the one for the rock star in the family.

My little cousin, Brooke, turned twelve last week.  Seriously, time flies!  I remember helping feed Brooke her morning bottles & laying her down for naps.   Home girl is now wearing my clothes, almost my height & wears the same size shoe as me!  Crazy.  

Anyways, Brooke had a family get together for her twelfth birthday party.  It was camp/outdoors inspired... which suits her perfectly.  Brooke is super, duper outdoorsy.  She competes in shooting (yes, as in guns) tournaments, kayaks, help her parents with their giant array of farm animals, has a dirt bike, runs, fishes, & hunts.  She's a good ol' southern gal/rock star && I absolutely adore her.

The party included a super fast zip line!

Shooting skeet.. 

(first my uncle taught us how to know whether to shoot right or left handed)

I'm the lefty..

Eventually, we got tired of holding our ears from all the shooting & decided to move on to gifts.

Sister got loads of money & some cute outfits! :)

We had a couple photo shoots...

Then my favorite part of the party came!!  Arts & crafts! :) 

Then we topped the night off with corn hole, hot dogs & birthday cake (my actual favorite part of a birthday party!)  The shindig was a blast!  I felt like I was leaving a camp!   

BrookeLynn, I love you so much!  I can't believe how grown up you are!  If you wouldn't mind, I would really appreciate it if you slowed down!  I had a great time at your party & loved that is suited your personality perfectly.  You're a rock star!  I love you!

the one for simple weekend siblove.

My brother always says me & my sister are loud.  We talk a lot.  We ask a bunch of questions. We tend to get louder as the day goes by.  He always gets frustrated when we are both in the house at the same time.  Precious boy can't get no sleep or even a word in.  He always says things like.. "You're so spastic" & (in Chandler Bing's voice)"Could you be in louder?"  

He would never admit that he likes all three of us under the same roof, but I know he does.  If you look at him at just the right moment, you can catch him trying to hide his grin.  We take all his critiques & the "you're so uncool" gestures as I love you 's.  It's just how homeboy rolls.

Anyways, Ash came in this weekend.  && personally I think it was really great having all three of us under the same roof.  Actually, all five of us.  It was a good weekend. :)

Exciting post to come this week:

Raleigh home projects - before & after.

The inspiration for a new Raleigh home project.

My little cousin's camp & outdoors inspired birthday party.

:)  What's on tap for you this week?

the ones with the plan to be a wedding barbie.

One of my favorite things to do is take day-trips!  They can be spur of the moment, they can be planned.  I think they are the perfect excuse for the let's just go somewhere attitude.

A couple of weeks ago, me & two of my girlfriends went on a secret mission.  Secret, as in no, we are not going to talk about it today... but I can talk about everything else!  :)  After the mission was complete we happened to stumble upon a David's bridal.  

Side note:  I am obsessed with everything weddings.. pictures, blogs, the process, tv shows.  But every time I walk past a wedding store of some sort, I always wanna go in & try one on!

Anyways, I mentioned to Brooke that we should just go try on dresses.  Brooke was "let's do it!  But we need a story!  You can be the bride."   So we came up with this plan:  I am recently engaged, not getting married until next fall, & my fiancé is in the Military of some sort (incase they told me I seemed real young). My two friends were my best friends & maid of honors.  I put my pearl ring on my left hand to represent engagement ring and I wanted a classy, country wedding... just in case they asked.

Well, we didn't know this but when you want to go in a try on dresses you have to register.  We got into the store.. && a consultant pretty much told us that a typical Saturday morning at the end of the wedding season isn't the best day to play wedding barbie.  (She told us Wednesday nights were the best.. just for future reference)

So close. :(

But that didn't stop us from trying on veils, finding our favorite dresses & ooo-ing & ahh-ing at the real brides.

Later, we stopped at Urban Outfitters & Anthropologie to get some inspiration.

&& we played this hilarious game on the way home... but the video will not upload.  I'll work on it tomorrow & see if I can get it going! :)

Yay for friends, secret missions, fake weddings, cookies from Anthropologie & fun day trips!

twice new [dining room table].

So before we start, you must know I am terrible at before photos.  I completely forget about them until it is just about too late.  These chairs were the very last ones.. & I about forgot to take the before picture - which could have been an absolute tragedy, I mean you wouldn't have had the chance to see them in all their original glory.  But luckily my mom came outside just in time to remind me!  Thanks mom!

To me, the cool thing about this dining room is that my parents bought it when my mom was pregnant with me!   :)  Now 20 years later, they have passed it down to their grown-up little fetus!  Haha... weird.

So without further ado, here is the before shots of the dining room ensemble...

Also, before of the table.  BUT remember I am terrible at before shots, so I had already taken out the middle sleeve to paint separately.  But anyways, maybe you can get the gist of the table from my crappy little snap shot...

So once the old sheets were laid accordingly, primer & paint was sprayed on the chairs & painted on the table.  Then with small sheets of sand paper, we distressed several edges & sealed it with a clear lacquer.  Voila!

the after:

I love how it turned out!  I hope my roomies do too! 

Let me know your thoughts!

the one to determine blue, pink or orange frosting.

Sam's older sister, Jenny, is preggers.  Well actually double preggers.  :)

Jenny & her husband, Jordan, had a gender reveal party last week!  It was so cute & so fun!

They revealed the genders through the appropriate color of frosting between different layers of the cake.  Baby A was top layer of frosting.  Baby B was bottom layer.

Two baby boys coming soon! :)

Jordan's siblings & their families could not make it to the reveal party, but they were definitely not left out!  Thank goodness for Skype!

Cutest family-to-be.

Also, Jenny & Jordan wanted to get the guest involved.  Guest were invited to wear the corresponding colors as to what they thought the babies would be!  Blue for two boys.  Pink for two girls.  Orange for one of each!

The blue team... aka the winning team.

The pink team.

The orange team.

 Yay for baby love!

Join me in continual prayer for two healthy, growing babies.  Also, for Jenny & Jordan as they prepare their hearts for their two peas in the pod!