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life in the basement has come and gone. we loved living underground, but are excited to practice maintaining a home. join me as i journal chapter two of our life, as we save up, look forward, and plan for a home in the city. as we seek after our great God to glorify Him daily, join in as we figure out what it means to radically pursue Him in "everyday life"

30 June 2011

1000 views

ps, i've had 1000 views on the blog! thanks for stopping by friends!

my birthday extravaganza!

so as many of you know, yesterday was my birthday...the big 2-3! i know, i know- i'm getting old :)
let me just start by saying that i have been blessed with some incredible people in my life. my friends, my family, and now my husband- they are all just great. as much as i enjoy a good celebration and a day all about me, i can't help but reflect on all the special people who have played a big part in my 23 years on this earth....from the dr that delivered me to the people i currently have on speed dial- and all the folks in between. i am truly blessed.

tuesday, i took a half day off work and mom and ash met me to go do a little shopping day at perimeter. early that morning though, ash called me and had a surprise for me- she had made me a pumpkin apple streusel cake for breakfast and brought it by the office for us to enjoy over coffee (well, i had coffee). it was so delish! i didn't get a pic, but it was super yum- i enjoyed much of it!!!!!
we left and noon, not in search of much but wanting to just enjoy some girl time, we enjoyed looking at all our favorite stores and i even picked up a few fun things- my favorite of which might be the pink glittery le creuset spatula :) mom also treated me to a beautiful mirror to put over our dresser- i had been on the hunt for one. i've posted pictures at the bottom so scroll there to see!

after several hours of browsing, mom, ash, & i stopped by our place so i could show them our improvements and awaited the arrival of nathan, charlie & dad.
 the six of us then headed  to dinner at what i now believe i can say with some certainty is my favorite restaurant in atlanta- floataway cafe (check out my review on yelp here) and then stopped by cafe intermezzo for a little dessert before heading home (their bosco is thebomb.com, i mean, really!) nathan had stopped by floataway on his way to meet us and dropped off some beautiful stargazer lilies for our table - what a sweetie he is! :) amazingly enough, i got no pictures. sad day. however, here is one of the pretty flowers!



yesterday, i enjoyed a day off by the pool with mom & ash (& hannie for a little bit). it was so nice just to relax and not have to be anywhere! mom had picked up an incredible cake from one of her friends who bakes and sells pound cakes. can i just say yum?! chocolate pound cake + a cappuccino mousse whipped cream frosting= ahhh!!!!!




yeah, it was pretty good! so poolside, i enjoyed some great chats with mom & ash (including many about her exciting news) as well as some yummy serafinos salads.  ash gave me this incredible homemade wreath as a present, which will be going on our door as soon as i repair the 9 that i knocked off



beautiful!  after getting a whole lot of sun (and even a nap) it was time to go home to see my love who had gotten off work and picked up chinese take out & cupcakes for dinner!

nothing says love like general tsos chicken & fried rice :)
nathan got cupcakes from this new little bakery that just opened on monday- they were pretty good too!

he selected 2 chocolate, a salted caramel on chocolate cake, a caramel on yellow cake, a strawberry, and a white chocolate raspberry. yes please!

i chose to enjoy the salted caramel one first (nathan had a chocolate one)- it was great!


for my birthday, nathan is going to get me an iphone 5 when it comes out (we're thinking august?). i've never had a smart phone (in fact, i have a 2 year old samsung flip phone, but i'm not going to lie, most days i really love and appreciate its simplicity!)
all in all, great birthday. great folks. great times. 
i love my life.

here's some mirror pics, because, i know you were interested :)


pretty, huh?




thanks for all the birthday wishes!!


dan's birthday cupcakes!

so i've FINALLY gotten a chance to settle down and blog a bit! i had an EXCELLENT birthday (which i will write more on later) which has kept me busy the last couple of days. so now, let the blogging begin!

i had mentioned last week that i was making dan hamburger cupcakes for his birthday. friday night around 10:30, i finally got to work. first, i baked the yellow cupcakes. ashley and i took the wilton cake decorating class last summer, and in we learned that duncan hines boxed cake mixes are the best things to use for the most consistant results. i have a from-scratch recipe for yellow cake that i like even better, but because it was raining and i was short on time (and buttermilk) i whipped up these guys. per the counsel of wilton, i add in an extra egg and a box of instant vanilla pudding mix.



