Valentines Day 2012

Last Tuesday was Valentines Day and I am not going to lie it was the best Valentines Day's I have ever had, thanks to my wonderful boy friend.  The two of us got dressed up and met in Madison for dinner.  Bryan surprised me with a great dinner and then him and I walked and around the park that was just outside the restaurant.  While in the park we saw these built in checker boards and benches.  I am hoping that that maybe on one of our date nights that Bryan may let me win at checkers if he will ever play me again.  (Him and I had a battle over Christmas and would not even let me win at my own house).  I made him one valentine for Bryan.  It was a Gator, since he is a HUGE UGA bulldog fan I enjoy torturing him with anything that I can find that is a Gator for Florida and or a Tiger for Auburn, but that was a little surprise that i gave to him at work along with some cup-cakes that I had delivered to him at his place of work.  I hope that the Gator is still in his locker! I hope that he knows how great the made our first Valentines day together and I hope that I made it as wonderful for him.  I could not have asked for a better evening with him.  Thanks B!

La!

Baby Shower for Trey

The past weekend my girl friends and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Cara and her husband TJ for their newest addition Trey.  My last post was about some of the decorations and things that I had made for her.  It was a great time to be had by all of our guest, minus our little water incident at my house.  We decorated the the house with red and black all over.  There was a task for Sarah, Alex and I since the three of us LOVE Georgia Southern.   

 

There was so much great finger food that we all made by all of us.  Along with the food the three of us all made cute little items for our best girl friend and her family.  Alex had made a gorgeous diapers cake along with a football bank that went on top of the cake.  Sarah made wonderful chocolate baby carriages.  They did have red white and dark chocolate.   Some of them had baby Trey and a "T" on them. I also had a cake made to look like the invitation.  Cara and TJreceived so many cute little outfit's.  I don't think that they were expecting all of the clothing and the double stroller.  Seeing all of the cute clothing made me love buying little baby clothing.  I hope that Cara and TJ loved everything that was put together for them and that she has started washing clothes.  I can not wait to meet little baby Trey when Bryan and I go down to Savannah in March, which will be our first trip together!  And I can not wait to go down there with him, it is one of my favorite vacation places to go to with one of my favorite people!  

- LA!

Black and Red Explosion

So the past week I have been getting ready for my friend Cara and her husband Tjs baby shower, for their new arrival Trey.  It has been a huge craft project in its own taking, but I have loved every minute of it! The theme of the shower is UGA.  And any Dawg fan would be proud that three girls (who are all GSU die-hard fans) are allowing this color scheme to be used for this little baby boy, and his daddy better be proud too.  (To be honest, I love how red and black complement each other, just can't stand them together all the time, but you will never find them in my house).

 

For the invitations we went with the UGA red and black along with a gray background.  For the "T" that is used it is the exact font as the Georgia "G" that is used on the helmets and such.  The red and gray are the PMS colors that are used by UGA also.   From what I understood the future mommy and daddy were both very happy with the color's and the way that the invitations were laid out and designed.  For all you print nerds, they were printed on an 100# Gloss Cover on a digital color press.  

For the some of the table decorations, I attempted to make a ribbon topiary.  I purchased two 5" Styrofoam balls, 10 yards of ribbon in five different sizes and colors that matched the you/we are going with.  I cut the ribbon into 2-3" strips.  After cutting and cutting and some more cutting the ribbon into strips I over lapped each end and then placed a straight pin into each end for each strip.  Using the straight pin i placed the strips over the ball attempting not the let any of the different strips touch each other.  When pinning make sure that something good is on the TV or put in a DVD, pinning the ribbons on to the ball took about 2.5 - 3 hours.  And I did each ball at separate times.  When finished with both of the ribbon balls I guess you can say that I "fluffed" them so that you were not able to see where I was holding it to place the ribbons.  Also, to fill in some of the dead space I used a very small ribbon (less then 1/2 inch thickness) and had them look like they are weaving through-out the other colors.  Attempting to have them stand, I bought a two 2.5 foot wood dowel, flower pots, (I was planning on painting them myself but being the procrastinator that I am I didn't have time to do it) and 3" Styrofoam ball's.  I hot glued the 3" balls into the flower pots.  I placed the hole into the 5" balls with the dowel before I hot glued the dowel onto the both ends of the balls. 

 

My friend who told me about this idea she said that she did not glue the ends of the balls and if someone knocked into where they were sitting they would fall off the dowel.  I also, did not have a problem with the Styrofoam being eaten by the hot glue, from what I read on some other blogs that was my biggest fear while working on the ribbon topiary. Of course I had to get black and red fill paper products/packing material to fill the bottom of the pots up so that 3" balls were not visible.  Some of the others that I have seen use the floral moss and such.    

Because I am not the typical person and always have to go big or go home when it comes to my friends and their soon to be kids I decided to make a basket/gift bag. I love trying to find things that people can use for more then one purpose.  I found this wicked cute red wicker basket at Michael's.  It was large enough to hold all the cute baby clothing that I bought, but then also large enough to hold toys, puzzles and or anything else this little boy may need or want to play with.  I found white wood letters and and hot glued them to the front of the basket. 

