{puppy love} five

Beagle Bailey is celebrating his fifth birthday today!

This guy, my little tri-color buddy.  He is as sweet & as mischievous & as lazy as the day is long.  While we do a lot for Bailey - you know, provide him with all the food, safety, comfort & love a beagle could ever need - he gives us much, much more in return.  He fills our home with love & happiness; he is our baby family.  He makes us smile & laugh.  Every. single. day.

On Bailey's behalf, I would like to remind you to adopt cats & dogs from your local shelter or from a rescue group.  Our Bailey was found wandering a country road in Arkansas & he was dirty, cut & infected.  Despite this, he was still so sweet & trusting when a kind-hearted couple stopped to help him.  God knows where he would be without them & All About Labs, the rescue group who facilitated his adoption.  Sadly, some animals don't get saved.  These animals deserve a second chance just like Bailey!

Happy Birthday, Bailey!  xoxo

Sneak Peek + Beagle Bailey

Next week includes two major celebrations: my birthday & Fourth of July!!  Cue the sparkly fireworks!!!  & yes, I pretend the fireworks are just for me & my birthday.  Anywho, there will be only one post next week & it will be my monthly Still Standing post .  No worries, we'll be right back into the swing of wedding loveliness the following week!

& here is a sneak peek of that wedding loveliness coming your way for Wedding Wednesday on July 11:

I couldn't let this week pass without mentioning our darling Beagle Bailey's adoption celebration.  Tuesday, June 26, marked exactly two years since we adopted him from the rescue group, All About Labs.  He got lots of love & extra treats to celebrate his time with us.  Bailey has the biggest personality & the sweetest heart & we couldn't love him more!!!  He adds so much love & joy to every day.  We count ourselves very lucky that he is ours (or are we his?)  This is for you, Beagle Bailey:

On Bailey's behalf, I would like to remind you to adopt cats & dogs from your local shelter or from a rescue group.  Our Bailey was found wandering a country road in Arkansas & he was dirty, cut & infected.  Despite this, he was still so sweet & trusting when a kind-hearted couple stopped to help him.  God knows where he would be without them.  Sadly, some animals don't get saved.  Those animals deserve a second chance just like Bailey!  

Happy Weekend!

Photo 1 Kunio Photography  /  Submitted via Two Bright Lights
Photo Collage Koru Kate

It's A Wrap! 6th Edition

Bailey practices his favorite yoga move, The Resting Dog
No, it has nothing to do with weddings but it was too cute not to share!

Happy Friday! Here are my picks of inspiration & information from around the web this week:

You don't have to love it, trust me. You really don't, you're not alone.

They had me at the proposal story but you'll love the wedding eye candy too!

Are you mailing your wedding invitations after April 17th?
Please, please read this post with the dets on the postal rate increases!

I want this beaded tulle cape so badly it isn't funny.

How did you ask?

Enjoy your weekend!

It's A Wrap!

Photography by Amanda Wilcher
Image via Style Me Pretty

I spend a fair amount of time scouring wedding blogs, design blogs, craft blogs & more for inspiration each week. It dawned on me that I should be sharing this inspiration with you. Duh! Each Friday, I will recap my favorite finds for you in a little feature called "It's A Wrap!" Enjoy~

Love her blog, ADORE her wedding

Can't I have one?! Pretty, pretty please!

What sweet Valentines

You can have a princess dress, yes- you can!
(Editor's note: Start reading this blog NOW for your sanity!)

Won't you be my forever friend?

Have a wonderful weekend!

{puppy love} Love on Paws

Bailey is waiting for his Pup Dad to come home

I often describe our Bailey as Trouble on paws. No, that isn't a typo- Trouble with a capital T. If there is something he shouldn't have, Beagle Bailey finds it & attempts to destroy it. Then again, Bailey is as sweet as the day is long. He is Love on paws.

Case in point is RZ's homecoming each evening. When we were in the process of adopting Bailey from the fantastic All About Labs, his foster Dad warned us that Bailey gets overexcited at reunions, perhaps because Bailey isn't used to people coming back for him which breaks my heart. Now Bailey seems to realize that RZ is coming home but his excitement never wanes. Bailey patiently plants himself at the front door around the time he expects RZ to arrive. RZ's schedule fluctuates so sometimes Bailey waits for close to one hour, sometimes mere minutes. He doesn't care- he stays in position. As soon as RZ opens the front door, I witness pure joy & exuberant enthusiasm. Bailey leaps up, cries, whines & wags his tail so hard that his whole body wiggles. He receives some pets, then drops back to the floor for his favorite belly rub. Any worry & stress disappears from RZ's face, replaced with smiles & happiness. How could he not grin when Bailey is throwing a party merely because he came home?

Can you imagine what a better place the world would be if we greeted each other with such passion & joy day after day, night after night? Our pets demonstrate unconditional love for us day in & day out, yet we're too slow to follow their stellar example. Bailey may be Trouble but he has much to teach us if we pay attention. He is Love on paws & we are so lucky to have him!

