Berry Bridal Shower

You may think I'm insane because I am posting the bridal shower that I threw and photographed on the same that that I threw it and photographed it. And you're right, I'm a little crazy over here. But we have a big week ahead of us and I needed to have everything mentally and physically clear before I could go forward.

So. Today was MY sister's bridal shower!! So, yes, it was a BIG deal. I mean, she's my one and only sibling. And we're all pretty excited. She flew here from DC for the weekend to find a wedding dress (found it!) and have the shower and so my parents also came down.

While I was the official "party planner" I could not have done it without my mom, who did so much for it. One of Erin's friends also helped out with some things and I am so grateful.

The theme I decided on was a berry theme, and I think everything turned out pretty good. :)

The flowers in the berry crates were an idea from online and my friend Adrian helped and taught me how to arrange them. I was proud of them. :)

We had it at my grandma's neighbor's house, because, well, it was perfect. (and they have an entire western town back there also. This is unrelated to the party but it was fun for the guests to tour afterwards. Yes, a western town with a saloon and bank and post office and hotel is in their backyard.)

(We had the party on their terrace area. Not in the western town.)

This vintage table cloth was given to Erin as a gift afterwards.

We had these rad plates made out of palm leaves and wooden forks.

Milk and raspberry lemonade in mini glass jugs and water with lemons and cranberries.

There were berries all around.

We had fancy cheese: asiago in rosemary, white cheddar in cocoa powder, cranberry chipotle, and smoked gouda. mmmmmmm

I also made some sweet berry bread from scratch.

Asparagus and ham roll ups with cream cheese.

And lemon honey sticks.

And a berry short cake bar.

I can't wait for my sister to get married in September! I am beyond grateful for my family.

Now it's down to June's birthday party next month and then I think I may never throw another party again. ;)

To see more photos of the bride and groom check out my photography blog HERE. :)

Summer

Here's the thing. I'm kind of stressing about the fact that the month of June is almost OVER. GAH! Summer will be gone before I know it! And then it will be winter again and I was so patient and calm and endured this past cold, awful, snowy winter and I feel like that deserves a slow summer. The slowest.

If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of obsessed with living life as fully as possible. I want to take any moment and opportunity I have! So then I wonder if I have let too much time slip by and therefore missed some golden days to do some epic things.

I mean, I'm not pregnant. But what if I have a kid next year? Things will never be the same. This extra year with just June is a gift of time I will never see again- and I worry that I haven't been carpe-ing enough diem. I have this one daughter and we have our routine down pretty good. There should be lots of room for adventures, right? There have been some opportunities to do crazy and spontaneous things but I keep choosing the boring adult things! AHHH!

Basically it comes down to the fact that I hate winter and I feel like it is 7 months long and that summer is only 2 1/2 months long.

So maybe I'm a little tragic. But such is the life of a day seizer. Sometimes panic explodes with normality. But, really, I like all of the normality in my life. So I need to embrace it and calm the heck down, right?

sigh*
summer.

Flowers

Last week my friend Adrian taught me how to make this beauty:

And I think I need to make these weekly, or daily.

Don't you agree? It should be an essential accessory.

Carrie's Surprise Baby Shower

I threw a surprise baby shower (or a pamper Carrie shower) for Carrie on Saturday. But she told it so well on her blog that I decided to use her post instead of making my own (so maybe I'm just lazy?) So anyway, enjoy hearing about it from her words!

---------------

So my best friend called me a few weeks ago and said she wanted to have a little date with me on Saturday. Said that it was a surprise, but that we were going to go to a "festival" and that it was going to be a little bit of a drive from her house. I had no reason to not believe this.

You can imagine my shock then, when I walked into her home and found a surprise baby shower in my honor! I had some family and friends waiting for my arrival and I felt so special. I was even more surprised to see the elaborate little party that Anna had put together. Everything seemed to be spa/relaxation themed and so stinking perfect.

