27 Dresses Shower

Have you seen the movie 27 Dresses?  It's the cute one starring Katherine Heigl as a girl who has been a bridesmaid in 27 different weddings. 

My friend Kendra is very much like Katherine's character in this movie.  To date, she's been in nineteen (19!) different weddings, and of those, she was a bridesmaid in 12 of them.  That means that, like Jane in the movie, Kendra has a closet full of dresses that probably won't ever be worn again.

I decided to change that and give at least one of those dresses a chance to find their way back out of the closet.  Kendra's own wedding is coming up this summer and to celebrate, we threw her a 27 Dresses-style shower.

I really hate that I had to doodle all over that picture, but you know, better safe than sorry.  Don't want any creepers showing up at my house.  Didn't the invitation turn out super cute??  As always, I used the very talented Mr. Matthew Washburn for the design work.  He really outdid himself on this one. 

The invitation hung on the chalkboard in my kitchen during the shower.  In case you can't read the text in the picture above, it read:

Many times a bridesmaid but now a bride, let's shower Kendra before the knot is tied.

Please dress like a bridesmaid from head to toe, and we'll judge your ensemble in the fashion show!

Um, doesn't everyone love getting to pull out an old bridesmaid dress and wear it again?

Before we get to the actual party pictures, let me take a minute to walk you through the details.  I'm sorry if this bores you to death, but sometimes I look back on these to make sure I don't do/cook the same things at every party. 

I decided early on to use a pink and green color scheme.  Kendra's wedding colors are actually green and brown, but her bridesmaids had already thrown a shower using those colors.  Besides, why not switch it up a little?  My mom found this cute door flower at a local gift shop.  It was perfect for inviting my guests in to our house.  And the best part is that I can leave it hanging up for a while as a summer decoration.  [Side note:  When I hung this up last Friday evening, even Wyatt commented on how much he liked it.  "Sometimes you need some decorations for between holidays."  His words, not mine.  I swear I didn't pay him to say that.]

Like I said, I decided early on that my color scheme would be pink and green and here's why:  When my Memaw passed away I inherited this set of dishes from her.  I've been waiting for an excuse to use them.  I had hoped last summer that the baby shower I hosted could be really girly and I could use them then, but since two of the moms-to-be were expecting boys and the other was a surprised, that plan didn't work out.  I was thrilled to get to pull them out for this shower.

Since my guest list was longer than the number of plates I inherited, I had to borrow some more dishes from my mom.  Luckily, she has a pink and green flowerdy (new word) set that coordinated pretty well.

Now, my grandmother may not have had many plates in her set (only 8 dinner plates and 4 salad plates), but she had every accent piece imaginable!  Next time I use these I'll need to remember to serve coffee so that I can use the pitcher, cream, and sugar dishes.  For this shower, I just set them out on display.  Aren't they pretty?

To carry out the pink and green color scheme, I bought several bundles of pink and green flowers and tried my hand at floral arrangements.  Flower arranging is hard, y'all.  It didn't help that my flower selection was limited to mostly carnations.  I had hoped for some pretty daisies but after stopping at three different stores, I decided the carnations would have to do.  Anyway, I got my vases out and made a grid out of clear tape across the opening of the vase like the pros do, but I still had a really hard time making them look any good.  My arrangements mostly looked like tall vases with flowers shooting straight up out of them.  There was no draping or floppy flowers or anything like that.

Here's the lopsided arrangement I made for the centerpiece on the food table.

This is a vase that Doc and I received as a wedding gift.  I hadn't ever used it so I was excited to pull it out for this shower too.   Look at the detail of the ceramic (I think?) flower on it.

Here's an upclose picture of my lopsided flowers.

I did two more vases full for the mantle.  Again with the sticking-straight-up flowers.  And see the green ribbon that I draped across the mantle?  We'll come back to that.

This one (pictured below) is from the left-side of the mantle and was the best I could do at trying to get the flowers to fall/drape/spread out to the sides.  See that white carnation sticking up to the right?  If you look closely, you'll see that it's taped together.  The flower stem snapped and the head was hanging but I needed a white flower on that side.  Scotch tape to the rescue!  Ha.  Then it was extra fragile and I was scared to push it down into the vase so it just got to stick out all by itself. 

