Engagement Party!

Last month, Logan and I had a lovely gathering of some close friends and family to celebrate our engagement.  The whole process was a bunch of work to prepare for, and the party itself gave us a glimpse into the way the bride and groom feel at the wedding.

My parents hosted the party at their house, and we had heavy hors d'oeurves for 40 people. That was a lot of food. That was a lot of work.

I also planned some games to keep people from getting bored or socially awkward and I made some decorations that I had been itching to have an occasion for.

This was the result!

Invitation:
For our invitation we had our roommate come with us out to a nature trail and just snap some informal pictures. Then I went all photoshop-ninja on them and made them look semi-decent. Here were some of the results:

Before:
 After: 


Before: 
After: 



Before:  After: 



Here are some other favorites:

 

And some that belong to awkwardfamilyphotos.com



 

Anyways, I used some of those pictures to create this engagement party invite on Microsoft Publisher:



And this informal engagement announcement:

 Games/Activities:
I planned a few games that people could play on their own throughout the evening and some that the groups would play together.

1. Bride and Groom Trivia:
Our group of friends is pretty into bar trivia, so we created a game of trivia that was all based on Amy and Logan.
Here were some of the questions:
How tall is Logan to the nearest inch?
How tall is Amy to the nearest inch?
What NFL game have they been to together?
What breed of dog do they own?
How long passed between when they met and when they started dating?
Name three cities Amy has lived in.
Where did they go on their first date?
How many pets have they owned together? What are their names?
What city was Logan born in?
Where does Amy work?
Where did they go on their first flight together?
How many countries have they been in together?
First  movie they watched together?
Groom's middle name?
Bride's middle name?
What high school did Amy graduate from?
What is Amy's birthday?
What is Amy's secret talent?
What high school did Logan graduate from?
What is Logan's birthday?
What side of the bed does Logan sleep on?
What is their song?
What are their respective shoe sizes?
What is their favorite restaurant?
Where did they first have breakfast together?
What kind of cut is the center diamond in Amy's engagement ring?


We also pre-grouped people to mix up the groups (we figured the parents would automatically group together which wouldn't be fair) but everyone had just finished eating and were still in their seats so we just went with the groups they were in and kind of moved people around.



2. Birthday Calendar
Next, I bought this Paris calendar online and had a place where people could sign their name on their birthday so that we could always remember their special date :)

3. Getting to Know You Pin Game
I saw this version of the classic baby shower game here , where everyone pins a clothespin on their shirt when they walk in the door and they are forbidden to say certain words as they walk around and mingle.  Our forbidden words were 'bride' 'groom' and 'wedding'.  If anyone said these words, the person they are talking to get to steal their pin.

I found this as the perfect opportunity to paint bride and groom clothespins seen on etsy.
"How hard could it be?"
... famous last words.
These freaking clothespins took so long and made me so angry as I painted each side, let it dry, painted the other side, let it dry, add one color detail, add another color detail, add another color detail, let it dry, flip, repeat. 36 times. Maybe my patience has been compromised after so many hours of crafting... but they turned out cute!


The sign that I used to label them said:
"Grab a clothespin, don't be shy!
For this game you'll have to be so sly.
Pin it on your top or shirt,
Walk around and talk or flirt.
If someone says "wedding," "bride," or "groom,"
Take their pin - they've met their doom.
The winner is the person who
Has the most pins through and through."



4. Picture Sort
I made this game up myself when realizing how many pictures we had together and thought it could be a fun game.  I chose a bunch of pictures from different time periods in our relationship and put letters by each one.  The game was that people had to look at the pictures and put them in chronological order. I made sure to put clues in the pictures, such as pictures from different halloweens when we were in different memorable costumes, pictures where Logan had broken his ankle then where he had it in a boot, pictures from his and my graduation, pictures when we got new pets, and so on.  This ended up being a REALLY hard game, so if I were to do it again I would probably only use 10 pictures or so.  It was a cool game for our friends because a lot of the pictures were from events they were a part of as well (New Year's Eve, Logan's ankle breaking, my 21st birthday party, Halloweens, and our friends' wedding).

5. Wine Bottle Dedication
In brainstorming what we should write on the invitation to solve the 'gift dilemma' (we didn't expect people to bring gifts but knew some people awkward arriving empty-handed) my mom suggested an idea I have seen on pinterest a few times of every guest bringing a bottle of wine and writing a nice note on the bottle to say when the couple should open it.  This turned out really cute and everyone brought a bottle of wine so we have quite a collection now! A lot of people thought of really clever times to drink it too, so it's something to look forward to. I was worried about where we would keep the wine before we drank it, but we use it as decoration in our house now.  I was also worried about everyone putting like '50 year anniversary' and us having to keep track of this bottle for 50-something years, but luckily only one person put '25 year anniversary' and he knew he was being a smart-ass when he did it.

