4th of July

I spent most of the 4th in the car.  10 hours coming back from central Louisiana.  Who's jealous?!

I'll post more about what I was doing in Louisiana later, but for now...here are just a few highlights of watching the fireworks on the 4th.  We went to the top of the Belmont parking garage.  This is the 3rd or 4th time I've done it.  I love it!  It's not crowded, it's a good view, they provide drinks and cookies as well as speakers broadcasting the live music.  If you want a fun non-stressful easy to get out of place to watch fireworks...I highly recommend going there.

Happy Birthday Josh!

Today is Josh's Birthday!!!

Josh is my fiance and my best friend.  We've now been dating 11 months and having been engaged 2 of those months.  CRAZY!  ...but absolutely exciting!

You should all meet Josh.  I think he's great.  Josh is a southern boy through and through.  He's proud of where he came from, loves his family, works hard at his job, and can bring a country music lyric into any conversation.  He is absolutely hilarious and loves to make people laugh.  He deeply cares about all his friends and would do anything for his family.  He is quietly confident and allows the Lord to guide and direct his life.  He...is going to be my husband!

Happy Birthday Josh!

TREND: Bunting and Banners

It's everywhere. On cards, at parties and wedddings, on clothing...bunting is taking over the world. Too dramatic? perhaps. I feel like I could have an entire blog devoted to bunting and banners and never run out of new things to show you. I've begun to use a banner at most parties/showers I host. It just adds a sense of personalization ... with very little time (well sometimes little time).

Here is how wikipedia defines Bunting. I think you can use bunting and banners interchangably.  It's 2010, call it whatever makes you happy!

Here are some pictures of different banners I've made as well as some lessons I've learned along the way.

Lesson #1: If you want to save time you can print off the letters on your computer. It's way easy. pick a font you love. make each letter super big. print it out and cut it out. done!

Lesson #2: If you make triangles, circles, squares, etc...SAVE YOUR TEMPLATE! you'll more than likely use it again.

Lesson #3: I lay out all my patterned paper before in the order that I want. Just to make sure it looks like I want it to.

As you all know I read my fair share of wedding/party blogs.  Here are some cute banners I've found out on 'ol world wide web:

Clockwise from the top left:

1. Ruffled provides you with downloads of each letter to print out for yourself.

2. Names are great to put on banners.  Like this party from The Sweetest Occasion.

3. Such a cute welcome banner and more from Oh So Beautiful Paper.

4. The bithday banner (and the frog theme) are too cute over at Kara's Party Ideas.

Banners don't always have to have words.  I think these are precious!

LEFT: Bunting is a great addition to any circus themed party!

RIGHT: I love how this cake matches the pattern on the banner!

Bunting has also found its way over to the card making/scrapbooking world.  I LOVE IT!  It just kind of brightens up any paper. 

Who wouldn't want to get this fun card on their birthday?

(sidenote: this card features a future TREND topic...get excited!)

Speaking of bunting on cards...my friend Courtney actually designed a stamp set that is TOO COOL!  If you are an experienced stamper or just thinking about getting started Courtney has some great sets that are so fun and easy.  You can do so much with these little flags.

I know this was long.  Hopefully it was helpful.  Have you made any banners?  How did it go?  If you've learned lessons along the way please share...I'm always eager to learn more!

happy birthday Rachel!

Today is my friend Rachel's Birthday!!!

Rachel is one of my tallest friends (not too be confused with Molly, the longest...though Rachel comes in a pretty close second to Molly...).  I went to school with Rachel from 1st grade - 12th grade.  We both ended up in Nashville for college as well.

Rachel is a dear friend.  She motivates me to go after my dreams, walk closely with the Lord, and truly see the good in other people.  I'm thankful for Rachel as a friend...but lately I'm SUPER thankful that she is ok and walking - somewhat! 

Rachel should have been a cheerleading with her AWESOME handwriting...instead we stuck to going to soccer games, studying anatomy, and riding party trains!  I'm grateful for all the fun memories we have together and so glad she's here in Nashville so we can continue to make more!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

the pineapple

It's come to my attention recently that maybe everyone doesn't know about the symbolism of the pineapple. 

Besides the fact that I do in fact LOVE to eat pineapple...there's a bigger reason I choose to decorate with it, include it in my blog title, and maybe have it make an appearance at my wedding.  The pineapple  has long been the symbol of hospitality.  It began in the Caribbean, progressed to Europe, and then on to America where it became fairly normal to have the pineapple carved in to stone or placed out in front of your plantation.

When guest would come over they would serve pineapple as a sign of giving the guests the utmost hospitality.  Since then it's continued to be carved, stitched, printed, and engraved as a way to show that people are welcome wherever the pineapple is displayed.

So now you know... and you too can pass the pineapple along to whoever you encounter today.  And you won't think I just LOVE to eat pineapple, but that I do in fact try to be hospitable when I can.  As a Christian...and a southerner :)

4th of July Wreath

I am so excited about how this wreath turned out! I wanted to make a summer wreath and a patriotic theme seemed to be perfect. I found some ribbon on sale, a wreath, and some pins. The whole thing took less than 2 hours.

I made different kinds of flowers out of the ribbon I had. Maybe next time I can list some "how to" steps but this was all experimental so I had no idea how they would turn out. I'm really happy with how they did though. I tell ya...a hot glue gun goes a long way!

I wanted to be able to use the wreath again, so I needed to make the accessories interchangeable and not permanent. I looked for some hair pins so I could just clip the flowers to the wreath. I couldn't find what I had in mind so I ended up sticking these pins to the back. It worked pretty well.

And here's the wreath! Sorry it's not on a door...it's now on Josh's front door and I didn't have my camera when I hung it up. But it looks cute. A simple way to celebrate summer, freedom, and the USA!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

blog fail

I was working on a new post.  I clicked "PUBLISHED POST" before I wanted to.  It will be done next week hopefully.  All you Google Readers got a sneak peak.  Sorry.  Just ignore it and be SO EXCITED when it pops up again later on.