Weekend Wraps

Happy February Friends! This is a great month for two reasons.

1. It's my birthday month 2. It's Valentine's Day!

I know many hate the holiday for love, but I am a romantic at heart and just love it. I have a great idea for Patty boy up my sleeve, more on that to come in a few weeks.

I simply had a wonderful, semi-relaxing weekend, even though I had to go in to work for just a bit I still made due with my time off.

Saturday night we celebrated the January/February birthdays in the family at my parent's house. My Mom made a mexican feast that was to die for and we celebrated my Dad, Grandma and My birthday! It was great and much needed family time was wonderful.

I got wonderful presents, and am so thankful, here are a few of my favs:) 

 

TOM's black chambray wedges. In Love.



Urban Decay Naked 2, I've been wanting this stuff for months, it's hard to track down so getting it for a gift is perfect!

This tile is from my Aunt and Uncle- so cool! It's already on display on the fireplace.

After the birthday festivities, I ended the weekend with a hot yoga class, an amazing boxing class, a long walk with Buddy to enjoy the beautiful weather and a little bit of baking. I made some Pumpkin Protein Bars (I never get sick of pumpkin) for Pat and I to take with us to work this week. Great source of protein and will definitely curve hunger! They are great warmed up and topped with a little frozen nonfat whipped cream if you need an extra bit of sweetness.

Pumpkin Protein Bars 

 You can find the recipe HERE. I went for the second version, the lowfat/lowcarb option and they turned out great!






me and my main squeeze at my parents



Best parents in the world!



 Hope you all had a great weekend!

 Now it's time to relax, watch the super bowl, and get ready for another llooonngg week.

Surprise Engagement / Housewarming Party

One of my co-workers and great friend, Kirsten, recently got engaged and bought a new house so I and another fellow co-worker, Julie decided it'd be a great idea to throw a surprise party for the two! Prior to my vacation Julie and I got all of the decor prepared and details figured out. Kirsten and Daniel will be getting married next September 14th and their colors will be dark purple and burnt orange so we incorporated these colors into the party.

 

Julie made this cute Love sign out of pictures of the couple.

We made garland with purple/orange scrapbook paper in different sizes and strung it on twine.

Food was all labeled with frames we spray painted purple/orange and used chalkboard paint and chalk.

The most yummy drink!

I had this frame that we spray painted purple and then Julie filled in with their "love" story.

Found these cardboard letters (Kirsten & Daniel) which we also spray painted and added some cute flowers and doilies.

Delicious sugar cookies in the couple's colors, how cute are they?!

Thanks to Cake Face Bake Shop- if you haven't been it's a must try!

The happy couple - Kirsten & Daniel with Patty boy and I

Kirsten, Julie, and I- Great job to Julie!

The party turned out great and I'm looking forward to helping Kirsten along the way this next year as she plans for her big day!

 

Hope you all had a great weekend..I'm NOT looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things quick though. September is shaping up to be just as busy as August was- here we go.

 

Much Love~

Amber

Cirque Du Baby Shower

I LOVE to plan parties. Weddings, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Babyshowers, etc. I know this has been awhile back now, but wanted to blog about a babyshower I planned for a great friend of mine last summer. Tessa did not know what she was having, so she wanted the shower to be a gender neutral shower that would work for either. The theme of the shower was Cirque du Baby which I absolutely loved. We chose to use the colors of red, yellow, and turquoise and I think it turned out great! The shower was a couple's shower and took place outside at a family friend's house. It was definitely hot out, but that didn't stop the fun.

Tessa and Garrett had a great turn out and got lots of great gifts for baby Banks.

Since the babyshower had a "circus theme" I filled large jars with circus peanuts, cracker jacks, and animal crackers for guests of the party to snack on throughout the night. The red shutters held "baby wish" cards for each guest to fill out as they arrived to the party and hang to display. The popcorn container had a piece of styrofoam which I covered with popcorn and then stuck in the swirled lollipops and wooden b-a-b-y letters.

This was the drink station- I made a large container of lemonade with striped yellow straws I ordered from etsy.com. The straws each had flags that varied from "Baby Konen" and "Cirque Du Baby". Then of course underneath the table were more refreshements in coolers.

Tables were scattered around the pool for guests to sit at. The above centerpieces were placed on each table. The center piece I made from old paint cans, which I bought a roll of tickets and hot glued the tickets around the can, topping with a colorful piece of ribbon. I then filled the paint cans with dirt and placed assorted flowers in each.

The two end centerpieces were popcorn containers that I had found and filled with styrofoam and then topped with popcorn. I ordered paper pinwheels from another etsy shop and stuck three in each container.

Tessa's friend Alli brought the cupcakes. The animals and clowns went perfect with the circus theme!

The Happy parents, Tessa & Garrett!

Much Love~
Amber

::Success::

Seriously. More fun than I've had in ALONG time! My sister's bachelorette party tops my list! AND get this, no one got sick, everyone had a blast, the preggo's were such troopers- stayed out with us till after 2am and danced the night away like it was nothing! I'm so glad my sis did not turn out like I did, for once in her life she listened to me:)

The night started at my Mom's house with some snacks, games, drinks, and more drinks...

Bride - to - Be

Here we go ladies!

Sisterly Love

On stage at Ernie Biggs Piano Bar

What a trooper

My Mom is SO MUCH FUN!

Now the wedding is 3 weeks away- the countdown is on!!

Much Love~
Amber

Cupcakes & Cocktails

Ms. Cortney the Bride-to-Be, isn't she beautiful!?!

4.24.12

My younger sister Cortney is getting married June 30th, holy cow, can't believe it's almost two months away, man time is flying! Cortney is the complete opposite of me in every way you can imagine, sometimes I wish I could be as laid back as she is.. anywho she's not a a big fan of planning things you could say so I've gotten the opportunity to help a lot with her wedding, which in all honesty has been more fun than planning my own, I'm so much more LESS stressed out that it's not my own.

I was especially excited to plan her shower, I've been envisioning it for months now! This past Saturday, 4/21 we hosted her Bridal Shower at my Mom's house- the theme was Cupcakes & Cocktails, which I was beyond excited for. My great friend Tessa designed the invites and table cards for me, all of which turned out perfect.

Saturday couldn't have been a more perfect day, the shower started at 7:00pm, there was not an ounce of wind (very rare in KS) and we all sat around in my parents backyard where we had tiki torches and a fire pit going when it started to get a bit chilly.

Can of Dates- As each guest arrived they were to fill out a "Date Card" with
a date idea for Cortney and David to use throughout their
marriage, got to keep that spark alive!

Main food table filled with delicous home made desserts by my Mom, Grandma, and Me!

Tissue Pom Centerpieces. Found these candlestick holders at Goodwill and spraypainted them.
BUT let me tell you, these are not a quick project...hours and hours were spent
on these darn things, but turned out cute huh?!

Pink Champagne (High Heel) Cupcakes. These were a hit, and they're just
so darn cute!

Marshmallow Puffs

Cake Batter Dip (tasts exactly like the name...yuuuummmm)

Wedding Cupcakes, miniature size

Pink Lemonade Bundt Cake

Picture Collage of Cort & David, such cute little lovebirds!

Drink Table

Each guest left with another sweet treat as a Thank You for coming

Sisters, great ending to the night:) Love you both so much!

Looking forward to her next shower in a couple of weeks, this one is a couple's shower, should be fun. My ideas are already turning for the bachelorette party in June can't wait!

Much Love~

Amber