Thursday, July 22, 2010

thirteen on thursday.

Time for an update via bullet points and iphone photos. Not the most inventive, but here ya go!
  • I had to go get a background check this week for some applications. Kyle accompanied me (thank goodness because I discovered the wrong side of town) We stumbled upon the famous Bojangles. The food was good, but the sweet tea... DE-LISH!
  • It has been crazy hot here lately. I usually laugh when people here say it's hot because it is usually nothing compared to Texas heat. Well, this Texas girl is feeling a little too at home in this heat!
  • Kyle and I have discovered the local farmer's market. I plan on heading back this Saturday.
  • This cake from Bakerella is yumm-o. It is also sitting on my kitchen table right now.
  • I painted our bathroom and kitchen last week. I feel like we are in a brand new apartment!
  • While painting the bathroom, this happened to my hair...
{Yes, I paint better with a JCrew headband. And yes, there is still blue paint in my hair.}
  • My birthday is in September and I am crossing my fingers for a sewing machine and classes here. (hint hint Momma)
  • A few weekends ago we stumbled upon a dog show on tv. Tucker was mesmerized. 
  • We live within walking distance of a fabulous theater in Atlanta... imagine living three blocks away from the Hobby Center, amazing! Last week we cashed in one of Kyle's birthday presents and went to see Phantom of the Opera. (thanks Kim and Scott!!)
  • It has been such  treat to spend some solid time here in Atlanta. No airplane ride, no 12 hour car trips and no living out of suitcases. 
  • My friend Erin is moving to Atlanta!!!!! I am seeing lunches, manicures and shopping trips in our future. 
  • Jenn and Jason get married one month from yesterday. Wow.
  • On that note, I have no idea what to say in my MOH toast. Zero. Zilch. NADA. Let's all pray for a perfectly sentimental, entertaining strike of genius!
Phew... I know those random tidbits won't impress most of you, but that's what's been going on in our life (and my brain) for the last week or so. I can't wait to share pictures of my paint jobs with all of you, but for now I'm going to cuddle my puppy and watch last night's SYTYCD.


the shower guests.

I am officially the worst blogger ever. I truly thought I had posted these about a week ago but realized today that I was very, very wrong. 

So without further ado, the most special part of Jenn's bridal shower... the people!
{click on any collage to see a bigger version}

Guests arriving and putting finishing touches on the food + lighting the candles. My dad made an AMAZING smoked salmon dish that was a huge hit!

It is safe to say that the older Simar girls are loving having a new little lady in our cousin club. Sarah Jane was a perfect little lady at the shower.

cake.presents.sisters. (what more could a girl need?)

More friends, family and sweet little girls.

The greatest sister, most beautiful bride and a perfect guest of honor.

The girls! So lucky to have these ladies in my life.

Jenn and two very lucky fellas!
The whole group...

I know I said this before, but it was such a joy to plan this shower for Jennifer. The path to a wedding is filled with so much busyness and often stress, so I love that showers give the bride (and sometimes groom) a chance to relax and enjoy the company and support of loved ones. Jenn was the most supportive sister leading up to our wedding.... and, uh, every other event in my life.... so I wanted to return the favor. 

Hope you all enjoyed the recap and pictures!

ps-thanks gain Mom and Dad for all of your help with the party!!

Friday, July 9, 2010

the shower details.

It is taking me a while to make collages of the people at the shower plus filter through pictures sent to me by my aunt and cousin, so I'll break my shower recap into two parts. 

Part 1: the details!!

I had so much fun planning this shower for Jenn. I hosted a shower for her last December in DC as well. That shower was a date night shower in the evening, at a fabulous restaurant and we enjoyed delicious food and wine. I wanted everything about this shower to be completely different. As always, I found some adorable invitations at Paper Source and let those set the tone for everything. 

I made all of the favors in March which was a huge relief when the shower rolled around! It was so nice to be able to focus on finishing up decorations and the menu knowing that favors were all done. 

Okay, now for the pictures!

These pictures are all from the favor table, except for the floral arrangement which was on the sign-in table. I made stationery for the favors. I used my *amazing* embosser (mine is not that exact one, but I did purchase it at Paper Source) Each guest was given a packet of notecards along with envelopes. I was so happy with how they turned out!


I hadn't planned on making the poms until a few days before the shower. I wanted something cute behind Jenn while she opened her gifts and wanted to bring some of the shower colors into the living room. They made such an impact on the room!




After making the congratulations sign for the mantle, I had enough letters left to make a welcome banner. The framed cards were purchased from Cari Kraft on Etsy. My mom and I found the candle holders at HomeGoods. I added pink and green ribbon to the votives.


The food!! The pink lemonade is also from HomeGoods. I had no idea how they would taste but they were cute and cheap so we scooped them up! The cake turned out amazing.... more pictures to follow. We also had lemon bars and sugar cookies for dessert. Lunch included chicken salad sandwiches, macaroni salad, smoked salmon and strawberries with yummy dip. Jenn requested mimosas as well and we made the most delicious punch!


The cake was made by Edible Designs by Jessie. Jessie made our wedding cakes, Kyle's birthday party cake and is making the cakes for Jenn and Jason's wedding. I cannot say enough good things about Jessie and her beautiful work. I'm somewhat picky when it comes to what my cakes look like and Jessie always creates a cake that goes above and beyond what I am able to envision. 

We gave Jessie a copy of the invitation and asked for that floral image to be on the top. I was AMAZED at how perfectly it matched the invitation! Around the cake were words that spring to mind when someone thinks of marriage and a wedding. I just love the way it turned out and to top it off, it tasted incredible!!







Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. I'll be back with pictures of the lovely ladies that joined us on this very special day

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

back in the atl.

The Krueger fam (puppy and all!) are officially back in Atlanta. We made the looooong drive from Texas yesterday and are happy to be back! It is always bittersweet to leave but we are ready to enjoy the rest of the summer in this great town and finally stop living out of our suitcases!! The next trip home will be at the end of August so that we can watch Jennifer and Jason get married!!

I know I still have pictures to share from Jenn's bridal shower, our trip to California and the time that we spent at the Krueger's lake house. I promise that they are all coming! But for right now, I have suitcases to unpack, laundry to take care of, groceries to buy and a very rambunctious puppy to entertain :)

So happy to be back to blogging and looking forward to sharing lots of fun pictures with all of you!