The Bridal Shower

We had a wonderful bridal shower for Anya on Saturday. She and her mother are dear friends of me and my daughter. The shower was a huge success.

It is tradition to give the bride-to-be a corsage to wear during her shower. But Anya loves to do her own thing so we went looking for something different than a corsage to distinguish her place of honor at the shower. One of the things Anya is well know for is that she always wears her sunglasses on top of her head. She is never without them. Add to that the fact that she has an awesome sense of humor and we found exactly what we were looking for on Oriental Trading....bride to be sunglasses!

We set up a little table with the bride's favorite picture of her and her intended. It was in a signable mat so she can frame it with the guests' signature from the shower. The two little clear boxes held gifts for the Mother's. They were adorable hankies. One said "Mother of the Bride" and one said "Mother of the Groom". We presented those to the Mom's.

The food was a huge hit. We had meatballs in red sauce, queso cheese with bacon/cheddar tater skin chips, chips with ranch or French onion dip, Tostitos and salsa, pasta salad and two awesome cheese balls made by a dear friend, Janie.

Hubby's pasta salad was a big hit. He made it with rainbow spiral pasta, black olives, Granny Smith and McIntosh apples, carrots, red onion, hot pepper, cucumber, bacon bits, cherry tomatoes and creamy Italian dressing.

We found this cute little "Sweet Bar" sign at Party City and placed it over the dessert table. We had a cake, cupcakes, Oreos (in keeping with black and blue theme), nuts and mints. Anya was thrilled that we had asked her Granny to bring her famous banana pudding as well. It is always a hit everywhere Granny goes.

The cake was very elegant with the gorgeous blue roses. Food City is our favorite place to get cakes. They do a fantastic job and it is so delicious.

For those who prefer cupcakes, we decided to go with a couple of dozen of those as well. They turned out so cute. The white ones had little blue rose buds and the blue ones had little white doves. The white ones were also sprinkled with edible glitter which was a cute touch.

The crowd began arriving and Anya snatched her friends little baby to cuddle on. Anya loves children and all the kids at church consider her their "Aunt" Anya.

Of course, I have to sneak in a picture of my granddaughter, Alexis. She asked Anya if she could hold the baby. Notice Alexis is still in princess mode. She loves her new tiara.

My granddaughter, Shelby, wanted us to see her baby so we had to take a picture of it as well.

We had a fantastic crowd. We couldn't have been more pleased with the turnout. We wanted it to be a special day that Anya would remember. I think we got our wish. She was surrounded with friends, family, extended family and church family. We even managed to surprise her by having one of her good friends from high school days show up. It turns out that my niece by marriage was Anya's good friends in high school and they had lost touch. It was great to see everybody that came.

We kept the table decor basic and simple. Elegant white table clothes with a simple vase of flowers on each table.

The flower vases were my favorite thing of the whole planning process. I "hijacked" pictures of Anya and Josh from her Facebook albums and printed them in black and white. Then I put them in Mason jars and tied either a blue and white dotted ribbon around the rim or a black and white dotted ribbon. Then I filled them with assorted white flowers. I was very pleased with the effect and the guests enjoyed going around the room looking at all the pictures of the happy couple.

She received lots of nice gifts and was thrilled with everything she got.

I think everybody had a good time. We played the purse game and had lots of strange items that were all related to things Anya and Josh like or related to weddings. It was cool. The winner was the groom's Mom.

All in all, I think it turned out very well. I want to give a special thank you to my daughter, Diana. I couldn't have pulled it off without her help. Of course, I wouldn't be feeling so gracious to her if she had not caught her runaway buggy that had the cake and cupcakes in it. Her job Saturday was to stop and pick up the cake, cupcakes, and ginger ale for the punch. My heart stopped when she walked into the shower room and said "The cake and cupcakes are okay." Apparently she was loading the ginger ale into her car when somebody honked and she looked up and the shopping cart was rolling through the parking lot at high speed....with the cake and cupcakes in it. But, what's a special day without some little humor of "what might have been."

The Trash Basket

I was reading on The Nursery some of the funny things kids say. I saw this one and it made me smile.

One particular four-year-old prayed,
'And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'

First, it made me smile and then it made me really stop and think.