Also on the back side of the basket there was a cute chalk board on the back so if my girlfriend needs and or decided to label things for her little boy's room. 

My final products for the night filled with some of the cute (well kind of cute) Red, Black and White items for this new addition in our group of friends.  I can not wait for Cara and TJ to see all of the great items that have been made for them and their new baby at the shower.  My new neuphe is going to be so spoiled but you can bet a dollar that auntie Laura will be buying some blue and white items for GEORGIA SOUTHERN football season.... Labor Day 2012 can not come fast enough.  Saturday is the shower and hopefully everything goes off well!  Hope everyone had a great groundhogs day!!

LA!

Introduction

I am not sure how to start my first blogging experience off... but...

With this blog I am hoping to talk about the adventures and memories that the people in my life and I are going to make together.  Along with the scrap-booking pages, prints/designs, crafts and projects that I am working on for friends and also in and around my house.  But now let me introduce myself....

My name is Laura, and I am in my mid twenty's and trying to figure out this thing called life.  I was born in Chicago, Illinois and still have some "crazy Yankee" tendency's in how I talk and act according to my friends and co-workers.  I was raised in Alpharetta, Georgia, which is north east of Atlanta.  I graduated college from Georgia Southern University in May 2008 with a degree in Graphic Communications Management (Printing Management).  I am a 3rd generation printer and proud to be able to say that.  I currently live in Milledgeville, Georgia.  I am working at a small printing company in middle Georgia and love my job, which I have been there since October '09. When I am not working I enjoy getting hanging out with my boyfriend, friends, getting crafty and scrapbooking.  Michael's and Hobby Lobby can ruin this girls bank account.  But I enjoy and love every project that I do work on and complete!

 

I have an amazing family that I love.  My mom and dad live in Alpahretta and I have a younger brother, who lives in the Atlanta area.  He also went to Georgia Southern majored in Graphic Communications.  I guess you can say that printing is in our blood.  When my family is not spending time together in Alpharetta or Chicago we are at our lake house on Lake Sinclair.

I have to say that I have best core group of friends a girl can ask for:

I have a wonderful boyfriend, Bryan (attempting to find a photo) who is a great new addition to my world. He is everything I could ask for and more.  Although he is a UGA (thats a curse word in my book) fan!! Little does he know I will be attempting to convert him over to a Georgia Southern fan!

My best friend Ellen and I have been friends since we were in 6thish grade and we more or less should of been sisters that were switched at birth.   Words can not describe the love for this lady she has brought so much happiness into my life I wouldn't know what to do with out her!  Her and her husband, John are two of the best people in my life.  Two of my favorite memories with her is when her and I went to Jacksonville to see Matt Nathanson and Sister Hazel in concert.  And then there was this night (wow how so many of our stories start that way) when Ellen, Jen (below) and I were at Tubbys in Thunderbolt and had that new bartender and did some line dancing.  I think that is one night the three of us will never forget. 

My other best friend is Jen, we have know each other since we think 10th grade.  But the one thing that we can both agree on is that we did some pretty silly things together when we together and when we were able to take a class together I did have to call her a few times to let her know that she was late on a presentation or two.She is my lake and football partner in crime.  You can count on every Memorial Day we are floating around lake Logan Martin, in 'Bama where she lives and par-taking in RNRC, going to cain's, the local watering hole and or playing wii dance together  When it comes to labor day weekend we are cheering on our teams (Bama for her and GSU for me) at their games and or on the lake.   She has converted me into an Alabama fan and I converted her into a Georgia Southern fan.  Her and I do have a before thirty bucket list and an after thirty bucket list that we have been attempting to complete over the past few years. 

Then there is Kelly... what can I say if she only know what she was getting when she told me no one was sitting next to her in our printing class.  She may of not of sent me that friend request on facebook or allowed me to draw pictures for her in class.  Kelly and I are print nerds and partners in crime when it came to my last year at GSU. She was one of the only girls in my major and her and I both have the same out look on life which is more or less there is nothing wrong with being rude, crude and socially unacceptable before 6 in the morning.  Poor Kelly got trapped into Ellen and I's evilness the first weekend Kelly decided that it was a good idea for her to come and hang out with my roommates and I in Statesboro.  If she only knew once again what she was getting into I am sure should would of skipped that weekend entirely.  But that first weekend was the best weekend I have ever had in my college career, even though we are not able to talk about it unless her, Ellen and I are in a secret private room.  If we only knew I am sure we would of called it the best weekend ever!

Finally but never last is my core group of friends from college, Cara, Kimberly, Sarah, and Alex.  The five of us were all in the same sorority (Omega Phi Alpha) and three of us pledged together. When we are not celebrating each others mile stones in our lives we are tailgating at Paulson Stadium cheering on the Georgia Southern Eagles!! The five of us have been tailgating together, and husbands/boyfriends since 2008 in the Row K area in the tailgate lot.  (Come by and see us if your ever at the GSU game).  I know that I can count on these girls for anything.  They all made Georgia Southern that much specialer for me in their own way while we were there together.  I can not wait to see what is in store for this group of girls and me!!  

I hope that whom ever is reading this got to know me a little better and that you have been introduced to the group of people that I spend most of my free time with on weekends and holidays!  

-LA!