surprise birthday party!

2 weeks ago I posted a blog wishing my dear friend Lele, a very Happy Birthday!!! 

I can't believe we were able to surprise her (for the most part!!!)!

I was super afraid it was going to rain...but it didn't! a little on the cold side, but we still managed to have a great cookout!

I loved putting together all the fun pictures of Lele with friends during her time in Nashville!

we certainly are going to miss her!

AND I tried my hand at a little photobooth action...it was certainly my first time, but I think it was fun nonetheless...

and just because he is awesome...

we love you Lele...and eric and laney!  it was a great night to celebrate YOU!!!

(and not think about the fact that you are moving next week and that it totally stinks and makes me sad and my days just won't be as awesome as they are now...but I am excited for you and your family and I know this will be a great move for yall but we here in nashville will miss you terribly and probably cry once or twice...or every morning when I get to work...and on my friday afternoons...and when I go to target...

you get the point!)

farmer's market fun!

well, before the fun can begin, I have some sad news.  Our beautiful hanging baskets...the ones I posted about here...they got stollen.  right off our porch.  so sad.  If you would like to take a moment of silence to remember this pretty porch plants, that would be appreciated.

moving on...

this past weekend josh and I headed to the farmer's market to get some fresh fruits and veggies...as well as maybe some new plants for the porch (sigh.).  I love the farmer's market.  So many fun foods, colors, all things you never knew you needed.  We browsed the food selction...

naturally I couldn't pass up a photo op of these guys...

then moved on to the pretty flowers!  such.pretty.flowers.

let's take a closer look at this spread, shall we?

beautiful!

here is my ode to the hanging baskets (we actually ended up getting a potted plant, more on that later).

spring baby shower

I had posted this earlier with some baby shower invitation options.  My long time childhood friend Rachel is due any day now with her first baby, Virginia!  We are all excited to meet her!  The shower was so sweet...and fun to have my first party in MY house...or our house...either way :)

It was great that Anna ended up being in town for the shower!  We missed Liz...but she was there in spirit.

we chose the butterfly invitations...

and had a nice spring shower on a sunday afternoon...

yummy treats and cute girlie presents filled the living room.  and of course you can't have a baby shower without a diaper cake!  I typically have kept my diaper cakes pretty simple, but I loved how molly and I made the layers a bit more exciting with all the tissue paper flowers (thanks caitlin!).

hello yellow!

I mentioned I have the slightest obsession with yellow...it used to be red (wierd I know) but these days it is all about some yellow.  let's take a look around shall we...

on top of the mantle...

on top of the china cabinet...

my absolute most favorite scent...and it happens to be yellow!

these are left over from my wedding bouquet...still yellow, and still pretty!  thanks again Melissa for making my wedding flowers so beautiful!!!

SURPRISE!!!! it's lele's birthday!!!

today my friend Lele turns 30!!!  WOAH!  Happy Birthday Friend!  Last night we surprised her with a party!!!  Lele always deserves a party for her...she's just that awesome.

I met lele the summer of 2003.  Our churches partnered up for youth camp that summer and Lele and I were interns for our respective churches.  Little did I know 2 years later she would move to Nashville and become one of my best friends.  Of all the friends that I had in my wedding, Lele was the only person I didn't know from high school or before.  Though we didn't know each other growing up, our stories from childhood are similar enough that sometimes it seems that way.

Lele is an amazing woman, friend, wife, and mother.  Her love and passion for Jesus Christ is evident to all and her joy is contagious.  Lele loves people and genuinely sees the best in everyone.  She puts her friends and family above herself...which is evident by how she has supported and encourage Eric through nursing school and now seeing her raise such a sweet little baby girl. 

This one time, a few years ago, she decided to move away and "moved" to Birmingham.  We all thought that was a dumb idea and missed her greatly.  turns out...she missed us and moved back just a semester later.  Whew...that was a close one.  Until now...now, she isn't just pretending to move, she is for real moving to Montgomery.  We've tried to be supportive and encouraging - just as Lele would be to any of her friends - but the truth is, it's really sad. 

Lele has been such a constant in my life these few years...besides the fact that she's the reason I met my husband...she's taught me, encouraged me, laughed with me, cried with me, prayed for me, and simply lived life along side me.  And the thing...she does this to all her friends.  Such a giver...full of compassion. 

Lele, on today...your birthday...i hope you feel so very loved, deeply celebrated, encouraged, not old at all, and full of joy! I'm so glad you were born, and that you knew Bryson, and that you married Eric and then met Josh!  I am not glad that you are moving...but I'm excited to see all the things and people the Lord will use you to experience and meet during this next season...until you move back to Nashville of course.

the happiest of birthdays to you, friend!

spring wreath

whew!  it feels like forever since the front door got a make-over.  the winter one did not last all winter (sad day) and then I got married and for a few weeks cared less about the wreath.  no worries...once I moved in I was back to caring!

besides the fact the I.LOVE.YELLOW! and it's spring, and that means lots of yellow...it was one of my wedding colors.  this meant I had lots of yellow ribbon (I kind of went crazy and bought out loads of yellow, grey, and navy ribbon for the wedding "just in case").  So...what else do you with leftover ribbon? duh...you make a wreath :)

I started with a wire wreath base, tissue paper, and ribbon.

I covered the wire in tissue paper just to give it a more rounded edge and make it a bit puffier when the ribbon went around it...

then I literally just tied ribbon knots all the way around!

I had a "D" left over from this shower that my sweet threw us before the wedding, so added that and this cute little chalkboard butterfly!

I found this at Michael's...I thought they would be fun to play around this spring.

 

so there you have it...my spring wreath.  I think this kind of wreath would be great in a craft room or nursery...but I had lots of ribbon left over, so ribbon wreath on the front door it was!

baby girl shower invitations

I know that A LOT OF BIG THINGS happened this weekend.  this post in no way reflects the hugeness of any of them...but in my small world, this is what happened.  It was exciting to me, so I wanted to share part of it with you!
For me, this weekend was about celebrating my dear friend and her sweet baby that hopefully we can all meet VERY SOON!  that's big news to me that I love being able to tell you all about it! 

yesterday I hosted the first party at my house!  It was a sweet baby shower for my friend Rachel!  She is due literally ANY day now!  We thought we may get to meet baby Virginia at the shower!!!!  Here are the two invitations I designed...you'll have to wait for a blog about the shower to find out which one we picked! (I know...suspenseful!!!).

*names were changed to protect the innocent...except that one place I forgot to change my name :)