Good Bye to the Good Ol' Days...

OK- so let's be real. I love John with all my heart. And I can't wait to be his little Catholic trophy wife <3 But I'm going to put this out there...it is going to be weird living with a man. Now for some, this is no biggie. I know in the world today it is a perfectly acceptable thing to live with a man before you are married, but it is something that both John and I have agreed should wait until marriage. (cough, cough, among other things, cough)

That being said, before I had a ring on my finger, I couldn't WAIT for the day to live with my husband blissfully ever after. Then, BOOM, you have the ring and allll your dreams are suddenly becoming reality. Like, HOLY-MOLY-YOU-HAVE-10-MONTHS-TO-GET-READY-FOR-THIS-LIFE-LONG-COMMITMENT, reality. It's funny, I mean it isn't like I've had 27 years to prepare for this. I mean, come on, little girls start dreaming about getting/being married in 4th or 5th grade. And there are SO many things I am super excited about. But for some reason, there is one thing I just can't imagine: LIVING WITH A BOYYYY (as Monica put it from "F.R.I.E.N.D.S." when she was off to live with Chandler)

I remember attending a talk given by Kimberly and Scott Hahn @ Steubs...and I always remembered Scott saying how the older you are to get married, the harder the transition into married life would be. Not the lovey dovey part, but the realization that the longer you live on your own, the more set in your ways you both will be. So, coming into a marriage, you have to be prepared and open to changing the way you do things. Ummm, well I am not exactly proud to admit this, but the way I do things is ALWAYS the best and right way. Duh. Why else would I do it the way I do it if it wasn't the most efficient? So yes, that part makes me nervous. But I know prayer and making more room for Christ and less room for ME in our marriage will help me to transition through those changes. 

The one thing that I am not afraid to admit I am sad to leave: The Babysitter's Club. That is what John calls my house. Currently, it consists of 3 other women besides myself: Audrey Jayne Smith (lived with her on and off for over 7 years), Maggie Smith (lived with her on and off for over 3 years), and my sister Kristen (obviously, there's a history there). As much drama as living with 3 girls brings, I love being able to walk in any of their rooms at pretty much any time of the day and vent about any number of topics which I find highly important to discuss. All of which they find important to listen to and discuss with me upon any needed amount of time. Yet, when I discuss any of the topics the Babysitter's Club deems important to my hubs-to-be, I see a thick glazed look cover his eyes and start to get generic one-word responses. I know he means well and he has promised me he will do better...but deep down I know it will never be the same...guess that is why God invented Skype! Yes, I will have my girl time and thoroughly enjoy wine happy hours like never before, but in a sense, it is an end to those single years "living it up" with the girls. 

So here is to the last 9 months of the Babysitter's Club and other great girlie moments, I've included some of my favorite memories over the past several years....which obviously equates to A LOT of pictures, enjoy!

Lady Baron's Basketball. 6am work outs never felt soo good. 

SB06. Where the Embassy Suites happy hour legacy began.

This picture sums up the classic Raines/Jayne relationship. 

Our last attempt at pretending we were in "normal college". Fail. 

Our first 1425 reunion post-Steubenville at the Houston Rodeo. 

The addiction to yearly vacations together begins!

Jayne and I did Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2007. FUN!

Kaitlyn, Jayne, and I threw a 80s themed Halloween party. It was during our post-college, but let's pretend like we are still in college phase. 

The beginning of the yearly Denver ski trip/1425 reunion. Here we are on top of the Continental Divide!

Another themed party...you guessed it, President's Day! I was Jackie O and Jayne was good o'l George. 

One of my favorite vacations, ever. Our trip to Punta Cana! All-inclusive was the best thing ever created.

Jayne and I did our first social with the Catholic 20somethings in Austin. Camping. With people we had never met before. Whhhhyyyy did we think that would be fun? Well, we got a kick out of taking goofy awkward pictures of ourselves, that is for sure. 

My first 5k! The Warrior Dash....so much fun with my seester. 

Another ski trip to Keystone and Breckenridge. So beautiful!

The nursing home. I miss. 

Halloween in Austin 2010, Popeye and Antione Dodson. Remember him?

One of my favorite events in Austin. St. Padrick's Day. Celebrated about 2 weeks after the ACTUAL St. Padrick's Day on 6th Street. Everyone was LOVING that :)

Another pic from Padrick's...this was on the stage at the Dueling Piano Bar!

Another race we completed on a girl's day out. This one was the JailBreak...I think you can tell how much fun we had by this picture!

Celebrating New Year's with my seester @ Natalie and PTs wedding. Good time. 

That's all for now, stalk me on the FB and you can pretty much see my single life history in tagged photos.