End of Summer

Even though the summer weather won’t end here for another month or longer, school starts tomorrow, ushering the end of the summer. It seems like the summer just started. We just moved into our house and I just planted those flowers in my windowbox.

But time must have passed, because those tiny little flowers that I planted at the beginning of the summer, the first week we were in our apartment, now reach out and up and over the box. They’ve gotten so big!

I’m excited for school tomorrow, but I’m dreading the stressful workload that I know will be in my near future. The summer has been a nice time to forget about all that. But I’m hoping that I’m more prepared to handle it better this year. I feel so much better about starting this school year than I have been for the last two. This summer and this apartment have been good for me. I’m really, really happy in our little apartment here. I feel so much more settled in and at home–something I never felt in my little dorm rooms, even if they were all cute and cozy. I knew that they were only temporary, where as this apartment is ours for a while. Although we’ve only been here a couple months, it already feels like home and it has been nice to be able to put pride into its appearance and make it a home together.

I’m in a really happy place in life. I’m very proud of that. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might know that last year was a rough year for me. Figuring things out, working though tough classes, career paths, lots of school related stress and a general feeling of instability. I’m happy that this summer has been a much needed break from that and our apartment has provided me with the stability that I’d been looking for. I think that stability will be a good foundation for a much less stressful school year this year. I feel so much more ready and prepared for it at least.

This is Drew’s last year of college. It seems so strange that we started dating halfway through high school and now we are almost done with college! How time flies! It is my junior year and my last year as an unmarried woman! This time next year, I will be starting my last year of college and I will be married! How crazy!

I just thank God for all the wonderful opportunities that he has opened in my life and how they continue to flourish. I’m so thankful for the peace and happiness that I feel at this point in my life and pray that I can maintain that feeling throughout even the most stressful times of this school year. Hopefully I can continue to remember to enjoy life in the moment and not wish it away because of the stress that comes along with it. Here’s to an abundantly blessed beginning to a wonderful school year. 🙂

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The Delectable Food Known as the Roast Beef Po-Boy

If you live in New Orleans, here is exactly what you should do today:

Get in your car. Head down St. Charles Avenue. Admire the pretty houses, the canopy of live oak trees, and the lovely summer sunshine. (All from your air conditioned vehicle, no less) Turn up your radio and sing along. Preferably to country music, although I won’t discriminate if you chose to alter the radio station in this equation. Mostly though, watch the road. I like safe drivers. Turn onto First Street. Admire more houses here in the Garden District. Park on the street between Chestnut Street and Camp Street. Walk the last block to Magazine Street. Stop when you get to Magazine Street and take in the amazingness that is Magazine Street Po-Boy Shop. Walk in, walk up to the counter and order the regular roast beef po-boy, dressed, with a glass of ice water. Pay the man your $5.25 (+tax) and take a seat. Wait a few moments and then behold the wonderful delicacy that they bring to your table:

Engulf the first half so fast that you can barely breathe. Then remember to get out your phone and take a picture of the second half of the sandwich goodness. The soft bread with its slightly crunchy toasted outside, the roasted beef with delicious gravy, lettuce, tomato, mayo and pickles…mmmm. Finish your sandwich and resist the urge to lick the remaining gravy off your plate. Then drive back home and reward yourself with another cookie.

At least that is what I did today. 🙂

But seriously, Magazine Street Po-boy’s Roast Beef Po-boys are the best, you have to try them. If you don’t live in New Orleans, well that kind-of stinks for you. If you want to know more about Po-boys, see here.

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Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Drop Cookies

Those are what I made to accompany us as I sewed and Drew watched the Saints game the other day. They were delicious and I haven’t been able to stay out of the kitchen and stop eating them since.

I think the last time I made these cookies was with my friend, Tonya, at her house when we were in middle school. It had been that long. I don’t know why though. I guess when I get cookie cravings I automatically make chocolate chip cookies. I tend to neglect other cookie types. Maybe I should work on that. Anyway, here is the recipe so that you can skippy to your kitchens and whip you up a batch:

1/2 C Butter
2 C Sugar
1/2 C Milk
4 Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 C Peanut Butter
3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
2 tsp. Vanilla

Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set. Enjoy. 🙂

It is especially nice to make these in the summer, since you can still have delicious cookies without having to turn the oven on and heat up the whole house! Plus there is barely any cooking time at all involved! Happy Cooking. 🙂

P.S. I’ve also heard of making them without the cocoa and peanut butter and adding coconut and dried cherries/cranberries/raisins instead. I’ve never tried that, but I’m intrigued. Anyone else had them like that before?

