Under the Sea/Mermaid Party

Miss Anna Kate is officially 6! 

I really wanted to make it as magically as possible for my sweet girl! 

I'm not a huge fan of doing trademarked parties so I kinda went

 with a mash up of 'Under the Sea' with a hint of 'The Little Mermaid'. Seeing as Ariel has been AK's favorite Disney princess since she was a toddler it only seemed fitting. My sister even made one of her dreams come true by getting Ariel to come spend the afternoon with her and her buddies. Super special that she will never forget. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to re-create a dream of hers. I sure do LOVE that little girl!!!

These are the table centerpieces that I put together to help set the atmosphere. One table was for the food, cake, actually goldfish, and mermaid tail. The other is where the kiddos were able to do their craft with Ariel as well as get make-overs and their nails painted. The Mermaid Picture w/mirror say "Who is the Fairest of them All?" It wouldn't have felt like being under the sea with out the Dolphin balloons too! 

In the center of the room I wanted a canopy for Ariel to able to sit under and read a book to the girls as well serve as a background for the girls to get their picture made with Ariel individually. 

Hanging from the 5 chandeliers throughout the room were an array of things you would find under the sea. For instance each included 'Jelly Fish' lanterns, Faux Seaweed made from dyed coffee filter, Bubble Streamers and Sheer Seaweed Streamers.

I wanted to incorporate come iconic saying from the Little Mermaid movie to give it a more personalized feeling. The bottom right picture is of the 'Snarfflast' which is what Scuttles the seagull calls Prince Erics' flute.  

Can't forget the cake. Traveled all the way from Georgia to NC for the special occasion. It's our families favorite cake lady back home that even made my sisters wedding cake and every year she makes all our cakes. Delicious and Beautiful! Look at the sheer JOY on AK's face. 

Check out all the FUN they got to have! I think it's safe to say that the bubble machine was a HUGE hit!  What little girl doesn't love getting a mini spa treatment?? Pink and purple make-up sure makes for happy girls! While their nails were drying Ariel read them the Little Mermaid story as you can tell she had their undivided attention. They were enchanted and captivated by her asking her all kinds of questions about being out of the Ocean and such, there is nothing like a child's imagination. Absolutely precious. 

Happy 6th Birthday My Darlin', JuJu!  

Many giggles, twirls, hugs and kisses all year! 

'Light' Sparkel

{Props}

Yay, It's Friday! We made it through another week!

Really L~O~V~E this picture! The simplicity of it makes me smile!

The confetti makes me feel all lite and airy without a care in the world...

(for the moment cause it's Friday)

The hands remind me to be thankful for the abundant flow of Blessings in my life.

Can't forget the sun that is ever present in this shot too, can't you just feel the warmth? That's how it felt here this week.

Soaking it up even with the cooler temps coming this weekend!

Hoping to get outside this weekend some way or another!

Feeling crafty and a twinge of decor8-itis coming on, too ;)

Plans for the weekend?

Make it count!

Spring Has Sprung!

Sunday was the first day of spring! Hallelujah! So ready to be in cute sundresses again and flip flops. I wish all year felt like spring year round. A steady 75-80 degrees would suit this girl just dandy! I have been in crazy organization mode recently and doing a bit of spring cleaning. Nothing like getting ride of things that are just taking up room. Gotta make room for fun new stuff, huh? I thought so;) So to get ready for the warmer weather I wanted to share some of my favorite things.

