Gosh, is it just me, or does it seem like the first day back after a long weekend is more full and busy than a typical day?

Yesterday was jam-packed from start to finish so I didn’t have a chance to share the details of my weekend post-Thanksgiving.  Luckily, I can share that all with you now!

Saturday morning started out just the way I love to start any day…with a sweaty workout!

Mom and I headed to the gym that she is a member of to attend a special holiday Les Mills sampler class.  The class started out with 45 minutes of Body Pump, then went into CXWorks, and then we all finished strong with 45 minutes of Body Combat.

I must admit that even though I loved every second of the intense workout, by the end of everything I was POOPED!  Even though I was physically exhausted, I felt high from the endorphins that were pumping through my body.  I love that 😉

After working our little butts off, we showered up and got ready for the day.  We headed our separate ways to do some Christmas shopping, and then met up at home just in time for dinner.

My mom made a delicious batch of sweet potato biscuits…seriously, I could not stop mmmmming the entire time I ate them! to go along side her curry vegetable and shrimp crock pot dinner.  I love the flavor and spice of curry, and this meal is chock full of this delicious flavor and tons of veggies.

After our tummies were full, my parents, Brian, and I headed to downtown Fort Wayne to attend the Festival of Trees at the historic Embassy Theater.

The Festival of Trees is an annual event in Fort Wayne that allows local companies and organizations to sponsor a tree.  The tree is then decorated according to the theme of the tree.  The trees are displayed for one week, and then auctioned off for people to display in their homes.  All of the proceeds benefit the ongoing restoration and upkeep of the Embassy Theater, which is the oldest historic theater in all of Indiana.

Youth groups are also able to perform during this time on the Embassy stage.  Each year, around 16,000 people visit the Embassy to tour the beautiful and unique trees on display.

Vera Bradley sponsored a tree in the new Dogwood pattern.  One of my favorites!

I absolutely loved this woodland themed tree.

This tree was sponsored by the Three Rivers Running Company.  The ornaments all had various race distances printed on them, and several of the ornaments were race metals!  I loved it!

Another one of my favorites was this bike powered tree.  When I saw that this tree had lights powered by pedaling a bike, I had to give it a try.  All of the small children that were waiting around for their turn probably thought that I was crazy and too old to be giving the bike a try, but I had a blast!

It was such a great way to spend the evening!

On our way home from the Festival of Trees, we had a little surprise.

We drove by an underpass and in the underpass was a car with no sides or back, Christmas lights on it, and two Santas sitting in it.  Strange, but I had to get a picture!  We still have no idea where they were going or what they were dressed up for.

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Sunday

Sunday morning, it was time to head back down to Indianapolis for a day full of bridesmaid dress shopping!  My sister and I had two appointments.  Luckily, I had a pretty good idea in my mind of the dress style and the color that I was looking for.  Brenna ended up trying on 7 total dresses, one of which happened to be the dress!  I thought about sharing a photo with all of you, but I decided that as excited as I am about the dress and as perfect as I think it is, I will wait for the big day to reveal to you all what the dress looks like.

Sorry, but ya gotta wait!

I won’t make you wait for everything, though…on Black Friday I ended up finding my wedding shoes!

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I brought the shoes with me to the bridal shop so that I could take a look at them with my wedding dress and they looked great!  I also took a look at these shoes with the bridesmaid dresses, and they also looked great…so I ordered six pairs of the shoes for my six bridesmaids.  Boy, does it feel good to have such huge items checked off of the wedding to-do list!

After a long day of shopping for the dress and running several errands with my sister, I came home to find our little apartment all ready for Christmas decorations.

Brian took down all of the fall decor and stored it, and displayed all of our new Christmas decorations so that we could decide where to put everything.

Brian and I put our heads together, and we were very pleased with the festive outcome.

This weekend was full of so much fun, family, and excitement it left me feeling like I was on cloud nine.  What a great way to leave Thanksgiving weekend, feeling more thankful for my family, friends, and happiness than ever!