Sarah's Surprise Shower

So, among my other future dream jobs of being a teacher (in the works now), wedding planner, interior designer, baker, and lottery winner (you know, so I can make all these dreams come true), I would LOVE to open a gift wrapping/paper shop.  

Blame 4-H, but ever since I entered the "Gift Wrapping" category way back in 4th grade, I've been hooked.  Not saying I'm an expert, but I love taking time to wrap a present crisply.  (Sorry to everyone who has, and will be, getting a used gift bag stuffed with used tissue paper.  Sometimes we run out of time...err, I mean, I like being green.)

A group of us midwesterners threw our friend Sarah, the one who is getting married in Colorado, a surprise bridal shower while she was out here a couple weeks ago.  

Here is how I wrapped her shower gift.  

The final product.

The gift.  Thank you Hobby Lobby for having multi-purpose Christmas paper super cheap!  Don't be afraid to use the glue gun when wrapping gifts...it makes bows stay and opening the gift all the more fun to watch! :o)

The card.  I used a plain white card and envelope.  Letter stickers were used for the words, and I cut out wrapping paper and some scrap black and white cardstock for the circles.  

I came up with a couple games to play.  Here were the prizes.  Simple white boxes tied with black ribbon (Sarah's wedding colors).  Easy and cheap.  

Inside of the boxes.  

Hopefully Sarah was surprised...it sure looks like it here.  

Here is the group sans Lauren (who was the photographer for the night).  Love, Love, LOVE these women.  

House Before pics

Hey guys!  LONG time no blog.  We've been super busy with life lately.  Time seriously does fly!  We are officially living in our new house--painting and unpacking.  We have so many hopes and dreams for our house, and hopefully, someday we will have the budget to make them come true...or we are hoping that HGTV will read this blog and come redo our house.  I LOVE HGTV!!!  (Genevieve, Holmes....HELP!)  Heres hoping! 

Here are some before pictures!  

Living room/Front door

Living room--fake brick wall, stained carpet (sneak peak of paint)

Dining room (with another sneak peak of our two paint colors!)

Kitchen view from the dining room

More kitchen 

Our cabinets are actually utility cabinets...not strong enough to hold anything heavy.  Yikes!  Good thing we found that out with our pots and pans BEFORE I put our dishes in.  So, our Tupperware and rice have very nice and spacious homes. :o)

Bathroom view from the dining room.  (Yes, our ONLY bathroom is off the dining room.  Appetizing! :o)

 Some more bathroom.  What you can't tell from the pictures...the walls are covered in panels of a cardboard type wallpaper.  I think it is called wall board?  Anyway, we have the same thing in the kitchen, bathroom, and going upstairs.  Lots of dry-walling in our future.  

FIESTA!

Who says rehearsal dinners can't be just as cute as the wedding?  I saw this rehearsal dinner over at Style Me Pretty, and I had to share.  This could totally BE the wedding (wish I could see how they decorated THAT!).   This is a totally doable and cheap party theme for any occasion.  Fill cans and glass bottles with flowers, make the hanging flowers out of tissue paper (maybe I'll put a how-to on here???), and use thrift store finds for the birdcages or something else colorful for the centerpieces. Spray paint can make a world of difference.  I bet this dinner was a blast!

Bench for the guests

How stinkin' cute is this wedding? Look at the lower right hand corner...different types of benches for the ceremony?!?! I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! Thanks to Abbey over at Style Me Pretty for yet another gorgeous wedding. Check out her blog for more!

Introducing...

Our house

(Will be) a very, very, very fine house

With two (stray) cats in the yard

Life used to be so hard (?)

Now everything is easy (er, busier, more complicated) because of you....lalalalala

Our New House

I cannot wait to put up some before and after pics!  I am such an indecisive person, and choosing paint colors has been so hard for me...as in, I can't sleep at night thinking about the different options.  Don't even get me started on what we should do with our floors... :o)

Dan and I are excited and grateful that we found such a great deal on this house!  Our mortgage is significantly less than the rent we have been paying (who knew this could be??).  Thanks already to everyone who has been SOO generous and excited as we begin this new adventure. We are truly blessed! 

P.S. This is a picture of what we came home to on our first day as homeowners.  Thanks Marv LaRue! :o)

Pink and Orange Wedding

A blog I read daily (well, it used to be daily until we said "bye bye" to our internet), Hostess with the Mostess , always has such good ideas for wedding and party planning. I love this pink and orange wedding because it reminds me of SPRING!

I love candy tables! They are so cute, easy, and cheap to do! Plus they add some fun to a wedding.

Love this idea! Too bad we live in a place where you have to be extremely brave to have an outdoor wedding!

Love the bridesmaid dresses. They look so comfy. Gorgeous flowers too!

Love this sweetheart table! Also, sidenote, we totally have those chairs around our dining room

table. It's like a wedding for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! :o)

Happy Spring!!!

Got Sandwich, Need Soup

Last summer I visited my friend, Rachel in Indy.  We went for lunch at a cute deli (because I LOVE sandwiches and of course was craving one) in Broad Ripple, and I had one of the best concoctions ever!  Here are some pictures of my finished product.  Read on below for the ingredients.

I wrapped the sandwiches in wax paper, then white paper (mine happened to be a roll of gift wrap I needed to finish off), and tied it with twine.

Easy, easy, easy!

Whole wheat bagel, toasted  (you could use bread too!)

Ham or turkey

Sprouts

Avocado

Cream cheese

Honey Dijon

That's all!  Yummy and lots of good for you fillings, too!