As Valentine's Day quickly approaches, I can't let this lovely time pass without mentioning the love for our furry friends. They provide us with endless love & ask for so little in return, it's simply amazing. This post is dedicated to Bailey & those who we loved before him, Gucci & Kaydee~

We Are Family

Festive & Fun Foyer Decor

Our Family!

What is family? They are the crazy, lovable bunch I call my Mom, sister, Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. Now my family is extended to include RZ's fun, sweet bunch of relatives. And, of course & perhaps most importantly, RZ is my family.

RZ & I started our family unofficially years ago. It was us, plus our sweet Gucci & spunky Kaydee. Now it's us, plus our goofy Bailey. Who knows what the future may bring our family. No matter what, our family is always & forever us. We're thrilled to make our family official on our wedding day!

Because our family is my number one priority, I was absolutely over the moon to receive our "Corpuz Family" holiday wreath hanger as a bridal shower gift from my bridesmaids. They included a cheerful, red berry wreath. The festive wreath & personalized hanger were amoung one of the first bridal shower gifts to be placed in our home. I look forward to hanging it year after year during the holidays as our family grows & changes.

{puppy love} Bastard Bailey

Bailey models his new t-shirt

FUNNY!

Clearly, Bailey's idea of modeling is lounging on the couch.
No amount of treats & persuasion could convince him otherwise.

Bastard
(but not for long)

Among all the generous presents we received for our engagement party, Bailey's bastard t-shirt stands out as the most original & fun gift. RZ's cousin Randy & his girlfriend Annemarie got this adorable t-shirt for Bailey. His t-shirt says "Bastard (but not for long)" with our names & wedding date. It's impossibly cute, just like Bailey. We LOVE it!

You may notice that Bailey's t-shirt is a bit small for this big boy. About one month passed from the time we found Bailey on Petfinder to the day he arrived on P.E.T.S. (aka Last Chance Highway) to stay with us forever. In that month's time, RZ & I happily told everyone & anyone that we were adopting a beagle, including Randy & Annemarie. While this t-shirt would easily fit a standard beagle, Bailey is no average beagle. He came to us bigger & better than we could have imagined!

Bailey may not be sporting his t-shirt to the dog park anytime soon but we love his new t-shirt all the same. Thank you Randy & Annemarie!!!

Gracias

Lots & lots of lovely gifts

We're all smiles as we open our engagement gifts

My personal stationery from Dreamland Designs

Blank notes waiting to be filled!

Written, addressed, stamped & ready to go!

What comes in the aftermath of an engagement party? Heartwarming memories. Cool gifts. Thank you notes. Seriously, we had some work cut out for us with the thank you notes we needed to write to our engagement party guests.

With our upcoming wedding & my impending name change on the horizon, I have my adorable "Kate Sullivan" stationery that I need to use before it no longer applies to me. I bought my personal stationery years ago from the talented Gina of Dreamland Designs & I love it. Gina hand-lettered my name & hand-colored a shamrock for the sweetest look. I don't want it to go to waste. I added "& RZ" to each card & viola- the stationery is perfect for our engagement party!

Here comes the fun part: I had to write every thank you. Why didn't RZ write some? Well, he conveniently has awful handwriting. Often, I have to ask him to translate the cards he writes to me. Our guests were kind enough to come to our engagement party & bestow us with gifts & they deserved legible thank you notes. I spent many, many nights writing thank you notes until my hand cramped. Of course, it was well worth it. A little thank you note doesn't seem like enough to properly thank our generous family & friends!!

I dismissed the traditional "Love" stamps & I bought the "Adopt A Shelter Pet" stamp for our thank you notes. This is something that is near & dear to our hearts, especially since our adoption of a rescue dog, Bailey. The stamps are meant to bring public awareness about shelter pets & encourage adopting from a shelter. If we can say thanks & help an animal, then job well done :-)

{puppy love} Beagle Bailey

Bailey LOVES the dog park

Could his face be any sweeter?!
I doubt it.

Bailey is such a handsome guy

Bailey is a city dog now!

Allow me to introduce you to the newest, cutest member of our family: Bailey, our beagle.

The past two weeks have been full of exciting things but the arrival of Bailey was by far the biggest & best thing. In late May, we found Bailey on Petfinder where he was up for adoption through a wonderful animal rescue organization, All About Labs. The more we learned about Bailey & the more photos we saw of Bailey, we knew we had found our new furry friend. Bailey traveled to us from his amazing foster family in Arkansas on P.E.T.S., a fabulous company that makes animal rescue road trips every weekend. He arrived on June 26 & we happily welcomed him into our lives & hearts.

Since Gucci & Kaydee left us earlier this year, we had a big void in our lives. We didn't want to replace Gucci & Kaydee but we wanted to fill the void. I hoped we weren't putting too much pressure on Bailey to fill this vast void; I didn't have to worry. Bailey jumped right into our lives with his sweetness, cuteness, playfulness & stubbornness to fill the void & make us forget it existed. We are so thankful for days filled with sloppy dog kisses, dog park trips, long belly rubs & games of fetch. Bailey is a total delight!

People say Bailey is lucky to have found us; we are lucky to have found Bailey.

P.S. If anyone is looking for a new forever friend, please rescue!!!!