my bridal shower!!

my amazing mother, father, sister, bridesmaids, aunt, neighbors and several other family members helped throw me the most amazing bridal shower ever. we braved the unpredictable Erie weather and threw it outside (and it down-poured in the morning for about 15-20 minutes), but was clear (AND HOT) for the shower.

the shower was "English Garden Tea Party" themed, complete with teapots, teacups and old victorianesque gloves as centerpieces. it was pretty amazing. the food was also delicious - tea sandwiches, chicken salad croissants, and assortments of scones and trifles. i was surrounded by the women i love and was given some wonderful gifts.

here are some pics... (taken by Rachel and Katie)

thanks to all my amazing friends and family for a great shower!!!!!!! check my facebook for more pics!

how much is too much?

so, i've been doing some..."research"...at stores to see where Josh and i should register for the wedding. i'm leaning towards Kohl's & Target, cause both places are awesome, and i adore Target so so so much. most of the things i've put so far in my Target wish list have been Rachael Ray kitchen items. RR annoys the CRAP out of me, yet i love watching her so bad. (i like to watch mostly because she doesn't do that "TV Kitchen Magic" and makes all her food in front of the camera, except for commercial breaks of course). and roomie and i love to comment every time she talks about how much of a money saver frozen spinach is, or how her in-laws don't like lots of garlic, so she just throws in a clove or minces it with one of those awesome grater things i want! oh, also, she has all these awesome orange things that i love. unfortunately, it looks like Target doesn't have many (or any) of them in store, they are mostly online. not sure if they will have them by the time we need to register, but that was a major bummer.

all this wish listing makes me wonder though, how much is TOO MUCH? like, i would LOVE LOVE LOVE these Rachael Ray pots and pans, but they are like, $200. that means, reasonably, at LEAST 5 or 6 people would need to go in on this gift together. is that too crazy? is that too much to request? sissy said that we could always register for the individual pieces and the set, to make it easier for smaller groups or single people to purchase, so there is the option...

so, am i being greedy? is a single item worth $200, or even more, too much to put on one's registry? (yes, i also want a kitchenaid mixer. and a dyson vacuum. and a house.)

we only do EXTREME

i don't think my family believes in doing things "the easy way," or "simple." (at least, i don't!) So when my sister Rachel's baby shower rolled around, we knew we had to go EXTREME. we also knew this because her hubs works at the church, there are a lot of church people they are close to and need to invite. we had her shower on sunday and the guest list kept climbing up from 80 people, and we knew we were still somehow leaving people out that are important in their lives and we wanted to attend.

that's a lot of people. that's a lot of food.

we had an amazing array of food and even more so, desserts, made and provided by our awesome family and friends.

we had wegman's subs and carrot cake thanks to my auntie mary, my mum made tortellini salad, veggie pizza, two amaretto trifles, and cut up all the fruit (and bought most of the gift baskets and decorations), my auntie paula made her amazing lime vinaigrette salad dressing as well as a chocolate peanut butter cake and her own version of a "baby cake." friends of the family also made butter cream wafers, chocolate cherry brownies, oreo truffles and nut roll. and i provided the salad and fixings and made lemon cupcakes with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting. mum also made nut and semi-sweet/white chocolate bark and i made peppermint bark for the favors.

yeah. it was a lot of food. it was also amazing. we had a lot of fun and everyone we knew helped out a lot. mum and i kept the freaking out to an *extreme* minimum, and rachel did a great job opening all her presents and talking to everyone and refusing to let herself be overwhelmed.

we can't wait to meet this little baby girl! every day she comes closer to joining us! she is going to be amazing and so loved and supported. can't wait!!

here's some pictures!

one major event at a time.

i've been one-track-minded for the past month or so, focusing on my beautiful sister's baby shower that's coming up in a little over a week and a half! pink & brown, polka dots, cupcakes, salads, favors, photography, table set-up...all this has been racking my brain. i'm totally loving it. i just want it to be here already so i can start doing all the baking & cooking/preparing that i have to do!

i haven't been thinking about much wedding stuff lately, still throwing ideas around in my head for how to set up the cupcake table, stage & table decorations, how to cut down the guest list, preparing myself to book the honeymoon, planning a fitting & ordering dresses day with the girls and how-the-heck-am-i-going-to-have-enough-money-to-pay-for-this thoughts when i realized...

