Show(er)time!

Sometimes you might not even know how
the gift is used!  We love it when that
happens.  Be sure to have someone
keeping notes for you!  See her assistant
in the background?

We are very excited around here about the shower this Saturday for our bride!  If you are a bride to be, I hope you take the time to savor the showers someone gives you!  Think about it. You, of all people, know how much planning goes into something like this because you are engulfed in details as you plan your wedding!  But a shower is a different thing altogether!  YOU get to enjoy the party without any of the hassle!  Very little expense, either, unless you use it as an excuse to get something cute to wear, and hopefully, you will get some mileage from that later. AND gifts, oh yes!  Sometimes, depending on how close your wedding date may be, this may be the first flurry of gifts you can enjoy opening and imagining how you will use them as a MRS! 

Source

I plan to post some pictures from the shower next week, and I don't want to give too much away, but I am still experimenting with some recipes.  We are going to have cupcakes, a variety of them.  Since strawberries are fresh here now, I wanted to do a strawberry cupcake.  I tried a Southern Living recipe from their April issue and it was delicious!  However, it was not foolproof and pretty messy to eat.  It used an Angel Food cake mix and unfortunately, that was pretty tricky.  The batter didn't fill out the cupcake cups in some of them, and frankly, my batch was not very attractive straight from the oven.  The custard that was used to fill in the cupcake was yummy and with the strawberries, hmmmm, very delicious.  Just wish it were a little more manageable.  So today I will try some lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  It sounds light and looks a little simpler.  And!  We just discovered a great recipe for a peanut butter cupcake!  This bride is crazy for peanut butter, so we have GOT to do these!  Other than the cupcakes, I will just have some fresh strawberries by their lonesome, cheesestraws, chicken salad puffs (recipe later), lemonade, and water. 

How's that sounding to you?  Not too late to send me your suggestions!!

Happy Earth Day! It's the BIG 4-0!

Hard to believe that this is the 40th celebration of Earth Day!  I think that calls for an extra special effort on our part to do it right! 

 I will continue my efforts to recycle by adding grocery bags to my drop-offs.  Right now I recycle paper, cardboard, and plastic.  Our city is searching for a company to buy glass, but no takers yet.  The center does not take plastic bags, but there is a grocery store less than a .10 of a mile from there.

I will add trees to the yard.  This sugar maple was planted to commemorate the birth of our first grandson. 

I will save energy around the house.  Lights and appliances not needed will be off.  Water will not be wasted.  Energy Star appliances and bulbs will be installed.

Paper will not be printed unnecessarily and when possible, it will be reused or recycled.  I will purchase products made from post consumer waste. 

I will combine my errands so that several things can be accomplished in one ride.

I will find ways to reuse things that are too good to be thrown out.

There are so many small things that each of us can do with just a little extra thought and care.  Join me, won't you?  Please share ways that you are observing Earth Day this year.

~Judy

Guest Post: Real Bride, Ms. Library, and her Kids' Table

I am very excited to introduce you all to one of my favorite brides, Ms. Library, who is planning a July, 2010 wedding.  I have been following her blog for quite a while and I am getting more and more excited for her as the day is fast approaching!  Under 100 days, people!  I had the honor of designing her garter and she has graciously agreed to share all the wedding glory as my first real bride feature!  Just to whet your appetite, I asked Ms. Library if she would share one of her favorite posts, and she picked one of my favorites.  Why?  Well, it illustrates just how thoughtful she is of every guest, even the littlest ones, and she reuses, renews, and recycles effortlessly!  Check it out and feel free to leave her some encouraging words.  Anyone reading a wedding blog understands how much that is appreciated!  Here she writes:

Note to Self #1: The Kids’ Table

While last night proved to be a roller coaster of emotions (getting a dress that doesn’t look like you want it to and that you can’t return isn’t always the greatest for self esteem), I decided I didn’t want to grade papers (HA!) and I wanted to work on the first of my ideas, decorating the kids’ table.

My goal was to make it as kid friendly as possible with nothing fragile or flammable. Using Mrs. Sprinkle’s kids’ table as inspiration, I knew we had some leftover jelly jars in my basement and a tall blue vase in our dining room collecting dust. Containers? Check! I had already picked up coloring supplies (four packs of markers and a jumbo pack of crayons) for $1 a package after Christmas and I just need to print out the coloring books to assemble them. Coloring activities? Check!

What I needed to complete my vision were children’s books. While trying to pick a book for a professional book club on my local library’s website, I noticed their scrolling banner was advertising a 50% off sale on their book barn supplies. Dad Library is a huge fan of library sales, so I have been no stranger to them growing up. Their prices are super cheap, and while the conditions of the books vary, you can find some amazing deals. I stopped by after work yesterday to see what there was. I had planned on looking for some of my childhood favorites (One Morning in Maine, Blueberries for Sal, Miss Rumphius, etc.) and some of Mr. Library’s (Where’s Waldo?, anything by Dr. Seuss), but alas, none of those were available. Here is what I did score:



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I remember having Millions of Cats in my childhood library at home, plus Mr. Library and I are cat lovers, so it seemed appropriate. Roxaboxen was one of my absolute favorites and Barbara Cooney, the illustrator, is from Maine. Amazing Grace seems like an awesome book, and while I don’t remember reading it, I’m sure I was exposed to it at some point. Plus it was Reading Rainbow endorsed. Double trouble! And what wedding would be complete without a little Cinderella action? Not this one! I tossed it in. And all of them cost $1. Total! Looove it! Books for the centerpiece? Quad check!

With my treasures assembled, I began to play. I had to make more pom flowers for the centerpiece, so I got out my tissue paper and made five. After putting them in the blue vase and putting the coloring supplies in the jars, I came up with the formation:

View from the top – Don’t the markers and book covers give the arrangement some color?

The container on the side with the clear sticks is filled with glow sticks. I plan on decorating all of the containers with ribbons and signs.

The stems of the tissue flowers will be wrapped in green floral tape so they look a little more realistic and won’t be sharp if anyone takes them out to play with them.

The coloring books will be waiting above the place setting for each child, as well as a container of bubbles with each child’s name on it (no matter how old they are!).

What do you think? Are you having a kids’ table?

We're Back!

It's been two years since the girls and I have been involved in any wedding planning, but we're back!  A cousin is getting married in August and we are honored to host a shower for her.  Yes, after two weddings of our own, we can honestly say 'honored' because we know from personal experience how much it means to be a part of something this big in her life. 

So, where do you start when planning a shower?  The first and most important thing to do is to be sure to open all lines of communication.  We appointed one of us to be the contact to the bride so we didn't confuse each other.  Our point person is the one with whom the bride is probably the most comfortable.  She found out what type of shower the bride would prefer, where it should be held since we had several different cities involved, and approximately how many people would be invited. 

From there, one of us was assigned the invitations and another the venue.  Thanks to technology, we virtually shopped for invitations together because she sent us pictures of the best three she found in our favorite shoppe.  Luckily, we all agreed on the same one.  She took on the task of printing them for us, a cost cutting measure, and they are in the mail today!

I have the venue assignment, and that was a pretty simple one since we are hosting it in my hometown.  I reserved a wonderful restaurant venue as soon as we saw our guest list and before the May dates got taken.  It will be the perfect spot!

Now we are working on the menu, decor, and gift with under a month to go.  I think we are in good shape and we are having a blast planning together again. 

Help us out if you have any great websites, ideas, or menu suggestions.  We would love to hear the things you have seen at showers that stood out to you.  The "do's" and the "don'ts"! 

Cheers!
~Judy