Monday, October 31, 2011

Whoot whoot!

Wow, am I behind or what? :)  I feel like I have been in constant motion all of October.  Literally.  Between lots of work trips, nursery prepping and some scary health issues with B (that's another post in itself!), I have not even been able to find five minutes to blog. 

So, finally the post you've all been waiting for...my incredible girls weekend in St. Louis!  So, the first weekend in October my mom came in town and we went to St. Louis to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby B with all my besties from Mizzou.  The last time we were all together we were celebrating Whit's upcoming arrival.  So we thought what better place to have a girls' dinner than Sugo's, just like last time. :) 
It was SO much fun catching up with these gals and finally getting to meet Miss Etta Kate.
Is she not the cutest thing ever?

Sunday morning we met again for Baby B's shower.  The oh so talented Courtney of Courtney Callahan Paper designed these adorable invites.  They are so me...owls and chevron!

Ellen found the fabulous Salt as our spot for brunch.  Seriously one of the best meals I have had in a long time.  Yum!
The girls decorated our private room with the sweetest touches and special details.


Guests signed the Little Hoot book and guessed boy or girl (it was a landslide of girl votes!).


Whit found a bakery in St. Louis that matched the cake to the owl on Court's invitation.  Too cute!  And yes, it was as delicious as it looked. :)  Cheryl did all the flower arrangements, and I adored the Mason jar vases!




After our scrumptious brunch, it was time to open gifts.  Let me just say this little guy or gal is one lucky baby because he or she got some good loot!

Of course there were LOTs of owl gifts...
And my favorite Aden and Anais swaddles!






And leave it to my hip Chicago gals, Court and El, to find the swankiest diaper bag!  I am obsessed.


I must say Miss Etta Kate just stole the show.  Do you not love her outfit?
I just want to squeeze those sweet cheeks!
My mom getting some sweet practice with Etta. :)
Luckily Whit was able to model for me the fabulous sling her mom got us.

After all the gifts were opened, guests got to make a tweet for themselves at the granola bar.  Lots of yummies to mix together!






I was seriously blown away by all the time, thought and effort these girls put into the shower.  So, I wanted to come up with some clever hostess gifts.
My attempt at a gift tag (hard to compete with CCP!)...

Thanks for making this time so special!


I thought these classic clocks were the perfect gift!

I am so truly blessed to have the most incredible friends.  Cannot wait for Baby B to meet all of his/her aunties!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Made with Love

So, I'm still working on getting pics up from the fantastic shower this weekend, but here is a sneak peak of the invitation.


My two favorite things...owls and chevron!  You will die when you see all the fabulous details that went into making it so special.  I truly have the most amazing friends.

And speaking of amazing people, my sweet in-laws really went out of their way to shower B and I last weekend, so I wanted to do something special for a hostess gift.  What's better than a homemade gift?  After a little searching on Pinterest, I found the perfect thing, cinnamon honey butter.  I found the fabulous recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Fly Through Our Window.  It was so easy and oh so tasty!

Here's what you need...

2 sticks of butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 cup honey and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 

This makes about two cups of the deliciousness (I doubled the recipe).


Leave the butter out to room temperature or stick in the microwave just for a bit.
Then whip to a creamy consistency.


Add the honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon and continue to whip.


Pure heaven!


Courtesy of Pinterest I found some lovely printable tags that fit my gift perfectly.  Check them out here.




I put the deliciousness in these adorable jars found at Target and even had some leftover to slather on my English muffin for breakfast the next morning. :)






I paired each jar with some fresh ciabatta bread and wrapped up for each hostess.  The perfect gift to say thanks for showering us with such love. :)