Maybe this is a prayer we should pray. Maybe we do fill our lives with trash that we don't need. What type of trash is in our baskets? Do they overflow with envy, hatred, bitterness, faithlessness, doubt?

And what trash do we allow others to contribute to our baskets? Insecurities, gossip, cruelty, jealousy?

Maybe today is the day to start taking out the trash. Maybe this little four year old is right. Maybe we should ask God to forgive us for all the trash we carry around in our baskets. And maybe we should pray to have a forgiving heart for all those who try to empty their trash into our baskets.

It is something worth thinking about.

Princesses....

I sat down at 5:23 to write my blog this morning. At 5:24, I hear "Mamaw B" coming from the kids room. I walk in and two smiling little faces are looking up at me. Two sets of sparkling eyes are wide awake. And two dainty sets of lips proceed to say, "Can we have some brownies for breakfast?".... at 5:24 in the morning! They elected to stay in bed and watch Disney, Jr. for a little while.

We had a great time last night. They made brownies. When I set the box on the table, they read the ingredients together. Well, Alexis read the words and Shelby "read" the pictures. They had put their aprons on Mamaw Helen made them. Then there was a whole discussion about which one would be the chef and which one would be the sou chef (too much Food Network with Papaw). Then we got down to the business of making the brownies. These two girls get along so good. They each got to crack one egg. Alexis ran the water in the measuring cup and Shelby poured it in the bowl. Then Shelby put the oil in the measuring cup and Alexis poured it into the batter. They took turns stirring. But they both had to have spoons to lick the bowl when the brownies went in the oven.

Then we headed to the church hall to decorate for the shower. They had a good time playing while we did the decorating. Afterwards, we went to Burger King for some chicken nuggets and fries. The kids meal prize was a plastic pink princess crown. They were beside themselves with excitement. On the kids meal box there was a punch out paper doll and clothes. The side of the box said "Imagination is King". Alexis suggested since the box was pink, it should have said "Imagination is Queen." We had to make Princess toasts with each drink we took. We even toasted each other with french fries. It was hilarious. But they were having a ball and so was I.

Then we came home and had some play time before getting ready for bed. About 10:00, they crawled into the bed and played with their new paper dolls while they watched some cartoons and had a brownie and milk.

After breakfast this morning, we are going to do manicures and head out to a community yard sale before time to head back to the church hall for the bridal shower. It's sure to be a great day.

Finally Friday

I was going to work half a day today, but that idea went out the window when I saw three good yard sales in the paper in my area.

I was going to work half a day today, but that idea went out the window when hubby asked me to run an errand for him this morning while he is at work.

I was going to work half a day today, but that idea went out the window when I realized that I still have some last minute preparations for the shower tomorrow.

I was going to work half a day today, but....

...Who am I kidding with these excuses. I think in the back of my mind I had already planned on taking the day off. My granddaughters are coming to visit tonight and when I get excited about something, it is hard to concentrate on working. It is true that there are some good yard sales that I'm going to check out and hubby did ask me to run an errand. But in reality, I already new I had a long to do list this morning so I wasn't going to be accomplishing any work anyway. I'll check my emails and handle that then I am going to take the rest of the day off go to a couple of yard sales, run hubby's errands, finish my shower to do list and then pick up the granddaughters.

Hope you enjoy your weekend. 

Lots going on...

As I sit here working on my blog, we are having torrential downpours, high winds, small hail and lots of lightning and thunder. The water is standing in the back yard and came down so hard and so fast that it washed away some of the yard and made a little ditch.

It's a great day to stay inside and get caught up on some things. I have to finish the centerpieces for the shower, get caught up on my emails, and move all the shower stuff out of the grandkid's room into my office so the girls can have their room tomorrow night.

I am going to have a yard sale either sometime over the next week or two. I hadn't planned on it, but it just kind of happened. Hubby never drinks coffee any more so he said I could sell his coffe pot the next time I had a yard sale. Then we were cleaning off a shelf and saw a couple of items we never used and next thing I know, we had the makings of a yard sale. Still have a lot of stuff to gather up, these are just a few things we had put back in case I ever had one. I haven't even went through storage or closets yet.

