Wedding Wednesday - Flower Inspiration

Today I thought it would be fun to show some wedding flower inspiration I've found.  I have loads more in my lil binder I've kept from tearing out of magazines!  The first three pictures are from Trish's (Pink Preppy Lilly Lover) blog and the 4th is from Sweets and Treats!  The last two are from the Charlotte Bridal show.

Of course the colors are really going to depend on where we end up having it....and let's be honest, my Mama has free reign on the flowers.  After all, she was in Garden Club back in the day!

But these are a few things I like.

Wasn't this a gorgeous pool side wedding reception?

I'm mildly obsessed with hydrangeas and peonies.

Fortunately my Aunt Susan is really fabulous at flowers and has already typed a long email that we'll be looking back at many times.  I'm thankful for that!

Despite all these pretty images, honestly, flowers really aren't that important to me on this day.  They do make the room look very elegant but who ever leaves a wedding talking about how pretty the flowers were?  They typically talk about the food, drinks and entertainment, right and geniunely what a good time they had?!  Don't get me wrong, we definitely want pretty flowers, they just aren't the highest on my priority list!  And they die the next week...!

Entertainment is probably highest on my list....in fact we're penciled in with a fabulous band that I'll have to tell you about another time.

What was in your bridal bouquet and your bridesmaids?  How did you take up space on your tables?

Jessica and Michael's Wedding

We attended the most beautiful wedding on Saturday.  Due to the storm, we headed to Raleigh a couple hours earlier than planned on Saturday morning.  My brother and SIL were there for her cousin's wedding so we got to have lunch with Clay and Anna Kate at McAlisters.  I always try to take advantage of being close to family and even the 30 minutes we were with them was worth it!

We then headed to my friend Kelly's home to get ready for the wedding!  Wasn't Jessica a gorgeous bride?  A.Liz made her birdcage veil that she slipped on for the reception.  Jessica found her blog through mine and when A.Liz posted about her birdcage veil, Jessica asked where she had gotten it.  Well A.Liz had made it and she offered to make one for Jessica.  How sweet is that?!!

All of Jessica and Michael's flowers were gorgeous.  I'll definitely be getting the name of their florist!

The cake was delicious!  Yes, I actually ate cake at a wedding....I typically never do!

Kelly and hubby Brett.

Jessica and Michael did not leave any details out.  Isn't this wishing tree the cutest?  Everyone wrote a wish to the couple on the lil piece of paper and tied it on the tree!

Of course she had their initials in moss letters hanging on the entrance to the Club.

This was a pretty set up of pictures of them growing up and their engagement shoot.

Towards the end of the evening, they brought in Krispy Kreme donuts with lil to-go bags.  How cute is that?!  Everyone loved them!

Kelly and I with the bride!  The bride and I went to college together and suffered through engineering classes together.  Kelly and Jessica go to church together so we all know each other in different ways! 

Jessica has impecable taste and always has!  Check out her Kate Spade sparklers.  Essential!

Kevin and I!  :)

Jessica changed into a going away dress!  They seriously are the nicest couple ever.  Such sweet people!

One last picture of Kelly and I. 

Then Kevin and I changed in the parking lot to casual clothes and hit the road to drive back to Charlotte (took us about 2 hours and 45 minutes).  Not a big deal and we were so thankful to sleep in our own beds!

Cheers to the newlyweds Jessica and Michael!  Thank you for including us in your big day and have the best time in St. Lucia!!!  :)

Busy Weekend

We had a busy but fun weekend!  On Friday night when I got home from work, I zipped over to Howl at the Moon for Tara's birthday celebration!  Well this was day one of two for her birthday!  As you can see, lots of friends came out!

Tara is on the right with her friend Emily on the left!

You can pay to put names on the board right behind the stage where the musicians play.  Our friend Jay's birthday is this week. 

Kevin and I met a Newks for a quick dinner then headed home to get packed for our day trip.  I'll give you a hint where we went -- we got to see this lil girl!  My niece, Anna Kate!  The trip for this wedding deserves it's own post.  It was wonderful and I'll tell yall about it tomorrow and show you lots of pictures with fabulous wedding details!