while the cupcakes were baking, i whipped up some of dan's favorite brownies. i made them in a big 11x17 jelly roll pan so that i could get the most "burgers" from one box (in the future, i would make a double batch of brownies and cook them in a smaller pan, because they kind of ended up looking like mcdonalds hamburgers because of their shrimpy size)



while the brownies were in the oven, i started mixing frosting. now, normally i would whip up some homemade buttercream, but i happened to have one last container of canned frosting, and since i was just using it as a "condiment", i gave it a good stir and started coloring. the yellow and green batches turned out great, but unfortunately, the red turned out looking a little pinkish maroon. i have never been able to make good red frosting. so, i just gave up and figured, who needs a lot of ketchup anyways.


so now, i just had to start assembling. i had let both the cupcakes and brownies cool, so i was ready to work! i used my bread knife to cut my cupcakes in half, right below the tops of them.




once that was done, i used a biscuit cutter with scalloped edges to cut out "hamburgers" from the brownies. to ensure that they didn't slide off, i put a little spot of icing on the bottom half of the cupcake, then layered the brownie burger, and topped it with some squirts of "mustard" "ketchup" and "lettuce."

and here were the results!




saddly, when i showed up at moms the next morning to take them to the little guy, i found him very sick. he had come home from youth camp with some sort of nasty stomach bug, so he didn't get to enjoy any. i have promised him a birthday re-do, and i will make these again for him then.
on a side note, the rest of the fam enjoyed them and there were none leftover!

so there you go- hamburger cupcakes. way cute. way easy. quite a hit. definitely will make them again!

28 June 2011

psalm 37


Trust in the LORD, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.
  Commit your way to the LORD;
    trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
   and your justice as the noonday.
  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him...
...those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land...
...But the meek shall inherit the land
   and delight themselves in abundant peace...
... The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
   when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
   for the LORD upholds his hand...
...For the LORD loves justice;
   he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
   but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
   and dwell upon it forever.
 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
   and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
   his steps do not slip...
...Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
   and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
   you will look on when the wicked are cut off... 

(psalm 37, esv)

27 June 2011

my new baby!

ok, well, not quite a BABY. but, my new pride and joy :)




this weekend, my awesome mom treated me to a little bit early birthday present...a sewing machine! 
i have enjoyed sewing even since i was a little girl, and while in college, a few friends and i joined the local quilting guild and would spend our evenings sewing (by hand) quilts and odds and ends (side note- i never finished anything). 
since looking around on pinterest (and getting a late but INCREDIBLE wedding gift), i got inspired a few months ago and decided that i wanted to take up sewing again. so, what a perfect time to get a sewing machine!



mom, jamie, teague, and i packed up saturday morning and headed to the quaint local sewing shop, The Scarlet Thread (i highly recommend it if you are looking for a sewing store in mcdonough). after looking around for quite some time, i settled on some fabric for my first project (jamie had already helped gather the machine and things i would need- shes the best!).


for a machine, a baby lock came highly recommended. its funny, normally i'm a big researcher and i try to know everything i can about something, but this time, i just trusted jamie (so that was a pretty big deal for me!). i haven't used it yet, but just getting it out of the box was so exciting!



so here's to a source of infinite blog posts! i'll keep you posted once i get all the tape off and sew something :)

so much to catch up on!

so i have several posts in the works but to start with- just wanted to share about my trip to the grocery store tonight. i have been long over due for a trip to the store (mostly because my mustard stash has been dry for WEEKS), so i gathered my growing pile of papers with coupons i hadnt clipped and went thru my cabinets and made my list. an hour and a half later, this is what i have to show for it!


yeah, pretty good stock pile! altogether, i got:
5 ben & jerrys ice cream (if you must know, 2 late night snack, 2 red velvet cake, & 1 creme brulee)
2 mustards
o.j.
2 olive oils
2 hebrew national hotdogs
1 package bagel thins
3 pams
1 peanut butter
1 nutella
1 package yeast
1 toothbrush
2 things of ritz
1 tin foil
1 whipped cream
1 caramel topping
4 cans diced chilis
2 jars pickles
2 cans black beans
2 things of solo cups

and for how much you might ask? well, altogether, the cost would have been  $136.13
what did i pay? well, so far $72.02
but, i am due back a rebate for $20, making my total
$52.02!



yeah, i was pretty proud! :)

24 June 2011

happy birthday dan!

