Thursday, January 31, 2013

Pink & Gray baby shower!

This last Saturday I had the pleasure and special opportunity to celebrate the first niece on our Willis side of our family!  Although baby Abigail wasn't supposed to be her more than another month, she is healthy overall, and we decided we still needed to give her and her mama a party! 
The theme came from the colors my sister-in-law wanted to do for baby Abigails room, pink and gray!  I had a lot of fun tying in all the girly elements and being able to make items that can double as decorations in Abigail's room.
 
every great party has to start with an invite that matches the theme!
 
tabletop decor can double as baby room decor
vintage plates and cups that my mother-in-law found added a extra girly touch
my favorite decoration was the pink & gray banner behind the food table
My mother-in-law made the adorable cake!
Tissue paper poofs added some more pops of color and decor.  Since baby Abigail didn't get to be at the shower, we got to see lots of pictures of her. 

The pink and white mini take-out boxes I found made great party favors

Me with Natalie (Abigail's mama) 
 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Hello Nurse!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating the graduation of my sister-in-law, Carrie, from nursing school!  We are so proud of her and the hard work that she put in, so my mom put together a party for her (along with some help from me and other awesome family members).



The invites my mom had made for the party were super cute and tied in perfectly with the red and white nurse theme.


Everything on the table was cute and delicious! (Red Cross style cookies made by me)


My sister-in-law's sister made this adordable cake for the celebration.  It was a shame to cut into this amazingly decorated cake, but it was so tastey!


This picture isn't the best, but I made a banner for the party that said "hello nurse".  The cartoon Animaniacs that I grew up watching prompted use of this phrase for the party.

 
My mom, my sister-in-law Carrie and me. Congrats Nurse Carrie!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Bakin' bread

This last Saturday afternoon I set out for a five mile run through one of my favorite neighborhoods, but shortly into I had the thought of cutting it short and slacking off on my running for the day.  Just as soon as I thought of shortening my run, I remembered the three loafs of dutch crunch bread at home proofing and getting ready to be baked for dinner.  That was my motivation to go the full five miles, so I could indulge in my weakness, FRESH.  BAKED. BREAD. 
This was my first time trying out the recipe from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook I got for Christmas and I was hoping I could make it even half as good as they do at Bouchon's. 


I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  While, it was nearly as perfect as Bouchon's, I was glad that the overall taste and texture was delicious and admirable for a first go.  Clint and I devoured the first loaf and a half with no problem, but we did manage to save one loaf so he could have a deli-style sandwich on the homemade bread the next day.


There's no question, I will be making this recipe over and over again when I need bread fix!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Making new years goals

While I'm not one for making "resolutions", I am all for making goals and have been for as long as I can remember.  With making goals for a new year, I'm a big believer in writing them down and putting them in a place I can see them as a reminder of the things I want to work for through the year. 
For the personal goals I've set this year along with our family goals, I decided to not just print them out and tape them up somewhere, I determined I'd frame them to be a cute way to display them.  




My personal goals sit on my nightstand where I can see the each day.  Hopefully this will be a great reminder and encouragement throughout the year!


Our family goals for the year are now also framed and placed on our dresser so we can see them often and reflect on how we're doing.  
So...how do you help yourself make and keep new years goals?  

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New year, new things, and old nostalgia

Well Happy New Year!  Crazy that we've past the major holidays and that we've made it to 2013!  Time to start the resolutions {or rather goals as I like to call them} and move forward with new energy! 
I'm hoping in 2013 to bring fun and fabulous things to you on my blog and I'm excited to do some new things as well. 
But first, let me share with you the splendid Christmas gifts I got.  I was a lucky girl on Christmas morning!  {one of the new things I'm doing this year is part of one of my gifts I got for Chrstimas}  I would have posted this earlier but I got that dang cold that was going around.
 
 
1.  Comfort candle in cashmere scent--so yummy and luxorious smelling
2.  Gift cards to a few of my favorite places--Yogurt Delite, Joann craft store and Ulta cosemetics 
3.  Nexus smart phone!--I have now officially entered the technological world and I LOVE this phone!
4.  Bouchon Bakery cookbook--This has the recipes and the how tos for Bouchon Bakery's dreamy baked goodies and heavenly breads 
 
So with gift #3 {smarty phone} Idecided to sign up on Instagram!  Well, I must admit I had a little bit of an extra push when I answered this "quiz" that Clint sent to my email with the response "I'm nostalgic for an era before I was born."  Of course when I selected this answer I was taken to Instagram's website.  Can you say "hello sign?!" 
Nostalgic is the perfect word! I'm pretty sure at least once a week Clint tells me how nostalgic I am.  {I'm thinking that might just be a nice way of telling me I'm like an old lady!} 
So with that I am now nostalgicyellow on Instagram. 
 
 
Feel free to follow along, I hope to be doing fun new things with Instagram in 2013