Birthday Blogger

Y'all! It's my birthday! I love birthdays. I think I love them so much, not because all of the attention being on me (or whoever's birthday it is), but because it's a chance to celebrate life and another year of it. It's just so neat to hear from friends and family that you don't get to talk to nearly often enough on your birthday just to be reminded that you matter to them and that they matter to you too. It's a reason to celebrate and take a break from your day to day pattern of life.

Okay, and confession, I do love getting to go out to dinner with friends and having them sing you happy birthday...and maybe a present or two, but who can argue with that?

But with all of that said, Happy birthday to me :) and more importantly, thank you for being in my life. You all mean so much to me and I don't tell you that nearly enough! Here's to another year of laughing, mistake making, learning, growing friendships, and figure out what in the world I want to do when I grow up...which I don't think anyone should truly ever do if you ask me!

Quick Trip (to Chattanooga)

This past weekend was a little extended for me. After Anna's wedding, I dropped Alexa off at her grandparent's house and came back home to pack for a trip to Chattanooga!! I had the rare treat of having a Sunday and Monday off so I took advantage since I don't think I'll have much free time between now and the holidays ending.

Food and friends are the two biggest reasons I love my trips to Chattanooga so of course I try to kill two birds with one stone! Kelly and I went to Yellow Deli for old times sake and sat outside on the porch--the weather was perfect! It was so good to spend time with her and just catch up on life. After lunch, Allie met up with me and we spent the afternoon together. Since we were both super full, we were at a loss of what to do...we drove around for a while and found our way up to Signal Point. We went down to Starbucks after a while for some air conditioned catching up when Cara met up with us! I dropped Allie off at youth group and spent a low key night with Cara. Like always, it was spur of the moment trip and Cara was willing to take me in!

Cara and I met up with Samantha in the morning for some breakfast after Sam got off her night shift at the hospital. It was so fun to see our married Mrs. Samantha Dyson...even though she signed the wrong name on her receipt! haha

Later in the afternoon, I got to see my Erin! We met at Joe Friday's because I had been craaaaaaving their food. I used to eat their once or even twice a week because it was a short walk from the church so it was so great to eat at one of my favorites I missed so much. But better than the food was spending the whole afternoon catching up with Erin. We walked around Coolidge and the walking bridge (with a pit stop at Ice Cream Show). Even though we had several hours to talk and catch up, I feel like our time was cut short! We tried to document our time together with a picture...but per usual, Erin and I are doomed to take bad pictures together. There's always next time...

I was sad to leave, but so grateful that I had the chance for a quick trip to spend time with dear friends (and eat lots of yummy, delicious food)! I'm looking forward to the chance to visit again in 2013! How weird does that sound??

Anna Pants becomes Mrs. Pants

 I know I have some of the absolutely most ridiculous post titles...but they make me laugh and I say that counts for something. Side note: We always called Anna "Anna Pants" and "Pants" for short...so that's where the title comes from. Don't judge me.

So I'm trying to get back on track-ish rather than weeks behind, so I think after this post, I can get back on a normal schedule. Whew. I know everyone just breathed a sigh of relief! Well, my type A personality just did at least.

So last week, November 3rd, my dear sweet high school friend Anna got married. It was a fairly small wedding and honestly, the only people I knew going into the wedding was the bride, the groom whom I'd met once, Alexa (who was a bridesmaid), Rachel (another bridesmaid), the parents of the bride and Alexa's parents. Since everyone else was a little busy during the ceremony, I sat with Alexa's parents, which only made more people think that Alexa and I are sisters and her parents are mine too. Typical.

Walking into the church, bagpipes were playing which totally set the mood. Come to find out, the bag pipe player was their dental hygienist! haha The ceremony was sweet and so personalized. I love that the minister talked specifically about what she had heard the bride and groom say about what they loved so much about the other. Hearing what Wayne said about Anna is what I know that I love about Anna--her heart for adventure and making everything adventurous--and that is the heart of who Anna is.

After the ceremony was finished, I hung around with Alexa's parents to see the professional photographers work their magic before we all headed over to the reception that was literally a walk across the street. It was a beautiful, quant house in downtown Marietta. It reminded me so much of the Alpha Gam house--just the detail in the crown modeling, the chandeliers, and even the overly busy dark carpet. There was a bar set up outside with appetizers and childhood pictures scattered throughout the foyer and gentleman's parlor. 

The rest of the reception was so much fun, just spending time with friends, dancing, drinking, and celebrating Wayne and Anna! 

