Catching up.

Been catching up on life this past week or so. House cleaning, veggie freezing, being with people I love. I has been therapeutic and wonderful. Hopefully I will be back to regular posting - whatever that means - soon. Enjoying a few nights off with my sweet husband and being super intentional about our time together. I'm loving semi-mightly walks, dinners together, and just all around hanging out.

Busy!

I thought things would slow down after the Big Event on Satutday but thus is life and that did not really happen. I had to work Monday night and tonight in addition to small group last night and then my friend J is coming tomorrow night. We are going to good 'ole Alabama on Satuday to see our sweet friend B and her new-ish bambino. I am excited about seeing friends and spending the weekend with people I love. Just gotta get there now...

Big United Way meeting at work today. It is our site visit on which some of our localized funding is based. I have to briefly speak about my role in our organization and it always make me nervous like something I say will hinder us recieving funding! Saying a little prayer for calm nerves and headed to work.

July Birchbox!

It's Birchbox time! My July Birchbox came last Friday - Chad checked the mail as I was literally "shirt tails flying" (as my mother would say) out the door to head to Knoxville to start setting up for our big event. So, sorry for the more poor than usual pictures this month (not that they are usually fabulous!) but you will still get the point. I saw him walking across the yard with my hot pink box in his hand and I grabbed my camera and ran inside with it!

This month, Birchbox teamed up with Glamour Magazine for our boxes. They touted that there would be something for all 5 senses thus the fun little wrapper around the box this month.

This is the first look - the first thing I noticed was the hot pink egg. More below...

This is a beautyblender (sic) brand makeup blender. I have heard that this is supposed to be a phenominal makeup "brush" but I pretty much don't use any liquid makeup so not sure how useful this will be for me. However, a pack of 2 is normally $25.95 so this is a monthly steal.

This is one of the "touch" sense items for the month.

These are Tea Forte mints...I love the little box that is leaf shaped and I have already dropped these in my purse to take with me to work tomorrow!

This is the "taste" item for the month.

I think everyone got a set of these fun colored earbuds. They are a Birchbox exclusive - it says - so it will be nice to have a extra pair to leave with my iPod and one to keep with my phone.

This is the "sound" item for the month.

The perfume for the month is Harvey Prince's "Hello". Self proclaimed as an "optimistic blend of juicy Meyer lemon, white grapefruit, and pink plumeria" this will probably be something I really like. I gave it one sniff while taking pictures and I do think I like the scent. I am a sucker for a good citrus scent and this is a much more reasonably priced perfume than others I have recieved samples of...

obviously this is the "smell" item of the month.

This is a small sample of the Jouer Luminizing Mousture Tint. I already tried it on my hand and though it is a bit dark for my skin, I loved the way it looked and felt. Not too oily or shimmery. If it comes in other colors, I might really like it, especially because it also has SPF 20 in it.

This is another "touch" item.

And finally, a stila lip glaze. I really like the color - sheer and sort of a browny pink. It comes in a limited-edition set of 3 for $12 so my friend K and I are thinking about ordering it. It is a little sticky for my taste but I really like the color so I might be able to overlook that for a nice shine!

All in all, this was a decent box. It is interesting to compare mine with K's box because she got really different things *that I wish I had gotten* in her box (a bronzer and some hair product) so it is almost as fun to see what everyone else gets. Either way, still one of the coolest presents I have ever gotten! :)

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Success!

After only one major blip on Friday afternoon - not enough flowers!! - Saturday's event went flawlessly. And to call an event flawless, is - in my humble opinion - pretty freaking amazing. Everyone arrived on time, the script went faster than I planned (which is good since I thought it was WAY over time and it means we actually finished early for a change), the decorations were spot on...I am just really proud of the way it turned out.

The Main Event.

Well folks, the big GS event that was moved from April to July is finally here this Saturday. I have been kicking it into high gear all week and I think I am sorta/kinda/maybe ready. I have a lot to still get done tomorrow and we will leave tomorrow night to start setting up in the ballrooms so wish us luck!

We still have 250 corsages to make tomorrow and lots of things to load in the van and get to Knoxville. Crossing my fingers for a super successful event.

Too short.

I spent the afternoon at a funeral today. I am always so torn about attending funerals...of course I wouldn't NOT go but how do you celebrate when you are so sad? This funeral was especially poignant - it was for a 10-year-old Girl Scout who was killed tragically in a freak windstorm Thursday night when their boat overturned on the lake. I knew her from multiple weekend camps and I have worked with her mom as a volunteer and troop leader. I can picture her smiling face at camp, as clearly as if it was this past weekend.  It is so hard to see families crying - mommas that will never get to hug their babies again, daddies that will never get to take their little girls camping again. And having to keep living, beyond their grief and their pain. I fully trust in the knowledge of my Savior - and thankfully they do too - but how do you weather this storm? My heart cannot imagine.

My favorite part of the funeral - is that odd to say? - was when the pastor reminded us that she had rededicated her life to Christ just 5 days before her death. He spoke about how it was a beautiful gift - not for Zoe - but for the rest of us who knew her and the community around her. A gift to see her set an example of how we should live - happily, beautifully, fully-dedicated to a life serving Christ.

Coming home.

I've been out of town since Sunday when I attended my sister and F's wedding reception. After leaving Atlanta Sunday night, I headed with my parents to Biloxi by way of Columbus. I literally have no pictures from those days (except what I've posted on Instagram) because I was just enjoying the undivided attention of my parents. Mom and I drove around, laid by the pool, bought art, and just generally enjoyed each others company. 

 I'm super happy to be home with a few days of my week off left to enjoy. I will spend the day tomorrow helping my friend K inside her house (with no a/c - wish us luck!) and then Saturday, I plan to just lounge around and maybe - just maybe - get around to doing laundry.

So - without further delay - here is the cake I made for my their reception. Each person who my sister asked to make a cake - and I think there were 8 or 9 of them! - was given a set of these little people to paint to go with the cake. I painted mine to look like the girls did on their wedding day - F. in a dark suit with a blue shirt and my sister in a shimmery green dress. I added the little ribbon garland for funsies.

The cake was a bit lighter in person but I wish it was even lighter than it was. The top was the lightest yellow and bottom the brightest yellow for an ombre effect but I wish the colors had turned out a big more different/drastic from top to bottom. However, I am pretty proud of the way it turned out sicne it was my first time doing all this jazz.

Here is a close-up of the little people...

The cake was strawberry lemonade (easy-peasy - boxed strawberry cake mix - I used one and a half boxes - and whipped vanilla icing with lemon flavoring - which was, thank-you-very-much, made from scratch). I love the different colors and how they match the ribbons on top.

 Here is the cutie couple thanking everyone for coming...it was a super beautiful and fun party. So nice to see people that I don't often get to see - family and friends both. The food was delicious - thanks Eddie's Attic - and the company even better. There are tons more pictures on my sister's FB site..check them out if you are friends with her.