date day with hubby :)

So last Friday my hubby took a day off of work and we got to spend the whole day together. What a treat to spend a day together during the week.

We started our morning with some iced coffee from our favorite place - Starbucks of course!

Then we headed over to my cousin's bakery, Sweet 'N Sinful, in Avondale Estates for a treat. This is what we found:

Yes, that is a brownie. And yes, that is bacon. And boy was it good. You should go get one!

So next we headed to Southern Belle Farm in McDonough for some strawberry picking. 

Best decision we ever made. I mean LOOK at these beautiful pieces of fruit. This picture really doesn't even do it justice. They were the prettiest color red.

We picked a whole gallon and they were gone within the week.

Then we headed home, freshened up and headed out for dinner. We tried a new seafood restaurant in Decatur called Harbour House and it was delicious. Plus I totally felt like I was sitting at the beach. Awesome.

Then we ended the day here:

We may or may not have eaten the whole dozen of these hot pieces of heaven.

So here is what I did with the strawberries later on that weekend:

Strawberry Honey Jam - recipe found here.

Strawberry Ice Cream - which we shared with our neighbors :)

Now that is a good weekend.

xoxo

So I'm finally getting around to writing that post on the brunch lingerie shower I gave my bestie, who is now Mrs. Lacey Stegall and is currently on her honeymoon :)

My last post was about the invitations I did for the shower. From those and using inspiration from Lacey's wedding plans/colors, I chose what colors and theme I wanted. I went with peach and white as my colors and stuck with a country glam theme. In other words, I mixed stuff like mason jars and burlap with mercury glass and delicate flowers.

Here is how we set the table:

This is a close of up the place settings

The jars tied with burlap were the favor. I filled them with a brown sugar scrub I made :) It smelled delicious and felt amazing!

The food we made was delicious...but I have only 1 picture...and it's of the dessert. Oops! But on the menu was:

Bacon, Apple, and Cheese Waffle Paninis

Shrimp & Grits

Cherry Scones

Cinnamon Rolls

Fruit Salad

A Coffee Bar

Sweet Tea

And for dessert...Strawberry Cobbler, which I do have a picture of! My mom made them and they were YUM.

So after brunch it was time to open gifts! Boy was Lacey excited! And don't worry, I won't actually post any pictures of the lingerie. That would just be embarrassing.

Everyone seemed to have a great time. All of us married girls gave her some advice and let her know where all the lingerie would actually end up :)

Overall it was a time of food, fun, laughs, and some very pretty things. I'm sure Zack Lacey enjoyed it even more later!

Later that evening my parents, Chris and I hosted a prayer shower for Lacey, Zack, and their family and friends. For this we decided to do cakes and coffee. We had four different cakes, which were all beautiful. My mom is the most wonderful baker.

YUM. Don't those just make you drool?

So if you're wondering what a prayer shower is...let me explain a little. I did not know what it was either until my aunt and uncle gave Chris and I one before we got married. Let me tell you, it is a beautiful thing. Before we prayed, we talked a little about the Hebrew term "Edzer Kenigdo" as it relates to marriage. This term is normally translated as "helpmate" or "helper." However, this word actually has two parts and two different meanings. The first part, Edzer, means one who comes along side, or one who helps. The second part, Kenigdo, means one who stands against, or in opposition to. We can think of this like a rock polisher - as the rocks tumble against each other, they actually become smoother. In that same way, marriage gives us the opportunity to polish each other as we learn to live together. We should challenge AND encourage, while extending grace and forgiveness. Pretty good stuff, huh? I mean, that is a wonderful picture of marriage. Next we talked about the relationship between Christ and the church and how we, as spouses, should love each other just how Christ loves us - unconditionally. We should put their needs above our own needs and, in doing so, realize it means laying down our life in order to find focus, love, and respect for our spouse. Hard? Yes. Necessary? YES.  

We ended with these verses:

Ephesians 5:22-23

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior."

Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives just as Christ love the church and have himself up for her."

Ephesians 5:28-29

"In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church."

Ephesians 5:31

"For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

We then split off into two groups, the men went into a room and prayed over Zack and the women went into a different room to pray over Lacey. This was an extremely special time. Talk about some sweet and thoughtful prayers. It was touching and Christ's presence was truly felt by everyone. We then came together to pray over them as a couple and their marriage. It was a time of joy, tears, and heartfelt love for Lacey and Zack.

Woah. I just realized this is a very long post. So thanks for bearing with me :)

xoxo.

Welcome to my brand new, shiny blog! I have wanted to start a blog for a while but have never had the courage to do it. PLUS I had no idea what the heck I would write about. But recently, I got have been doing a lot of cooking, baking, DIY projects, planning, and all kinds of other adventures that I wanted to share with my friends. So I figured I could write about those adventures.

My first post is going to be about the invites I made for my bestie's lingerie shower. When I started planning the shower I knew I wanted to make the invitations. So I headed to Paper Source in Virginia Highlands to gather the supplies I needed and got started!

First, I ran the invitations through my printer. It took me a while to figure out exactly how to do it, but in the end I made it work!

Next I made a panties template. I tried to find one online but couldn't find one I liked so I decided to make my own! I cut the panties out on papaya colored paper. It was a little darker than the peach I had chosen for the decorations, but it coordinated well.

Next, I used this amazing invention called "Lace Tape" to line the panties. Who thought of this? It was perfect!

Next, I added a cute silver bow to the panties to finish them off (this cell phone pic is a little blurry, sorry!)

I planned to put the panties on the front of the card, but it looked a little plain with just the panties so I decided to emboss "you're invited" on the front as well. I already had most of the supplies needed to emboss because I embossed an "A" on our wedding thank you cards, but I needed white embossing powder for these invites. Here are the supplies used to emboss: embossing powder, a watermark stamp pad, a cute stamp, and the heating tool (mine is a ZAP!).

Embossing is pretty easy one you get the hang of it. You use the watermark stamp pad and stamp to first stamp the paper you want to emboss. It shows up clear and then you put the embossing powder over it, tap off any extra, and you have your base for embossing. Then you just zap it with the heating tool and you have your very own embossed paper - like this:

Next, I tacked on the panties and the front was finished!

I began to ponder the inside and thought it was a little plain as well. So I decided to emboss an "L" (for Lacey, my bestie) on the papaya paper and place it in the center of the card flap - like this:

And then they were finished! The final step was to address the invites with the white gel pen I bought and stamp the back of them with our return address. Then VOILA! Cute, homemade invites are finished!

In the end, I was incredibly happy with my decision. It took some extra time, but they turned out super cute. Plus, Lacey loved them and that's all that matters :)

My next post will be about the lingerie shower that blossomed from these invites!

See you then!