at my berry graduation
today is my littlest brother dan's 12th birthday! that's so crazy! i'll never forget the night we got him (he was adopted in case you didn't know). i was heading out to go to relay for life with my dad, and my parents got a call and shortly had a newborn to look after.
if you don't know dan, you are really missing out. he is the funniest, wittiest little dude. he might be 12, but he acts about 65. from his perch on the couch (literally, a perch, a spot that he has worn down and sat in since he was like, 1), he is a champ at video games and loves to record and watch nba basketball games. he is so loving and thoughtful, and will always make you an ice water if you ask. his vocabulary is incredible (one time, him and nathan were watching star wars:clone wars and he said that the bad guy was impervious...what?!). he copies everything my dad does which is pretty darn cute.

at our wedding, he was a little too young to be a groomsman, so instead, he escorted my mom (along with critter) and read some scripture for us. he is our family's little theologian- its not uncommon for him to ask you for your view on israel or to tell you his thoughts on salvation.

dan has come to LOVE nathan. its pretty cute. no sooner have we pulled up in the driveway for a visit at the lake, and dan is waiting by nathan's door with a basketball in hand asking him to play. and he's pretty good.

dan and nathan chatting it up before the wedding

dan is also quite the ladies man. i'll never forget it- on my birthday a few years back, we were sitting at lunch and he tapped me on the shoulder and said "excuse me, but um, do you have a map?" i kind of laughed and said no why? he then went on to say, "because i'm lost in your eyes." throughout college, he would randomly call me (he memorized my cell) and he would leave me long messages, asking when i would come home and what i was doing. one day, he called me and said "hey love muffin" and ever since, we have called each other "love muffin"

one of our favorite treats- at the crepe cart in breckenridge, awaiting our scrumdidilyuptious nutella crepes
needless to say, he's quite a hoot! so heres to a happy happy 12th birthday little guy! we will be celebrating with him on sunday, and for the occasion i'm making him a surprise special treat (of course there will be a blog about it!) as far as a gift gos, no joke, when i asked him what he wanted from us for his birthday, he said that since he knew we were poor and trying to save our money to buy a house, he just wanted nathan to take him to the LA Fitness to play a game of pick up basketball, and then to go to the world of coke museum and then to dinner at Flip Burger Boutique (because thats cheap). so there will of course be a blog about that as well!

until then, happy birthday dan!

on the lift in colorado

and here's a sneak peek at what i'll be making tonight!

from bakerella's website

23 June 2011

starbucks

i am a huge coffee fan. pretty much everyone knows that. one of my favorite simple pleasures is a good mug of freshly brewed coffee, topped with some good thick whipped cream. ahh. so good.



tonight, nathan and i ventured to our favorite date spot (well, one of them anyways)- Starbucks! we often frequent here for date nights (partly because we have gift card money and of course because we just like their drinks). tonight, we took with us books to read while we sat and enjoyed our drinks of choice (for nathan, an early grey tea latte, and for me, a decaf pour over coffee in a for here mug with of course, whipped cream). while nathan read lewis' the great divorce, i dove into the latest starbucks book- onward, by howard schultz.  i hope to share my thoughts on it more as i read more about it, but needless to say, it is quite interesting. as i was sitting in this starbucks store, i couldnt help but notice the very things he was talking about. the book is about how he came back to being the the ceo of the company in 2007, and the struggles and changes starbucks has survived over the last several years. i invite you read it and join me in a discussion about some of the things he mentions.

i will say, as a customer, it impresses me that the ceo of such a large company cares about things like the smells that permeate the stores- to the point that he even formed an aroma task force! from the consistency of the brewed coffee to the different business practices he encourages, mr. schultz really cares.  i think thats pretty cool. so check it out- i'll be posting some more thoughts on it as i get into it!


