Society's View on Marriage

No wonder marriage divorce rate is so high. So many have negative thoughts around it. Why does being married mean life is over? I have had coworkers make fun of me for eating healthy as "there is no need for that once you're married". I have had family members promise me I will be unhappy in my marriage. People tell me and my husband we are "stuck" together now. I know it's all light-hearted fun, but all that friction starts a fire.

I once had a coworker come into the beak room while I was eating a salad go off about how I eat healthy all the time and should just eat some chocolate for once as I was "engaged anyway". It was as though my healthy eating personally offended her.  People look at me like I have two heads when I say I enjoy running and ask, "Why do you even exercise, you're married now". People tell me I no longer need to dress nice or wear makeup now that I'm married. It annoys me that everyone thinks I do this for a man. I do it for myself and my marriage. I want to be healthy and look good and I'm sure my husband wants the same for me (and I for him).

I use social media to express my gratitude for my husband. People seem surprised I actually like my husband. "You still think he's great? Well I guess you have been married less than a year, just you wait." Why would our marriage go downhill? I know it's not all rainbows and butterflies, but your words of "encouragement" do not help.

"You don't miss going out and having fun?" Going out and having fun are two different things. No, I don't miss going out and meeting douche bags. Getting married sounds like leaving the party, but I left the party with the best guy. My husband and I are having fun in the sun on the boat while everyone else is nursing a hangover.

What if instead of making ball and chain references people made remarks of how we're free to start an adventure together? Instead of scoffing at us still trying to be healthy and look good, people complimented and recognized our hard work.

 Being married doesn't mean you stop trying, it means you try every day.

Bridal Shower Gift-Wine Basket

Wedding season has sprung! I have my second shower of the year to go to tomorrow. My previous post was what to do if you'd like to venture off the registry. In this post I got the bride something off her registry, but vamped it up a bit!
She registered for lovely stemless wine glasses. What better to accompany wine glasses than wine?
I wrapped each glass in tissue and picked out a cute basket.
Ta-Da! Vamped up registry gift :)

Bridal Shower Gift- Cuddle Kit For Two

I had a bridal shower to go to this weekend and most everything on the registry was purchased! I've never met the bride before (husband's cousin who lives out of state) so it was hard to find something I knew she would like. I remembered a gift I had made for a bachelorette where I didn't know the bride well and modified it a bit. It turned out beautifully! Who doesn't love a snuggly blanket, champagne, and chocolate?


Pictured below is the bachelorette gift:
Bridal Lingerie, Candles, Godiva Chocolate, and Cook's Champagne.

 For the Bridal Shower gift I swapped out the lingerie for a cuddly blanket:

I was inspired by The Dating Diva's and you can even find a free printable label here http://www.thedatingdivas.com/romantic-rendezvous/cuddle-kit-for-two/

Glitter Easter Eggs

I will glitter-ize anything I can. You got a taste of that with my DIY glitter wedding shoes and centerpieces blog. While everyone was busy dying eggs today I was busy glittering them!

I used my trusted friend, mod podge. 

What you need:

Hard boiled eggs

modge podge

glitter

paint brush 

plastic wrap

plastic/paper cups

I found it easiest to hold the eggs with a tong and paint a layer of mod podge on. I then placed the egg in a styrofoam cup and touched where i missed the mod podge. I then sprinkled glitter into the cup, I had two cups of glitter I gently rolled the egg back and forth between the two cups until the egg was well covered.

Allow at least an hour to dry. Then seal in glitter with a layer of mod podge.

I put plastic wrap down in the egg carton so it wouldn't dry to the eggs. 

I let the eggs dry about two hours.  

Pretty in Pink Rustic Baby Shower

I love hosting. Last weekend I had the honor of throwing my Sister-In-Law a baby shower. She's having a baby girl in May and I had a blast putting together the party.

(This is my actual invitation but the information on this invite are the generic details from www.snappish.com)

My Sister-In-Law has done a beautiful job decorating her home and the baby's nursery. She is very into DYI projects and has mastered them perfectly. She has twine covered wine bottles with burlap bows, the first letter of their last name covered in wine corks, she made all the curtains in their house, and fashioned airplane silhouette maps for her pilot husband's office. I wanted to do something for the party that would fit in with her taste.

I decided to go for the rustic theme and use as much pink as tastefully possible.


My husband's sister made these adorable tags for the shower on her Silhouette.
I had about 20 guests and made popcorn bags as party favors. I also took two different colored pink ribbons and tied them around mason jars for drink glasses. Wine, pink lemonade, and soft drinks were served.

For the set up I purchased a banner and table runner off Etsy.  Both of the shops were easy to work with and had beautiful products for a fair price. I was concerned on delivery time for my table runner since a previous shop told me a little late they were out of what I had ordered. I expressed my concerns to Lovely Lace Designs. They were very prompt in answering my questions and got the runner shipped to me in a timely manner. It was hard to narrow down a runner from all their beautiful products which can be found at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LovelyLaceDesigns . 

For the banner I used Made by Me and Mum https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeByMeAndMum. I was impressed at their follow up in ensuring I received my banner. They have many adorable products on their site and I will be visiting again for my future decorating needs. 

