My bridal shower: guests

Continuing on with my bridal shower posts and onto the most important part of the whole day - the guests! We had about 40 people there and I was so overwhelmed that so many of my friends and family came to spend the afternoon with me. Nick's two aunts, grandma and mom drove from 2+ hours away just to come to the shower!

It was so wonderful having everyone that means so much to me in the same room and I'm excited to share pictures of some of my darling guests!

Meghan and Brynn - the dynamic duo behind the days event


Courtney, me, Meghan, Brynn

Lovely ADPi ladies

My friend and fellow blogger Michelle (Lovely Little Things) is in the yellow sweater

Jessie and Erika - my roommates from Rome. Erika's a blogger too!

Emi and me (you can check out her food blog here)

Nicole and me

future sister-in-law, Julia!

Ivy and Courtney working hard on the ribbon bouquet

Deanna with her new 3-week old baby Reese, the youngest guest of the shower!

My friend Carrie of Laugh, Love, Eat Ice Cream dropped off a present before the shower since she was out of town.

My mama and me!

Molly and me

Meghan's dog Sophia (a bolognese) had her Sunday best on for the event, the girls made her a collar out of the rosettes

My lovely high school friends

A lot of people have asked for details about the rosettes and pasta salad and just the shower in general. So coming up in the near future there could be a special blog post from the lovely ladies who put on the event! (Peer pressure!) Stay tuned!

My bridal shower: food

Continuing on with the bridal shower post - the yummy food! The girls did such an amazing job with the food it was a Giada inspired meal (of course - I love her)!

They totally outdid themselves and the spread was beautiful and so tasty! It was a beautiful, sunny spring day in Seattle (close to 70 degrees!) and the menu was perfect for it! All homemade and fresh - these girls do nothing less!

Seriously, don't you all think these girls could do their own catering/party planning business?! They were cool, calm collected and never even broke a sweat!

Party planning masters: Brynn (left) and Meghan (right) prepping in the kitchen

Nick dropped me off at the shower and his contribution was opening the champagne bottles for the Bellini's

Beverage station complete with spa water, Bellini's, various juices and iced tea

I love these big glass dispensers they used for the spa water (rosemary, cucumbers and lemon slices) and iced tea

Caprese sandwiches

Prosciutto sandwiches

Three leaf salad

Fruit salad

Tomato basil pasta salad (I will post the recipe when I get it - it is so yummy!)

The full spread - so pretty and so yummy

How cute is this cake?! I love the pink!! It was so delish too

Homemade biscotti as favors for the guests

More to come soon!

My bridal shower: decor

I am still smiling ear to ear as I type this just thinking about the wonderful day I had!! On Sunday my darling friends and bridesmaids, Meghan and Brynn, threw me the most lovely shower I could have asked for. It was held at Meghan's parents lovely home that was a perfect space for about 40 women to spend the afternoon. I have so much to post about I've decided to break it up into various posts so I wont leave out a single detail.

First off - the decor!

Guests walked in the door and had wine glasses with their name on it...

And then there was a beverage station with spa water, belinnis and iced-tea to fill their glasses...

The kitchen had these beautiful fabric-rosette lanterns that the girls made, they were a hit with everyone...

And yes all of those lanterns were made with these cute little rosettes, and they made every single one by hand...

Lovely flowers and glassybabys on the kitchen table...

Yummy cake and homemade biscotti were made as favors...

The dining room tables was also decorated with glassybabys and flowers....

More glassybabys, some with candles and some with pretty flowers...

Candle on the buffet island...

Even the napkins had a little special touch to them

Next up - the yummy food!

Shower weekend

I have been counting down until Sunday and I couldn't be more excited for my bridal shower!! I love showers of all kinds: baby, wedding - there need to be more occasions for them!

My wonderful friends and bridesmaids Meghan and Brynn have been planning and working so hard and I know it will be amazing.  I can't wait!!!!

Quinoa

I am one of those people that gets stuck on a food for a while and just can't get enough - my latest obsession is quinoa.  If you haven't tried it, its amazing and so healthy!  I've started substituting it for orzo pasta and rice.  It is]actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard and packs tons of protein and fiber.

This is one of my favorite recipes roasted shrimp with orzo and I began swapping out orzo for quinoa.  Anyone else a quinoa fan out there?

image: Nashville Health Nut

Weekend update

Friday: Had a really fun 3.5 hour dinner with friends! We went to a Cajun restaurant and while the food was really good, I will probably have to give them a three-star Yelp review because the service was so bad! Our waiter was obviously ready to quit his job and you could tell he was so over it!

Saturday: Did some wedding cake tasting, shopping and celebrated my friend Ashley's birthday.

Sunday: My parents came up and took us all out to see the Imax movie Hubble 3D - it was so good! I love anything and everything space related and the images they showed in 3D were just amazing. It's so crazy to think about all that’s out there so far away…

I hope this is a short week!!

Back at it

I've been MIA for the week because I have been under the weather, totally knocked out, sick as a dog! Whatever I am getting over hit me hard, and I have not been sick like this in a while!

Looking forward to dinner tonight with these lovely ladies at a new restaurant, my friend Ashley's birthday, Imax 3D movie, sun on Saturday and lots of relaxing! Hope its wonderful for everyone!

Happy Easter weekend!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!  I'll be hanging out with family, dying Easter Eggs, church and celebrating this wonderful holiday!

image: Martha Stewart