22 June 2011

dailymile

let me start out by saying- those of you who started following/reading/have just taken a peek- thanks!! hope you enjoy! please feel free to leave comments, questions, notes, whatever! if you ask, i'll blog on any topic (well, almost) that you are interested in, so send it on!:)

now, as many of you who know me know, i started "training" for a half marathon back in maybe my junior year of college. i'd run consistently for a while, then get distracted. i was training really well my senior year for the berry half, and my papa lost his battle to Alzheimer's. in the midst of traveling and memorial services and then finishing my senior year, my training got off and i decided not to run.  i kept running here and there until i got married (i'll be really honest with you- i didnt diet at all to get ready for my wedding. any weight i lost was from running & stress, and maybe because i didnt like all the food in d-hall at berry), but once married, i kind of stopped. by kind of, i mean, in the first year of our marriage, i ran twice. yikes.  a few weeks before one of my friend's wedding, i decided i missed it- and missed the effect it had on my figure! not just the weight that it kept off, but when i run, i feel strong. i feel less stressed. i feel like i have at least a little control. i sleep better. i feel better. i feel like my emotions are more stable. i feel more focused. i eat better (well, mostly). i feel confident.

all that to say, i started running again. and of course, as soon as i did, all the benefits of running started coming back. finally, i got the courage and registered for a half marathon.  in march, i accomplished one of my life goals- i ran it! i finished!


my actual time was 2:14:53 (we were staggered because there were so many runners- i think they said around 19,000 runners ran the whole, half, and other runs going on.

since then, i have continued to run and am hoping to run another few halfs. my goal is to get my time down under 2 hours.
typically, i run on a treadmill at my parents house (they live down the street from my work). i dont run by myself (for a lot of reasons) so me and that treadmill have gotten pretty close. plus, since nathan and i dont have cable/satellite, i can record all my favorite shows and watch them while i run. its great!
in addition, i have a site that is a great tool to log my runs and keep up with mileage. its also inspiring to go back and see what i've done and how far i've run. so i wanted to share it with you today. its called dailymile, and it integrates with facebook and twitter if you'd like.  you can have "Friends" just like facebook, and you send motivation to your friends. most of all, it can show you your pace,  average miles, and a lot of other great analytics. here's some screen shots for you:

my profile page

so there you go. enjoy! good luck! anyone want to run a half with me? im game!

21 June 2011

pound cake & a meal for a friend

every southern girl knows that there are just some things that you must do, such as:
  • waiting to wear white until after easter, and not wearing it after labor day (same with open toe shoes)
  • how to set the table
  • how to make sweet tea
  • of course you must have at least one casserole or salad recipe that you are a master of
  • have your bridesmaids' dresses shoes match the punch at your wedding (mine technically did, since we served coffee in lieu of punch)

and of course, along with that casserole recipe, every southern girl knows that you must take meal when a dear friend (or anyone at the church) has a baby. i blogged a link the other day that someone i dont know posted about taking meals to new moms, and while it was pure coincidence, i used some of that advice today when i took a meal from nathan and i to a couple who had a baby about two weeks ago. kristen & craig welcomed little lincoln in the world (they were also the ones that ash & i made cake pops for) and we were more than excited to celebrate with them. so i spent last night cooking up a storm. in addition to the main topic of the blog for today (pound cake!), i made blueberry muffins, homemade salsa, mimi's rice, broccoli slaw, and packed some sweet potatoes to bake as well as i marinated some chicken to bake/grill, and of course some of our favorite mission brand chips for the salsa. an odd assortment, but i knew they liked the broccoli slaw & salsa, so thats why those got added in. it was of course a much appreciated addition to the fridge, and it was good to check in on kristen & even get to hold little lincoln for a bit. i've never seen a new born look more like their parent than lincoln does of craig! baby & mom are both doing great.

so on to the goods- the pound cake! now, this is truly my moms speciality. there are two smells i strongly associate to growing up- the smell of pot roast (still gets me!) and the smell of freshly baking pound cake. where some of my friends moms baked bread, mine baked pound cake. and i love it. so does pretty much anyone else that eats it. its good fresh out of the oven with strawberries & whipped cream, the next morning for breakfast with coffee, and as a snack any time of day. is it healthy? definitely not. but its good for the soul, i'm convinced!!

i love this recipe because its consistent- just like a box cake mix, you always know what you are going to get. it dense, moist, not too sweet but just a touch, and its got a perfectly crunchy crust. it always rises, always has great color, and always tastes fresh. is your mouth watering yet? it should be!

i'll share the recipe with you, but you have to promise to never bring it to a function that i'm at (or that my moms at) because most likely, we'll be bringing it! i keep it in my awesome recipe book that mom got me when i was a little girl- its one of my favorite things in my kitchen, and i love how vintage it looks


so to get started, here's what you need:
  • a kitchenaid mixer (this is actually quite essential to getting the right consistency)