Plus I have some Thirty-One items I have replaced with newer patterns or are items that I just never used. I'm going to put some of those in the yard sale.

I have had a guest for the past couple of weeks from West Virginia. His name is Flat Stanley and many of you may know him. He travels around the world on behalf of his classmates and spends time with friends and family. We have had a great time and done a lot together, but he has to ride over to the post office this morning and head back to Cody, my great-nephew.

For our last day together yesterday, we stopped in my favorite antique store so Flat Stanley could see where I like to shop.

I wasn't looking for anything special, just wanted to show the place to Stanley. Well, I have decided that my little buddy is my good luck charm. We were just wandering around the aisles not looking at anything in particular, when I happened to glance down to a bottom shelf. And there is was.....

Yes, that is THE cup and saucer I have been wanting for months and months. The Fire King Bonnie Blue pattern that came in Mother's Oats. The coffee cup my daddy drank out of when I was a little girl. Imagine my excitement when I saw it. Imagine how I felt when I picked it up and found it to be in perfect condition AND that the price was $5.25. Snatched that baby up and have been smiling about it ever since. So excited to FINALLY have found it.

Well, it's Wednesday....



I can't believe it is already Wednesday. I've accomplished quite a bit this week. I've gotten almost everything marked off my "gotta get" list for the shower this weekend.

So thrilled about the centerpieces for each table. I worked on them last night and hope to finish them up later today. Don't want to end up with "naked" tablescapes.




I love when the UPS or FedEx guy pulls in my driveway. I got a box yesterday that I had ordered last week with two little items for the shower. The little bit of decor that came in the box is just the cutest thing.

But my favorite thing I have purchased for the decor is in this box. I am beyond thrilled with it and it will bring much hoots and laughter to the occasion. The bride-to-be is going to absolutely LOVE it. Can't wait to see her face on this one. I can hear her laughter now.

I have plans for an awesome weekend this week. My two granddaughters are going to stay all night with me. I'm going to take them to help decorate for the shower. Then I'll let them make homemade pizza's and some brownies. Of course, there will be a tea party at some point. You can tell by these sweet faces that these girls were made to have fun with.

The Catlettsburg School is having their annual Community Yard Sale this Saturday morning. I am going to get the girls up and head over to it before time to get ready for the shower. I went to their sale last year and got so many wonderful bargains, I couldn't carry them all at one time. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this year. I think the girls will really enjoy it.

All in all, I have an exciting weekend coming up. So glad hump day is here. It will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Top 10 Tuesday



I haven't made a top 10 Tuesday list for quite a while. Today's top 10 list are ways I like to relax.

#1. My favorite way to relax is to take a nice long bubble bath.



#2. Swinging on the porch swing.



#3. Read a good book. I am currently reading Carolina Mist by Mariah Stewart. Something strange is going on and I can't figure out what it is, though I have a ton of opinions on it. Can't wait to see what is happening.



#4. Work a crossword puzzle. Now this doesn't relax everybody, but it sure works for me.
#5. Do a Seek-a-word puzzle. My mom loves the seek-a-word books.

#6. Play Jeopardy online. I signed up for it through Facebook and love to play a game or two every few days. It is a great way to relax and challenges your brain at the same time. You will be amazed at what you actually know. Many times, I answer and question and wonder "How in the world did I know that?"



#7. Listen to music. I love any kind of music, but my favorite to listen to for relaxing is country music. Especially if it is a CD by Jason Aldean. Now that boy can SING!



#8. Bake something. I love being in the kitchen to bake a delicious cake, some cookies or even make a pan of chocolate fudge. I just love baking and it really relaxes me. As a matter of fact, I may make some chocolate fudge today now that I'm thinking about it.



9. Watch a chick flick with your hubby. I love popping a big bowl of popcorn and grabbing a Hershey bar to share and snuggling on the couch to watch a chick flick. He actually likes some of them so I can always talk him into Sweet Home Alabama, one of my favorite movies.



#10. Spend time with a friend. Today is the birthday of one of my dearest friends. She is always there for me in laughter and in tears. She provides a shoulder to lean on, an ear when I need to gripe and a funny story when I need a good laugh. Hope she is having a wonderful day today. Happy birthday, dear friend.