Personalized Gift Wrap

I went to a wedding shower yesterday, and like I usually do I wrapped the gift in brown paper and twine and then found a cute and simple way to personalize it.  I bought a W stamp from the $1 section of Michael's and then just randomly stamped it all over the paper.  A super cheap, quick, and easy way to personalize your gift!

Saturday

This past Saturday was exactly what a Saturday in the summer should be.  It included a wedding, a cookout, watermelon, sparklers, and lots of friends; just not all of those things at the same time.

The wedding was of two students that served with us at The Well, so not only was it nice to see them get married, it was a great chance to see lots students that I hadn't in a while.  I took lots of pictures (although I never got one with the bride and groom) and ate lots of cupcakes (they were minis, so it was  ok, right?)...so it was a fun and tasty wedding!

We were twins.

In line for food!  And munching on cupcakes that were available while we waited.

That's a cupcake wrapper folded up in between my fingers.

The lady who made the cupcakes was the same one made them for The Well's fundraiser banquet in the spring, so Mason and I duplicated our "Thumbs Up for Cupcakes!" picture.

Heather and I waiting to send off the happy couple under a tunnel of ribbons!

Later that evening I went to a cookout with a bunch of people from church.  One of the girls had a bunch of sparklers leftover from the 4th of July that she wanted to get rid of, so we used up about 10 packs in about 10 minutes.  It was kind of funny to look out and see people running around and twirling with sparklers, knowing they were a bunch of adults.  I guess we'll use the term "adults" loosely.

Jenni Got Married!

I mentioned yesterday that last week was a busy week for two reasons, and the second reason was because one of my best friends got married!  Jenni and I became really good friends during our junior and senior years in college.  We were both RA's in the same dorm, and so for two years she lived directly above me.  And after we graduated we lived together for two years.  We collected a lot of crazy memories during those years and it was a joy to add another memory by standing beside her on her big day!

The Bachelorette Party begins!

All the bridesmaids after rehearsal.

Wedding day - getting ready and breaking in my shoes.   Jenni loves monograms and her sandals had her new monogram on them!

jessipansockphotography.com

Celebrate Good Times...Come On!

This was been a weekend of celebrations!  Friday night I went to a graduation party for a friend who just graduated from pharmacy school.  Saturday I went to both of ETSU's graduations and then a wedding later that night, and then yesterday I went to a piano recital.  It made for lots of sitting and listening, but I wouldn't have missed it.  I love all these people and loved being there for their big days!

Jillian, Lauren, and Chelsea.  These girls were all in my freshmen small group four years ago!

Lauren and Kelcie

Waiting for ceremony number two to start.

Hannah above and Eliza below; they're going to be wonderful teachers!

Mason

Zach Brown.  We sort of matched.

Jillian, right after the school's photographer got her picture. 

Ashley is a real nurse now!

...........................................................................................................

My friends Ryan and Madison got married outside, under a weeping willow and in front of a little pond.  The reception was full of burlap, mason jars, chalk board labels, and a home made dessert bar.  It was all very picturesque and Pinteresty.  I feel like a lame friend because I didn't get a picture with the bride and groom, but I did snap one with my good friends Brittany and Jessie.

.............................................................................................................

Carly had her junior piano recital yesterday afternoon, and afterward a bunch of us went to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt!

Color Coordinated Gift Wrapping

One of the things in my Christmas stocking this year was a pack of little spools of ribbon.  And I finally used some of it recently.  I had a bridal shower gift to wrap and found out that the colors of the shower were going to be navy blue, green, and yellow.  It just so happened that I had a wide piece of blue ribbon in my craft basket, and then I had the green and yellow from my stocking.  I tied the wide blue ribbon in a bow and then wrapped the other ribbons around the gift and secured them with a piece of tape.  Viola!  An easy, cute, personalized gift!

I should have added something for a size reference.  They're about the size of an Oreo, but a little bigger.

