Wedding Wednesday - Getting Things Done!

Mom was here this past week (since last Wednesday) and we got a ton of things done.  And we simply had the best time doing it all!

1.  She visited all of our registries (Belk, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma) and we switched a couple of things around and perfected them. 

2.  We went to a few shops and have almost finalized her Mother of the Bride dress.  She has two really great options.  She'll revisit this in the early Fall so it can be ordered in time but in an accurate size. 

3.  We finalized tuxes so the guys can go to Jos A Bank and order them right now if they wanted to!

4.  Bridesmaids dresses (Lula Kate Chandler) and flower girl dresses (US Angels) were set up with J. Majors and the ladies can also go ahead and order their size at their leisure.  I sent out the email with the whole scoop on dress, jewelry and shoes to wear.

5.  We figured out that I'm going to wear my cousin's veil with my dress.  I tried it all on together and it was simply perfect.  And I'm soooo excited to wear something that has meaning from my family.

6.  We shoe shopped for me and I may end up going with a nude patent heel.  I want something that I can definitely wear again, a shoe that is classic and in 30 years I don't look back and say what in the world was I thinking. 

7.   We met with Lisa at Paper Twist who is fantastic to work with.  She is making the tags for our hotel gift bags and ordering the ribbon to tie them on with too.  She's also putting together the weekend itinerary along with attractions, restaurants and bars on the back for the gift bags.  And she'll tie in the ceremony program in with the other paper products as well.  I felt SOOOO relieved when we left here.  Those crafts were worrying me and she is doing them SUPER reasonably.  Like cheaper than I can do them.  So nice.

8.  We might have also designed the cocktail napkins and koozies.  Haha!  These aren't a positive...need to see how things shake out.  Certainly not a priority.

9.  We finalized the wording on the invitations and reception, reply and accomodations cards at Salutations.  Love Jessica - she made life so easy.  We'll order when Crane does their semi-annual "sale" in September. 

10.  Mom approved of all the gifts I already have bought for our wedding party and we selected certain things for each person.  I love having her opinion. 

Now, I get to spend time with my family and friends and really enjoy the last 10 months of our engagement.  They are putting on parties and things and they deserve my undivided attention, right?!  Right! 

So there you have it!

Laura's Graduation

On Friday night my cousins came and made a pit stop at my condo on their way from Richmond to Atlanta.  Laura was on her way to graduate from Emory with her Doctorate!

My Dad flew down to meet up with Mom and I on Sunday.  She and I left Charlotte at an early hour on Sunday and got down to Atlanta just in time to grab him from the airport and check into the hotel.  Then we headed over to Laura and Carl's hotel and her parents (Uncle Mac and Aunt Susan) had just gotten there from Florida.  Uncle Mac is my Mom's brother....you'll see in the below pictures....

We had cocktail hour at their hotel and got to catch up....including time with a flying monkey toy that Amelia just loved.  Aunt Susan had gotten the idea of the toy from her recent trip to London.

Uncle Mac and Amelia

 Then we all headed to Maggiano's for dinner.  Group picture!

My Mom and Amelia!

Monday morning started bright and early. 

 It did rain at the start but eventually stopped thankfully. 

We attended 5 different events for her graduation.  She was at the beginning of all of them because she was becoming a Doctor!

Laura, Carl and Amelia.  Soooo proud of Mommy!

I told you my Mom and Uncle Mac look just alike!

One of the events was a dedication of this exhibit from the past CEO of Coca Cola's wife in memory of her husband.  What a neat thing that was. 

And had to have another group photo with the graduate.  We are SO proud of her!  She's a smart cookie to say the least!

Of course she has already gotten a job at a college in Virginia as a professor!

Any school is lucky to have Laura!  And we're the lucky ones that get to call her family!

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your special weekend Cuzzzzzz!

Mama/Daughter Date

On Wednesday night, we took our Mama's out for an early Mother's Day dinner and to have them all meet.  Both Tara and Lauren's Mom live in Charlotte but obviously mine doesn't.  So when I knew my Mom was going to be here, we planned a triple date! 

Aria it was and of course we were able to sit at the Chef's table.  They always throw in extra treats when we sit in here, not to mention watching them cook is so fun!

We all look just like our Mom's so I'm sure you can figure it out pretty easily but from left to right - Tara's, mine, Lauren's.  So cute!

And isn't it funny that us daughters posed in the same order as our Moms?  Hmmm!!  Tara, Me, Lauren.

