Again...

So here I am yet again apologizing for not posting in what seems forever. I'm so sorry I can't seem to keep up with my blog as of late. I'm still without a job and without easy access to hi-speed internet.

To say things are stressful and tight financially without a job doesn't even begin to cut it. And despite all that, the wedding is drawing ever closer. When I started planning, I never in a million years would have guessed I'd be unemployed. It's a huge challenge and is adding a lot of unneeded stress.

Time just seems to be getting away from me lately. I don't know where it's going! lol Christmas is under two weeks away and that is scaring the crap out of me! lol We have less than five months to go until the wedding and I know the big day is going to creep up on us FAST!

I haven't really worked on anything wedding related lately. My family has two birthdays in October and two in November (mine included) and then Thanksgiving and now Christmas and I just got back from a wonderful vacation with my sweetie! Things have been super busy for me.

However, I have gotten a few things done. My groom to be and his best man did get their measurements taken care of. My mom got her MOB dress ordered, I let my girls know what dresses they can pick, and I've shared the info about the flower girl dresses to one of the girls parents.

In any case, I'm sorry again for the lack of posting and will try and do better. For those of you who are sticking around...THANKS!

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:

(Source)

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

(Source: unknown)

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:

(Source)

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...

(Source: unknown)

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!!!

Piggy Flu

Yep, I have the dreaded Swine Flu. No clue how I got it but I certainly can't wait to be rid of it! I have never felt so horrible in my life! (At least not that I can remember.) I wouldn't wish the swine flu on my worst enemy...yeah, it's that bad! I was so week and had no energy that I couldn't take a shower for three days (I know, tmi). This thing hits you HARD and FAST! Monday evening I started coughing a little bit. By Tuesday, I was coughing more, had drainage and severe pressure in my ears. Tuesday night, I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep because I was coughing so much. Charles came and picked up me and my mom on Wednesday and took us to the doctor (we were to sick to drive) and I was diagnosed with the flu. Mom wasn't tested because at the time, I was worse but they gave her Tamiflu too. For those of you that pray, prayers would be greatly appreciated as we are still both doing pretty badly. Well, that's all I can write for now. There will be a delay in posting until I can get my strength and energy back. Thanks to any for prayers and well wishes!

Cakespiration

Yes I totally made up that word so I'll let you know what I'm talking about if you haven't already figured it out....Cake Inspiration!

I don't think I've ever really talked about cakes or what my inspiration or thoughts about them have been. I figured it was about time that I let you in on what I have in mind!

As for "my" cake...aka the wedding cake. We're not having one. Not in the traditional sense anyways. Why? Because they are as expensive as heck! I never dreamed something you eat could cost so much money! Yes, I am very into all things DIY....but diy-ing a wedding cake was NOT something I wanted to take on myself or ask my mom to do. That's a heck of a lot of pressure to have on ones shoulders!

So instead I am going to be purchasing one of these handy dandy CupCakeTrees!

Mini Square Cupcaketree (Source: www.cupcaketree.com)

I heard about these babies months ago on another blog. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which blog but thankfully I saved the link! They are made out of heavy corrugated cardboard and can be decorated in any way you like. Here is an example of a simply decorated stand put to use:

(Source: www.cupcaketree.com)

For our stand, I am envisioning lots of purple and silver used in decorating our stand! Bet you never would have guessed that! ;) I think these stands and the use of cupcakes are so fun, unique and cute! Not to mention that from a distance the stand all adorned with cupcakes actually looks like a cake! I can't wait to get my stand so I can start decorating it! The price of the stand with shipping included is about $40 and the price of cupcakes (as priced at our local Sam's Club) are $12.43 for 30 cupcakes! I'm thinking we'll need about 150 cupcakes so that brings the total for our "wedding cake" to a little over $100. As shown in the picture above, we will have a small layer cake on the top of the stand for us to cut into during the cake ceremony. So I'm guessing that will be another 10-15 bucks. So grand total is approximately $120 for our "cake", can't beat that!

Stay tuned for details about the grooms cake!