Friday Favorites ~ 6.13.14

It's that time again! Time for Friday Favorites...linking up with Amanda from Meet Me at the Barre :)

Favorite Moment

Abby had her baby!! She gave birth Wednesday, June 11th at 8:21 pm to an amazingly PERFECT baby girl <3

Cohen Patricia Hendler 
(middle name after Abby's late mother) 

I could have cried tears of joy - my heart is so full. It was bitter sweet because I wished I could have been there...had I still lived in Akron, I would've been there the entire time and gotten to hold her right away. But I'm counting down the minutes until Saturday, so I can race up there and meet her and give my Sissy the biggest hug!!

My gorgeous niece...

 


Favorite Recipe

Broccoli Cauliflower Bacon Salad

I made this last weekend for a cook-out we had with friends and it was delicious! A couple of you asked me about it, so I thought I would share the recipe since it is so simple and perfect to take to summer get togethers! 

Prep Time:  30 minutes

6 servings

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

1 small onion diced

1 cup frozen corn (I used fresh - 2 ears, cooked it and cut off the cob)

6 slices bacon chopped (I used 8 or 9)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup sugar

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

Break up cauliflower and broccoli into tiny flourettes. Finely chop the onion. Cook and chop bacon. Add vegetables and bacon together. Mix dressing and pour over vegetables and bacon and mix.

I added a bit more dressing mixture to mine than listed above - really just add based on your own taste! :)

 

Favorite Funnies

 #britishproblems

The struggle is real...

Summer Time Problems...

Good luck...

And if you happen to be one of the few people I do answer for...

Head over and join the link up HERE ...I love reading everyone's Friday Favorites for the week! xx

Perfect day for a white wedding

Happy Tuesday! Hope you all had a lovely long weekend :) Sorry I dropped on the face of the {blog} world for a minute...but I had one of the best weekends, and I'm so sad it's over!

Aaron and I head up to Akron on Friday because this weekend was my best friend, Michelle's wedding! I've mentioned before that I was her maid of honor, so there was a lot to do before the big day on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon, we had the rehearsal and dinner...followed by a girls sleep over at her grandparents house (if you can even call it a house - it's the most amazing place, we each got our own bedroom and bathroom, if that tells you anything!) Michelle and I snuggled up together in one room though - like our old school sleep overs as kids, it was so much fun! I wish I had snapped some pictures, but they were all on other people's phones / cameras, so I'll have to try and get a hold of some...

Saturday, we were up at the crack of dawn to start getting ready. First stop was the salon, second stop was Target and Starbucks ;)

 

Next, we were off to the church for the ceremony! It went so perfectly, and Michelle looked so beautiful - I swear I almost started crying when the music changed and she started walking down the aisle - I held it together though ;) ...didn't have waterproof mascara on!

Best friends for over 14 years!

My handsome devil ;)

 

Mum and I
My parents were also there because they have always been like a second family to Michelle.



The beautiful bride! 



Loved our bouquets of roses and gerber daisies.

After the ceremony, it was straight to the reception...
 

It was crazy because there were so many old friends from high school there! I didn't realize she had invited so many of them!

Dad and I tearing up the dance floor. Bummed that this picture is such bad quality because it's so cute...Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" came on and my dad grabbed my hand and dragged my out to the dance floor - he is so sweet!! Side note: Mum really needs to get rid of her flip phone and upgrade to a smart phone with a camera! ;)

Aaron and I dancing to my all time favorite song..."Over the Rainbow" by IZ.

Michelle played it just for me :)

That's about all the pictures I have right now from the wedding...it was such a PERFECT day and she was so happy - which made my heart sing. She (and Jeremy - her new husband) deserved an amazing day.

We head back home on Sunday and relaxed before getting to work on the garden on Monday. We worked for like 7 hours straight! It turned out really nicely - it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there! 

My favorites are the new bright purple rhododendron bushes :) 

We need one more though - I under estimated how large that side of the house was!

My task was digging up the rock path and getting all the damn lilies out that keep spreading and coming back every year...so I had to literally dig and pull up leaves and roots at least a foot down into the ground, basically along the entire front of the window --- it took FOREVER and I will scream if I see another lily come up next year!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!! I'm going to head to Bloglovin and catch up on recent blog posts now :))

Bachelorette Party ~ Part 2

Continued from Part 1 ~ here

On Sunday we woke up early and head to Green Room Spa for a day of pampering!

We had the entire place to ourselves...and {almost} the entire bridal party was able to come! A couple girls are still teenagers, so they weren't able to come out the night before. But, on Sunday, the only 2 missing actually live in Florida, so they aren't coming up until the wedding. 

We all signed up for massages, facials, and/or eyebrow waxing...and it was such a nice, relaxing way to unwind after the night out on Saturday.

The spread! Each of the fabulous bridesmaids brought something yummy to snack on, and Michelle's cousin and I brought mimosa fixings, of course ;)

The gorgeous bride, opening her gifts! I kept the "naughty gifts" and lingerie pictures out, as to not embarrass her, because I know she reads this :) 

Besties since 7th grade! 

(Made this one black and white because the lighting was so orang-y in this room)
**Note that we are both proudly rocking second day hair from Saturday night ;) 

It's been so fun celebrating with her, but I know she is so ready to have the wedding be here already!

Only 16 more days!! xx 

Fairytale Shower & Weekend Recap

This weekend was such a great one! I headed up to Akron early on Saturday for Abby's baby shower. This is her first baby, and we were all so excited to celebrate and shower her with gifts! The theme of the party was "Rustic Fairytales" and it turned out beautifully - thanks to our amazing friend Andrea (who should be a party planner)...she thought of everything!

Note the gorgeous (and absolutely delicious home made cake pops ;) 

I may or may not have had like 4 of them.

We had the shower at Uncorked Wine Bar in downtown Akron 

(for us, this is a totally appropriate and acceptable location for a baby shower ;)

I completely forgot to snap a picture of all the gifts, and the painted canvas I made her for the baby's room! DIY fail. I'll have her send me a picture of it hung up in the nursery so I can share it with you! I was nervous about it because I'm not such a crafty person, but I think this turned out pretty good, and she absolutely loved it!

Belle of the Ball (Abby) and my other gorgeous bestie, Alissa.

Big Sis and I <3

Funny story (funny now - not when it happened)...Andrea was making punch and asked me to come help...and just as I walked over, a container of bright red juice concentrate (you know the frozen kind?) burst open ALL OVER my white lace dress. Time literally stood still and it looked like someone had just been murdered...all over me. But, thanks to a little whole bottle of seltzer water and fast acting, we were able to get every last speck of red out! These pictures were taken after it happened...which is ah-mazing, since I thought the dress was for sure ruined!

Andrea, Alissa, Abby, and yours truly.

We are each others soul mates. I feel so blessed that we found each other in life...it's so crazy when we talk about it, because there are so many things that happened just perfectly for us all to end up together...it was fate :) 

On another note - we have been bffs for almost 10 years and this is one of only two pictures of the four of us that is perfect. All others are not quite as sober or appropriate. ;)