And of course Alexa caught the bouquet. Her tally is up to 7 now. 

The reception was over at 10 or so, so a group of us headed down the street to McCrackin's in the Marietta Square and the fun continued!

I am so so glad that I was able to be a part of Anna and Wayne's special day! I can't believe Anna Pants is married now!

Flipping Burger

As most of you probably know, I call my middle sister Kirby "Burger". She's in my phone as Burger and talking to her in public has gotten me a weird look or two...or five hundred. Either way, I felt like I needed to give some background on my post title. The "flipping" part comes from when Kirby came to me a month or two ago with a great idea! I had been doing a lot of my Pretending to be Trendy posts and she wanted to be a "project" for a PTBT post--a make over!! She left picking out the hair cut up to me, helping to style her wardrobe a bit (or at least what to pair with what or buying an "essential" item or two to use in the coming season), and teaching her house to do her make up using Bare Minerals, with other touches for day vs. night time make up.

So here is the official BEFORE: 

So I looked, researched, and worried over how to have Kirby's hair cut. I was definitely feeling the pressure! Her hair had been long and lacking shape lately, but I also knew how important quick and easy styling was since she is the mother of a very active 2 year old! She mentioned that she was totally okay with shorter hair as long as it was at least 8 inches off so she could donate her tresses to "Locks for Love". These were my two models I finally settled on--long bob, with thick side swoop bangs.

Now that was most of my prep work was done, it was time to start snipping! Kirby didn't even want me to tell her anything about what we were planning to do, but I think she had an idea that we were going short when we started wrapping up her hair into a pony tail to chop off.

While Mrs. Tammy was snipping, I playing with this little munchkin who had just gotten her hair cut :)

I could not have been more happy with the final haircut! It was fun, fresh, young mom, but but too mom looking...it's a hard balance to find, but she did it! All credit totally goes to Mrs. Tammy on this once, but Kirby really loved it too and that's when I knew I did my job! Kirby is not one to hide her emotions when she doesn't like something (at least between sisters that is...) so I knew that she really did love it!

Next up was make up time! Well, actually next was  lunch and putting Felicity down for a nap, and then the next step was make up. Kirby had recently bought Bare Minerals and wanted someone to really show her how to use it. And then past that, she wanted to know how to really apply day time make up as well as night time make up. I really don't know when this happened, but I've always seemed to be people's go to hair and make up person for big events so all of these years of practice paid off because I got to teach my sister a trick or two :)

 Drum roll puh-leasssse

Now for a sassy model pose :)

Still as beautiful before, just a little amplified and spruced up in the after :)

Don't worry, I'm doing a clothing post for Kirby and her closet soon :) But I think this is a great make over as is! What a hot mama :)

Mary is MARRIED!

Slightly delayed, but Mary's wedding post is finally here! Mary's wedding was as close to perfect for what I pictured for her wedding day. All of her hours of meticulous planning, attention to details, and persistence definitely paid off!!

After getting ready in a hurry, Alexa, Bonnie, and I got to the church in plenty of time to see Mary and the rest of the bridesmaids before the walk down the aisle. We even got to see the man of the hour, Dan and Brian, one of the groomsmen that is a high school friend of ours. Alexa, Bonnie, and Brian passed out the programs while I was in the back room making sure everything Mary needed was taken care of. She was so calm--and I honestly think just ready to get things started!!

The church was small and intimate. The pastor was so heartfelt, jovial, and spoke so much truth about a marriage. His little "talk" with Mary and Dan was about how it doesn't take 2 people to make a marriage work, but 3. God completes the triangle, making it the most stable form of relationships. The ceremony was the perfect length of time. Next we got to hang around for some pictures before loading up my little Roxy with the pumpkins, aisle bows, and the floral arrangements to transfer to the reception site.

They had a cocktail hour outside complete with spiked apple cider (along with other drinks, but I thought the apple cider was the perfect fall touch!), cigars for the men, and yummy hors d'oeuvers. The reception was at an old Roswell home with a courtyard, tables, and twinkling lights to add atmosphere.    After a short while, Mary and Dan finally arrived in the Rolls Royce and soon after the real party started!

Each table was decorated to a "T" with pumpkins, leaves, with a little touch of glitz. Even the place settings had painted pumpkins with our names to indicate where to sit! Before too long, we got some yummy soup followed by the main dish. I ordered prime rib, with asparagus and mashed potatoes. First dances were danced, speeches were given and the dancing ensued. The band really started playing more upbeat music after (Tidbit: The band was the "Flyers", some Delta pilots that work with Mary's dad! So fun!!) You could tell Mary and Dan were having so much fun just celebrating with their friends and family all under the same roof!!