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Evie’s Playdate Cards

My niece, Evie, started second grade last week! I can’t believe how old she has gotten. It also reminded me that I never shared the playdate cards that I made for her before school got out last May. She wanted some cards with her name and her mom’s name and phone number so that she could give them to her friends at school so that they could easily set up play dates over the summer. Such a good idea!


I think they are a really good way to have kids exchange numbers–easy for kids to hand out to their friends and convenient for parents to keep track of their kid’s friends and other kid’s parents as well.

Evie was excited to have pretty little cards with her name on them!

If you are interested in any playdate cards, business cards or contact cards for yourself or your little one, I would be happy to help create them for you! Use my contact page to send me an e-mail. 🙂

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Wedding in the Country

While I was home I also went to a wedding. Let me tell you, weddings are so much more fun to go to when you are in the process of planning your own! I’ve been to a million weddings before (my dad is an ordained minister and marries people as a hobby–he actually did the wedding that I’m talking about now as well) but you notice the little things so much more when you are thinking about going through the same things yourself in just a few months. I went to high school with the bride and recently just designed her logo and website, so it was so nice to see her again and to be there on her wedding day. She looked beautiful, I absolutely loved the country setting, and her wedding photography showcases it all wonderfully.

 At the reception, I sat down next to the photographer and chatted with her while we ate. She is so nice and does amazing work! She is based in the St. Louis, MO area, so if you are around there and would like to have her photograph your wedding or other event, you can check her out on her website, here.

I loved the simple/rustic/elegant look that Carly created in her wedding. It was beautiful and makes me wish my own wedding wasn’t ten months away! June 2012, hurry up!

All photos copyright Cate Jackson Photography. Used with permission.

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Trip Home

Goodness, the last two weeks in my hometown flew by! It was so nice to be back in the country, to see some of my friends from high school and talk about wedding plans and visit with my family. It was a nice break from work and it was actually kind-of relaxing to be back in my house in the country with no internet. But I was also oh-so busy! I barely had a spare moment.

I was home during the county fair, so it was nice to walk around, eat fair food, and watch the demo derby. I also helped my mom out with a craft fair booth for her bow business in one of the local towns around my hometown.



I met a wedding cake baker with yummy cakes to sample and passed out many of mine and Drew’s business cards while I was there as well! If you would like to order one of my mom’s bows or other products, send me an e-mail or you can visit her website, here. (We are still working on her online store, so you might have to e-mail her to order.)

I did lots of wedding planning and shopping while I was home and also went back to visit the winery where we are having the wedding to get better ideas for decoration and layout. (more wedding shopping from my trip in this post)

We celebrated my brother’s birthday while I was home, ate lots of food, got many more engagement congratulations at church on Sunday (since everyone had seen our announcement in the paper), visited with family, ate at all the local restaurants that we miss when in New Orleans, shopped, did wedding stuff, and relaxed and watched several movies. Drew and I both got haircuts, I went to the dentist, the doctor and the chiropractor (I pulled a muscle in my lower back), went to a strength training exercise class that my friend Tonya teaches (that was before and totally unrelated to my back injury), and also went to a wedding while I was home.

It was definitely a busy trip. It is so nice to be home and to be in the hills and the country again, but it is also nice to be back in New Orleans and in our apartment and have our suitcases all unpacked as well. There are definitely traces of our trip home in our apartment though:

Our fruit bowl is full of tomatoes from my parent’s garden.

The table is piled high with cucumbers from their garden as well.

The counter is covered with jars of freshly canned tomatoes and salsa from my older sister and her garden.

Our couch is much softer with the addition of our newly re-covered couch pillows by my mom, the lovely seamstress.

We got our lovely table here with no problems fitting into the car at all!

I love it! It is perfect for our foyer to function as a large desk for Drew and also as a dining table to seat at least 6 or so if we have company over. The only thing that I don’t like about it is:

It got scratched either being put into the car or while being lifted out of the car. However, with a little wood oil it should be fine. That is one of the reasons that I wanted a rustic/farmhouse table–so that if it did get scratched up over time, it would just look well worn and not completely ruined.

