Kelly M's Bridal Shower Cookies

I slaved over the kitchen table for 2 days decorating these little puppies and I had SO MUCH FUN!  Is it strange that I love doing detail work like this?  I made about 60 of these bad boys.  They are sugar cookies cut out using Wilton Wedding Cookie Cutters decorated using Wilton Royal Icing.

Cupcake Camp KC

Kansas City Finally had a cupcake camp!!!! I was so excited when I heard the news that I called my friend Alex and we made plans to attend.  We had some wonderful cupcakes from :

3 Girls Cupcakes

and

Cupcake Construction Company

Alex and I really enjoyed shoving our faces full of delicous-ness.  I can't wait until the next one!

Simple DIY: Bridal Shower Decorations

The cake was picked, the cookie favors decided, the invitations sent, the RSVPs are rolling in and the party is in a week and a half.  Until now I had no decorations planned.  It wasn't that I haven't looked at ideas, I just hadn't found something that screams "Kelly!".  I finally found a simple decoration using things I already had that I could modify to fit the color scheme. Surprise, surprise, Martha Stewart helped.  Behold: Tissue Paper Pom-Poms!

I got the tutorial from here.  The tutorial was great and had very helpful pictures.  I found that to make it a full 360 degrees, two would probably have to be put together to make it look full.  I used them on the table so half was fine for what I needed. 

I didn't want to buy cloth wrapped floral wire so I just used some twist-ties from trash bags I didn't use.

Also, I found that it was easier to draw where you were going to cut before breaking out the scissors.  It really helped when cutting through the really thick layers.

They will be placed on the tables in sets of 2 or 3 along with some Hershey's kisses and clear rocks (re-used from our own wedding), a martini glass (borrowed from my sister) filled with red hots, and bowls (re-used from my sister's wedding) with m&ms.

Apron for Kelly M.

I. Love. Sewing.  I have taken it upon myself to sew like crazy this year.  With a lot of my good friends getting married I decided that I'd make them aprons as part of a shower gift.

So I make a trip to the fabric store with Invitation in hand and look at everything.  I usually use quitling fabric because of the colorful patterns.  And usually it's love at first sight.  When I see the fabric that makes me think of that perosn immediately, I know I've found the one. I head up to the counter to get it cut and head home where the real fun begins.  I love picking out a personalized gift for such good friends. 

This fabric I picked out for Kelly M was one of the easiest to find.  She has such a bubbly personality and is an amazingly caring person.  She is one of my BEST friends and I could not be happier to be a part of their big day in October. 

Here's the final product!

Baking with Bananas....a whole box full of 'em

Joe's parents were here visiting this weekend.  We have been missing out all summer on the city market downtown KC.  I'd gone a couple of years ago when I was here on an internship and not only had so much fun but also got some great deals.  So we all piled into the car and drove dowtown.  We found an awesome parking spot right by the enterance.  *Thank you Parking Gods*  I just love the market atmosphere.  I wish I could get back more often but it is definaetly a once-in-a-while thing from now on.  I'm gonna be eating banana muffins all winter!  Yummy!

Kelly H's Bridal Shower

I will NEVER drive the Malibu again!  I'm serious this time!  Kelly's Bridal shower was about 2-1/2 hours away and I was making the trip down and back in one day.  Now, I hated the thought of putting about 500 miles on my *new* car in one day.  Heck, I hate even putting more than 150 miles in a week on it!  So I thought to myself, "Self, I think it would be a great idea to drive the Malibu.  It gets great gas mileage (about 28 MPG) and 500 miles is a drop in the bucket since it already has 150,000 miles."  Looking back, I wish I would have just sucked it up and taken my *new* car. 

Well the drive was beautiful.  Instead of taking the normal 4 lane highway there I took a little 2 lane road for part of the way.  The country side was beautiful.  I was even able to see part of the Missouri River and a little Amish family #socute.  The shower was fun.  I was glad I got to see my good friend from Cali. I miss hanging out at Kelly's house in Rolla while we watched TV together.  Oh the days of college.  Anyways, after the shower was over the worst thing happened.  I could not get the Malibu started. 

I blame Joe.  Ever since I got my *new* car with the push button start that allows me to leave my car running but locked in the parking lot of QT to run in and grab some coffee in the morning, Joe had decided that the Malibu should be able to do that too.  So my genius husband jiggled the key to the Malibu while it was running until the key came out without the car turning off.  This 'added' feature caused the important turning of the key processes to get the car started to be extremely difficult.  I couldn't get the car started for 2 hours.  I tried, Kelly tried, and Kelly's Dad tried.  I gave up hope thinking that I was stuck.  I called hubby and he drove his truck 2-1/2 in hopes to be able to tow it back to our house or get it started.  In the mean time I went out for drinks with Kelly's family which was a glorious relief. 

Joe eventually arrived on scene and go figure, started the car right up with no more than 2 tries.  I was so angry.  Not only had I blamed the whole thing on him, but he started it immediately!  How? I believe it's magic.  Needless to say, I refused to drive the Malibu back.  So I got to drive the Truck back with Daisy and he took the Malibu. 

Anyways, back to the point of this post: Kelly's Bridal Shower.  A bit of a background: Kelly and I became friends in college when we were both in the same sorority.  We lived across the hall and hung out quite a  bit.  My mom showed her how to sew rank on her uniform, we watched TV every week at her house (I was too poor to afford cable), went to the Grotto every Tuesday with Ms. D Meyers and graduated together.  After graduation she was commissioned into the Air Force and is currently stationed in California.  I'd love to visit some day. I do anything to visit with her even for a short period of time whenever she comes back to good ole' Missouri.  Here is the beautiful Bride-to-Be and myself.

Ruffled Apron

I made this apron for Kelly H's Bridal Shower and Daisy helped.  She really enjoyed laying uder my sewing cabinet.  I love picking out the perfect fabric that describes the receiver.  Kelly doesn't even spend much time in the kitchen unless she's baking.  (Yay for baking!!!!)

Joe's New Toy

So I was traveling for work when I get the following phone call:

Hubby: "Hey I really hope you're not mad."
Me: "Why Would I be mad?"
Hubby: "Because I just bought a motorcycle."
Me: "Oh Geeze."