back to school: viking kitchen edition!

so last night, my mom joined me here in the city for a little event that i was quite excited about. i love my mom, and i am always enjoying her company (in fact, i am quite thankful for her! read about that here). she invited me a few weeks ago to join her and a ladies group that she is a part of for a cooking class. i, loving all things kitchen & cooking, of course agreed and put it down in my planner. so last night, we met up at lenox and headed over to the viking cooking store on peachtree. wow! what a cool place! we walked in and headed back to the teaching kitchen, and i felt like i was on the set of a food network show. joining 10 other ladies and the head chef, we spent the evening preparing meat in many different ways, and finally, after about 2 1/2 hours of prep, enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

i have attended other cooking classes before, but this one was done quite excellently. it was the perfect balance of instruction, fun, hands-on-ness, and yet not too intense or stressful. we relaxed over cheese and crackers, and could visit while we chopped onions, stuffed pork chops, prepared popover pans, and reduced cabernet for cabernet butter. i picked up some grilling tips and made some new friends, and went home with a full belly!

i would definitely recommend these classes if you have a viking store near you. definitely fun for a date night, birthday present, just because, christmas present, anniversary present, team building exercise- really, i cant think of an occasion it wouldn't be great for!

in addition to learning (& eating!) we got to do a little bit of shopping. mom picked me up a few "sweet treats" as well as some for herself. my personal fav? i'll let you guess:

did you guess the hot pink colander? duh silly! of course that was my fav!

all in all, a great night. check out their schedule here.
bon appetite!

do i REALLY live in a basement?

so, since starting this blog, i have been asked many times if i really do live in a basement. yeppers. i do. but we love it. so for todays post, i thought i would give you a little background.

when nathan and i were engaged to be married, we started talking (of course) about where we would live once the blessed event came and passed. at the time, i was finishing up at berry (i graduated the weekend before we got married) and he was almost done with kennesaw (graduating not long after we got married). neither of us had jobs- we had hopes for jobs but come on peoples, it was the summer of 2009. not only was our love in its prime was so was the economic recession. but we figured, all ya need is love, right? so, having no jobs, we were free to live anywhere our little hearts desired and little pocketbooks could afford.  we had both always thought it would be cool to live in the city (nathans family lives in the kennesaw area, and mine on the south side of the city) and it seemed convenient enough, so we thought...hmm...sounds like a plan. we started hunting for apartments in our price range (not much) all around atlanta. not knowing a ton about the city (other than a few restaurants and coffee shops we had frequented while growing up), we poked around and did a ton of looking on craigslist and other apartment hunting sites. our quest was not going so hot (it seemed like every apartment looked the same and the cool ones were triple what we wanted to spend). this was around christmas time (so, 6 months before our wedding, ish). we happened to get invited to dinner at one of nathan's friend's place- a guy he had played baseball with in college. he and his wife lived in the city, so we thought it would be a great chance to ask them for some advice and see if maybe they knew of any good places to look. after getting lost on the way, but admiring all the christmas lights in such a cute part of town that we never knew existed, we stumbled upon this great house. intrigued, we followed the directions given to us and wandered around a little path to the right of the house- they had told us their door was around back (can you tell where this is going??).  so we checked it out, and went down the little sidewalk until it opened up in a large backyard and a small door that went into the basement. we enjoyed a great night visiting and eventually we brought up the topic of housing in the city.

are you ready for this?

so the couple that we were visiting shared in our struggles- they too had looked and looked in the city. they somewhat jokingly mentioned that they were moving out and we could take over renting the place- and we were like say what?! joking turned into seriousness, and they relayed the fact that they were planning on moving out in april and that they didnt think there was anyone lined up to move in. we were looking for a place starting in may!

so after talking to the guy that owns the house and basement, we got a lease agreement, signed it, and sent him our deposit. we were sold! it was a great deal, a great set up, and perfect for a "first home."

so here we are, in a basement, two years later.  we have talked about moving somewhere else- even looked a few times- but it truly has been great. we are quite content with our smallish space, the homey touches, and always having a well kept yard. so here we will live, as we are saving up to buy our own home.  we have and continue to make sweet memories here. and it is our space- our little part of the world, and we think its perfect :)

sharpies

i really REALLY like sharpies.....just check out my desk at work :)

no more diet coke!

