for safe keeping.

It's been almost a month since my brother & sister in law, Phil & Megan tied the knot. Wow! Time flies. I just wanted to post my speech for safe keeping & also so I can reminisce about their special day!  

Matron of Honor Speech

Hi everyone, First off congratulations to the bride and groom and thank all of you for being here to help celebrate this happy occasion. Thanks to Megan's parents, Mark & Beth, & Missy & Steve, for hosting this beautiful wedding & Phil's parents, Ken & Vickie for the amazing rehearsal dinner.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Carly Kipp. Kevin's wife, & Phil & Megan's sister in law! Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I have 3 big brothers & when i married Kevin, I inherited yet another big brother in Phil. I was never the little girl who wished for younger siblings. I've always been the baby & I'm pretty darn good at it. So now, everything has changed, & today, it is official.  I have a BABY SISTER! I always imagined hating this but I was wrong.  I now have a friend forever. A friend with such a kind heart, sweet disposition, a sensitive soul, a little bit of sass & my gosh, you look absolutely radiant tonight! Megan, I am so honored to be by your side as you start the next phase of your life as a Kipp.  I will always be your sister & friend, & I will be right here holding your hand as you & Phil hit many of life's big milestones. I will be here through anniversaries, new homes, & as you bring beautiful babies into the world. I promise to always play with your hair, paint your nails, tell you if an outfit looks okay, and answer my phone when your future babies have been up all night screaming & you can't figure out why. You forever have a sister in me & I thank God everyday for blessing me with you. 

Phil, I can't decide if I should take this time to thank you or curse you. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have met Kevin but I also wouldn't have my 2 amazing kids & I wouldn't be standing here tonight so I think I should Thank you. Thank you for being a good friend, a loyal brother to Kevin & I, a wonderful uncle to my children, and an adoring husband to Megan. I do have a one request from you. Tonight, I ask you never to steal, lie or cheat, but if you must steal, steal away Megan's sorrows. and if you must lie, lie with her all the nights of your life, and if you must cheat, then please cheat death because she couldn't live one day with you! 

When I look at the Phil & Megan, I feel such a whirlwind of emotions. I know that the two of you have found your true match in each other. Separately, you are two special, remarkable people, but together you are complete. You two truly are a team. My heart is bursting with love for you two today. I know you have a wonderful adventure ahead of you.  My wish for you is that the happiness surrounding you today will be there for many years to come. On this roller coaster of life, remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loops, and enjoy every twist and turn.

Now before I finish, I have just one more thing I want you to do, Your wedding day is one the seems to fly by. Its a day filled with emotion, friends, rings, and dances. Many people remember how fast their own wedding day went so I want you to take a few seconds to look into each others eyes & think about the happiness that you're feeling in this moment. Really let that feeling sink in. Now, i want you to think about your life together in twenty years. where are you? what are you doing? We all know that your visions of the future are not identical, but always complimentary. John Lennon once said, " a dream you dream alone is only a dream, a dream you dream together, THAT is a reality." That new reality starts now.

Now everyone raise their glasses! Here's to love, laughter, & happily ever after! CHEERS!  

highlight of my day.

I've been having rough couple of days but there's always something to give you a little ray of sunshine! wanna see mine?

oh come on, i know you do!

StayLovely like this little sweetheart.

"you will never have this day again"

   How is this even possible? I am a stay at home mommy & I spend day in & day out with these handsome little nuggets who I am so blessed to call my own. They push me to my absolute limit. As much as I love them, they're downright exhausting. And here I am, laying in bed, sick as a dog, missing them while they are right downstairs. While in the moment of chaos with two little ones, the constant thought in your head is, "I just need a break!". One night in a hotel with room service, someone to clean up your mess, & precious silence. I am so positively sure that the entire time I spent in that said hotel room, I'd be missing my boys, turning the television on to mask the sound of quiet.  Not only that, I'd be cleaning my own mess (I can thank the OCD for that).

Jude keeps popping in my room to say, "Mommy, I'm sorry you're sick & I love you. Here's batman to make you feel better." {little does he know, a little batman would make me feel MUCH better} But my little Declan has stayed downstairs with daddy most of the day so I just want to hold him & kiss those chubby cheeks!