Although my arrangements were kinda lacking, my bud vases did turn out pretty cute.  Remember the balloon vases I showed you?  Here's how I ended up using them.

My last flower project was to make a tulip bouquet.  Simple, right?  That's what I thought, anyway.  It's really not as easy as grabbing the bundle and wrapping some ribbon around them.  I had to tear off leaves and then start with one tulip and add them one by one, working my way in a circle to make the bouquet.  And it still didn't turn out as well as I thought it should have.

Of course I wrapped my gift to match the color scheme.  Who do you think I am?

So that's the extent of the decorating I did.  Now let's talk food.  To be honest, I didn't go all out on this part because I originally had plans to be out of town all day on Saturday and needed the food items to be either something I could make ahead of time or something that could easily be done the day of.  I'll admit, my mom carried more than her weight in this department.  She made most of the food. 

Chicken salad in filo cups, courtesy of my mom.

Heart-shaped sandwiches with Mom's homemade pimento cheese.

Cheeseball by - you guessed it - my mom.

Do I even have to tell you who made this BLT dip?

Assorted "quiche" type things, courtesy of Kroger's freezer section.

Eggrolls from Sam's with Mom's homemade jezebel sauce.

We ran out of room on the dining table (I took the leaf out so it was smaller than usual) so the desserts were displayed on the kitchen table.

I cheated and ordered cupcakes instead of making them myself.  I was supposed to be out of town, remember?  These were made by one of my friends from high school.  She's just started her business, CAZ Confections and Creations.

I made another batch of the heart brownies to go with the cupcakes.  See?  I did make something. 

I made those brownies the weekend before and then stuck them in the freezer.  I was nervous about them not tasting fresh but I thought they were delicious! 

To wash all that yummy food down, we had soft drinks, fruit tea, and champagne.  The champagne was not just a glass of champagne, though.  It came with an edible flower in it!

Yummo!  I chickened out and didn't eat the hibiscus in my champagne, but maybe I'll be brave enough to try it next time.  Luckily for me, there's plenty of flowers left and maybe even some champagne so I'm gonna "go ahead, keep the party going."  (Don't know that quote?  Click the link and skip to the 8 minute mark.)

Ok, ok, enough of the details.  People were actually there too.  Except this is where I'm kicking myself because I didn't take nearly as many photos as I would've liked to.  For instance, I don't have any good shots of all the pretty bridesmaid dresses that made their way to my house.  As each Honorary Bridesmaid arrived, they were handed the tulip bouquet and asked to stand on the bottom step of my stairs to have their portrait made.  These pictures were taken with a polaroid camera.  Remember that green ribbon on the mantle that we were gonna come back to?  This is where it came into play.

After each polaroid was taken, it got numbered and clothespinned to the ribbon.

Throughout the party, the guests were encouraged to admire each other's outfits and then vote for the "Most Likely To Be Worn Again," "Least Likely To Be Worn Again," and "Best Accessories."  So I did take a picture of each Honorary Bridesmaid's full getup, but they were taken on the polaroid camera instead of my digital one and then went home with the bride for her scrapbook.  Boo.  I didn't even take a picture of all the polaroids hanging on the mantle. 

Now, let me back up a minute and say that earlier that morning I did start to panic that no one would dress up.  What if no one was as excited about the theme as I was?  Or worse, with the downpouring rain, what if no one even showed up? 

Had I stopped to really think about it, I could've put my mind at ease by remembering that my good friend Mary Elizabeth was on the guest list.  I like Mary for lots of reasons - she's sweet, funny, thoughtful, an all around good friend - but also because when the girl hears "theme party," she runs with it.  I have never known her to pass up an opportunity to put on a costume, so it should not have surprised me at all when she showed up in this:

That color!  That lace! That bow! Those sleeves!

Mary can find a gem hidden on a Goodwill rack like it's nobody's business.  And as if the dress wasn't enough, she completed her ensemble with a set of pearls and an updo.  LOVE that girl.  (Is it any surprise that she took home the prize for "Least Likely To Be Worn Again?")