I’m excited to be back in our house and to get back to work on home DIY projects before school starts in a few weeks! Stay tuned for some house updates sometime soon! 🙂

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Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Before I left Nashville on Monday morning, I awoke to this note on the table next to the bed:

Here they are closer up:

How utterly adorable is that? I love you, Evie. 🙂

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Weekend in Nashville

I hope you all have had fabulous weekends! Mine has been busy!

I flew into Nashville last week to visit my older sister and my nieces. My nieces and I have been playing with lots of dolls (Barbies, Polly Pockets, Lalaloopsies and various other stuffed animals — to be exact) and having tea parties.

We went to the huge Nashville flea market and I bought a pretty, handmade, wooden, farmhouse type table for our foyer to use as Drew’s desk/larger dining room table if we have guests over. I love it! I can’t wait to see it in our house! (I’m a little worried about how we are going to fit it in Drew’s car to get it home though. The legs come off with bolts and I’m just hoping the top won’t be too big to fit in the back.)

This weekend my mom and my younger sisters came down as well. We did lots and lots of shopping! For clothes and shoes and house goods and back-to-school things. My mom even looked at new cars. The main goal of our weekend though was wedding shopping!

I tried on a wedding dress here in Nashville during spring break that I really loved. I’ve tried on others since then, but none that I liked as much as this one. I really wanted my mom and sisters to see it, so we made sure to stop by and try it on again. Which, speaking of places to try on dresses in the Nashville area, if you are around these parts and are looking for wedding dresses, you should totally stop by The White Room. All the people that work there are so nice and they have beautiful dresses. Anyway, I tried it on again and didn’t want to get out of it! It is the perfect color — a soft, antique, light champagne/off-white/almond/vanilla color with the most delicate lace and the prettiest subtle sparkle and shimmer. The best part is— that it is MINE! We ordered it!!!

Since we ordered it, they did allow us to take pictures of me in the gown, but no one had brought our cameras because we didn’t expect to be ordering it then. I did get a few on my phone, but they don’t really do the dress justice, so I’m weary of posting them. Here is a little sneak peek:

I’m getting more and more excited about the wedding the more things that we get marked off of our wedding to-do list. It is making the whole thing a little less stressful and a little more real. Ordering the dress wasn’t the only thing that we accomplished on the list this weekend either! We also bought the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses!

This picture definitely doesn’t do the bridesmaids’ fabric justice either. It is a creamy/gray linen fabric with a lovely texture. I’m so excited to see the dresses once they are done and paired with bright colored flower bouquets! I can’t wait for the wedding!!!

It is getting closer! We’ve got the date set, the venue booked, the photographer booked, we’ve talked to the caterer, we’ve ordered the dress, bought the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses—we are definitely getting closer! I’m excited to be getting down to the fun little creative details now that we have most of the big stuff out of the way!

If you’d like a better idea of what my overall vision/inspiration is for the wedding, check out my wedding board on Pinterest!

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I DO in Southern Illinois & Engagement Feature!!

A couple months ago, Drew and I designed a really awesome website that has been one of our favorite things we’ve done so far. It was for an awesome photographer, graphic designer and wedding magazine founder/editor, Britni Woodworth and her Southern Illinois Wedding Magazine, I Do in Southern Illinois.

I absolutely LOVE that she has created this magazine to showcase all the wonderful talent, people, and businesses in Southern Illinois related to the wedding industry. The website includes a blog where she features real weddings and engagements and also where she gives brides-to-be ideas to help them plan their Southern Illinois wedding. She also features photographers, florists, and other people that provide pretty and quality work to assist on your wedding day or other event. The website also includes an e-glossy copy of the magazine she creates.

Not only am I thrilled about her site and her work, but she has so graciously featured Drew and I and our love story on her blog today!! Hop on over there to read about our story and see our engagement pictures!!

Click here to head on over there!

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Engagement Announcement

If you live in my hometown, you might have noticed that our engagement announcement came out in last Thursday’s paper. It took me long enough to get it in there, I know. (We got engaged in December and its almost August!) Anyway, I wasn’t at home to see it, so my dad sent me a couple copies of the paper and I just got them in the mail today. I thought I would share it on here in case you missed it in the paper or if you aren’t from my hometown.

I wish our picture didn’t look so grainy! I guess that is just newspaper printing though.


I even managed to squeeze my blog address in there. I figured that since I was paying for the announcement, why not? 🙂

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