 About three weeks before the shower I went to a local florist, Imagine That Florist and Gifts http://www.imaginethatflorist.com, and said I was looking for some sort of pink flower with baby's breath. I already had my vases made and brought one in so the florist could help me visualize. She suggested pink gerber daisies and they couldn't be more beautiful. Both of the women I worked with at the shop were lovely and helpful. When I picked up the flowers the woman made sure I knew exactly how to handle the flowers and make sure they were up to their full potential for the shower. 

For the vases I bought 35 cent Mardi Gras beads at Party America, looped them around the mason jar, and secured them with a bow. I had five vases. One for the mother, two grandmothers, and two others has game prizes. My third game prize was a plastic bottled filled with eos lip balm, a coin purse, hand sanitizer, honey sticks, and a candle. 

 

I also had a signing station for a onsie that once signed, was placed in a shadow box and hung in the baby's nursery. 

I had three games: Water Broke game:

(This is not my photo but this is exactly what I did)  

http://www.trusper.com/tips/Cute-Baby-Shower-Game/8808664

Baby Word Scramble

http://www.babyshower-simplicity.com/support-files/baby-girl-word-scramble-game3.pdf

And also Guess the Mother's size, where everyone took a piece a ribbon the length of what they thought would wrap around the mother's belly. They then compared their ribbon to the mother's actual measurement. 

Finally, the cake. Previously I had posted "Fondant for beginners". That was my practice round for this cake. This is only my second fondant cake and I know it's not perfect, but I think it was still a fun addition to the party. I will post a second blog on how I made this cake.

I hope this inspires some of you who are planning an event! I love party planning and if you have any questions please comment below. 

Fondant Cake for Beginners

In two weeks I'm hosting my sister-in-law's baby shower! I am super stoked! She really loves rustic decor so that's the theme I'm going with. I want to make a fancy cake but figured my first time working with fondant should not be for a party. So much to my husband's pleasure, I made a practice cake yesterday! I'm not much of a baker, but I was suprised by how easy it was. I even made my own buttercream frosting!

I didn't get too glamorous. Purchased the cake mix and pre-made fondant at Walmart. 

What you'll need:

Cake Mix

Cake Pan (I have two 9" pans)

24oz package of fondant

Rolling Pin

Cake froster-I used an off-set spatula 

Powdered Sugar (so fondant doesn't stick to your surface)

For Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine softened

1 1/2 t vanilla

1-2 T milk

Prepare and bake the cake according to package directions. Allow to fully cool before frosting

To make frosting: mix together sugar and butter on low speed. Stir in vanilla and milk. If the frosting seems too thick add more milk. If it seems too thin add more sugar. Mix for 3-5 minutes.  Here's how mine looked:

Once cakes have fully cooled frost all sides. and then stack on top of each other. I do not own a cake stand so I turned my cake pan upside down and placed it on top of that. To rotate the cake while frosting I rotated the towel the pan was on. Maybe not the best way to do it-but it was resourceful! Try to get your frosting as smooth as possible.  

 Spread powdered sugar on your working surface and rolling pin. Knead the fondant according to the package directions. Roll out with your roller till the frosting is about 1/8 of an inch. ensure the fondant frosting will cover your cake. 

To lift up fondant I rolled it onto my pin so that it was laying over with half draped on each side. This is not my image, but I think it'd help to see what I mean. 

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Covering-Large-Cupcakes-with-Rolled-Fondant

Drape over cake. 

All websites I found said to use a smoother to smooth down the fondant. I just used my hands for this one, but for the real deal I will use the smoother. I think it helps the fondant attach to the frosting better. My fondant kind of fell off when eating the cake. 

I smoothed the fondant down to the base and then used a pizza cutter to trim the excess. 

With my excess fondant I took a strip and added a few drops of red food coloring and kneaded the frosting until the color was evenly dispursed. I followed this YouTube video on how to make a flower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwGxrxTDJq0

I used water to make the petals stick together a little easier. 

I placed flower on cake, found some old Mardi Gras beads, and Tada! Fondant cake :)

Wine Bottle Wedding Gift

About a year ago I was in my best friend's wedding. I struggled with what to get her as a gift. I wanted to do something more creative than just picking off her registry. I know my best friend loves wine, and their new home had a cute little wine display rack. So I came up with the idea of customized wine bottles! 

The bride's photographer for her engagement photos is a mutual friend of ours and I asked if it would be ok if I used some of her photos for my project. She graciously agreed.

With the help of www.zazzle.com I was able to create stickers out of the photos. 

I was also able to add text in which I typed the couple's names and wedding date. 

The minimum Zazzle.com allows you to do is four stickers an image. You can get creative on what to do with your left over images. It was fairly inexpensive so I just went with it. 

I purchased three wine bottles. It was fairly easy to remove the original wrapper and I used a wire scrubber to rid of any remaining glue.

I used two stickers for each bottle (same two images on each bottle. )

My stickers were 4.5X2.7 inches. I purchased wine in bottles that were 750 mL.