Roxy came straight to my house from another obligation so she didn't get the chance to throw on a bridesmaid dress.  We couldn't help compare, though, the similarities between her peach blouse and Mary's dress.  Besides being the same color, they both had v-neck detailing and poofy sleeves that were gathered at the bottom.  It's like the same outfit evolved over decades of fashion.

[Please excuse the yellowness of this photo.  Clearly my Auto White Balance doesn't know what it's doing.]

 

These Honorary Bridesmaids looked like they may be headed to a ball in their floor-length gowns.

Meghan, sandwiched between Megan and Allison, took home the prize for "Most Likely To Be Worn Again."  While Allison was at home working on her bouffant, her husband may or may not have asked her if she was supposed to look Pentecostal. 

Here's the bride with her mom.  Can you believe that with 12 bridemaid dresses to choose from, she still decided to borrow one from a friend?  I guess she really doesn't want to wear any of those dresses again.

Also in attendance were Catherine and Sarah (and Roxy, but I already mentioned her).  Loving those pearls, ladies!

I really wish I had a full body shot of Catherine because what you can't see in this picture is how her cornflower blue dress is gathered to the side with pearls and then splits to show off the lace underlay.  Also not pictured are her matching cream colored heels and the bouquet she brought with her.  Obviously she had the "Best Accessories."

Normal shower things happened at the party, too.  We all watched as Kendra opened all of her gifts.

My mom and I took a break from the dishes to grab a plate of food during the present opening.  See that necklace I'm wearing?  It's the jewelry I wore with that blue bridesmaid dress back in '05.  If you look closely you can see that the silver pieces on the "drop" part of the necklace no longer match the silver chain.  Gotta love the tarnish!

Mom ate her heart out.  Har.

No shower is complete without a picture of the hostesses.  This is the only one I got where you can kinda see our dresses!

Me and Darbie with the bride.

Thanks to the tornado sirens that started going off, the shower wrapped up rather quickly.  We flipped on the weather channel as soon as we heard them and when we decided the coast was clear, everyone made a run for their car to head to their own homes and safe shelters.  I guess they didn't all want to be stuck having to cram into our half bath with me. 

Thank you, friends, for humoring me and dressing up for the party.  And congrats, Kendra!  It's getting close!  Like I said in your card, may 7-9-11 be your BEST walk down the aisle!

Hot Springs

Hello!  I've been a bad blogger this week, but I'm ready to make it up to you.  The video of Lolli vs The Bedspread in the last post was a test.  I was trying to use the Tumblr feature of this site and I'm  happy to report that it worked and was very easy to figure out.  You may not have thought Lolli digging at the bedspread was entertaining at all, but it cracks me up.  She seriously did that for ten minutes straight, and I promise, no bacon was hidden anywhere. This past weekend Doc and I joined some of our friends for a weekend getaway in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Let me start the recap by pointing you over to Allison's blog.  She has beaten me to the punch and has already written about our trip and included a lot of pictures that I don't have.  The Cooks and the Earls headed out of town in the early afternoon.  Unfortunately, they got in major traffic from a head-on collison between two trucks on I40.  Luckily for us, they alerted us of the stand-still traffic so we could dodge it.  We left in the late afternoon and took some scenic routes through farmlands. 

Doc and I didn't go directly to Hot Springs, though.  We decided to stop in Little Rock to grab dinner with our friends Sarah and Charlie.  They took us to a tasty Mexican restaurant where we had delicious margaritas and some of the best salsa ever.  It rivals the yummy salsa I had in New York.  Sadly, our evening with the Kinsers was short and sweet since we still had an hour left of our drive to go.  We said our goodbyes and hit the road.

In Hot Springs we stayed at the renowned Arlington Hotel.  The hotel sits in the middle of downtown and is full of old Southern charm.  When we arrived late Friday night a band was playing in the main lobby.  The National Guard was holding its annual conference in Hot Springs so the place was packed!  We found our friends sitting at a table watching all the older couples dance the night away. 

You can't stay in Hot Springs without eating at The Pancake Shop.  It's conveniently located right across the street from The Arlington so it made sense that it was our first stop Saturday morning.  This small diner-esque restaurant is always jam-packed on the weekends but our wait for a table didn't last long.  While the others stood outside, I wandered into the shop next door and snapped this picture with my phone.