  • a few ingredients:
    • 2 sticks softened unsalted butter
    • 1 stick crisco (NOT butter flavored)
    • 3 cups white sugar
    • 6 eggs
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla
    • 3 cups all purpose flour
    • 1 cup milk (i always use whole milk
  • a bundt pan with lots of pam

  • an oven (preferably one that maintains temperature a little better than ours!)
so to start, you're going to make sure you butter is soft (but not melted!) and you want to whip it with the crisco


you want it to end up looking like this


next, add in the sugar and beat until fluffy


once fluffy, add in one egg at a time, beating well in between. i use some cage free eggs from a local farmer- they make everything i bake even better! once all the eggs are added, add in the vanilla, and then alternate adding in the flour and milk. once all ingredients are added beat for 2-5 minutes. be sure to scrap the bowl real good! your goodness should end up looking like this:


and yes, it already tastes fantastic!!

get that goodness into your bundt pan, and get it into a cold oven (not sure why, just do it!)


bake at 325 for around an hour and 25 minutes- start watching after an hour, and don't go by the color on top. you'll have to stick a fork or knife in one of the cracks to test for doneness inside. when a knife comes out clean, its time to take out! let cool for about 5 minutes, and then invert onto a pan.


this one ended up a little more done than i would have liked, but i know it will still be good.

enjoy! i hope kristen and craig will!

19 June 2011

a visit to new moms (& dads!)

so, several of our friends in our lifegroup (aka, sunday school class) have had or are having babies, and i came across the article. i think everyone could learn a few lessons in how to be a help & a blessing (and not a hindrance & a bother). check out this article (from another blog) and take note!

17 June 2011

our wedding - part 2

alright the first post was getting a little lengthy, so i wanted to break if off and start fresh. so here's the rest of the deets about our big day.

the ceremony was held in a beautiful lakeside pavilion. while there was an exquisite fireplace that we could have used as a backdrop at one end, we choose a great view of the lake as the background for the alter. we decided to go super simple on the decor for the ceremony- after all, we were only going to be there for about an hour total, and we loved the beauty and simplicity of nature. we went with four arrangements behind us, mainly to help cover a little dock that had yellow paint on it, and to offer some height to the stage. we added in the white to connect the arrangements to just tie in a little more elegance. additionally, we blocked off the center aisle with more white tulle, and had all of our guests seated from the outside aisles.
i love this picture
we blocked off the center aisle because we had this beautiful, custom made, hand painted aisle runner. hopefully, my girls will want to use it someday- i've seen some neat ideas where you just add the next set of names and it turns into an heirloom. regardless, it was beautiful.



because it was may, and because of our location, we had our guests valet their cars at the hotel, and then had a shuttle take them to the ceremony site (there was a path they could walk that was also marked). when they arrived at the ceremony site, we had plenty of ice cold bottled waters for their refreshment, and the pavilion actually stayed pretty cool from the water and fans.

as you may have noticed, i went super simple with my flower selection. first, we didnt have a lot of flowers (as you'll see once i get to the reception), but also, i'm not huge fan of tons and tons of flowers. in fact, my favorite flowers are-take a wild guess- DAISIES. why? "aren't daisies such a friendly flower?" (know where thats from? :) ) additionally, i chose to bring in the star-gazer lilies. when nathan and i were dating, he brought them to me on multiple occasions, and i loved them:) finally, i added in a few roses for the romantic factor they offer. my florist (who unfortunately has closed her shop due to retirement) had the great idea to use some pearl pins in the bouquets- check them out in mine

our unity candle floral piece

nathan and i worked with our officiant very closely to plan a highly personalized ceremony. it was beautiful. to help our guests follow along, and to pay tribute to our wedding party, we put together programs that we passed out


it was actually several pages long, but i have posted it here. hopefully, you can read it enough to get an idea of it. additionally, keep in mind that this was a booklet, so the page numbers are below that would put them in order.



alright so we had a beautiful ceremony led by a very close friend of ours. because we chose to not see each other before the ceremony and take pictures together afterwards, we had our guests ushered up to the "pre-func" area of the ballroom for passed hors d'oevers. nathan and i enjoy our first moments as husband and wife, and took some great pics with our fam & friends.





