Thankful Thursdays

Wedding Wednesday

Recap of the bakery we are going to use:
Their name is Simply Delicious and the name definitely describes the cake my mom brought us to sample!  They sent fillings and frostings to go with the cakes and I was a happy girl!  We tried their chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate mousse filling, banana nut with vanilla frosting, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and pina colada cake with pineapple filling.  I loved them all, except the pina colada cake.  We are going to have them cook us up the oreo and the almond cake they have and then I think we will be ready to choose!!  Yay for cake!


Today's about invitations.  John and I want a very clean and simple invitation.  Here's kind of what we are looking at:

We want to keep the classic wording too:

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery _____

request the honour of your presence

at the marriage of their daughter

Christina Lou

and

John Joseph _____

on Saturday, the 26 of March

two thousand and eleven

at five o'clock

First Church of Christ

219 North Granby Road

Granby, Connecticut*

Do you put anything about the reception on the invitation?

One of my friends sent me her response card she used for her wedding, to hopefully help with our numbers and letting each invited guest how many were invited in their party, so I hope that helps.  We have cut our number from over 500 to 315 already but the number is important to keep down because of size restrictions.

Does anyone have any other advice for things I need to know about invitations??

*not actual location

GO GATORS!

The Gators played their first big SEC game yesterday and were victorious!  I wasn't sure how the game was going to go considering our team's still in a big learning curve, plus the Vols have a new coach (who looks pretty promising if you ask me...I actually do hope he'll do well) and it turned out to be a good game as always.  One of our best rivalries every year.  The game was exciting and even until probably 3/4 of the way through the 4th quarter, you really weren't sure how the game was going to go.

Way to go Gators!  Hopefully we continue to learn and play together as a team!

Thankful Thursdays

Today I'm not feeling very thankful since I still don't feel good, but I know I should be thankful nonetheless!  My life is a good life and I'm just grouchy right now...so today needs captions.


I am thankful for:

My love, who had to work from 7:30 yesterday morning until 2 THIS morning and still called to check on me...and has to do it again tonight :( 

My love, future Bro & Sis-in-law (and for celebrations!)

My parents and that they have things they love to do together after 33 years of marriage!

Comfy beds...

Being able to order pizza from my phone in 3 steps...(yes, there's an app for that) and I did it last night and had pizza in 15 minutes!

Sleeping (and cute puppies)

Speaking of cute puppies...The Lil!

Having great girlfriends to be silly with...

The beach...what a wonderful creation!  

Good waves this weekend, hopefully I can kick this sickness and enjoy them!

Meeting with the photographers tonight...hopefully we will have one more thing checked off this wedding "to-do" list!

Wedding Wednesday + extras

So, I know last week I said I was going to write about invitations, but due to certain circumstances, I'm going to push that to next week and do the cake today.  This is the part John & I are oh so excited about!  We have been referred to a specific company for cakes by quite a few vendors in the area, so I figured we could check them out.  The owner is only there twice a week and my mom is going to be out scouting out florists and hotels for me Friday, so she graciously offered to stop by and gather some information cake for us.

We know what we want the cake to look like:

This shape...

With the design on the bottom layer...on a white cake in blue or silver...

We have not even thought about flavors though...and according to the girl on the phone I talked to, they do everything.  She mentioned Oreo cake, which definitely got my attention since I love Oreos!
My question to you ladies is:
What flavors should we ask to taste test? 
All recommendations would be wonderful!  I don't even know where to start, but I know I would like something fun and maybe a little different than the traditional yellow or chocolate cake!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now onto the Jambalaya...
It was tasty.  A little too spicy though and I like spicy.  I guess the extra red pepper I added mixed with the hot Italian sausage added a little too much when simmering all day :)  I will be making it again...that's for sure!

John, his brother and roommate tried it and they all liked it...success!

I'm off to try and finish out the work day, with Alka-Seltzer in hand.  I've felt worse every day this week.  No gym & running is keeping my from sleeping well, so I'm losing the battle.  Hopefully tonight I'll catch up on sleep, kick whatever's buggin' me and feel great tomorrow!  Happy Hump Day!

Disney Classics

I can officially cross off one thing from my 101 in 1001!  I have been searching for and bidding on Disney movies on amazon and ebay and have managed to collect five Disney Classics!

Drum-roll Please!

Mixing Up Mondays

So, I've decided to write about recipes I have or am planning on trying on Mondays.  This week is Slow Cooker Jambalaya with Corn Muffins.  The food smelled so good as it was being prepared yesterday!  John helped me chop and cook up some sausage for it.  Then, last night, I was reminded I had dinner plans for Monday evening, so this meal will be enjoyed Tuesday instead.  Right now it's sitting in the crockpot in the fridge waiting for me.  It took about 20 minutes by the time everything was chopped, although I'm sure you could buy pre-sliced/chopped food from your grocery store to make it go a little faster. 

The Corn Muffins took about 5 minutes to prepare and they were yummy!  We split one yesterday just to taste test. 

*Pictures to come*

Jambalaya

What you need:

1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped (I use outer stalks of celery hearts)
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups smoked sausage, chopped (fully cooked)
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (uncooked)
4 cups cooked rice

Directions:Put everything in the slow cooker, except the shrimp and rice.
Turn on low for 7-8 hours
Add shrimp in for 30 minutes or until pink
Serve over rice
Makes 8 servings

Corn Muffins
What you need:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit 

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt. Mix in flour, cornmeal and baking powder; blend thoroughly. Stir in milk and corn. Pour or spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

This dinner is also a good way to get your veggies in!

I will let you know how it turns out, after I actually get to eat it!