A shelf full of the cutest little (and big!) sock monkeys I've ever seen.  I think I've formed a new obsession.  Just recently I purchased a handfull of sock monkey ornaments and after seeing these I'm dreaming of decorating a sock monkey themed nursery for a child that doesn't even exist.  It was all I could do not to grab a handful of these and head to the cash register.  Luckily, Doc came in and rescued me (and my bank account) because our table was ready.

The Pancake Shopis known for their buttermilk pancakes.  Doc gave them a go but I stuck with regular pancakes with blueberries.  Yummo!  I only had one complaint about our meal at the Pancake Shop - no sprite!  When the waitress came for our drink orders and I told her sprite, she said the only soft drinks they served were coke, diet coke, and dr. pepper.  Who doesn't serve sprite?!?  So I said to heck with it - we were on vacation after all - and I ordered my first coke in over a year.  Then I texted my mom this picture:

Talk about caffeine overload.  Doc and I only drink coffee when we're on vacation;it's like a special treat for us.  Pair that cup of sugary coffee goodness with the coke I had just ordered and I was surely setting myself up for a doozy of a caffeine-induced panic attack.  Fortunately, I managed to practice a little self-restraint and only had a couple of drinks from the coke.  (But the first big gulp of it?  To die for.  I had forgotten how fizzy and delicious cokes could be.  Now I must suppress that memory and go back to my no-caffeine-drinking ways.)

After breakfast we made a quick stop back at the hotel to grab cameras, purses, and whatnot.  It was around then that we noticed something funny about Darrin and Doc.  Can you see it?

No, it's not their cut-off heads.  That's just a little something my blog likes to do.  It's their matching shorts!  Ok, technically they're not exactly the same - Doc's had pleats while Darrin's were flat front - but that is definitely the same madras fabric.  Straight up twinkified.   

Here I am with my half of the twinkies on the front steps of our hotel.  I'm sporting two birthday presents - the dress came from my parents and the necklace came from the Cooks.

(Again with the cut-off heads.  Grrrr.)

Once we had regrouped, we walked down the street to Ride the Ducks of Hot Springs!  Technically we only rode one duck, but that's the name of the company.  The duck was parked outside of the Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum and we had to go inside to buy our tickets.  If I had any concerns at all about riding in a vehicle that operated on both land and water, they all disappeared as we bought our tickets.  Why?  Because Jesus himself was watching over us.

We were the first people aboard our duck - Miss Judy - so we got the prime seats in the back.  They were slightly elevated over the others so we had a much better view. 

Right after those pictures were taken Jenny and I decided to switch sides.  Doc told me to be careful if I decided to rest my hand on his leg to make sure I got the right person's leg.  It was just so confusing with all that madras!

Our duck tour started right down the middle of Bathhouse Row where we learned that only two of the bathhouses are still in operation as bathhouses.  We also drove past the World's Shortest Street In Everday Use.  At just 98 feet long, it hosts the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade each year.  This past year the parade was led by John Corbett of Sex and the City fame.  (Um, hello!  Anyone feel like going with me to the parade next year?!?)  We zipped past other attractions in Hot Springs and finally made our way to Lake Hamilton.  Here's what our view from the back of the boat was like.

This might've been one of my favorite parts of the trip.  The weather was beautiful and it was so peaceful out on the water.  I really think if our captain would've put his mic down for a few minutes I could've closed my eyes and drifted off to dream land.  But since that wasn't the case, I decided to take in all the beautiful scenery.  I've decided that I could live here:

We said hello to some geese as we made our way out of the water.

I used a stop at a red light as a photo opportunity. 

I cannot even tell you how tangled my hair was in the picture above.  It started early that morning when I realized I forgot to pack our travel bath products.  The tiny bottles that the hotel offered were just bath gel and shampoo.  No conditioner for my thin stringy hair.  Then, after an hour long open-air ride, it was just a hot tangled mess.  I seriously almost started crying when I tried to brush it.

As we made our way back downtown to park, we passed this fine establishment.  Not only can you get chicken at Chicken World, but you can also get pork, veggies, fruit, beef, and seafood.  Why even name it Chicken World?  They're chicken and lots more!

