XV in savannah

our good friends celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in savannah this weekend. we had a wonderful time celebrating with them & their friends & family.  the theme was XV, the roman numeral for fifteen (and their last name also happens to start with "x"). I made some desserts for the party on friday- vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting & "anniversary" sugar cookies (that I didn't have enough time to decorate how I had planned). cupcake flag template from martha found here, & then I just customized them in photoshop.

baby gifts

I guess I'm at "that age" where all of my friends are starting to have babies! I have been to four baby showers just in the last few weeks (two in one day!). and while I always like to give people some things off their registry, I also like to add my own personal touch. below are a few gifts I put together for friends and their little ones. I secretly wanted to keep them for myself.

{paul frank bag & wooden campfire play toys}

{"green eggs & ham" book & onesies}

{charlie harper flash cards, memory game, ikea bird tray & silver bird}

flowers in-use

robert used the rosemary in his anniversary flower arrangement to make these amazing rosemary potatoes for dinner, served with grilled steak, corn on the cob & arnold palmers. a perfect summer meal on the deck.

traditional anniversary gifts

every year on may 20th I give robert the traditional anniversary gift for our year (1=paper, 2=cotton, 3=leather, etc). well year 4 is flowers, so I decided to give my best shot at making a manly bouquet (if that's even possible?). it turned out nice; robert said this was the first time he'd ever been given flowers. 

in return, he sent me the most beautiful, fragrant flowers I have ever seen. pinkish-white peonies... our wedding flower (big props to a husband who can remember what flowers his bride was carrying on the wedding day!). and then mister smarty-pants also gave me flowered linen placemats (linen is the "modern" gift for year four) from this very cool artist. yea. he's good.

{rosemary, liatris & lysimachia}

{peonies}

{sets of flowered linen placemats from natsumi nishizumi}

4th anniversary

I can think of a heck of a lot of happy days in my 28 years... but none quite compare to this one. happy four year anniversary to the most loving, honest, funny, caring, handsome, talented, thoughtful husband. I am so blessed.

{all photos by the talented leah powell}

"many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away." 
~song of solomon 8:7

good-smelling soap

have you tried mrs. meyer's basil-scented natural cleaning products? they smell really good (although nothing like basil, actually) & are safe for the environment. give the scent a try... I think you'll like.

a lazy friday

I had a fabulous afternoon/evening with my family on friday. we laid by the river & fished, chatted, played 20 questions, grilled dinner (fish, which was purchased from the market due to my lack fishing skills) & just enjoyed each other's company. life is grand.