ThrowWAYback Thursday: Simple Wedding Shower

I have hosted my fair share of showers--wedding and baby--over the years. I thought I would "capture" my brief moments of creativity and cooking ability (aka my Mom's amazing acts of kindness in helping me out) and share my ideas to make a simple shower very special.

This is my dear friend Heather's bridal shower back in 2011. I told you we were going way back!

Decor:
Simple blue patterned fabric, cut into triangles and hot glued onto light roping was the simple, summer, country inspired decor theme I went with. I think it is important to have some detail on the mailbox, so guests are sure to know where to go. This shower had many friends and family who had not yet been to our home, so I wanted to make sure they knew the correct house! I carried the same theme inside with a larger banner for the mantle and mini banners throughout.I set up tables in the kitchen and our entry room/office space with vases of floating candles and flower petals (extras I never used from my wedding!).

Food:
 I love to do brunch showers, because I feel brunch is so much easier to cook. And Mimosas!! Need I say more?? We did a tried a true breakfast casserole, granola parfaits, fruit, and breads and muffins.  Then for dessert my [fabulous] mom made her special mini Black Bottom Cupcakes to top it all off. Since it was morning, I decided a heavy dessert wasn't needed. We made enough for every guest to have a couple, because you can never have just one!

Oops! Didn't take the picture BEFORE guests ate up!

Games and Favors:

I'm not a big game person, but we did do a Marriage Advice book and my favorite--How They Met Mad Libs! Many brides have online wedding websites these days, so I didn't even have to bother the bride-to-be on this one (of course, I pretty much knew all of the details!). I simply copied the "How We Met" section on their website into Word, and took out some crucial words. Then, I added what types of words were needed--adjectives, nouns, etc. and printed copies. It was fun for all ages...the serious players, and the silly!

And the favor? Heather's favorite recipe on a cute recipe card for everyone to add to their own recipe book!

It was simple but successful, and of course, so much fun to celebrate the THEN bride to be!

Open to a New Year

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with 2013. I mean, wonderful things happened: Tom was provided Residency in St. Louis, I graduated with my Masters in Literacy, Tom graduated from Medical School, we had a very fun double graduation party with friends and family, I started a new job and I ran my first half marathon! On the outside, it was our best year yet. Isn't that the interesting thing about looking at everyone else's life on the outside? Because behind those walls, 2013 was also filled with heartbreak, anger, difficulty, disappointment and a deep struggle to maintain faith in it all. You can see a snip-it here and I hope to post more about it in 2014.

I pray your 2014, like ours, will be filled with renewed hope, deep growth, new and old friendships, learned lessons, inexplicable joy, good books, and God's great blessings!

Here's to 2014!

A New Series: Seriously, Pinterest!?

Seriously, Pinterest!?

I'm all about crafting and creating and baking and all, but there are some things I see on Pinterest and I think to myself:
"Who in the WORLD has time for that!?"

I mean, I work full time, but I don't have kids yet, and I still cannot see myself doing these time intensive projects. Here's one I thought was extra ridiculous...unless you have 8 hours to make the dessert you are taking to your next Christmas party.

You need tweezers? I'm out.

Thanksgiving

When things aren't seeming to go your way, it is hard to be thankful in your circumstances. Of course, there is MUCH to be thankful for, which I cannot take for granted--my health, home, family, freedom, job and much more. But, when you are mourning a loss, or lacking hope, or dwelling in pain, it is hard to find comfort in being thankful for your current situation.  I certainly felt this way for the past two Thanksgivings, and so I've tried to focus on the "little" things to be thankful for.

Here's my Thankful list:

• sweet walks with Maggie
• cute fuzzy ear warmers
• coffee (specifically while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade)
• good books
• my ability to still run 3 miles after my race
• a clean house
• my favorite sweet potato recipe from my favorite second grade teacher, Mrs. Heigel
• Tom having 3 hours off to enjoy Thanksgiving
• a fully decorated house for Christmas
• sleep

I have many blessings to count, and although that doesn't take away pain or hurt, it brightens my soul a bit to dwell on God's goodness.

Truth

This past year I've been struggling with anger and despair and darkness. Sometimes when you are in such a dark place, you repel anything that has even the slightest bit of light. That is what I've been doing. But, in my recent hope, I've let a sliver of light in, and it is oh.so.beautiful. This song came on my Pandora station and usually I would "skip" it, but today I listened to the beauty and truth of the words and was overcome with the TRUTH.

When A Heart Breaks

Life isn't easy and it isn't clean, but BOY do we need Jesus.

Hope

Today I am feeling hopeful and thankful and peaceful. It may not last long, but it is how I'm feeling now. And, if I've learned anything in the past year, it is embrace the hope and the joy in the now. Don't linger on yesterday or tomorrow, but soak in the beauty that is in the present.



I'm listening to Thankful by Josh Groban. It is actually a song from his Christmas album, but it is fitting all year. We all have so many blessings in our life each day and I will cling to the hope and strength and be thankful today!

Honesty

I am by no means a blogger who has followers, but I was recently reading some of the blogs I follow and was so encouraged by their honesty. I was also very convicted.

Honesty. It isn't something we find too often on the internet. If all at. We hide behind Facebook profile pictures and Instagram'd life events and Twitter updates that make our lives seem perfectly put together, uncomplicated, and unbelievably joyful. But life isn't always like that. Often we are broken, depressed, dealing with complication and confusion.

I'm thankful for the honesty of these two bloggers that wrote exactly what I needed to hear yesterday: Across the Pond and Tales of Me and the Husband

Let's be honest with one another. I'll start.