Our afternoon was spent at Oaklawn watching the horses race. 

This was my first time to go to the horse races so I didn't really know what to expect.  For those of you reading this that have never been, the inside looks like this:

Rows of seats facing a big floor-to-ceiling window.  Just past the windows is more seating/standing room and then the horse track. 

We started inside so that we could grab some lunch.  I was starving!  Even though Oaklawn is known for their reuben sandwiches, I opted for a corn dog.  Best decision ever - I think it was the tastiest corn dog I've ever eaten.  Or maybe I was just that hungry.

Darrin was excited for the races to begin!

Allison and Jenny were too. 

After scarfing down my corn dog and hushing up my growling stomach, I could finally get excited about the races too.

Allison and Chris had been to Oaklawn several times before, so they explained how everything worked.  If I heard correctly, the racing horses are escorted to their starting stalls by their boy/girlfriend to help get them "revved" up for the race.  In the  pictures below, the person in red is riding the boy/girlfriend and the jockeys are riding the excited racers.

Everything from there is pretty self-explanatory.  They line up in their stalls and then take off around the track.  You can place all kinds of different bets for Win, Place, and Show.  Here's some of the horses after just rounding the corner on the far side of the track.  (Our money was probably on the one in the rear.)

This is the best I could get of them coming around front to the finish line.  They were so fast!

We placed several $2 bets on each race.  And we did a really good job of losing just about every one of them.  Unlike Charlie Sheen, we were not winning. 

We eventually got kicked out of the seats we didn't pay for, so we headed outside for an upclose view.  In this shot of Doc, you can see everything you possibly need to see at the track - the big video screen, the scoreboard, the Oaklawn bushes, and the finish line.  In case you still couldn't tell where this picture was taken, Doc displayed his big Oaklawn cup that the boys may or may not have poured bourbon into.

(Looks like the big screen got cut off.  It's there in the real picture, I promise.) 

There was time to kill before the next race so you know what that meant - photo op!  We have good looking friends.

When it came time for the race to start, I fixed my lens on the finish line.  I was determined to get the photo-finish.  You know, in case it was really close and they needed to see things from my perspective.  I didn't even get close to catching the shot; the horses were so fast that my finger didn't even push the camera trigger until they were long gone!  I did stand on my tippy-toes, though, to get a shot of a couple winning horses after their race.  I like the picture below of the horse getting rinsed off because you can see his tongue sticking out.  It's like he's mocking all the losers.  "Na-na-a-boo-boo, I beat you! Ptttthhh!"

And this horse still has his jockey on him.  Tee hee, he's so tiny.

We wandered through a tunnel that took us under the race track and spit us out on the open lawn in the middle.  This was my favorite spot, not because you could really get a good view of the races at all, but because the sun was out and I was desperate for a tan!  These guys were apparently pretty desperate, too.

I kicked off my flip flops and walked barefoot in the grass.  Ah, spring! 

We could still place bets at a window outside.  Darrin ended up being the big winner of the day off a total fluke.  Doc gave him the horse numbers to bet on, Darrin misheard him and told the lady wrong, and he ended up cashing in $155!  In the words of Napolean Dynamite, Lucky!

Chris brought back a caterpillar from one of his trips to the betting counter.  I took it from his hands and put it on my arm.  The caterpillar and I had a contest to see who could get their hair to stand up higher.

We decided to beat the crowd and called it quits before the last race.  When the taxi dropped us off at our hotel we walked across the street to one of the hot springs. 

Obviously, these springs are where the town gets its name and the water that comes from them is 140 degrees!  In case you're wondering, that's really, really hot.  Our wild and crazy husbands decided to each stick a foot in. 

You can't really tell much from the picture above, but Doc stuck in his left foot and it turned pretty red.  I bet it wasn't in there for more than 1.5 seconds before he grabbed at it like it was on fire.  He said later that night that his foot felt sun-burned.

This was before the foot-burning occurred.  Doc was still feeling happy-go-lucky and content just sitting by the warm water.

We could feel the steam rising off the water.

I don't think these two ever take a bad picture.

That goes for the Earls too.