This face mask cheese ball made by Kenzi was a HIT. It cracked me up

In every detail, I could see Anna's thought process and how she tried to make the whole thing personalized to me. From the freshly squeezed orange juice, to the whole tomatoes on a vine (my favorite snack-I like to eat them like apples) to the funky bamboo forks. Even the background of vines she pulled out of her backyard and hung on the wall! So much thoughtfulness. So much time and effort.

 Anna explained that since this is my second kid (and second girl, due around the same time of year my first girl was born), I am not in need of a lot of stuff. She said that a pregnant mom should still be pampered though, and that this shower was to celebrate ME. It felt like a surprise birthday party that I didn't deserve!

To get the party started, she handed me a beautiful box and inside was a gift card to a spa for a WHOLE SPA DAY. Like, massage, pedicure, manicure, facial. This is something that I had put on my life goal list to do thinking that I would someday do it when I was retired and rich. I was blown away by the generosity of friends and family who pitched in to get me such a thoughtful and extravagant gift. I could just cry thinking about it.

Later, we all grabbed some of the delicious food and those of us that wanted to soaked our feet in some lavender foot baths while we ate. Anna MADE a couple of foot scrubs (lemon and strawberry) and you topped off your treatment with a mud mask and lotion. She also made little lavender epsom salt party favors for everyone to take home.

I opened the rest of my gifts which were all for pampering myself and felt overwhelmingly grateful all over again. What thoughtful friends and family I have!

Anna had asked a yoga instructor to come by so after we had all visited and ate we went into the (magical) backyard and had a private mini yoga class.

There were modified poses and  hip openers for me. While I was a bit distracted by everyone around I was still able to feel... I don't know? Zen? Anyway, when I looked up I had this view:

You see?

The instructor was super nice (and freaking beautiful) and stayed a little after we finished the session to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to do a headstand. They were all pretty proud of themselves after ;)

After everyone headed home I stayed on Anna's couch and gushed/bragged to my mom and Scott (both of whom were in on the whole thing and anxious to hear how it all went) about how wonderful it was. Scott encouraged me to take the rest of the day to do what I wanted. Anna put her daughter down for a nap and so we decided to take advantage of the no-kids time.

We weren't exactly sure what to do but ended up hitting Sonic happy hour (I know, right after yoga. Whatever), Hobby Lobby and a local boutique where we shared a dressing room and I bought a couple of shirts. Could I have asked for a better afternoon with my best friend? I don't think so.

Thank you, sweet Anna, for another wonderful day :)

------------------------------

Hi, it's me, Anna again. ;) This was a fun party for me to throw because it was all my own thing. I didn't use many ideas from online and the whole concept of it was my own. And I was proud of my idea to make my plant banner from things in our yard. (This looked better in person) Basically I want to come together as women more to take care of each other. Because a well pampered mom is the best kind of mom, am I right? ;)

Father's Day 2013

I'd like to think that Buck had a great Father's day this year. And hopefully so did our fathers.

It's kind of weird, you grow up your whole life being with your dad on Father's day, and then you get married and suddenly live in a different state and so you only really get to send them a gift and skype them. But I hope that our fathers know how much we love them and are grateful for all that they have done for us!

That being said, it's fun to have a husband who is also the father of your child... and to be able to spoil him.

This year Buck got his desired breakfast of eggs benedict (as always) and then we lounged around.
Then we decided to go spend God's day in His mountains. We took Abe and June and up we went.
We drove past all the masses of people and up to the summit where we found a narrow trail. We ended up being the only people on it for the short time we hiked. It was awesome. Almost as awesome as my cell phone photos.

And buck got sushi for lunch (we didn't go out, I had purchased some the day before.)

When we got home he got incredibly spoiled with a "Texas roadhouse" dinner. He got: fall off the bone ribs, a loaded baked sweet potato, and a side of applesauce- all the things he would pick had we gone out! I also made him rolls with the classic cinnamon-honey butter. This meal meant that out oven was turned on for 7 hours! But it tasted amazing! (but next time I can appreciate more the extra money we'll spend going out to eat there instead...)

Buck also got spoiled with a gift voucher for sailing lessons! He also got some family photos to take for his desk at work.

And he deserves it all!