1. Denim Sailor Button Trousers~ $74
2. Adel 21~$10.99 (Fantastic!!!!)
3. Vintage Metal Framed Gucci Sunglasses ~$255 (note to self, find knock-of ASAP)
4. Animal Fur Belt~$25
5. Anthropologie: Under The Rug Chemise~$79
6. Poetic Licence Women's Bejangled Sandal~ $89 (fact: cheaper at Nordstrom Rack)
7. House of Harlow: Turquoise Triangle Ring~$45 (In LOVE with)
8. J.Crew: Archie Grand Notebook~$10 ( hint hint: Easter Bunny)
9. Elf Bronzer @ Target~ $3
10. Shirley Temple~ Forever a fan, but really loving the New Target commercial!
11. Nordstrom Two Tone Straw Fedora~ $29
12. Kate Spade Twirl 3.4oz eau de parfum~$80
13. Banana Republic Sasha patent clutch~ $98
14. Beige Cutwork Suedette Short~ $59 (MUST HAVE)
15. Ann Taylor Loft Pink Hand Dye Stripe Tee~ $29
16. Swell Elephant Necklace~ $24 ( F21? )

'Little Chief'

This past weekend we celebrated the arrival of my life long friend Katies new baby boy. I had the great honor to do the decorations for the shower which I am more than pleased to do! Just wanted to put the extra special touch on honoring our Mom-to-Be! She deserves nothing less! There is nothing better than a friend you can count on no matter what for so many years! Literally since before we were born we were destined to be Best Friends! She is definitely the Ying to my Yang! She is quite and I am loud, she is Blond and I am a Red head etc. In our busy lives we always make time to catch up, how ever long in between, and it's like we never skipped a beat! I am beyond excited for the arrival of her "little chief", she will be an amazing mother! Her husband is a firefighter so we chose the fireman theme for the shower, it only seemed fitting! Check out all the table decor from Boots to the cupcakes made of diapers and washcloths to the Dalmatian Pound Puppy (throw back 1980's) on top of the boots. Somehow a picture of the firetruck wasn't taken, but there are ladders on each of the cake stands, that sort of counts right? Sweet baby Rylan sure will a blessing to the Magnolias' extended family! Can't wait to meet you little man!

Passion 2011

Back in January I have the awesome opportunity to serve at the Passion conference. I had always heard about it from my sister and knew that it was an AMAZING experience that changed her life. So one night God put it on my heart to volunteer. It took place over the New Years weekend and seeing as I am not a huge new years fan it was perfect that I was able to devote my time to serve these college students. It would have been so easy to not go through with volunteering with it being during 2 days of work, New Years, family being in town and life, but I just knew that I was needed and wanted to fulfill what God had called me to do. It was truly an UNBELIEVABLE experience that I am so thankful to have been apart of.

To see 20,000+ college students worshiping God was something that I will never forget. It was electrifying to feel the Holy spirit at work. I was just drinking it all in! As volunteers we were not allowed to sit in on the sessions or break out groups, but in our off time we could worship from a conference room via live feed that rocked my socks off! There was a section of the World Congress Center where they had constructed a whole hands on mission oriented exhibit called "Do Something Now". Un-Stinking-Believable. Students, staff and Volunteers were able to donate money towards human trafficking, wells in Haiti, clean drinking water in Africa, surgeries for sick children just to name just a few. For poor students to be humbled enough to 'Do Something' now it just goes to show the God can do anything. Like Chris Tomlin's Song says, "If God is for us then who can ever STOP us? If our God is with us then what can Stand against us?"

While there I bought the All Access Pass. SOOOOOO Glad that I did! Every week something new is available for Download from live videos to each of the live videos of the main sessions with the main speakers such as Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, Andy Stanley, and John Piper. We are now able to watch this sessions in my small group. Next week the Passion CD 'Here for you' hits itunes and I am beyond stocked seeing as it was included in the access pass!! I bootlegged some of the songs off the live feeds during that week onto my phone and have been able to listen to them, but they seriously are not the best quality. Every time I hear one the songs or see a video or just being at PCC I am reminded of what an amazing experience it really was and how God can use me in the future!

{Hanging out with our new friend on the opening night of Worship}

{That stack of Towel that the students and volunteers brought to donate to a local homeless shelter in Atlanta}
{The front of 'Do Something Now'}
{Inside the Human Trafficking display, unbelievably touching}
{Signatures of all the students who proclaim the name}
{Inside the World Congress Center...6,000 students here to Worship Jesus}
{Another Demonstration in the 'Go Center'}
{My Daily reminder to pray for those attending the Ft. Worth Conference in 3 weeks}

Tom Thumb!

