Miles' Baby Shower

So, my best friend had a baby.  :)  He is precious.  His name is Miles.  Amber & I gave her a baby shower months ago and it was precious.  Like way precious.  It kinda made me want a boy a little bit.  Bowties and all.  Here are a few of my favorite pics:

The grub!  Mostly courtesy of Amber's awesome cooking and baking skills.  Plus some yummy green punch - recipe here.

Detachable bowtie onesies.... Ahh.  Love them.

Close up of Manda's boob corsage. ;-)

The beautiful Mom-to-be and Grandma :) :)

Eve & Miles' first picture together.  <3 <3  #ArrangedMarriageAlready

Amber's Bridal Shower

First off, I'm back posting this so that it falls in line with the appropriate date since it's now December.  Secondly, this shower was by far my favorite shower I've hosted so far!  It was beautiful and since the weather was fairly nice, we did it outside.  The guest list wasn't huge, so a sit-down garden party was perfect!  Everything turned out gorgeous!  I must add that Parker and I returned from our trip to the Dominican Republic assuming that my brother had stopped by the house to water the flowers since it was a garden party and it was in the middle of summer… However, Weston had spent the week in the hospital with a round of pancreatitis and our flowers were dead as a doorknob when we got home two days before the shower.  The day before the shower, it poured cats and dogs, so the morning of, Parker and I made a mad dash to Lowes and bought a few flowers to plant last minute.  Talk about a time crunch!  Eek!

Amber and Jarrett's wedding color was cobalt blue, so I designed the decor and invitations to incorporate the blue, plus I added pink and flowers since it was a garden party.  Amanda co-hosted and made a bunch of the food… plus she arrived way early to help me pull everything off.  I think it turned out beautifully, so enjoy the pics below!

Coral Punch

Well my green punch recipe has always been my go-to when it comes time to give someone a shower.  I've made it at many bridal and baby showers.  Alas, green punch just wouldn't do for Candice's baby shower, which was themed after her nursery colors... coral and teal.

There aren't a lot of coral punch recipes out there in case you were wondering.  Trust me, I googled it.  So I made it up and hoped for the best.

It turned out really well and I'll definitely make it again if I'm ever in need of coral punch!

What you need:
2 packages of cherry-limeade Kool-aid mix
1 lb of sugar
2 quarts of water
1 large can of pineapple juice
1 container of frozen yellow lemonade
1 2-liter of Ginger-ale

What you do:
Boil the water to dissolve the Kool-aid and sugar.  Add in the pineapple juice and then melt the frozen lemonade by stirring it in.  Freeze it in 2 empty two-liters over night.  Put it in fridge about 2 hours prior to event to make it a bit slushy.  Then, cut open the 2 liters and put the slushy punch in the punch bowl.  Add in the 2 liter of Ginger-ale on top before serving!

Candice's Baby Shower

I am so excited about my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's sweet baby girl!  She is due in May and we recently showered her with love and gifts!  The nursery fabric they've picked out (see below) is just precious, so I used it as a starting point for the color scheme.  I found out it was pretty much impossible to find the right color paper and fabric to match it, but everything turned out just perfect!

Here are a few snapshots from the food & decor!

Green Punch, Yummy Yummy :)

This is a repeat post, but a bunch of people asked for the "Green Punch Recipe" that I made for my friend Victoria's baby shower.  It is pretty tasty! :)

What you need:
2 packages of lemon-lime KoolAid mix
1 pound of sugar
2 quarts of water
1 large can of pineapple juice
1 bottle of Ginger Ale

What you do:
1. Boil the water in a large pot and dissolve the sugar. Then dissolve the KoolAid mix.
2. Add the large can of pineapple juice.
3. Freeze until slushy.
4. Add the Ginger Ale to punch bowl when serving.

It'll serve about 30-40 people!

July 4th

I hope you had a great July 4th!  We certainly did!  I think that Independence Day is my 2nd favorite holiday (behind Christmas of course) - I just love fireworks, cookouts, friends, family, and summer (and I'm a social studies teacher...)!

We went to a friends' house for a Fish Fry/Cookout and we had a great time!

