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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Wedding Wednesday: The Cake!

...Well, actually, the cupcakes! 

Don't get me wrong, I do love the look of wedding cakes...
like these:




However, if you know me at all, you know I am slightly obessesed with cupcakes! 
Like, I used to bake themed cupcakes at least once a month for my class (back in the day before this extended school day nonsense!)

{exhibit A: bat cupcakes for Halloween! No, I will not be serving these at my wedding, don't worry! Just one of the only pics I could find!}

OH, and hiiiiiii, have you read the name of my blog?!


I mean, HELLO. Clearly, I need to have cupcakes at my wedding. 

My baker, Gail with Cheesecake, Etc., is amazing (of course), and luckily for me, she makes cupcakes, too!

I LOVED going cupcake tasting! We did it the day after my birthday last summer, so it was like an extended birthday celebration for me! And, this was one of the only things that Travis actually had an interest in! We tried so many delicious kinds of cake, but finally decided on Red Velvet (our favorite), toasted almond (mmmmm), and chocolate (she told us we should probably get one "normal" flavor)!!

We will have a top tier (red velvet flavor!) to cut into that will look like the top tier of this cake:
{I just love the little sugar pearls!!}

She is also going to make another top tier for us to have on our 1 year anniversary (since I can't imagine eating a 1 year old cake that's been cut into...blech)!

The cupcakes will be below the top tier (obvi), and will be the same Carolina blue color with white sugar pearls! I'm so excited!!! I just hope I get to eat at least one cupcake....I've heard from numerous brides that they never got to eat their cake (except for that first piece from the cake cutting)!! Also, I really hope Travis is nice and doesn't smoosh it in my face...or worse, get it all over my dress!! 

Friday, April 20, 2012

Confessional Friday

I'm linking up with A Blonde Ambition again for Confessional Friday! Get excited...haha!


1. I want to do last weekend all over again (ok, this is an obvious statement, not a confession, but whatev)!! This time last week, I was on my way down to Charleston with 7 of my besties! This weekend, I am not. BOO

I wanna goooo baaaack!

2. I made the most bomb-dot-com meal for dinner last night!


Thanks pinterest (yet again!) for another superb recipe! Although, if you make it, be sure to add some extra hot sauce!!

3. Speaking of food, I need to STOP buying 100 calorie packs! I always eat like 6 of them, thinking, "Oh they're just 100 calories." Yeah, if you eat one...which I cannot do!

4. I got a new student (yes, with 34 days of school left!) on Monday, and bless his heart, he knows one letter sound. ONE. Umm, I think I'm a pretty good teacher and all, but I don't know how much I can teach this poor baby before he moves on to first grade. Sad times. If you have any *miracle* teaching strategies, let me know!

5. After today, only 7 weeks and 34 days left of school! 
I think I can, I think I can...

6. ...and only 57 more days till my wedding! I need to get my butt back in gear! Spring break was so productive...
I made...


140 ribbon wands!

"Meet the Maids"...not sure why the picture won't turn right!!

birdcage for cards

signs for flip flop baskets

sign for those dang ribbon wands

signs for "Meet the Maids" and "Meet the Men"

I also got our guest book embroidered and made signs for the guest book and cookie buffet! WHEW!
However, I still have SOOO much to do in the next 56 days, and I seriously haven't done anything for about 2 weeks now! Time to get it in gear people!!!

7. After making all of those stupid ribbon wands (ok, they're not stupid, but I really hated them after 2 nights in a row and 20+ bolts of ribbon...and ribbon is not cheap!), I woke up the next morning with my wrist hurting. Hmmm...maybe I slept on it funny. But oh no, it still hurt (and was getting worse) a week later. My mom (a nurse practitioner) told me I had tendinitis in my wrist! WTF?!? I'm pretty sure it was from making all of those ribbon wands! So now, I get to wear one of these....

Don't be jeally!
 Between this and my knee strap, I feel like I am 26 going on 86. Just call me Grandma.