This was our entrance table where people could add labels to their wine bottles and grab their clothespins.

And this is our lovely wine collection!  See the adorable 'G' our roommate made us? It's adorable!! Also, that bag on the right that looks like an average black purse is really AN INSULATED WINE PURSE TO HOLD YOUR BOTTLE OF WINE. Best. Invention. Ever.

*Some other games that I had planned/been considering but we didn't do include:

·         Ice Ring Making - Instructions: Hand each guest an ice cube and a knife. Explain the objective and rules of the game. Set the timer for 5 minuets and say "Go". Each guest has 10 mins to complete their engagement ring. The couple will judge the best ring.

·         Wedding Pictionary – use a dry erase board and make the bride and groom compete.  Everything drawn is movies that involve weddings or engagements (27 dresses, while you were sleeping, my best friend’s wedding, etc). Choose other couples to compete.

·         Diamond Ice Carving

·         Wedding Practice – Treat your bride and groom to a little taste of what’s to come in the coming months full of stressful decision making and practice for a ceremony in front of all of their friends and family. Challenge the couple to complete tasks that they’ll become very familiar with in the next few months, such as the wedding gown, tux or wedding cake. See who can dress in a wedding gown or tux the fastest. For real fun, ask the bride to get dressed in the tux and ask the groom to wear the gown. For something a little more messy, see who can cut a cake the fastest.

·         Share memories of couple

·         Name Words

·         That’ll Cost You - Ask each guest to bring a small, inexpensive present to your party wrapped. Set a dollar limit for them to spend and tell them to buy something funny that goes with the wedding or engagement theme. For every guest that brings a present, give them fake money that they can use to bid for other wrapped gifts. For great fun and laughs, make everyone open their gifts while at the party so that everyone can enjoy watching your five-year-old cousin open a wedding survival kit!

·         The Fiancees Game (Newlywed Style)

·         The Picture Match Game

·         The Happy Couple Game

Decorations

Again, the decorations were a time when I could use all of my stored up pinterest ideas. 

1. Golf Tee Balloons

I attempted to do that really cool thing where you pin balloons to the ground using golf tees so they float to line your yard or driveway. Well, there was a little wind (really, just a little) and the balloons automatically flopped over and looked NOTHING like this picture:

... and it wasn't long before they were flying away and were a lost cause. Pinterest. Fail.

2. Tissue Paper PomPom Garland
I made this tissue paper pompom garland. I love tissue paper pompoms, and I love the way this garland looks. I made two and hung them from the window.

3. Door Wreath

My mom found this Valentine's day wreath on clearance, I hot glued some beads on it and added our picture to the middle to hang on the front door. Voila!

4. Plastic Spoon Roses
I saw this idea on Railsberry and spent a few hours putting together these adorable flowers.  Except I didn't read that part where it said flameless candles and got super irritated when the spoons and fake flowers were melting. Yes, I did think about it melting before, but this was after I saw the price of a pack of flameless candles and decided it was worth not lighting the candles.  So anyways, here they are:

Other decorations included tablecloths, lots of balloons, an attempt at a floating flower wreath that I didn't get a picture of, we put a bunch of balloons in the pool, put pictures and candles around, spread little hearts on the tables, put little centerpieces on the tables. Oh, and of course the decorations that Kelly had made us on our return from Europe!

Food

I'm getting tired, I've been working on this for hours, and have already talked about the food I made, so this will be brief.

Our food consisted of:

Baked Mini Spinach Dip Bread Bowls

Pinwheels from Costco

Shrimp & dip in individual cups

Pasta salad kabobs

Crunch Apple Grape Salad

Meatballs

Logan's mom made Crawfish dip and jalepeno poppers... yum!

Logan made millionaire's bacon

Hmmm... there were a few other things too but I'm having a hard time remembering.

Oh. A chocolate fountain.

And Logan's sister made us a delicious peanut butter cup cake to top it all off! Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy my cake because I spent the whole evening hopping up to socialize.

 I think that's it for tonight, but tomorrow I will try to post about my bridesmaids boxes and flower girl box. Oh wait, no I won't because I'm going to a Taylor Swift concert. Saturday, then. Oh wait, I'm going to Disney! I guess I'll get around to it sometime in my exciting weekend!

