And I'm back...

These past two months have just flown by like a minute and I guess with all the fun we've been having I've simply forgotten to blog. Here's an attempt to remedy that and share some of the fun things that have happened.

It seems like wedding season 2012 is here and in full swing. The past two months have been fun getting ready for my friend Maggie's April wedding. We headed to Asheville for her bachelorette weekend and last weekend her bridesmaids and I threw her a shower.













And it's also baby season. My sister in law Lisa is due at the end of May with her second boy and my mom and I threw her a baby shower today. It's just one party to the next around here. My neighbors may start complaining if I keep throwing showers every weekend, but they sure are fun!

NYE (a little late) and MLK craft day

So I'm a little behind but thought I'd post some pictures from our crazy New Years Eve in Atlanta. Our good friends Terrie and Chris came in from Athens and my sorority sister Bree and her husband Matt met us at the Hyatt downtown. We had the best night and even ended up on stage with Naughty by Nature after midnight. I'm definitely glad we did the whole party scene downtown at least once and hope we can do that again one day.

This weekend Trey and I headed to Athens for a wedding of a college friend of mine. The reception was at Athens Country Club and we had such a great time hanging out with our friends Valerie and Noah the whole night. Neither of us knew anybody else so we were inseparable the entire night. Val went to law school with me and we had been trying to get together with her and her husband for the longest time. It's kinda crazy that it took us going to Athens to finally have our double date. We live 1 mile away from each other! But as it is with all good friends - no matter how much time passes it's like no time passed at all when you see them.

And today since I had the day off I took some time to get some things knocked off my to do list. I started my day at Michaels to pick up some supplies and here's what I made...

Gotta say, I'm loving all my do it yourself projects. You can save so much and they're fun to do.

My inspiration
The one I made (out of an old cinnamon broom I bought last fall from the grocery store). I started by making the shape of the heart out of the cinnamon broom then attached flowers and sparkly wire I bought from Michaels.
and voila! Valentine's Day Wreath...


Next project... spring wreath. I bought this for $9.00 from Michaels and got all the flowers on sale.
I used wire cutters to cut up some old peony flowers I had and hydrangea and pink flowers I bought (in total about $8.00 because I already had the peonies). Then I attached them all with hot glue.




and here's the final product!

DIY - Christmas Napkin Rings

Last night I was feeling in the Christmas spirit and rather crafty so I decided to make some Christmas napkin rings. I found out this past Monday that Trey and I would be hosting Christmas Eve dinner on the Cuban side with my Abuelos and I was so excited!!! I finally have a chance to use all my fine china, crystal stemware, and fine linens. But, when I set out to get all my things ready I realized I only had 6 silver napkin rings from my registry. I could've swore we got all of them as gifts, but I guess I was mistaken (good gift idea for Trey for something next year ;)... Anyway, I thought a cheaper and more festive alternative would be to make some for myself. So off to Michaels I went and $5.00 and a little scissor and glue gun action later... Voila!

They were so easy and fun to make!

Step one: Cut strands of garland ($1.00 garland ribbon (marked down 50%))

Step two: cut rings off the mini ornaments ($1.50 for a pack of 8 ... also 50% off)

Step three: use hot glue to attach the rings and place the ornaments on the rings... and that's it!

Christmas Time is Here and I'm feeling Bold!

It's the most wonderful time of year and it has just come and almost gone as fast as this year flew by. Gosh, where did 2011 go!? It feels like yesterday that we were looking forward to Christmas last year. I guess time flies when you're having fun and trippin' it around the world. I haven't posted anything this season so I thought I'd share one of our super buy tree (only $30 from Costco and it nearly touches the ceiling!) and our first fire.

And of course had to share a pic of my annual gingerbread house -this time made with the help of my nieces Handley and Harper who came over last Sunday to share in one of my favorite holiday traditions (in place since I used to make them with my best friends Kelsey and Maggie in high school). I can't wait to make it a family tradition!

And last but not least, I have been feeling rather blah about my hair lately. Ever since Trey and I got engaged I have been trying to grow my hair long. That resulted in about 3 haircuts over the last 3 years! (yes, I know... horrible!) But, despite the length achieved I had been feeling that it was looking rather weighed down and just boring when I'd leave it straight. So, I went for it today and decided to get some bangs. I hated bangs as a kid and that was the last time I ever had them, so I took baby steps tonight and just went for the side swept bang. They're hanging sufficiently down in my eye to make this a real challenge for me, but I think I like the change... we'll see when I actually have to dry them myself, but it's always exciting to make a little change. Who knows maybe next time I'll go for highlights for the first time - ooh, how bold!

"Fall"ing in love with Asheville!

Last weekend Trey and I made a trip up to Asheville to see the Biltmore and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had been wanting to go up for a few years and were excited to make it happen just in time the see the last remnants of all the beautiful fall colors and the first weekend of Christmas at the Biltmore.

It was the perfect weekend getaway and we had such a relaxing and fun time! Took too many pictures to post but here are a few highlights. Excuse all the edited shots. I was having quite a time with my new iphone (which I absolutely LOVE) ;)

Here's the one picture I was able to take inside (no photos allowed). This was a shot of the Grand Hall dining room. You could smell it from the entrance because they had the biggest fraser fir tree. It put me in the Christmas spirit! I can't wait to get our tree this year. I love that smell.

Biltmore Estate - it was so big and so pretty!


Biltmore Bass Pond - there were all these trails leading from the house. We took a 20 minute hike to get here but it was well worth the view. We just couldn't get over how big the estate was.

One more shot driving out...
and another...
and another...
and another...

Saturday night we headed from the Biltmore winery to downtown Asheville for dinner then over to the infamous Grove Park Inn. It was so impressive that such a place could be built 100 years ago. Just look at one of the fireplaces in the lobby - it was huge! We ended up hitting up the dueling piano bar at the hotel and had such a good time.
The next morning we went back to the Grove Park Inn for brunch in the Blue Ridge dining room. It had the most beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. That view never got old all weekend.

View from brunch...
Back of the Grove Park Inn near the famous Spa (Trey said we can try that out next time... I'm going to hold him to it) :)
All the Christmas trees at the Grove Park Inn had different themes. They were so pretty!
Next stop on our way home we drove a little bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked up Chimney Rock. The view was amazing.