holy crap February 20th will be SIX MONTHS from the wedding. where did the last 3-4 months go? what have i accomplished for the wedding?! am i running out of time-HOW AM I GOING TO GET EVERYTHING DONE!?

breathe. there is plenty of time. there isn't THAT much to do (psh, yeah right). i think February is going to mark the month where i stop throwing around ideas. stop going back and forth. time to start making decisions.

holidays!

i hope everyone had an awesome holiday and vacation! of course, it went too quickly, but it was great nonetheless.

we had a great Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. lots of food, watching The Office wedding, Rock Band and ping pong. I made a Chocolate Chocolate Chip bundt cake (Daisy Sour Cream Recipe - good though a little too rich/dark chocolate for my tastes), Veggie Casserole (broccoli, carrots & cauliflower - lost the recipe so i did this from memory and was still good!) and Corn Pudding thanks to Big Red Kitchen's awesome recipe.

my sister's baby shower is coming up in little over a month!! mum asked me to make cupcakes for it. i made some awesome ones for a baby shower earlier this year and i plan on doing the same ones. i believe they were lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting and i piped "baby" in white chocolate (in blue and pink - they weren't finding out the sex until the birth). mmm can't wait!!

yes, i do suck.

at keeping up on blog posts, that is!
i have "exciting" things happening to me, that interest me...but i'm sure they won't interest you, poor readers.

oh well, here it goes:

Saturday we celebrated Nicole & Matt's upcoming wedding with her bridal shower at the Sloppy Duck. it was a lot of fun, yummy food, and my mum seemed to know EVERYONE there. just so happens that she graduated high school with Matt's mum so they are all pretty good friends.

Matt's mum, Nicole, and her mum

KT shows off the cuppies in our favorite cuppie-showing-off way

Nicole & her maid of honor, cousin Jen

the happy couple!

Stace and her big camera.

KT, Kristen, Staci, and I took KT's parents convertible and drove around the peninsula after the shower. stace brought her big camera...and craziness ensued. first, we helped push a car out of a sand pit, then we danced in the lake, then we got some us-being-awkward pictures...

Sunday was my parents 29th wedding anniversary. they are such a crazy couple! they invited Josh and I to The Cove [the "seafood capital" of Erie, according to Josh :)] for dinner and we had a fun time eating, laughing, and venturing around the dock with them.

Mum & Dad at the dock


Josh & I

well, there's a picture-weekend-update a week late. oh well.

baby shower

two weekends ago i did my first paid photography gig! it was a baby shower for the sister-in-law of a friend of mine from church. i knew the family pretty well (but not the mother-to-be), so they insisted i eat (which i did) and enter into the chinese auction (which i did NOT). they are expecting a boy and decorated our church Commons blue and brown. also, they had cupcakes from Linda Austen Cakes, and they were AWESOME.

i was so honored to be asked to help with the shower! thanks, meg!

and i have no good title

titles are always hard for me to come up with. especially on a post like this, that has no real theme...
also, sorry i've not been commenting, reading...or even posting [anything very interesting] as much lately...things just seem REALLY busy...June has been one insane month...one shower, party or event after the other!!



my parents started digging into the "attic" [crawl space] the other day. i came up to my room tonight to find this:


...better known as "Cabbage Patch Doll" and "La Baby". Ah, the memories.
they've dug out a bunch of my old stuffed animals and want me to search through them...i'm sure it will be an enjoyable experience when it happens, but i'd rather not do so right now. i have enough digging through to do in my room under all my piles of clean clothes that i've yet to put away [it's truly getting ridiculous].


Friday night i spent with my sister & hubby [they came to see the show], kt, kc & iNSPiRAL. they pretty much rocked [and by they i mean iNSPiRAL, of course, but also sissy, bri bri, kt & kc]. Saturday kc & i went to kickboxing, then i had a bridal shower, then josh & i drove to Pittsburgh for another iNSPiRAL show. check over at their blog for more on the shows.

i guess that's all i have to say. i'm craving some cupcakes. it's been...2 weeks! since the last batch...withdrawal....blahhhhh

[friday show pics:]


[saturday shower pics:]


[saturday show pics:]