Bachelorette Party - Part 2

More pictures!

Sallie is explaining how it should be done

Me and the guest of honor

Sky partied with the girls, too. Her bow says "Caution! Wild girls!"

Meg, it's not sexy if you wear it all at the same time!

Bachelorette Party - Part 1

We had soooo much fun this weekend. Friday night was Meg's bachelorette party. We started off with dinner at P.F. Chang's and ended the night with presents and games. Meg was cheered for by the entire restaurant, enjoyed educational games, and learned everything she needs to know to enjoy a life of marital bliss. But, before there can be a wedding night, there must be a wedding!

All of the girls at dinner: (l to r) Me, Kate, Sallie, Kristin, Leah, the Bride, Tricia, Katy, and Corrie

Game time!

Presents! Notice the Victoria's Secret bag

Story-time with Kristin. Kristin tells enrapturing stories.

Shopping!

The new H&M in Atlantic Station is open. I christened it today with the following purchases. Somehow they ended up on three different receipts between two trips, and I blame at least one of them on Maria.

Purple cotton empire-waist dress to wear to Meg's bachelorette party (tomorrow!) for $10 (on sale)

Floral cotton sundress with shirred bodice to wear to Meg's bridesmaid's luncheon for $19.90

Purple plaid shirt to wear so I won't be naked for $10 (on sale)

Yesterday I met with a group of women from my church who were working a) to better understand what being a woman of God is and b) trying to use that knowledge to serve the women of the church better. I've never been big on woman-y things at churches. And I was relieved (and blessed) to find out that the team of women God had assembled all felt the same way.

To prepare for the meeting yesterday, we read several books about being women. There was one that (surprisingly) stood out to all of us. Despite its cover with flowers, a cup of tea, and other woman-y (i.e. cheesy) items, it was packed with biblical lessons of women of the Bible and a description of a strong woman who claims her helper, mother design. And does NOT see her uniqueness (from men) as a weakness, secondary, or of lower worth (as today's society would have us believe).

There was one quote that stood out to me as being particularly poignant for organizing a ministry for the women of our church

"But on this side of the cross there are more similarities than dissimilarities between the woman and the girl. in our compartmentalized, specialized culture, we forget the splendor of the similarities. We are prone to huddle with those whose situations and season of life resembles our own. This is not the covenant way. The unity and communion of the redeemed single business executive and the homeschooling mom is established in Christ, not in choices and situations. These women have more in common with one another than with unsaved peers.

They have been set apart by the Lord God.

They have been purchased by the blood of Christ

They have been adopted into God's family.

They are daughters of the King.

They are sisters.

They will spend eternity together.

They have the same authority and purpose

They are to become in practice what they are in position; holy and blameless.

They have access to the same graces; God's Word, His Spirit, worship, and His people

....Every redeemed woman is a daughter of the King"

from The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood by Susan Hunt and Barbara Thompson

Jennifer's Wedding Dress

Love this dress. Jennifer knew exactly what she wanted and I just made it happen. She brought me a bottle of fingernail polish that was the accent color she wanted. I matched the ribbon and she found the shoes. Congrats, Jennifer! Can't wait to see the pictures from the wedding.

Hot Water!!

To the untrained eye, this piece of machinery may not look very exciting, but let me tell you, when we turned on the hot water at 11:00 last night and actually got hot water out, we were ecstatic.

I can't believe that we finally finished this dadgum thing. It started on Memorial Day weekend and finally ended last night. In all we had to: run electrical, mount the unit, cut a hole in the side of the house and vent said unit, re-run the gas line, reconfigure the plumbing, and run a drain-line.

But now it's done....well, almost.

There is one joint that I soldered that is leaking. And, apparently, a tankless hot water heater operates very differently than a tanked. When I got in the shower last night, I had good hot water for a few minutes, and then it went out. Then I turned off the cold, and it came back. Then the same thing happened to Jay. I called the Rheem people this morning, and apparently, you are supposed to set the temperature of the unit to how hot you want your shower to be (i.e. 100F), and then just take it with full hot water.

