Pickles and Ice Cream

So I have a lot of pregnant friends right now, and one is one of my college roommates. There are six of us and we are still very close. So every time one of us gets married or has a baby we host a shower together. We throw the very best showers! That being said, we out did ourselves this time!

Alexis is the mommy-to-be, and she is having a little girl! Alexis and I bonded early in our college days over our freakish love of pickles. So even before we knew the gender we all started referring to baby C as "pickle." So the theme for the shower started there. Also preggos eat weird things like pickles and ice cream right?!? But we took it a step further, her last name is Cherry (isn't that the cutest?) so our shower would be " Pickles and Ice Cream with a (baby) Cherry on top!" Do you love it?

Flowering ice cream sundaes, and our invite

The next few pictures show off all the onesies guest brought for the baby as part of a game. Alexis had four catagories to award prizes in:

 1. Sweetest Onesie
 2. Funniest Onesie
3. Onesie that most describes Alexis
 4. Onesie that most describes the  guest who brought it

Funniest!

Most describes Alexis!

The packers onesie won for most like guest who brought it...Rhiannon-what a cheese head!

 

The one I made her, it didn't win anything! Rigged (I was in charge of games ;)

Then we had the homemade decor, courtesy of our resident Martha Stewarts LB and Beka, who I believe could teach Martha a thing or two as well!

Floral Ice Cream with a real cherry on top, and the inspirational clothing line

Sweet bib that was PERFECT for out party and just itchin' for a sweet monogram!

I mean it's true

Then we had the amazing cherry, ice cream and pickle/dill inspired menu, by Melanie and Rhiannon

Chocolate covered cherries, salmon dill crostinis, assorted pickles, ice cream cone cupcakes and more oh my!

And our favors, which were really part of the decorations were homemade pickles (sweet LB) and homemade cherry body scrub (awesome Melanie!)

And out sweet roommate Lauren, stuck in sunny California, poor her :) So we face timed her in!

I thought it turned out great! And of course just seeing and catching up with my favorite girls was the best part!

Baby Love and Football Fever

Here are the current designs I've been working on.

For a "pickles and ice cream" themed shower

I love the raggy!!

I do not approve this message : ( RTR

Freezer Meal Bandwagon

So, I have a 3 1/2 year old, and a dog, and a house and a husband and a job and a church and a sewing habit and and and and and.......

Ans it's starting to win. You know it is right? It's the stuff, all the stuff that I have to do, and want to do and LOVE to do, it's winning. And let me tell you what is losing, my meals.

Over the past month (since I went back to work) I think I have cooked 4 meals total. My goal has always been 4-5 home cooked meals a week, this is 4 a month. Not good. Not good for anyone.

So I have officially jumped on the slow cooker-- make ahead-- freezer-- meal bandwagon. For our wallets and our waistlines. I have been looking at the idea for a while, but many slow cooker ideas involve cream of______ soups and bottles of ketchup or BBQ sauce. And while I love those things, it is 2012 and we all know we can't/shouldn't eat packaged foods all the time. So the mommy guilt kicks in, because I want to feed my family fresh produce, but I don't have time to do it.

Enter mamaandbabylove.com ! She has taken the time to plan healthy REAL FOOD recipes that freeze well and go together. By go together I mean (this is the BEST part) the cookbook gives me a grocery list for 3 of her recipes, they are by no means the same, but they have coordinating ingredients. So things don't get wasted, which happens so often when I buy expensive produce. So I bought her cookbook (and for only $5.99 btw)!

And I did it this week. I made SIX meals in one night, with one trip to the grocery store (well two, because I forgot freezer bags, duh!) I peeled and chopped for 2 hours and in the end I have 6 healthy meals.

Please ignore the glow sticks in my freezer, Wee is obsessed and we learned if you put them in the freezer when you are done with them each day, they last forever : )

 

So that's my spiel, it's not a new concept, I'm late to the party. But I'm so glad I finally jumped on!

The Heart Wants what the Heart Wants

This post is based on a sermon I heard on July 8th. I have been marinating on it because I wanted to try out what I'm about to propose, practice what you preach and all that jazz.