so if you know me, you know i have quite the affection for diet coke. i'm quite a fan. especially when its on ice, in a glass, with a fresh squeezed lime. i'm also quite a fan of coke light, Europe's version. i promise its different- and much better!

problem is, thats not all the caffeine i take in in a day. i have a diet coke after having at least two cups of coffee, and i generally go on to have another diet coke. not so great for the kidneys. or the head. or really any part of me.

i've been working really hard the last few years to live a healthy lifestyle. i run fairly often, have almost entirely cut out high fructose corn syrup (i'll rant about that another day!), and try to eat as naturally as possible. i have upped my intake of fruits and veggies and try to eat a limited amount of processed junk. i drink lots of water and even have tried to not drink as much out of plastic bottles.

i truly believe that my body is a temple, and i am just as much a steward of it as i am any other resource that God has given me. how can i love God and not take care of what he has given me, namely, my body?

when i eat right and pursue healthiness, i feel stronger, happier, more satisfied, and find that my walk with God is often closer and more consistent.

now i am not saying that diet cokes have hindered my walk with God or that they are sinful or bad. oh no. i believe i will always love an ice cold diet coke. and i will choose to enjoy them. but i know that i must take care of what God has given me. as i read about the possible side effects of regular consumption of artificial sweeteners, i am kind of grossed out. its pretty bad.  read here and here and here and here. 

so, for the next while, i am going off diet coke. cold turkey. starting yesterday, no more. now i'm still having my morning coffee- and am trying to replace my afternoon diet coke with an iced coffee. up next will be weening myself off so much caffeine. but for now, no more diet coke. i'll keep you posted on how that goes!

ps, have you checked out the gratitude blog?

my planner

so i keep a well detailed planner. i did all through college, and even though i'm not nearly as busy now, i still do. its funny, i'm not always the neatest person, like say when it comes to laundry, and i'm a mess in the kitchen, but there are some things i keep completely organized- like my email inbox. and my planner. in college, it was actually color coded by category. i only use certain pens in my planner- generally, when i get a new planner, i get a new pen and that is all i use. i'll put a sticky note in my planner before i write in it in the "wrong" pen. i use 1-2 clean mark through lines when i have done something, and scribble out in zigzags things that get canceled. i find that by the end of the year, my planner becomes a sort of journal- mostly because, i write everything down. if its not in my planner, chances are, its not going to happen. some weeks have more written down than others. often, i stick in grocery lists, menus, etc. sometimes, when i'm feeling overwhelmed because i have a lot to do, i flip back through all the weeks before to see all the things i have accomplished, all the things that are marked out. i really like that.

when looking for a planner, i am pretty picky. i like plenty of space for each day to write things out. i dont like times listed. i like for the planner to have a full month or year view to write in quick notes like vacations. it has to feel good to- this one, the pages are crisp and yet it bends easily. i like to identify where i am in the planner somehow- in my last planner, i used a paper clip. this one, the bottom right corner tears off so all the ones are torn up to where i am. i also appreciate notes pages- in this one, i have a list of all the magazines we are currently subscribed to. typically, i go for an academic calendar over a true 12 month calendar-  i haven't been able to make the switch since being in college, and i find that academic planners seem to suit my fancy. also, they tend to come in pink :)

here's some pictures for you to get a visual of what i mean...



the planner, with this year's pen...a uni 0.7 blue ink jetstream. it writes very nicely.

this week in my calendar- it's a pretty light week so far



here's the overview calendar at the beginning- highlighted days have to do with my PTO at work





a good busy week a while back- see all i accomplished!

recently, i added a small notepad to my planner to keep up with different lists that i always want to be able to get to- like restaurants we want to check out, ideas for our basement, and a dream list for our future home. this has been a good way for me to keep a log so that i don't forget. now, i don't have a smart phone yet so its hard to truly say, but i think i will always prefer paper & ink over technology. theres just something about the satisfaction of crossing through things when they have been accomplished, and of make a neat & tidy check list in my own handwriting. here's a few samples from the notepad (labeled "ideas")

this was some planning we did for our lifegroup (sunday school class)



so there you have it friends, a peek inside my planner life.

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 :)