Today is my Mama's 65th birthday!! I can't thank her enough for all of the things she has done, does, and is going to do as my mom. I can't imagine going through life without her guidance, rejoicing in my joys, crying on her shoulder, and always allowing me to go home- not matter what. She has taught me to be strong as a woman...but not so strong as to never need my mama. My Dad may have my heart but my Mom is my rock.
Thanks, Mom, for always being there for me, for loving me passionately, for allowing me to make my own mistakes- even though you told me so, for living out our Faith, for giving me roots...but most of all, thank you for giving me wings.
I love my Mom as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Terri Guillemets
I love you so much! Happy Birthday!
Brooke
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
A Thankful Saturday Night
Today I'm thankful for:
- My Tigahs! They did it again in typical Tiger style!
- Yard Sales. Nothing like selling your own stuff to buy more stuff. :) Canton, TX here I come!
- My sister Stacie, my niece Aubrey, my BF Brittany, and my SIL Erin for a hilarious day of yard sale action. :)
- Girl Time, all ladies need some quality girl time from time to time.
- Harry Potter 7, loved it!
- Jessica Simpson jokes: "She's not even trying to pretend to be a singer or actor anymore...her only skills are dating and eating." Gotta love some Chelsea Lately. :) Eating really is a skill though. Ha!
- There only being 2 more days before I'll be holding our little boy!!!
- Aaron Neville's Christmas album
Friday, November 19, 2010
Art Wine Design
Last night was the 2nd annual Art Wine Design at Southdowns Village. Our architect friend, Rick Brown, invited us last year. Rick works out of The Front Door which is owned by Dwayne Carruth, in Southdowns Village. Drew and I had a blast last year so we decided to do it all again this year.
This year Dwayne has opened a modern furniture store just across from The Front Door and last night was Monochrome's grand-opening also. I didn't think furniture could be inspiring, but after last night I stand corrected! Dwayne has some amazing pieces! Monochrome also features works by another friend of ours Rick introduced us to, Dave Cano. Dave is a metalsmith, Drew and Rick went to his shop to build the island for our kitchen and the vanity for our bathroom. Dave and Rick's Modern Swing, is definitely on my Christmas list this year! ;)
This was one of the pieces I fell in love with, the indoor fire pit!
Sigh....
This is the other piece that was screaming "Take me home!"
I love a white couch.
Probably because they are completely impractical so I want them, of course.
Look familiar?
Looks a lot like Chihuly.
This was Drew's favorite...he's been looking at chaise lounges for months but can't make up his mind, he may have last night.
I think Santa could fit this on his sleigh don't you? ;)
Like I said inspiring! We were definitely surrounded by some very brilliant and very talented people who's designs are right up our alley. Dwayne, Rick, and Dave are hard to keep up with when they are all in the same room together. They bounce around new ideas like bouncy balls!
Thanks for another fun night fellas!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Today I am most thankful for...
- Dishwashers
- Christmas Music...that's already playing on the radio. :)
- The way my husband looks at me...with a look like he'll never let me go.
- The nerdy things we have in common.
- Vines sausage
- Mr. Jim Jenkins' homemade cane syrup
Saturday was just another day...
To never forget!!
Our wedding celebration was amazing, our caterer estimated we had around 150 people at once at our house. We had so many loving people who wanted to give us their well wishes and congratulations...I was truly moved. We are so fortunate to have so many people in our lives who love and care about us and our happiness!
Get Ready!
My Mom arrived in town the Sunday before our party so she was here all week helping us get ready and visiting family and friends. One of her best friends from Oklahoma, Mrs. Christie, arrived on Wed. to help out also. The week of our party my Mom revamped my flower beds with pansies, snapdragons, and fresh mulch. On Wed night, under the direction of Mrs. Christie we made 300 mint-chocolate fleur-de-lis and boxed them up for each of our guests. On Thursday our tent, tables, and chairs arrived from Cajun-a-la-Cart. BIG shout out to Doug for the great deal he gave us on our rentals! It's not cheap to rent a 30x60 tent, but we wanted to share our home with all of the people we love and it was so worth the cost. Friday I spent the day cleaning house, Mom and Mrs. Christie picked up my fresh flower arrangements from Pretty 'n Pink, Mr. Burris, from Burris Nursery & Greenhouses, delivered the greenery we rented...that's right you can rent greenery! I had palm trees and Boston ferns everywhere, they were beautiful! Drew and Travis planted three Bradford Pear trees and my Little Gem Magnolia and then started setting up the "cocktail corner." Around noon on Friday my Dad, my sister Paula, and my niece Emily arrived from Oklahoma also. So we had a house full of guests, it was so much fun and everyone was ready to lend a helping hand wherever we needed it.
