rachel's bridal shower

Rachel's shower was such a delight! So many of her friends and family traveled all over the country just to see her. The rest of the bridesmaids and I worked on planning her a shower all through e-mail! I don' t know how it all came together but it turned out so nice. We were all so thrilled to be there...and I am pretty sure that Rachel had a good time.

Above is a picture of Rachel (holding the flowers) and all her her lovely ladies.



We did and made everything for the party ourselves. Rachel and I worked on making the flower arrangement, though Rachel took it up a notch with the long leaves.




I made little favor bags full of homemade trail mix.



Ali created this gorgeous fruit tray....I do believe that she may have found her new calling with this. We asked her to "cut up the fruit and throw it on the tray." And this is what she came up with! Fab-U-lous!



Rachel's future Mother-in-law is a cakestress. She made this beautiful cake with our sunflower theme in mind. Not only was it so pretty, but it might have been one of the best cakes that I have ever tasted. We only had a measly 4 pieces left to take home!

Overall, it was such a nice day and everyone had such a good time!

cookies & cocktails

(the hostestess with the mostestess!)

First and foremost, thank you to everyone that came to the cookies & cocktails party! I had a blast and I hope that everyone who attended did too!

I really really really really wanted to throw a holiday party this year. I discussed the potential of a party with my bestest friend, Erika. The party was a go. We had some girly cocktails (and a mommy mocktail for the lovely Lisa) and lots (!!!) of cookies! We asked that all of the ladies that were invited to bring a cookie to share with the group. At the time, a cookie tasting party sounded a whole lot more fun than a cookie swap. But after appetizers and about 10 cookies later we sort of regretted that decision. But even with bellies about to burst, I think we all had a good time!



I made pretty little banners that hung around the room.



This was the voting station. Cookies were voted on the tastiest, most creative and cutest. Each winner was given a little prize to take home. The tastiest cookie went to Lisa who made a delicious sugar cookie with a lemon glaze! Yum yum! The most creative cookie went to Peyton who made a no-bake cookie full of coconut, oatmeal, peanut butter, and, of course, chocolate! The most creative cookie went to (a lady that I actually never formally met, what a super bad hostess I was!!!!). She made some sort of cinnamon ginger cookie with a blackberry jam filling. The best part about her cookie is that she had NEVER baked before. She said that she found the recipe on facebook and just brought it so that she didn't come empty handed! What a sweet heart! All of the cookies were absolutely amazing!



The cocktails table became a disaster area about 15 minutes before any ladies arrived. Erika nor myself had ever made a martini before. We made up a recipe that included Absolute Vodka, a pomegranate martini mixer, a splash of pineapple juice and ginger ale. We added the ginger ale after we shook the other ingredients of the martini. I made one for myself and it was the best drink I had ever made. Erika said "ooh make me one too!" and so I did. I poured all of the ingredients into the martini shaker, closed the lid, and shook. As I was shaking, the shaker exploded (and I didn't put in the ginger ale yet!). Juice went flying all over the table, my arms and dress, and all over the rug that Erika's roommate had JUST put on the floor, seconds before the disaster. Everything was going sooooooooo perfectly all day. And then I ruined it. We quickly cleaned up the mess, threw the rug in the wash and went on with the party. My arms and hands were sticky for the rest of the night! Way to go, Emily!

Okay, so maybe there was another little disaster...I made beer bread earlier that day. When I started to cut it the interior of the loaf was completely not cooked! The only thing I could do was to throw it back in the oven and make beer bread toast. I thought it was going to be awful, but no one noticed...or if they did, they were polite enough not to say a word!

Erika made some marshmellow cloud brownies...too good!

This was the food table before all of the cookies arrived.

And this is just some cute holiday decor!