<3 Amy

Christmas Gifts... A few months late

Here are some of the Christmas gifts from this year! I didn't go quite as crazy in making every single person I knew something. In fact, I actually BOUGHT my assistants gifts instead of making them, and I also purchased some of the gifts for my family and friends. Not quite as much time on my hands this year.

We'll actually start before Christmas. Our friends got married in the middle of December at a beautiful outdoor ceremony at a nearby country club. For their gift, we put together a basket of a few baking items that weren't already snatched up from their registry, as well as a few home-made personal items.  She's a big baker, so it was all a baking theme.

Mrs. Apron
I started with this apron inspired by myself inspired by etsy.  I changed around the colors to match their wedding colors and used leftover fabric. I also painted her new name: Mrs. Caggiano.

Photo Coasters

I also included these photo coasters. Not sure where the tutorial went that I used to make these, but here is a similar one from thefrugalgirls.  Pretty much all I did was hijack some of their engagement pictures from their facebook, crop them all to a 4" by 4" quare and turned them black and white in photoshop. I then printed them on regular paper and mod-podged them on white tiles from Home Depot and added furniture felt dots to each corner of the bottom of the tile. 

I was a little disappointed in the streakyness that happened when I put the top layer on. It made me wonder if a different type of mod-podge or maybe some laquer would hold it and make it look pretty? I'd have to experiment with this...

Near and Far Mugs

Next I made these near and far mugs for my friend in England, found here.  To make these, I just bought two white latte mugs from Target (they were like $2 each) and an acrylic pen from Michaels. The tutorial says to use peebo pens, but they didn't have that exact brand at Michaels so I just had someone point me in the right direction.  Everything else I just freehanded by drawing first in a thin tip sharpie so that I could rub off any mistakes, then going over in pen.  I made the mugs so that the lines connected when the mugs were put together, but the line also went around to the other side of the same mug and connected to the opposite place (each mug had Florida on one side and England on the other).  I also made sure to follow the directions on the pen so that they were dishwasher safe.  After a few months of using mine a good amount, I do see some fading of the pen in some places but it is still cute.

Knitted Mandrake

Also for Edie, I made this knitted mandrake as a tribute to her Harry Potter love. The tutorial for this mandrake can be purchased from ravelry here. I don't consider myself to be an expert knitter, but this project turned out really cute and one of my favorite projects!  It did take quite awhile, but it was worth it. For the facial features I just used black fabric paint.  Because we were travelling London and Paris before we made it to see Edie this winter, I didn't end up packing the little pot that I took pictures of it in... I just used the mug (above) as the pot.

University of Florida (UF) Tshirt Quilt

For my brother, I made this Gators tshirt quilt out of his old tshirts from college.  For the backing, I used a Gator blanket that we had found a few years earlier on clearance and had hoarded since then.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the front and the back of the blanket were mirror images together and  my sigh of relief to finally be done was soon followed by a growl of frustration when I realized the image was backwards.  I left it, thinking it was hard to notice.  My mom noticed it right away and my brother said he thought it was supposed to be that way.  Oh well.

Glittered Alcohol Bottles

I saw this idea on pinterest from sororitycraft and had made one for my roommate for her birthday in November (see post here).  I definitely have been going through a glitter phase obsession ever since I found the perfect combination of glitter and mod podge.  I went with this gift twice at Christmas...

A gator colored (orange and blue) Southern Comfort with Lime bottle (my brother's favorite) for my brother:

And a blue glittered tequila bottle for my longtime sister's friend's 21st birthday.

Glittered Wine Glasses

I had made a few glittered wine glasses a few months ago just for fun following the tutorial here. 

Again, this was the go-to craft right around Christmas time, so many of my close family and friends now have some of my designer glasses in their cabinets ;)

For my mom, I made her another 'I teach therefore I drink' glass because she had dropped hers and broke it a few weeks before.  Unfortunately, I could emphasize with her because I too had dropped my beloved 'I teach therefore I drink' wine glasses and was practically in tears when I saw it sitting in pieces in the sink. 

For my dad, I made a gator glass that said "Not now... I'm studying" because he recently started a Master's program in Engineering and UF and seems to be studying in every free second he possibly can. 

For Logan's parents, I made a set of wine glasses... one for each sport team they cheer for (Eagles, Gators, UCF, and Dolphins).

Triathlon Sports Bag

For another gift for my dad, I decided to buy a drawstring sports bag, painting a triathlon saying on it ("Swim, Bike, Run, Repeat") and filled it with triathlon-inspired gear including all 3 of the series of Gatorades, goggles, a running shirt, running socks, and a bike water bottle.

So that's it on Christmas gifts for this year. Stay tuned... much more coming! 