We had dinner at Belle Arti that night.  I decided to leave the big heavy camera back in the room, but had I known about the fabulously dressed prom-goers we were seated next to, I would've definitely brought it along.  When did high school guys stop wearing plain black tuxes?  I mean, back in my day it was trendy to get a vest and/or tie that matched your date's dress, but the guys still went with the black tux.  I don't think there was a single one at the table beside us.  They were white or had funky hats or canes or something crazy like that.  And the girls!  My goodness!  I'm pretty sure one girl in particular might not have gotten her mother's approval when she bought her dress.  That, or her mother is veeeerrrry different from my mother.  I could see her whole back!  Like seriously, ALL of it.  And she had an I Dream Of Jeannie ponytail.   Unacceptable.  There was one girl at the table that had on an appropriate dress and her hairstyle was really cute - something I would definitely wear.  I wanted to pull her aside and let her know that she looked the best, but I refrained. 

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We had drinks back at the hotel before retiring for the night and we headed out pretty early Sunday morning.  We did stop at a water fountain on our way out, though, so that Chris could fill up some bottles of water.  The water is from the springs so it's hot and apparently lots of people come fill up jugs and bottles to take it home with them.  And the best part?  It's free!

Bowling Birthday Party

I have awesome friends.  I may have mentioned that before. My friend Chris (Allison's husband) and I share the Ides of March as our day of birth.  We are exactly one year apart.  To celebrate our birthdays, our in-town friends met at one of my favorite local restaurants, Swanky's, for dinner Saturday night.  We had the perfect sized group of ten and the food, drinks, and conversation were all so good!

Doc had reserved a couple of lanes at a bowling alley for after dinner.  Isn't it crazy that you have to make reservations to bowl these days?  We had to pay a cover charge at the door, too.  But it was worth it.  I should've known my awesome friends would go all out.  Jenny and Allison turned our bowling night into a birthday party, complete with banner, noise silent blowers, and Muddy's cupcakes.  Oh man, the cupcakes!  It's a good thing my momma wasn't there cause they were so good they made me want to slap her!

I stupidly left my camera at home but luckily, Allison brought hers.  So, all of these pictures have been stolen borrowed from her with permission.

Allison remembered to bring candles for our cupcakes.  Chris got the 9 since he's turning 29; I got the 8 for 28.  We had to improvise on the 2s.

Can you see the pins we're wearing?  Yeah, they light up, which is pretty awesome when you're cosmic bowling.

I made a good wish before digging in to my cupcake.

Since we had two lanes, we decided to split up into two groups:  Those Who Care About Bowling and Those Who Don't.  Coincidentally, the split also happened to be Boys and Girls.

The highest scorer of the night just so happened to be on this team:

Oh yea!  Way to go, Jenny!  (The rest of us were definitely NOT the high scorers.)

At least the other team was pretty cute.

My birthday twin and I stepped up to the lane at the same time.

Here's the thing about bowling:  I think it's a lot of fun.  At first.  But then things like my thumb and wrist start hurting.  Why do the balls have to be so dang heavy?  I try hard to put some oomf into my roll, but sometimes that means I nearly fall over once the ball is released.  No one else seemed to have that problem...

Allison had the great idea to take a picture of everyone anytime they bowled a strike.  I'm pleased to say my picture was taken more than once.  Funny story, though:  my right wrist was starting to hurt so I decided, The heck with it; I'm rolling with my left hand this time. And whaddaya know, that's when I got my first strike!

Here's a video Allison made with all the Strike pictures.

"Strike" A Pose

She has also written about our fun night on her blog, so head on over there to read it, too.

My birthday week got off to a great start with the bowling party.  Now, if only this soreness would go away.  (Fellow bowlers, y'all are all sore too, right?  Right?)

College Girls

My senior year of high school, when it came time to choose a college, I decided I wanted to go somewhere where I didn't know anyone. I didn't want to follow all of my classmates to the state schools. I didn't want to room with someone I'd known all my life. While I enjoyed my time in high school and the friends that I had, I was ready to go somewhere on my own and make new friends. It was the best decision I ever made. My college years were some of the best of my life because of the friends I made there. I lived in a teeny apartment with five best friends, next door to another apartment with four more of our best friends. There was always someone around to hang out with, and many times we were ALL around, squeezed into one apartment watching Sex and the City, gossiping about boys, reading about celebrities, and making a list of names we'd never name our children. It was very common to see our pack walking across campus to the cafeteria together or cramming into two cars to go out on a Friday night.

