Final Touches- Wedding/ Reception

I have 6 more days before we leave for Jamaica!  I started the day getting highlights and lowlights in my hair. Which are beautiful thanks to a new salon I found! Then I shopped with my soon to be mother-in-law for a few hours helping her find a dress and shoes for the reception. I followed that with more shopping with the soon to be hubby for clothes for our trip.

I've been working hard this weekend trying to get all the last minute stuff done for the reception which is the first day after we return. I know, I'm crazy right? Planning a reception the day after our late return flight, what was I thinking?!?

Does anyone know how to keep a house clean while packing to leave the country. Because I would really like to know! We will returning to house guests (literally, already at our house). It's a good thing they are related, or just like related, because at this point I am only promising clean sheets on the beds.

Here are a few photos from some last minute touches...

I bought these wedding themed placemates for the kiddos at the reception to color. How darling are those? If I had thought of such a thing earlier I would have created some myself and personalized them a bit more.

And tonight my boys are putting personalized labels on the water bottles.

I wanted to share with you the personalized coasters, but I am still waiting for part of the to arrive. I really don't like when things don't arrive when they say they should. :(

The next photos you will most likely see regarding my wedding/ reception will probably be from the actual events. Have I mentioned how excited I am?!

Cheesecake Sopapillas

I found a yummy recipe recently at Christy's blog, From Glitter to Gumdrops.

My family thought it was so delicious I decided everyone needs to know about them. I made just a few small changes (mainly a little less sugar and butter since I'm trying to drop some pounds). They are so easy, give them a try!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:
2 cans Crescent seamless dough (the new stuff, very cool!)
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/4 sticks Butter
Cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Unroll one can of the new crescent seamless dough to cover the bottom of the pan. Mix cream cheese, 3/4 c. sugar, and 1 stick of softened butter. Spread over crescent rolls.
Unroll second can of dough over cream cheese mixture. Melt 1/4 stick of butter, add 3/4 c. of sugar and pour over top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake at 350 degress Farenheit for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Let cool, cut into squares and serve.

Off to Christy's blog I go to find some new recipes!

What a beautiful day for a day trip on the motorcycle!

With a high in the mid 70s (and no rain clouds on radar) it was a perfect day for a day trip! We left this morning and returned 7 hours later, and what a great time we had!

We rode to Weston, a small historic town in Missouri.

We ate lunch at a great Irish restaurant (O'Malley's), had some fish and chips (fries) and one of their brewed beers. Then we ventured around town.

I REALLY think this fountain would make a nice additional to our landscape... but at a price of $1,000 I passed it by. I told myself I just couldn't get it home on a motorcycle. :)

We daydreamed about having a pond in our backyard someday. This was an interesting one!

And I thought this garden work table would be pretty neat to have. I reminded myself again that we rode a motorcycle. That which seems to be helping my pocket book.

Next we went antiquing downtown. I wondered if I could maybe find something that could fit in our motorcycle saddle bag.

I thought maybe this store would be the place to find it.

I searched high and low.. but no luck finding a new addition to our home. Probably because the soon to be hubby was watching me (it's much more fun to sneak things in the house and see if he notices them!).

I will say, downtown Weston is a fun place to window shop.

They even had live Jazz music on the street to enjoy for a bit!

I am falling in love with Magnolia trees this year. I want to plant one! I plan to research them a bit more and see if I have an ideal spot for one.

Our day trip was perfect, but it was also nice to return home. (Note: I ride on the back of the motorcycle, and we always wear helmets. This was a photo after returning home when I realized we didn't have a picture on the cycle!)

I found reception shoes!

I found shoes to wear to our wedding reception! I'm getting married in some barefoot sandals I made, so I haven't been too concerned about finding shoes. But I was delighted to find these!

Now aren't you just dying to see my wedding dress?? Sorry, I can't show you yet, I don't want the soon to be hubby to lay eyes on it until we are on the beach in Jamaica! (fingers crossed that customs doesn't pull it out in front on him!)

I miss you sis!

I almost forgot about Gratitude Wednesday! Today I am thankful for all of the years that I did have with my sister, who passed away October 7th, 2008. I sure miss you sis!

What are you grateful for today?

Spring Wreath

I've been wanting a spring wreath for my front porch and today I made one. 

I ran across a fall wreath at a resale store ($1.99, a steal!). I removed the fall flowers (for a future project) and bought some new flowers for it at Hobby Lobby (All flowers are 50% off , so I spent $12). That means my wreath cost me a grand total of $13.99, which really isn't bad considering I saw much smaller ones for sale at Hobby Lobby for $70-$100!

