April Showers...

...Bring June Weddings.

I co-hosted a couples shower Saturday at a local winery for our very good friends, Ceci and Joe. 

Photo from Talon Winery's website

 

 We did a private tasting for 20 in the tasting room and brought food to go with the tasting.  Here's the food spread Julie and I made for the shower (sorry I was too busy to take pictures before people started eating, oops). 

 We made sangria, tea, bruschetta, a cheese board, a bean dip, guacamole, tortellini, spinach dip, fresh fruit and fruit dip, and brought Gigi's cupcakes for dessert. When I have more time, I'll post recipes in a future post. Everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoyed the wine tasting. My personal favorite at Talon: Equestrian Series.  I generally prefer Talon's reds to their whites, and this limited edition red was fabulous.

We are so excited for Joe and Ceci's wedding and couldn't be happier to have such good friends.

A Magnificent Menu Monday

My best friend, Kristin, just recently moved into town to start medical school. I am so excited to have her close by again! I went over today to see her and her new house. I love it! She has such good taste decorating--I'm so excited to see it progress. My favorite part of her house now: definitely the color of her bedroom.  She painted it Iconic Sky by Behr and has white and silver decor. Her bedroom has such a crisp, clean feel to it. 

 

Image from Behr Paint: Iconic Sky 501C-1 is the wall color.

We decided to take advantage of the nice day and took our pups to the arboretum for a nice long walk. Both dogs are about the same size and got along really well. When I got home, I got outside and trimmed up the holly bushes that so desperately needed it.

 

In an effort to eat healthier and generally be a better wife, I have decided to start planning out the weekly menus in advance. This is probably more difficult in our house because I am a vegetarian and Cam isn't, so we tend to eat different meals. Also, he takes night classes Monday and Tuesday and isn't home until late, so we have both snacked before we eat dinner then. Also, we have already gone to the grocery store so I can't be too creative this week, but I will try in next weeks to be better! But, here's my attempt this week: 

Monday: Cam: Tuna Salad; Lauren: Thai (left over) 

Tuesday: Grilled Provolone Cheese and Tomato Bisque Soup

Wednesday: Cheese Ravioli with a Herb/Olive Oil Sauce and Steamed Asparagus with a Lemon Parmesan Drizzle

Thursday: Margarita Pizza 

Friday-Sunday: Eating Dinner Out (lucky us!)

Hope you all can enjoy this beautiful weather as well! 

Happy Valentine's Day

Cam and I had a busy weekend! Our friends, Sarah and Dave (both in law school with me), just got engaged and had a wonderful engagement party on Friday. We are so excited for them! Check out her super cute puppy's blog, The Adventures of Ella Ruby Rose.

Sarah and Dave.

On Saturday we met my dad to finally celebrate Christmas and watched UK/TN Gameday. We are so proud of our cats! Cam's little brother, Drew, interns at Rupp Arena just HAD to be on the floor for Gameday and he just HAD to meet Dickie V and Erin Andrews. I think every man in the country is jealous of this pic (I'm more jealous of her hair):

Then last night we went over to Joe and Ceci's house to celebrate his birthday/valentine's day. Cam bought Joe a large 1.5L of Chimay Grand Reserve so we had wonderful beer while we cooked. Julie and Felix brought over the best glaze over cream cheese that I have ever had: Dr. Pete's Praline Mustard Glaze (can be found at the Mousetrap for those who are local). Everyone absolutely loved it and I know we will pick up a bottle next time we go.

We then had a wonderful meal: Joe grilled steaks, Ceci made a vegetable pasta, I made asparagus with hollandaise sauce, Julie and Felix made twice baked potatoes, and Ceci picked up a Carnegie Deli cheesecake. Carnegie actually shares their recipe, so you can click here for it. It was a wonderful night with wonderful friends and food and topped off with a fabulous win by the CATS!

Today Cam and I got up early and went to church. He was so sweet and bought me a gold dipped rose.
He has gotten me one every Valentine's day since we started dating, so I am up to five now. They are so beautiful and mean so much to me. I bought everything to make his favorite-- chocolate covered strawberries--so we may open a bottle of wine and make dinner and dessert tonight while we watch more snow fall!

Happy Valentine's Day!

love always,
Lauren

Everything I Touch...

...apparently gets lost. I already lost my brand-new license I JUST got made. Yesterday, I managed to wash the sheets and lose not one, but TWO pillowcases somewhere between the first and second floors of our house.

Seriously, I think I have a problem. I did manage to find the pillowcases, but the driver's license is absolutely gone. I even looked underneath the beds and dressers on the off chance our cat had stolen it. So, my new best friend is going to have to be:

Saint Anthony finder of lost things. I'm glad no one else has been around the house because I look crazy, walking around mumbling the good old Saint Anthony prayer as I flip the house upside-down. I even found this Novea online to mix it up a bit:

Saint Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find [name of lost item] which has been lost. At least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss. To this favor, I ask another favor of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.

It's good and puts everything back into prospective, but not as catchy of a rhyme as the prayer I grew up with.

Also, class ranks came out today, so I'm satisfied to move onto this semester finally. I hope all this hard work ends up paying off with a job!

In other news, Cam and I went to Louisville this past weekend and hung out with our wonderful friends, Nick and Lauren, to watch the UK game (GO CATS! #1 IN THE NATION!). After the game, we went to Mojito for dinner.

It was Cam's first time at a Tapas restaurant and he loved it. The wait was outrageous--close to two hours and that was with the call ahead. But, we had a pitcher of mojitos, a complimentary appetizer, and had such great company that it was well worth it!

Check out Lauren's awesome wedding/event planning business--I am so proud of her and that she is doing now!

Well, I am off to clean the house a bit and work on evidence homework so I can cheer on the CATS tonight! I hope everyone has a great week. Say a little prayer please that I find my driver's license--I can't afford to keep buying a new one every week!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. We actually celebrated last night with Kristin (and her dog, Lucy) being in town--Cam bought us champagne and a Graeter's ice cream cake (by far the best: chocolate with black raspberry chip ice cream). Then we went to Seki, a small sushi place here that was awesome sushi. We went downtown to a piano bar after that, and then ended the night the best way possible: with my favorite late night pizza.

It meant so much to me that Kristin came in town and spent the day with me--she is a fabulous friend. AND, I am THRILLED she is moving to Lexington in March. I absolutely can't wait!

Ceci's Bachelorette and Christmas in TN

Last weekend was Ceci's bachelorette party in Chicago. We had a great time and her friends from WI were so sweet and it was great to finally meet all of her friends. Stupid me though, as soon as I got there I realized my camera was dead and I forgot the charger. Le Sigh. But, its probably for the better because I had a little too much fun. We had a great dinner at a tapas restaurant and then out to the bars for the night. Somehow we ended up in a limo and all made it home.

one of Ceci and Joe's engagement pictures

The next morning I got up and got on a flight to Nashville to see Cam's family in TN. We had a great lunch as soon as I got there with the whole family.

The next day we went and saw Avatar in IMax-3D. I swear that would ruin you from seeing regular movies: it was fabulous. I didn't think I would like it--I had it in my head that it would be a video game movie. But, it was really good and we all enjoyed it.

We had a big christmas with his family. His sister, dad and I were all sick with a stomach bug so that made it a little more subdued than normal. But, it was a lot of fun to see his nephew open up all his christmas toys. He just turned one on Dec 23rd so he is at such a fun age. He got a super cute four wheeler he can sit on that lights up and a john deere tractor that he can ride around. Cam and I were also spoiled: we got a ton of fabulous things for the house, he got new nike plus running shoes and a deer stand (for some reason he was excited about that) and a new garbage disposal (I was dying for one). Our families are too good to us!

Liz's Wedding

Jason and Liz had a beautiful fall wedding in Cincinnati. I was truly blessed to have Liz as my random roommate in college and then in the Theta house--I could not have been paired with a better person! I am so happy for you two.

Jason proposed to her in a pumpkin patch so these super cute pumpkins at the entrance were very fitting.

Their reception site was an old catholic church that had been de-sanctified (is that a word?). They had hundreds of candles throughout the reception and all over walls, it was beautiful.

The other side of the reception site (what would be the choir loft).

The tall centerpieces.

The smaller centerpiece with the table marker (they had a fall theme).

Long table centerpieces.

So I stole this off facebook, it was just too cute of a picture of them!

Theta Nation!

Theta love:)

Julie, I love you!

Cute pic of the newlyweds (jealous of your honeymoon tan!)

One of my favorite all time pictures of Joe. Clearly getting serious about his dancing.

Julie and Felix's Wedding

Julie and Felix are so good for each other and this day was a long time coming. The big day was beautiful! Julie was such a gorgeous bride and the church and the Boone Center set a wonderful atmosphere. We are so happy for them and hope they had a wonderful time in Hawaii!

The gorgeous couple.

They had a pianist/singer. He was fabulous!

I had no idea the Boone Center was so nice and had such a gorgeous courtyard.

The table settings and colors were perfect for the Boone Center and the fall. She also had pictures of the two of them as the table numbers: it was so cute and personal.

A picture of a longer table. Each table had slightly different centerpieces tied together by the colors. It was really beautiful and gave each table its own look.

Her cake was deelish!

Theta nation:)

Cam, Felix, and Joe.

They were so classy and clean with the fork feeding of cake.

Theta Love

Ms. Julie's Shower and Bachelorette Party

Ceci and I hosted a shower for Julie. We had a great time with the girls and I finally had a good excuse to break out my china.

Last weekend, we all went to Louisville for her bachelorette party. We had a fabulous sushi dinner, drinks at Proof, and then after party at Sully's. Julie is such a good friend and sweet person--I am so happy for her and Felix and can't wait for their wedding next weekend.

The table, fully set.

Another shot of my table.

The girls.

Lucy, me, Ceci, Brittany, Paige, Julie and Katie.

We found a limo, covered in those flattened glass marbles. Obvious photo op...

Wine and...Fish??

My two good friends from high school came in town Sunday to see me before they move to France for the year (did I mention how jealous I am!?). It was great to see them they came bearing gifts: orange juice for mimosas and a (living and swimming, not a cracker) goldfish.

Cam found a great home for the fish--a beer stein.

He (or she) seems pretty hardy--its been almost a week and fish is still successfully swimming (without being spotted by the cat yet).

After finding the fish a bowl (er, beer stein) to live in, we went to Talon Winery.

It is such a gorgeous, picturesque winery. Actually, Cam and I wanted to get married there when we initially were planning a Lexington wedding but it was too small to accommodate all of our guests. Instead of doing the wine tasting, we just got a bottle of their Chambourcin wine and enjoyed it while walking around on the grounds.

The three of us posing with the grapes.

A close up of the grapes.

We came back to the house and polished off a bottle of champagne with mimosas. It was great to spend the afternoon together--I will miss them so much while they are in France! Perhaps Cam and I can head over to Europe soon and visit them in France and then see his brother Ryan in Germany and Klaus and Erika in Switzerland. Hmm..here's to wishful thinking (and an unlimited budget and vacation days to do that)...