Get Set!
Every Saturday Drew and I wake up early and cook breakfast together. I make homemade biscuits and he frys the eggs and bacon. Even though we knew we were going to be super busy we didn't want to skip out on our Saturday morning ritual. :) Around 9:00am all four of my sisters showed up with donuts and chocolate milk ready to get everything set up and ready to go and shortly after them my BF Brittany. They are the best! The tent and the yard were so dewy from the slow moving cool front we had coming in we had to wait for the sun to burn off the dew so our tablecloths didn't get wet, so we didn't get started until about 10:30 decorating tables. Drew's buddy Briggs came and set up DJ equipment for music and we borrowed Keith and Julie's tiki bar for our cocktail corner. By 3:00 we had everything ready to go and it looked spectacular! The caterer, John Farrow with Four Seasons Catering, showed up around 4pm and started setting up the food tables. Everything looked and smelled wonderful!
Speaking of sunshine, this was definitely an answered pray. At the beginning of the week the weather forecast showed 40% chance of rain on the day of our party, which might as well be 110% in Louisiana! So we all started praying...by Thursday it was down to 10%...and then by Saturday we didn't have a single drop of rain!! Thank you Jesus! :)
The Minor Set Back
I looked at my phone around 3:15 and realized that my cake had not arrived yet. We had a lot of people calling for directions to our house because the second filing of our neighborhood does not show up on most GPS's. So I called Fairy Dust to make sure they weren't lost. After my brief "Hey where's my cake?" intro was followed by a long awkward silence...I knew something was up and I started having my 6 seconds of denial moment. Then when, "You're party isn't until the 13th," came out of her mouth, I realized there would be no cake. All I could say was, "Today is the 13th. Mom, today is the 13th right? Yes, today is definitely the 13th. I won't be recommending you to anyone." Click. Given my usual temper, everyone who was staring at me was pretty impressed with my composure. Mrs. Christie makes amazing custom cakes and she had this mortified look on her face. My cousin, Sabra who flew in from Birmingham with my Aunt Bet, jumped up off the couch and said, "Well someone tell me where to go to get a cake!" I called Baum's in Baton Rouge to see if they had anything already made and thankfully they did. The girl I spoke with was more upset than I was about my predicament. Their cakes are delicious, so I wasn't too concerned with what they looked like. So off to Baum's my Aunt Bet and Sabra went. I then called Erin and told her my series of unfortunate events...we do this a lot. When my phone rings and it's Erin I have to hold my breathe because I have no idea what crazy story she's about to tell me! She said her mini-dessert recipes had made plenty and that I must truly be a Day now because if it wasn't for bad luck a Day wouldn't have any luck at all. :) (I think the only exception to this is Drew...I think he broke the curse because sometimes I think he's one lucky duck. I mean I did marry him right?! Ha!) Needless to say the dessert table had plenty of desserts: Erin made German chocolate cake ball suckers, mini-pumpkin pies, and pecan-chocolate chip cookies. My sister Susan made homemade bread pudding with rum sauce. And from Baum's we had three cakes- a Black & White, their famous Chocolate Enchantment, and a lemon Dobasch. Everything was absolutely delicious and the crisis was diverted. No sense crying over unmade cake! :)
Go!
Around 5:15 our families started showing up and by 5:30 the place was packed! It's all pretty much a blur after that. With so many people we haven't seen in a while and everyone wanting a tour of our home it was hard to keep up. Drew and I finally made time to sit down and eat. Wow! The food was phenomenal. We had smoked brisket with tater 'tinis. Tater 'tinis are a play on a potato bar. It's mashed potatoes served in a martini glass, then John had all of the fixings you add yourself: bacon, cheese, caramelized onions, chives, sour cream, stewed mushrooms. They were a big hit! We also had a sausage bar with bratwurst, Italian sausage, pork sausage, and boudin with all fixings if you wanted a Po'boy. For veggies we had grilled mushrooms, asparagus, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes with hummus to dip them in. And finally we had Jamaican seasoned shrimp skewers. Like I said delicious!
Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. We received so many compliments on our home. Drew and I had multiple husbands tell us their wives wanted new homes after touring ours. Most of the women love that the laundry room is in the center of the house and has a door directly into the master closet. And most of the men love the man-cave. But everyone loved the unique design and details that make it OUR home. It's so us! I'm pretty sure a lot of people went home and googled Ikea. :)
Around 1am things started winding down and only our closest friends were left, I walked inside and flopped down on the couch. That's when I saw the gift table. It was unreal! It looked like six years of Christmas presents were piled up on our dining table. I sat there in shock and awe. Drew and I are so fortunate already...but now I can look at items all over our home and say so-and-so gave us this and that makes those items so much more special and brings a smile to my face! Thank you just ISN'T enough!
We had a fabulous time and our party was a tremendous success. Drew and I are SO thankful for everyone who came out to celebrate the beginning of our Happy Ending.
Let the Thank You note writing begin!! :)
*My boss does some photography on the side so he brought his camera equipment and took candid pictures, I'll post those once he finishes editing. Thanks Boss Man!
Our wedding celebration was amazing, our caterer estimated we had around 150 people at once at our house. We had so many loving people who wanted to give us their well wishes and congratulations...I was truly moved. We are so fortunate to have so many people in our lives who love and care about us and our happiness!
Get Ready!
My Mom arrived in town the Sunday before our party so she was here all week helping us get ready and visiting family and friends. One of her best friends from Oklahoma, Mrs. Christie, arrived on Wed. to help out also. The week of our party my Mom revamped my flower beds with pansies, snapdragons, and fresh mulch. On Wed night, under the direction of Mrs. Christie we made 300 mint-chocolate fleur-de-lis and boxed them up for each of our guests. On Thursday our tent, tables, and chairs arrived from Cajun-a-la-Cart. BIG shout out to Doug for the great deal he gave us on our rentals! It's not cheap to rent a 30x60 tent, but we wanted to share our home with all of the people we love and it was so worth the cost. Friday I spent the day cleaning house, Mom and Mrs. Christie picked up my fresh flower arrangements from Pretty 'n Pink, Mr. Burris, from Burris Nursery & Greenhouses, delivered the greenery we rented...that's right you can rent greenery! I had palm trees and Boston ferns everywhere, they were beautiful! Drew and Travis planted three Bradford Pear trees and my Little Gem Magnolia and then started setting up the "cocktail corner." Around noon on Friday my Dad, my sister Paula, and my niece Emily arrived from Oklahoma also. So we had a house full of guests, it was so much fun and everyone was ready to lend a helping hand wherever we needed it.
Our flower beds are looking good! Thanks Mom!
Mom, using Andrew's head light to thread our crystals.
I eventually took over this job.
Mrs. Christie going to town making chocolates.
Get Set!
Every Saturday Drew and I wake up early and cook breakfast together. I make homemade biscuits and he frys the eggs and bacon. Even though we knew we were going to be super busy we didn't want to skip out on our Saturday morning ritual. :) Around 9:00am all four of my sisters showed up with donuts and chocolate milk ready to get everything set up and ready to go and shortly after them my BF Brittany. They are the best! The tent and the yard were so dewy from the slow moving cool front we had coming in we had to wait for the sun to burn off the dew so our tablecloths didn't get wet, so we didn't get started until about 10:30 decorating tables. Drew's buddy Briggs came and set up DJ equipment for music and we borrowed Keith and Julie's tiki bar for our cocktail corner. By 3:00 we had everything ready to go and it looked spectacular! The caterer, John Farrow with Four Seasons Catering, showed up around 4pm and started setting up the food tables. Everything looked and smelled wonderful!
Speaking of sunshine, this was definitely an answered pray. At the beginning of the week the weather forecast showed 40% chance of rain on the day of our party, which might as well be 110% in Louisiana! So we all started praying...by Thursday it was down to 10%...and then by Saturday we didn't have a single drop of rain!! Thank you Jesus! :)
Everyone putting together martini glasses for our Tater-Tinis!
Brit working on a center piece.
The fresh flower center pieces from Pretty 'n Pink.
Our dessert table set-up.