We've already planned our next outing for when Mom comes back in the Fall!  :)

Charity Volleyball

Today our company is participating in a charity volleyball tournament here in Charlotte.  It's all of the commercial developers in town that come together to benefit a different organization each year.  This year it's a group that assists homeless children and provides meals and a mentor to them.  We are hopefully going to all be donating around $30,000 to them.  Some folks are also donating their time to go sit with these children at lunch and be a positive influence.  Others are making snack packs to deliver to the children. 

What a great organization right?  Would you believe there are over 4,000 homeless CHILDREN in Charlotte? 

I think it's neat that all of our companies get together for an afternoon of competitiveness and fun. 

Here's to a great day of raising money for a great organization and having a good time with our work competition while doing it!

Wedding Wednesday - Details

Mama is flying down to Charlotte today to do lots of fun wedding things all weekend.  I'm excited!

I've been working on details details details the past few weeks.  It is less than 11 months away and I want to get all the special things out of the way so I'm not up every night the week before folding things and tying ribbons.  I don't work well in that position. 

Soooo I've scoped out ribbon for the programs, I've found cardstock to get them printed on, I've made a sheet that has bars and restaurants on it for the welcome bags (actually Miss Crafty April made it and is kindly lending me hers, I just changed the places and monogram), I know what is going in the welcome bags, the actual bags arrived this week and I'm working on a must be taken photo list this week.  Oh, I designed the cocktail napkins and am finalizing koozies too.  And I bought flower girl and bridesmaid gifts last week...so fun!

My friend Jenn solved my tag issue that I was fretting over last week.  She has a Cricut and I went up to their condo the other day and she had already made like 4 or 5 different options (talk about a good friend!!).  It is going to be perfect.  Thanks Jenn!  :)

Some things Mama and I are doing this week and weekend:

 - finalizing (AKA getting her approval) on the tuxes and bridesmaid dresses and setting up the ordering information

 - looking for a dress for her that doesn't look too Mother of the Bride or like she's 80 years old

 - looking for shoes for both of us and taking mine to try on with my dress

 - figuring out the veil situation

 - doing all the wording on the stationery so when Crane has it's "sale" in the Fall, we'll just simply call and order

I'm excited to get this party started!  I've loveddddd all the planning so far and can't wait for more.  I've just had the best time putting it all together!

Recipe: Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken

I had seen this on Skinny Taste and then again on Dee's Adventures.  I knew I had to try it because it looked right up Kevin's alley.  And boy was I right.  "This is how I like chicken."  "I'd even eat this for leftovers."  "You can make this again any time."  were some of the quotes last night. 

Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 2 stuffed breasts • Old Points: 9 pt • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 371 • Fat: 17.5 g • Protein: 42.7 g • Carb: 11 g • Fiber: 1.5 g • Sugar: 0.6 g
Sodium: 355.8 mg (without salt)

Ingredients:

 - 2 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
 - 3 jalapeños, chopped (remove seeds for milder) (I only used two small ones because I'm whimpy)
 - 3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
 - 4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack (Sargento)
 - 2 tbsp chopped scallions
 - 8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets, 3 oz each (I used 3 chicken breasts and flattened them so my recipe made 3)
 - 1/2 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
 - 1 1/2 juicy limes, juice of
 - 1 tbsp olive oil
 - salt and fresh pepper
 - olive oil non-stick spray

Directions:

Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.

Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.

Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out.

Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray.

Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.

Cinco de Mayo Weekend

Yes, I wish I was telling yall the truth that this is Keith Urban, but it isn't.  I tricked a few of you on Twitter Friday night.  Haha!  This is our neighbor Mike....doesn't he look so similar to Keith?  Mike's wife is also blonde like Nicole Kidman.

After an Avenue party at Stools, we headed to Dandelion.  Saw Mimi, one of my Chi O gals that I "advised!"  So fun!

Saturday morning I headed out to the Farmer's market and grocery store.  We looked at houses that afternoon then eventually ended up over in the Elizabeth area at Jacks and PStone with a bunch of Kevin's friends.  Chaos...

Kinda weird pic of Kevin and I.  Note to self: shirt is not flattering.

Kevin and all of his boys.  Some of his oldest friends!

Sunday morning I went to the free Pottery Barn decorating class with Lauren.  This is one of the set ups they did.  We didn't buy a thing but we did learn a lot.  I recommend going to one of these if you are near a Pottery Barn!

I through some of these on the grill last night for dinner along with some shrimp kabobs.  Pretty tasty Sunday night meal. 

Last night Bushy was in town for work today so we went to Yoforia for yogurt and talked for two hours, ha!  We could have sat there for another two!

Today it's back to the grind.  Busy week.  Kevin's off to Vegas for work and my Mama is coming to town Wednesday!  Atlanta this weekend.  Looking forward to it all!