Clothed in Memories

This weekend I conquered the task of switching out my spring/summer and fall/winter wardrobe.  Which I realized doesn't actually include a lot of switching, just mostly adding.  I still wear tanks and short sleeved shirts under cardigans, and if I add tights, boots, and a jacket, lots of my summer dresses work in the winter.  So I add sweaters, vests, long sleeved shirts, and winter skirts and dresses, and only put away shorts and swimsuits.  Since I have a lot of clothes and not a lot of closet space, all of this "switching out" requires lots of rearranging and using space creatively.  Now where am I going with all of this?  There is a point.  As I was surrounded by clothes for the better part of Saturday afternoon I realized that clothes are like a silky, shiny, fuzzy, cozy, soft, knitted, faded, comfortable, wearable scrapbook!  Let me explain...

Before I could begin putting clothes away I needed to do a bunch of laundry, which then required me to fold a bunch of laundry.  Usually I'll fold clothes while watching TV but this time I was just in my bedroom doing it.  Since I wasn't paying attention to a show, I was paying more attention to my t-shirts, and realized they could mostly be clumped into three categories: Milligan, Virginia Tech, and The Well, and all of these shirts brought back lots of memories.  Milligan shirts brought back memories of soccer games, homecoming, and all the crazy shenanigans that came with being an RA.  Virginia Tech shirts took me to Lane Stadium cheering on the Hokies, sometimes under the sun and one time from under a raincoat.  Well shirts reminded me of special Wednesday night services, watching countless intramural games, and crazy freshman events.  And then there were a few other memorable shirts, like the special shirt I took to China to wear on The Great Wall, and shirts from various 5ks.

Homecoming, Fall 2007

The Sutton RAs opening for Sutton Star Search, Fall 2007 (I'm the one of the far right).

Amanda Mae, Me, and Amanda, Fall 2009.

Me and all of the OMG - Amanda, Brittany, Emily, Melanie, and Amanda Mae, Fall 2010.

Chelsea, me, and Samantha goofing off at The Well photo booth, Winter 2011.

Hannah, me, and Chelsea at Cupcake Wars, Fall 2011.

China! Summer 2011.

After all of my clean laundry was put away it was time to make some more room in my closet for my winter clothes.  I realized that removing all of the bridesmaids dresses that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of would free up some space.  I decided to move them to the over-the-door rack that I have all of my scarves on.  They could go on the bottom level of hooks, and the scarves could just go over them on the top level of hooks.  So needless to say, there were lots of fun memories with those dresses from my college roommate's, best friends', and sister's weddings.

College roommate Mackenzie's wedding ~ June 7th, 2008.

College friend Scottie's wedding ~ June 19th, 2010.

We partied hard at this wedding, as evidenced by my fist pumping and classic "duck lips" dancing face.

Lifelong friend Ashley's wedding ~ March 12, 2011.

Amanda would be next!

Blogging buddies!  And those are the same style dresses as Scottie's wedding, just a different color obviously.

Amanda's wedding ~ July 3rd, 2011.

Love these girls!

College friend Jessica's wedding ~ August 9th, 2011.

See, dancing duck lips. I can't not do it.

After I hung all those dresses up, I hung the scarves back up, and one sticks out as being special.  It's from Kenya and Jillian got it for me when she went there on a mission trip last summer.  I'm sure there's a picture somewhere of me wearing it, but I couldn't track one down.

At this point I was finally ready to unpack winter clothes, and some other memorable pieces I uncovered were the snow boots I was wearing the day I was hiding under a big tree (sneakily) taking pictures of Jonathan proposing to Amanda.

And my tacky Christmas sweater which I first bought for when our RA staff took pictures to make Christmas  cards.  We gave them to all the girls in our building and also mailed them to the President and administration of the college!

Well those are just some of the memorable clothes that I folded and unpacked.  And again you might be asking, "What's the point of all of this?"  Well, I really believe that sometimes clothes can be more than just clothes.  What about you?  Are there clothes that bring back special memories?