Stupid Cute Bouquets

My mom did my wedding flowers. They were amazing...just like her. She wants to pin them on Pinterest so I'm blogging them so she can pin from there. Never mind that I haven't blogged in who knows how long.

Here's a bridesmaids bouquet:

 Here's my bouquet:

Here's all the bridesmaids bouquets together waiting patiently for the ceremony:

 Close up of a bridesmaids bouquet:

 And here's a couple centerpieces for the tables:

 And this is me and my Daddy :) I don't have a very good close up of the boutineer:

And this is my Granny-in-law. That's probably the best close-up I have of the corsages.

More of the bridal bouquet:

Happy Christmas! And a Merry New Year!

I love how in the Harry Potter movies they say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I don't know why but I guess it's because it just fits with the British accent better. At any rate, I hope you had a Happy/Merry Christmas. :)
My Christmas was grand as it is every year. I love that it was on a Sunday. It just seemed fitting that on the day we celebrate the birth of Christ we should be at church, focusing our attention on and worshiping the God man that came to earth to be born to die for us. My wonderful sister and her lovely family got to be with us Christmas morning and we had a big yummy breakfast. We were supposed to have Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...but...ummm...I kinda ruined them. They were pretty stupid....and I don't mean the good kind of stupid. I was supposed to half the recipe because the original recipe feeds 12,263 people (exaggeration). I halved everything but the milk so the dough was more like runny cake batter rather than dough that could be rolled. :/ It was too late in the game to start over so, alas, we settle for pecan squares at breakfast. Tragedy, I know. :P Any-hoo, after breakfast we opened stockings. I don't know why, but stocking have to be my favorite Christmas tradition...next to food that is. Stocking stuffers are just sooooo fun and stuff that I wouldn't buy myself but love to get. Mine was full of owl stuff along with a couple other things that weren't owly. :) I think I'm set for owl stuff for a while. I am by no means tired of them but my collection is growing fast. :P After stockings, we all donned our church apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), and headed to church. It was fun seeing all of our church family on Christmas day. There was a fun festive feel in the air and all the kids were giddy with excitement and eager to tell all who would listen what presents they opened that morning. My cousin Olivia didn't even say hi to me. She just ran up to me screaming, "JESSIEEEEEE!!!! I GOT ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!" :) After church, we headed back home to don our comfy apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), pack up the presents and food, and head to Aunt Cheryl's and Uncle Kirk's for the evening festivities. My ridiculously cool Aunt Cheryl had a hot cocoa bar along with the rest of the typical holiday finger food feast. Super fun! For some reason we ate before we opened presents, which I didn't mind much, but I think Ross was about to hyperventilate. We draw names at our house instead of each person buying a gift for each person. It's super fun to focus on one person to get a gift(s) for and waaaay cheaper than buying one for each person. I had my Sister's name. She's kinda hard to buy for but easy to please....don't ask me how she manages that. However the brilliance of wish lists helped me out :) My mother had my name and just wait till you hear what she gave me!!!! Actually, you probably already know since everyone this side of the equator heard me scream with glee. She got me the......wait for it....Owl City album Ocean Eyes on.......(drum roll please)......VINYL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As many of you know I am A) Obsessed with Owl City and B) obsessed with my record player/records. So needless to say this was THE BEST GIFT EVER!!! It's kinda cool how they still make vinyl. I even found a Michael Buble' album on Vinyl too. Mom also got me a new iPod docking station. Score! My old one was shot and this one is way cooler. My aunt pointed out how ironic those two gifts are together :P My awesome brother-in-law just happened to have his record player he just got in the car so he brought it in and we played my new record.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you how insufferable I was....singing every word and swaying back and forth to the music, with a stupid, giddy grin on my face.
The evening wore on and we ate till we said, "Ugh I'm never eating again" and played games that made us do embarrassing things we won't go into, and pretty much had the bestest, happiest, merriest Christmas ever! :) 

