Soul Sista's Shower

I love my two sisters. Love them. We are extremely close. I just wish we were geographically close. We live in 3 disjointed states and don't get to see each other nearly enough.

Despite the craziness of these past few months with two weddings, I absolutely loved the chance it gave us sisters to spend time together.

Last week, my sister Kate and I had the fun privilege of throwing our baby sister's lingerie shower. We resisted the urge to be too kinky and settled on a simple theme of pink and girly! We did our research and pulled off a pretty cute party if I do say so myself.

The evening featured drinks and a trifle bar. How fun is that?!!

The bar consisted of pound cake, brownies, vanilla custard, chocolate mousse, strawberries, raspberries, an assortment of cookies, caramel, hot fudge, and whipped cream. What more could you want? Most of the recipes were from my mom or grandmotheres and they were delicious!

We used wrapping paper as the table runner.

And Kate made a fabulous sign but I am a terrible photographer so you can't see it that well.

And what would a girlie shower be without bling!

Kate had the awesome idea of using these scrapbook jewel stickers to "bedazzle" our crystal and coffee mugs. So cute.

The bride had her own personalized glass.

The cute trifle glasses bearing the emblem from our invites with a "Congratulations Carrianna" message.

It was a fun and memorable evening, and Carrianna got tons of cute stuff!

(And for those who were wondering, this was the event that broke my sugar fast. And it was soooo worth it!!)

Wedding Recap

The gorgeous bride!

Once again, it was a perfect week and a beautiful wedding.

It was filled with parties, presents, friends, family, and food. Lovely.

Getting dressed by mom.

We had a wonderful week together as sisters.

And now that all sisters are officially wed, those times will be rare.

Daddy hugs his baby girl goodbye.

And they're off to Maui!

More details will follow.

Spread the Love

While I'm away, I'd love to invite you to check out a friend's awesome venture.

Let me introduce you to my creative and talented friend, Crystal! She has taken her skills to the next level by sewing this absolutely gorgeous quilt.

And it could be yours! (But I honestly hope it will be mine...)

Here is what Crystal has to say:

Malaria kills over 1 MILLION precious people PER YEAR!!!

In fact, there are 10 new cases of malaria every second.

Every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection. A child that is no less precious or loved or held dear by his parents than our own children.

By buying ONE net a family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for four to five years.

AND
The benefits of bed nets extend even further than protecting those sleeping underneath them. The insecticide woven into each net makes entire communities safer – killing and repelling mosquitoes so that they can’t go on to bite others who may not be protected by a net.

Although $10 for a bed net may not sound like much, the cost makes them out of reach for most people at risk of malaria, many of whom survive on less than $1 a day.


Just think...to us $10 is a couple of latte's...a movie...a shirt...a lunch out...a CD...a couple of magazines...any number of frivolous things that we all throw money at...can I challenge us all to give those up for a day...or a week or a month...and give a net or two or three instead?

Can you help me show God's love to people in Africa? And wait with me for God to show up in a big way? Each net you buy is ONE entry into the raffle to win this quilt!

Click here to help and to read the full story!

Wedding Week - Take 2

The time has arrived -- again -- for us to travel home for my sister's wedding.

Carrianna and Eric are getting married next Saturday.

We are so excited and have many fun events scheduled for the week. My sister Kate was married in April and it was a fantastic week. Now it's my little sis' turn.

I must say it makes me feel a little old. She has always been my "little sister" and I can barely believe she is old enough for this milestone. But she is....which makes me even older.

I realized that I did not get ONE picture of Kate and her husband at the wedding. Really terrible. So I am now sharing a few that the pro took.







I'll try to do better at Carrianna's wedding.

Our schedule this week includes a bridal shower, lingerie shower, bridesmaids luncheon, rehearsal, and then the big day.

Kate and I are throwing her lingerie shower on Thursday night. Those are always fun! ... We have lots of fun planned for the evening, and I promise to share what I can. =) [trying to make Carrianna nervous...]

Here are the invites. I ordered them from here and they were wonderful to work with!

(I had to blur out our personal info just in case anyone was tempted to join us for the evening. =)

We are excited to add another to the family!