We got back late on Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) so Sunday I slept in for sure!  It was SOOO nice and probably the first time I've slept in in months!  Kevin and I headed to the grocery store and saw a few different neighbors there so needless to say that was an hour trip that should have been 15 minutes!  :)  But we were in no rush!  Don't you love those kind of days?!

I went to the pool when I came back home and Kevin did some work.  We got ready and headed to Capital Grille with all of our neighbors.

They had a happy hour for us and gave us a ton of free appetizers.  I'm talking calamari, beef sliders, lobster/crab cakes and lots more.  It was fantastic!  They said they are going to start doing them for us once or twice a month.  How cool is that?!!!

And now it's back to the grind!

Lots of Random Thoughts!

 - Is it funny that I still get super excited about putting my ring on each morning?  I still don't feel like I deserve to wear such a pretty ring!  ;)

 - Speaking of jewelry, Kevin's Mom showed me lots of hers the other night when we were down there.  She showed me the rings she has from her grandmother.  Really beautiful pieces!

 - I'm hoping Hurricane Irene doesn't impact my brother's or parent's home too much.  My brother's family will be in Raleigh for a wedding but my parents will be home on the Eastern Shore of MD.  I'm a lil nervous about all that.  Dad moved everything inside this morning (plants, chairs etc).

 - Cabs downtown drive me crazy - they go SO slowly and then one almost hit me yesterday while I was trotting.

 - We went to Brixx and Alive After Five last night and saw so many friends we hadn't seen in forever.  We also got to see some of our neighbors of course!  I loved it!

 - My second Lilly ordered shipped early this morning.  How about yalls?  Anyone received theirs yet?

 - It's only been two weeks but it's already getting kinda annoying leaving my condo perfect every day before I leave.  Oh the joys of it being on the market!

 - Dad sent me this funny picture of he and I from years ago at the NC State Fair in Raleigh.  Growing up I always loved the tilt-a-whirl so we rode it then for old times sake!  He found it on his computer this week!

Okay I think that's enough. :)  Who has fun weekend plans?

Mr. G's Birthday

Kevin's Dad had a wonderful birthday and we loved celebrating with him!

He received a gift card to Lowes, a Panthers shirt, a Panthers cup and Kevin gave him the grilling tools set from Williams Sonoma.  I do believe he even received a phone call from my Dad!  (which I secretly thought was super cool! ;)) 

Kevin's Mama and their pup Hazel K.

We had dinner on their back deck.  Dinner included burgers, dogs, coleslaw and potato casserole.  Mrs. G. always goes all out!

Kevin's brother and SIL Brittany.  She's due 11/18/11.

Brittany made a cake for dessert and they also made homemade black cherry ice cream.  I don't normally like cherry things but this was delish.  Have yall ever made your own ice cream?

Kevin and I always enjoy staying after dinner to chat with his parents for awhile.  I left their home around 9:45pm to head back to Charlotte.  Kevin's office is in his hometown so he ended up spending the night at his parents!  Made the most sense instead of driving 45 minutes each way!

I'm so thankful it's Thursday.  Tonight is my one night to do a million catch up things at the house after a short run.  We have a big weekend to look forward to!

PS - did anyone get their shipping confirmation email from Lilly?  I got mine at 3am this morning.  I was wishing my box shipped earlier because it has a dress in there I'd love to wear to a wedding this weekend!  We'll see how speedy it gets from Philly to Charlotte! ;)

Humongo Lilly Sale and Happy Birthday

Tis the season Lilly lovers!  It's the best sale of the year!  Ohhhh and wasn't it good yesterday?!  I stocked up on some Christmas gifts (can never buy too early!) and possibly a dress or two for our trip to Cabo next week.  We'll see how they fit!

 They did a great job with their website this year and didn't have any issues like last August!

There were some bargains to be had!  Some up to 80% off.  That's what I'm talking about!  I found a lot of prices were close to Warehouse Sale prices....and you didn't have to stand in line for hours!

 They had minnies, accessories - shoes, murfees, clutches and of course lots of dresses!

These are just some of my favorites!  I may or may not have ordered some of these!  ;)  Has to be a surprise when I have it on in pictures...duh!!!

Please tell me what you all picked up!  Post a link to your blog post in my comments if you would so we can all see!  Dad you know you wanna see!  Yes - my Dad is a daily blog reader!  Love it!

