kitchen colors

As you saw from my country kitchen post...I'm not afraid of colors in the kitchen.  It's a good thing because I'm pretty sure I registered for one or more of every color in the fiestaware...and we've just about got all of them.

Last spring we got some cute hand towels in at hallmark that I thought would be the perfect touch for Josh's kitchen...

My very talented and recently married friend Caitlin made this SUPER CUTE kitchen towel for me for Christmas.  Obviously she knows my taste b/c it matches perfectly with the towels we already had up in the kitchen.

I just love all the color! and of course the bunting...

luggage

Are you married? did you get new luggage when you got married?  I kind of just thought that was something everyone did.  Or maybe since I'd had my lime green duffle bag with my name on it for 11 years I thought it was time for something more "adult."  Either way...I wanted new luggage.

Josh...being a boy...felt like what he had would do just fine...so we compromised.  I got an extra-large duffle/suitcase and he got a nice new carry-on messenger bag.  win/win.  My trusty lime green duffle came from LLBean...after 11 years... traveling to Australia and back, moldova and back multiple times, youth camps and vacations ...she's still in great shape.  No tears, no seams coming a part, nothing wrong.  So, I went with LLBean again.

The Quick Load collection...

I got the Upright Duffle, Extra Large

and josh gets the Messanger Bag

mantle monogram

Our mantle is currently a work in progress. slowly but surely I'll just resolve to having it be officially SPRING in the Drake house, but it's still February and I have issues with that.  For the meantime here is what I am working with...

I got this orange vase/pitcher/heaviest decoration ever at my Hallmark Shower last month.  It's an item we've had in the store.  I like the structure and size and I figured Josh would like the color so we both win!

josh, he loves me...and buys me fresh daisies! see...baby steps towards spring!

and the bird vase...a mantle staple.

Lele made these fabric colored letters for us for our shower and the "D" is from anthropologie.

put them all together and you get something like this...

I like all the pieces separately but it still isn't a cohesive project yet.  I'll figure it out soon enough, but for now...we are counting down to the official start date of that monogram on the mantle.

what a weekend!

whew... i've got lots to post about but want to just let you look at these fun pictures that describe the fun-ness that was this weekend!!!

thursday...baby olive was born!

now it's a sweet little family of 4!

and then Saturday these two were married!!!

(their photographer took this picture...not me)

I'll be back later with more crafts and more Olive pictures, but wanted to put these up for now!

and they're off...

...I mean out...the invitations!!! I mailed them out this past weekend!  Just in case everyone hasn't seen them yet I'll only give you all a sneak peek...

it's been fun to finally have people see them after working on them for so long.  apparently people are excited...we've gotten RSVPs back the past two days and have 50 "YES" and 1 "NO."

hallmark shower

a few weeks ago the sweet ladies that work with at Brentwood Stationers (a local Hallmark store) got together and threw me a little shower.  We had the best time!

Cindy made this super cute flower "cake" arrangement!

each of the ladies gave me some of their favorite recipes. 

this was a great treat b/c there are some GOOD cooks in that bunch!

the recipe box has a little lip on the lid to hold the recipe you are using to cook.

Back in August I blogged about my Happy Everything plate.  A few of the ladies from the store got together and got me some more attachments...and a fun storage case!

check out Coton Colors for all the attachments and all things "Happy Everything!"

 

valentine's day!

it's valentine's day!  I am beyond excited about my date with Josh tonight at Chickfila!  It's been about 2 months since we cut out fast food and I am ready for some waffle fries!!!! mmm!  I know it's not the most romantic...but I'm not a big romance person so this makes me just as happy!

Josh was out of town this past weekend, so I surprised him when he got home with some valentine's love...

I decorated the mantle with some heart shaped doilies and ribbon. 

Then wrote a little message on our chalk board fire place.

I also decided to go a bit retro...

today is 40 days from our wedding. so I made Josh a paper chain with 40 things I love about him...he gets to tear off one a day until the wedding (unless he cheats and reads them all when I'm not there).

There's this wall plaque that we've had at hallmark for quite awhile with definition of "The South" on it.  I love it.  But I've never gotten it.  Recently we got mugs, picture frames, and serving platters with different variations of the definition on them as well.  I thought the frame would be a cute little gift for Josh...

(photo in frame courtesy of Mary Rosenbaum Photography)

Josh surprised me with tickets to this in May:

needless to say, I was a happy girl!

Hope you all have a very happy Valentine's Day!