Totally Random

I realized several other bloggers are having "Random" posts, so maybe this is a common summer experience. But there are so many random things in my head today. So here goes.

First, to answer a few questions about our Disney Trip.
We did the Pricess character dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel. The characters were perfect -- where do they find these people? And the location was gorgeous which allowed for a fun time exploring after the dinner was over.

I don't have many Disney tidbits of advice since we spent a grand total of 5 hours there! But from my experience, here are a few tips.

-1- Under no circumstances should you go in June. Or July. Or probably August. If the temperature is over 90, I would suggest you should just go to Target and browse through the Princess toy aisle. This will be much more enjoyable. And much cheaper. (That said, I do realize that the week we were in Orlando was extremely hot and not necessarily the typical June day.)

-2- There are many great "stroller parking lots" throughout Magic Kingdom which make it easy to stroll when you need to and let the kids roam when it's convenient.

Big tip: when you park your stroller, make sure that it is facing AWAY from the direct sunlight. Otherwise, when you return, your kids will be unable to get back in the stroller for an hour or two. Of course, this again relates to the 99 degree sunshine we were experiencing. Better tip: See #1.

-3- If it is your first trip to Disney, make sure and go to the Welcome Center to get everyone an official "First Visit" pin. These make a cute souvenir and are free!

-4- Go see the 4-D movie. I assume the exact feature changes, but it was tons of fun and we all enjoyed it.

-5- You must see the afternoon parade. As I mentioned in my earlier post, we did NO advanced planning. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. But, fortunately, we were near the castle getting our picture taken when the park photographer just broke into a choreographed dance. Hmmm... (I think he was secretly hoping to move up some day and become Goofy or a Prince. He had the whole thing memorized and was great!) Then I began to hear the music getting louder and the parade was just beginning. We hurried over to Main Street for an awesome and magical parade of all the Disney characters. I cannot vouch for the evening parade though I have heard it is fantastic too.

-6- There are 2 unbelievable outlet malls nearby. Definitely take some time to visit them.

I still consider myself a Disney novice and hope we can make another trip there when the kids are older...and in February.

Second, when I returned from vacation, I went on a diet.

Yuk. I hate to even write that word. I don't do diets very often. I rarely keep up with my weight and am pretty content to just do things in moderation. But we had been on vacation for over 10 days. I felt yuk and exhausted. I was even getting sick of Chick-fil-A. (I know... blasphemous...) But I decided that I needed to take control of things and my only goal was to feel better.

So... I did it. I gave up sugar and white flour. (I know....blasphemous again.) I did this years ago in law school and it worked really well for me. And I felt pretty challenged by it. I am a southern girl who loves her carbs. I put sugar in my coffee, enjoy pasta and pancakes, and need a bread with every meal. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it... and to see if it really made a difference.

My first step was to cut out the sugar from my coffee. This was probably the hardest thing. I really enjoy my sweet cup..cups... of coffee in the morning. But I knew this would evidence my total committment to this lifestyle. I have actually gotten used to the coffee and enjoy it now. It hasn't been too difficult as there are so many whole grain options out there.

But I must tell you that I can tell a TREMENDOUS difference. I have so much more energy throughout the day. And my body has changed completely. (at least to me...nobody else would probably notice). But I have accomplished my goal. I feel so much better.

I won't say that I will never have another grain of sugar or that I haven't taken a bite of my daughter's Orea cakesters that she snuck into the grocery cart. But I have mostly eliminated sugar and white flour from my diet. And I feel good. To each her own.

Third, this new purchase has led to some fun mornings (not afternoons because it is blazingly hot here) and some funny pictures.

Why do kids love to be naked?

I hope you are having an exciting and random summer too!

Commercial Break

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ME

I have received numerous inquiries about my blog design. Thanks to my sweet friend Kim and her willingness to explain Blogger to me, I have been able to design my own blog headers for the past several years.

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I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging over these past few years and know many of you also enjoy this hobby. Having a pretty and creative place to record your thoughts and memories makes it even more enjoyable!

Now back to your originally scheduled broadcast...

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Hope yall had a Happy Fourth!