The weather in Charlotte was only in the mid 80's yesterday so I got to enjoy a 4 mile run with my girl Tara!  Hope you all got out and about too! 

And a huge Happy Birthday to Kevin's Dad today!  We're going over to their home for a good 'ole fashion cookout after work!  Can't wait!

Weekend and Crazy Story

On Saturday morning I went for a run and I know you see weird things if you are out there enough but I've never seen anything that compares to this yall.  Okay so imagine this - I'm in one of the nicest areas in Charlotte....surrounded by gorgeous homes and it happens to be near the entrance to a park and kinda at a big intersection where lots of folks are exercising on Saturday mornings.  Bikers, tennis players, walkers and runners are all going by.  Pretty busy. 

I come up and see a couple cars stopped on the side of the road.  I just think the inevitable, I hope someone didn't get it.  Well I get a bit closer and a cop pulls up behind the cars.  There was a runner guy standing outside one of the cars and he yells at the guy sitting in the car to get out.  Umm you guys - this guy gets out and is buck naked!  AT 8AM IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!  And who cares when it is - WHO DOES THAT?  So the cop draws his gun and makes him raise his hands.  This man was older and in pretty good shape.  He looked like he could outrun anyone so I think maybe this is why the cop did that?  At this point I'm on the other side of the road and I could hear Kevin in the back of my head, "get away from where gunfire could happen!"  I was far away and not in the aim if you will.  Anyway, two more cops came from the other direction and arrested this guy.  It was the weirdest thing! 

So I have no clue what he was doing.  I don't know if he was driving that car.  I don't know if he was walking down the street.  I don't know if he was sitting there watching girls run by.  He could have been sick, drunk or on drugs.  No clue.  But this was CRAZY yall.  Nicest area of Charlotte and on a Saturday morning at 8am, I see a gun and multiple police officers.  I continued on my way at some point and could not believe what I had seen!

So then I came home, put finishing touches on the shower and then everyone came over for that.  That evening we had signed up for a happy hour at Blackfinn with some folks from Avenue. 

These are some of our neighbors.  Some we know well, some we didn't know well but Avenue is always our common bond! :)  We like to be friends with everyone!

Afterwards we headed out to the NoDa area of Charlotte to meet up with Kevin's business partner Dan for his birthday at Solstice.  We had a really good time and one of Kevin's high school buddies Brad and his girl were there too. 

It was funny we met this guy named Chris that was talking to Kevin and I guess he asked who I was when I walked up.  Kevin said oh this is my fiance....  The guy said oh that's cool and asked when we got engaged.  Kevin told him about 6-7 weeks ago and he told us that he had been married for 15 years.  Kevin asked him what kind of marriage advice he had for us and his advice - say I Love You every day multiple times a day.  He said, "Wear it out!"  Great advice, right?!  Thought that was pretty cool.  

Sunday we laid low and recovered and got ready for this week.  I had a crazy day yesterday and didn't get home until 9pm.  I was at a meeting last night and evidently someone came and looked at my condo!  Kevin was home thankfully and straightened up at the last minute for me.  It was a single younger guy.  Kevin told me my place is too girly so I guess I need to do something about that to make it more sellable....ha!  But I was really excited someone even came to look at it!

Happy Tuesday!

Kim's Baby Shower

On Saturday afternoon, two of my sorority sisters and I hosted a baby shower for Kim at my condo in uptown Charlotte!  We had a ball planning it!

Kim is doing a nautical theme for Jack's nursery so we carried the theme out for the shower too.

The menu:  pimento cheese triangular sandwiches (no crust on bread), chicken salad on croissants, fruit with dip, pita chips and garlic hummus and pumpernickel pretzels.

And a carrot cake (Kim's favorite) for dessert!  Those will be Jack's initials!

Sarah made these adorable whale cookies (from scratch!) and everyone got to take one home with them!

Sarah also made this clothes line and had some onesies draped across it!  Can you tell she's crafty?!

We also used Macaroni and Cheesecake's recipe for Carribean Fruit Punch.  It was delish.  We tried to carry the theme of blue, light blue and a lil red through the decorations.

