EM is a MrS!

my dear friend emily was married last saturday.
i had fun being a bridesmaid
everything went as planned
we were on schedule
the bride was gorgeous
the groom - super sweet in his converse
the weather was fantastic
the maid of honor gave one of the best speeches i have ever heard at a wedding
 the bride's father speech was special and endearing
the groom's family is the best dancing family that i have ever seen.
needless to say - i sat on the sidelines and did not dance.
are you surprised?
cheers to emily and ryan.
may the years ahead be as magical and special as your wedding day.
love you!

due to my maid duties - i failed to take pictures. sorry EM! so i stole this great pic from victoria.

the perfect pair

this weekend was spent celebrating my dear friend melissa - which i will normally refer to as Little. she is getting married 1 week from today to a very special guy. on friday evening we were out on the town celebrating her last night as a single lady. then on sunday i hosted a bridal shower for her. when i asked Little if i could host a shower for her and she agreed- my mind immediately started bringing ideas together. i have been to some pretty amazing bridal showers and i did not want to disappoint her. i had found on a blog a 'baby shower' idea for a girl that was having twins. the theme for the shower was 'the perfect pair'. well i figured i could probably with a bit of effort turn a 'twin' baby shower theme idea into a bridal shower.'together they make the perfect pair'. brillant - yes, because she and her soon to be husband are perfect for each other! the color scheme was yellow and grey which i think is super fab. my friend Vic designed the invites for me as well as a few of the fun decorations used at the shower. you can find her stellar work here.

i started making my list of to dos categorized: food, games, supplies, gifts & house chores.i had to find some sort of fabric or table cloth for sure to set the tone for the shower. see my kitchen table is smack dab in the middle of my house. i found an amazing table cloth in yellow and grey with a fab print at target. it was not on sale. which if you know me i only buy stuff on sale. but i didn't care, it was perfect. once i had found that table cloth i knew i could continue with the theme. i then started thinking about all of my friends that are super crafty. and i pretty much stole one idea from each of them. i completely give them credit for the ideas notated by their initials in the pictures. i can only take the credit for the execution. thanks friends.

my mom let me borrow my grandma's glass plates and cake stand. they are super antique and i love how vintagey they are. i thought they went great with the yellow and grey. the food was pretty good, i must say - chicken salad on ciabatta, orzo pasta salad, fruit and cupcakes. i also made a pear sangria that went over great on a sunday afternoon! my friend erica gave me the recipe for the orzo and it was a hit! thanks friend!.

I had so much planning and hosting this shower for Little. I think that she had a blast and felt the love from all of her amazing friends.

I cannot wait to celebrate Cody and Little - 1 week from TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! 

They are the 'Perfect Pair'.

holy tomatoes

My dad has a garden every summer. This year he planted the following: lettuce (green leaf and mesculin), broccoli, cucumbers, potatoes (yellow and sweet), onions (yellow and red), green onions, green beans, peppers, jalapenos, basil, dill, zucchini and of course tomatoes! I am sure there are more that I just cannot think of. He is quite the gardener with his neatly tilled rows, watering system and fencing to keep the rabbits out.

Just a few weeks ago he was telling me that his tomatoes were not doing well because it has just been way to HOT and for too long. Usually the continuously HOT days and nights are great for tomatoes. But the KC heat was taking its toll. A week later he calls to tell me that he and my mom just picked 300 tomatoes - the big hothouse tomatoes and romas!

I thought  myself - you just said they were not doing well how can you have 300!!! I then had the brilliant idea that I wanted to make marinara sauce. I had never made it before but imagined it probably wasn't that difficult. Thanks Barefoot Contessa for the recipe. I blanched, peeled and pureed the tomatoes. And added a handful of garlic cloves, onions basil and red wine. I ended up making 2 batches and 2nd batch I made I did not use the red wine and substituted tomato paste - it turned out a bit richer / thicker. I am pretty proud of myself for trying something new.  I now have 5 jars sitting in the freezer for use.

Thanks Dad for the veggies!

i literally die...for etsy

i had a rachel zoe moment last night. i was doing a bit of shopping on etsy and the husband and i came across pet apparel. i could not help myself. i died laughing and could not stop thinking about how cute hurley and harper would be if they had on the flower corsage collar or the yellow sweater with matching brown button. oh the stocking caps and neck warmers. the husband was totally against the flower corsage collar and the stocking caps...but he did say that we could get them sweaters this winter. i mean could it be any better that their models are boston terriers. oh i love.

You can check them out HeRe. I had to post some pics of my favorite from BeantownHandmade.

Hawaii Post 2

On Sunday morning we made plans to visit Mt. Haleakala to view the Maui sunrise. We had heard and read from several sources that the sunrise was absolutely amazing.  A company picked us up at our condo and drove us to the other side of the island. This was at 215 AM. Along with 13 other people gathered in a 15 passenger van we headed up the crater. The sunrise happened around 5:30 AM. Let me tell you at 10,000 feet it was freezing up there. We had read that it was going to be cold and that we should dress warm. The company that we booked our tour through gave us Cabela's jackets and wind pants. Thank god because what I brought was not warm enough. The sunrise was terrific. Not sure I will need to experience the COLD ever again in Maui but I did enjoy the next portion of our excursion.

After the sunrise we traveled down the crater to 6500 feet. This is where we hopped on cruiser bicycles and headed down the crater. This was awesome. I have not been on a bicycle in about 15 years. So traveling down the crater at about 20 mph was pretty crazy. I am glad that they made us wear a helmet.   The sites were amazing and good thing the pathway was nice and smooth. The bicycle trip was about 2 hours long. As the tour ended we were taken to breakfast at a local country club. I was so hungry and could not believe that it was 9AM. I kept saying that I was so ready for lunch...well shoot fire it was still breakfast time.

Hawaii Post 1

We left for Hawaii on 7/1. All travel arrangements were right on schedule. If you know me at all - I like to be on schedule if not early. We made our way to our condo - which was absolutely fabulous. I would highly recommend VRBO to anyone - ask me about it. Saturday morning we picked up our marriage license in Lahaina. It was a quaint random neighborhood. I was curious if it was even going to be a legit person issuing the license. Turns out she was. We traveled up the coast north of Kapalua. The husband wanted to find this 'blowhole' that he had read about in his Maui Revealed book. Another fact about me - I am not a fan of hiking. Walking to exercise, yes, but hiking give me a break. We managed not to find the blowhole but we did get some amazing pictures of the island. I am sort of glad that we did not find the blowhole because we heard in the news someone died the following weekend by falling in it.

On Saturday night the husband and I hosted a 'welcome dinner' for everyone that made the trip to Hawaii. We had pizza and beer at Maui Brewing Company. It was a great place to get together enjoy great food and beer. I think everyone had a nice time.  Unfortunately the majority of my pics did not turn out because of lighting.  I need to work on that with the camera. More Hawaii adventures to come...

100th POST!! Mauied

This is my 100th post on this silly little blog.

I can't think of a better 100th post than to annouce that I am a married lady.

I have never felt more beautiful or loved than I did on my wedding day.

It was truly amazing day and one that I will never forget.

Check out my hubby - isn't he cute!



** more pictures to come - still hiding the dress for the reception! HA.