Have any of you readers (if I still have any or the few that there are) ever heard of TOM'S?

I had heard and seen them for awhile now, but they never really tickled my fancy, until I had been at Passion for 3 days. After seeing TONS of them and seeing all the different styles (which are really CUTE) I knew that I wanted to jump on the band wagon even if they are not my generation. Yes I know I'm no longer in college and I was at a college event, but come on people these shoes are seriously one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes that I now own! PLUS side is that when I bought my pair a child over in Africa gets a pair too! Neat huh? Now I know that some of the styles are kinda plain and down right fugly but I really like my gold herringbone. They have replaced my Sperry Topsiders they are that comfortable. Take it from me, I am normally a cute flats, boots, heels kind of gal, but these have become a regular in the rotation.



Do you have a favorite pair of shoes that you can't get enough of right now?

See ya January!

UH, where did January GO?

I can't get over the fact that it's over in a week. What have I been doing that it's already over so quick? Guess just everyday life! I actually had a really steller weekend! I couldn't have asked for a better time! I'm in the middle of planning a Anna Kates Birthday partybaby shower, making wreaths, seeking and waiting on my next step to the future, oh yeah and working. So I was glad to just have some carefree time to just have some fun!

Friday night was pretty chill with a nice dinner to California Dreaming with my friend Kali. Then saturday I got to spend to whole day with Dad. He had called during the week saying that he was coming into town for the weekend and wanted to see if I was free. Lucky me that I didn't have anything going on so I was game to join him. We started off visiting the High Museum of Art downtown. I haven't been there in a few years since the Louvre exhibit. It was so cool to see all the different colletions from the folk art to the Modern Collections, but my favorite was "The Veiled Rebecca" from 1866. It is truly AMAZING!!! I have become a Jane Austen junkie the last few months and this same statue is featured in 'Pride and Prejudice' as Elizabeth Bennett is touring Mr. Darcy's castle. It totally made my day to see this! I remember thinking to my self "How in the world does the sculpter carve the face out before carving the veil?", but once I got to study the masterpiece I see that it is a illusion of the eye. It is truly marveling.



After the museum we grabbed some tapas at Table 1280 where we had the BEST oysters ever! We wanted to keep lunch light since we had a dinner reservation over at McCormick and Schmick's, but we seriously couldn't resist the tasty menu they had so we also had the homemade tater tots and popcorn rock shrimp! Just check out the presentation of the oysters....Mouth. IS. Watering.

After dinner we headed to Centennial Park (where we FROZE our arse's off) to see the new Peter Pan play that is here from London, England! It was spectacular! The play took place in a tent that is 360 degrees around with the stage right in the middle. There literally isn't a bad seat in the house. The actors were really so talented. To see them fly around, it takes you right back to being a kid again. It was like you were flying with them through London to the "Second start and straight on til' Morning'. I kept telling dad that AK would totally be dying with everything they were doing! I HAVE to get her here ASAP!!!! It was surprising to look around the crowd and see that majority of the audience were adults with a few kids here and there. I highly recommend seeing it while its here in town. It really put the day over the edge! I will always cherish that memory! We always have a great time when we are together but this was so different than anything we have ever done before! Thanks DAD for such a great day!



On sunday AMB and CMQ had asked me to go do Sips~N~Strokes. Such a fun idea to do with girl friends! Lots of laughs, lots of UGGS, lots of OOPS. I am such a type A personality when it come to doing this that I literally could stay on one step for hours. Its bad! I want to pull my hair out when it doesn't look like the demo. Then I get ambitious and end up really wishing I hadn't. So whats left to do, just laugh! Learned my lesson for sure. Guess to the closet it goes, HA;) So glad we did this together though.


Is it Friday yet?