so then the super fun part- the reception! we planned a beautiful and fantastically fun reception.  as i mentioned in my previous post, we went with a theme of coffee & starbucks. also, it was a special celebration of the people who helped make us what we are, so we wanted to make sure no detail went unnoticed. so to start with, we had asked all of our guests to make a dinner selection- we offered three, as well as an option to mark the number of kids coming. we actually decided to have a separate room for our kiddo-friends to eat in, which turned out to be an AWESOME idea. we asked that anyone under the age of 12 head to the youth room, which was fully equipped with chicken tenders, and ice cream cart, a few wiis to play on, and a movie playing on a big projector, not to mention board games, coloring books, and more. we only kept the kids in this room during the dinner hour, and then opened the doors into the ballroom once dancing started, allowing them to go back and forth. i think this was a great idea- it let the parents have a nice time knowing their child was taken care of, but it also was fun for the kids because for a lot of them, this was the first wedding that they went to, and this gave them a fun way to not get bored, and to also feel like they were special guests. plus, it saved us a lot on food- we had about 50 kids under 12 come, and the kids meal was much cheaper (and probably much more enjoyable for them) than the adult meal.



now, because we offered dinner selections, we decided to go with a seating chart- and we did all the way down to the exact seat. this actually turned out to be a lot of fun. we had to work pretty hard on this, but it was great. so we had a sheet for all our guests when they came to the ballroom that had the table names and locations, and then once they got to their seat, they had a name tag with a flower that was color coded to their dinner selection. this ensured that everyone had a seat, everyone got what they ordered, and also grouped our types of guests together (for instance, all of our college friends were seated in a few tables around the speakers, while we placed some of our older guests closer to the doors).

instead of table numbers, we decided to name all of our tables based on our favorite books- because what goes good with a cup of coffee?  a great book. some examples of what we used included Jane Eyre, Banker to the Poor, Freakonomics, Comeback, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

that idea was a hit. we placed the table names on little signs with a paragraph about the books, and put them in our centerpieces. the centerpieces were all a little different, but they contained different glass vases full of coffee beans, candles, and a few flowers.



as you can see in the one picture, in lieu of favors, we made a donation to winshape marriage on behalf of our guests, and presented each with a bookmark detailing the donation and the organization.

so dinner was served, during which, our awesome band played some light jazz. the menu for the night included a salad, entree, and then plenty of dessert. in addition to wedding cake and a grooms cake, we had a great dessert bar set up next to the starbucks bar (which we somehow didn't end up with a picture of?!). also, for our toasts, we passed out shot glasses of milk with warm cookies. definitely plenty of sweets!

as i mentioned, we had a full service starbucks bar, making everyones favorite starbucks drinks. the baristas were even in their green aprons! this was quite a special treat for us. we set the starbucks bar over to the side of the ballroom, and really set the stage with white leather couches and lots of candles. there was a line the whole night!

one of nathan's best friends, aaron, giving his shot glass of milk toast


my mimi, at the dessert bar
now our cakes- wow! what fabulous creations! both mine and nathans cakes were made by the Frosted Pumpkin- and incredible cake bakery that is a partner of the Evergreen. they were beautiful- and super yummy!

my cake, a vanilla genoise cake with cappuccino mousse and chocolate ganache filling, iced in swiss buttercream- yikes! super yum

nathan's super great cake- his was a chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache and rolled fondant icing



yeah, they were pretty great:)

so once we got everyone fat and happy, what was it time for? dancing of course! and let me just say, we had the best band EVER. the neons. they were great- great to work with, played awesome, and had more people dancing then i had ever seen at a wedding!

for our dances we selected:
our first dance- we will dance by steven curtis chapman
father/daughter: delany talks to statues by jimmy buffett
first song for our guests: september by earth wind fire
last dance: new york new york by sinatra

finally, in addition to all the food and dancing and kids room, we had one more treat for our guests- a photobooth! the company we used was awesome- it automatically printed 2 copies of every session, so that our guests could leave one for us and take one with them. also,  the booth had a projector that streamed all the photos taken on to the wall- which was quite a surprise to our engaged friends who took some kissing shots :)

finally, it was time for the night to be over and we had the perfect get-away planned. we had asked and my dad's business partner very generously allowed us to drive off in his Ferrari- quite a treat to my car-loving husband.  to cheer us off, our guests lined a path with sparklers- too fun! it was a perfect ending to a perfect night:)



to see more of our pictures, check out my shutterfly page- http://whitniandnathan.shutterfly.com/

if you have any questions or want to know more, let me know! i love talking about my wedding :)