The thing is, we all struggle with heart problems. Whether you are a Christian or not, we all have something that rules our day and makes relationships hard, makes community difficult. It can be boiled down to four broad generalizations or four areas that take precedent in our life:

1. Approval
2. Power
3. Comfort
4. Control

These are things we are living for. But in the end they do not satisfy us so we want more and more. Let's break it down.

APPROVAL

You need reinforcement constantly. You are scared of being wrong, or looking stupid. You worry what others think of you.

The sign that approval is running your day is your problem emotion is fear or cowardice.

Power

You like to be first. You want to be in charge. You are looking for promotions and titles. Your voice is often the loudest.

The sign that power is most important to you, is if you are easily or often angered.

Comfort

You just want to be left alone. You want life to be easy. You look for distractions in electronics, tv, movies, new things in general.

The sign of comfort being your utmost is that you are easily bored, always need a new thing to entertain and pacify you.

Control

You are the planner. You like agendas, spreadsheets, and to do lists. You know if you are in control of every detail of your life it will all be ok. 

Your problem emotion is worry.


I like that as I type all these things I use the word "you" Because every category I described is me. I am taking this material straight from here by the way. And side note, I am paraphrasing like woah. There is so much more to this, just wanted to get the ideas out to start the conversation.

So when I first heard this I truly thought "Man, I am all of those" and it's true, humans do struggle with all four in some way. But when I really looked at it the most important thing to me is approval. Enter facebook, twitter, BLOGGING, etc etc etc. It is my heart sin, but as a society I think we are all pushing the constant need for approval. Social media has made it too easy to "like" or "dislike" things publicly and immediately. And so, I am scared of saying the wrong thing (right now as I type this I am terrified). But I also look to control as my little god. I think they go hand and hand. When I am in control, I will gain approval. When others see the pictures on facebook of my adorable child, well dressed and behaving in my clean house they will know I am __fill in the blank_____. I could go on and on. I have examples of how I fit in all four categories, but before I tear myself down any further I have good news. It ain't all bad, AND there are solutions.

God called us to encourage one another, approval feels good, it gives us strength and courage. People who feel comfortable in roles of power are needed for a strong society, strong businesses etc. Comfort is needed for rejuvenation and relaxation. And control and planning are necessary or we would all go insane.

It's not the areas themselves  that are the problem. It is when you are looking in those places for your ultimate joy. Am I waiting for someone to like my status before I can have a good day? If my to do list doesn't get done, do I fall apart? And if so what can I do to combat those emotions? I'm so glad you asked.

If you are seeking joy in approval, spend more time in worship. Remember the world and everything good in it is from God, not you.

If you want power, look for ways to serve others. It will fill that void no promotion ever will.

If you only want to check out of life with comforts, try doing without. Spend a day without your iPad or favorite TV show, don't let it be your god.

And if you are drowning in your need for control, pray. Give those worries to God.

So I said I've been practicing, and I have. Key word practicing. I try to check facebook only 2-3 times a day as opposed to having it open all day and glancing every 2-3 minutes. I pray God keeps me focused on him instead of myself. I am trying to not live a small life, focused in on myself. I will not say it's working yet, but I will say realizing I had a problem has made it so much easier to let go of that need for control and approval every second of every day.

Wordless Wednesday-New Year, New Room

Two are better than one

I told you have a lot of baby showers coming up right?!? So let me share the twins shower from last weekend with you. This was for a friend from church and all the ladies in our parish (think sunday school group) worked together to make it great.

It was actually held at the hospital, because the babies were so ready to be here they showed up a few weeks early. But thank the Lord, they are all doing well and getting bigger and stronger each day, but continue to pray for those tiny sweethearts!

Here are some highlights. First the food! Y'all....My friend Casey and her Momma have a business that does dessert tables for events and let me tell you.....wow! It all was so beautiful and so yummy! Highly recommend @SugarBeeTables!!

Our decorating ideas changed when we realized we'd be setting up in a hospital classroom, but we had to keep our clothes line!

I stole my idea for boy/girl twin onesies straight from Etsy, but I love they way they turned out!

And the bibs were made with the twins bedding fabric.

The whole afternoon turned out super cute! I had so much fun planning for twins and working with ladies who are so creative and so loving. On to the Cherry Shower and Entrekin Shower next weekend!