Who knew the friends I made in college would be forever friends? Although, after four years together, I can't imagine them not being in my life. While we've all moved to different towns and have different lives, we still remain just as close as ever. We email about everything - wedding plans, birth announcements, rants from work, gossip from facebook, interesting articles we read online, good stories from NPR. In addition to all of that, we make a point to get together at least once a year.

This year's get together was last weekend and it was at Jenny's house. Not everyone was able to make it, but we still had a pretty good crowd. It was a great weekend - no boys, no makeup, and no real clothes (pj's only!).

We trickled in at different times on Friday night. Jenny made a big batch of spaghetti for us.

Catherine was the last to arrive and even though she wasn't thrilled to have my camera in her face, we were all glad she was there!

Poor Lydia was battling a nasty cold so she sipped on hotty toddys all night. I think this is the first time Mr. Daniels has come to any of our get-togethers.

We spent Friday getting caught up since the last time we'd all seen each other (Jenny's wedding). We crashed way earlier than we used to in college, but in college we didn't have full-time jobs!

Saturday morning started out right...with mimosas!

Poor Susan couldn't join in our toast since she brought a bun in her oven.

Did I say it was a boy-free weekend? Well, it mostly was. After we finished our late breakfast, this cute little guy showed up.

Roxy and Rowan couldn't spend the entire weekend with us but we sure are glad they stopped by! It didn't take long before baby Rowan got bored with the girl talk and fell asleep.

One thing we always do at our get-togethers is have a gift exchange. We don't exchange Christmas gifts or do birthday presents in our group, so it's fun to do it this one time of the year. We each bring one gift and play "Dirty Santa" to choose our gifts.

I was dirty and stole the present that I brought from someone. What can I say - I brought a gift that I really wanted myself. I'll show you a full picture of it soon, but here's a sneak peek:

Rowan thought opening gifts was way more fun that girl talk. Well, maybe not exactly fun, but at least he was awake for it.

This little boy has stolen his momma's heart.

You know, in college I remember us texting a lot on our phones (I'm sure my dad really remembers...) but we weren't glued to our phones like we are now. Gotta love smart phones!

After our afternoon nap (we did that in college too - somethings never change), we decided it was time for cupcakes and pizza.

See? No makeup. Ew. (Hopefully since I'm posting this awful picture of myself, my friends won't hate me as much for posting makeup free pictures of them.)

Sunday morning came and we all went our separate ways. I'm sad we don't get to see each other more often, but it was great to have a full weekend with nothing to do but catch up. Thanks for hosting us, Jenny!

Bunco Night

Last Monday night I hosted my bunco group at our house.  We try to play on the last Monday of every month, and oh do I look forward to this girls' night every month! Even though I had the month of January, I decided it was close enough to Valentine's Day to go with a heart theme.  I used my red and white dishes.

The dining table was decorated with a new table runner I made, heart-shaped bowls of candy, and the felted flowers I made.

The kitchen table held the money pot.

As my guests arrived, I had heart-shaped chips and dip for them to munch on.

For the main course, we had soup, salad, and breadsticks a la Olive Garden.  I cheated and purchased the salad and breadsticks from the restaurant, but I found the recipe for their Pasta e Fagioli online and Doc helped me make it (ok, really he did it).  The recipe is pretty comparable to theirs in the restaurant, the only difference is that mine had heart-shaped noodles.

Throughout the evening, anyone that rolled a "big bunco" (three sixes) got the honor of wearing the heart headband.

Laura got it first:

She passed it on to Megan...

...but then Kendra stole it from her.

I'm pretty sure there were a lot more "big buncos" because I heard lots of hoopin' and hollarin' but I was busy in the kitchen getting dessert ready.

Dessert = chocolate croissants on top of a chocolate syrup heart, with a strawberry and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.  Yummy!

I sent the girls home with (hopefully) full bellies and a lucky few also had full pocketbooks.  The countdown's on til next Month's bunco night!