Carrie's Shower!

Well it has been a long time since my last post! A lot has been going on around here... Fun friends visiting, a lot of packing (we found a great house to rent!)... and now the wedding festivities are in full gear! Did I mention that my two best friends are getting married 4 weeks a part?!? This weekend Brian, Toby, and I headed up to Oak Ridge, NC for the night for Carrie's shower. It was the first time that ALL of us had been together at once.. Dorothy, Marshall, Carrie, Andrew, Ginna, Jeff, Lucy, and us. It was a special time together and a very sweet shower for Carrie!

Here she is! The beautiful bride-to-be!!

Anna's scrumptious homemade cupcakes. YUM!

My sweet friend Emily! We realized that we will get to see each other 3 weekends in a row! After Charleston next weekend, hopefully we'll he at least 2 shades darker. :)

Me & Gin.. 13 days until your WEDDING!!!

Ginna and Lucy- the maid of honor and fabulous photographer

I love this one of Carrie introducing Andrew to people at the end of the shower. So cute!

Happy Birthday Carrie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE!! I love you and hope you have a FABULOUS day! Can't wait to see you in just a few days! HOORAY!!!!!!!

I thought you needed a laugh today. I look forward to MANY more laughs in the next year to come!

toby's 1st birthday

Valentine's Day is not a huge deal to me, but it is nice to do something a little special.. We had planned on going to a dinner and a movie with the rest of Atlanta, but I ended up having to work late so it did not work out. That's okay though. Brian picked up our favorite dinner from Fresh to Order (one of my favorite places here!) and we snuggled up on the couch with dinner, red wine, and lovely mindless Monday night television. Perfection. And we got to spend the evening with our child dog who turned one today! Toby got to spend the day at his favorite place- Camp Bow Wow, where he received a happy birthday bandanna and a frozen yogurt treat! Needless to say, he is EXHAUSTED after playing for 8 hours straight. :)

Wedding Dress Shopping with CCC!

It seems that the last several blog posts have been wedding-related... I guess that's what happens when two of your very best friends in the whole world are engaged! When Carrie planned a last minute trip to Atlanta to go wedding dress shopping I was ecstatic! Really. I could hardly contain my excitement. The wedding dress is my most favorite part about weddings. It sets the tone of the whole event.

I wanted to make things festive for when Carrie arrived. Sugar cookies seemed like the perfect option. I ran to Michaels, grabbed some cookie cutters and went to work. I love doing things like this. My dream job would be to own a bakery and decorate cookies and cupcakes all day. So fun.

Right before we went out for fish tacos and margaritas! We could live off of fish tacos.

ready to go pick out her WEDDING DRESS!!

Our morning started early. We got up at 6:00 and were on the road by 7:15 energized and ready to go! We arrived at the secret location right on time and were thrown into a room full of beautiful gowns. This really was a team effort. Carrie was literally diving into dresses.. We felt like little girls playing dress up. There was one moment when I was trying to zip Carrie up and she COULD NOT stop laughing.. We didn't have time to waste giggling! We needed to zip up, examine, and move on to the next dress! It really was a fun process.. and a successful process too! The third to last dress was the one she chose. All along we had both been saying, "that one is pretty..." This was the first time we used the word "love." Not revealing any details, I will say that it is totally Carrie. Can't wait for May 7th!

AHHH!!!

I can hardly contain my excitement! Tonight, Carrie and Andrew got ENGAGED!!! It's so wonderful and exciting. Carrie, I love you! And Andrew, we have waited for you for a long time! Thank you for loving my dear friend so well. It takes a special person! :) CONGRATULATIONS!

Ginna's Wedding Shower!

This past week we have been snowed in. Atlanta got some crazy snow and work was called off for me for the entire week! It was great. I loved being at home, but I did get a little bit of cabin fever. I was so thankful for Ginna's shower to look forward to. My mom and Natalie drove up from FL, picked me up and we drove into Greensboro together. It felt like we were going home.

It was so much fun to celebrate the bride-to-be! We ate delicious food and showered her with gifts. It was so wonderful to be with old friends!

Ginna, the beautiful BRIDE!!!

happy shower day!

Ginna gave us aprons, embellished by Dorothy as hostess gifts!

the banner I made for the shower. It worked perfectly over those windows! I am grateful to my mother-in-law for giving me a sewing machine and teaching me how to sew!

I made this cupcake tower for my brother's wedding.. Used it again for Michelle's shower last spring, and now again for Ginna's!

So much fun! Congrats Ginna!

holiday funk

I have been in a holiday funk the past few days at work. After having 2 weeks off, it's so hard to get back into the normal routine! Over break I was staying up until after midnight and sleeping until 9 or 10am. I even threw in an afternoon nap when I could. It was lovely. Today I came straight home after work.. I didn't have kids at the private practice, so it was nice to come home at 4:30 instead of 6:45... I had every intention of taking Toby for a run, but it was rainy and my body felt completely drained. I wanted to do something fun, so I decided to make white chocolate chip cranberry oatmeal cookies using my new Kitchen Aid mixer! I love it. The pistachio green makes me happy.

I have been wanting this cute candy stand ever since I saw it in Carrie's kitchen a year ago! It was on clearance at Williams Sonoma, and I got it! It's the perfect size.

He was my baking buddy tonight while Brian was out. Sweet little Toby, looking so handsome, waiting for me to throw his new squeaky ball which I immediately regretted giving him. When Carrie called, I had to lock myself in the bathroom so I could hear her! The squeaking is so loud! But since he didn't get a walk, I figured he needed something fun to play with. :)

The cookies were quite tasty! I highly recommend this recipe taken from food.com. The only thing I did differently was I used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. I froze half the dough to make another day. YUM!

It's 9:00 and I am going to BED. Must get out of the holiday funk!!! Tomorrow is a new day. I have high hopes that it will be better!

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups oats

3/4 cup dried cranberries

6 ounces white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. In large bowl using an electric mixer combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter; mix well to cream together. Add in egg and vanilla until combined. Add the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well. Fold in oats, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.