good morning from the city!

on my way to work this morning, i snapped this shot- how beautiful! a reminder of what i love about the city, and that we serve a great & creative God who wakes us up with his beauty. wow!

pictures & memories

so in spite of the last few days being incredibly (and sweetly) busy, i have found myself spending a good deal of time reminiscing. yesterday, mom and i met with my wedding photographer to FINALLY order some wedding prints. i know, just two years late right?! as we poured back over hundreds of images, a flood of memories rushed back. while i know that i have previously blogged about our wedding here and here , i mention it just to say that it brought back a lot of memories. and, i cant wait to get these new prints. in addition to that occasion, my friend erin posted 103 images that showed why her life was great. i made it in a few of them, but it made me realize and think back over the last few years of all the sweet moments i've had. finally, tonight, i joined nathan for a going away party for his old youth pastor, and got to meet a lot of his old friends from high school.

so, it has left me in a nostalgic mood. funny how when these moods hit you remember the oddest things. as we drove home, i was asking him when he knew i was "the one" and other questions about when we dated. it was so sweet to hear his side- and cool because some of the things he was telling me i hadn't heard before.

now we're home and i'm looking over old pictures. i thought i would share just a few glimpses of what makes my life great. i'm wanting to come up with a way to incorporate things i'm thankful for into this blog. not silly things like pumpkin pie, but meaningful things. be watching for a new feature on here- i'll be blogging more about that later this week.

but without further ado, here are some pictures (some quite entertaining) for your viewing pleasure. little moments that have had some sort of impact- and friends, family, and my true love, all of whom have helped make me who i am today.



my days at berry in friendship hall were so sweet. this was sophomore year (the sophomore girls) before the mountain day olympics. how fun those days were.



my best friend growing up, kk & i have shared many secrets, stories, and years together. while in college, we took a shopping trip with our moms up to the mall of america. kk was in my wedding, and a year later i was in hers. it was cool to think that the days we had dreamed about 16 years prior were actually happening- and we were next to each other just like we thought we would be

dorothy is the wife of garland, the director of the winshape college program which i was a part of while at berry. she was such a huge influence & encouragement to me while i was under their watch. because of our affection & appreciation for both garland & dorothy, we did our premarital counseling with them, and had garland officiate our wedding. dorothy is someone i will always look up to, value, and love. we miss the time we get to spend with them since we are not in rome any more, but are grateful for the impact they have made, and any chance we get to see them.



this was my sweet papa (dad's dad) when we went to the beach one year. papa passed away right before i got married from a long battle with Alzheimer's. what i wouldnt give for one more back porch chat, one more visit to the beach, one more chance to get to be with this man. i am grateful that i was old enough to know papa and remember him. he was a great guy who raised a great son (my dad). pictures like this remind me of how thankful i am to have known him.




i love traditions.  i mean, really. i'm not much for change & new, but i love old & meaningful. this picture was snapped at my senior mountain day while participating in the grand march with two friends from freshman year (christina & ty). if you dont know about the march, you are missing out. i loved that one of the ways i celebrated my senior year was a way that seniors at berry had been celebrating for almost 100 years. and i love that i had friends that stayed with me all along the way.




sweet han! my little sister is awesome. while i haven't blogged about her yet (her birthday isnt until january), she is one super incredible girl. this is us one year out in breckenridge skiing (maybe 4 years ago?). she is so cool. she is brave, generous, thoughtful, and a blast to be with (except early in the morning- but whos fun then anyways?). i love being a big sister, and i love having a little sister. so much so that i made her my maid of honor. shes the best.




crazy critter! my other brother (whom i also havent blogged about because his birthday isnt until february) is one of the funniest people i know. clearly, by this picture. critter is only a few years younger than me, and while we fought when we were little, i'm loving that we are turning into friends as we become adults. critter always has a story and a way to make you smile. he is also the most dependable person i know. i can always count on critter to help me with anything. even if its just a good laugh :)



this little girl (and the little guy in the background) are two of my favorite kids. sophie & calvin are dorothy & garlands kids, and my senior year i babysat (ok, it was more like play time than any sort of work). my last night babysitting with them, i brought stuff to make funfetti cupcakes and some craft stuff to make frames. we took lots of pictures, ate lots of cupcakes, and i cried when i left. i love these kids. sadly, i dont get to see them much, and they dont remember me too well because they were so young, but i will always remember them. i mean, look at that chocolately smile framed with cute curls- could you forget that?! :)

this was a sweet moment while i was getting ready for my wedding. while i had gotten my toes done the day before, i, being the klutz that i am, stubbed a toe and chipped some paint. my grammie was there with white polish in tow to fix it up- and it gave me a few minutes to spend with her in the middle of the hustle and bustle. grammie is awesome. she is a strong woman and i look to her often. shes pretty cool.

yes, the big D. how cute is he?!



my college friends. what great girls these are. our senior year, we went on a retreat to the beach and enjoyed some pictures in the sand. and yes, i can get some major ups. erin, christina, lydia, and i had many great moments together, and continue to enjoy each others company.



and last but definitely not least is my best friend ash. this girl is incredible. she is there for me even when i have no words. our senior year, we passed on the new york senior trip and instead went to disney with my family. we had a blast- she had never been before. i love that we have grown from high school crazies to college girls to now married women and have stayed friends and allowed our friendship to evolve in each stage. i love that we can do things just the two of us (like our girls get away to ft lauderdale a few months ago) and with our husbands. and i love that our husbands have become friends. ash is pregnant now (yay!!!!) and so i am excited to see this new transition in our friendship- from married women with no kids, to best friends that are moms (well, at least one of us). i am so excited for ash. i want the world for her, and i truly thank God every day for the amazing friend He has provided in her.

so there you have it. a mish mash of good times and good people. not everyone was covered here (including mom, dad, mimi, grandaddy, my cousins, my husband, my work friends, and many more) nor were all my favorite places for memories (albania, lebanon, curtain bluff, my honeymoon, and many more) but this is just a start.

what are some of your favorite memories?

if you know me, what are some of your favorite memories with me? i'd love to hear!

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!!

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 :)