 --via pinterest --

I'm aware that I can't be with my babies every second & sometimes, I do need a day or even a half a day to recover but thinking that I will never get this day back makes my heart a little sad. I'm missing bath time as we speak & seeing the boys interact with each other is what I live for! Tonight, I will enjoy hearing their little voices and the pitter patter of feet around the house from this bed & I will start tomorrow loving all over my baby boys.

StayLovely.

"you still believe it to be a beautiful place."

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

  

    So, I know this is a repeat from my Facebook but let's be honest here, it's true. In our house we don't watch "adult tv" while the kids are awake. Heck, we barely watch any television really which is nice, although by no means does it make my house quiet. Both of my boys could take it or leave it. Any who, while at the gym last night I was able to watch the footage from the Terror Attack at the Boston Marathon. Naturally, It made me very emotional & my heart poured out with sadness for everyone involved. As a mother, your whole body clenches in rage when you hear about a child being killed. You think the normal thoughts like, "Who would do this?" "Why would someone want to hurt innocent people?" but I find myself getting so angry when people say things like, "What is this world coming to?". 

   This is not "the worlds" fault. This is ONE (or more) person. You watch the footage and you see THOUSANDS of people helping. Putting themselves at risk and running to lend a hand anyway they can. There were soldiers, police officers, firemen, & bystanders actually running toward the explosion while it was still happening.  For every one horribly sick person there are tens of thousands of good souls on this earth. Why can't we focus on that? If we would put our energy into the good, maybe less bad would happen. 

   Of course I fear for my kids. I'm scared of what might happen to them but I also am afraid for them to ride their bike into the street and get hit by a car. The world is not a bad place. I do not feel like I should live in fear because of something that could happen to us. I haven't lost faith that the love in the world over powers the hate. You know why? Because we have God & because of that I feel as though my children are protected. They have someone to look over them, guard them from harm, and to show them more love than they could ever comprehend. I see the beauty in this place that God has created for us in so many ways. I see the love every day and I will continue to "Believe there is good in the world" & try my absolute hardest to "Be the good". 

StayLovely&KeepPraying.

no one is lovelier than you.

       Oh, Zooey. You make me feel so good for being an emotional over lover. My favorite line of this inspirational is, "Don't allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart". Yes, I cry at everything & tell way too many people I love them ( I think it freaks some people out) but I can't deny the truth. I love so many people & all very differently. I love the ones closest to me with all of my heart. I love them so ardently I feel like I could burst sometimes but you know what I also love? I love the cashier at target who's line I always go to because she is so kind to my boys. I love Jude's preschool teacher because she gives me a feeling of comfort whenever I have to leave him. I love fresh flowers in my house no matter how much money it wastes. I love ribbon, & pretty pens,  & the smell of a library book. I love watching people's mouths when they talk. I love a hug from someone you haven't seen in awhile and how your stomach tingles when they hug you back as tightly as you're hugging them. I love hairlines, that one curl that couldn't quite straighten, the direction of the hairs going every which way, a widows peak, or ducktail (good thing I'm a hairstylist, although temporarily retired). I love people's eyes, the colors can tell a story - green are my favorite, there's always so much detail. Speaking of that, I love detail, I love thinking out & planning every little spec of something. I love the sound of a vacuum picking up crumbs or my Dad turning the page of the newspaper he reads every morning. 

     Now, because I love all of these things, does this make the word love mean less? Sometimes I think I should change how much I use the word but no, that would be a mistake. I wholeheartedly love all of those things I listed & I suppose that just makes me passionate. Who could ever complain about someone being too passionate? Not me. So the answer to my question is NO. Love is love & although you may love something on different scales, it's still all the same.

      I need a daily reminder. Although I am very sure of what I love, I need to open my eyes to these beauties & embrace them more. I tend to notice the tender feeling I have for these things that are dear to me when they are not around (ain't that always the truth?). If I were to consistently think about how blessed I am to have so many joyful things to surround myself with, I would for sure be a happier person. 

Lastly, I love ME. I love that I'm sappy (hey look kate, i'm sappy too) I love that I'm a little bit spastic, and OCD, and a control freak. I do have normal qualities too. I have a big heart, I want to help people, organized, over caring, down to earth, funny (at least I think I am), compassionate, sensitive yet tough, opinionated, happy, smiley, and lastly, I am a damn good mom. 

"Whatever you love is beautiful; love comes first, beauty follows. The greater your capacity for love, the more beauty you find in the world."

— Jane Smiley

StayLovely.

lovely weather.

   HIYA LOVELIES, guess what!! guess...guess. ok, you're done guessing.. all of my excitement is over the fact that it is finally starting to get warm. This is what I have been waiting & waiting & waiting for! I feel like all winter I would have been classified as a recluse. 6 inches of snow a day sure is pretty from the safety of your warm house but the second I was forced to step foot in it, I became a whiney little princess. Believe me, I'm a tough girl & I love snow but at some point, enough is enough.

   With this warmth, there are many more opportunities for us to develop our relationships with our Michigan friends! We've been enjoying play dates almost everyday & I am so grateful for some social interaction. Jude & Declan are making friends with all the neighbor kids so this will make for an amazing summer!

   We're preparing our house for our first visitors of the season. yay! Our best friends, The Kleeman's & Greg Anderson are making the trek up (again). After that, the visitors will just keep coming. I'm so excited to be able to spend time with all my favs. We'll be able to have drink fests on the beach with all the local craft breweries around & grill out on our amazing deck! Let the partying commence.

Stay Lovely.

crazy lovely weekend.

Hi, Lovelies.

  I hope your weekend was as crazy with fun & excitement as mine was! I'm not even sure I'm ready to blog about it because I feel like it will exhaust me all over again. The Kipp's started this weekend by driving to Cincinnati late wednesday night (luckily the nuggets slept the whole drive). Then the wedding festivities for my brother in law & now sister in law began!

Thursday- rehearsal & dinner, 

Friday- prep (nails & girly errands), 

Saturday- rise & shine at 5:15am for this anxious chick! -Anything that I know will make someone else nervous or anxious automatically makes me feel the same. I am the definition of "sympathy pains"- 

  Anyway, that's the beside the point. 8am Saturday, the real work began! Not only was I Matron of Honor, I was the on location hair stylist, which in turn made me a chicken with it's head cut off. I felt so jittery all day which made getting my make up done very entertaining. My eyeliner had to be applied then wiped off and reapplied at least 3 times. (sorry ash!) Luckily, we got everything done with time to spare! I was totally shocked at how smooth everything went & how relaxed we all felt after we had ourselves put together! We had a perfect day with 60 degree sunshine which could not have been planned any better. We had a blast taking photos outside The Madison with our amazing photographers from Innovatory Photography. & then the nerves really set in as the time to walk down the aisle came closer! but as expected, all went well. Lots of tears, lots of laughter, lots of love! The reception feels like it flashed before my eyes. We had so much fun dancing & chatting. My speech went so well it even surprised me. I was very confident in my words because I wrote them all from the heart. I was less confident in my deliverance of those words. Public speaking has always been a strong point for me but when there is so much emotion involved it makes it far worse! I'm sure you could hear the nervousness in my voice but overall, I was quite impressed with myself. 

  After helping Megan plan for months & months, I honestly can't believe it's all over! All that hard work has paid off. Now, I have a beautiful sister inside & out. I am so happy for the amazing couple. They could not be more perfect for each other! 

  

   I wish i could say that was the end of my weekend but the madness continues. Sunday was Easter so we weren't able to just relax. Luckily, my family is so laid back we were able to just hang around & watching basketball & play outside for a bit. Monday was Cincinnati Reds opening day so the fun continues!  My beautiful Jade had an extra ticket and was able to take me with her to join in on the fun! It was a bit chilly but the sun was shining & the beer was flowing so my girls & I spent the day in huge crowds enjoying each other! 

How blessed I am to have so many people in my life to enjoy so many joyous occasions with! I love the crazy chaos & the smiles that come with it. I am one lucky girl ;) 

StayLovely.