Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Two

Two more days until I see Greg again... Today I need to make the starters for this bread, batches of granola and raw-nola, and a small grocery list to accomplish so that we can picnic in our hotel room.

Right now, I'm enjoying my current favorite salad (romain hearts, goat cheese, spiced dehydrated pecans, avocado) and taking a breather while my children wind down for naps and afternoon quiet-time.  Two days......

Salad of Romain hearts with goat cheese, spiced pecans and avocado

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The three-day countdown....


It's been seven weeks since I saw Greg last.  In three days he will come home for the weekend, and we will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary on a little get-away in Austin. Our children will be farmed out to friends for two days, so it will be just us.  I'm trying desperately NOT to count down the hours, because the days are dragging as it is...but this makes me feel overwhelmed, uncreative, unable to manage a proper schedule.  I just want him to be here already.  It's funny how I can go for weeks...even months, functioning perfectly fine, managing our household and our lives, but then when the clock is ticking down the last few days to the next time I see him, I can't seem to think about anything else.  It's hard to fall asleep at night, yet all that I want to do is sleep until he gets here.  I'm a mess.  Unsurprisingly, I have no fun little pictures of our everyday lives at the moment...but I did find this great set of un-blogged photos from this past spring.

My friends Jenny, Lisa and I threw a bridal shower for our fun and quirky friend Pixie.  We went with a mad-hatter theme, complete with a silly photobooth, and it was so much fun that I intend to steal this idea for a future birthday party (for myself, of course.  Obviously.)

The prop collection is a set that I made for a friend's birthday party last year.  They are made out of printed illustrations (from here) glued with spray-adhesive to foam core, using skinny wooden dowels for handles.

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower
Jenny, Lisa, me, Pixie

Pixie's bridal shower
With my lovely friends Angela and Alicia

Pixie's bridal shower

Pixie's bridal shower
In pictures with Jenny, I am always on her right.  No need to break with tradition now.  Oh, and yes, I made both of those top-hat fascinators.  Details here.

Pixie's bridal shower
From sweet...

Pixie's bridal shower
To very....

Pixie's bridal shower
VERY...

Pixie's bridal shower
Strange, in the blink of an eye.  I LOVE my crazy friends!

All photos in this set (including more decor detail) can be found in the Flickr set here.

Whew, well at least that distracted me from the Greg Countdown.  For at least 10 minutes.  AGGHH!!!

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Wedding Week


One week ago, I flew to New York BY MYSELF for my sister Hannah's wedding.  In the past, Greg and I have gone away for a night or two at a time, leaving our children with relatives, but since having children, I've only had one trip completely alone.  I fly back to Texas tomorrow, and it has been a nice break from the emotional work of raising children, but I have to say -- I miss them SO MUCH!!!

This trip has been very labor-intensive -- our family decided that, as our wedding gift to my sister and her new husband, we would coordinate and cater the entire event.  Since I landed last week, my parent's kitchen has been in full gear, making spinach pie, vodka sauce, boiling pasta, prepping chicken, making salsa, etc.  My sister also made her own cake.  Yes.  Yes she did.

All of this was just as crazy as it sounded, but the upside was that we had a lot of serious family bonding time as we worked together, and the food at the wedding was fantastic.  I've also never really gotten a chance to hang out with my littlest brothers, because I've always had my children around to take care of.  It's been a great visit, overall.

Here's a little bit of a photo journey through the past week...

I adore my little sisters!!
Running errands with Grace and Joy

Fireworks 2012
Setting off fireworks in my parents' backyard

Independence Day 2012
Grace entertaining with sparklers

Independence Day 2012

Independence Day 2012

Food prep for Hannah's wedding
Jonathan, Caleb and Christopher processing 200 lbs of chicken 

Food prep for Hannah's wedding

Food prep for Hannah's wedding
Hannah, sitting us all down to plan out the last two days of prep before the wedding (all of my siblings in one room!!)

Wedding rehersal
Joy practicing a song at the rehearsal

Wedding rehersal

Wedding rehersal
Rehearsal

Wedding rehersal

Hannah's rehersal dinner
With Chistopher and Caleb at the rehearsal dinner

Hannah's rehersal dinner

Joel, tux re-style
Joel, re-styling his tux

Joel, tux re-style

Transporting Hannah's wedding cake to the Bed & Breakfast
One of the most terrifying moments -- transporting the cake tiers from my parents house to the Bed & Breakfast

Hannah assembling and decorating her wedding cake
Hannah, assembling and decorating her own cake, with the help of Hailey, Aunt Terry and Aunt Mary Ann.

Hannah assembling and decorating her wedding cake

Hannah assembling and decorating her wedding cake

The alien sky...a storm blowing in as we were setting up the reception
The angry sky, which quickly turned into quite a rainfall...

Setting up for Hannah's wedding reception
Setting up the reception area under the tent while the rain poured down

Hannah's wedding

Hannah's wedding

Hannah's wedding

Hannah's wedding
Hannah with her son Isaiah, her new step-daughter Little Hannah, and Rachel

Hannah's wedding

Hannah's wedding
Rachel, Joy and Grace

Hannah's wedding
Waiting to walk...

By the time everyone was seated outside and we were ready to walk down the aisle, the rain had stopped, and the sky was perfectly overcast.  Not too hot, no bugs flying into our hair -- perfect.

Hannah's wedding
Photo courtesy of Liz

Hannah's wedding
Photo courtesy of Liz

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