Overloaded with sugar,
JRae

Copy Cat Day

I'm christening today...Copy Cat Day. Where instead of using your own brain power to blog about an original thought, or recipe, or what you did for your date last night, you commandeer someone else's brilliance/ thoughfulness/ good thought of the day and post it on your own blog. Of course please, by all means, tell the blog world who you "stole" it from.
Today I shall commandeer from...wait for it...The Rabbit Room. To those of you who know me well, this is no surprise. I copy cat from these people quite often since they are so very brilliant/thoughtful/full of good thoughts. This post is about the true meaning of Christmas and how as Christians sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the presents and stress of the season that we forget to celebrate our Prince of Peace, our Emmanuel, our Jesus Christ. As I read the article I was struck by the thought that we humans are prone to this same mistake every day of the year...not just Christmas time. Each and every day is a battle to put away selfish desires, worries,and meaningless things and put Christ at the center. So read this article and rejoice in the birth of Christ today, and Christmas day, and Boxing Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and St. Patrick's Day, and "OMG I have no energy" day. :)
Merry Christmas, Ya'll. :)

Give Away!

Re-posting this give-away so I can maybe win it. Never mind that I haven't had a legit blog post in a while.
Lazy,
JRae
O ya, here's the link.

I Heart Children's Books

I love reading children's books. Sometimes when I'm reading to my 3 year old cousin or my 1 year old niece, I realize that they are on the other side of the room and have long ago lost interest in what I'm reading and moved on to something else. And yet I keep reading because I want to know the ending even if they don't. I'm a kid like that :P But according to this article on the Rabbit Room by Jennifer Trafton, (author of "The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic) it's perfectly ok to be childlike (not childish). It's a rather lengthy article but definitely worth your time. I hope you read it then go color, or read Moo Baa La La La, or play hide and go seek. :)

Child at heart,
JRae

Best Birthday Ever!!

Every year on my birthday I always say that it's the best birthday ever. They just keep getting better...or maybe better is not the right word. But each year my awesome family finds a way to make the day extra special in some way or another. And this year was no exception. :) My birthday was Sunday, November 20, and while I was getting ready for church I heard the soundtrack from The Sound of Music coming from the dining room. My thought process went something like this, "What? Wait...I don't own that soundtrack....unless you count the record I have of it...but my record player has never worked because the stupid cartridges and needles are extinct.....wait a minute!". I then proceeded to run into the dining room to find my record player working just fine and Julie Andrews voice coming in loud and clear!!!!!! My brilliant mother had done some serious research and found the right cartridge and needle for it so now Skippy (that's what I named him) works beautifully :)
After church my Aunt, Uncle, cousin, and best friend came over to open more presents and eat dinner. I received a plethora of wonderful gifts, the majority of which had something to do with owls....owl measuring cups, owl recipe card box, owl ornaments, etc etc. I also got a couple of new records and a new hat that had nothing to do with owls.:)
Then it was time to eat! We had homemade fajitas, with homemade tortillas, homemade salsa, and...wait for it...homemade guacamole. YUM! We finished it off with the Laura Scott's famous chocolate cake and ice cream. It was the best birthday ever and it made me so thankful for such an awesome family!

Hope all you peeps in blog world had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading my blog. :)

The Owl Gal,
JRae

Venice Baby

A few years ago I worked as a counselor at an all girls camp in North Carolina. I taught cheerleading (don't laugh) and track (don't laugh). But that's beside the point. The point is, while I was there I met this super fun, creative, funny, crafty, girl and her two daughters. They did the arts and crafts class and we stayed up till 2 in the morning one night watching Pride and Prejudice and chatting it up about everything. Any-hoo, since then she has moved to the Nashville area and we go to the same church and my family has really clicked with her family and we've all become awesome friends. Did I mention she's SUPER talented?? She sews, she makes chandeliers,  she makes paper flowers, and bunny rabbit banners and I know not what! O and her lamp shades ARE SO CUUUUUTE! There is currently one in our living room. Long story short: She makes stupid cute stuff. And I think you should check out her blog and go buy something. She's got some ADORABLE stockings that would make super cute gifts or additions to your fireplace this Christmas.  Her name is Shulamith and her blogspot is called Venice Baby and you should go there right this second. Before you even finish reading this post.

Disclaimer: Shulamith did not ask me to post about her awesomeness. I just wanted to because I think she's awesome.

Happy Shopping,
JRae