8. Have you watched the show Homeland

It was filmed right here in Charlotte! Travis started watching it last weekend while I was away, and he saw our church on there!!! How crazy!!! They filmed someone's funeral there...ok so not super romantic, but they showed the inside and everything! It was kind of cool!

9. I realize that pretty much all of what I just wrote is not any sort of a confession, but my random thoughts instead. Sorry. Next time, I'll change the title to "Random Thought Friday!"

Have a super weekend friends!!!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette Weekend!!

I'm pretty sure this past weekend was one of my favorite weekends in the history of ever. My bachelorette party was such a success! The 7 of us had SO much fun in Charleston, we all got along great and there was no drama! (If you've ever been on a trip with a bunch of girls, you know this can be hard to come by!)

The festivities started Thursday night when I picked up Natalie from the airport and we had a yummy Mexican dinner!!! (Sorry, no pics of that!)
Friday morning, Caitlin came over to my house, we picked Dana up from the airport and then the 4 of us headed to Frugal McDougal to buy some beverages!!!


We made it to Charleston and met up with Angela who had been waiting for us! We went out to dinner at Stool Pigeons where the waiter gave us happy hour prices even though it wasn't happy hour!


We were at dinner till pretty late, so we just went back to our hotel to meet up with the Katie's who had just arrived. Since we are all old  not as young as we used to be and cannot drink heavily 2 nights in a row, we just chilled at the hotel and had a low-key night!

Saturday, we decided to take a carriage tour, which was a super fun and touristy thing to do! I loved seeing all of the beautiful houses in Charleston!! 
I kept picking out ones for Travis to buy me :)


{This is the restaurant where Reese Witherspoon had her bridal shower!}






{we saw a wedding about to start in the park!}




{of course I found a wedding dress shop!}

After the carriage tour, we had lunch and yummy drinks at A. W. Shucks and then went shopping on King Street!


{I found Princess St. and decided I needed to live there! Haha}

After we shopped around and bought some super cute jewelry, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for my bachelorette party!


{I got lots of fun presents!}


After a few drinks in our hotel room, we went to dinner at Poogan's Porch. After I walked in, I realized I had eaten there with Travis a few years ago when he took me to Charleston for my birthday! I got shrimp and grits (surprise! its kinda my go-to meal) and it was sooooo yummy!!!



After dinner, we headed out to some bars!!! I am so thankful that my friends didn't make me wear penis-shaped anything!!!! I saw some other bachelorettes out that weren't as lucky....
Dana also had some "dares" that she found online, but we agreed that half of them were kinda dumb, so thankfully my friends didn't make me do anything super embarrassing either!!!

{We met some Army guys who were oddly dressed up...I mean, have you ever seen pocket squares like this?!?!? Oh and also they knew one of my ex-bf's....random}



I had SOOO much fun with my friends!!! I'm so glad the weekend was fun for everyone, not just me!!!! It was honestly the perfect bachelorette party!!! Natalie, Dana, Ang, Caitlin, Katie and Katie Bras, THANK YOU TIMES 10000 for an amazing weekend!!! I love you girls!!!!


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding Party!

Spring Break is over (tear!) and I'm back to my daily grind! I was SOSOSOSO productive during my break with all things wedding related! I promise I will share my little projects soon!
 We also had a wonderful Easter with Travis' fam--first a super yum brunch at his sister's restaurant, and then we did a lil shopping at Ikea! :)

But today, I can't believe I haven't introduced you yet to our FAB wedding party!!! We are so blessed to have so many amazing friends.....so here they are:

Maid of Honor: 
Natalie (AKA Nataleeeeeeee!!!! with as many e's and !s as possible)
Natalie and I met because we joined Chi Omega and bonded because were the only education majors in our pledge class! We also moved down here to Charlotte together!!! She left me for Ohio after a year (boo!), but she loves this blog (right, Nat?!?!) and talking to me daily after our crazy days at school! The picture above is from when UNC won the National Championship in 2009! We were ON Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Cray. Cray.