<3 Amy

5 Months of Recipes!

Since November, I've tried a few recipes, though not as many as I would hope.  There were a few hits and a few misses.


I apologize, I don't have many pictures. I got out of the habit of taking pictures after making things and just got into the consuming piece.

Recipe 108 - Corn Casserole from Seeded at the Table
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it so much that I made it again to go with our Christmas.  It's really easy and really delicious!!!

Recipe 109 - Skillet Lasagna from The Kate Chronicles
This turned out to be another really easy recipe that was delicious! Logan was requesting it right away and was disappointed when I reminded him I don't make things twice. Yes, he finds this really irritating but if I didn't make such a rule he would never experience these new delicious things! Again, this was really easy but you have to have the ingredients on hand if you just want to whip it up. Otherwise it takes *shock horror* PLANNING (which I'm horrible at).

Recipe 110 - Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies from Watching What I Eat
I don't remember how easy or not easy these cookies were but I remember them having bananas in them instead of eggs/flour/sugar and they were really really good!!!

Recipe 111 - Overnight Oats from Kath Eats Real Food
Eh - I wasn't a fan of this recipe. It was mushy and thick... I might have added too many oats. I would try again I guess.

Recipe 112 - Peanut Butter Dog Treats from TurtleWoman
I did recipe #2 on this page (because it was the easiest). I made a double batch - One for my lovemuffin of a dog Lily and one as a secret Santa gift for a coworker.  Everyone loved them! I even tried them! Okay... I didn't love them as much as the puppies did but I was pretty confident that they were delicious :)
Speaking of puppies... I'll be happy to spread the cuteness around (I can't hog it all)

Recipe 113 - Chubby Hubby Truffles from Six Sisters' Stuff
Another recipe Logan loves. Until I reminded him about them and told them what they were called. He said "I'm never eating them again!" We'll see about that!  I usually go with the traditional oreo balls, but took a chance on these and they were SO GOOD! I mean... what's not to love about chocolate and peanut butter AND pretzels? Ah!


Recipe 114 - Apple Crunch Salad from Tasty Kitchen
I made this salad for the engagement party. I made a ton. It went really well with the tons of other food, but we had tons left over too. It was really good and I loved it, but I could barely fool myself into thinking it was healthy as I watched the sugary juices flow around that crisp fruit. Still, yummy! Oh, P.S... You have to halve 6 cups of grapes... which took about half an hour. You don't realize how many grapes 6 cups is.

Recipe 115 - Baked Spinach Dip Mini Bread Bowls from Picky Palate
YUM! We are suckers for spinach dip in this house. We MAY have eaten a bunch of the spinach mix before it made it to the bowls. And we MAY have realized what is really in that spinach dip. You know... healthy spinach, right? I made these for the engagement party as well. Unfortunately, I had to make them the night before and re-heat them before the party because we had so  much to do the day of, and they weren't quite as good re-heated. They are also better if they are consumed right away and don't sit out on a food table for an hour. These were godly though.

Recipe 116 - Crock Pot Tortellini Soup from Healthy Snack Recipes
The fact that this is from a page called 'Healthy Snack Recipes' when it contains a block of cream cheese and a bag of tortellini.  But this was delicious!! It kind of chunked up when we refrigerated it and didn't look quite as good reheated, but it still was yummy. We all decided it would be better with some sausage in it.

Recipe 117 - Melt in Your Mouth Lemon Bars from justapinch
I was so excited to try making these lemon bars. I imagined a light, fruity desert that cleansed the palate. A couple sticks of butter couldn't hurt that, right? Well, the lemon topping was glorious and just what I was looking for, but the butter-full crust threw me off. I felt like all I was eating was sticks and sticks of butter. Everyone else loved them, maybe because they didn't know exactly how much butter was in there, but I wasn't a fan.

Recipe 118 - Peanut Butter Cup Pie from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice
This was a recipe made for Logan on our 4 year anniversary. It was very good...
I made it quickly, and you know what happens when I make things quickly.
I'm average height. Everyone in my household calls me short. I'm average height.
People who are average height often have difficulties when it comes to some cabinets and pantries, such as the one above the microwave.  Then one where we happen to keep the spices and extracts.
So I'm rushing, I'm on my tippie toes, and I'm grabbing the first extract I can feel, assuming it was vanilla.
Well, half a bottle of peppermint extract and 5 paper towels in an attempt to blot this extract out of the batter later, I presented Logan with a Peanut Butter Cup Peppermint pie and waited to see what he said. 'Hmmm... I like the hint of mint'.
I had to tell him the whole story. Well, he still claimed he liked it but it is an ongoing joke now. And I'm down $5 worth of peppermint extract.

