The House Divided

A couples shower to celebrate great friends...

Well, I think I've finally cleaned up from the shower. {Sandy, I think I put your house back like I found it!} We all had a great time, and Courtney and Brian received some beautiful wedding gifts. I was able to snap a few pictures, but wished I could have taken more! I feel like that is always how it goes...I'm torn between setting up, enjoying the party, or taking pictures. I wind up doing a little bit of all three...and I only have a few good pics to show for it. {oh well}
Jill helped me with the set up. Here she's making the hamburger patties. We added a packet of Lipton's onion soup mix, and I must say they tasted pretty darn good. {one packet of soup mix to about 4 lbs. of ground beef and two eggs to hold it all together}
Cary grilled all of the meat and dogs, but managed to find some time to play a little cornhole with my brother, Brian.
I got some shots of the food and beverage areas, before any food or beverages were set out. I wish I had gotten a picture of the final product...sorry! Sandy is such a prepared hostess. Most of what you see belongs to my brother and sister-in-law. Don't you love the orange bug spray cans? {Gotta love Georgia and its mosquitoes}

The "after" picture of the candy bar:
{Thanks Sandy for helping with the styling!} I think the "House Divided" theme went over well. We had orange and red all over the place. I borrowed some tailgating things from our friends Hank and Sarah who are Clemson fans, and then added our Georgia stuff. Courtney is a UGA grad, and Brian graduated from Clemson, so they are a bit of a divided household when it comes to college football. {Luckily, the ACC and SEC do not play one another very often.}

 

I did a google image search for "UGA" and "Clemson"  to make the tags on the candy jars.  They were printed on my home printer and glued onto coordinating cardstock.   The ribbon is from Michael's and is a grossgrain with white stitching at the edges.  I used double-sided tape to adhere them to the glass jars.  The glass jars were also from Michael's.  They are actually cylinder-shaped vases from the floral section.  I think I paid around $2 each after using a coupon. The large candy dish was filled with assorted candies, and it was also from Michael's.  The 3-tiered server is by B.Smith.   The framed message says: Love is Sweet, Rivalries are Bitter.

I placed cellophane bags in a jar with a scoop and some tongs so that guests could take some candy with them.  We had PLENTY of candy!  You really need less than you think since guests only get a couple of each thing.  "UGA" Candy: red and black Twizzlers, red and black M&Ms, Red Swedish Fish, chocolate mini cupcakes in red papers.  "Clemson" Candy: Peach rings, Reese's Pieces, Butterfingers, Reese's cups, vanilla mini cupcakes in orange papers.  You can read more about the planning of the candy bar in this blog post.

 The beautiful bride-to-be...
And Cary was also a fan of the Reese's pieces.

Time to open gifts!
{At this point, I am frantically writing down gifts and taking pictures at the same time.}


Some friends from MCG

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I hope you all had a great time! And congratulations to Courtney and Brian. We wish you many, many happy years together!

Courtney's Shower

I have been busy planning a bridal shower for one of my best friends, Courtney. She and Brian are getting married in January {yay!} and I couldn't be happier for them. Aren't they so cute together?

I spent Friday and Saturday baking, cooking, decorating, and organizing. My brother and sister-in-law let us host the shower at their home. I was so grateful to have a location, because unfortunately, our condo just isn't big enough for a good ol' shindig. Maybe one day...
Anyway, back to reality. I have a little theme going for the shower, which I will share soon. For now, I'll show you some sneak peeks.

Baking chocolate mini cupcakes. I found the cutest mini cupcake papers at Michael's. Red with white polka dots and orange with white polka dots (picking up on any sort of theme yet?)

Mmmm...they smelled so good. Now, gotta make some vanilla mini cupcakes in orange and white polka dot papers.

My organized chaos that will become a candy bar. I have been very inspired lately by candy bars for birthday parties, wedding receptions, and even casual get-togethers. So I am attempting one of my own at this shower. The picture below can serve as the "before" picture.

And I will post an "after" picture soon! By now, you should be able to figure out my theme! Any guesses?

UGA vs. Arkansas game

This past weekend, we went to Athens to the UGA vs. Arkansas game and saw first hand how the new tailgate rules affected UGA's campus. Rather than tailgating on North Campus, we decided to tailgate on Myers where the rules' weight is far lighter. The biggest change I noticed was how few people were on North Campus. We saw only 1 group when we drove by at a little after 8 Saturday morning. Maybe that goes along with having a noon kickoff.
It was fun to see some friends again and spend the afternoon cheering on the dawgs. It was another disappointing game, and I'm ready for a home game NOT at noon. I guess we'll have to start winning to get better TV times. To quote Tim Tucker of the AJC, "It felt a lot like 1993 in Sanford Stadium on Saturday" alluding to the first time since '93 that we started 0-2 in the SEC and lost to Arkansas. If nothing else, it's reassurance as to how good the SEC is overall. Check out some pictures from the day below.

Our view of the field from the end zone. Not sure why there are empty rows!

We both got sunburned...it was so hot and sunny.

Our view of the band on the field and in the stands.

Thanks!

We wanted to thank everyone who joined us on our wedding day! It meant so much to have you all with us. We know you traveled from near and far and took the time to celebrate our marriage...and we are so grateful for your support!

Thanks!

Cary's aunts, uncles, and cousins

My Brother and Nieces

The Nixes

Fraternity Brothers

Cary with his groomsmen

Our friends from Augusta

with my brother and sisters
Jenny, Naomi, Sarah, and Chrissie

With my girls

Mr. and Mrs.

This will be the last of the wedding posts. I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures, and again, thanks for your support at our wedding!

UGA vs. S. Carolina

Kelly and I attended the UGA game in Columbia, SC this past weekend. It was good to see the suspensions served last week and most players return for SEC action. I saw this cartoon in the Red & Black newspaper last week and it made me laugh so I included it. Check out this article for a full list over the past 3 years. The Red & Black Article had a nice take on it, too as UGA is in good position to win the Fulmer Cup.
With a 12 o'clock kickoff, it was tough to get up early and set up for tailgating, but we were able to have fun with some friends for a few hours. Carolina loves playing the Sandstorm song while the student section dances around waving their towels. A fan around us commented "they really love their rave music." In the end, the dawgs couldn't get it done. However, it looks like S. Carolina has a nice chance of representing the SEC East. If nothing else, maybe saying that will jinx them.
Here's some pictures from the weekend. Hopefully next weekend will go better in Athens vs. Arkansas.

A view of the Columbia skyline (yes, we were high enough to see):

A halftime show to honor the heroes of September 11, 2001:

The Party (aka Our Reception)

Our reception was held at Windermere Golf Club in Cumming, GA. We were so excited to find the venue and very pleased with the service leading up to the wedding as well as the night of the reception.

Our First Dance

We served a low country boil for dinner that included shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage. We also enjoyed chicken, cole slaw, and fried okra...a very Southern reception.

Time to enjoy the party.

Hank starts the train...

And more people join in...

And still more...

The electric slide, a classic!

Lots of people were shagging and swing dancing.

And of course, we mingled with friends and family.

We had such a great time, and we hope you did, too!