Long time, no write.

Hello all!

I have started a blog for Morgan Reynolds, as a way to link current events with our books— a marketing tool to illustrate via blog posts just how timely our books are.

So you should hop on over and check it out:

www.morganreynoldspublishing.wordpress.com.

Rehearsal Dinner

The rehearsal dinner was lovely. We did, however, unfortunately find that the weather was going to be a bit chilly that weekend. And here we were wearing short dresses.

We practiced walking down the aisle and the "I dos" twice, to make sure Caroline and Jared didn't blunder and we didn't crash and burn in transit. Knowing my ability to trip over my own feet, it was probably very wise of the wedding directors to have us do the routine a couple of times.

Caroline looked stunning in her grandmother's shoes and hat (she was wearing a dress too, not JUST shoes and a hat). And Jared looked... well, goofy in his cowboy groom's hat. But then, we all looked goofy-- we were all commanded to wear different colored sailor hats so that we were color coded with the person we were meant to be skipping down the aisle with. Apparently there were too many of us to keep all of our names straight, so the directors color coded our hats for their convenience. Mine was black and had a maid of honor pin on it. I love it. It sits on my bed post I love it so much.

We had dinner courtesy of Mr. and Mrs Nenninger (senior) and enjoyed getting to know the groomsmen who had come into town for the occasion. And then... we danced. (We had to see if the dance floor was nice and sturdy.) It was a very fun night. Cold-- I pretty much sported goose bumps the entire evening-- but the dancing helped with that. I think we were all pumped for the next day. . .

Bachelorette Party

Yesterday was the... wait for it... bachelorette party (dunna na na na naaaaaaaaaa) *cue Chip-n-Dales. Just kidding, we are too classy for rock hard abs and bow ties (ha..haha...ha).

Ashley (bless her) helped me plan this as I had no idea how to throw a successful "last day of singledom" fiesta. We went shopping and went a little splurgy on the decorations, but hey this only happens once, right? I planned for the bridesmaids to meet at Nail Studio and Spa on Hanes Mall Boulevard to get manicures and pedicures, and then from there we had a reservation at Bleu.

I made Caroline wear a ridiculous ensemble.... because I could. I'm evil, what can I say?

Check out that hotness

We enjoyed getting pampered at the nail salon, and then Ashley and I raced to the restaurant to scurry around and finish setting up the back room. We had a purple and black theme going on as purple is Caroline's favorite color. It turned out really very snazzy if I do say so myself.

This was a lingerie party, so everyone brought little lacy things to give to Miss Thang for her honeymoon. Oo la la.

Dinner was awesome, watching Caroline open the presents was amusing, and there was good company all around, including one spectacular waitress (thank you SO much Casey).





I'm pretty sure Caroline had a blast, which makes me feel like we did our job well. :)


Photos courtesy of Ashley Pope

The Bridal Shower

The shower invitation

I have been delaying posting this entry because I wanted to wait on the pictures... but I'll be leaving town soon for another wedding, so I figured--- on with it. Y'all will just have to deal with an almost picture-less post.

I decided to take the theme from the shower invitation and run with it... Caroline and her Prince Charming.

Mrs. Long helped me with the decorations (bless her). She cut out little frogs and crowns to put on the tables. She even decorated the cake with little frogs. Amazing.

I cooked for 40-ish people. Huan told me I should go into catering. The serving table included 100 chicken wings (thanks to my angel of a boyfriend), spinach dip and chips, pasta salad, fruit, pickles (just for the bride), cookies, and a cake. I sent the groom home with the leftover wings-- much to his excitement (they were delicious).

It was a flowing shower, so me (being the MOH and the one with the notebook for the thank you cards) and the happy couple would go up to the gift table whenever someone brought a gift by. It was a lot of ups and downs, opening presents, and paper and g l i t t e r everywhere (the glitter literally got everywhere... including on the groom, who was not pleased-- oops). I asked the party-goers to sign their names and addresses in a notebook to help Caroline out when it came time to write the thank you notes.

It was a lot of fun. Caro and Jared seemed really happy with the way it turned out, and they got a van-load of presents, so who wouldn't be thrilled?

It was worth it to make the bride happy :)

Wedding Shower

This summer has been anything but boring.

Last weekend was Caroline's wedding shower, and this past weekend I had a wedding to go to with Huan in Raleigh, NC. WEDDING mania. Yikes.

Anywho...Caroline's shower was really nice. Very small. Very quaint. Yummy food. It was a Pampered Chef shower, where we were all shown how to make a taco ring using PC products. (And although I do not own any PC, I made my very first taco ring last night... really REALLY good). We signed an apron for Caroline and a lot of the ladies were sneaky and got a hold of Caroline's wish list (she's registered with PC).

I met the future in-laws too. What nice people! It was really a pleasure talking to Mrs. Nenninger and meeting Mr. Nenninger at the end of the party.

I came away from the shower with a full belly, a desire for Pampered Chef EVERYTHING, ideas for the bridal shower, a smile, and some cute pictures:

Chatty girl


Caroline's corsage

Pretty bride-to-be

The fam

Goodies

I reached my goal!

I have run a total of 7 miles this week. Hoorah! 2 on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, and 2 today (Friday). I passed my record BIG time on Wednesday, as the farthest I had gone prior to that was 2.3 miles. Again hoorah!

Pilates kicked my butt on Monday. Note: even taking a week off from the workout will knock you off your game. I was beyond tired. The beach ruined me.

And finally, Caroline's wedding shower is next week! It will be a Pampered Chef party, so I will actually learn to cook some yummy things (people who know me know this is a big deal). Stay tuned for pictures!

Bridesmaid dress is in!

I have retrieved my bridesmaid dress from David's Bridal. Actually, I picked it up about 3 weeks ago, I have just been remiss in updating the blog as of late.

It's really a very pretty color, although I hope I can keep a tan until October so I don't look incredibly white and/or washed out.

I don't know if it's just the way this particular dress is cut, or if it's the pilates and running I've been doing, but the dress is a bit large on me. In fact, I'm going to have to get the entire thing, from the top of the zipper to the bottom of the dress, taken in. Le sigh. Being petite costs $$$$.

Ah well, I'll look GOOD when all is said and done ;) I'll try to take pictures at the alterations place to document the process ha. I'm sure there are plenty of ladies out there who are just like me and would like to know what exactly altering a bridesmaid dress entails (how long, where they will stitch your dress up, how MUCH). So look forward to some tips in the near future!