House Mania

You may or may not have read that Jay and I finally closed on our house!!! YAY!! We closed on Sept 9th, and couldn't wait to get started on all of our DIY projects. We need to put new carpet in upstairs, so we thought it would be beneficial to paint the bedrooms up there before we put new carpet down. No drop cloth needed! The vanity in our master bathroom is 2 feet tall, and Jay is way too tall to brush his teeth at that vanity. We found a place online that you can buy refurbished vanities, so that is on the to-do list as well. We thought it would be wise to do all of this stuff before we move furniture into the house. So, those projects are starting this weekend! But, I had to share pictures from closing, and my new toy for the house.

They finally handed over the key at the attorney's office. Jay, of course, decided since he's the man of the house he should take responsibility of the key! Ok...I'll give you that one!

Standing outside with the key to our home!

For those of you that don't know, Jay is a graphic designer for a tool company! That career comes in extremely handy when you are a DIY fanatic! Jay bought me a brand new Hitachi cordless drill, with a light so you can see what you are drilling in all of those dark corners! For those of you that know Jay, you know this has no relevance to him whatsoever, but I couldn't be more excited. Before you know it, this boy will be DIY.

I love my new B.A. drill!

Stay tuned for all of our projects that we will be starting over the next couple of months. I'll make sure I add plenty of before and after pictures!

To Die For Sweets!

Going to Bethany's Bachelorette Bash definitely made me want to bake something phenomenal. I knew Anna was doing a cake, but I figured something else small and sweet would be fun. I decided to make Peanut Butter Cheesecake Squares and Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries. Here are the recipes, and they turned out amazing.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake (from Kraft Recipes)

15 oreos crushed

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 (8ox) package cream cheese

1/4 c peanut butter

1/3 c sugar

1 egg

Chocolate chips, melted

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix cookie crumbs and butter. Next, press firmly into 8" square pan.

Beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar until mixed. Add egg. Beat until well blended. Spoon over crust and bake for 18-20 minutes.

For added taste, melt chocolate chips and drizzle after cheesecake has cooled.

**For easier removal out of 8" brownie pan, line with foil first. After cheesecake has cooled, it will pop right out of pan for easy cutting.

20 strawberries

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed

Core strawberries. It is easiest to core these with a paring knife. Just watch your fingers in case knife pops out of bottom of strawberry.

Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. It is easiest to fill strawberries if you pipe it into them. Once they are filled, dip them into the crushed graham crackers to give them that cheesecake feel.

Both of these recipes were surprisingly easy, and were a hit!

Pottery Party

As mentioned on a previous post, we took Bethany to a pottery place and painted plates for her. Anna came up with the idea to have everyone paint a different holiday. That way, Bethany could set them up on her counter for each holiday. That way, they should get used quite a bit more than if she is just entertaining. Anna made a pumpkin/harvest plate that she could use all fall, Tori made a 4th of July plate, Emily Ann made a birthday plate that she can set out everytime Bethany, Wynn, or one of their kids (wink) has a birthday, Bethany made a Christmas plate, and I made a Valentine's Day plate. They turned out so cute, and I think she will really love these over the years. We all signed the back of them so she will always remember who they came from.

My sister also did this for my bachelorette party, and I absolutely loved it. Just like at Bethany's, we took several bottles of wine, food, and had a corner to ourselves for the afternoon. The difference between ours, was I picked a couple different colors and all of the girls made different plates in the same color scheme. Most of the plates have our initials on them, and I can't wait to bust them out for football season. My mom had Paige bring home some paint and extra plates so she, my grandma, and aunts can make a couple as well. We are going to try to do that during Thanksgiving this year. I will end up with a set of 12, which is perfect for entertaining.

Bachelorette Bash

My good friend, Bethany, is getting married on November 5th! I couldn't be happier for her...and as soon as I get back from her wedding I will be blogging about the entire thing...so stay tuned. Her sister, Anna, threw her a bachelorette party a couple of weekends ago and the girls had such a ball. Anna did an amazing job of planning meals, decorating, having a schedule for all of our events, it was pretty spectacular. On Friday night, we all had a mexican fiesta, with strawberry margaritas, and then had a big lingerie shower. We called it a night fairly early since our plans started around 9 the next morning. We first went to a pottery place to paint plates, see next blog, and then all got massages together around 1. I'll have to get with Anna about the name of the place again, but it was the best massage I've ever had in my life. Anna brought lunch, mimosas, and a bunch of snacks. We got our own private room and were able to hang out for the afternoon. Such fun! Then we went out to eat at Twist at Phipps. By the way, if you are ever planning a bachelorette dinner, this is the place to go. See pics below. We ended up at East Andrew down in Buckhead and had a blast dancing the night away. I hope Bethany had fun, because I am pretty certain the rest of the girls did. Going to have to keep all of this in mind for all of my friends and little sister in the future.

Anna decorated the mantel all up...she said she found alot on Etsy for bachelorette parties. Definitely have to keep that in mind. She also strung all of Bethany's lingerie from a ribbon across the room, but didn't want Wynn to get a preview of anything before their honeymoon! Anna had all of us ship our lingerie to her, and then Bethany had to guess what came from who.

Cute centerpiece, with the crown Bethany wore around on Saturday night. The front lights up and everyone could see her from across the bar all night! So cute!

Decorated the table in martini glasses, condoms and edible massage oils, lotions, whip cream and chocolate! Their honeymoon should be a blast!

Had to throw in the picture of Anna testing it out...by the way this is kissable not edible!

The adorable cake that Anna found.

Drink menu made by Twist for Bachelorette parties. Such a cute idea.

The bride and I at East Andrew! Bethany wore white, and all of her bridesmaids wore black.

All in all, Anna did an amazing job. I will definitely be calling her when my little sister gets to this point...wink wink Paige!

Love That Dirty Water

Jay and I went up to Boston a couple of weeks ago to see his family and see his friend KC get married! We had a blast. Went to the Sox game, went to a wedding and caught up with all of his high school friends, saw a hurricane...the normal stuff! For those of you who have never been, Fenway is why God created baseball! The park is amazing! There is a kind of energy at Fenway that I have only ever felt in Auburn. Everyone there is a diehard. There is a certain respect from the players and the fans at the park. The history of this great stadium is unbelievable. Had to share a couple pics with everyone. It isn't everyday that you can sit in a seat that someone once watched the greats of baseball play, have a beer, and spend the night enjoying your new family. So blessed to have this opportunity. And, on a side note, I got to see my favorite player in baseball. Coco Crisp...wish he would come back to Boston!!

The Williams Family

The brothers Dub and Haros!

The Dubs!

Love me some Wickers!

My favorite park on Earth!!

Bump in the road

Well I jinxed myself today. I was telling someone at work that everything seemed to be moving along too smoothly. Well, a half hour later we found out that they are moving back our closing until next week. We couldn't have been any more excited about buying a home this week, officially buying a home. Then, we felt crushed. All because our insurance agent took too much time to get our homeowner's binder over to the lending company. With the long weekend, it gave us less time to make sure all of our ducks were in a row this week. Oh well, God has perfect timing.