My best friend, Amanda made two July 4th Pinterest platters and they turned out excellent!

For the strawberries, she used almond bark instead of white chocolate because it's easier to work with and they were seriously delicious!  Both platters are definitely worth doing again!  I made baked macaroni and cheese - one of my personal favorites - and we had corn, fish, shrimp, hot dogs, slaw, hush puppies, baked beans, pasta salad, and lots of desserts (and probably some other stuff that I left out).  We played cornhole and hung out with friends and family all evening!  It was a perfect July 4th!

"Not Me" Monday

Welcome to "Not Me" Monday, a blog carnival started by Mckmama. Go to her blog to read about all the embarassing things she & others didn't do.

I did not spend Saturday with my fiance at the miserably hot ECU vs. UNC football game... in the Pirate section. And, when Carolina won, I definitely did not snicker at all the ECU fans who drove 2 hours to sit in the stinkin' heat, squished together, just to see their team lose to the team they hate most. I would not make fun of their situation like that, that would be terrible.

I also did lots of homework and studying this weekend, which means I did not make these stinkin' cute invitations for Katherine's bachelorette party. I definitely made up that cute poem at the top, because I did not find a similar poem online that I could copy.

And since I did not make this invitation, I did not waste several hours playing around online finding cute fonts to download. And since I did not find any cute fonts, I did not waste more time adding some spice to my blog post and sidebar titles with said cute fonts.

Last Thursday night my roomates/neighbors and I did not spend the night in our PJs watching Tarzan and eating peanut butter and oreos. Hello? We're in college. We are way past Disney movies... we so go out on Thursday nights and do college student things.

And I definitely would not pictures of the fun we were having.

Because we're too cool for that.

What did you not do?

Green Punch

Because I've told a bunch of people that I'd let them know the punch recipe that I used at Candice's shower (pink & green themed) and Katherine's shower (purple & green themed)...

What you need:
2 packages of lemon-lime KoolAid mix
1 pound of sugar
2 quarts of water
1 large can of pineapple juice
1 bottle of Ginger Ale

What you do:
1. Boil the water in a large pot and dissolve the sugar. Then dissolve the KoolAid mix.
2. Add the large can of pineapple juice.
3. Freeze until slushy.
4. Add the Ginger Ale to punch bowl when serving.

*You could also make this the day of and put crushed ice in the bowl to cool it off if you need to

Serves: At least 40...

Enjoy!

Showers, Showers, Showers

When I made a New Year's Resolution to host showers, parties, etc, I did not know how many I would be hosting throughout the year! First, I started with my cousin Rebecca's baby shower. I "co-hosted" with my mom, cousin Amanda, and a friend of Rebecca's. It was HUGE - like 100 people huge (she was having triplets, she needed a lot).

We did "Three Peas in a Pod" theme as you can tell by the cake.

I did a fruit mound... the pineapple opened so you could yogurt dip.

Here is the new mom:

Then... I through my Dad a surpise birthday party, which I posted about here.

Then, I gave Candice a bridal shower with the help of a family friend. You saw her invitations here (which by the way, a friend of mine's mom used the tutorial to make shower invitations for a shower she was hosting! They looked so good! How cool is that?)

There's the fruit mound again... see what I mean about the dip in the pineapple?

Here is the cake... well part of it. There was a green square tier on top of the pink, but we cut it up before I got a picture. The daisy was on top. It was really cute!

Here is Mrs. Lydia (Parker's mom) and Mrs. Candy (co-host)

And of course... the bride, Candice with Mrs. Maxine from the river.

The most recent shower was at my apartment for my friend and former roomate, Katherine. You saw her invitations here (her mom is the one who used the tutorial!). Amanda, another friend and roomate and fellow bridesmaid co-hosted.

Here are Amanda and I guarding the gifts (ha, just kidding!)

And of course, the bride-to-be, Katherine!

I LOVE giving showers and making invitations and entertaining! I will be helping my Aunt Kay and Mom give my cousin Melissa an afternoon tea/bridal shower next month! How are your New Year's Resolutions turning out?