and will be doing all of the flowers!

Best wishes for the soon to be Mrs.; I hope you love being married as much as I do! Can't wait to experience this beautiful {although scorching!} weekend with one of my very best friends.

Congrats, Grad!

This guy graduates from pharmacy school this weekend! His hooding ceremony is this afternoon, and he will officially graduate with his PharmD tomorrow morning. It's been a long time coming, and we both couldn't be more excited that this weekend is here!

Christopher has taken a job as a pharmacist about an hour away, and I'm glad we are able to stay in the area. After his graduation trip with as I call them "The Friends" or in their words "The Ballerz," he'll start full time in the real world! A few more tests stand in his way before being officially done, but it feels so very close!

I'm incredibly proud of him for working so hard over these last three years, even when it was really hard and everything seemed to be going wrong. He's passionate about helping others, and about being able to provide for our family, and I'm so thankful for both of those qualities. We're celebrating this weekend in Savannah with our families, and I can't wait!

Happy Friday!

Summer 2016 Bucket List

How are we already halfway through June? Christopher graduates from pharmacy school this weekend {cue the Hallelujah Chorus}, and will be on a graduation trip next week before starting his job full time. Then we'll have July 4th followed by Amanda's wedding the next weekend, and summer will be halfway done!

It's feeling like it's all kind of escaping me too quickly; wasn't life supposed to slow down after the wedding? So I thought I'd sit down and come up with a list of things I want to accomplish, some fun and some not so fun, before life gets truly hectic again later in the year.

1. Spend some time at Jekyll Island | Christopher has never been, and I go each year for work trips. It's wonderful! Great beaches and great food, with plenty to explore: new and old! 
2. Clean out {and clean up!} the wedding and Christmas rooms | yes, I have one for both. Although, the Christmas room has become the dumping ground for all of Christopher's things as he moved his stuff in the week before the wedding. I've been working through the wedding room, sorting all of our lovely gifts and finding a home for each of them, while trying to create an office/study space for Dr. PharmD. 
3. Move the curio cabinet in | My grandparents gave me a large curio cabinet for my birthday almost 15 years ago {sounds so funny--15 years?!} that I displayed dolls and mementos in. I've never moved it out of my mom's house because it's giantly heavy, and I also didn't live anywhere that accommodate such a large piece of furniture. Now that we are living in an actual house we have enough room, and so many beautiful wedding gifts and serving pieces to display in it!
4. Host a summer soiree | Another great thing about our house is giant yards to have fun in! I'd love to invite our friends over for a cookout with our new grill and the cornhole boards Christopher made for our wedding...that we forgot to put out on the day of...oops. We'll have to wait for the evenings too cool off a little though...it's in the 100's here this week! 
5. Make at least one new recipe a month | this is kind of a goal for our first year of marriage, too. It's so easy to get into a cooking-rut {we had tacos four times in a week earlier this month}, so I want to be intentional about expanding my cooking skills and filling my monogrammed recipe box from my bridal shower! 
6. Financially plan for a new car | I want a new car. Pretty much anyone around me has heard of my desires for a third row, specifically a 4Runner in white, with tan leather and a sunroof. I've never bought a car myself, and don't want to run out there all willy-nilly and buy the first one I see. I've test driven one and loved it, so I know what I want, but I need to wait for the right one at the right price. I also don't want to put any unnecessary stress on our financial status as a couple by making such a big purchase too soon! Money is one of those things that we agree on 99% of the time, and we enjoy working towards our goals together. We can really focus on our finances once Christopher starts working full time, and I'm excited to do this as a team!
7. Spend more time with family | I've not seen my family since we got married, and that was almost two months ago! I can't believe how time flies. I'm hoping to see them all more, and maybe take a trip to North Georgia to spend a few days with the grands, too. 
8. Plan trips | we had the absolute best time on our honeymoon; I literally think about it every day! While we have a few trips planned in the upcoming months for weddings and things, I really want to plan a few couples trips and maybe even a family vacation for us to go on! Spending time together as a couple, and also as a couple with our families is very important to me. First on the list? A long weekend at Disney to celebrate both of our 25th birthdays in the fall! Then maybe a Christmas family vacation? And something special for our one year anniversary in the spring! Any ideas? 
9. Try new restaurants | Christopher and I love trying new places with amazing food. We've covered a lot of the Savannah staples, but there are some gems out here "in the country" that we've yet to hit.
10. Learn to make fancy cookies | my bestie and I are obsessed with every royal iced sugar cookie we come across. We're constantly tagging each other in those oh-so-soothing Instagram videos of cookies being decorated. She's attempted some on her own, and now I want to try! I love the fancy cookies!

What's on your summer bucket list? 

Bridal Portraits 2

 After weeks of anticipation, we should be getting our wedding pictures back this week and our video in the weeks following--I can't wait! I'm ready to see how the whole day came together, and see all my friends and family who came to celebrate.

I'm also a little anxious...all those months of planning, and it comes down to just this one day! All the prep, and I can hardly remember what I, or what any of it looked like. So today I thought I'd share just a few more of my faves from my bridal portrait session before the wedding. It's rainy and humid here {thanks to the second tropical storm in as many weeks}, so hopefully this will brighten up your day, too!

Also, be sure to head over to Facebook to like my photographer's page: Ari Merritt Photography, especially if you're in the Savannah area!