Recipe 119 - Veggie Spiral from Recipe by Photo
I was so excited to make this recipe after getting a bunch of slack from Logan about not making enough recipes. It was perfect! It had his onions and his potatoes and some nice fresh veggies thrown in there. HE WOULN'T TOUCH IT! Not even a bite! Something about zucchini and squash being disgusting. Well, after a few days of those caramelized onions sitting in the bottom of the dish in the fridge and me attempting to eat my weight in the dish, I had to throw it out. I loved it when it came out and it wasn't too bad when I re-heated it. Mine wasn't quite as pretty as the picture, though.




Well that's all the recipes I have over the past few months. 11 over 5 months. That's like 2 a month. Boo! We've just become so lazy! We have a nightly routine in our household that goes like this:
4:00pm: get home from work, walk the dog, do the dishes
4:30pm : Friends is on. Watch it for an hour an a half. Pinterest.
5:00pm: Decide that it is an acceptable time to start drinking wine. Sing a song about drinking wine. Talk about retiring. Pinterest.
6:30pm: Friends is over, King of Queens comes on. Everyone grumbles about King of Queens but nobody turns it off. We decided it's better than Cougar Town.
7:00pm: Seinfeld comes on. Everyone starts saying 'I'm hungry!' Pinterest some more.
7:30pm: Somebody orders food.
8:00pm: That somebody's food arrives and everyone else decides it's time to eat. Rummage through the pantry. Rummage through the fridge. Complain how there's no food.
8:30pm: Eat a bowl of cereal, a bag of popcorn, or a bag of microwave veggies. Decide it's time for bed. Discuss how many days are left in the week.

Interesting lives, right?

Update Madness!

Hi Everyone!

I haven't posted since November and I'm so ashamed. So much has happened since then! I'll do a quick update on events that have been keeping me away, then I'll put together a few posts that summarize some projects I have worked on over the past few months.

Well, to start, I was a little distracted putting together the finishing touches on Logan and my trip to Europe! We went in December and it was wonderful. We looove Paris!

While we were there we made sure to stop by the Love Lock bridge that has been pretty popular on Pinterest. Admittedly, we did go looking for it, but we wouldn't have been able to miss it if we tried. We literally ran right into it when we were walking by the Notre Dame.

Luckily, we had researched online (yes, the love lock bridge was part of the intricate planning process) before we went and learned that there are actually two love lock bridges: one by the Notre Dame (on the Pont de l'Archeveche) and one by the Louvre (on the Pont des Arts). The Pont de L'Archeveche is for your lover, while the Pont des Arts is for your committed love.  Of course, we purchased a $15 lock from a local souvenir shop, paid an extra $7 to have it engraved, and headed to the Pont des Arts. You can read more about the love lock bridges here.

We were excited to go to the trampoline bridge (see below) but knew it was too good to be true. No, there is no giant bridge made out of trampolines in Paris.



ANYWAYS...

Good thing we locked our lock on the bridge for committed love, because two days later Logan proposed to me on top of the Eiffel tower on New Year's Eve.

Could it get any better than that?

Yes, it could. By him having someone catch it all on film.  A ring is one thing, but forever pictures of the proposal happening are priceless.

So right away we got caught up in a flurry of preliminary wedding planning and I feel like every free second I had for the next three months was completely devoted to the wedding.  We decided to get married on December 13th, 2014 (12-13-14). Since it's a Saturday and would be a VERY popular date, "we" knew it would be a good idea to get ahead of the game and find a place/vendors ASAP (as in I had to convince him and he soon found out on his own).

We are now 20 months away from the wedding and we have all of our vendors including our wedding planner squared away. We had a lovely engagement party that made us realize how much work the wedding is going to be, and then we finally got to take a big breath and relax.

Ahhh... just get to brainstorm about dresses, flowers, and cakes for the rest of the year.

So that's why I've been a little busy. Not mention the usual complaints about school and work. But, hey! It's almost May which means it's almost summer... AND I graduate in December which means I'm almost done with my Master's.  Just keep pushing through.

On other news, Heidi the hedgehog died in December :(  She was a good hedgehog and a lot of fun to watch.  I don't miss cleaning up her cage though.  

We gave her a nice funeral which involved a lovely farewell down a nearby river.  

RIP Heidi!

I want to say that's all the ME update I have. Don't worry! I'm about to tackle my phone pictures and my pinterest 'done' board to tell you about what's been keeping me busy creatively.

See ya!

Amy