Dresses For My Ladies!

I've delayed sharing this because I needed to make some decisions about what dresses I would have my girls pick from. When I started looking into dresses for them, I had some criteria that I wanted to stick by:
1) The color needed to be a deep, yet bright purple.
2) The dresses needed to cost under $150.00.
3) I really wanted to give them multiple dresses to choose from instead of picking one dress and saying this is what you're wearing.
4) I wanted the dresses to be knee length.
5) They needed to be made with chiffon fabric (I love how flow-y it is).

I know, that's a lot right? But I managed to find to find everything I was looking for! May I introduce you to the MoriLee Affairs Collection of dresses. If you haven't every heard of this designer, be sure to check them out because the dresses are just beautiful but still affordable!

Without further delay, here are the dresses that my girls are able to choose from:

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And for shoes for my bridesmaids, I'm thinking of something along these lines.

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A low fat heel (because they'll be walking on grass). Something kind of strap-y and in a metallic silver color. So what do you think?

My Blog Saved Me!

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Today while I was working on the music playlist for the reception....I accidentally deleted it!!! I was trying to delete one song from it and somehow managed to get rid of the whole list! The worst part....it couldn't be undone! I was about to panic and burst into tears. When I suddenly remembered that I had posted about our music selection a long while back. But I couldn't remember if I had listed each song or not. I went to look....and by the Grace of God, I had blogged a list including each song!! I was so thankful and this saved me hours of work! I was able to recreate our list pretty fast. If I hadn't blogged each song, I would have had to rely on my memory to rebuild the list that was over 60 songs long.

The only down side....the over three hours that I spent editing the stopping point for each song today has been lost. I was almost done with that task when the list got deleted. But I'm so thankful that I was able to rebuild the list without any problems thanks to my blog post!

Carrot Cake Recipe

As requested...here is the Presidential Carrot Cake Recipe:

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White House Carrot Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 1/2 cup Crisco oil
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
3 eggs (slightly beaten)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange rind
1/2 cup coconut

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add oil, pineapple, eggs, nuts, carrots, orange rind and coconut, and beat together. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined. Pour batter in well greased, floured Bundt pan (12-cup size) or tube pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees or until inserted knife emerges clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 (1-pound) box confectioners sugar

Soften cream cheese and butter to room temperature. Cream together with confectioners sugar. Place cool cake on cake plate and frost top and sides. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve. (If frosting becomes too think while mixing, add very small amount of water and mix well.) The cake and frosting freeze very well.

A Cake Fit for a President

My man will be getting nothing short of the best for his cake! Several months ago, my mom found the White House recipe for Carrot Cake in a magazine. Since Carrot Cake is Charles's favorite kind of cake that's what he'll be getting! I'm hoping to surprise him with the cakes theme, so I hope he doesn't see this post!

Charles is a dispatcher for one of the local police departments and loves all things related to first responders. But especially cops. I'm thankful he isn't one though...it will make my job as a wife a lot easier and less worry ridden! He has such a gift for what he does. Talking to and calming mothers whose child is choking, talking people out of suicide, and taking calls you wouldn't imagine. I truly believe the Lord has him where He wants him to be! Anyways, because of this love I went in search of the perfect cake and this is what I found...

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Unfortunately, I don't remember where I stumbled upon these images. But they are perfect and exactly what I was looking for! Mom and I will be tackling his cake ourselves as it shouldn't be too hard. So, what do you think? Are you planning to surprise your man with a themed grooms cake?

I'm Back!

Well after being knocked off my feet for a week thanks to the Swine Flu, I'm back! Thankfully I'm no longer sick! However my strength and energy are slow to return. If you can, I hope you all get the vaccine against this strain of flu because it is horrible! I'm working on a post for tomorrow about my plans for a cake for my man...so keep an eye out for it! Thank you all for all the well wishes and prayers!!!