I steal office supplies.

I am a terrible blogger. Oops. Apologies for not writing in so long. All two of you have been VERY upset at me for no new posts so here I am to update and save the world!


What has really happened is that life is absolutely crazy right now. I have had job interviews, figuring out my move strategy and last day of current job, my new nephew was born last week (ahh little Jack, so exciting!), and I am figuring out really boring non-blog worthy wedding plans. (Ex. This plate shape vs. that plate shape. This shade of green vs. that shade of green for invitation ink. Do those napkins match those straws?) My poor maid of honor has been a real trooper... she lets me go on and on about the most boring of topics and then still pretends to care. Even better, she does for me in real life all the time... even when it isn't wedding related. I love you Sarah! (I so lucked out in the best friend department, and I never forget it!)

Anyhow, my life is crazy lately and so I have really been wanting to share a few pics from my work bridal shower! Okay, first of all... unbeknownst to me, my co-workers had actually read the blog (slightly embarrassing) and took a lot of my ideas for the wedding and incorporated them into the shower! It was all so thoughtful and wonderful :)
The shower was almost 2 weeks ago and they all really put thought and time into what they did for me and I appreciate it so much! They had mason jars to drink green punch from, lots of green balloons, and used burlap and fake magnolia flowers with tulle to decorate. (We have a talented person at all this stuff on our staff and she even glued fake pearls onto limes in the shape of "R"s to decorate the punch bowl area) The flowers were beautiful (they are still sitting on my kitchen table and look great!) We also had tons of great things to eat (key lime bars... yum.) but I have to say my favorite part of all were the games. In particular, one of those lovely (ahem, totally embarrassing!) games where the hosts of the shower go and interview your hubby to be and then you have to answer the questions at the shower. In front of EVERYONE! I think I was blushing the entire time... especially since my boss was sitting there with the answers. One of the questions happened to be "If you could change one thing about Whitney, what would it be?". Well first of all, the good answer should have been "nothing". And here I sit before my department trying to rack my brain on what appropriate answer AJR could have possibly written for them. But when they all read the answer on paper, they were dying laughing and looking around and cracking jokes about re-stocking our cabinets. (What in the world?!?!) Come to find out, "That she keeps stealing office supplies from work and giving them to me!" was his answer. Ohh, what a jokester I am marrying. I also discovered that his dream job is to be the babysitter for the E-trade baby (from the commercials). It's a good thing we didn't play the version where you have to chew the gum every time you get one wrong or else my jaw would still be sore! (I swear, I really do know the man.)

The food spread... yummy. (Check out the mason jars on the side... looove it)

close up :)

Oh, and they made me wear a super cool tiara/veil

My cake :) Mmm... I could eat some of that right now...

The cutting of the cake... always a Kodak moment.

The apron is one of the gifts I receieved... so cute! They apparently thought I should be a good house wife and one of my co-workers read to me aloud the The Good Wife's Guide. I guess I need to be more gay and interesting for him. My favorite line: "A good wife always knows her place." Well then...

Engagement Party

This weekend was absolutely lovely. My amazing Aunt Kimmy threw an engagement party for AJR and I at her house. She went all out and it was classy and divine and PERFECT. AJR and I had about 15 of our friends come in town for the event (and they ALL stayed at my apartment, oh my... that was quite the experience) and our families finally got to officially meet. There were about 40 or more people at the party and it was so hectic for me because I was so worried about talking to everyone and making people feel welcome, etc. I can't even imagine how it will be on the wedding day... *siighh

However, it was sooo much freaking fun. Kimmy has impeccable taste and decorated in all my wedding themed ideas. She put the perfect spin of southern class in the party and it was incredible. The menu was to die for... salmon and prime rib with delicious carrots and asparagus with the most tasty sauces I've ever had. There were countless wine options and cheese platters, individually wrapped gourmet chocolates, and even a coffee bar! The silverware was put into mason jars and randomly throughout the house were mason jars with votive candles in them. Surrounding the mason jars, she placed big magnolia leaves and it was GORGEOUS. I think I found my centerpiece! I don't even need magnolia blooms... just the leaves with the lit mason jars was so simple and elegant. I adored it all! The walkway leading to the house was lined with mason jars with lit candles in them and it was such a nice way to welcome the guests. She also made floral arrangements in large mason jars with small pink roses. One of the arrangements was all rose buds and they were so beautiful! Among all that we had several pictures of AJR and I in rustic frames and it really tied it all together. Eeee, I am getting all giddy thinking about it!

The engagement party was a perfect preview to how I want the wedding to look with all the splashes of things that I have been envisioning. Many thanks to Kimmy and all my aunts and Mom who helped her pull it all off. It was amazing! (And I feel incredibly spoiled. Sheesh.)

Our friends were also contributors to the amount of fun that was had this weekend. Saturday morning several of us got up at 6am and kicked off the weekend with an 8K race to benefit organ donation. It was a blast! All day we hung out and the guys went to a shooting range after watching college football at a bar. Meanwhile, Sarah (my roomie/Maid of Honor) and I hung out at home and tried to prepare for the night. After the party all my friends and I went to a place downtown for some dancing and more drinking. It was an awesome celebration and it couldn't have gone better. Sunday morning we all woke up to a breakfast casserole and recapping the night together.

Gah, okay I shall stop gushing about my incredible weekend, but I am all smiles on this Monday back to reality.

This is the cake that Kimmy had made for us... it was so pretty! She put fresh flowers on top and it was so fun cutting the cake together for the first time. (Good practice for the wedding ;) Take note of the silverware in Mason jars. P.S. The silverware was actually plasticware that looked like silverware. I am taking this idea with me to the wedding thank you very much!

This is AJR and I about to start filling our plates up. I just like it because we look so happy!

This is my Dad making a toast before the cutting of the cake. I love this picture because the similarity between AJR and his dad is so noteworthy.

Here is my Mom and step-dad, Vince. He made the first toast of the night and it made everyone say "aw".

I wish I had more pictures to share (especially to show you how amazing the decorations were!) but in the midst of all the people and drinking and food and excitement, I didn't take a single picture! Luckily my future sister in law, Lauren picked up my camera and took several pictures for me! Hopefully I can bum some pictures off of people who thought to take a few. I did see some flashes coming from my Aunt Wendy's way throughout the night...