Going To The Chapel

I love wedding pictures.  But I mean really, does anyone not love wedding pictures?  Probably, but by now, those people have already stopped reading.  Here are some pictures from before the ceremony that I was able to snap as Megan got ready on Saturday.

He Turned Two

As I sit here typing this, I can't help but feel like George Banks alah Father of the Bride.  The party is over, everything was fantastic and just now, I have a moment to reflect on everything; it was delightful. And I mean that literally.  Every guest that came was important and appreciated, all of the love that was abounding from one side of the house to the other was awesome and in the middle of it all was my sweet boy- who spent a better part of the afternoon spinning in webs of balloons and attempting to fall asleep.

Since it was his Golden Birthday, Arden enjoyed a Willy Wonka themed extravaganza.  I will go into detail where necessary; almost everything you see was handmade and inspired by Pinterest or some other serious time spent Google Image searching.

Enjoy!

The candy buffet idea is a pretty common one.  I made the candy jars from pillars that I found from Target and then glued jars on top.  While they look nice, they're also sturdy; midway through the party Arden toppled over the gray pillar.  Needless to say, 100 or so Jelly Bellies scampered across our floor in a matter of seconds, but the jar and pillar remained intact.  I call that a success. 

These I purchased from a party supply store.  They look nice, but they are seriously annoying to fluff up; probably never doing this again.

So, we were going to have people "cheese" with the golden frame I got at Michaels ($7.99), but that never happened.  Arden was the only lucky guy to get a framed picture.

Easy.  Cute.  Cheap.

Dip large marshmallows into semisweet chocolate.  Next dip them into nonpareils and skewer.

Bought these at a party store.  Not necessary, but very cute.

My calling card: chocolate covered pretzels.

Glorious.

So, these were supposed to be edible teacups.  Let's have a little chat about Pinterest fails shall we, 'cause this is one of them.  Time consuming and fragile; but it's my favorite part of the movie, so I think it was still worth it.

Despite what you're thinking, the mark on his forehead is a bruise, not chocolate... so no, don't think that I just forgot to wipe it off or something.

By the end of the party, there were: Doritos, fingers, mac and cheese, animal crackers, marshmallows, rice krispie treats and probably a few things that I don't even want to know about, all dunked in the chocolate fountain; in other words, it was a huge crowd pleaser.  Side note: when someone asked me if I bought this, I said, "yes."  A friend of mine said, "You need to flip your hair and say, 'yea, I own a chocolate fountain now."  Apparently, chocolate fountains are a sign that a girl has made it, so consider me: made.

Absolutely adorable.

I love this girl; she's always down to party and appreciates the details like no one else I know.

i'm a big deal.  wow.  let's party.
Anyone who knows us, understands that those captions are spot on.

Clearly, the signage action was plentiful with the over 28 crowd.

Super simple, super cute.  I found this heart ramekin for $1 at Target.  I got a small styrofoam ball for $3.99 at Michaels and then I put a whole 'lotta Dum Dums all up on it.  Tip: angle the sticks towards the surface of the table and not horizontally; I learned that the hard way. 

I searched high and low for a tutorial on making these styrofoam lollipops, here goes: take a styrofoam disk ($5.99 at Michaels) and cover it in tissue paper; do not leave gaps, cover the entire surface.  (I purchased my tissue paper at the dollar store, it's much cheaper and works just as well.)  Insert a dowel rod into the bottom of the disk, I interred mine about an inch and a half.  Take iridescent cellophane and wrap the entire disk, tying a bow at the base of the disk where the dowel rod is sticking out.  Make sure to arrange the cellophane so that it appears as though it is wrapping the disk like a lollipop wrapper would.  Wha-lah.  Project complete.  They cost about $8 a pop, so they are nice, but pricey.

And what Willy Wonka themed party would be complete with out a Wonka bar and a purple top hat?

Happy Birthday, Arden.  We love you!

I Make A Difference... Oh Wait, No I Don't

Just when I think that this blog here cannot be anymore ho-hum, I go and get an email from one of my best friends, who let's me know that he made a connection with My Hambone post the other day... and for a split second I think, "I'm making a real impact here.  I'm making a difference."  And then I see that it's a Jack Handey quote and I realize that this is a blog and that I need to slow my roll.  In honor of keeping it real, here's what he had to say:

Subject: Hambone

Your post made me think of one of my favorite Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy:

“If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong though. It's Hambone.”

Space Phones, What Are They Good For

I'm so happy now that my friend Katie has a space phone iPhone, because it means I get to read messages like this.  She's a doll.

And this is Katie's response after I asked if she was going to be getting a gift for a mutual friend's 30th birthday party:

Yeah that's right, we've been rockin' a friendship since 95'; jealous much?

Where Have You Been

Yesterday, I watched one of my best friends in life marry the man that she's crazy in love with; 

then we all watched as they grooved their way 

back down the aisle as husband and wife to Rihana's Where Have You Been.

 It was nothing short of awesome.  

When in doubt, ask someone who will tell you like it is.

Probably should've done a quick background item check...
At least the trashcan filled with wine bottles didn't make the shot.

If I know Nikole, she's saying to herself, "I'm not a policeman, I'm a princess!"

Behind every Bride-- and in this case, next to, is an awesome Maid of Honor.

And gorgeous... I forgot to mention that she's a gorgeous Maid of Honor.

This one's for Bobby's mum.

Lovely ladies.

Ok, so here's the deal.  2 nights before the wedding, I made Jim spray tan me.  He did a good job, but spray tan being what it is, I was streaky as a mother and my friends being who they are, thought it was hilarious and made fun of me.  Well, suck it y'all, it looks pretty decent in these pictures... just don't look at my tan foot.

One of the nicest thing about this weekend was rediscovering why we all became friends 11 years ago; mostly because we're fabulous, but also because we're good looking, nice people.

Pretty sure every Bridesmaid that wears a strapless dress has a picture where they look naked.  Here's mine.

Not to ruin the moment, but doesn't the Officiant look like Janeane Garofalo?

As Jim loves to say, you can take the girl out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take Pittsburgh out of the girl.

The nacho bar was legit delicious.

Can you tell which one is wearing a hairpiece?

Don't let the mustaches deceive you, this wedding party is all 2012, y'all.

Isn't she beautiful?

So, I pretty much Uncle Buck-ed every picture I took.  And what is Uncle Buck-ing a picture you might ask.
Well, it means that I just focused in on two (or more) people during a large group shot, and wha-lah.  A two person shot.

He's one lucky guy.

And she didn't do too bad herself.

This was a posed kiss though.

Mr & Mrs. S.

Oh, so this is where I'll Have Another went to...

I sincerely hope my sons are this cool when they grow up.

I desperately wanted these bangs, but we all know how that turned out...

If I'm ever lucky enough to have a daughter, I hope we have a relationship like they do. 

She's a lady in the street.

These two legitimately are Crazy In Love.

It's a good thing this was early, things got a wee bit slippery on the dance floor as the night wore on.

I heart the 15260.

And the rest of these people heart the people from 15260.

And this was just icing on the cake for Bob's mum.

She makes her laugh and that makes me happy.

It feels good to be back together again.

I was going to crop this, but I didn't have the heart to cut off Nikole's fierceness.  Work it girl.

I inappropriately love him.

We love one another so much, that we save each other's lives... literally.

I heart these two.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your day, Baby Girl.  I love you.