Wednesday, August 28, 2013

{Life}: Elise's Nashvile Kitchen Shower.

A few weekends ago we travelled to Nashville for Elise's Couples Kitchen Shower hosted by the fabulous mother-daughter duo, Grace and Kathryn Killman. I was so excited to be able to come to this and to have Jake experience his first shower!

We got there in the afternoon in time to just chill a bit with my favorite lady friend, Luna:


The shower was at night and they had the best food. The spinach-artichoke dip... the taco cups... I'm still thinking about it. Grace's mom had a beautiful table setting (in her absolutely fabulous house). She made the burlap runner herself!


Here's Gracie with Elise:


Gracie's telling some story while Elise and Christy talk, with a Shelby bomb:


Some of the menfolk during the present opening:


More present watching:


Elise and Nate with Gracie:


Us with the bride to be:


The fancy couple... gosh we love them!


This is Jake's too cool for instagram face...


After a successful shower we went upstairs to the rec room to play Cards Against Humanity. Hilarious game...



The next day we ran some errands and hung out. Elise also did something that solidifies her best friend status... she Rain-x ed my car!


And with that, the weekend was over and we were back to Memphis.

Here's to weddings and all the fun that come with them!

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Sunday, August 25, 2013

{Life}: Elise's Wedding Shower.

What a fun time to gather and celebrate the upcoming wedding of my dear friend Elise! Last Saturday I hosted a bridal shower for Elise at my mom's house. There was no "theme" per say but rather the theme was girly. I had so much fun planning the food and invitations. Elise had over 20 women in her life come together to honor her. It was a really special morning.

Now on to the details... Friday night brought a fun grocery trip with my fabulous helper Jake:

I also picked up these great cookies made by Cameron based on this pin I found on Pinterest.

I also crafted some name plates for the food table using placecard holders from Michael's craft store and scrapbook paper:


Saturday morning I went over to my mom's house where Ellen and Chan helped me prep the food - I couldn't have done it without them!


My mom made sure the house was guest-ready and was a huge help for the shower too. She put out her fancy serveware and we set the table:


Back in June I found a guy selling blue Ball mason jars from the 1930s that he had in a barn in the country. I got five of them to use as a centerpiece at the shower and gift to Elise since I knew she had been wanting some.

Almost all of the food came off of Pinterest. First, the fruit skewers and mozzarella prosciutto tomato bites:


The goal of the food at this party was to be able to buy things at the store and prep the food with no cooking and little assembly. I also wanted semi-healthy food since Elise is great about eating healthy foods.

For the fruit skewers I got a tub of assorted grapes and a fruit tray from Kroger and skewers from Hobby Lobby. The mozzarella prosciutto tomato bites would have stood up better if I had used cherry tomatoes but I got grape tomatoes so oh well!

Next on the table are one of my favorite appetizers, one that Elise loves: pastrami wrapped pickles. Jake's mom made these for us. I've blogged about them before here but since then have realized that my system was flawed - Jake's mom smears the cream cheese on the pastrami directly and then rolls the pickle in, which is far superior to my old way.


Jake helped make these pesto turkey pinwheels Friday night - they sit in the fridge overnight before you slice them up:


This fiesta layer dip was a hit but in the future I'd use frito scoops instead of the original fritos.


These veggie sticks are all the rage on Pinterest. They turned out really pretty:


In the other room we had drinks and desserts. Elise loves kettle corn so we popped some of that and then had the monogram cookies on a platter.


Elise also loves fruit tea from Bread and Company so we searched and found a recipe copy on Pinterst that turned out perfect.

Here's the bride to be and her mom:

Guests getting food:

We didn't do any shower games and instead opted to let guests enjoy each other's company:





A friend gave me these vases from IKEA and they have come in handy several times now:


Elise got some fabulous gifts, including this precious tray from Babcock Gifts:


I also got to give Elise my gift, a Dorothy Art portrait of Calvary where she'll get married.


Here's one more shot of the flowers, which turned out nice and got to be a fun gift for Elise:


And here's the final product of the name plates:


And Elise was so sweet as to give me this fabulous hostess gift!


So here's to a fabulous shower celebrating a fabulous girl. Can't wait for September 21!!



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Sunday, August 18, 2013

{Life}: Second Half of Summer Update.

For the past 18 summers (minus 3 that I was off doing other things) the first part of the summer has meant one thing - camp. The second half of the summer traditionally meant relaxing and catching up on sleep, with a little training or travel mixed in. This summer was a little different because I started my new position July 8th! So once I was back from camp, we took one trip and then it was time to be a real adult...

When I first got home my family had a little cookout - the family that grills together stays together after all:


After a night at home it was time to turn around and go to Atlanta for Jake's test:


Here he is post-test enjoying a local beer:


And of course we had to stop at Trader Joe's:


While we were in Atlanta we stayed with my best friend Beth and her husband but managed to get no pictures of her cute pregnant self (well played, Beth).

We went to a Braves game, my first MLB game:





Once home we had a little time on our hands before I started work. We finally got around to hanging the strand lights outside. Our Fourth of July was really low key - we had dinner at my parents and then hung out in our backyard listening to the amateurs try to use fireworks.


Of course a lot of time in July was spent playing with these guys...


On the night before I went back to work we had a Sonic date (where I made the mistake of looking up the calories in a Sonic Mini Blast and haven't gone back since...):


My first weekend after being back at work I headed to the mountains to celebrate Elise's girls getaway weekend.

When I got home Sunday from that, I had myself a little cryfest watching old Glee episodes in memory of Cory Monteith #stilldepressed


We also got a lot of walks in during July, including this one on the greenline:


July is also when we finally joined the Kroc Center! We love it there.


At the end of July I went on vacation with my family to Navarre for one last trip before school started back.

and while I was gone the porch renovation was finally finished!


August brought the start of the school year, which wasn't too different for me since I had been working since July but still merited celebration with donuts:


We also worked on organizing our new pantry. Turns out I have a lot of pasta..


We also rounded out the summer with a trip to Nashville for Elise + Nate's couples shower hosted by Gracie!

And just like that, summer was over and school was back in session. Here's my new desk in my new office:


And a first day of school selfie, since I'm too old for my mom to take my picture in front of the house:


And now it is time for backpacks, fall festivals, and football! Here's to the changing season,


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