The cocktail corner. :)
The Minor Set Back
I looked at my phone around 3:15 and realized that my cake had not arrived yet. We had a lot of people calling for directions to our house because the second filing of our neighborhood does not show up on most GPS's. So I called Fairy Dust to make sure they weren't lost. After my brief "Hey where's my cake?" intro was followed by a long awkward silence...I knew something was up and I started having my 6 seconds of denial moment. Then when, "You're party isn't until the 13th," came out of her mouth, I realized there would be no cake. All I could say was, "Today is the 13th. Mom, today is the 13th right? Yes, today is definitely the 13th. I won't be recommending you to anyone." Click. Given my usual temper, everyone who was staring at me was pretty impressed with my composure. Mrs. Christie makes amazing custom cakes and she had this mortified look on her face. My cousin, Sabra who flew in from Birmingham with my Aunt Bet, jumped up off the couch and said, "Well someone tell me where to go to get a cake!" I called Baum's in Baton Rouge to see if they had anything already made and thankfully they did. The girl I spoke with was more upset than I was about my predicament. Their cakes are delicious, so I wasn't too concerned with what they looked like. So off to Baum's my Aunt Bet and Sabra went. I then called Erin and told her my series of unfortunate events...we do this a lot. When my phone rings and it's Erin I have to hold my breathe because I have no idea what crazy story she's about to tell me! She said her mini-dessert recipes had made plenty and that I must truly be a Day now because if it wasn't for bad luck a Day wouldn't have any luck at all. :) (I think the only exception to this is Drew...I think he broke the curse because sometimes I think he's one lucky duck. I mean I did marry him right?! Ha!) Needless to say the dessert table had plenty of desserts: Erin made German chocolate cake ball suckers, mini-pumpkin pies, and pecan-chocolate chip cookies. My sister Susan made homemade bread pudding with rum sauce. And from Baum's we had three cakes- a Black & White, their famous Chocolate Enchantment, and a lemon Dobasch. Everything was absolutely delicious and the crisis was diverted. No sense crying over unmade cake! :)
Go!
Around 5:15 our families started showing up and by 5:30 the place was packed! It's all pretty much a blur after that. With so many people we haven't seen in a while and everyone wanting a tour of our home it was hard to keep up. Drew and I finally made time to sit down and eat. Wow! The food was phenomenal. We had smoked brisket with tater 'tinis. Tater 'tinis are a play on a potato bar. It's mashed potatoes served in a martini glass, then John had all of the fixings you add yourself: bacon, cheese, caramelized onions, chives, sour cream, stewed mushrooms. They were a big hit! We also had a sausage bar with bratwurst, Italian sausage, pork sausage, and boudin with all fixings if you wanted a Po'boy. For veggies we had grilled mushrooms, asparagus, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes with hummus to dip them in. And finally we had Jamaican seasoned shrimp skewers. Like I said delicious!
Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. We received so many compliments on our home. Drew and I had multiple husbands tell us their wives wanted new homes after touring ours. Most of the women love that the laundry room is in the center of the house and has a door directly into the master closet. And most of the men love the man-cave. But everyone loved the unique design and details that make it OUR home. It's so us! I'm pretty sure a lot of people went home and googled Ikea. :)
Around 1am things started winding down and only our closest friends were left, I walked inside and flopped down on the couch. That's when I saw the gift table. It was unreal! It looked like six years of Christmas presents were piled up on our dining table. I sat there in shock and awe. Drew and I are so fortunate already...but now I can look at items all over our home and say so-and-so gave us this and that makes those items so much more special and brings a smile to my face! Thank you just ISN'T enough!
We had a fabulous time and our party was a tremendous success. Drew and I are SO thankful for everyone who came out to celebrate the beginning of our Happy Ending.
Let the Thank You note writing begin!! :)
*My boss does some photography on the side so he brought his camera equipment and took candid pictures, I'll post those once he finishes editing. Thanks Boss Man!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Happy Birthday Andrew!
Today I am most thankful for:
Andrew Byron Day IV!
On this day 6 years ago God saw fit to bring a very precious soul into this world. He lights up my life and blesses our family everyday. I am also so thankful for Andrew's mom & dad without them, we wouldn't have Andrew and that would be a tragedy in every sense of the word. I never thought in a million years that I could love someone else's child as much as I love my stepson. Everything happens for a reason and Andrew is my reason for so many happenings that I never understood, but because of him I can look back and know exactly why they did. He's my literal "spoon full of sugar!" :)
Andrew's 1st Birthday!
Andrew's 2nd Birthday!
Andrew's 3rd Birthday!
IV's 4th Birthday!
5th Birthday!
And soon his Daddy will be personally flying him home to celebrate his 6th birthday, which he's pretty excited about. He can't wait to stick his hand out the window and touch the clouds! I can't wait to see our little boy...who sadly isn't so little anymore.
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