Linking to Blue Cricket Design's- Show and Tell, Just a Girl- Show and Share Day, http://roomtoinspire.blogspot.com/2010/04/be-inspired-link-party.html and A soft place to land- DIY Day

Our Easter

Who says they are getting too old for an easter egg hunt? Not when money is involved!

And yes, I made them use their Easter baskets! ;) There was no convincing me that they would just 'use a bag' this year!

Then this afternoon we had a wonderful gourmet brunch with family at a local art museum's restaurant. Strolling violinist and all, it was very nice!Why am I feeling so short? My kids are outgrowing me! Okay, I guess that is for the best. But surely my 'baby' is on his tippie toes!? And to think.... in three weeks I am marrying a very tall man!

Landscaping work continues

Over the weekend we continued where we left off with our front landscaping last fall. It sure is a long slow process.

Below is what we started out with (when we bought our house last year). A LOT of shrubs of all kinds (7 different varieties to be exact!), just all crowding into one another. So many different kinds, and no idea what the plan was when they were orginally planted.  Everything was just so sporadic and in no particular order. Very unpleasing to the eye if you ask me, unless you are going for the 'wild' look.

We first started by removing the large evergreen that was covering what little front porch we have. That in it's self made a HUGE difference! We did that the very first weekend we had possession.

Then the thinning of the shrubs on the left side of the front door began. What to keep and what not to keep that is the question. We decided this weekend to add a few feet to that landscape area so we pulled up the black plastic divider and brought it out. Hoping maybe things would feel a little less crowded.

We then transplated a few shrubs to different locations on our lot. I am still unsure about the one tree like plant under the window (there were two and we took one out last year)... now I'm thinking about taking out the other. I am not even sure what is is. I was hoping for some beautiful spring flowers to make it worth keeping, but so far no sign of any.  I wish I had a total clean slate, but we get what we get! Having my hands in the dirt is keeping my mind off the vegetable garden I really wanted to start this year, but just don't think I have the time to commit.

Easter Swap

I was so excited to receive this awesome basket of goodies this week. It was full of all sorts of fun Easter stuff! Lots of eggs full of candy, 2 candles, a ceramic egg, an egg decorating kit and a sweet soft ducky. Thank you Lindsay! I love it all! And of course the boys are loving it too! ;)

Swim 2.4 miles, Run 26.2 miles, Bike 112 Miles

Here are the details to the 30 Day Triathlon Challenge that I am committing to.

Swim 2.4 miles

Run 26.2 miles

Bike 112 Miles

all during the month of April. Why am I doing it? To prove that I can! And to get in better shape! I will be blogging about my progress along the way.

It's the time of year to grill out!

Isn't it hard to believe that rich, juicy, mouthwatering meat

can come from this rusty grill?? Well, it does!

Not just from the grill, but also from this hottie (my soon to be hubby) who insists on using the rusty grill instead of investing in something nicer. And honestly, everything is so tastey I'm not about to make a change!

Our dog Rio thinks it's mighty unfair that he has to smell the meat cooking but can't eat any. At least he can pretend with his bone!

In my opinion the only thing better then grilling out is using the smoker. If the weather cooperates, we are smoking pork ribs this Saturday!

Spring Cleaning/ Organizing in the garage

I FINALLY finished painting the inside of the garage! White just makes everything feel fresh, roomy and clean. Originally, I decided to paint it because we had some extra white paint around and I need a clean canvas for the Jayhawk mural. 7 gallons of paint later... it's finally done (and actually I could probably use another gallon for some touchup, but I am tired of painting right now).

After I finished the painting my 'soon to be hubby' and I started organizing the garage. We are delighted with how versatile the Rubbermaid Fast Track wall organizers are. Check out the system on their website here, Rubbermaid.

We purchased what we wanted to start with from Lowes and plan to add to it as time goes on. I have my eye on the ball holder (only I need more than 1) and a few other accessories.

As everyone knows organizing is a process. We have a long way to go to be completely organized, especially in the garage where most of our junk (of all shapes and sizes) seems to gravitate to.

I told you in an earlier post, More Storage Space, how we added some space above the actual garage door. We liked it so much that we put in a another one recently.

Here are the pics....

NOW

NOW: The Wheelbarrow holder is one of our favorites!

NOW

NOW

NOW

NOW

NOW

BEFORE: As embarrasing as it may be!

BEFORE: