20 things about me

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Photo by Perry Vaile Photography 

ONE

I care too much about what other people think of me and my family.  I know, get over it, right?  I’m SUCH a people pleaser and super sensitive.  I hate disappointing even strangers.  The thought of having someone upset or hurt by me will sit in the pit of my stomach for months. I’ve tried to work on this trait, but after 34 years, here I am!  Still trying to please the world and not upset a soul.

TWO 

I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska.  Moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2001 (I was 18) to attend design school.  I actually followed my high school boyfriend to Charlotte for school (obviously, that didn’t work), met my best-life-long-friend, Sarah in design school.  Right after graduating from college I got a job with my internship as an interior designer… and several years later met my hubby!

THREE 

I was once on the cover of Carolina bride – January of 2010! 🙂 Lol, this picture makes me laugh, because if you know me, you know I don’t own a straight face!

Photo by Kristin Vining Photography.

FOUR

I met my husband while he was on a blind date with a friend of mine in February of 2005.  It was basically a casual afterwork/ happy hour blind date.  We all went to Cosmo’s and I immediately fell in love with him… unfortunately, he wasn’t there to meet me, he was there to meet her. I left early that night and went home and cried.  I was so ready to meet a nice guy and I literally fell head-over-heels in love with that southern gentleman.  I drove to the Cotswold Harris Teeter (I used to live in First Ward) where I devoured their entire pick-a-mix candy section… at the time, they were the only grocery store with a HUGE candy section.

They never went on another date after that evening…

FIVE 

Fast forward a few months to May of 2005, I was at the first Alive After Five with friends.  John walked up to me and said, “hey, Lindsey, do you remember me….” (!!!)  I literally buckled at my knees.  I mean, let’s not be over dramatic here, but really.  I actually had just finished reading the book, ‘He’s Just Not That Into You‘. I was basically totally up to speed on how to be the ‘cool’ girl… so as much as I wanted to be like, “oh, hey…”.  I literally lost my words and my cookies and said, “OMG, you remembered my name”.  Lols, so much for being the cool girl, right.  We spent that night holding hands – literally holding hands.  We were babies.

Fun fact: come to find out that the mutual friend that was trying to arrange the blind date that night in February for John and my girlfriend showed John a picture of my friend with a group of girls.  I was one of the girls in the picture… anyways, I guess he asked the girl before the blind date if the blonde in the yellow/ orange was single (see below).

SIX

I’ve been blogging now for almost 8 years – crazy, huh?!  I’ve taken breaks here and there, but it’s become a part of my life that I just can’t let go.  I’ve formed many relationships with bloggers and my followers that have transitioned into some amazing friendships.  My biggest fear as I step deeper into blogging world is that my friends and followers know the true person that I am!  I’m incredibly genuine and I try my best to keep it real – fake – no!  As you know, blogging takes up A LOT of time, so when I can collaborate with a brand that I believe in – then amazing and I will do it.  I just want to put it out there, what I decide to share is truly from my heart, items that I love, items that are on my wish list, etc.

Photo from a blog post in October of 2012.

SEVEN 

I used to teach hip hop and group fitness classes at Southend Athletic Club for about 2 years… some of my friends even took my classes, lol!

EIGHT 

I decided to open up about our infertility struggle in 2012 after two years of trying, prior to this post, I was incredibly quiet and insecure about the topic.  Our parents didn’t even know.  After opening up, we were able to connect with so many other couples who were faced with the same struggles.

We had our 4th round of IUI when this picture was taken in September of 2012.  I thought I was pregnant and the day we were supposed to find out, we had anniversary pictures scheduled.  We found out during this shoot that I wasn’t in fact pregnant.

Past posts include:

Infertility From the Husband

National Infertility Awareness Week

Baby #2

Olive Amelia’s Birth Story

Henry’s Birth Story 

Photo by Kristin Vining Photography

NINE

Insta Stories scare me!  I can be my crazy self all day long on Snapchat, but I just can’t get into Insta Stories.  Feel like I’m being judged.  Remember what I said in #1… yup, care too much about offending people and having people dislike me!

TEN

John proposed to me on Friday the 13th!  It was my bonus day at the firm and we started our day off as we normally do… a 5:30am Booty Loop run!  If your familiar with Charlotte then you know what I’m talking about.  As we were walking up Euclid to our condo I declared that it was going to be a great day; it was Friday, Bonus Day and on bonus day our first had a huge celebration!  Little did I know what Johny boy had up his sleeve.

Later that day right before the celebrations started at my firm, John told me to meet one of his work buddies outside of my building.  John and I both worked uptown and our buildings were right across from each other.  He said that he couldn’t slip away from work, but that he was proud of me and had a little something to recognize my hard work.  I met his buddy outside of my building and he handed over a card.  On the card it said, “open at 4:00pm”.

After opening the first card it then sent me across all of Charlotte (in my heels) and in the June southern heat.  The scavenger hunt took me too all of the first places that we went to within our time dating.  Mimosa Grill (because of Live At Five), The Attic (lol), LaVecchia’s and then the last card directed me to go back to our condo.  When I arrived to our condo, my best friend, Sarah Catherine decorated it in roses, flowers and pictures of the two of us.  Van Morrison was playing in the background and a few minutes later John walked through the door, got on one knee and asked me to marry him.  He had a jewelry box made with our initials and the engagement date on the box.  He’s so sentimental and emotional, lol!  Here’s a pic from our engagement night.

ELEVEN

Up until giving birth to Henry in 2013… my hubby and I always held hands while we slept.  Weird, huh?!  Also, TMI?

TWELVE

Working out, running and staying active has always been a huge part in my life.  I started working out and running when I moved to Charlotte in 2001.  I’ve somewhat ‘let myself go’ over the past few years with the kiddos and hormonal meds, but I’m SO excited to be back in the gym.  Trying hard to get my endurance back and to feel better about myself!  I’ve been waking up every morning and training between 5:00/ 5:30am!

THIRTEEN 

We’ve been to Negril Jamaica 6 times now!  Next vacay we’ll change it up! 😉

FOURTEEN 

I have a bit of social anxiety when I’m in a group of people.  I get nervous, sweaty, stumble on my words… I’m a hot mess basically!  It’s funny because on wedding days when I’m in the bridal suite I’m fine… but put me in a baby shower, network setting, group dinner!  Yikes!

FIFTEEN

I can’t start my day until the house is totally picked up and swiftered.  I guess because I work out of my home, I just require ‘order’.  I literally cannot start my day until the dishes are put away, the floor is dust-free, things are off the counters and toys are picked up.  I don’t make my bed as much as I used to.  When I worked at my firm I was the exact same way… couldn’t start the day until my desk was clean and in order.

SIXTEEN 

How and when I started Be Pretty?  I always LOVED doing makeup + hair for friends, but NEVER in a million years did I imagine myself starting a business and making a living in the beauty industry.  I started Be Pretty the week I returned from my honeymoon (October 2009).  I loved my wedding, the process and makeup + hair so much… and I guess I just wasn’t ready to ‘let go’ of the wedding industry.

I worked my a$$ off.  Y’all… those days we’re long, hard and brutal.  I worked around 50 hours at my firm (I probably should have been working more), then I worked Be Pretty.  I never took a lunch break, didn’t go to networking events after-hours… I worked!  The only time I didn’t work was when I was sleeping.  I would do wedding trials at 6:00pm after work, weddings on Saturday and Sunday’s.  If I wasn’t booked on a Sunday wedding, then I did more trials, shopped with clients and engagement and bridal portrait beauty.

One of the photographers that I worked closely with did sunrise shoots for bridal, engagement, maternity, family portraits.  I would normally start makeup + hair for those between 4:30am and 5:00am.  I would go on location for touchups and then directly into my firm after the shoot was over.  I learned how to manage my time at a very young age.  I was determined to succeed in the wedding industry.  I poured everything that I had into Be Pretty and a year and a half after I launched my business and the HARD-HARD-VERY-HARD hustle, I left my firm.  I took the leap of faith (read full post here) and never once looked back.  I’m not sure what God put in my coffee from 2009 to 2011, but I’m so thankful for the determination that set my soul on fire.

Photo by Allison Kuhn Photography 

SEVENTEEN 

Personal (but whatev’s!). We have one embryo left in the freezer, lol!  No, but really… we have one embryo left at our fertility clinic.  We ALWAYS wanted 3 or 4 kiddos… I LOVE being a mama and deep down, I’m not ready to be ‘done’ yet.  After the struggle to get pregnant and 2 losses (1 from IUI and the other from IVF), I’m just a little scared.  This last pregnancy with Olive was pretty tough and I was in the hospital at 20 weeks and for 3 nights at 35 weeks.  I never once complained about the pregnancy, I was just so thankful that God was giving me the opportunity to carry another child of our own.  But it was hard.  Really hard.  I was sick through 24 weeks, I became very swollen, 36 hour labor, 2 hospital visits, couldn’t sleep…

BUT, I’m a strong lady and I can deal with a hard pregnancy.  What I know I can’t deal with is the possibility of miscarrying the one last embryo we have left or it not working.  We both agreed that we can’t go through another full IVF cycle (retrieval and trasfer).  It’s emotionally draining and it was hard enough to go through that with one toddler… throw a baby and a toddler in the mix – no way!  I just have this feeling that if we did go through an IVF transfer of the one last embryo – that it wouldn’t take… and then in my mind I would be so set on having 3 kiddos, that I would then be absolutely heartbroken that it didn’t work.  I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready to go through all of that again.  I also feel so selfish for wanting another… I should just be so thankful for the beautiful children that I do have.

Honestly, I’ve said this to all of my friends… I feel like if we did have a 3rd, it would be a miracle-get-preggo-on-our-own situation!  And that my friends, would be the ultimate blessing.  I want to experience that side of motherhood SO BAD… ‘omg, my period is late’, total surprise!

Photo by Allison Kuhn Photography 

EIGHTEEN

I love entertaining, but I’m not the best cook… what I love is setting a table, the appetizers, cocktails, preparation and making things pretty.  What I hate, is the cooking!  I freak out!  Like, how do you cook everything at once and keep it warm until it’s time to serve?!?  I’ll stick to the pretty table setting, apps and cocktails!

NINETEEN 

We want to move – closer to town and in an older home!  It’s been on our mind for awhile now.  Don’t get me wrong, we love our neighborhood, our home and the people who surround us… but we’re ready for the next adventure – whatever that might be?!  We want to renovate a home together – Chip and JoJo have inspired and us!  Ideally, we would love to find an older home that still has a lot of character and turn it into something that we absolutely love!  I would say that we’ll put our home on the market in the next year and get serious about looking!

TWENTY 

The two of us together… way too emotional!  I truly believe that I’m the tougher one in the relationship (sorry babe, but you know it’s true).  Everything and anything will make my hubby cry!  Like, the sight of the kids and me sitting on the front porch as he pulls up to the house at night.