The reception went off without a hitch and around 11, the "young folks" went out in downtown Roswell with the newly married couple. It was so fun to spend time with Mary, Dan, and friends that gave us an excuse to all be together celebrating people we love! Don't worry...the party didn't stop there! We all transported back to the hotel and continued the party until the wee hours of the morning.

Hands down, Mary's wedding was one of my favorite weddings--it was a genuine celebration of love, joining a couple together, and a celebration of friends and family all coming together for their relationship. One of the highlights of the night was the way that Dan looked at Mary. When he saw her walking down the aisle is a face I will always remember because you could so easily tell that he was looking at the love of his life walk towards him for a forever commitment. 

An AKA Wedding!

So if you haven't picked up on this by now, my friends and I in high school were all about "clubs"...well, I wouldn't say clubs per se, but putting a name on our groups (Foosball #2 as an example). Well another acronym named group is AKA--Anna, Kristin, and Alexa...later with the addition of Annie. Anna was a year older than Alexa and I while Annie was a year younger.

AKA did nearly everything together. We shared guard as a common interest and in our limited time off, we would go on adventures. Adventures ranged through a course of activities; dressing up for fancy dinners around East Cobb, visiting graveyards, movie marathons, driving around just for the heck of it. We did what we could to keep ourselves entertained around the EC. Anna was always ready for a new adventure and often came up with some pretty advantageous ideas!

We even went on a vacation with Anna's family--those are memories I will never forget! 

Anna and I both went to Georgia, but I was busy with the sorority and she was busy with theater and plays. Once and a while, Alexa would come visit and we would try to catch up. I especially loved when Annie and I got to see her in a play one year!

But sadly, we got wrapped up and drifted. Anna moved to California for a stint while I was in Chattanooga. She started dating and got engaged to Wayne! During a trip home a year an some ago, AKA was reunited at one of our traditional brunch places, J. Christopher's. The last year we had a Serenade reunion and I was reconnected with AKA all over again! It was so fun to reminisce, catch up, and just spend time together with old friends. 

The little time I've gotten to spend with Wayne, I can so easily see his and Anna's strength in their relationship. Anna's quirky, fun personality is so compatible with Wayne and I am so excited for their wedding tomorrow. I consider it an absolute blessing to be invited! I hate that I haven't been able to go to either her shower or bachelorette party, but it has been a busy wedding season for me to say the least!! (Anna's will mark my 10th invite, 7th to attend this season) Anna will be a flawless bride and I cannot wait to see her on her special day!!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

And finally, the last and final brunch recipe post from Mary's wedding day festivities! Besides the dishes I've posted on here, we served mimosas, Bonnie's funfetti cookies, and veggies with ranch. They all got rave reviews reviews, but I think my favorite were these pumpkin cream cheese muffins.

I had made some for tailgating earlier this fall, but wanted to try a different recipe. The first batch didn't seem pumpkin-y enough to me and just having a dollop of plain cream cheese didn't "wow" me. Don't get me wrong, the first recipe of muffins were all eaten and got a thumbs up from most, but call me the picky chef, I thought there was room for improvement. 

So I searched around on Pinterest some more with 2 things in mind: 1. glowing reviews; making sure to read the positive and negative comments so I would have a better idea of what I was getting into. And 2. something different with the cream cheese filling--a different ingredient? another way to add it? frosting rather than filling? I saw a lot of options but finally settled on one. Needless to say, I take my pumpkin baked goods very seriously. 

The whole process did take a some time, but I am not kidding when I say it is totally worth every second. Also, it may have taken some extra time because I was constantly licking the spoon and having to trade out utensils. I'm not even a little bit sorry. 

The "cast of characters"

Mixing the dry ingredients, easy enough

 Now for the pumpkin, eggs, oil and sugar...aka when my spoon swapping started

I totally skipped over the cream cheese part. You mix cream cheese and powdered sugar, roll it up and pop it in the freeze for a couple of hours. Well, I didn't "pop" long enough so rather than cutting the log into discs as the recipe called for, I spooned them in...a bit messier, but that meant I just got to lick more off my fingers. No complaints from this lady.

Added bonus of this recipe was the crumble mixture on top. I think it "made" the muffins. 

I filled the muffin tins to the brim, but had a bit leftover...turns out it was just enough to make 2 muffin tops for my parents!

The final product!

I'm ready to make another batch already. Who wants to join me in eating them?