thug life

this is probably my favorite photo from my shower.

no family resemblance at all, huh?

tales of tininess

remember the shake & bake commercials with the little southern girl who says,

"it's shake & bake, and i helped!"

when levi was little, he thought she said,

"it's shake & bake, and i hate 'em."

this seriously cracks me up.

i only have a minute, so i choose to talk about food. naturally.

one night this week, i made cider-glazed chicken with browned-butter pecan rice.

it was really yummy (and very easy), so i thought i would recommend it to you guys!

you can find the recipe here. one note - my "glaze" turned out more like a sauce than a glaze. it was still great, but don't be disappointed if yours does the same thing.

bon appetit!

p.s. this was the first time i wore the apron my mom's friend made for me. you can see it towards the end of this post. soooo cute! i think she should sell them.

p.p.s. have a great weekend! we both came down fevers & colds yesterday morning, so we're hoping for a quick recovery. there's too much to do (especially with only 65 days 'til the wedding) to be sick!!

bridal shower part II: presents, poses, etc.

(this concludes my wedding extravaganza for today. see pt. I here, invitations here, & details on my shower outfit here.)

part two of my coffee shop themed bridal shower.

opening presents at your bridal shower must be some sort of rite of passage.

i felt so self-conscious after having all eyes on me for so long.

it didn't help that my mom told me to hurry up towards the beginning!! haha!

everyone showered me with such lovely, generous gifts. i felt so perfectly spoiled.

judging the toilet paper bridal gown competition was fun!

the winning team received gift cards to peet's & starbuck's inside a baggie with coffee beans. i love how the theme was woven into everything throughout the party.

my mom's friend, kimberley, made me this adorable apron. it's reversible! how cute, right?? i love it. i used it last night & felt so cute as i cooked dinner.

i love this picture of me & my mom. i was so over smiling for photos by this point!

and finally, a family portrait on the staircase.

(p.s. my shower was at my mom's friend's house. it's amazing. they have a kitchen island the size of my living room & a front entrance the size of my bedroom.)

bridal shower part I: décor & food

if you haven't already, check out our wedding invitations from my post earlier this morning.

part one of my coffee shop themed bridal shower.

i have a lot photos to share from my bridal shower, so i'm dividing this into two posts. the second will post later today.

my bridal shower was a joint effort of some of my bridesmaids (ivy, chrystal, & kathleen), my mom, & a family friend (janet). my bridesmaid, lauren, also flew down the day of just to attend my shower! and my bridesmaid, candace, helped as well. i felt so special & loved by everyone who helped & attended. it was perfect.

i had lovely food at my shower including macarons (these were a surprise - they're expensive, so i really wasn't expecting them at all), banana chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate marshmallow frosting (from a family friend), tomato basil quiche, a parmesan pancetta quiche, & several other yummy, snacky things.

i'm not gonna lie - the majority of that tower was consumed by me. i've never had the luxury of being able to eat so many paulette macarons in one sitting!

my beautiful mom & sister-in-law, chrystal

my sister, ivy, made almost all of the décor by hand incorporating coffee bags, newspaper, & kraft paper to stick to the theme.

chrystal thought it would be fun to have a candy bar for the guests.

ivy made these darling little treat bags by hand & drew the little j&l on each one with our wedding date!

ivy placed these little frames all around the room with little tidbits about me & levi in each one. i had a lot of fun finding them & reading them.

guests shared their advice & wisdom in this sweet little book that ivy made for me.

the notecards are in the shape of coffee cups!

they also made a slideshow of photos of me & levi over the years that played while guests chatted & ate.

the funniest part of the day was that no one drank any coffee! there was a coffee display with all kinds of pretty coffee cups in the corner that we all forgot about! haha!