Like Mother....like Daughter!!!!!!!

I know it's been a long while since I've posted......no excuses! Maybe I have a few reasons, but they'd all add up to the same thing.......just like Shelby, I'm a blog slacker! I guess you all know by now that my girl has moved to San Antonio.....it has been a real adjustment for both of us and one that hasn't come without many gut wrenching tears! I just can't tell you how very much I miss her. The worst part is that maternal thing that is at the core of me.........if she needs me, I can't just jump in the car and take her a "hug" or some egg drop soup.....or just a nod that her sauce is perfect! Of course, I knew this day would come....and I had a few months to prepare for it, but I didn't. I kept pretending that it wasn't happening...and then it did. I have to admit that it did make it easier to know that in only three weeks I would be flying down to visit her.....sometimes the excitement took my breath away. I could barely concentrate on anything! We had a great time.....as soon as we landed I turned on my phone and within seconds it rang with that familiar number that makes me smile. She thought we'd landed about 15 minutes before and was a bit worried about where I was. We talked until I reached the escalator and looked down to see her beautiful smiling face! I could barely wait to feel her hug!!! We were both starved so I suggested Aldacos....I had been there four years earlier on a company trip and had taken a Mexican cooking class there. I wanted her to taste their food! Once we got there and started asking questions about their catering services, we found out that the Sunset Station (which runs Aldacos) has many venues they own within a six block area. We met the catering manager and took a tour. We fell in love with The Spire, which is a stone church built in 1884.....originally we thought it would make a great location for the reception, but then we went to visit the St. Paul Square Courtyard and fell in love!!! We then decided it would be better to have the ceremony at the Spire and the reception in the courtyard. When you step into the courtyard, you feel like you are in a tropical western town....hard to imagine, I'm sure, but trust me.....it's PERFECT!!! Below are the pics to prove it......

The Spire Inside The Spire

The Couryard (this is only once SMALL part of the courtyard - we think it would be a great area for cocktails and then later for dancing)

When you stand in the courtyard and look up, this is what you see....what I don't have pictures of YET is what you see standing IN the courtyard.....beautiful mesquite trees, tropical palms.....a gorgeous fountain. I love it.....

Soooooooo.....our first day together in San Antonio was a very productive one!!!! After we left Sunset Station, we headed to the Riverwalk.....it's become a tradition for me to have a cactus pear margarita at the Zuni Grill on the Riverwalk. My first trip there was with Dennis and we discovered this fabulous drink. Shelby sent me a phone pic of her having one on her first trip there with Justin! Wow..........what a great family tradition!!! I think we should have a traditional cocktail for every place we go!

I love Shelby's and Justin's apartment......what a great job they have done at setting up their new home....and it feels just like a home. When I put my bags in my room, I found Texas postcards on the bed.....Shelby's little way of welcoming me to Texas.

I just can't tell you what a great time I had there in my five days....it was the happiest I had been in weeks! It was also wonderful to be able to spend so much time around Justin and I fell more in love with him while I was there. He's such a good human being.....great heart.....sensible.....funny (ohmigosh....I love it when he sings!!!!!!!).....and he is so good for my girl! It was good to see that he loves her.....but it was also good to see that they are real with each other....there's no pretense.....they care a great deal about each other, themselves....and more so, their relationship. I'm a proud mom and a lucky one.

So, leaving was just the most awful thing I'd felt in such a long time. This time it was harder to leave her than it was for her to leave me. I don't know when I will be able to see her again. She's found a great job and so it will be tough to take time off. It's also hard to take off to visit here, when she and Justin want to spend as much free time as possible traveling....and I really want them to. They are in a great location in the US and there is so much down there to see...they need to spend every minute enjoying where they are. In the meantime, we'll call and much as possible.....email our ideas about everything, including the wedding, food and other stuff....and we'll miss each other (yep, the tears are flowing......).....we'll miss each other alot. But knowing how much she misses me is my reward for having loved her all of my life. If she didn't love me back, she wouldn't miss me, would she? So, I'll take that thought, dry my eyes and go have a margarita.....to my Texans, Shelby and Justin....I love you every day, all day......Mom XOXOXO

Wow....it's been a while!!!

