merry, merry christmas... {in july}

Last week I hosted my first-ever Christmas in July party... and it.was.awesome.  

What exactly do you do at a Christmas in July party, you ask??  Well, first I rummaged through the garage to see what Christmas decorations I could scrounge up... I pulled out some garland... some red ornaments... and my obnoxiously large sparkly red Christmas trees.

Then I hit up Target's candy aisle to stock up on whatever red candy I could get my hands on... sweedish fish... cherry sours... strawberry rings... and lindor chocolates.  This was an easy way to "decorate" with some glass jars I already had on hand.

While at Target I also stumbled on these awesome crepe paper party balls.  They came in a set of 3: red, green and blue... I just omitted the blue ones, since last I checked, blue wasn't really a Christmas color.

Then I got busy in the kitchen... testing out my Pinterest skills.  I made these adorable strawberry santa's the night before... super simple... and super tasty.

I also made some snowballs... aka sugar comatose balls.  Powdered sugar, cream cheese, more powdered sugar, butter, a little more powdered sugar, almond extract, powdered sugar, coconut, oh... and some more powdered sugar.  Yum.

Then the big hit of the party... Christmas caprese kabobs.  I made 30+ kabobs and I thought surely I was going to have tons left over... but nope.  Nothing.  These guys didn't last long at all.  Cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls and some basil... it was the perfect healthy compliment to the sugar snowballs.

It all came together the moment I found the Christmas Pandora station on the TV... You can never go wrong with Bing Crosby's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."

The music was blaring and the lights were twinkling... and the guests were arriving.  And as usual, I did a terrible job of taking pictures once the party was in full swing.  But thankfully I found a handful on my camera when the party was all said and done...

Charli, Shelby and Allison chattin' it up in the living room...

Tristan and Charli...

Julianne and Hillary...

Shelby and Karin...

The real party was around the kitchen table though... and can you blame them??

Little Cat on the other hand was not impressed.  "You idiots... it's July.  Christmas... pshhh."

Sorry Little Cat... get used to it.  We're definitely doing this again next year. 

happy weekend...

{photo source}

Here's to a fabulous weekend...  Lance finally returned home from his trip Thursday night... so I'll be spending time with my boo... and all fifty-something of his family members.  Doing the family reunion thing this weekend... a little photo session on Sunday... and some white water rafting on Monday.  Happy weekend friends... happy weekend!

thankful thursday {link up}

{Link up your own Thankful Thursday post below...}

This Thursday I am thankful for...

1) My husband coming home!!!  Lance finally gets home from his Turkey trip tonight and I.cannot.wait.to.see.him.  While my time home alone has been full and eventful, it's never the same when he's not here.  I'm looking forward to hearing about his trip and catching him up on the happenings of Louisville since he's been gone... but mostly I'm just looking forward to living life together again. 

2) My first Christmas in July party!  Last night's Christmas party was a huge success... about 25 women came... which was more than I was expecting... always a happy surprise.  It was the perfect excuse to meet new people while eating gingerbread cookies and strawberry santas.  I had the cinnamon candles burning and the Christmas music blaring... all while it was a hot 105 degrees outside.  It.was.perfect.  Full review coming soon.

3) A few days off.  I'm taking Friday and Monday off work and I am SOOO looking forward to it.  Friday will mainly be spent driving to Georgia, but it will be nice to not have to worry about checking emails and whatnot.  This weekend we have Lance's big family reunion, so it will be fun-filled and people-filled... I'm taking Monday off in hopes that Lance and I can get a little quality time together before he heads back to Louisville and I stay in Atlanta for a week at the office.  Rumor is we might be doing some white water rafting on Monday too...  {photo source}

What are you thankful for this week? Grab the Thankful Thursday button from the right sidebar and link up your own post below. Be sure to visit the other Thankful Thursday participants and share the love!!

Also linking up with:

Kate Says Stuff

The Fontenot Four

First Day of My Life

A Punk, a Pumpkin & a Peanut

what i've been up to...

I've had lots of people ask what I do when Lance is gone for so long??