This has left me somewhat confused and wondering how it is going to affect the rest of our water-using operations. I took a shower this morning and it worked fine. But it seems that funny things start to happen when I start mixing hot and cold water. Hopefully we'll get it all figured out, but in the mean time, we do have working hot water!

I am so proud of us. And now I'm not nearly as scared about tackling the plumbing for the bathroom.

More Invitations

I have been cranking out invitations like crazy lately. I think these are the last of them for now. I enjoy making them, so I'm sure something will come up soon that will give me an excuse to make more.

These are for my sister's bridesmaid's luncheon that my Aunt Pat is throwing. There is a layer of white, lacy paper over a Tiffany-blue card. I just couldn't resist the lace.

I love pretty calligraphy, but my handwriting is terrible. So, for addressing the envelopes, I came up with a different solution. I typed in all of the addresses, changed the font to a script, printed them out and then traced them onto the envelopes. It turned out pretty good. Definately not as good as if I had a natural talent, but better than it would have been otherwise. Maybe a little bit more time consuming than I would have liked.

Now, on to the next wedding project for Meggie.

Feelin' Grumpy?

Morgan Kate Zimmerman at 3 months

These should bring a smile to even the grouchiest of grumps. :)

Stow-Away Furniture

Our house is not well configured for a coffee table. We used to have one, but we kept hitting our shins on as we walked by. Now it's at my sister's house. But when you have company over, it's nice to have those extra places to set drinks and plates.

So, I came up with a different solution. I got two Lack tables from Ikea. They were $12.99 each. The legs screw on and off. On normal days, I take off the legs and stow them under the couch. And then when people come over I pull them out and put them where ever I need them. They work perfectly!

Chaperoning

I spent my week being a teenager. Or was I a parent? I don't know. Somewhere in between, probably.

I stayed with the teenage daughter of a friend from church every night this week. It made me realize how long it's been since I was 14. I am so not with it. But, I think she had a pretty good time.

We bonded over movies and fashion. Apparently, Jay and I have an okay taste in movies. And we spent evenings "deconstructing" a pair of her boot-cut jeans and transforming them into skinny jeans...she assured me it was okay with her mom. And then we broadened our sewing skills by making a pair of pajama pants. Love the rainbow skulls.

I still have a lot to learn about being a teenager. And as time goes by, I seem to be loosing knowledge as opposed to gaining it. By the time we're parents of teenagers, I'll be completely clueless.

Finished pajama pants

Working (with help from Sky)

New Bathmat

Our bathmat is icky. I've hated it from day one. It started out pink, then faded, then got washed with a blue blanket and turned purplish, and now is back to faded, dirty pink. I've been putting of getting a new one until we redo the bathroom. And, also because I didn't know exactly what to get. Ideally white is the color I would choose, but that would never stay white and would be continually dirty looking.

A while ago, I read this review of a bamboo bathmat on Apartmenttherapy.com and decided it sounded pretty good (I have always liked them, but been leery). And then my sister got one last week (yes, Meg, here's your credit) and informed me it was on sale at Crate and Barrel for $29.95, so I ran out and got my own.

I like it. I think it's going to take some getting used to on my feet, but it's so much prettier than a shaggy, old bathmat.

Here is a full picture of what the bathroom currently looks like. Gray and pink. Hopefully, in the next few months, we'll have an "after" picture to show.

Bachelorette Party!

I sent out the invitations for Meg's bachelorette party last week. They turned out so cute and festive. I can't wait for the actual party!

Busy Week

This has been such a busy week. Last weekend (Memorial Day weekend) was spent installing a new tankless water heater. Then, off to Columbus for my mom's retirement celebrations, then appointments. Then house cleaning to get ready for my sister's shower that was here yesterday. Yesterday was crazy. First a cleaning and prep for the shower, then a wedding, then the shower, and then a going away party.

Now I'm tired. I'll post more details later.