We had a great trip to Charleston.....a couple of mishaps, but everything turned out beautifully! To start with, we picked up the 1100 carnations, 200 rose, the peonies and hydrangea and started out 7 hour trip to Charleston. Melinda and Anna followed us and we made a couple of stops along the way to grab a bite to eat, go to the restroom and stretch our legs. When we arrived, we went immediately to the condo we rented.....great place...plenty of room for all of us and lots of space to work on the flowers. We immediately immersed all of the flowers in fresh water, unpacked and relaxed. The next morning we started working on the arrangements and the carnations were almost all buds AND they were the tiniest carnations I'd ever seen. Panicking, we started calling every florist in town and rounded up more carnations and then bought more roses, just in case. All of the flowers turned out beautiful, but poor Lindsey's bouquet suffered immensely after taking pictures all day in 80 degree weather. The peonies held up find, but the hydrangea went completely limp!!! I had actually ordered more of the hydrangea, but when I picked up the flowers there was a lady there who had forgotten to order her hydrangea and I shared mine with her!!! Argh! Since we were stuck in traffic (horrible in Charleston!), the girls walked to the reception area and grabbed Lindsey's "throw bouquet", which was made of white mini carnations, and redid her bouquet....it looked great, but still broke my heart that it wasn't what she had wanted. Lesson learned!!! She loved the reception area, the food was delicious (especially the shrimp & grits!). As soon as the photographer releases the photos, I will post them. We had a great time, although it took me a few days to come down from all of the excitement! Stay tuned for photos!!!

Time Out!!!!!!!!!

I have to take a short break from "Shelby's wedding" to concentrate on "Lindsey's wedding". Lindsey is one of Shelby's BFFs and I just adore her. They went to high school together and have stayed close, even though Lindsey now lives in Atlanta. That's Lindsey....there to the left.....at her Charleston Chapeau bridal shower last month...what fun! She's holding the shrimp and grits she made....I'm using this photo and her recipe in my cookbook!

Lindsey is getting married on April 12th in Charleston, SC, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. All of her friends, and most of the parents, are going! That is a true testament to how much this young lady is loved!

I never imagined, back when I was doing her makeup for ring dances and proms, that someday I would be doing her wedding flowers! Heck, it was hard to imagine any of them ever growing up and getting married! Especially so fast!

But they did...and she is....and I'm excited to be involved! I remember when she first asked me to help and my heart skipped a beat.......then when she told me her colors were Tiffany Blue and Deep Red, my mind started racing with ideas. There was little need for my ideas.....Lindsey is, unlike Shelby, quite decisive and knows exactly what she likes and doesn't like. That's a good thing for me......if I can reproduce in life what she explained to me in words, there will be no disappointment! I would hate to disappoint her!

So.........there's lots to do in less than two weeks. I've been working on the wishing tree...I'll add a pic when it's done. The flower order is placed.....I have several locations to visit to pick up different things....and then we leave on April 10th! I can't wait to see Charleston again! I'll take lots of great pictures to add to the blog!!

I'm sure I'll post again before I leave.....but if you don't see me around, I'm busy making a wedding!

By the way, this is a mock up of her centerpiece flowers.....the tables are long, 18 people on each side....18 centerpieces per table, with votives in square glass holders. It should be beautiful!

You're Cordially Invited......

cor·dial /ˈkɔrdʒəl or, especially Brit., -diəl/ Pronunciation Key [kawr-juhl or, especially Brit., -dee-uhl] –adjective 1. courteous and gracious; friendly; warm: a cordial reception. 2. invigorating the heart; stimulating. 3. sincere; heartfelt: a cordial dislike. 4. Archaic. of or pertaining to the heart. –noun 5. a strong, sweetened, aromatic alcoholic liquor; liqueur. 6. a stimulating medicine. 7. anything that invigorates or exhilarates. Well, I think that pretty much defines how we feel about this invitation thing.....it should be gracious, friendly, warm, stimulating, heartfelt....and we should pick them out while enjoying an aromatic alcolholic liquor, while making sure we have plenty of BCs for afterwards...sounds exhilarating....and I'm invigorated at the thought! Anyway.....here's one I like....not the colors, but the fold: I like this one mainly because of the fold...it's different and I haven't seen it before. I also love how they took the initial and put them back to back.....it makes a heart! "S" would do the same thing, but I have a feeling that wouldn't be something Shelby would like..... Nah....I still think I like the one in the blog below best.....I love that size and fold. I think Shelby wants a belly band around it though.....we'll keep you posted!