Bridesmaids:

Liv
Oh my little California girl. Liv was also a member of our fab Chi Omega pledge class of 2004! She was also on my college swim team with me! So Liv and I saw a lot of each other during those 4 years!!! Oh, and as if she wasn't sick enough of me at that point, we also roomed together in our sorority house senior year! Liv moved back to Cali after graduation, but I got to go visit her last year on my spring break. I had such a blast with her in San Fran and the surrounding wine country! :)

Dana
AKA Dirty Dana...although she might be the biggest germaphobe ever and Swiffers/vacuums more than anyone I know! Dana is one of my oldest friends...I met her as soon as my family moved to Ohio when I was a freshman in high school (yes, my parents hate me). Dana is probably the most directionally challenged driver, and as a fun game we would make her drive us through the most confusing development in our town because it would take her like 5 hours to get out of there (there was not a lot to do! HA!)!! Dana got married in 2010 and made me wear an Ohio State colored bridesmaid dress (blech!), but I survived, and now she is wearing a Michigan colored one for mine! HAHA!

Angela
AKA DUUUUDE. Angela is the quietest, sweetest person I know, so I'm not really sure why she is friends with me! But I also met Ang in high school and she accompanied Dana and I on our random car rides and multiple trips to Target. Angela, however, had a much earlier curfew than Dana and I did, so I feel like she missed out on the fun sometimes! Angela also taught me everything I needed to know about AIM (yes, instant messenger...do the kids even use that these days?!) because she is very tech-saavy! Angela got married in 2010 also, and did not make me wear an OSU-colored dress, for which I am very appreciative. She did play "Hang On Sloopy" at her reception though :(

Kathryn
Kathryn has been mentioned probably the most on this blog! She is kinda my Charlotte bestie! I met Kathryn in high school, through Dana, but we kind of parted ways after high school! Thank god for Facebook, though, because a few years ago, Kathryn messaged me and told me she needed a friend in Charlotte because she was moving there! And here she is!!! We drink wine as much as possible (as you can clearly see in the photo above), but thankfully we now live 1.85 miles from each other (I ran by her house today so that's how I know!)!! She also threw me the bridal party of the century at her gorgeous mansion! 

Caitlin
Caitlin is Travis' younger sister, and I must say, she is HILARIOUS. I might like her more than Travis! (Ok, I kid....but it's close!) Caitlin is in culinary school, so she is super handy to have around....i.e., she carved our Thanksgiving turkey, she is making the groom's cake for me (right, Caitlin?!), she came to my classroom to help my kids decorate Christmas cookies....basically, she's awesome. The End.

And just because I can't forget about the boys...here they are, but I won't write as much about them because, well they're boys...

Best Man

Arnold 
Travis' dad! Apparently these 2 don't smile in pictures....good luck to our photographers!

Mike
Travis' friend from high school!

Grady
Travis' friend from high school, and Mike's cousin!

Tim
Another friend of Trav's from high school, and also Grady's brother! (Do you need a family tree?!)

Matthew
Matthew is Trav's friend from college...and hot date to UNC sporting events when I don't feel like attending!

Peter
My baby bro! (Can't you see the resemblance?!)

And of course, we can't forget our sweet flower girls, my cousins: Gwyneth (age 5 1/2) and twins Blair and Margo (age 4)
PS-I def just stole this pic from their older sister's FB...I feel like a creeper!

And while we are making this the longest post ever...let me show you how I asked my bridesmaids to be in the wedding:

I took a picture of the 2 of us and cut it into puzzle pieces! 


Then, I wrote on another puzzle piece that I had cut out of cardstock: "There are many pieces to planning a wedding...this one includes YOU!"


The I put all of the picture's pieces on a baggie tied with a ribbon-polka dot, of course!
I totally can't take credit for this idea...I'm pretty sure I either saw it on Pinterest, or another blog!!

Anyways, I'm super excited because I will be seeing 4/6  of my bridesmaids (Liv and Kathryn we will miss you!!!) this weekend for my BACHELORETTE PARTY!!!! WOOHOO!!! 
I'm so excited!!! I'll be back Sunday to post about that, if I am still alive and breathing!!!