Do I get bored?  Definitely not.
Do I get scared?  Ehh, maybe sometimes.
Do I miss him?  Holy cow, YES.

This summer has been kind of unusual in the fact that Lance has had two long overseas trips... 2 weeks in Nepal in May for a mission trip... and 2 weeks in Turkey (right now) chaperoning a fellowship trip for some high school students.  I know... tough life, right?

What exactly do I do when he's gone for so long???  Well, I'll show you...

...I travel...

 ...I actually make the bed...

...I plant flowers... 

...I eat ramen noodles... 

...I go to the farmers market...

...I read...

...I watch gossip girl... from the very beginning...

 ...I hang out with the girls...

...I work on my photo album...  

...I work on my photo album... while watching gossip girl...

...I have out of town visitors... 

 ...I go shoe shopping...

...I eat ice cream for dinner... 

...I meet up for coffee...

...I make important decisions...

...I have more out of town visitors...

...I paint my nails...

 ...I go on dates with younger men...

...I watch gossip girl... with Little Cat...

So.  There you have it.  That's what I've been up to while I'm home alone.  No time to be bored or scared.  But I do miss my man... A LOT.  

it's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!!! 

That's right.  You heard me.

Tomorrow's my big Christmas in July party!!  I'm pretty pumped... in case you can't tell.  If you were to drop by my house right now, you would be extremely confused... Christmas lights... garland... the smell of cinnamon... Christmas punch in the fridge... and "Jingle Bells" in the background.

Okay, okay... jingle bells isn't playing this very second... but it will be.  Tomorrow.

I've decided this is one of the best themed party ideas ever... Don't worry... full party review coming later this week!

Merry Christmas!!!

weekend in review...

This weekend wasn't much different than last weekend, really.  

Awesome girls night... new restaurant... great food... good shopping... throw in a fun wedding and an adorable babysitting gig and you really can't go wrong.  Here's what I did this weekend...

My best friend since 3rd grade drove up from Nashville on Friday for an impromptu slumber party.  It was the best last minute sleepover I've ever had.  This picture is a pretty good representation of us.  I thought it was pretty funny when Christi pulled out the scarf she brought to wear on Saturday, and I realized I had the exact same one in my own closet.  Great minds think alike.

Friday night we had dinner at a new restaurant in Louisville, Harvest.  It was pretty dang tasty.  Everything was super fresh and locally grown... hence the name, Harvest.

Then we walked down the street to Garage Bar for drinks...

The weather was absolutely perfect... cool, actually.  It was the perfect night to just sit outside, have a drink and catch up with an old friend.

Saturday morning we slept in a little, then walked over to my favorite antique spot.  The Goss Antique Mall... you know, the one I always say I'm going to dedicate an entire post to because of it's sheer awesomeness.  One day friends... one day.  Christi was on a hunt for an old trunk to add some vintage character to her house... we found several... just not "the one."

I've been on the hunt for a file cabinet for months now... and lookey-what-I-found.  Only the most-beautiful-wooden-credenza-file-cabinet-ever.  I'm hoping to snatch it up this week... fingers crossed no one buys it before I can get back over there.

Christi and I headed over to the Butterfly Garden Cafe for lunch... which is the exact same place I took my Georgia girlfriends last weekend... but I knew Christi would like it, and they have the sweetest little vintage shop attached to the restaurant... and I thought, just maybe we could find the perfect trunk there... and we did!!!  Sadly Christi had to drive back to Nashville after lunch... but the short trip was so worth it.  I'm so glad she was able to come.

After Christi left I had just enough time to get cleaned up for a friend's wedding.  It was beautiful.  It was an adorable couple that is in our community group, so the gang was all there.  Here's a pic of me and my friend Hillary at the reception.

My weekend came to a close with this handsome little guy.  Adorable, right?  Some friends of mine asked if I could babysit for them last night... I happily agreed... mainly because I know how cute their baby is.  I mean seriously... look at that face.

I don't think he knew quite what to make of me.  "What is wrong with this crazy lady??"

Crazy or not... it was a great weekend.  But I'll tell you what... I am ready for my husband to get home already... geez.  Three more days... three.more.days.

What about you?  How was your weekend?