I Can Make That......

A new email from Shelby! This time it contains a picture of a beautiful invitation.....it really does look alot like the one I had pictured in my mind! Of course she said she hated the Eiffel Tower!!!!! My gosh, she IS my child.....and she didn't get switched at birth! Phew!!

I really do love this style of invitation. And, according to Shelby, we will be making them ourselves! Now Shelby's idea of making them is ordering the papers and taking them to Kinko's for cutting and putting them together. On the other hand, my idea is to cut each piece of paper, print the information in her favorite font and then carefully glue all of the parts and pieces and....TAH DAH!

I don't know why I'm like that, but I am......it isn't the issue of money, although we do tend to be frugal in our family, even if it isn't necessary! I've just always looked at things and asked myself if I could make it myself.....but you must understand that I just love the whole process! I wouldn't want to miss out on a single second of the whole production. When I have things done for me, I'm usually disappointed.....I don't think anyone can make it look just like I picture it in my head. I've ordered flowers from a florist and then rearranged them....I've had a function catered and wished I'd done it all myself! It's a family joke that "I can make that..." should be the epitaph on my headstone....when we go to the art festivals and shows I walk through the whole thing saying just that.....and you know what, I know that I can....and I'd have fun doing it! I can't explain why I'm that way, but I am.....and I love every second of it!!!

I am so green.....

....and it has nothing to do with drinking too much green beer or being jealous. We had a wonderful St. Patricks Day dinner....Shelby and Justin came over (I just love when they visit!!!) and we filled our plates with corned beef, cabbage, roasted potatoes and warm biscuits. We broke out the green food coloring and toasted the Irish with green beer, and, yes, green wine....and even a green vodka & tonic!

But my curiosity was peaked when, before dinner, I was showing Shelby some of the "mock ups" I was making for her to look at.....I had a swatch of "green" and Justin picked it up and said, "is this the color green you're using?". Ooops......I didn't mean to surprise him....in fact, I'm sure I didn't have the color right. As Shelby walks to the pantry to grab a cracker to snack on, he says he likes the color of the cracker box.......it's kind of a Christmas green....which I like......but I hadn't thought of it before as a wedding color.

Anyway, it sent us all in yet another direction to consider, which I think is a good thing.....but I could see in Shelby's face that we'd better table the "color thing" for now. But she did announce that she is "almost" sure that her wedding colors will be black, green (lime? kiwi? jade?) and white. Decisions, decisions, decisions......but I'm not sure I'd place my bet on the Christmas green. I love you, Justin....and I love Christmas green....but only at Christmas (Of course, I love you ALL of the time!). But if you look at the colors above, the one to the far right is, to me, a Christmas green............but if you just go to the left a little it gets much better!

How should I répondez, s'il vous plaît????

"Back in the day" RSVP cards were pretty simple.....what were we thinking? I just love how this new generation has "loosened" things up a bit. Emily Post must be freaking out in her grave!!! But I love it!

So, Shelby has sent to me a copy of a RSVP card she found on the internet.....I love it! I don't know that we need people to respond as to what they want to eat since she's considering Southwestern food stations, but I just love the comments section......don't you know that the "Great Bridge Group" will have all kinds of funny comments to make.......and she can save them to read years later for a chuckle.

I've surfed around on the net to try to get some ideas and here's what I've found:

__Yes, wild flamingos couldn't keep me away

__No, I heard about the wild flamingos

Here's another one:

____ Glady attend

____ Regretfully decline

____Regretfully attend

____ Enthusiastically decline

____ Will decline to respond, but ultimately attend

____ Will respond, but not attend

I think they're so cute! I also love the new idea for RSVPs by going to the couple's website and sending the RSVP......heck, why give the United States Postal Service more money than we have to! It's also alot easier for the bride to keep up with, don't you think?

Whatever she decides, I'm sure that in the end we'll still be calling everyone at the last minute to find out if they're coming or not.....isn't it funny how some people just don't respond at all? I don't know how to respond to that.......well, I do, but I won't.