Kim is in the corner opening gifts.  Before gifts we played a game where we passed around a big spool of string and everyone had to cut off a piece of string that they thought was the size of Kim's belly around.  Suz won but Kim's Mama was very close!!!

Sorority sisters!  Me, Ashley, Kim, Sarah and Suz....

 After everyone left, we had a toast to Kim!

Loved spending time with you girls and celebrating Kim and Jack!  He'll be here before we know it!  (She's due November 9th!)

Hibachi Chicken and Shrimp Sauce Recipes

If you're looking for an easy and somewhat healthy weekday meal, this is it.  We wanted something different and also to clean out my fridge of extra stuff that was going to go bad soon.  I found these recipes somewhere online but then changed them to my version haha.

Hibachi Chicken:

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks or I did strips (I used 1.5 lbs)
1/4-1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled (I didn't have so I omitted)
1 medium sweet onion, cut into chunks (I did strips)

1 large zucchini, cut into chunks (I sliced then halved them)

8 oz. mushrooms (I bought the whole and quartered them)

olive and sesame oil

1 cup cooked white or brown rice

Marinade/Sauce:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger (I didn't have so omitted)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all marinade ingredients together and pour half over chicken (don’t marinate the shrimp, if you’re using them). Let marinate in the refrigerator at least one hour or overnight. Reserve the other half of marinade to use as sauce. (I didn't have time to marinade but it still came out well)

In a large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add chicken (I used 1/2 TBS of olive oil and 1/2 TBS sesame oil). Saute until chicken is nearly cooked. Remove chicken from the pan and keep warm. 

Without cleaning the pan, add a little more oil.  Add zucchini (and shrimp, if using), mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until zucchini is tender-crisp and shrimp are pink. About midway through cooking these, add the onion strips.  Once those are complete, add the chicken back in.

Pour remainder of reserved sauce into the pan and cook and stir until all ingredients are coated.

Serve the rice onto dinner plates and top with chicken, shrimp and vegetables.

Shrimp Sauce:

Ingredients (makes 2.5 cups/8 servings)

FYI I halved this recipe for 4 servings 

·         2 cups mayonnaise

·         6 tablespoons ketchup

·         4 teaspoons mustard

·         4 teaspoons lemon juice

·         2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

·         1 teaspoon garlic powder

Preparation:

·         Whisk together all ingredients

Happy Birthday and Blogger Lunch at Cafe Monte

A HUGE Happy Birthday to my Mama!  Wish I could be with you to celebrate YOU!  Hope your day is fabulous! 

Anna Kate and I with Mom on her birthday last year!

The answer to yesterdays blog.....

they're all from Forever 21 and less than $25 each!  Can you believe that???  I went on their website because I saw Jackie from the Bachelor had posted a picture of herself on Twitter in a super cute dress.  I asked The Possessionista where it was from and she said Forever 21.  Whoa.  Maybe I should give that store a chance.  I just will have to come to terms that most of the things may not last past a season.  We'll see.  Have yall had any luck with their dresses?

A couple weeks ago I got an email from Amanda @ Pink Cashmere Cardigan (she's in the pink below) letting me know that Lori from Shopaholic in Alabama (far right) would be in town on Wednesday and asked if we could get together for lunch!  Ummm yes!!!

Sorry, I was fixing my hair haha

We met at Cafe Monte in Southpark and simply had a wonderful time.  Lauren from Adventures of a Southern Newlywed was also able to come so that was a nice treat to see her.  Yall have seen Lauren on my blog many times as we get to see each other often! :) 

We talked about everything under the sun and enjoyed some girl time!  I hated that I had to rush out back to the office.  Lori headed to the mall (lucky!) and hopefully did some damage before heading back to her hubby in Alabama. 

Amanda, thank you for setting this up for us!

PS - I don't know what's wrong with my links not being a different color but click on the blog names above to go visit theirs.

Oh and make sure you visit Shopaholic's Preppy Closet on Facebook.  Have you heard of this?  Lori created this website as basically an online consignment store.  Instead of taking your things to a consignment store and only getting half or a quarter of it's value, you are only charged a $2 listing fee and you get good money for your item.  She only carries upscale brands so no one wastes their time trying to sell a $5 shirt.  Whole concept is genious!